DX LISTENING DIGEST 17-32, August 8, 2017 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 2017 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 1890 contents: Australia, Biafra non, Bougainville, Bulgaria, Canal Zone, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Fiji, Germany, Guam, India, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Korea South, Kuwait, New Zealand, North America, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Perú, Spain, USA, Yemen non SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1890, August 8-14, 2017 [now starting first airings on Tuesdays] Tue 2130 WRMI 9455 15770 [confirmed] Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 9455 Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v [confirmed] Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [off until August 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [off until August 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 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-audio-plattform/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper: http://shortwave.am/wor.xml ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio NOW tnx to Keith Weston, also Podcasts via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/glenn-hausers-world-of-radio/id1123369861 AND via Google Play Music: http://bit.ly/worldofradio 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 NOTE: I have *resolved* to make DXLD leaner, more selective, as I seriously need to reduce my workload, much of which has been merely editing gobs of material into presentable form. This makes it even more important to be a member of the DXLD yg for additional material which may not make it into weekly issues (gh) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Weak to fair signal of R. Afghanistan External Service, August 1 1536&1603 6100 YAK 100 kW / 125 deg SoAs English/Urdu & off at 1626 1630-1730 6100 YAK 100 kW / 125 deg SoAs Arabic/Russian is not on air http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/weak-to-fair-signal-of-rafghanistan.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #1021 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, August 7, 2017 via DXLD) R. Afghanistan, 6100, 1544-1546, Female in English, SINPO 21222 (QRM from KCBS). KOREA (North), KCBS, 6100, 1545-1550, Female chorus, faint. SINPO 21111 (ED SYLVESTER, 7Z1ES, RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, Aug 4, Rig: WJ- 8711/Drake R8B; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30', dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA [and non]. 9920, August 2 at 1301, KNLS IS, very poor with talk CCI; also // 9655 very poor but in the clear. 1303 other music, and presumed Chinese service as A-17 scheduled on both. KNLS English website still shows B-16 schedule this hour with 9655 // 9615! Russian and Chinese versions exhibit correct frequencies. Per Aoki, collision on 9920 is versus coreligionists! Fellow Christian broadcaster FEBC Philippines, 100 kW due west from Iba site in Koho language daily at 1300-1330. EiBi language list shows Koho/Kohor is spoken by 0.2 megapersons in Vietnam. The evangelists are relentlessly targeting SE Asian minorities for conversion from their original religions. No secular broadcasters bother to radiate their languages. I`m curious about the KNLS IS --- must be opening from a well-known hymn, but not to me. Can`t find anything on website about its provenance, not even on the About Us page, much of which is very in need of updating, pre-Madagascar. And WRTH is no help, having eliminated info about interval signals, let alone musical notation, years ago. 7355, August 6 at 1203, KNLS English with preview of hour`s segments; after song, first one at 1207 is Eye on Health & Medicine. Starts S9, fades to S6, soon degrading. Nothing audible on // 11870 (nor 11885)(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 12060 [not 12050 as typo in original], August 5 at 2040, weak signal sounds like French altho RTA via FRANCE is supposed to be in Arabic during this hourpart per Aoki; also with het on low side, 12059.63, suspected as spur out of much stronger 12050 WEWN Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS [and non]. INDIA, AIR Port Blair, 4760, 1442-1443, Hindi Music, Too light to verify accurately. Carrier present. Will try again later. SINPO 11111. Still too light at 1404 (Ed Sylvester, Riyadh, Sa`udi Arabia, 2 August, Rig: WJ-8711; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30', dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Leh was weak but in the clear on 4760 with typical Northern Indian instrumental music and female announcer - off at scheduled 1630. Port Blair does not seem to be around anymore (Bruce Churchill, CA, ibid.) I heard Port Blair but it was very faint. Will keep trying. Thinking about another receiving antenna. Going to research this. 73, (Ed. Sent from my iPhone, ibid.) ** ANGOLA. 4949.74, R. Nacional de Angola. Thanks to Wolfie for his surprisingly "stronger signal" report of July 30. I listened in on Aug 2 and indeed found stronger than usual signal, even though it was up against the normally heavy summertime QRN (static); 0501-0531; was able to make out several clear IDs, which is always an indication of decent reception. Luanda sunrise was at 0521 UT (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4949.75, Rádio Nacional de Angola, Mulenvos, 1920-1945, 03-08, Portuguese, political news, “A campanha electoral”, “A proposta do governo”, “A campanha de Rádio Nacional de Angola”, Clear signal today. 25322. 4949.75, Rádio Nacional de Angola, Mulenvos, 1931-1950, 05-08, Portuguese, comments and news about the 23th August presidential elections in Angola, “Informa Francisco Riveira, Rádio Nacional de Angola”, “O candidato a presidente da República”. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Hi Glenn, Just FYI, I was able to hear LRA 36 yesterday, from about 1933 tune in, using the Kiwi SDR at Paradinho [Brasil]. Attaching a short mp3 here for you. Quite a thrill to be able to hear it after all these years. Signal degraded rapidly after about the 2000 mark. And of course, no chance with "regular" receivers, including the `545, attached to my Wellbrook, with high noise levels and mid-summer conditions generally (Dan Robinson, DC, Aug 5, referring to Fri Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Much weaker tonight though http://sdr.hu/ access to websdr http://appr.org.br:8073/ ANTARCTICA ARGENTINE, 15475.97 kHz, LRA36, via remote Brazil SDR, PY2GN e PY2PE from Pardinho, SP - Brazil Grid: GG56tv --- listen to the recording of 1943 UT on Aug 8. Mostly S=5-6 signal, scratchy noisy signal. set the SDR to Manual Gain -97dB, audio volume 45% switch OFF TX at 2008:15 UT. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Instead of 2100*v ** ARGENTINA [non]. 11580, Saturday August 5 at 1400, RAE AAM opening Spanish secret repeat broadcast, plugs upcoming viernes DX feature, mentions only 22 UT lunes a viernes en 5950; transmission grid at http://tinyurl.com/WRMIfqs still shows a blank for this hour, unlike 13-14 as RAE en francés, which is really lundi à vendredi seulement. 1432 check, that`s Actualidad DX with discussion of frequency grants in Ecuador (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Reception of Trans World Radio India via Yerevan August 2: 1245-1445 12055 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg SoAs various Indian langs, incl. 1245-1300 12055 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg SoAs Maithili Mon-Fri 1415-1445 12055 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg SoAs Sindhi Mon-Fri Upcoming frequency change of TWR India via Yerevan eff. August 13: 1245-1445 NF 9910 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg SoAs varoius langs, ex 12055 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/reception-of-trans-world-radio-india.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #1021 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, August 7, 2017 via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. Special transmission of RTL Radio Luxembourg on August 6 via Shortwaveservice Yerevan celebrating 60th anniversary of RTL German Sce: 1900-2200 9975 ERV 100 kW / 305 deg to WeEu German, fair to very poor http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/special-broadcast-of-rtl-radio.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, Aug 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9975, August 6 at 2150 check, not even a JBA carrier detectable from the surprise 60th anniversary broadcast of Radio Luxembourg which was widely heard in Europe. EiBi shows scheduled only this date between 18 and 22. I am aware of no advance publicity for this in the DX press, tsk2. Huge splash here from bigsig 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LUXEMBOURG [non] ** ARMENIA. Radio "Voice of Justice" (also the Voice of Talishistan, Public Radio) in the Aser language at 9677 kHz was not heard here for the last Of the week. Radio Yerevan did not work on the 18th and 19th of July at 4810 kHz, and in the redistributed timetable of the Bulgarian blog is a traditional mistake. In the time from 1700 to 1745 at 4810 kHz from Monday to Friday from 1700 in Turkish, and from 1715 to 1745 in the Azerski, on weekends from 0500 to 1730 in Turkish and from 1730 to 1745 in the Azarian (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Moscow Information DX Bulletin, Weekly electronic edition Number 1054, July 25, 2017, The editor of the current issue is Alexander Dementiev, via Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) ** ASCENSION. 11810, August 3 at 2150, BBCWS with American-accented YL on stockpiling food for survival, S6-S3, AND with that tell-tale hum infesting at least one but not all of the ASC transmitters, as always heard at 05-07 on 6005 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non-log]. 5055, the future 4KZ - While daily monitoring for the activation of this low powered station, am finding more and more USB chatter in Spanish. My audio at http://goo.gl/19yTQf Seems I may have some QRM to contend with whenever 4KZ starts up. At 1234, on Aug 2 (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA/ABC on SHORTWAVE in Pacific These links from respected journalist Graeme Dobell might interest https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/abc-gets-wrong-south-pacific-service/ https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/crowded-pacific-re-considering-sharp-edge-broadcastings-soft-power/ https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/smart-stuff-shortwave-south-pacific/ https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/dumb-oz-decision-south-pacific/ https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/silencing-australias-shortwave-voice-south-pacific/ https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/muting-australias-regional-voice/ (Ian, NSW, dxldyg via DXLD) Here`s one of them: A DUMB OZ DECISION IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC 24 Apr 2017|Graeme Dobell Image courtesy of Pixabay user annca /. The decision of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to end shortwave broadcasts to the South Pacific is a serious blunder, based on a shrinking, insular view of ABC responsibilities. The ABC should be embarrassed that 31 January marked the end of eight decades of Australian shortwave to the Islands. Overturning that lousy policy call — with an annual price tag of only $2 to $3 million — should provide the opportunity for the ABC to halt its exit from the South Pacific and start rebuilding. It would be a chance to recognise that the broad policy trend is wrong. A rebuild should dictate more communications muscle of all sorts— shortwave, FM and digital in all its cascading dimensions—plus lots more ABC reporting staff and much more work to re-engage with media across the Islands. The ABC should return to the centre of the South Pacific media landscape, not shrink towards the exit. And the rebuild should have a special focus on Papua New Guinea. The ABC killed shortwave based on a penny-pinching false dichotomy between shortwave or FM. The chant was ‘shortwave old, FM new’. The choice is dumb because it misunderstands the central role radio still plays in the South Pacific. Only an organisation that’s spent the last decade withdrawing resources from the South Pacific would’ve been trapped into choosing between shortwave and FM transmitters. Shortwave speaks to a whole country while FM’s more limited reach means it covers the capital or a region. Both services are essential in the South Pacific because radio is vital to the life of the Islands. The extent of the ABC’s error is detailed by submissions to the Senate Inquiry, aimed at forcing the ABC to resume shortwave transmission. Note the letter from the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Charlot Salwai, on this ‘strange’ ABC decision that could cost many lives in the South Pacific: ‘Our experience during Cyclone Pam [in 2015] is that some of the most reliable and comprehensive early warnings and post-disaster information came from Radio Australia’s shortwave service. Australian shortwave assisted communities to prepare for, survive and recover from a terrible natural disaster. For us it is not outdated technology at all. It is appropriate and ‘fit-for-purpose’ and an important means to inform and safeguard Ni-Vanuatu people. Vanuatu values its close association with Australia at so many levels yet this strange decision by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to end shortwave services to our region seems at odds with the recently strongly-stated goals of the Australian Government to help improve disaster preparedness and risk management in our region.’ The Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, was right to point to Pacific ‘concern’. Her ‘please explain’ to the ABC was too polite, given the damage the ABC is inflicting on Oz interests. The decision on shortwave isn’t an ABC aberration, but a logical step in the Corporation’s shredding of its important place in the life of the South Pacific. The ABC is casting off Australia’s central media responsibility in the Islands and destroying an important instrument of Oz assistance, influence and soft power. For the past decade, the ABC has been hacking away at its international service, Radio Australia (RA) — particularly the important job RA does as a daily journal of record for the whole South Pacific. Why has the ABC been cutting loose from its historic role in the South Pacific? Partly, because the Islands and Islanders — obviously — aren’t a domestic Oz constituency. Indeed, the Senate inquiry got going because killing shortwave hurt Australians in remote parts of Oz. There’s no big domestic constituency for good foreign policy — but the nation pays for bad foreign policy. That’s why phrases as varied as ‘national interest’ and ‘good international citizen’ should be more than just slogans for the Oz polity. On this one, the ABC Board — an important part of the polity — lost sight of Oz interests in its own region. Embracing the future, the ABC is busy jumping on all sorts of platforms to deliver content to multiple audiences (radio is old school, audio pumps out on everything). By all means, give the South Pacific what it needs on lots of platforms. But shortwave is still a platform that matters in the Islands (and across northern Australia) however much it might seem to be a legacy system in the cities of Oz. The Senate inquiry offers the ABC Board and ABC Management the chance to rethink. This isn’t about ABC independence. It’s about changing a bad decision. Just as you should never let a good crisis go to waste, so a policy U-turn is the moment to rethink and redo poor policy. Beyond a U-turn on shortwave, the ABC needs a fresh, bigger vision of what it must do in the South Pacific. Ever ready to help, the next column will offer some views on that vision. Author Grame Dobell is the ASPI journalist fellow (via gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, at 1658-1700 UT. Bangladesh Betar. Twice heard station name by female followed by news in Bangla. SIO: 333. 4750, at 1700 UT. Bangladesh Bethar with different program from channel in 41 meters. Before the hour heard short interval signal followed by time pips and station name by man. Into news. SIO: 222, July 28 (Zeljko Crncic, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 29, BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) R. Bangladesh Betar, 4750, 1433-1441, Female and Male annnouncers in Bengali, ID at 1435 and 1440. Commercial for Saudia Airlines. SINPO 44444 (Ed Sylvester, Riyadh, Sa`udi Arabia, 2 August, Rig: WJ-8711; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30', dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] I did get BB English news today by a female on 4750 at 1530- 1540 followed by a news story by a male in EE about a new train service in Bangladesh, 1540-1545. CNR1 Hailar was stronger today with co-channel QRM. Two logs for the price of one! Rcvr was my KiwiSDR in Bay of Islands NZ (Bruce Churchill, CA, ibid.) ** BHUTAN [non-logs]. 6035, BBS. On Aug 1, noted PBS Yunnan (China) till it cut off about 1208, with non-stop easy-listening filler music. No Bhutan heard here today, unlike yesterdays BBS 1219*. Aug 2, with PBS Yunnan (China) going off at 1200*, after being in Chinese, with EZL song. No BBS today after PBS went off. So BBS is only on after 1200 erratically! (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. NEW PRO-BIAFRA STATION ON SW Nigeria Daily Post wrote yesterday about a new SW radio station http://dailypost.ng/2017/08/01/biafra-uwazuruike-launch-new-pro-biafra-radio-station/ Best 73s (YdunRitz, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Biafra: Uwazuruike to launch new pro-Biafra radio station By Chijioke Jannah on August 1, 2017 The leader of the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), Ralph Uwazuruike, has disclosed plans to launch a new pro-Biafra radio station known as Voice of Biafra International. According to a press release signed by BIM’s Director of Information, Mazi Chris Mocha, Uwazuruike noted that the celebration of 18 years of MASSOB would take place in Onitsha, Anambra State on September 13. He said that other activities lined up for the 18 years of non- violence and non-exodus by MASSOB would also feature the official opening of Voice of Biafra International, VOBI, radio located in Germany, which would lead to the radio commencing broadcast on short wave (SW) band, this week. The statement further quoted Uwazuruike as saying that the radio station would be the “authentic voice of the Biafran people and always educate, inform and enlighten our people on the issue of Biafra and not to spread hate messages or blackmail. “BIM would continue to play a leading role in our quest for Biafra.” He assured Ndigbo that it was only non-violence that will lead them to Biafra independence without firing a gunshot. On Anambra State governorship election fixed for November 18, the statement added that its members would suffocate Anambra as the Ijele Ndigbo. Uwazuruike and BIM will visit Onitsha in solidarity with Chief Willie Obiano to tell him and Ndi-Anambra that the election must hold on November 18 as planned (via DXLD) WTFK???? Evidently handled by MBR. As of Aug 4 we find no new entries starting in August at http://hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=A17&fmor=MBR but it might have been registered previously. Names of `stations` are NOT included, but the last column has some clues with occasional target countries entered: but not Nigeria, nor Biafra. Nothing fitting in the language column either unless it`s English. And is it really ``new``? There was an active Voice of Biafra from 2007 to 2014, as a search of the DXLD archives soon finds. Who will discover the new time and frequency? ``This week`` is about over (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There even was already a "Voice of Biafra International", on air from 2001 to 2009. Its last broadcasts are still online: http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm But this was supposedly produced in Washington, so it rather appears that it was run by other people. This time I would not rule out from the start that "from Germany" could also just mean "produced in Germany", although any other location than London would be a real surprise. And so far nothing about all this on their own website and the social media accounts of this "movement" that not even managed to set up a Facebook profile with its correct name (they named it "Movement for the Actualization of the Soveriegn State of Biafra", i.e. with a typo that defeats a search). Not much more than clutter there. So it remains to be seen if anything will come out of this announcement, which had been picked up by other Nigerian media outlets as well (Kai Ludwig, Aug 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOUGAINVILLE [and non]. 3325, August 4 at 1132, NBC at S9-S6 with island music, 1151 talk in presumed Pisin. Only hear one station but RRI may be underneath; with BFO there seem to be two carriers slightly offset, so can anyone compare them to the Hz? Or one carrier is wavering. Still on at 1205 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3325, NBC Bougainville, 1119-1201*, Aug 4. Reception above the norm, but with summertime QRN (static) and light QRM from RRI Palangkaraya; fortunately for me, NBC was much stronger; in English & Pidgin with many mentions of "on the island"; 1123 Public Service Announcement in English for benefits ("Bring your registration card and ID"); DJ in Pidgin playing pop Pacific Islands songs; 1155 DJ with ID ("NBC Bougainville broadcasting 95 point 5, FM band . . 3 point 3 2 5 kilohertz, 90 meter band, shortwave one"); "Friday night, Friday number four." After 1201* cut off, RRI Palangkaraya was in the clear with audio feed of the Jakarta news. My audio at http://goo.gl/oowoyk (Ron, listening oceanside at Pacific Grove, Calif., with Etón E1 and antenna of 100 ft. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3325, August 6 at 1155, music and BFO double-het implying two carriers; 1158 brief announcement, more music to cut off air mid-tune at 1200*, uncovering the weaker carrier. So first was NBC Bougainville, and second RRI Palangkaraya. Ron Howard reports the same kind of thing on August 4 at 1201 as I also logged. However, on August 5 he says NBC was absent, leaving only RRI from 1139 to 1234 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hi Glenn, We were again listening at the same time. 1132-1200*, with DJ in Pidgin, playing songs in English (seemed to be Sunday religious songs as usual); not as good a reception today, as I had here on the 4th. After NBC 1200*, RRI Palangkaraya was in the clear, but not nearly as good as heard on the 5th. BTW - Also on Aug 6, unusual to find NBC Madang (3260) off the air, along with the normally absent 3275 and 3365. Also noted Aug 5 & 6, that Solomon Islands (SIBC) was silent on 5020, nor were they up on 9545, from 1140+ (Ron Howard, California, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Dear DX-friends, I heard these stations last night in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire: 6180.02, 0130-0135 7.8, BRAZIL, R Nacional da Amazônia, Brasilia, DF, Portuguese talk 25232 AP-DNK Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, wbradio yg via DXLD) The second report from Anker about this which no one else is hearing, nor can I whenever checked in evenings here, but of course I was not listening at that exact time. I wonder why he is getting no QRM from the other station which is scheduled on 6180 at that time, per Aoki: 6180 CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL 2300-0200 1234567 English 100 173 Kashi-Saibagh 2022 TKS 3921N07545E CRI a17 Could CRI have switched 6180 to Portuguese for Brasil?? If correct, RNA must be very sporadic and/or underpowered (and off frequency) (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9725.42, August 5 at 2325, JBA carrier, no doubt R. Evangelizar on its heightened frequency; Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal had it on 9725.4 July 20. Nothing now on 9725.0 or below (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11855, August 3 at 2152, song seems Portuguese, S5-S2, no doubt R. Aparecida which at the moment is quite close to nominal frequency, and almost to itself, the only other 11855 per Aoki being CRI Chinese via Albania at 07-09. And now the only other detectable ZY on 25m is a JBA carrier on 11934.9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11855.063, August 5 at 1224, JBA carrier, must be R. Aparecida, odd time of day to detect it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Log 1830-2130 UT August 6th, here on remote SDR units in southern Germany and Liverpool England. 9514.971, ZYE726 "Radio Marumby onda média e onda curta", Curitiba PR 2130 UT on Aug 6, S=6 -88dBm 9530, non log, not on air. ZYE858 R. Transmundial, Santa Maria RS 9550.039, ZYE855 R. Boa Vontade, Porto Alegre RS S=4 at 2135 UT on Aug 6. 9564.938, ZYE727 SRDA Super R. Deus é Amor, Curitiba PR S=8 or -74dBm at 2123 UT. 9585, non log not on air. ZYE969 Super Radio Deus é Amor, São Paulo SP 9629.995, ZYE954 R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP S)6-7 at 2120 UT. 9645, non log, not on air. ZYE957 R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo SP 9665, not observed, others on co-channel. not Rádio Voz Missionária. 9695, non log, not on air. ZYE254 R. Rio Mar, Manaus AM 9725.433, ZYJ200 RB2 - Rádio Evangelizar, Curitiba PR S=7-8 or -77dBm at 2117 UT. 9819.066variable, ZYR96 R. Nove de Julho, São Paulo SP S=7-81dBm at 2111 UT on Aug 6. 11734.969, ZYE858 R. Transmundial, Santa Maria RS usual tiny S=4 -94dBm 1845 UT Aug 6. 11764.636, ZYE726 Super Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba PR S=6 or -85dBm at 1855 UT. 11815.026, ZYE440 R. Brasil Central, Goiânia GO poor S=4-5 or -93dBm at 1857 UT hit covered by adjacent BSKSA Riyadh in Arabic language, powerhouse S=9+35dB on 11820.046 kHz. 11855.061, ZYE954 R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP poor S=4-5 at 1900 UT on Aug 6. 11895.163, ZYE856 R. Boa Vontade, Porto Alegre RS S=4-5 at 2110 UT on Aug 6. 11934.929, ZYJ200 "Radio R-B Dois {RB2}, AM 14-30", Curitiba PR poor tiny S=4-5 at 1910 UT on Aug 6. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 6, dxldyg via DXLD) By quotation marx on the last one, are you saying you really heard an RB2 AM 14-30 ID rather than R. Evangelizar? (gh, DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Darren Rozier visiting Varna on the Black Sea contacted Radio Bulgaria to check times of the English-language bulletins on Radio Varna. The following reply was from Daniela Konstantinova of Radio Bulgaria`s English Service. ``Unfortunately, the foreign language service of the Bulgarian National Radio is being reformed and is currently in big turmoil. We do not know whether and how our programs will survive. So, we no longer prepare webcasts for Radio Varna, and this is likely to go on for the whole summer!`` (Darren Rozier, 3 July, August BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** BULGARIA. New time and new frequency of End Times Coming ETC Radio via Secretbrod from August 1 1900-1930 NF 11590 SCB 100 kW / 306 deg WeEu English, x 9400 1801-1831 videos will be uploaded after few minutes on and -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, August 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 15034-USB, August 3 at 2144, Trenton Military VOLMET admits ``no report received`` from Gander, Greenwood, Shearwater; ID with correct timecheck as 2145z, on to successful terminal forecasts from Bagotville, etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Crissy Brand writes: I was on a road trip in British Columbia and Alberta in July. There was plenty of radio to listen to, especially while driving between Vancouver Island, Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains. The cities, scenery, lakeside and mountain walks were all spectacular. The local radio was full of reports about the worst wildfires for many years, some of which we spotted. There was some quality community radio, such as local music from CIMM Ukee Radio 99.5 MHz in Ucluelet and worldwide left of centre news from CFRO Cooperative Radio in Vancouver. We had a SiriusXM satellite radio in the car; this gave us choices from well over 100 music and talk stations, including most of CBC, Canadian Indigenous People's Radio, NPR and BBC WS. Vancouver, 3rd to 5th & 10th July MHz Station, details etc. 90.5 CBC R1, First Nation documents, Vancouver ferries, wx 90.9 CBC Ici Radio Canada Musique, classical mx 91.7 Coast FM, Nanaimo. wx, sunny on Vancouver Island 23 C * 93.1 CYKE Red FM, South Asian station, Hindi music 93.7 JRFM, 'Today's hot country', country music 94.5 Virgin Radio, pop music 95.3 CKZZ Z95.3, 'Vancouver's best mix', pop music 96.1 CHKG Fairchild Radio, chanson RR (but mostly Mandarin) 97.3 The Eagle, Vancouver Island, AOR, bear sightings info * 98.3 CIRH Roundhouse Radio, pop mx, nx, Vancouver wx 98.5 Ocean, Victoria, Vancouver Island 'perfect music mix' * 99.3 CFOX, The Fox, pop quiz, Jeff O'Neil show 99.9 CHPQ The Lounge, Parksville, 50 yrs of adult standards * 100.3 The Q, Victoria, Vancouver Island, rock, wx 25 C+ all week 100.5 CFRO, Vancouver Cooperative R, 100,000 demo in London 101.1 CFMI Rock 101, Led Zeppelin 'Ramble On', 70s-90s rock 101.7 CHLY, R Malaspina, Nanaimo, CR, Democracy Now! px * 101.8 CiTR R, Uni of BC, audioscapes, experimental mx 102.3 The Wave, Nanaimo. community ads, 'every kind of music' * 102.7 CKPK The Peak, Vancouver's modern rock, White Stripes 103.5 CHQM, QM FM, summer's best sounds, pop, soft rock mx 104.3 CHLG, LG 104.3, Kensington traffic. 60s-80s pop mx, blues 105.7 CBC Radio 2, classics & new mx, Blondie, 'Heart of Glass' 106.1 Kiss FM, '60 minutes of non-stop music' 106.5 KWPZ Praise FM, waterslides ad, 'whether you're on your way to Bible study or an AA meeting, you're welcome here' 106.9 CHWF The Wolf, Nanaimo. heavy metal, Bowie 'Changes' * 107.5 Mountain FM, roads and wx 32 C, 'Squamish nice & clear' *= stations based on Vancouver Island rather than in the city of Vancouver and its immediate suburbs. Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, 10th July MHz Station, details etc. 88.1 CBC Radio 1 88.5 The Beach, 'Today's artists and classics' 90.1 Unid, several British Columbia stns use this freq, Latino mx 92.5 CBC R1, talk, wildfires spreading through British Columbia 96.9 CJAX FM, Vancouver, AOR 97.7 CBC Ici Radio Canada Premiere, FF 98.9 CFCP The Goat, Comox Valley, world class rock 104.7 CBC R 2, dance mx 104.9 CKSS, Kiss FM, Top 40 format See also the Nanaimo stations which were logged in Vancouver. Tofino, Vancouver Island, 9th July MHz Station, details etc. 90.1 CHMZ Tuff City Radio, Joan Jett, Cranberries 'Linger' & 90s 91.5 CBC Radio 1, Tofino, Stravinsky & Mozart clarinet talk 92.5 VOAR, 7th Day Adventist, Christian Family Network Canmore, Alberta, 13th July MHz Station, details etc. 90.3 AMP Radio. Calgary, better music mix station, Lady Gaga 104.3 CKUA, Banff, classical mx, New England composers 106.5 CHMN Mountain FM, electronic mx, station app info Banff, Alberta 15th July MHz Station, details etc. 105.7 CBC, FF 100.1 Q 107, ad for '$44.99 oil change at Mr Lube' 96.3 CBCB R1, feature about Cleveland con artist 95.1 CJAY 92, rock music 93.3 Country 105, 'Blue ain't your colour' by Keith Urban Golden, British Columbia 16th July MHz Station, details etc. 93.1 Highway Advisory Radio Services, avalanche warnings 98.1 Unid, Hindi classical music 99.9 Unid, Scottish preacher 'God loves the sinner' 101.7 CBC R2, dry lightning threat, more wildfires 106.3 CKGR, EZ Rock, Nickelback, 'Today's best variety' (August BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** CANADA. The licence of "Radio Shalom" (1650 kHz) was extended until 2024. "The Commission renews the broadcasting licence for the religious radio programming undertaking CJRS Montréal, Quebec, from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2024. The Commission did not receive any interventions regarding this application." In an Appendix to Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2017-243 the CRTC states the following "Conditions of licence": "The licensee shall adhere to the conditions set out in Conditions of licence for AM and FM radio stations, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-62, 11 February 2009, as well as to the conditions set out in the broadcasting licence for the undertaking. The licensee shall devote at least 90% of all musical selections broadcast each broadcast week to selections drawn from content category 3 (Special Interest Music), as set out in Revised content categories and subcategories for radio, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-819, 5 November 2010. As an exception to the percentage of Canadian musical selections set out in section 2.2(3) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), the licensee shall devote, in each broadcast week, at least 12% of its musical selections drawn from content category 3 (Special Interest Music) to Canadian selections." "Where the licensee broadcasts religious programming as defined in Religious Broadcasting Policy, Public Notice CRTC 1993-78, 3 June 1993, the licensee shall adhere to the guidelines set out in sections III.B.2.a) and IV of that public notice with respect to the provision of balance and ethics in religious programming. In each broadcast week, the licensee shall broadcast at least 18 hours of balanced programming." Extracts from Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2017-243 Ottawa, 10 July 2017 http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2017/2017-243.htm (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Aug 2, DXLD) ** CANADA. Broadcasting licences of Rogers AM-stations extended --- http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2017/2017-240.htm „The Commission renews the broadcasting licences for the English- language commercial radio programming undertakings set out below from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2024. The Commission did not receive any interventions regarding these applications.“ CFAC Calgary (Alberta) „Sportsnet 960 The Fan“ http://www.sportsnet.ca/960/ CKGL Kitchener (Ontario) „570News“ http://www.570news.com/ (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Germany, Aug 2, DXLD) ** CANADA. Broadcasting licences of Corus AM-stations extended http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2017/2017-212.htm „The Commission renews the broadcasting licences for the English- language commercial radio programming undertakings set out below from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2024. The Commission did not receive any interventions regarding these applications.“ CFPL London (Ontario) „news talk sports“ http://globalnews.ca/radio/am980/ CHQT Edmonton (Alberta) http://globalnews.ca/radio/inews880/?gref=inews880 (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Aug 2, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. I noticed in our local Victoria newspaper last weekend, the obituary for Alan David ROWE, a most colourful figure. What caught my eye, was that he had worked for Radio Nederland in the 1950s, while also freelancing for the CBC and Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was before my time, so I don't remember his name, but perhaps others still might. Here's the link to his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=alan-david-rowe&pid=186291211 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Aug 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCMP REMOVE RADIO TOWER FROM SACRED DENE SITE http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/radio-tower-removed-from-sacred-dene-site-1.4234764 Restoration of the site not complete, says Chief Peter Marcellais CBC News Posted: Aug 04, 2017 6:00 AM CT Last Updated: Aug 04, 2017 12:24 PM CT 'The mountain can't breathe': RCMP radio tower on sacred Nahanni Butte site could be removed The RCMP has removed a radio tower from a sacred Dene mountain top site near Nahanni Butte, N.W.T. The tower and its concrete base were removed last month, but the chief who raised the issue last spring says restoration of the site is not complete. . . . “[T]he site is part of the Dene legend of the Great Spirit saving the Dene from the scourge of giant beavers that once roamed the region. The legend, handed down through many generations, says the Great Sprit used his walking stick to poke a hole in the top of the mountain and chased the beavers inside, where they remain to this day.” So now the scourge can get out? (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, DXLD) ** CANAL ZONE. PANAMA CANAL ZONE PROJECT Forwarded by John Fisher, N. Chelmsford, MA The following information was forwarded to members of the BADX group in the Boston Area. Came across your club (BADX) in a recent search and thought I would send you my spiel and hope I would get a reply. I am asking you to forward or post this to your club members --- My name is Mike Paulson, and I am working to create a comprehensive, historical record of ham operators who were active in the Panama Canal Zone from 1920 to 1979. I need your help! The Canal Zone was home to a unique population who shared a very special time-limited experience. Ham operators played an important role in it with phone patches and messages back and forth to the US for both Civilian and Military personnel. For all you DXer’s out there they were a prized contact. My mom, Mary Jane Paulson was KZ5MP in Gatun, Canal Zone, 1968-1979, and KA4CZC in Tallahassee, FL 1979-1996. When vanity calls came out, she was able to get her KZ5MP call back and held that until 2006. I am seeking to identify all the Canal Zone ham operators either through their QSL Cards or through the White Horse call books. Sound impossible? Not with your help! You can help by looking through your QSL cards and doing one of these things: 1. Scan the front and back of your KZ5 cards and email the scans to me at kz5land@yahoo.com or post them to the FaceBook group I have for the project. https://www.facebook.com/ groups/532860190101682/ “Canal Zone Ham Operators” 2. If you would like, you can send me the cards for scanning and I will return them to you post haste. Just include a SASE. 3. The other item I need, are scans of the KZ5 listings from the White Horse call book (Pre-1952). It is very important that I know the Year and Season. High quality scans are critical so that they are readable when enlarged. Ultimately, after I have been able to gather as much information as possible, I plan to turn it over to a museum or library of Canal Zone or Ham Radio history. I do this to honor my mom, and all the other Canal Zone Hams. Please, be a part of this effort to record our history! Even if you can't help, I invite you to stop by for a look see at the Facebook group, and let me know what you think. 73 (Mike Paulson, 1323 Blakemore Ct, Tallahassee FL 32317-8459 kz5land@yahoo.com FaceBook Canal Zone Ham Operators Web Site Canal Zone Ham Operators https://sites.google.com/site/kz5what/ (via August CIDX Messenger via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** CHINA. 1377, 3.8 2100, Kina, definitivt Henan med ändlös, typisk kinesisk musik. Inga ID. Fade out vid 2145 då Zahedan, Iran på 1377,007 tog över helt. Inget spår av Xizang här. Även hörd på annat håll. Christoph Ratzer säger "No sign of Lhasa, but strong endless Chinese instrumental music without any ID and not // 4800. Some short breaks, so only a test for the system?" och Mauno Ritola kommenterar: "You are absolutely right! I have TOH recordings from yesterday and I can hear it at all TOHs of 1700 until 2100: stringed instruments music, sounds like the same melody every time and no TOH ceremony, so must the 600 kW Henan province transmitter testing after maintenance. It is exactly on 1377.000 kHz. At 2200 here it had faded away and Xizang is heard on 1376.998 kHz" (Thomas Nilsson, Arctic Radio Club mv-eko 7 August via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. MARIANA ISLANDS {Saipan} / CHINA 9355even, 24hrs Fire Drake and drums music jamming, 'tsching, bumm, beng ... music drums ' S=9+5dB signal at 2015 UT on July 29 in remote unit in eastern Thailand. Scheduled RFA Chinese via Agignan Point, Saipan daily at 17- 21 UT, 18 kHz wide audio block visible. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 29 (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 29 via BC- DX 6 Aug via DXLD) 24 hours of firedragon, really, on this frequency? (gh, DXLD) 9735, Firedragon jammer, 1216, 7/31/17. Chinese traditional music jamming loop over woman in Cantonese via Radio Taiwan International. Firedragon was fair (Mark Taylor, Lake Farm Park, outside Madison, WI, Mini DXpedition 1030–1330, 7/31/17. Equipment: Tecsun PL660 & 880, Kaito P32 Antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Shortwave Loggings for: August 3, 2017 --- The Chinese authorities that use CNR1 as jammers were certainly out in force this morning. 11785, CHINA, CNR1 at 1119 // 11640 in Mandarin jamming the VOA in Mandarin via the Philippines with a very bassy-sounding man with talk – Poor to Fair Aug 3 Coady-ON 11985, CHINA, CNR1 at 1259 in Mandarin jamming RTI in Mandarin with a man with talk and 5+1 time pips at 1300 and off – Poor Aug 3 Coady-ON – RTI also signs off at this time. 13920, CHINA, CNR1 at 1128 in Mandarin jamming the Sound of Hope in Mandarin via Taiwan with a man with talk and into a number of ads and promos to 1+1 time pips at 1130 and a woman with ID and more promos and into a man with news – Fair to Good Aug 3 Coady-ON 15040, CHINA, CNR1 at 1257 // 15250, 15265, and 17705 in Mandarin jamming AIR in Mandarin with a man and woman with excited talk – Very Good Aug 3 Coady-ON 15250, CHINA, CNR1 at 1252 // 15265 and 17705 in Mandarin jamming the VOA in Mandarin via the Philippines with a man and woman with talk and a telephone interview – Fair Aug 3 Coady-ON 15265, CHINA, CNR1 at 1246 // 17705 in Mandarin jamming RFA in Tibetan via the Northern Marianas with a man with excited talk and into a string of ads and promos – Good Aug 3 Coady-ON 17705, CHINA, CNR1 at 1241 in Mandarin jamming AIR in Mandarin with a man and woman with usual format of excited talk – Fair Aug 3 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. 13690, CNR1 at 1300 in Mandarin jamming the VOA in Mandarin via Saipan with 5+1 time pips and a woman with possible ID and music leading to a man with apparent news at 1301 – Weak but audible Aug 5 15110, CNR1 at 1304 // 13690 and 15040 in Mandarin jamming the VOA in Mandarin via the Philippines with a man and woman with excited talk and promos over orchestral music – Very Good Aug 5 15275, CNR1 at 1307 in Mandarin jamming RFA in Tibetan via Tajikistan with a man and woman with excited talk over instrumentals – Very Good Aug 5 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. 11845, August 5 at 1227, no pulse QRM from Cuba, but CNR1 jammer against not All India Radio in Chinese; hi-pitched woman or child speaker same as stronger jammers on 11825 and 11785, the latter only with victim also audible. Replying to my previous log about this July 15, Jose Jacob, India said, ``Dear Glenn, With reference to All India Radio in Chinese on 11845 as mentioned in DX Listening Digest 17-29 [i.e. Chinese jamming still heard], I would like to inform that this frequency is now not used by AIR at that time. Only 15040 & 17705 are used. [1145-1315 UT]. Their official sked listed in website is: http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Oppurtunities/Tenders/Documents/NE%20Asia%2021042017.pdf Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India`` Wolfgang Büschel agreed July 22: ``Re China jamming on 11845 kHz. Yes, correct, AIR Chinese service and AIR interval signal only heard on 15040 and 17705 kHz, not on 3rd channel 11845 kHz anymore. CNR1 China mainland jamming TX switched on crash start fully exact at 1145:08 UT, powerful S=9+25dB strength even at remote New Delhi SDR site. To explain clearly: 11845 kHz CNR1 jamming started exact transmission from Zero to S=9+25 dB at 1145:08 UT. 73 wb`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 13920, August 6 at 2346, very poor S1-S2 signal seems Chinese, i.e. CNR1 jammer against Sound of Hope, which Aoki shows on 13920 any/all the time from 2213 to 1420 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11640, CNR1 at 1258 // 13830 and 15040 in Mandarin jamming RTI in Mandarin with pitched female opera vocals and a man and woman with excited talk to 5+1 time pips at 1300 followed by promos and a man with possible news at 1301 – Poor to Fair Aug 7 Coady-ON 13830, CNR1 at 1241 // 15040 in Mandarin jamming RFA in Tibetan via Tajikistan with a man and woman with talk – Poor to Fair Aug 7 Coady- ON 15040, CNR1 at 1228 in Mandarin jamming AIR in Mandarin with choral vocals and a man and woman with ads and promos to 1230 and 1+1 time pips – Poor to Fair Aug 7 Coady-ON 15110, CNR1 at 1304 // 15040 in Mandarin jamming the VOA in Mandarin via Thailand with a number of ads promos and a man with talk from 1306 – Very Good Aug 7 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten- Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 15570, Aug 8 at 2315, very poor in Chinese, i.e. CNR1 jammer, typical pushy programming, probably propaganda, against VOA Mandarin via Tinian, this hour only per Aoki. Nothing else extra- continental audible on 19mb (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 3900, August 3 at 1124, JBA AM carrier, perhaps PBS Hulun Buir, 10 kW ND from Hailar, Mongolia Inner per Aoki. H-AM might have been here too but no intermittence during by brief intuneance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5050, Beibu Bay Radio. It was back in Sept. 2016, that during the 1300-1400 time period they changed from being in Chinese, over to Vietnamese, but Aug 3, at 1340 was clearly back again in Chinese; ID in English - "Beibu Bay Radio"; 1400 time pips; time given in Chinese and English ("Beijing time is now 10 PM,"); "Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio" ID in English; briefly in English with "B B R Evening News" intro; into news in Vietnamese. Have not heard AIR Aizawl (India) here for a while now. So is 1300-1400 now completely back to Chinese? Is the former brief English segment still at about 1320? New schedule? Needs more monitoring! (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ron, I was checking 5050 today from the NZ KiwiSDR site and I thought I heard some audio below Beibu Bay R but hard to tell what it was. Think it was around 1430 but don't remember for sure (Bruce Churchill, CA, Aug 4, ibid.) 5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1300-1400, Aug 4. Yes, they have reverted back to their pre-Sept. 2016 schedule; mostly in Chinese, but now with no brief English segment. They continue with the previous format of having a brief Thai language segment, today heard 1331+, otherwise in Chinese. 6200, Voice of Jinling. This is a very cosmopolitan station! For over a month now, just after sign on, have been hearing nice traditional French songs (very entertaining!). Aug 4, at 1238 & 1247 with French songs, otherwise in Chinese, with what sounded like many commercial announcements; very light QRM from Xizang PBS (Tibet, via Lhasa), also on frequency. My audio at http://goo.gl/9eY1GV (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11900, August 3 at 1415, M&W conversing in S Asian language, and music, fair S8; still at 1436 down to S5-S8. Aoki shows it`s CRI in Sinhala this hour, 500 kW, 258 degrees from Jinhua-Youbu 831 site, which I hardly would expect to be hearing so well here; a fluke? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. China National Radio-17 reactivates its long time inactive QRG 11630 kHz: 2355-1805 on 11630 LIN 100 kW / 286 deg to EaAs Kazakh, plus summer A17 co-channels: 1015-1600 on 11630 KBD 250 kW / 230 deg to CeAf Ar/HQ R.Kuwait, inactive at present 1427-1457 on 11630 SMG 250 kW / 089 deg to SoAs Urdu Radio Veritas Asia very strong 1600-1700 on 11630 LAM 100 kW / 075 deg to CeAs Tibetan Voice of America and CNR-1: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/cnr-17-reactivate-its-long-time.html (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, Aug 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Double-Hop From Colombia --- two new analog logs from Colombia (new country) were received here in Akron, OH last evening; channels 2 and 4 were both the Caracol TV Network. The logo was in the lower right. It was a light-colored circle with network logo inside. Channel 2 was likely Magangué (~2,240 miles), and channel 4 must've been from Santa Marta (2,135 miles). The large Caracol logo filling the entire screen was actually a transition from one commercial to another. Click image for larger version [on the WTFDA Forum] Name: IMG_9491.JPG Views: 5 Size: 201.1 KB ID: 20777 Name: IMG_9500.JPG Views: 6 Size: 134.3 KB ID: 20778 Short video clip here, containing logo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1TRuyUoZtc (Andrew, My TV and FM DX Photos from Akron, Ohio... https://www.flickr.com/photos/133179000@N04/albums Aug 3, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** CRIMEA. Republic of Crimea. In Alushta (the Republic of Crimea) began broadcasting Comedy Radio, reports OnAir.ru with reference to the press center of the GPM Radio (VKPM). The radio station sounded in the resort city on August 1, 2017 at the FM frequency of 107.9 MHz. The city is located on the southern coast of the Crimea. Alushta is an abundance of sun, fresh air, warm sea, picturesque mountains, and now Comedy Radio is also a source of good mood and a powerful charge of positive emotions! The basis of the Comedy Radio format is its own entertainment talk shows, which are broadcast live. Any radio listener can in real time influence the course of the program with the help of comments and questions. Comedy Radio also presents content from Comedy Club Production programs. This is the best of the Comedy Club, Comedy Woman, "Our Russia", the Stand Up show and others. Round-the-clock on air the top foreign music sounds. Comedy Radio is a part of Russia's largest radio-holding company - GPM Radio. The coverage area of ??the station currently covers more than 310 localities in the country. Every day more than 1.9 million Russians are tuned to the wave of Comedy Radio, and the monthly audience exceeds 6.7 million people (Radio Index - Russia, October 2016 - March 2017, MediaScope). In Moscow, Comedy Radio has been broadcasting for almost 5 years, having increased the daily audience by three times and occupying a place in the TOP-15 of the most popular metropolitan stations. The success of Comedy Radio has been repeatedly noted by the National Award "Radio Mania" - the most prestigious award in the sphere of broadcasting in Russia. More information about the station is available at http://www.comedy-radio.ru (From http://www.gpmradio.ru/news-page/uid/12821 via RusDX August 6 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Cambia temporalmente frecuencia de Radio Reloj en Villa Clara 04/08/2017 --- Por motivos de reparación de la torre de transmisión de la frecuencia habitual de Radio Reloj para Villa Clara por los 570 kiloherz de Amplitud Modulada se decidió temporalmente cambiar esa frecuencia por la de 1550 kiloherz. Resultado de imagen para radio reloj, cuba [capción] La emisora ofrece disculpas por las molestias que esto pueda ocasionar a los oyentes de la emisora que marcha junto al tiempo, y les informa que inmediatamente que esta situación se normalice se informará oficialmente (de http://www.cmhw.cu via GRA blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) 1550 is a `graveyard` for Radio Rebelde relays all over the island (incidentally blocking WRHC Florida), including 3 transmitters in VC, per WRTH. No doubt there are plenty other dialspots if not absolutely local to hear Rebelde (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 9565, August 2 at 1308, weak beeps amid heavy splash from 9570 China relay with its spurblob peaks about 5 kHz above and below. Beeps no doubt remnant of jamming which extend far beyond the Martí hours on 9565. These are continuous at about the same pace. Leave it to the Cubans to QRM their own jamming! 9955, August 2 all during WORLD OF RADIO 1889 on WRMI at 1315-1345, beeps are also heard here, single pitch but intermittent, fortunately weak enough not to bother much here. Tnx a lot, Arnie! 11745-11775, August 3 at 1438, RHC music on 11760 is splattering out to here from quite distorted/overmodulated S9+20 fundamental. Same on S9+30 15370 is clear and splashing only 15360-15380 at 1443 August 3, while as always // 15230 is much weaker, S8-S5 and also undermodulated. // 17730 a JBA carrier. Something`s always wrong at RHC. 5025, August 4 at 0625, R. Rebelde in dead air, or just-barely- modulated. Ho hum, as so often. By recheck around 1200, modulation is OK, abutting 5020 Solomons. 5025, August 5 at 0538, only a trace of modulation on the R. Rebelde carrier. 6145, August 5 at 0535, RHC English is undermodulated, compared to // 6100, 6060, 6000. [and non]. 5990, Aug 5 at 2330, CRI English relay is very undermodulated; so is the 13650 Portuguese. 9580, Aug 6 at 0100, CRI English relay is dead air, while it`s underway on 9570 Albania, adverting us that this hour is a repeat of a subsidiary of CRI at 7 am BJ time = 23 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15140. Sun, Aug 6 at 0140-0150, Radio Habana Cuba, Titán-Quivicán, in Spanish. Program "Nuestra Historia": woman announcer talks about Cuban revolution; pieces of dead Fidel Castro speeches; ID. Fair transmission, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier, Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Sony ICF-SW100S, Longwire, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ??? 15140 not supposed to be on air in evening, their SNAFU or yours? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 5040, UT Sunday August 6 at 0555, RHC with some great deft classical / jazz piano playing, but Ed Newman does *not* back-announce what or by whom! Instead wraps up biweekly jazz show, piano transition to restart the English hour early at 0557, first off, this-day-in-history, topped by the death of Engels 122 years ago August 5. Whew, this might have gone unnoticed in the Free World (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS [non]. 9955, Wed August 2 until 1315 via WRMI, FG Radio is still presenting its subsexion `Travel Gazette` but filling the quarter-hour with a lot of music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. 9455 // much better 9955, August 4 at 1208, R. Prague via WRMIs, about an expedition to an Oregon mountaintop for the Eclipse (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. Three new radio stations are due to launch in Copenhagen, on Medium Wave within the next couple of months. No on air date has been decided yet. The stations will be broadcasting on 846 kHz (300 W), 927 kHz (300 W) and 1440 kHz (power not yet confirmed but maximum power allowed is 500W). Two of the stations will be music based whereas the third station will be all talk. Stig Hartvig Nielsen (3/8- 2017) (mediumwave.info via WRTH Facebook page via BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. MY FM logs from Dominican Republic --- if anyone is interested. Receiver: SONY ICF SW-7600GR. Telescopic antenna. Location: BÁVARO and PUNTA CANA Received in the evenings of July 27 and August 2. 88.1 UNID religious 88.7 UNID religious in Spanish – probably La Luz, Higüey 90.3 UNID – logged as Ritma – but probably Magía, Higüey 91.3 La 91 FM, Bávaro 91.5 UNID – probably Misionera FM, Higüey 91.9 UNID 93.3 Independencia, San Cristóbal 94.3 Mambo 94.9 UNID 96.3 Calle 96.3 97.5 La 97.5 98.3 Adoración FM, religious 99.1 Punta Cana 99.1 100.3 R. Amanecer, religious 101.1 Zeta 101 102.9 UNID with classical music 105.1 UNID in Creole [so an Haitian? The only one heard?] 105.5 Radio Ven, La Romana, religious 106.5 Zol, Santo Domingo 106.9 Kool FM, Bávaro, very strong 107.7 Super 7 Location: LAS GALERAS, SAMANÁ Received in the evenings of July 28 and 29 87.7 UNID relaying TV [OR, channel 6 analog audio, 87.75 or so -- gh] 88.1 Primera 88.5 Zol, Samana//92.1 89.1 Azúcar, Hato Mayor del Rey 89.5 Fama, Samana 89.7 CDN Radio, Santiago. Sports 90.1 Vida FM, religious 90.7 Gran Cadena del Sur Dominicana 90.9 R. Amanecer, religious 91.3 UNID, English songs, no announcement 92.1 Zol//88.5 92.5 Dorada 92.5, religious 93.3 UNID - logged as El Capital, but probably Independencia 93.7 UNID – logged as Exon Rosario(?). Bachata music 93.9 Pasión FM. No info online on this station. 94.1 Full, Santiago 96.0 modulation only [i.e. open carrier?] 96.3 La Calle 96.3 (also logged as MF) 97.7 Optima, Nagua 98.1 Premium, Nagua 98.3 Turbo 98, El Mogote 98.7 Poder 98.7, Jarabacoa 99.1 Mortal, Santiago 99.3 Trébol 99, Nagua 99.9 Dominicana FM, Moca 100.3 UNID religious, weak (may have been R. Amanecer) 100.7 Super K, El Mogote 101.3 Z 101 101.8 Misión FM, religious. No info on this frequency online. 102.3 La H, El Mogote 102.7 Cadena de Grandes Ligas(?), sports. Perhaps Voz de las Fuerzas Armadas, La Vega? 103.3 Rika, Nagua 103.5 La N, Santiago, weak 104.7 La Gigante. No info on this station online. 105.1 Canal 105, La Vega 105.5 Ke Buena, El Mogote 106.3 Perla, Sosúa (weak) 107.3 Suave 107.3, Santiago 107.7 Super 7, Santo Domingo Location: JABARACOA Received in the evenings of July 30 and 31 87.5 Logged as Bachata 87(?) – probably Camu FM, La Vega 87.7-8 UNID, Partly relaying TV and adverts 88.1 Primera 88.5 Comando 88, Santiago 88.9 Disco 89, Santiago 89.3 R. Easy. Rather clear ID. No info on such a station online. 89.7 CDN Radio, Santiago. Sports 90.1 Primor, Santiago 90.3 Jota D(?). No reference to such a station online – but ID was quite clear. 90.6 Fuego 90, Santiago Rodríguez 90.9 R. Amanecer, religious 91.3 La 91 FM (announced 91.1 and 91.3) 91.9 Intensa 91.9 – La Radio Joven, Jabaracoa 92.3 Natura FM, La Vega 92.6 Xtrema 92, Santiago 92.9 Jota E(?) See 90.3 above. 93.4 Estación 93.5. Real frequency seemed to be 93.4 93.7 Montaña FM, Jarabacoa 94.1 Full, Santiago 94.4 Digital 94 94.7 KV, Santiago 95.1 UNID with classical music 95.5 Digital FM 95.9 UNID – probably Clave, Santiago 96.3 Calle 96.3 96.7 R. Pura Vida, Santiago 97.1 Mix. Clear ID. No info on such a station online. 97.5 La H 97.9 R. Santa María, El Mogote 98.3 Turbo 98, El Mogote 98.7 Poder 98.7, Jarabacoa 99.2 Radio RV, Santiago 99.5 HIPM – R. Ideal, Moca 99.9 HICV – Dominicana FM, Moca 100.3 Monumental FM, Amaceyes 100.7 Super K, El Mogote 101.1 Premium, Santiago 101.5 Z 101 101.7 UNID (possibly an image) 101.9 Jols(?) – la Cadena de Gymnasios. Off at 21.00 local time. No info on this station online. 102.3 H 102, San Francisco//105.9 102.9 UNID, bad modulation. Not present after 22.00 local time. 103.1 Super 103.1, Moca 103.5 La N, Santiago 104.1 Tropicalísima, Jabaracoa 104.4 Sonido 104, Santiago 104.7 Matrix, Moca 105.1 Canal 105, La Vega 105.5 Ke Buena, El Mogote 105.9 La Bacana, Santiago//La H, San Francisco (image??) 106.1 Criola 106.1, Santiago 106.5 Luz FM, Santiago. Weak 106.7 El Bloke, San Francisco 106.9 UNID – logged as “Entre 4” – but probably La Nueva, Santiago 107.3 Suave 107, Santiago 107.9 La 107.9 (Robertas Pogorelis, August 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250.02, 2145-2155 30.7, GNE, R Malabo, Malabo, Spanish ann, music - QRM ham [sic] conversation, 22222 - At 2345 30.7 R Malabo was Off! AP-DNK Best 73, (Anker Petersen, I heard this in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, Aug 2, wbradio yg via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, Bata, 0518-0525, 04-08, carrier and some comments detected. Very weak, barely audible. 15321. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, *0508-0524, 06-08, songs, comments. Very weak, barely audible. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7176.5, Voice of Broad Masses, Asmara, 1720-1745, 03-08, East African songs, Vernacular, comments. 24322. 7176.6, Voice of Broad Masses, Asmara, 1723-1740, 05-08, East African songs. 44444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Tecsun PL- 880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. The 16 mb is rather empty in North America at this time slot 16-18 UT. But much covered in Europe, NE/ME and Africa at this time slot, also 17840 - today Fridays - Oromo sce of Ludo Maes FMO BRB 'Sagalee Qeerroo Bilisummaa' via TDF Issoudun covered by Ethiopian secret service with 20 kHz wideband data digital noise modulation block. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. FRS news --- Following last Sunday's broadcast there's an update on the FRS site. In case you missed that broadcast or you suffered from less favorable reception, next Sunday will offer a new chance to tune in (besides: between Thursday and Sunday there are four Internet streams!). Please visit: http://www.frsholland.nl/20-latest-news/106-frs-on-air-sunday-august-6th.html A special 'thank you' for all of you who sent a reception report by e- mail for last Sunday's broadcast. I will be on holidays for two weeks, so after being returned a start will be made to reply with QSLs etc. That also counts for listeners/SW friends I know a bit more personal; please have some patience. Thanks for your understanding! 73s Peter Verbruggen (on behalf of the entire FRS crew) (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicilia, Aug 5, shortwave yg via DXLD) FRS Holland special - repeat today Aug 6 1752-2100 UT --- Last Sunday's summer special repeated later, including Dave Scott's excellent programme of 1967 music!: FRS on air Sunday 6th August: Our first Summer evening broadcast took place last Sunday July 30th from 19:52-23:00 CEST [1752-2100 UT]. FRS was active on 7700 // 6284 kHz. 48 metres ran on reduced power. All in all we are not unhappy with the results. From time to time 6284 suffered from an annoying digital signal on 6290. 7700 did very well but particularly during the first part of the broadcast there was much static and crackling in the atmosphere. So far e-mail reports came in from all over Europe. We have decided to repeat the complete broadcast next Sunday August 6th at the same time slot: 19:52- 23:00 CEST [1752-2100 UT]. Frequencies will be 7700 // 48 mb (yet unknown which frequency). For next Sunday the schedule remains the same, see below. Remember there will be a number of Internet streams this week (August 3rd, 5th & 6th). FRS will be back with fresh programmes (including all presenters) on the final August Sunday, the 27th. More details will follow in a few weeks! (FRSH website) Posted by: (alan.pennington BDXC UK YG via DXLD) FRS now on air (at 1900 UT) with with a good signal on 7700 and fair on 6284 kHz, I think it started later than scheduled as was not audible when checked an hour ago. 73s (Dave Kenny, Aug 6, ibid.) Other way round in the Cabardes badlands of southern Occitania. Cheers (Stuart satnipper, 2007 UT, ibid.) ?? ** FIJI [and non]. [see DX-PEDITIONS] 558 Transmitter Fully Repaired? For the second Rockwork 4 session in a row Radio Fiji One on 558 has had energetic signals, sounding much better than its anemic reputation of the past few years. This morning (just after 1300 UTC) it was the strongest yet with its island choral music, reminding a DXer of the old 639-Fiji transmitter in years past https://app.box.com/s/f2lkogkmloww9vo6uehffdqenh7v8l0i (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR), Aug 2, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) Maybe there's hope for me to get this in IL now. Carrier on 558 quite a few times at SR during the nice DU conditions last year from mid Sept to early Oct. I'd also like to nab Tonga on 1017. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) 558-Fiji has sounded a lot more energetic these past two mornings, Neil, so you should have some hope. Tom and I will know for sure in a few more days, since our DXpedition is just starting. 1017-Tonga has a variable sign off time (later on their late Saturday night), but it has checked out at 1103 UT on the past couple of days. Good luck! (Gary DeBock (DXing with Chuck and Tom at the cliff), ibid.) 558-Fiji on the Warpath --- The newly rejuvenated 558-Radio Fiji One was pounding into the ocean cliff at a huge level this morning at 1323, sounding at least as strong as the old 639 transmitter that we all remember https://app.box.com/s/ykjkqqfa59l7h2rfcedhudikwn8ayfye It was in a snarl with 558-6WA for much of sunrise enhancement as the Western Australian station (with programming matching the "Overnights" podcast on the ABC website) made a return appearance at 1319 to equal the North American Ultralight DXing distance record of 9,138 miles / 14, 705 km https://app.box.com/s/cze5omzc1x01p28gpdo44wylhdl61l6y Anyone who really thinks that the hobby is in decline should have been with Tom and me at the ocean cliff this morning! Wild DU mixes were all over the band as both Australia and New Zealand were seriously enhanced. A permanent cure for hobby boredom! 73, (Gary DeBock (in Nehalem, OR, USA) UT Aug 5, IRCA via DXLD) Rejuvenated 558-Fiji Reaches S9 at 1318 --- It was another wild session at Rockwork 4 this morning, with 558-Fiji, 585-7RN and a presumed 585-2WEB (not // 576) all reaching S9 levels at times. When 558-Fiji pounds in at this level it should be more than adequate to reach Victoria and other salt-water enhanced locations. This was its signal at 1318 this morning, received on a Tecsun PL-380 boosted by a 15 inch FSL antenna at the ocean cliff near Manzanita, Oregon https://app.box.com/s/6b2fxp2ai8p44t38fih4dn1meffzocxi (Gary DeBock (in Nehalem, OR), Aug 8, ibid.) ** GERMANY [and non]. 9925, August 6 at 0055, The Mighty KBC from Netherlands, if that`s what it is, achieves nothing but a JBA carrier. Something must be wrong there; also like this a biweek ago (and last week we were distracted by the 5125 PR heater). Claimed power on 9925 is 125 kW at 300 degrees toward North America. Is it because of a more northerly path from Nauen, east Germany, than many other Europeans? It might seem so, but I check on a globe: It`s essentially the same bearing from here as Bucharest and Ankara, grazing 61 degrees north, still south of the Arctic Circle, off Iceland. So I check the others: 9935 Greece is S9 to S9+10 9790 Romania is S9-S6, 9730 Romania is S9+10 to S7 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9925, EAST GERMANY, The Mighty KBC at 0012 with DJ Dave Mason and oldies music – Poor to Fair in geomagnetic storm conditions Aug 6 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Shortwave Radio Service Testing --- Hi All, The new Shortwave Radio Service station just appeared on 6160 kHz at around 1528 UT. They played a record by Yes and another record I couldn't identify, and then gave a few stations IDs, but then went off again at 1538. Not a massive signal, but it was a strong as Channel 252 usually is here at this time of day in north west England, so it does look like they are finally testing (Alan Gale, UK, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing was heard yesterday but seems this station is testing today. Music was audible here on 6160 kHz at 1520 UT, announcement mentioned test transmission and new station, but it went off abruptly at 1537. The signal was weak to fair here. 73s (Dave, Caversham Berks, Kenny, AOR 7030 / 25m wire, ibid.) [Re 6160 station:] Christian Milling: Either they can`t be heard because a.) the transmitter is on but they only run 10 Watts EIRP because as for the EMF Database of the BnetzA there is no registered license ("Standortbescheinigung") to run more than 10 Watts EIRP yet b.) the transmitter is off and they have a Standortbescheinigung which BNetzA didn't publish until now or c.) any combination from a.) and b.) Like 1 August 1 at 3:33am (WRTH FB via DXLD) No one utters the NAME of this station, but we have it here: `` New licensed station from Germany started 1 of August. The name of the station are Bits & Bleps. . .`` [from SW Bulletin as in DXLD 17- 31] (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) At 1523 UT on 6160 ID is New European Shortwave Radio --- Video later today -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Aug 2, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, ibid.) Weak/fair signal in Sofia at 1523 UT on 6160. Fair to good at 1536 and off at 1538. From 1800 fair signal on 6160 here in Sofia -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) A powerful other 'disturbtion signal station' signal varied / moved between 6158 and 6166 kHz in double signal strength of S=9+25dB against the 6160 kHz radio subject, few times around 1520 - 1525 UT. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 3, BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) [...] Shortwave Radio Service broadcasting to Benelux, UK & Ireland on 3975 kHz & 6160 kHz Letztes Jahr auch: "... Welcome to my blog and thank you for visiting a private blog by Dr. Christian Senne, DO1INT Find here the latest logs from my ham activities and SWL logs from AM and SW stations heard in Ober-Moerlen, Hesse (locator JO40II) amateur radio station DO1INT_ernational is on air. Listening to shortwave for over 20 years, loving the unexecpected and wonderful noise, I decided to apply for an entrance novice licence for radio amateurs and I am on air under my call sign DO1INT since March 2016, regularly on 80m, 15m & 10m beside local activities on 70cm / 2mb as well as on FM and on echolink...." I send out QSLs only via DARC QSL bureau at the moment, alt. via email Member of DARC OV F11 - DO1INT is a Limes Award station, check my local club for details DO1INTernational is on air since March 2016, Echolink node # 648624 Auf diesen Seiten finden Sie insbesondere meine Magisterarbeit zum "Deutschen Freiheitssender 904" aus dem Jahr 2003. Seit 2008 gibt es zwar einige neue Erkenntnisse zum DFS 904, die allerdings aus Zeitgruenden nicht eingearbeitet werden koennen. AMATEURFUNK IN DER DDR Von 2003 bis 2008 bearbeitete ich im Zuge meiner Promotion an der Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin im Bereich Zeitgeschichte das Dissertationsthema "Zwischen Selbstzweck und gesellschaftlichem Auftrag- Rahmen- und Organisationsbedingungen fuer Funkamateure in der SBZ und DDR (1945-1990). Download der vollstaendigen Arbeit exklusiv bei einer Seite des Dokumentationsarchiv zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Funkwesens und der elektronischen Medien (Internationales Kuratorium QSL Collection) (via A-DX contributor, July 29 via BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) 6160, Short Wave Radio De. 1830-1923 UT, 02-08, pop songs, song by Sade, male, id.in English with each song "Short Wave Radio on 6160 kHz, please e-mail us 3975@shortwaveradio.de and 6160@shortwaveradio.de, you are listen a test transmission preparing for full time program to Belgium, the Nederlands, UK and Ireland", at 1900 UT time signals, "21 hundred hours in Central Europe", "This is 6160 short wave...". From 1830 to 1859 interference from BBC on 6165, but after 1859 no interference. Weak signal and fading, at times clearly audible and at times inaudible SINPO 13221, but at 1920 improving signal and for moments 25322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also hrd from KiwiSDR in Iceland at 1926 tune with pop song, announcement and then a brief period of just a carrier tone before back to an announcement (language unknown at this time) and more pop music. SINPO 25332 with occasional peaks to S3. English announcements 1933, 1940, 1949 and 1959. Off at 2000 (Bruce Churchill, CA, Aug 2, ibid.) Jordan Heyburn, WRTH Facebook group, Perseus in Armagh, Northern Ireland, 1913 August 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6HKyp8mNc (via Mike Barraclough, ibid.) Strong signal here this evening at 1815 UT SIO 444, with music and recorded English announcements by well-known voices on 6160. HFCC shows transmitter site as Winsen, south east of Hamburg. 73 (Alan Pennington, AOR7030plus, longwire, Caversham, UK, Aug 2, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Nothing on air at 0010 UT Aug 3. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s not scheduled at the time you checked, the test schedule was given in previous postings: 6160 kHz / Monday to Saturday / 1000-1200 / 1400-1600 / 1800-2000 UT 3975 kHz / Monday to Saturday / 1200-1400 / 1600-1800 / 2000-2200 UT 73s (Dave KENNY, ibid.) Thanks Dave, I thought it was a 24 hrs equipment test series; nothing on air at 1045 UT today on 6160 kHz. 73 wb df5sx (Büschel, ibid.) Checked 6160.012 kHz measured new SW outlet, mentioned located at Winsen-Luhe, south of Hamburg Germany, 1440-1525 UT time slot at August 3rd. Other German hobby stations compared were 5919.986, 6005even, 6069.998, 6150even kHz, too. Best signal was 6070v kHz as S=9+15dB in BEL, GB, ITA and Amberg central Bavaria Oberpfalz. Also Grenoble France S=9. Bavaria Italy F BEL GB HNG 5919.986 5 3 2-3 9+5dB 6 DRM RRI ROU 5925 6005even 3 3 5-6 4 5 3 6069.998 9+15dB 9 8-9 9+15dB 9+10dB 2-3 6150even 4 4 4 4 8 2-3 6160.012 5-6 5-6 4 9+5dB 6 5-6 [hope I have straightened these out correctly; received with column spaces removed --- gh] 73 wb df5sx (Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) 6160, Short Wave Radio de, 1905-1930, 03-08, pop songs, ID English “6160 Short Wave Radio to Europe”. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3975 kHz. Nothing on air at 2120 UT on Aug 3. 73 (wb df5sx dxldyg via DXLD) Test broadcasts of New European Shortwave Radio Service on August 4: 1000-1200 6160 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat, no signal 1200-1400 3975 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat, no signal 1400-1600 6160 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat on the air 1600-1800 3975 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat, no signal 1800-2000 6160 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat on the air 2000-2200 3975 WIS 001 kW / non-dir to NWEu English Mon-Sat, no signal Same Aug 3: 1400-1600 & 1800-2000 on 6160 and no signal on all other http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/test-broadcasts-of-new-european.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6160, Short Wave Radio de, 1920-1850, 05-08, pop songs, English, ID “6160, test transmission...”. 25322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The new Euro station that was heavily promoted as beginning test transmissions on 6160/3975 was heard today, using Twente. Also attaching mp3 of that. I heard them just prior to their 2100 shut down. No name of the station was mentioned, just "6160, Europe's Newest Voice on Shortwave" with longish test tones then back to a music loop with IDs (Dan Robinson, DC, August 5, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Atlantic 2000 will be on the air this weekend: - Saturday 5th of August, from 0800 to 0900 UT on 6070 kHz - Sunday 6th of August, from 1900 to 2000 UT on 6070 kHz + streaming at the same time on our website: http://radioatlantic2000.free.fr Only detailed reception reports will be confirmed by eQSL. Reports to: atlantic2000international@gmail.com Before that, you can listen our podcasts on our website. Good listening! -- Visit our website: http://radioatlantic2000.free.fr (via Manuel Méndez, Spain, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Mi Amigo International - Newsflash - August 2017 En 3 ago. 2017, en 13:35, info@radiomiamigointernational.com escribió: Brandnew program-schedule and two new Jocks Hello to all Radio Mi Amigo International friends, We are proud to present a brandnew program-schedule for you and two more Jocks are joining our team from August 2017! 'The boys are back in town'! From August, 5, two 'big' names who worked on the MV Mi Amigo are back. Join the Emperor Rosko(pic right) and Bob 'Buzby' Lawrence (pic left) on Radio Mi Amigo International every weekend. For all details click on http://radiomiamigointernational.com ->> DJ-page Rosko worked on the MV Mi Amigo for Radio Caroline South in 1966, Bob 'Buzby' Lawrence was on the MV Mi Amigo from 1978 till it sank in March 1980. Please give both a nice 'Welcome' via email, they love to hear from you! email Bob Lawrence: buzby@radiomiamigointernational.com email Emperor Rosko: rosko@radiomiamigointernational.com NEW PROGRAM-SCHEDULE FROM AUGUST 2017: [CET = CEDT = UT +2] Monday - Thursday: 24/7 online and 09-19 hr CET also 6085 kHz All the great music made- and played during the 'Golden Era of Offshore AM Radio' Including our daily live shows: 'Hello Europe': Every day at 14:00 hrs 6085 kHz. Repeated at 19:00: 3985 kHz 75m band: Monday: 14:00 und 19:00 hr: Bruno's Soulbox - Bruno Hantson (English) feat. the best of Soul Classics Tuesday: 14:00 and 19:00 hrs: Hello Europe! - Johnny Lewis (English) featuring Offshore Radio charts from 70's and 80's Wednesday: 14:00 and 19:00 hrs: Hello Europe! - Cpt. Kord (English) featuring the Offshore Radio History Thursday: 14:00 and 19:00 hrs: Hello Europe special guest! - various Jocks from the offshore past (from Sept.) Friday: 24/7 online and 09-19 hr CET also 6085 kHz All the great music made - and played during the 'Golden Era of Offshore AM Radio', including the following live shows: [MESZ] 09.00 - Oldiethek - Norbert Hesse (German) 10.00 - Buzbys Big Box - Bob Lawrence (English) 11.00 - The Man Cave - Bob James (English) 12.00 - Rollin' the airwaves - Bill Rollins (English) 13.00 - Jukebox - pers. Top 11 - Cpt. Kord (English) 14.00 - The weekend starts here - Paul Graham (English) 15.00 - From LA to Europe-The L A Connection - Emperor Rosko (English) 17.00 - The Man Cave - Bob James (English) 18.00 - Rollin the airwaves - Bill Rollins (English) 19.00 - The weekend starts here - Paul Graham (English)[only 3985 kHz and online] Saturday: 24/7 online and 09-19 hr CET also 6085 kHz, 12-16 hr CET also 7310 kHz: All the great music made- and played during the 'Golden Era of Offshore AM Radio', including the following live shows: 09.00 - Guten Morgen Europa! - Uwe Bastian (German) 10.00 - From LA to Europe-The L A Connection - Emperor Rosko (English) 12.00 - Free waves - Keith Lewis (English) 13.00 - Soundtrack of the 60's - Paul Graham (English) 14.00 - Johnny's Offshore Radio Diary - Johnny Lewis (English) 15.00 - Manneke Pop - Peter van Dam (Dutch/English) 16.00 - Rock over Europe - Wim de Groot (Dutch) 17.00 - All Time Soul Top 500 - Bruno Hantson (English) 18.00 - Soundtrack of the 70s - Cpt. Kord (English) Sunday: 24/7 online and 09-19 hr CET also 6085 kHz, 12-16 hr also 7310 kHz: All the great music made- and played during the 'Golden Era of Offshore AM Radio', including the following live shows: 08.00 - Guten Morgen Europa! - Uwe Bastian (German) 09.00 - Soundtrack of the 70s - Cpt Kord (English) 10.00 - Rock over Europe - Wim de Groot (Dutch) 11.00 - Manneke Pop - Peter van Dam (Dutch/English) 12.00 - Buzbys Big Box - Bob Lawrence (English) 13.00 - Bruno's Soulbox - Bruno Hantson (English) 14.00 - Free waves - Keith Lewis (English) 15.00 - Soundtrack of the 60's - Paul Graham (English) 16.00 - Johnny's Offshore Radio Diary - Johnny Lewis (English) 17.00 - All Time Soul Top 500 - Bruno Hantson (English) 18.00 - Jukebox -pers. Top 11 - Cpt. Kord (English) Don`t forget: Our Summer-Competition is still running (till September, 30) All details you will find here: http://radiomiamigointernational.com/english/competition.html http://radiomiamigointernational.com/deutsch/competition.html http://radiomiamigointernational.com/nederlands/competition.html Our program-schedule, frequencys and onlinestreams: http://radiomiamigointernational.com ....coming soon: Our next 'high-power-broadcast', August, 27 from 19- 21 hr CET on 11845 kHz with 100 KW [ARMENIA] kind regards Cpt. Kord and the whole team http://radiomiamigointernational.com (via Manuel Méndez, Spain, Aug 3, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio Documenta 14 was observed on 15560 kHz at 1102 UT on 5 August 2017, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to monitor previous transmissions. It was an English studio interview/chat about music, produced by Berlin FM station Savvy Funk. Reception via a web receiver in Austria was initially 'fair' but within minutes sank under noise, and it was completely untraced from the start on several other web receivers I tried. The broadcast was also streamed on the Documenta 14 website at http://www.documenta14.de (David Kernick, Interval Signals Online, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) other transmissions today are 1800-1900 & 2000-2200 on 15560 Unscheduled broadcast of Radio Documenta 14, August 5 1900-2000 on 15560 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, 1910 UT, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) Unscheduled broadcast of Radio der Dokumenta 14, August 5: 1900-2000 on 15560 KLL 001 kW / non-dir to CeEu French*, unscheduled 2000-2200 on 15560 KLL 001 kW / non-dir to CeEu English as scheduled *relay RFI Radio France Int.??, not // on 11995, 13740, 15300, 17850 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2017/08/unscheduled-broadcast-of-radio-der.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio der Dokumenta 14 relay again RFI on August 6 1100-1200 on 15560 KLL 001 kW / non-dir to CeEu French, fair http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/radio-der-dokumenta-14-relay-again-rfi.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DW's new series Musica Maestra is now online --- DEUTSCHE WELLE --- Experience the modern world of classical music with Alondra de la Parra --- [see original for embedded linx, illustrations] http://nl.dw.com/HM?b=U0Q86eh-P404kh_MtF5RiTGmJoICRTbeT6qhA-93UAtq2xTDK1Ub7r7n-9JN2DVX&c=xxXj1H0-wjaxZJTvfbpUBw The first web videos for DW's classical music special Musica Maestra are now online. Follow the series on DW's Culture Facebook page and be a part of this exciting journey into the world of classical music. A world of music Musica Maestra, a new format by DW, combines social media and television to tell the story of Alondra de la Parra, the renowned Mexican Star conductor. She is both reporter and protagonist in DW's unique new series. De la Parra invites viewers behind the scenes of the music world as she speaks with distinguished musicians from around the world. A unique artist From the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, where Alondra de la Parra is Music Director, to the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, this special series will bring you closer to the music with exclusive interviews and backstage content. Follow her experiences at the top of her profession and discover why she embodies the new spirit of classical music. With a modern portrayal of classical music using social media, Musica Maestra is an inside perspective on the creativity and emotion that go into creating a magical concert appearance. The multimedia special features a total of 26 web videos and six TV episodes, which will be broadcast in October. Follow DW Culture for more. Kind regards Your DW Team tv@dw.com http://dw.com/english http://dw.com/musicamaestra (DW newsletter Aug 8 via DXLD) ** GREECE. V of Greece --- I’ll end this month with a quick mention of V of Greece which rarely disappoints with its music programmes in European evenings and overnight. Plenty of “typical” Greek music, also jazz and classical music feature regularly. On 8 July at 1900 UT (on 9420 kHz) was a recorded live concert of covers of Beatles songs, including such greats as “Lady Madonna”, “Yesterday”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Hey Jude” and “Yellow Submarine”. Another very enjoyable hour from VoG! Until next time – good listening and 73. (Alan Roe, Listening Post with Alan Roe, listeningpost@bdxc.org.uk Aug BDXC-UK Communication, via Alan Roe for DXLD) Voice of Greece on 9420 and 9935 kHz on August 2: 0651-0845 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek*tx#3 0651-0845 on 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu Greek*tx#1 * news in Arabic 0652, Serbian 0656 and Spanish 0806 UT. At 0845 dead air on both frequencies & off air at 0900 UT. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/voice-of-greece-on-9420-and-9935-khz-on.html Reception of Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz & 9935 kHz, August 5-6 1800-0800 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek*tx#3 off at 0805 from 1800 on 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu tx#1 no signal at 0500 * 0510-0700UT Voice of Greece relay Sunday Orthodox Liturgy http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/reception-of-voice-of-greece-on-9420_6.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. Mauno Ritola shared a link on the WRTH Facebook group 2 August 2017 --- Mike Sabin from KTWR Guam informs: "Hi Everyone, KTWR reaches its 40th anniversary of broadcasting on 5 September this year. I don’t think that we will be doing any special broadcasts, but we do have 40th anniversary QSL cards designed. The printed cards should arrive soon. Please let your dx club members know in case they want to collect this special event card. If we do any special broadcasts, I will let you know. It would likely be a DRM transmission." http://www.twr.asia/about/guam Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** HAITI [and non]. Here's another article on the meeting. http://mediatelecom.com.mx/~mediacom/index.php/radiodifusion/radio/item/142814-senador-revela-que-233-emisoras-haitianas-interfieren-en-frontera-dominicana Apparently 233 Haitian stations "invade" Dominican territory and 33 Dominican stations can be heard in Haiti. The former seems to have a very poorly regulated broadcast sector, so... The bigger problem is definitely the phone service. Even the Dominican senator interviewed says he pays 4,000 pesos a month ($84.62) in roaming charges. Yikes (Raymie Humbert, AZ, July 28, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Interesting article, Raymie. I have written a four page article on the state of FM radio in Haiti for the WTFDA publication VHF-UHF Digest (VUD), which will be appearing in an upcoming issue. It outlines a September 2016 emergency press conference meeting the Director General of Haiti's CONATEL held. The situation on the FM band in Haiti is extreme. Since that article will be released in the near future, I will forego sharing any of the details of that meeting here (Jim Thomas, Springfield, MO, ibid.) I have spoken, at length, with a man who does Christian missionary work in Haiti. He tells me the government is as ineffective as it is corrupt (sounds familiar). It'll be interesting to see if the border area issues can be resolved. 73, (Ed NN2E, Owner / Operator - Murphy's Law Test Site & Thunderstorm Proving Grounds, KY, Last edited by NN2E; 08-01-2017 at 01:14 AM, ibid.) ** INDIA. Hi Glenn, Dave, Just a follow-up on AIR's Faithfully Yours - an edition of this programme did air on July 31, so that suggests that the programme is 2-weekly on Mondays rather than 1st/3rd Mondays. Next edition is therefore scheduled 14 August. 73 - (Alan Roe, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Alan, Tnx for keeping on this. However, it could be they intend to run it on 1 and 3 Mon, plus 5 Mon whenever there be one; so need to be sure there is NOT one on Aug 7. And BTW, what programme plays instead on the off-weeks? (Glenn to Alan, ibid.) Glenn, Dave, So: there is an edition of Faithfully Yours today (7 August) which means that (probably) the programme is aired on the 1st, 3rd and (where applicable) 5th Mondays. On that basis, the next editions should be on 21 August and 4 September (Alan Roe, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Various AIR afternoon/night services in 1535 to 1550 UT time slot on July 29, in 60mb 4759.998 Tiny poor tentat. AIR bcast, S=4 at 1537 UT. 4799.995 AIR Hyderabad Telengana with English (not Hindi) newscast at 1538 UT, S=9+15dB signal. 4809.996 AIR Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, also AIR En S=9+20dB stronger ! \\ 4800 4810 4835 4910 kHz. 1539 UT. 4835even AIR Gangtok, NARROW MUFFLED AUDIO, only 2.2 kHz small band, and also some 100 Hertz distance apart peaks visible. S=8, Pakistan Prime Minister case at 1543 UT. 4910.002 AIR Jaipur, Rajasthan, at 1549 UT Northern sce, low S=7-8. 4949.995 AIR Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, LOW MODULATION at 1553 UT, S=6 disappointing weak signal. 4970.015 AIR Shillong, Mawgrong, Meghalaya, excellent strong S=9+10dB signal noted, local subcontinental singer at 1557 [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (wb df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 29, via BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) ** INDIA. Hi Ed and Bruce, Normally I find all the regional AIR stations switch over to the New Delhi audio feed at 1512 UT; commercial announcements in Hindi 1512-1515; followed by the news in Hindi 1515-1530, followed with news in English 1530-1545; all this via Delhi audio feed. BTW - Both 4895 (AIR Kurseong) & 5050 (AIR Aizawl), continue silent through Aug 2 (Ron Howard, California, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR presents national morning news also, 0230-0245 UT in Hindi and follows by in English 0245-0300 UT in various domestic channel. LI MENG | ?? https://www.facebook.com/lenffant dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1230-1235, Aug 7. News/sports/stock market report in English; // AIR Chennai (4920), with both OTH radar and PBS Xizang QRM, and // AIR Jeypore (5040); all semi-readable; was not // 4810, AIR Bhopal (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS ** INDIA. Log: AIR GOS 7750 kHz 1825 UT --- Hallo! Der englische Überseedienst aus Indien auf Abwegen. O=4. 73, Patrick Robich, austria, August 8, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) 7750, 1730-2230 UT, AIR Bangalore technician keyboard GLITCH failure tonight, -- instead of scheduled 7550 kHz. S=9+30dB signal strength here in southern Germany at 2110 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 7750, August 8 at 2158, JBA carrier, tnx to tip from Wolfgang Büschel that today AIR Bengaluru punched the wrong frequency, instead of 7550 for the GOS, first caught by Patrick Robich, Austria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9575, August 6 at 1214 the haunting AIR IS, about S6, 1215 opening barely audible. It`s Tibetan until 1330, 500 kW, 102 degrees from Bengaluru per Aoki, and *jammed, but no sign of that yet from the ChiCom. 102, south of due east is not the direxion of Tibet from Bengaluru! No better antenna available, or error? HFCC shows 38 degrees --- that`s more like it! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CHINA --- still jamming 11845 without AIR Chinese ** INDIA. LARGEST DRM DEPLOYMENT IN THE WORLD EXPANDED WITH SIX MORE NAUTEL TRANSMITTERS === All India Radio adds to massive digital radio deployment with four 100 kW and two 200 kW NX transmitters. Hackett’s Cove, Nova Scotia – Nautel Limited has shipped six additional high-power DRM-enabled MW transmitters for deployment at All India Radio, the largest digital broadcasting system in the world. Four 100 kW NX100 and two 200 kW NX200 transmitters were shipped to India in July 2017 for installation in six cities. The transmitters will be commissioned by Nautel’s in-country partner Comcon in association with India’s Prasar Bharati. The July, 2017 shipment of 6 NX transmitters complements the 27 NX transmitters which are already on air with DRM transmission throughout India. The massive project has the goal of bringing digital radio to nearly a billion residents of the country. The new transmitters will be installed at All India Radio (AIR) facilities in Hyderabad, Jagdalpur, Vishakhapatnam, Bhawanipatna, Jeypore and Sambalpur. All 33 transmitters in the AIR project are configured for DRM30 operation. Nautel NX high power transmitters occupy a very small footprint and offer the industry’s highest efficiency (90%) along with AM precorrection, unmatched linearity and Nautel’s exclusive, award- winning Advanced User Interface which provides commercial grade instrumentation, spectrum analyzer, logging, presets, local and remote transmitter control, email notifications and enhanced support services. “Nautel is excited to partner with Comcon and Prasar Bharati on this extensive project,” said Kevin Rodgers, Nautel President and CEO. “With this system fully deployed in all parts of India, AIR is uniquely positioned to serve the different dialects and regional needs of its billion listeners. It’s a shining example of the capabilities digital broadcasting can provide throughout the world.” Nautel MW and FM transmitters will be demonstrated at the upcoming IBC show in Amsterdam on stand 8.C49. For more information on the All India Radio project, visit http://www.nautel.com/AIR About Nautel Nautel has emerged as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of AM and FM radio broadcast transmitters. With more than 15,000 transmitters deployed in over 177 countries since 1970 and more than 7,000 deployments of AUI-enabled transmitters, Nautel continues to lead the way in providing valuable new solutions for digital radio broadcasting and other applications. # # # For more information please contact: John Whyte Director of Marketing 902-823-5174 902-802-0813 (mobile) John.Whyte@nautel.com Making Digital Broadcasting Work. www.nautel.com Wednesday, August 2nd, 2017 Posted in: Digital Radio, DRM, Press Releases Tags: Tags: DRM Comments are closed. Posted by: (Mike Terry, Aug 4, dxldyg via DXLD) hype, hype, hype (gh) ** INDONESIA. 9524.940, V Of Indonesia, Chinese scheduled, light music heard from Cimanggis-INS. S=9+10dB heard in remote SDR at Delhi India, 1530 UT Aug 2nd. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looks like Voice of Indonesia is back on the other transmitter - heard now (Aug 2nd, 1248 UT) on 9524,94 kHz with fair signal. Best Regards, (Wojtek Zaremba, Legionowo, CePoland, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Voice of Indonesia, back on the former 9524.95 (ex 9525.95), on Aug 2, in Chinese at 1138; in Japanese at 1226; at 1315, ID & frequencies in English; "Today in History," "Focus"; close to being readable, but not quite. Aug 3, still on 9524.95. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 1406, Aug 3. Palangkaraya local news; ending at 1413 with the playing of the patriotic/national song “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku.” It will be recalled that Aug 17th is Independence Day in Indonesia, so all month long they will be playing “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku” at the end of all their news programs (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3325, Pro 1 RRI Palangkaraya, 1139, Aug 5, with NBC Bougainville clearly off the air at this time. Almost fair reception at 1232, with audio feed of the Jakarta news in Bahasa Indonesia, with item about the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting being held today in Manila; short sound bite in English of Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano's ASEAN speech - "We now enjoy peace, security and stability in the region. More importantly . . ."; ending the news at 1234, by playing the patriotic/national song “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku”; ID for "Pro Satu RRI Palangkaraya." My audio of ASEAN news item and “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku” at http://goo.gl/LQbh9W (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) See also BOUGAINVILLE Re 3325: Dear Wolfgang, - after listening with my wife {from INDONESIA national} to the record, I can assure, it is definitely an Indonesian station, language is without doubt Indonesian and the music is so typical Indonesian dangdut, it can't be better! And as for GH's request that they should move to some other frequency, so that a handful of DXers in some faraway country can hear them better, well, they couldn't care less! Best regards, de Gerhard (Werdin, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) I am not being a nothing-but-DXer. Bougainville may well cause QRM in Palangkaraya`s intended coverage area, duh! And vice-versa. It`s always better to avoid potential interference when you have a choice to do so (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. 10 ALTERNATIVE BROWSERS From an article in PC World magazine, if you’re looking to shake up your web-surfing experience, consider these 10 great browsers not named Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. http://tinyurl.com/ybwc3hrp (Via Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Radio HF Internet Newsletter August via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. The Man Behind 1 Radio News | Radio magazine http://www.radiomagonline.com/blogentry/1322 Mr. Clift participates here in these groups -- great to see 1 Radio News get increased publicity - it's a handy way to get international broadcasters on your smartphone fingertips!! (Richard Cuff, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Thanks, Richard! I think folks here might be interested in my rough draft dirty laundry list of world radio news that isn't quite as accessible on-demand as it should be. I would think we'd still have some international programming in English from places like Serbia, Bulgaria, etc. IF five plus years ago they had jumped into the full podcast ecology and built up an audience for their "external services" via a new channel. I am 100% for shortwave, but that content needs a solid digital platform to boost its domestic political viability. See: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h594VLTds2eThEVaR4Vzbwsl_Niozu3vN9wRYatLThE Also, here are relevant parts of my email interview that didn't appear in the article: ... You’d think Western media or media development networks would work to help Kenya fix their radio streams before the Russians or Chinese do? ... I also have this crazy idea that we should take the best of news radio on-demand/podcasts and blast them with permission to the remotest parts of the world via shortwave (and of course as live streams and like the World Radio Network, encourage FM rebroadcasting overnights and more). Cheers, (Steve, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. PROJECT AMELIA EARHART PILOT BRIAN LLOYD, WB6RQN, BACK IN THE CONTINENTAL US --- ARRL 08/02/2017 As of August 2, Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN, and Spirit, his Mooney M20K 231, are back in the continental US, with just a little more time in the air needed to complete his Amelia Earhart commemorative round-the- world flight. He arrived on July 31 in Oakland, California, after a long flight leg from Hawaii and visited with friends in Cameron Park, where he once lived. Lloyd has been active on the air during his entire adventure, which was funded by The Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum and through other donations. He has been retracing the route the famous aviator never finished in 1937, and his schedule now calls for completing his circumnavigation on August 5 at his home airfield — Kestrel Airpark in Texas. Lloyd will stop over first in Atchinson, Kansas. http://www.arrl.org/news/project-amelia-earhart-pilot-brian-lloyd-wb6rqn-back-in-the-continental-us Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. VOIRI, 9800, 1922-1925, Male in English, with discussion of the Shia sacrifices made and how they will continue to be victorious until the coming of the 12th Imam. ID at 1923, with programming info. SINPO 55555 (ED SYLVESTER, RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, Aug 6, Rig: WJ-8711A; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30', dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. PASSING OF AMBASSADOR DAVID NEWTON -- THE FIRST DIRECTOR OF RADIO FREE IRAQ === Ambassador David Newton -- The First Director Of Radio Free Iraq --- July 28, 2017 --- Sergei Danilochkin The former staff of Radio Free Iraq, and the entire RFE/RL community, were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ambassador David Newton, who served as the first director of the service from 1998 until 2004. Prior to his work at RFE/RL, Ambassador Newton spent more than three and a half decades in the U.S. diplomatic service mostly involved with the Middle East, and served as ambassador to Yemen (1994-97) and ambassador to Iraq (1984-88). Newton was well-known among those who study the Arab world, for his deep knowledge of the history and culture of the Middle East and ability to apply those skills to explain the modern politics of ancient countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, which in recent years had become hotbeds of violence and religious extremism. [...]. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/28645717.html (via Hansjoerg Biener, Aug 8, DXLD) OBIT ** ISLE OF MAN. Manx Radio 1368 kHz --- Intriguing announcement on the Radio Caroline website: "Caroline North --- Our friendship with Manx Radio will extend further and longer than we imagined. The 1368 AM transmitter on the island that was scheduled for closure will now be overhauled to stay on air. Maybe we will have more to announce on the day." (The day is August 13th) http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/home.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, Aug 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) We had a brief report in the January issue of Communication that Manx Radio’s board wanted to close their MW transmitter in 2019; now it seems that its going to stay on the air after all! Thanks to Mike Terry for this report (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) MANX RADIO MARKS MARINE OFFENCES ACT 50TH Radio Today 7 August 2017 https://radiotoday.co.uk/2017/08/manx-radio-marks-marine-offences-act-50th Manx Radio is marking the 50th anniversary of the Marine Offences Act with special programmes live from the Ross Revenge. It’ll be 50 years on August 14th since the act became law, which made it illegal to broadcast music radio from a vessel on the high seas. The programmes, entitled When Pirates Waved the Rules, will air from Saturday 12th to Tuesday 15th August. The Saturday morning programme “Carnaby Street”, will be broadcast live from Radio Caroline’s radio ship on 12th August from 08:30am, with live updates over the weekend from the ship plus coverage of the Radio Caroline party in Clacton- upon-Sea on Sunday 14th. This weekend will also see Radio Caroline North and South broadcasting together for the first time since 1967 (actually '68 - Mike). On Monday 14th August Manx Radio will present a documentary which has sat in its archive for twenty seven years, in which audiences will hear the full story of events from 1964 to 1993, presented by Radio Caroline station manager Peter Moore and former Radio Caroline presenter Johnny Reece. Two stations broadcast from vessels, one off the south coast of England, the other from Ramsey Bay in the Isle of Man and covered most of Britain combined, with an audience of millions. At the time many people heard pop music for the first time on a continuous basis, as previously they were only able to listen to an hour a day on the BBC or struggle under the bed clothes listening to Radio Luxembourg. Some will recall either listening or visiting the M.V Fredericia during its time in Ramsey Bay, but may not be aware of the whole story of “the first and the last” of the pirates and “When Pirates Waved the Rules” will bring that story back to life for those who look back at that time with fond memories (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3910 & 3930, August 3 at 1124, sounds like // music vs noise jamming, so Voice of the People, clandestine, each 50 kW ND on their recently adjusted frequencies as of a couple months ago. I expect 3930 is bothering JOZ 3925 reception in Asia. 3985, August 3 at 1125, similar signal with jamming but talk, i.e. the other clandestine, Echo of Hope (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5965, JAPAN, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze (Japan to N Korea - presumed) at 1300. W talking over piano music. went on thru BoH. I was unable to determine language as signal was Fair at best. (I am using only indoor antennas and battery sets due to weather here. Besides, a recent storm put my best outdoor antenna practically on the ground). Surely sounded like Sea Breeze broadcasts I have heard before, and Ron Howard in California has reported hearing them again on this frequency. Station faded out before 1400. August 1 (Rick Barton, AZ, most with R.S. SW-2000629 or Grundig Satellit 750 and indoor antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5965, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze, via Yamata, *1300, Aug 3. As it's Thursday, checking for English; yes and also unjammed today; 1330 repeat of first half hour. My audio http://goo.gl/jTVYdd (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6250, Echo of Hope, Seoul, 1810-1840, 01-08 Korean, comments, songs. Strong jamming on this frequency. 21321. Nothing from Malabo in the last days (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Lugo, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Chris Kadlec shared a link. July 31 at 6:58pm I've finally gotten around to uploading the full hour of 4885 Echo of Hope's broadcast loop. The following recording is from a close (unnamed, due to our dabbling in North Korean propaganda over the years) friend who lives about a half hour from the 4885 tower (the tower was much closer to my home), while the one-hour schedule and the transliteration of the opening posted below were both originally posted in this group by Ron Howard with help from Japanese friends. Here's the 60-minute clip of 4885 South Korea recorded back on June 26th. You can find photos of the tower of origin that I posted in the Transmitter Photos group in the past if you search hard enough. http://www.beaglebass.com/…/external/2017_07/4885_062617.mp3 * * * * * 4885, Echo of Hope VOH. The program's name that is looped every hour is called "Radio Broadcasting Guide." As such it provides a lot of info about Korean stations, with segments with many different singing jingle IDs, as well as clips of different stations spoken IDs; with some in English - "V O A World News" & "Radio Free Korea"; whereas most of the program is in Korean. 4885 is NOT // to the other VOH frequencies of 3985 // 5995 // 6250 // 6350 // 9100. 00- Opening Music - Arirang For One 03- VOH - "Radio Broadcasting Guide" opening announcement. 05- Schedule and frequency of broadcasting for North Korea. (Male Commentator is Soo-Hyuk Kim.) *VOH - Echo of Hope - "Huimang-e Meali Bangsong" *RFA - Radio Free Asia - "Jayu Asia Bangsong" *VOA - Voice of America - "Migug-e Soli Bangsong" *KBS - "Hanminjog Bangsong" *National Unity Radio - "Gugmin Tong-il Bangsong" *FEBC - Far East Broadcasting Co. - "Geugdong Bangsong" *NKRR - North Korea Reform Radio - "Choseon Gaehyeok Bangsong" / "Bukhan Gaehyeok Bangsong" *FNK - Free North Korea Radio - "Jayu Bukhan Bangsong" *VOF - Voice of Freedom - "Jayu-e Soli Bangsong" *RFK - Radio Free Korea - "Jayu Korea Bangsong" *Radio Free FM - "Jayu FM Bangsong" 15- Station Jingle Collection. *VOH - SJ "hui mang!" *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *VOH - Low frequency SJ with Mi-Kyung Lee sings. *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *Radio Free FM - Jayu FM SJ *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ 18- Broadcasting guide for North Korea *VOH - Echo of Hope - "Huimang-e Meali Bangsong" *RFA - Radio Free Asia - "Jayu Asia Bangsong" *VOA - Voice of America - ["V O A World News" - Ron] "Migug-e Soli Bangsong" *KBS - "Hanminjog Bangsong" 29- Station Jingle Collection. *VOH - SJ "Yeoleobun-e VOH! Huimang-e Meali Bangsong" *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *VOH - High frequency SJ with Mi-Kyung Lee sings. *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *Radio Free FM - Jayu FM SJ *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ 32- Broadcasting guide for North Korea *National Unity Radio - "Gugmin Tong-il Bangsong" (Four groups to North Korea established Broadcasting station : RFC - Radio Free Choseon "Jayu Choseon Bangsong" / ORNK - Open Radio for North Korea "Yeollin Bukhan Bangsong" / Daily NK / OTV) *FEBC - Far East Broadcasting Co. - "Geugdong Bangsong" *NKRR - North Korea Reform Radio - "Choseon Gaehyeok Bangsong" / "Bukhan Gaehyeok Bangsong" *FNK - Free North Korea Radio - "Jayu Bukhan Bangsong" *VOF - Voice of Freedom - "Jayu-e Soli Bangsong" *RFK - Radio Free Korea - ["Radio Free Korea" - Ron] "Jayu Korea Bangsong" *Radio Free FM - "Jayu FM Bangsong" 43- Station Jingle Collection. *VOH - SJ "Yeoleobun-e VOH! Huimang-e Meali Bangsong" *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *VOH - High frequency SJ with Mi-Kyung Lee sings. *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ *Radio Free FM - Jayu FM SJ *RFK - Jayu Korea Bangsong SJ 46- Production method of short wave radio antenna. 55- VOH - "Radio Broadcasting Guide" closing announcement 57- Closing music 60- repeat 00 * * * * * At 1203 gong/bell rung slowly three times, followed by full ID in Korean. Thanks very much to Amano-san, here is the ID and his translation, posted to Hiroyuki Komatsubara's website, "Now On The Radio" http://radio.chobi.net/DX/ : Korean reading - Sound of the bell; 3 times. - Female start announcement: "joguggwa haeoee gyesin dongpo yeoleobun, annyeonghasib nikka? i bangsong-eun haeoedongpochong-yeonhab-eseo bonaedeulineun VOH huimang-e meali bangsong-ibnida. choi VOH huimang-e meali bangsong-eun jogug-e pyeonghwatong-il gwa jeonsegye uri dongpodeul-e jayuwa beon-yeong-eul wi han haeoedongpo bangsong-euloseo hangsangppaleugo jeonghwaghan sosiggwa jinsildoen naeyong-eulo yeoleobunkke yong-giwa huimang-eul jeonhae deuligessseubnida. VOH huimang-e meali bangsong-eun jogug sigan-eulo ohu 3(se)sibuteo da-eumnal achim 9(a-hop)si kkaji danpa 3985(sam-chong gu-peak pal-sip o) kHz wa, 4885(sa-chong pal-peak pal-sip o) kHz, 5995(o-chong gu-peak gu-sip o) kHz, 6250(yuk- chong i-peak o-sip) kHz, 6350(yuk-chong sam-peak o-sip) kHz, 9100 (gu-chong peak) kHz lo bangsongdoebnida. geuleom dongpo yeoleobun-e manh-eun aecheong-eul butagdeulimyeon so dongpo yeoleobun-e wi han 'Radio bangsong annae'-eul sijaghagessseubnida. yeogineun haeoedongpochong-yeonhab-eseo bonaedeulineun hui mang-e meali bangsong-ibnida. VOH." - VOH SJ "hui mang!" : English - Sound of the bell; 3 times. - Female start announcement: "Hello to all my fellow countrymen and overseas fellows! This broadcast is VOH - Echo of Hope sent from the Foreign Family Alliance. Our VOH - Echo of Hope communicates the courage and hope to everyone with constantly quick and accurate news and truth content as one foreign brother broadcast, with the unity of peace in our country and the freedom and prosperity of our fellow countrymen. VOH - Echo of Hope will be broadcast at 3985 kHz, 4885 kHz, 5995 kHz, 6250 kHz, 6350 kHz, 9100 kHz with shortwave from 3 pm in homeland time to 9 o'clock on the next day. Then, I wish for many people 's love hearings, and I will start "Radio Broadcasting Guide" for all my friends. This is Echo of Hope sent from the Foreign Family Alliance. VOH." - VOH SJ "Hope!" (WRTH FB via DXLD) [SJ = singing jingle? gh] 4885, Echo of Hope - VOH, on Aug 8, instead of the normal starting and ending at the ToH for the one hour program "Radio Broadcasting Guide," which is repeated again every hour, today was far out of sync and had some transmitter problems; 1303-1320*, *1322-1323*, *1327+; at 1322 bell/gong rung slowly three times and regular intro to the program; normally this would have been at 1303, so today about 19 minutes out of sync; the next hour at 1420 and 1423, there was no transmitter problem, but still out of sync by the same amount of time; good reception (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 5920, Voice of Freedom, on Aug 2, at 1246. Being jammed with pulsating noise, but fortunately not the heavy white noise jamming that is still up on ex 6135, so reception not so bad. My audio at http://goo.gl/VNkyxw Aug 3, found VOF back on 6135 (ex 5920), at 1139 and subsequent checking till 1425; very much blocked by white noise jamming, while ex 5920 had the usual lighter pulsating noise jamming (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6135, Voice of Freedom (ex 5920). Aug 4, still heard here with the usual white noise jamming, but today VOF with about the best ever reception at 1021 and subsequent checking till 1237 (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. KOREA Rep of (KOR) 3909.965, V of the People in Korean, jammed by KRE at 1420 UT on July 29, S=9+10dB. 3479.987, V of the People in Korean, heavily jammed by various audio sounds. S=9+15dB at 1442 UT on July 29. Jamming whistle on 3480.056 kHz and 3478.953 kHz, also some 5 / 7 / 9 kHz whistle strings, a n d separate bubbler 6 x 100 Hertz apart distance peaks varied around 3485.250 kHz center too. 5940even, V of Freedom via KOR, no jamming at 1932 UT, S=8 signal at 1932 UT. Heard on July 29 in remote unit in eastern Thailand. 5995.030, KOR, Echo of Hope in Korean at 1936 UT, S=5-6 poor signal, and + KRE jamming too. Heard on July 29 in remote unit in eastern Thailand. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] KOREA Rep of (KOR), 3909.965 \\ 4449.990 kHz V of the People in Korean, S=9+5dB at 1530 UT. Fq varied 4 Hertz up and downwards. And jammed by KRE at 4449.906 kHz, also 10 Hertz varied up and down. 4884.996 kHz tentat EoH KOR ?, weak S=4-5 at 1546 UT on July 29. More logs from remote SDR post in eastern Thailand (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 29 via BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. Instead of leaving shortwave, Radio Kuwait has abandoned analogue shortwave transmissions in favour of DRM. Read my obituary (logging) below. I had an Alinco DX-R8 at one time that could decode DRM, with appropriate computer software, but there was only REE’s Costa Rica facility (since closed) with a reliable signal as RCI had already abandoned DRM. I sold it when I got licensed as a ham radio operator as there was no point in having a DRM-capable receiver with no one broadcasting to my corner of the planet. I’m not about to get back on the DRM bandwagon as once burned, twice shy. I’ll content myself with listening to analogue shortwave as do the 99% of SWLs out there. All loggings in English unless otherwise specified. 15540, Radio Kuwait at 1958 with no audio but the hash and noise that suggests a DRM signal --- Good signal but no audio Aug 2. I haven`t been looking for this one, lately, and will take it out of my bank of memories. Glenn Hauser`s last DXLD reports that they have, indeed, abandoned analogue shortwave in favour of DRM. With DRM a largely dead mode outside of Asia, with precious little in the way of reliable receivers to decode it, and precious few listeners who can afford the receivers that do work, Radio Kuwait has definitely shot themselves in the foot. RIP (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) Well, not all RK broadcasts have switched to DRM, yet (gh, ibid.) 13655, Radio Kuwait at 1933 with unintelligible audio due to DRM transmission – Very Good signal wasted Aug 7 – Another waste of energy where Arabic is scheduled (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) 13650? Fortunately Deewa Radio (and maybe others) are still using Kuwait for analog transmissions. 13590 Pashto 1300-1700 (Harold Sellers, Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening, available at http://www.odxa.on.ca ibid.) Radio Kuwait Persian programme observed signing-on 7250 kHz at 0800 UT today (2 August 2017), monitored via Oman remote receiver (David Kernick, Interval Signals Online, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since July 19 on air: KUWAIT, ITU type #935 antenna, crossed dipole antenna like non directional pattern around Iran / Kuwait in Near East: 7250 0800-1000 39,40 KBD 250 0 0 935 Fas KWT RKW MOI 7250 kHz Radio Kuwait in Persian heard on check at remote SDR unit in Doha Qatar, at 0905 UT on July 19. S=9+35dB powerful signal, wideband 19.8 kHz audio block signal visible on Perseus software screen. Station ID read by female voice at 0909 UT. [later] 7250 R Kuwait in Persian, with final Kuwaiti National Anthem play heard at 0959:20 UT, switched into 1000 UT Filipino language audio feed, Radio Kuwait stn annmt til 1000:36 sudden TX OFF. But Filipino sce n o t on air on 21580 kHz in 13mb (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 19, 2017) Looks like Radio Kuwait English service is now using pararell 13650 kHz (19:48, August 4th). Can anyone confirm? Thanks! Best Regards, (Wojtek Zaremba, Legionowo, Central Poland, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) I see what looks like a big fat DRM carrier on 13650 via uTwente (Paul Walker, PA, 1951 UT, ibid.) ** LUXEMBOURG [non]. Now on 9975, special for 60th anniversary Radio Luxembourg RTL German service. Transmitter site? Since 1800 UT re Christian Ghibaudo - thanks for tip. Good signal here. 73 (Alan Pennington, AOR7030plus ALA1530, Caversham UK, 1908 UT, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Good signal here in Teddington. Transmitter is Gavar, Armenia according to Eibi update of 3 August (Alan Roe, Teddington, 1920 UT, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Hi, Any ideas what is the station on 9975 kHz heard now (August 6th, 1922 UT) in Poland with very good signal? Language is German, they seem to mention Radio Luxembourg very often. Sounds like a documentary. So far no luck with ID. Thanks and Best Regards, (Wojtek Zaremba, Legionowo, Central Poland, 1924 UT Aug 6, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Weak signal in Sofia 1932 UT on 9975 kHz, mention Radio Luxembourg very often (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, ibid.) RTL R Luxembourg special programme -- NOW (6 Aug at 1937 UT) until 2200 on 9975. Thx to tip from Christian Ghibaudo via Alan Pennington in BDXC mail list this is celebrating 60th anniversary Radio Luxembourg RTL German service. Transmitter until 2200 according to Eibi is via Gavar, Armenia (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, 1939 UT, dxld yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good signal in Nottingham, UK at 1958z with deep fading 45434. Currently playing Steppenwulf's Born to be Wild (Nick B., ICF-7600GR + ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ! AFAIK there was absolutely no advance publicity about this. Checked here at 2150, not even a JBA carrier detectable, and in 9980 WWCR bigsig splash (gh, DXLD) See also ARMENIA ** MALI. 5995, Radio Mali, Bamako, 1935-1945, 03-08, French, comments, mentioned “Mali, Bamako”, “L’Assemblée Nationale”. Good and clear signal today. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5995, Radio Mali, Bamako, 0555-0720, 06-08, non stop African songs, at 0632 vernacular, comments. 24322. (Méndez) 9635, Radio Mali, Bamako, 1750-1759*, 05-08, African songs, vernacular, comments, tuning music, close. 23322. Also *0759-0840, 06- 08, tuning music, French, ID “Vous écoutez la Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali émettant de Bamako”, religious program “La bonne nouvelle”, “un programme de l’Église évangélique”, vernacular, at 0830 African songs. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 540, August 3 at 1055, choral NA already playing from WSW, 1058 as expected ``La Ranchera de Paquimé``, XETX sign-on full ID from Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, along with 90.5 FM, street address, Grupo BM Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. 540, August 3 at 1058, having just heard XETX sign on, now there is another Mexican NA in its null toward the SSE, and 1100 ID as ``Los Cuarenta``, i.e. XEWA, San Luís Potosí, SLP. At this angle I am also getting a low het, but no time to pin it down, suspected Nicaragua where Managua sunrise is not until 1132 vs 1140 here. On July 8 until 0459*, Bruce Conti in NH measured R. Corporación on 539.859 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 660, August 3 at 1103, choral NA from SSW, 1105 into music but interjecting ``La Kaliente 102.9``, i.e. XEEY, Aguascalientes2, 50/10 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 710.0, August 3 at 1106, bit of ``Ode to Joy`` theme, or rather whatever hymn has stolen its tune, and sermon in Spanish about el muro de Jerusalén. Voice sounds like same guy I frequently hear a few minutes later in bajoalemán, i.e. XEDP, La Ranchera de Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, not on the off-frequency transmitter at the moment. Maybe he appreciates Beethoven (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Glenn, a long 1983 article about XERF getting back to 250K again in case you are interested. Here is the link where you can read it: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/97775755/ ``Get full access with a Free Trial`` Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan on February 6, 1983, Page 13 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** MEXICO. After an hour of listening to `The Score`, filmmusic in stereo about James Horner, http://www.thescore.org/ on KUCO 90.1, I do a quick lowend bandscan, since as almost every day this summer, the 6m sporadic E map is criss-crossed with contact lines, many allegedly exceeding 88 MHz MUF. But often nothing here. 88.9, immediately on tune-in, August 4 at 2000 UT, ID for XHM-FM atop the OKC station. On down to 88.1, something else in Spanish promoting an event ``a las 6 de la tarde``, very briefly atop the two Okies. But nothing further from Mexico found in the next several minutes. Later checking the 6m DXmap, as usual most of the contact paths are roughly east-west across the US, with only a line or two implying southward paths to Mexico. WTFDA DB shows XHM-FM is 90 kW H&V from México DF, but 0.0 info about antenna height, `Siempre 88.9`, news/talk/soft AC format. 88.1, assuming it is likely also from the DF, would be: XHRED-FM, 95 kW H&V at 561 meters, Universal Stereo. Or rather, must break habit of ``Distrito Federal``, nevermore, now referred to as the non-state of Ciudad de México, CDMX in the database. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City explains: ``On January 29, 2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District (Spanish: Distrito Federal or D.F.).[25] The former "Distrito Federal" is now officially known as "Ciudad de México" (or "CDMX").[25] Mexico City is now in transition to become the country's 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state.[25] Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, unless the capital of the country is relocated elsewhere.[26]`` BTW, note along the left margin the huge list of Wikipedia languages, a lot of them unrecognizable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week --- [nothing about TV] [cf DXLD 17-31 for another press report miscalling this Opus 92 – gh] Something's changing on the Monterrey radio dial. XHQI is getting blown up. https://radionotas.com/2017/07/31/radio-opus-102-1-fm-nuevo-leon-cambiara-formato/ Classical Opus 102.1 bid farewell today after more than 30 years, http://www.m-x.com.mx/2017-07-31/eliminan-la-oferta-cultural-en-la-radio-de-nl-el-gobierno-de-el-bronco-reemplaza-opus-102-por-musica-mas-popular/ and listeners aren't happy. More than 3,000 people have signed a petition to save the station, and the director of the Nuevo León Arts Council isn't pleased. It looks like the end game is Opus moving to AM (this article says 1540, but it's 1510 XEQI). http://www.reporteindigo.com/reporte/df/La-cultura-sigue-perdiendo-espacio-en-la-radio XHQI is now known as Libertad 102.1 FM and appears to be something of an attempt to launch a full public radio service for Monterrey, with a variety of musical styles and other programs to be featured. https://www.facebook.com/Opus1510/posts/1335364666575642 It will probably get more, if not less devoted, listeners than Opus did. Seeking to be part of the discussion, a PAN federal deputy called the move toward more popular programming "a unilateral decision in the style of Hugo Chávez or Nicolás Maduro". https://twitter.com/BrenVelazquezV/status/892133654637498370 (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, July 31, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Analysis: Magnum Opus? When Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, known as "El Bronco", began his sexenio, Radio y Televisión Nuevo León was not in good shape. It was a state agency characterized by a need for technical improvements, neglect, and lost permits. (It still seems to be hanging on by a thread to its Monterrey-area stations, if the 2017 PABF is an indication.) Once upon a time, RTVNL was a pioneer. Some of its out- state FM stations have operated since the early 1980s, and all of them were the first FM radio services in their communities. XHQI has been on the air since 1978 and channel 28 since 1982. Now that RTVNL has saved itself from television extinction, it is turning its attention to its radio stations, which have been languishing and have probably gone years without technical improvements. First on the docket was shaking up the group's Monterrey duo, a public talk-formatted AM and a classical FM. The first signs of trouble for the 30-year-old Opus 102.1 came early in the month when Olga Nelly García began a self-help/motivational program. You can immediately see why this program was a misfit on a classical station. It turned out to be a sign of things to come, as today, XHQI was blown up and Opus moved to AM to make way for a new public radio station, Libertad 102. Now, there are several reasons to do this. The out-state stations probably need a primary program source, and if this is a first step toward improving them, it's needed. (Those stations don't even appear on the RTVNL site.) It's not like RTVNL didn't have talk programming. But for any musical genre, especially classical, a move to AM isn't a great idea. Mexico City managed to keep an AM classical station into the 21st century, but with the increasing interference plaguing all kinds of AM stations, and the unique sound performance demands of classical, this was a bad idea too. There was a reason XELA was sold and flipped. While Opus is not disappearing, it may as well have been handed a death sentence on the AM band. RTVNL is touting this refresh as part of "rescuing" the agency, with millions of pesos invested to perform long-needed technical upgrades. (The first phase was 25 million pesos, necessary for the digital transition.) The primary criticism seems to be something a little odd: that the new Libertad 102 is too...popular, too lowbrow. I get that this is a transition of magnitude, and that there is no FM competitor to pick up the slack. But there is something to be said for the idea of creating *public* radio. Governor Rodríguez Calderón put out a post on Sunday couching it in these terms: "Rumors are floating around that we'll be eliminating Nuevo León's cultural radio. That's not true, don't believe it. What we want to do is change up its programming. We want to make it cultural for everyone and not just a segment of the population." The problem with the argument, which is a valid one, is that sometimes public and popular and populist look like each other in El Bronco's government. Those not familiar with the political implications of this state administrations will want to know that El Bronco was the first governor anywhere in Mexico to run as an independent and win. The balance of the XHQI relaunch is a good one. The new XHQI, which inherits some of Opus's specialty programming, will probably pick up listeners that Opus simply could not reach, and the idea of creating inclusive public radio is solid and sound. But in Mexico, public radio easily can become political radio, and with a governor known for a populist style, the danger is that the new news and other programs on Libertad 102 merely serve to promote the governor and the state government. And, unfortunately for RTVNL, classical radio listeners might just be the most vocal bunch of them all. Now, I have to point some fingers at the news media for covering this a little oddly. Quite a few headlines have said that the only cultural radio station in Monterrey has moved. It was the only classical music outlet, but Monterrey has several university cultural stations (XHUNL, XHUDEM, XHTEC) and, if you're lucky enough to get its 20 watts ERP, an honest-to-goodness community station (XHTYL). That's not bad, especially for Mexico (Raymie, August 1, ibid.) IFT-4 will keep dragging on. So 25 stations found new winning bidders after the first round where the winner (usually Tecnoradio) dropped. 16 of them were paid up for by the second winner. http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/comunicacion-y-medios/comunicados-ift/comunicadoift86pagocontraprestacionesift04-01082017_1.pdf Another four will have to find --- a third winner, believe it or not (Raymie, Aug 1, ibid.) Jaliscalientes? So the RPC this week has added eight tech sheets and other documents that go from the boring to the intriguing. There are remote control authorizations with no transmitter info, STL link authorizations that have revealed a couple of transmitter locations, and then the tech sheets. Of the 8 stations that had two sheets: -Two had been approved by the IFT earlier this year and the details contained within were already known (XHTX and XHLIA). -Two are for stations that must be on the air but whose programming is almost totally unknown (XHITG and XHPER). -XHLLV changed its height, so we got a full tech sheet for it. -The other three were for recently built permit stations. While XHCSM's information was not all new (the transmitter site was known), the fact that XHOB is *also* there was not. We learned about XHYAM in Quintana Roo, too. But XHRRR-FM/Jalisco is a rrreally interrresting case. First off, it's no slouch technically: 15 kW from 444 m HAAT. http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/81584_170801001049_2462.pdf But that transmitter site might sound familiar to you: Cerro de los Gallos, apparently in the COL of Encarnación de Díaz. Well, it sort of is. If you know where Encarnación de Díaz is, you might be realizing something. If not, a Google Map will suffice. https://www.google.com/maps/search/21%C2%B039'36%22,+-102%C2%B013'39%22?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc8eO8rrrVAhUBw2MKHV4uAHoQ8gEIJzAA That's right, this transmitter is about 575 feet from the state line - -- on the Aguascalientes side. It's the same Cerro de los Gallos that is used to provide all TV service to Aguascalientes. Satellite imagery places all the transmitter buildings on the mountain in Aguascalientes, not Jalisco. Not surprisingly, Aguascalientes is smack dab in the 60 dBu contour of this station: [map] It may not be the last station to attempt an Aguascalientes move-in. Encarnación de Díaz was awarded a station in IFT-4. Graciela González del Villar will be building XHPEDJ-FM 95.3, conveniently placed at 400 kHz spacing to the existing 95.7 and 800 kHz away from the existing 94.5 in Aguascalientes. We will see whether the station is built to serve the Jalisco highlands and the 53,000 residents of Encarnación de Díaz...or aims its signal toward the one million residents of Mexico's 14th-largest metro (Raymie, Aug 3, ibid.) Right now, the NFL Hall of Fame Game is being played, featuring the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. This NFL milestone gives us a chance to evaluate the NFL on Mexican radio in 2017. We start with the two teams in the game: Arizona Cardinals Grupo Larsa Comunicaciones continues to be the primary rights holder for the Cardinals in Spanish. The affiliate list is rather bloated by the inclusion of entire clusters http://prod.static.cardinals.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/2016/AZC_RadioBroadcasting.pdf (someone please explain), but aside from "ZHCU", conflating XEPVJ and XEPJ, and an extra dose of XHSM, they have corrected most of the egregious callsign errors. They also have restored some coverage in some markets they had. As in the past, stations are either Radiorama (primarily División Pergom) or Larsa. Some notable additions or restorations to the coverage list include XHTUG Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the Los Mochis RR cluster, and RR in Chihuahua Capital. Larsa now controls the former Radiorama (Pergom) cluster in Mexicali. The games could wind up on newly minted Toño XHMUG if Larsa follows their coverage strategy employed in most of their own markets with other telecasts, but the entire cluster is listed. (There's also the problem that their pregame "Countdown" show should really be Conteo Regresivo, not Conteo Progresivo ---) Dallas Cowboys The Cowboys appear to be retaining XHDL, but they do not have their 2017 media guide available for my consumption. Houston Texans Grupo Radio Centro's NFL site has not been updated for the 2017 season. GRC operated the Spanish-language network in 2016. There is no mention of Mexican radio in the Texans' own media guide. Los Angeles Chargers The Chargers have moved up the California coast, but they did not leave their primary Mexican affiliate high and dry. XHFG remains in the Chargers radio network, though it is now secondary behind LA flagship KFWB 980. Their fellow Angelenos, the Rams, do not have any radio affiliates in San Diego, or even Mexico. Oakland Raiders One of the most popular teams in Mexico, but no Spanish radio broadcasts anywhere. They do maintain a far-flung affiliate, KASR Vilonia-Little Rock, Arkansas, but no XHs. This is a lost opportunity for this club. When they move to Vegas, they hopefully will correct this mistake. They could pull it off, like the Cardinals, Steelers and Cowboys have at times. Pittsburgh Steelers Their site still mentions Imagen, but it might not be updated. In 2016, XEUR aired the Steelers. Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa (Raymie, Aug 3, ibid.) ** MOLDOVA. In recent days, one of Tiraspol is not heard at 621 kHz in the morning. There are also no programs in Russian prepared by Radio Free Europe in Russian for Transnistria at 873 and 1494 kHz. Maybe Disappeared in May? (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Moscow Information DX Bulletin, Weekly electronic edition Number 1054, July 25, 2017, The editor of the current issue is Alexander Dementiev, via Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. Nice signal in Maryland this evening from Myanmar on 5985 kHz. Tuning signal (a steady tone of perhaps 1000 Hz) heard from 2250 tune-in to 2255. Xmsn started right at 2300. Some splatter from 5990 [Cuba] 8/2/17 (Art Delibert, North Bethesda, MD, JRC NRD-93, Pennant antenna with DX Engineering pre-amp, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Presumably long-path, like I said (gh, DXLD) 5985, Myanmar Radio, on Aug 7, tuned in at 1215, to hear the Monday edition of the English language lesson ("Say It In English") already in progress; program will be repeated on Wed.; dialogue between "Mr. Harris" and "Tom," who wants Tom to take the morning 7:00 train to Manchester; "The meeting is very important. Don't miss the train"; Tom works for a company that "makes some of the finest clocks and watches in the world," but he is "never on time for anything"; he missed the train and then rushes to take a taxi to the airport to catch the 8:00 plane to Manchester; 1227 end of "Say It In English"; fairly readable, but background noise almost like low level white noise jamming. My local sunrise was at 1318 UT, whereas Yangon sunset was at 1204 UT (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. NL: Groot Nieuws Radio langer op de middengolf https://www.grootnieuwsradio.nl/k/n663/news/view/103063/86103/groot-nieuws-radio-langer-op-de-middengolf.html Groot Nieuws Radio will continue using 1008 kHz until 28 February 2018 and possibly until 31 December 2018, if no maintenance is needed. Novec, the owner of the transmission facility, wanted to end broadcasting from the site but agreed to an extension. Listeners of the religious broadcaster had argued that the DAB+-coverage is not yet adequate, but the management of Groot Nieuws Radio can now use the additional months to work towards improving the DAB-coverage. 1 August 2017 (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Aug 7, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. PCJ Radio International --- On a similar note [to UKRAINE, q.v.], I was very happy to listen again to the radio play “At The King’s Pleasure” produced for Radio Netherlands and originally aired in 1972. It was aired this time in a special summer holiday edition of the Happy Station Show from PCJ Radio Int (via WRMI at 0100 UT on 11580 kHz on [UT Wed] 12 July). This was some fifty minutes long and it is a rare treat to have a single play running that long on shortwave. I think that PCJ aired this a year or so ago, but it was well worth a repeat, and I hope that Keith Perron has some more of these tucked away in the Radio Netherlands archives for airing in the future. Until next time – good listening and 73. (Alan Roe, Listening Post with Alan Roe, listeningpost@bdxc.org.uk Aug BDXC-UK Communication, via Alan Roe for DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. KBC: See GERMANY ** NEW ZEALAND. 6224-USB, August 8 at 0603, marine weather in English, very poor, mostly numbers copiable, knots, barometer. It`s ZLM, Taupo Maritime Radio, in between scheduled broadcasts per EiBi, at 0533-0553 & 0803-0823. Last logged this in December of 2015 with similar observations when I also added: ``Taupo is in the middle of North Island, at the NE corner of lake of same name, as far from a coast as you can get, but at a good skip distance, and not far from RNZI`s Rangitaiki site, I think`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 7425, August 5 at 1208, RNZI still VG at S9+20 on the NNE antenna, not NNW; all-night hostess is previewing programming until 6 am (18 UT) and promises to blog live about some sporting event; 1210 into song. 7425, August 6 at 1214, RNZI is S9+20 with pop music, so still not aiming toward PNG. Barry Hartley explains what`s really going on, which is not made clear on the RNZI website. I had said, ``7425, July 27 at 1247, RNZI obviously still on the Pacific rather than PNG antenna as nominally switched to only at 11-13 UT; consequently a good signal here when we normally must strain to hear it or give up. RNZI still claims, ``Bougainville/Papua New Guinea and Timor Transmission 1100-1300 UTC. From 1100-1300 UTC our programme is directed to the North Western Pacific and Asia``, at http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/listen Barry replied August 1: ``Hi Glenn, Further to your comments in the NASWA Flashsheet, RNZI has an antenna switching problem at the transmitter site, which means the 325 degree antennas cannot be used at present. Repairs should happen soon. The 35 degree antennas are being used full time with 100 kW, which actually is the power always used by RNZI. It is usually split between two antennas, 50 kW each beamed 35 and 325 degrees. The transmitter NEVER runs at 50 kW! Regards, Barry Hartley`` On August 3 I replied: ``Barry, That explains it, but I am a bit confused by what you say. RNZI own skeds never show two headings at once, rather always Pacific except at 11-13, PNG, which is currently out of service. Do you mean when it`s working, the 325 antenna is still getting half the power even when PNG is not singled out as target? And only the other half on the 35? It did not seem that way to us, with a signal drop at 1100 on 7425. HFCC registrations do show 50 kW each on both antennas almost all the time (except unspecified DRM 35 kW) along with many alternate frequencies not currently employed. I figured this was to cover possible contingency changes, rather than actual usage all the time. http://hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=A17&fmor=RNZ RNZI is also handling the frequency management for Vanuatu and Solomon Islands`` And Barry responds August 6: ``Hi Glenn, Yes, both antennas, 35 degrees and 325 degrees are used most of the time. The 100 kW is split between them. The only exceptions are the DRM service, 1645-2050 UT, when 35 kW DRM is used (the 100 kW becomes 35 kW in DRM mode) and the PNG/Bougainville service, 1059-1258 UT, when 100 kW is beamed at 325 degrees. Contrary to what Ivo in Bulgaria says, RNZI ALWAYS runs at 100 kW! By the way, RNZI is now officially called RNZ Pacific, since May, although the term RNZI is used as well. RNZ looks after Vanuatu and the Solomons` frequency assignments as favour to them. RNZ also looks after their transmitters occasionally when severe problems arise. It is part of New Zealand's Pacific aid program. I hope this explains things! Regards, Barry`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9630, RNZI at 0530, news magazine. Absolute armchair on Panasonic RF- 2200, whip. August 7 (Rick Barton, AZ, most with R.S. SW-2000629 or Grundig Satellit 750 and indoor antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio New Zealand Pacific --- Good signal on 9630 kHz at 0615 UT here in Naples, Florida, in my rented vacation house, using the Texsun PL- 880 with just its whip antenna despite RFI. RNZ "Checkpoint" news program followed by news headlines and "Trending Now" at 0630 (Richard Langley, Aug 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So during the 325 degree antenna downtime, are all the frequencies on the 35 antenna getting the full 100 kW instead of just 50, improving reception thisaway overall? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Yes, the 35 degrees antenna is receiving the full 100 kW. That should provide good reception in North America. Tomorrow should be monthly maintenance day at the transmitter site, so it may all change then! This is on the RNZI website: ``NB: Every month on the first Wednesday is Maintenance day at our transmitter site from 2230 to 0600 UT (Thursdays 1030-1800 NZST). During this period there may be interruptions to our programmes`` Regards, (Barry Hartley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oops, Aug 9 is second Wednesday (gh) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-AM, Aug 6 at 0108, music at S8-S7 which is about the same as the noise level. The only sign of pirate activity for me this evening, after earlier check circa 2300-2330. A few other unID logs of this: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,36560.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTEING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-USB, August 8 at 2300, pirate with rap at S8, and annoying screaming over background music past 2303. These logs, with the wrong date on thread header as Aug 9 instead of really Aug 8 https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,36596.0.html say it was Clever Name Radio intermittently between 2152 and 0017 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 7585, UNITED STATES [sic] (Pirate), YHWH at 0345. Unmistakable. "Josiah" with lecture on Yahweh, etc. Long deep fades at times, fair (and good on peaks) signal. Oddly, got best reception using my SW-2000629 and the window frame antenna. Went into a deep fade at 0419 and back at 0422. Faded down just before 0430. I waited it out and never heard anything after that. They/He must have gone off at 0430. August 3 (Rick Barton, AZ, most with R.S. SW-2000629 or Grundig Satellit 750 and indoor antennas, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unfortunately, I didn't see this until 0445 UT and nothing on 7585 into Victoria, so must have signed off earlier tonight. Thanks for the heads up on this recently, very erratic, pirate. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, BC, dxldyg via DXLD) 7585, August 5 at 0543, JBA carrier, presumed Station YHWH, which Rick Barton, AZ, has been reporting active again (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. NEW EPISODE OF BROAD SPECTRUM RADIO - COMMEMORATING THE CENTENNIAL OF OKLAHOMA'S GREEN CORN REBELLION Hello folks, I'm very excited to announce this special episode to commemorate this week's centennial of Oklahoma's Green Corn Rebellion, the first of several in a series about this bit of history. It will air on Friday, August 4 at 11 am CDT (1600 UT) on KTLR 890 am in Central Oklahoma and 103.7 FM in the OKC metro, but hopefully next week on several shortwave radio stations. In the meantime, it can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/download/bsr-203/bsr-203.mp3 And finally lots of reflections and accounts (both historical and contemporary) on the Green Corn Rebellion can be found on the GCR Centennial website at: http://www.greencorn.org (James Matthew Branum, August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 890, Friday August 4 at 1600 UT, KTLR OKC with `Broad Spectrum Radio`, new episode as publicized by James Branum, about the centennial of Oklahoma`s Green Corn Rebellion, but seemingly cut off early before 1612 UT, KTLR to a PSA and studio announcer opening own call-in program a bit early. ``Bad news --- due to a problem on the station's end, this broadcast cut off at the 11 minute mark. Good news - the show will air next Friday at the same time in its entirety. James with Broad Spectrum Radio`` James also hopes this will be ``next week on several shortwave stations``, no details yet. About episode and audio: http://broadspectrumradio.com/2017/08/04/bsr-magazine-show-the-green-corn-rebellion-centennial-part-1-bsr-203/ (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1530, August 4 at 1203 UT, `La Que Buena`` also mentioning Oaxaca almost sounding like an ID, but probably a musical group; from KXTD Wagoner OK (Tulsa market), 5 kW daytimer (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 91.7, Tuesday August 8 at 1330 UT, KOSU continues with NPR Morning Edition with the usual local breaks. This semi-hour had been the reliable spot for the monthly interview show `The Living Room with Gerry Bonds`, defined as the Tuesday after the first Wednesday, when it was airing at 2330 UT (plus one or two other odd spots on the KOSU schedule.) It was also missing when I checked for it July 11 at 1330 UT. Now we know why, checking the program website: http://www.thelivingroomgb.com/ ``Our Current Program [none since June] To our good friends and loyal listeners: We are moving to a new broadcast home for "The Living Room with Gerry Bonds." After six years, KOSU has elected to stop airing our award- winning program. We continue to be grateful to our primary underwriter, the Chickasaw Nation, for their loyal support, and we are working with them to continue our partnership. We will keep you posted on our new broadcast outlet. In the meantime, as always, we welcome your thoughts and comments. Many thanks`` While it ought to be on noncommercial public radio (what was KOSU thinking?), looks like KTLR 890 would be a possibility. Half an hour a month of airtime shouldn`t cost too much (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 92.1, August 4 at 2013, KAMG-LP Enid is still a weak signal of dead air, also circa 24 hours later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and on and on and on ** OKLAHOMA. OK tropo morning of August 6 propels some low-power OKC DTV to Enid. Decoding at 1452 UT are: RF 36, KUOK-CD; RF 42, KBZC-LD; At 1505 UT, RF 21, KTOU-LD with its six subchannels: 21-1, HSN 21-2, SBN Live per bug UR 21-3, HSN-2 21-4, JTV HD 21-5, totally black screen and no audio! 21-6, ? another infomercial Also in are full-powers on RF 26, KTEN ``10`` Ada; on RF 20, KQCW-HD ``19-1``, but exhibiting a KOTV 6 LR bug from Tulsa. KOCB RF 33 OKC is not decoding, implying some DX QRM to it. Most likely probably KUVN Garland TX among lots of other Texans and a few Okies, Kansies. Also Bad DTV signals not decoding on RF 19, 12 and 11 until 1500 UT. And once again, the last living NTSC transmitter around here, A48, KOCY-LP with Estrella TV, weak but steady and NOT cutting off the air! snowy color signal. Ahhh, snow, about to become a past-thing on the TV screen. (Unfortunately the autoscan on my main Sanyo screen previously picked this up, and thus refuses to display same Estrella TV as virtual 48-1 of RF 29 KTUZ, even when manually entered! Since 29`s virtual channels 30, 36 and 48 are not consecutive, tuning upward does not work either.) All gone by 1552 UT (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. Radio Sultanate Of Oman 15140 kHz Observation --- I did catch something interesting on the air yesterday; you know how recently Oman switched their English broadcast to the 1500-1600 UT time slot? Well all this month, through August 26th they are doing a live broadcast from the Shlalah Festival, 7 to 8 pm Oman local time each day which is --- drum roll --- 1500 to 1600 UT. They were inviting people from all over. I also heard them mention how it is 15 degrees Celsius cooler around the coast where the festival is being held compared to Muscat environs where the station is located. I wonder if English switches back after the festival and they are using shortwave to reach out to folks in more far flung parts of Oman or other nearby countries to invite them to the festival? Also of note, 12015 which is scheduled for 2200-0200 in Arabic was mistakenly English two nights ago, but I also rarely hear it and last night, it wasn't there at all (Paul Walker, PA, Aug 2, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) Radio Oman FM in English on 9540 kHz --- Radio Oman FM observed with their English Service on 9540 kHz at 0715 UT on 2 August 2017. Pops with local weather and chat presented by a very blokey English... erm... bloke. Good reception on an Oman remote receiver, inaudible here in UK and on Twente remote. Only a second or two out of sync with their web feed at http://part.gov.om/part/english/ (David Kernick, Interval Signals Online, aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Sultanate of Oman: 0200-0300 on 9540 THU 100 kW / 220 deg to EaAf Arabic 0300-0400 on 9540 THU 100 kW / 220 deg to EaAf English 0400-1000 on 9540 THU 100 kW / 220 deg to EaAf English, instead of 13600 Arabic -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Aug 2, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) None of these transmissions appear to be active - nothing heard in these time periods this evening (3 Aug UT) from remote receivers in Iceland or New Zealand (Bruce Churchill, CA, 0547 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably a frequency (and feed?) switching error: today back on scheduled 13600 kHz at 0850 (Mauno Ritola, Finland, 0855 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oman In English at 1700 UT --- I have been listening to Radio Sultanate of Oman in English from about 1650 UT on the usual 15140 kHz (August 2) channel with rap music and other popular/rock music titles hosted by a male DJ who tends to talk over some of the music selections. Fair signal. According to Ivo Ivanov in Bulgaria, the English (1400-1500 UT) and Arabic (1500-2200) services have seemingly swapped broadcast times. Re-tuned about 1820 UTC with Arabic language talks noted (Rich D`Angelo, PA, Aug 2, NASWA yg via DXLD) Rich, I'm hearing the English hit music on Oman. Guess who`s on 15140 at 1800-1830 in Arabic? Radio Havana Cuba. Ivo knows more then I do; but my gut tells me this isn`t permanent but again, jus ta guess. HFCC A17 data has 3 entries for 15140 1400-1500 utc English 1400-2200 utc English 1500-2200 utc Arabic So I guess that's always a possibility for them (Walker, ibid.) Rich, I noted the English continuing from 1600 on to the rest of the day till 2200 on July 31st and also heard English on 12015 later that night, when Arabic is scheduled for that. I did not hear English continue on past scheduled time yesterday. Here's my theory: the swap was made for a live remote broadcast along the coast that happens 7 to 8 pm local Oman time thru August 26th, which is 1500-1600 UT. It would seem the Thumrait site is manually operated and someone forgets to switch. Wouldn`t you in 43 degree C weather ?:) (Paul Walker, ibid.) It's oldies night on 90.4 Oman FM, and 15140 has been English all day. They just played Crocodile Rock by Elton John and Old Time Rock N Roll by Bob Seger (Paul Walker, 2149 UT August 2, ptsw yg via DXLD) 9540, Thumrait OMA has been heard regularly 02-04 UT in 2016 and 2017. 13600 is regularly on air 04-10 UT, at present at 0648 UT S=9+10dB signal strength observed in Doha Qatar ME, but this morning in Arabic as scheduled in ITU/HFCC and given in new WRTH 2017. Seldom observed an error switch between Arabic or English program feed line. Station ID given much often during their broadcast. 73 (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13600, Radio Sultanate of Oman in ARABIC identification heard at 0502 UT on Aug 4, in skip zone at Doha Qatar S=8-9 signal strength, many ID's heard and a 'like radioplay' at 0505 UT. 73 wb (Büschel, ibid.) Updated summer A-17 shortwave schedule of Radio Sultanate of Oman: 0000-0200 9500 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu Arabic 0200-0300 9540 THU 100 kW / 220 deg EaAf Arabic 0300-0400 9540 THU 100 kW / 220 deg EaAf English 0400-1000 13600 THU 100 kW / 220 deg EaAf Arabic, 9540 English Aug.2 1400-1500 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu Arabic, instead of English 1500-2200 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu English, instead of Arabic 2200-2400 9740 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu Arabic http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/updated-summer-17-schedule-of-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) Radio Sultanate of Oman was back on shortwave, August 7 1400-1500 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Arabic 1500-1600 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu English 1600-2200 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Arabic http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/radio-sultanate-of-oman-was-back-on.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PANAMA CANAL ZONE. See CANAL ZONE ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3260, NBC Madang. Aug 4, running longer than 3325; pop song (Little River Band - "Cool Changes"); on-air phone calls in Pidgin; 1224* cut off. Since the end of the election results, note Madang has had a good number of these call-in shows, which I assume are callers commenting on the recent election. Not nearly as strong as NBC Bougainville (3325). 3275, NBC Southern Highlands[non-log], on Aug 4, not heard. 3365, NBC Milne Bay[non-log], on Aug 4, continues silent (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also BOUGAINVILLE 3260, August 4 at 1141 always weaker than 3325, but bit of Pisin? talk audible, NBC Madang (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4774.908, August 3 at 1121, very poor carrier vs CODAR. Suspect it`s still Radio Tarma, where sunrise today is 1120. Recent logs put it on approx. 4774.9, and the last precise one I find is from 2 June 2016 by Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal on 4774.946, when he distinguished it from Brasil on 4774.914, closer to my measurement but Congonhas SR was a bihour earlier; and there is nothing in Asia circa 4775 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5980, August 5 at 2329, I tune in ``early`` for R. Chaski, since I figure by now they will have reset the autotimer back closer to nominal 2330* --- but no signal even now, so indeterminate. 5980, August 6 at 2330, JJJBBBA carrier, from R. Chaski. Best audible if tuned to 5979.65-USB. I stay on it amid the summer storm noise level until autocutoff at 2341:08.5* give or take. So they`ve let it slip more than 11 minutes past the nominal closing. Last timing here was July 20 until 2339:15*, which adds up to 113.5 seconds over a 17- day period, or averaging 6.68 seconds per! Right on ``schedule`` within a few hundredths of a second. As usual I don`t compute this until afterwards, so am not aware of exactly when the carrier is going to drop. I love this precision in such an unintentional display from an otherwise boring inaudible gospel huxter station (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Four e-QSL from the Philippines came from FEBC. Frequencies 9400, 9795, 11650 (transmission to Russian), 12095 kHz. I had to wait a long time: two reports were sent 210 days ago, two more - 128 days ago. Signed - Norita P. Estabillo, Shortwave Operation, Program Support Supervisor. Wrote to addresses Norie.estabillo [at] febc.ph and info [at] febc.ph. On cards - photo with The height of the antenna field in Bokay, the mast in Iba, the Philippine buffalo in the lake and Evening view of the transmitting center of Bokae. Pictures here: http://dxsignal.ru/qsl/new/FEBC_170725_01.pdf http://dxsignal.ru/qsl/new/FEBC_170725_02.pdf http://dxsignal.ru/qsl/new/FEBC_170725_03.pdf http://dxsignal.ru/qsl/new/FEBC_170725_04.pdf It seems that reports on e-mail are now confirmed by electronic cards, And for paper should be addressed by mail to the address: Far East Broadcasting Company PO Box 14205, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1605 Philippines (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia / "open_dx", via QSL World, Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) Well, it's already 2 years. Confirmations (by regular mail) come on postcards. Also, Mrs. Estabillo applies a printed letter to them, sometimes with commentary-answers, if the listener had any questions. Last year, at me, the answer-reception borrowed approximately 3-4 months (usual mail). This year, the answer to the February report has not yet been received. Anyway, I plan to send reports in the coming days for July (Victor Varzin, Leningradskaya oblast, Russia / "open_dx", via QSL World, Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 13810. Sunday Aug 6 at 1931-1956, Radio Romania International, Tsiganeshti, in Spanish. Victoria Sepciu presents a DX program "Club DX"; news, messages and reception reports from many countries; ID, POBox, e-mail; 1935 Club de Oyentes; 1951 La canción del día. RRI has a very good signal and modulation, 45544 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier, Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Sony ICF-SW100S, Longwire, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Hello, and welcome to Listening Post for August. This month I am going to take a closer look at some programmes from my logbook. R ROMANIA INTERNATIONAL There are so many interesting programmes on R Romania Int that almost any day that I tune to this station I find something of interest. Fortnightly on Sundays through to UT Monday is Panorama which is a compilation of a selection of recent programmes, and on 9 July at 1700 (11810 kHz) Panorama included an item from their regular Business Club about the production and sale of bottled water. “[…]Unfortunately, at present Romania does not have clear legislation for the water that is being bottled. Hundreds of water producers have emerged in recent years in spite of the fact that Romania only has 68 licensed brands. Radu Dumitru: ‘The lack of clear legislation in terms of bottled water in Romania has allowed for the emergence of a new category of bottled water on the market, the so-called 'table water' or 'spring water', whose sale is not regulated at present, and which holds quite a lot of the mineral water market share. […]’. “There are only 30 mineral water bottling companies in Romania, while the other companies are local producers that operate without a licence. In this case, consumers find it hard to choose from among 20 or 30 types of water, many of which are sold at very low prices. As of this spring, Romania has a new list of licensed mineral waters approved by the National Mineral Water Company. Radu Dumitru: ‘[…] I can safely say that only half of what's on sale on the market is carefully tested and consists solely of natural mineral waters. The other types of water on the market, such as table water or spring water are not thoroughly tested before being licensed.[…]’” It is astonishing that half of all bottled water being sold in Romania is not fully tested and is unregulated! Business Club is first aired in all transmissions weekly on Tuesdays (from 1100 through to Wednesdays 0530 UT). On 10 July at 2030 (9610 kHz) RRI included the, always interesting, History Show, which told the fascinating story of Operation Neptune instigated to safeguard the National Treasure during World War Two. “[…] In April 1944 the Allies heavily shelled […] the capital Bucharest, and the headquarters of the National Bank were in real danger. It was then that the issue of moving the treasure to a safer place emerged. The government started talks with two states, Turkey and Switzerland. The Turkish authorities said they could not receive the treasure as the Turkish laws did not allow that, while Switzerland, although open and willing to receive it, said that the passing of the convoy carrying Romania’s treasure through the centre of Europe, which was controlled by the German army, posed a great risk. […] The Romanian bankers decided on the Tismana monastery, the oldest monastic settlement in Wallachia, dating to the end of the 14th century. […] They requisitioned several villas near the monastery where soldiers as well as bank and government staff were stationed to ensure the protection of the treasure and of the monastery. “[…] The transportation of the treasure started on July 2 1944 in 5 national bank wagons. 75 transports were made during a period of 15 days. […] In Tismana, the soldiers were dressed in monastic robes to avoid drawing the attention of those who were eager to get their hands on the treasure. […] The national bank experts decided to move the treasure into a pit near the monastery. A team of miners from the Jiu Valley was called to make the pit. They used about 100 cubic meters of concrete to shield inside the pit that was to keep the treasure safe.” There is now a museum at Tismana Monastry in memory of that successful operation. A very interesting account. The History Show is aired in all transmissions weekly on Mondays (from 1100 through to Tuesdays at 0530 UT). Until next time – good listening and 73 (Alan Roe, Listening Post with Alan Roe, listeningpost@bdxc.org.uk Aug BDXC-UK Communication, via Alan Roe for DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 7345, Radio Sakha, via Yakutsk, 1255-1325, on Aug 7. Surprisingly strong signal, but mixing with CRI; 1300 IS (Jew's harp - khomus) and time pips; 1300-1325 unusual format that I have never heard before after ToH; non-stop traditional indigenous songs. My audio at http://goo.gl/cYQydd 7295 remains silent, after being recently briefly reactivated (Ron Howard, oceanside at Pacific Grove, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. On the wave of our memory. ---------------------------------- The business card of P. Mikhailov. Photo courtesy of Ruslan Slavutsky, Moscow Region, Russia. - Pavel Mikhailov. Number of the pager. You can see here - http://rusdx.blogspot.ru/2017/08/blog-post.html - Radio station "Voice of Russia", Moscow. CLUB DX. You can see here - http://rusdx.blogspot.ru/2017/08/blog-post_1.html (Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 1991 & 2006. ----------------------- '' CLUB DX '' (No. 775) Ether: January 29, 2006 Author and presenter: Vadim Alekseev Editor of the Internet version: Pavel Mikhailov --- DX-HISTORY The final part of our program will today be devoted to our history, friends - it is ours with you. The fact is that 15 years ago, in January 1991, an amateur print publication appeared, as it was said, "samizdat", from which the longest history of the periodical DX- edition begins in our country. This is the "Moscow Information DX- Bulletin" (''MIDXB”'). Immediately I will say that the bulletin that appeared in 1991 was not the first. There were also other "samizdat" bulletins before him, coming out in those years when talking about foreign radio stations was unsafe. But today we will talk specifically about the birth of the "MIDXB", since he turned 15, and although he has not published in print for several years, the life of this publication continues on the Internet. The idea to produce a printed edition was born at a meeting of a small group of DXists who met, if I remember correctly, thanks to an announcement read out in the DX program of Swedish Radio, whose author suggested to colleagues that they have a passion for communicating through correspondence. [Clarification: in fact, the beginning began to directly communicate the DXistov of the former USSR put the program '' Club DX '' Pavel Mikhailov, which appeared on the waves of the World Russian Service of Moscow Radio since August 1989. - NOTE. REV.]. After some time, five Muscovites decided to meet to personally meet and talk. The result of this communication was the idea of ??creating a "Moscow DX Association". That's what happened. Written in the first issue of the bulletin for January 1991 (read): '' ... The idea to create a "Moscow DX Association" came during a meeting of the Moscow DX-stories on July 22, 1990. The purpose of the Association is to popularize the DX movement in the Soviet Union. The Association is a regional organization and accepts only DXistov from Moscow and the Moscow region, Five people are included in the initiative group. Members of the Association take part in the preparation of DX-programs of the Moscow Radio, collaborate with the DX-program of Almaty radio and issue a newsletter ''Moscow Presents'', the first issue of which we offer to your attention ... '' (end of quote). Yes, you did not misinterpret, the first four issues of the newsletter were called that way. And the initiative group then included Mikhail Paramonov, Anatoly Klepov, Andrei Nekrasov, Sergei Sosedkin and your humble servant. And, of course, the common thing for all members of the so-called initiative group was the issue printed edition. The principle was based on the principle of collective creativity. That is, each member of the editorial board of the bulletin collects information and writes on a topic that interests him exactly. From this, and there is a variety of material that should make the newsletter interesting to any DXist, regardless of what ranges he likes to listen to, and for which stations he hunts. In May 1991, it was decided to change the English name of the bulletin to Russian, and it became known as the Information Bulletin of the Moscow DX Association. And soon the herd is clear that the idea of ??creating the Association has not gone anywhere beyond the idea, but the idea to issue a regular (monthly) newsletter - began to develop gradually. Began to appear authors who sent to the bulletin various notes, air news and even whole articles. Many became permanent correspondents of the bulletin, and some, the most active, wished to become members of the editorial board, having incurred a part of a hard burden for the regular collection, editing and publication of materials on the pages of the publication. I now deliberately do not call any more names, because I want to recall all those who collaborated with this edition in the past, and, of course, talk with those who continue to be among the authors of this (now electronic) edition. Therefore, I appeal to everyone who has or had anything to do with the Moscow Information DX Bulletin: let's all together in the coming months, we will remember how everything started, which was interesting and memorable; Than, perhaps, a newsletter someone helped. I really hope that I will be able to contact and invite many of those who are involved in the history of the Moscow Information DX-Bulletin to the microphone in our next programs. I'm afraid that this will sound too loud, but still it seems to me that the history of this publication in Largely reflects the history of the Russian DX movement in the last 15 years. (Continuation in the next issue) Here is how the bulletin "Moscow Presents" looked - http://rusdx.blogspot.ru/2017/07/blog-post_30.html - http://rusdx.blogspot.ru/2017/07/blog-post_82.html (Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. THE GHOSTLY RADIO STATION THAT NO ONE CLAIMS TO RUN [4625 buzzer] http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170801-the-ghostly-radio-station-that-no-one-claims-to-run [see original for numerous embedded linx including audio clips] “MDZhB” has been broadcasting since 1982. No one knows why. By Zaria Gorvett 2 August 2017 [Zaria?? Is that a real person`s name? Zarya are very large transmitting antennas too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarya_(antenna) The word zarya merely means ``dawn`` -- This story never explains what `MDZhB` stands for --- certainly not a callsign, but a 4-letter Russian initialism --- gh] see Kai`s reply below In the middle of a Russian swampland, not far from the city of St Petersburg, is a rectangular iron gate. Beyond its rusted bars is a collection of radio towers, abandoned buildings and power lines bordered by a dry-stone wall. This sinister location is the focus of a mystery which stretches back to the height of the Cold War. It is thought to be the headquarters of a radio station, “MDZhB”, that no-one has ever claimed to run. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the last three-and-a-half decades, it’s been broadcasting a dull, monotonous tone. Every few seconds it’s joined by a second sound, like some ghostly ship sounding its foghorn. Then the drone continues. Once or twice a week, a man or woman will read out some words in Russian, such as “dinghy” or “farming specialist”. And that’s it. Anyone, anywhere in the world can listen in, simply by tuning a radio to the frequency 4625 kHz. It’s so enigmatic, it’s as if it was designed with conspiracy theorists in mind. Today the station has an online following numbering in the tens of thousands, who know it affectionately as “the Buzzer”. It joins two similar mystery stations, “the Pip” and the “Squeaky Wheel”. As their fans readily admit themselves, they have absolutely no idea what they are listening to. In fact, no-one does. “There’s absolutely no information in the signal,” says David Stupples, an expert in signals intelligence from City University, London. What’s going on? The frequency is thought to belong to the Russian military, though they’ve never actually admitted this. It first began broadcasting at the close of the Cold War, when communism was in decline. Today it’s transmitted from two locations – the St Petersburg site and a location near Moscow. Bizarrely, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, rather than shutting down, the station’s activity sharply increased. There’s no shortage of theories to explain what the Buzzer might be for – ranging from keeping in touch with submarines to communing with aliens. One such idea is that it’s acting as a “Dead Hand” signal; in the event Russia is hit by a nuclear attack, the drone will stop and automatically trigger a retaliation. No questions asked, just total nuclear obliteration on both sides. There are clues in the signal itself This may not be as wacky as it sounds. The system was originally pioneered in the Soviet era, where it took the form of a computer system which scanned the airwaves for signs of life or nuclear fallout. Alarmingly, many experts believe it may still be in use. As Russian president Vladimir Putin pointed out himself earlier this year, “nobody would survive” a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. Could the Buzzer be warding one off? As it happens, there are clues in the signal itself. Like all international radio, the Buzzer operates at a relatively low frequency known as “shortwave”. This means that – compared to local radio, mobile phone and television signals – fewer waves pass through a single point every second. It also means they can travel a lot further. While you’d be hard pressed to listen to a local station such as BBC Radio London in a neighbouring county, shortwave stations like the BBC World Service are aimed at audiences from Senegal to Singapore. Both stations are broadcast from the same building. It’s all thanks to “skywaves”. Higher frequency radio signals can only travel in a straight line, eventually becoming lost as they bump into obstacles or reach the horizon. But shortwave frequencies have an extra trick – they can bounce off charged particles in the upper atmosphere, allowing them to zig-zag between the earth and the sky and travel thousands, rather than tens, of miles. Which brings us back to the Dead Hand theory. As you might expect, shortwave signals have proved extremely popular. Today they’re used by ships, aircraft and the military to send messages across continents, oceans and mountain ranges. But there’s a catch. The lofty layer isn’t so much a flat mirror, but a wave, which undulates like the surface of the ocean. During the day it moves steadily higher, while at night, it creeps down towards the Earth. If you want to absolutely guarantee that your station can be heard on the other side of the planet – and if you’re using it as a cue for nuclear war, you probably do – it’s important to change the frequency depending on the time of day, to catch up. The BBC World Service already does this. The Buzzer doesn’t. Another idea is that the radio station exists to “sound” out how far away the layer of charged particles is. “To get good results from the radar systems the Russians use to spot missiles, you need to know this,” says Stupples. The longer the signal takes to get up into the sky and down again, the higher it must be. There is a station with some striking similarities Alas, that can’t be it either. To analyse the layer’s altitude the signal would usually have a certain sound, like a car alarm going off – the result of varying the waves to get them just right. “They sound nothing like the Buzzer,” says Stupples. Intriguingly, there is a station with some striking similarities. The “Lincolnshire Poacher” ran from the mid-1970s to 2008. Just like the Buzzer, it could be heard on the other side of the planet. Just like the Buzzer, it emanated from an undisclosed location, thought to be somewhere in Cyprus. And just like the Buzzer, its transmissions were just plain creepy. At the beginning of every hour, the station would play the first two bars of an English folk tune, the Lincolnshire Poacher. “Oh ‘tis my delight on a shining night In the season of the year When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire ‘Twas well I served my master for nigh on seven years…” After repeating this 12 times, it would move on to messages read by the disembodied voice of a woman reading groups of five numbers – “1- 2-0-3-6” – in a clipped, upper-class English accent. To get to grips with what was going on, it helps to go back to the 1920s. The All-Russian Co-operative Society (Arcos) was an important trade body, responsible for overseeing transactions between the UK and the early Soviet Union. Or at least, that’s what they said they did. In May 1927, years after a British secret agent caught an employee sneaking into a communist news office in London, police officers stormed the Arcos building. The basement had been rigged with anti- intruder devices and they discovered a secret room with no door handle, in which workers were hurriedly burning documents. It may have been dramatic, but the British didn’t discover anything that they didn’t already know. Instead the raid was a wake-up call to the Soviets, who discovered that MI5 had been listening in on them for years. “This was a blunder of the very first order,” says Anthony Glees, who directs the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham. To justify the raid, the prime minister had even read out some of the deciphered telegrams in the House of Commons. The upshot was that the Russians completely reinvented the way messages are encrypted. Almost overnight, they switched to “one-time pads”. In this system, a random key is generated by the person sending the message and shared only with the person receiving it. As long as the key really is perfectly random, the code cannot be cracked. There was no longer any need to worry about who could hear their messages. Enter the “numbers stations” – radio stations that broadcast coded messages to spies all over the world. Soon even the British were doing it: if you can’t beat them, join ‘em, as they say. It’s quite difficult to generate a completely random number because a system for doing so will, by its very nature, be predictable – exactly what you’re trying to avoid. Instead officers in London found an ingenious solution. They’d hang a microphone out of the window on Oxford Street and record the traffic. “There might be a bus beeping at the same time as a policeman shouting. The sound is unique, it will never happen again,” says Stupples. Then they’d convert this into a random code. Of course, that didn’t stop people trying to break them. During World War Two, the British realised that they could, in fact, decipher the messages – but they’d have to get their hands on the one-time pad that was used to encrypt them. “We discovered that the Russians used the out-of-date sheets of one-time pads as substitute toilet paper in Russian army hospitals in East Germany,” says Glees. Needless to say, British intelligence officers soon found themselves rifling through the contents of Soviet latrines. Now North Korea are getting in on the act, too The new channel of communication was so useful, it didn’t take long before the numbers stations had popped up all over the world. There was the colourfully named “Nancy Adam Susan”, “Russian Counting Man” and “Cherry Ripe” – the Lincolnshire Poacher’s sister station, which also contained bars of an English folk song. In name at least, the Buzzer fits right in. It also fits with a series of arrests across the United States back in 2010. The FBI announced that it had broken up a “long term, deep cover” network of Russian agents, who were said to have received their instructions via coded messages on shortwave radio – specifically 7887 kHz. Now North Korea are getting in on the act, too. On 14 April 2017, the broadcaster at Radio Pyongyang began: “I’m giving review works in elementary information technology lessons of the remote education university for No 27 expedition agents.” This ill-concealed military message was followed by a series of page numbers – No 69 on page 823, page 957 – which look a lot like code. It may come as a surprise that numbers stations are still in use – but they hold one major advantage. Though it’s possible to guess who is broadcasting, anyone can listen to the messages – so you don’t know who they are being sent to. Mobile phones and the internet may be quicker, but open a text or email from a known intelligence agency and you could be rumbled. It only becomes a numbers station in moments of crisis, such as if Russia were invaded It’s a compelling idea: the Buzzer has been hiding in plain sight, instructing a network of illicit Russian spies all over the world. There’s just one problem. The Buzzer never broadcasts any numbered messages. This doesn’t strictly matter, since one-time pads can be used to translate anything – from code words to garbled speech. “If this phone call was encrypted you’d hear “…enejekdhejenw…’ but then it would come out the other side sounding like normal speech,” says Stupples. But this would leave traces in the signal. To send information over the radio, essentially all you’re doing is varying the height or spacing of the waves being transmitted. For example, two low waves in a row means x, or three waves closer together means y. When a signal is carrying information, instead of neat, evenly spaced waves like ripples on the ocean, you’re left with a wave like the jagged silhouette of an ECG. This isn’t the Buzzer. Instead, many believe that the station is a hybrid of two things. The constant drone is just a marker, saying “this frequency is mine, this frequency is mine…” to stop people from using it. It only becomes a numbers station in moments of crisis, such as if Russia were invaded. Then it would function as a way to instruct their worldwide spy network and military forces on standby in remote areas. After all, this is a country around 70 times the size of the UK. It seems they’re already been practicing. “In 2013 they issued a special message, ‘COMMAND 135 ISSUED’ that was said to be test message for full combat readiness,” says Maris Goldmanis, a radio enthusiast who listens to the station from his home in the Baltic states. The mystery of the Russian radio may have been solved. But if its fans are right, let’s just hope that drone never stops. -- Join 800,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. Follow BBC Future (via Gerald T Pollard, NC; Terry L Krueger, FL; Charlie Harlich, NJ; Mike Cooper, GA; Artie Bigley, OH; Chuck Albertson, WA; David Cole, OK; DXLD) No one has ever accused me of being a smart man but I can honestly say that the first thing that popped into my mind after reading this message was the Star Trek movie with the whales in it. Alien probe broadcasting whale speech waiting for reply. No reply and they destroy the planet (John Carver, Mid-North Indiana, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) "During the Cold War, Soviet spies were instructed via shortwave radio (Credit: Alamy)" And now take a look at the depicted stamp. Do I expect too much when assuming that one should note the "1895-1944" and, before using the picture with such a caption, wonder for a moment if it really is related to the Cold War? It is not a matter of knowing who that certain Richard Sorge was. Looking up Wikipedia suffices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sorge I'm sorry, but this tells a lot about the journalistic standards there. >>> By Zaria Gorvett 2 August 2017 >>> [Zaria?? Is that a real person`s name? https://twitter.com/ZariaGorvett >>> [This story never explains what `MDZhB` stands for It is described as "a circular callsign, assigned to the military units in the Western Military District". I.e. not a callsign in the narrowest sense. http://priyom.org/military-stations/russia/the-buzzer/ Also has much more detail, including the circumstance that "MDZhB" is obsolete. But of course you would not tell this [to] a BBC editor when selling such a sexy story about the dead hands of Russians. >>> Intriguingly, there is a station with some striking similarities. The “Lincolnshire Poacher” Aha, now let's further sex up the story by lumping in spy numbers, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincolnshire_Poacher_(numbers_station) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here is an amazingly similar story in the Express, without any credit to BBC: (gh) Is mysterious The Buzzer radio station MDZhB for Vladimir Putin's secret spy network? | Weird | News | Express.co.uk http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/836652/The-Buzzer-MDZhB-radio-mystery-Russia-vladimir-Putin-spies (via Mike Cooper, Artie Bigley, DXLD) MORE copycat versions! https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4167148/mystery-of-the-russian-radio-station-that-has-buzzed-every-day-for-40-years-sparking-wild-speculation-its-a-secret-military-project-or-even-aliens/ http://nypost.com/2017/08/03/mystery-surrounds-creepy-radio-signal-emanating-from-the-middle-of-nowhere/ http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/634790/Russia-Radio-Buzzer-Nuclear-War-Missiles-MDZhB-Spies-Cold-Soviet-Union-Vladimir-Putin (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. U.K.(non), FEBA Radio, Radio Sama via BaBcoCk Woofferton on August 5: 1730-1900 on 15510 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Tigre/Fur/Arabic, good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/feba-radio-radio-sama-via-babcock.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) cf. my report of a similar name applied to listed BBCWS, coincidence?: ``U K [non]. 7445, July 30 at 0054, nice ME song at S8, adding to all the music stations on 6, 7 and 9 MHz this evening. 0056 talk sounds Farsi but must be Dari, mottoes(?) with music interludes, and one ID- like in passing, sounds like ``Sedoye Samá``, 0059 mentions Afghanistan and off at 0059.5*. HFCC shows BBCWS via Woofferton, but the Afghan service alternating Pashto & Dari is to continue from Oman on 7445 until 0330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` ** SIKKIM. INDIA, AIR Gangtok, 4835, 1516-1518 Aug 2, Male in Hindi. SINPO 33333. Rig: WJ-8711; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30' (Ed Sylvester, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) INDIA, AIR Gangtok, 4835, heard 8/2 from Kiwi SDR in Bay of Islands NZ from 1618 tune with interesting feature in English with man announcer and a variety of what sounded like indigenous music styles. Program ended at 1630 with woman giving program details and announcing parallel freq of 4970 (same was noted here at 1615) and ID for AIR Gangtok. Into Hindi program with male announcer and vocal/instrumental music. SINPO 35433 but good signal for 7,115 mil path length (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see INDIA Ron, Thanks! That explains why I heard the same EE feature program on music types on both Gangtok and Shillong - interestingly, Gangtok was off at scheduled 1700 but Shillong kept going after 1700 (I did not catch the s/off time).(Bruce Churchill, CA, ibid.) See also INDIA ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, August 4 at 1153 music, 1154 talk, from SIBC; off by 1205 recheck. BTW, other frequency 9545 is active again: Bryan Clark, NZ told me August 1: ``You could pass on that I heard SIBC reactivated on 9545 today around 0300 UT. Had them as UNID yesterday and signal not as punchy as in the past.`` And August 3: ``Updating Solomon Islands - have been hearing them consistently since 1 August during our daytime but yet to confirm sign-on and sign-off times (I anticipate 2200-0500 UT)`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BOUGAINVILLE ** SOMALILAND. 7120, August 1335, JBA carrier, presumably R. Hargeisa by longpath during English segment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 17855, August 3 at 2141, olé, REE North American transmitter is back on the air after missing about a week --- not with stupid ballgame now, but a rock song in English, outro by SS YL DJ with title ``Hotel Room``? And showname evidently `Noches de Verano`, 2143 live time check for 11:43. Good signal. Employing the Hitlist, http://www.w4uvh.net/hitlist.htm We find the program grid http://www.rtve.es/radio/radio-exterior/programacion/ showing instead L-V 23-24 CEST is `Un Idioma Sin Fronteras`, right --- English! Click on link to that program, http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/un-idioma-sin-fronteras/ which is presented by Susana Santaolalla but is ``fuera de emisión``, we get a huge roster of the ``last 1,962`` audio files, but only until August of 2014! Going to the alfabetical list of program titles for Noches de Verano, http://www.rtve.es/radio/programas/radio-exterior/ there aren`t any starting with N! So maybe that was just her remark. Doy arriba [pseudo-español] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, After some searching, I finally found Noches de Verano on the rtve website at: http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/noches-de-verano/noches-verano-02-08-17/4146679/ "From Monday to Friday, RNE offers a different way to spend the summer nights with refreshing proposals, in which culture, music, science and current affairs interact with listeners. We invite the audience to connect the radio from 22 to 24 hours, and travel with us through the waves for a summer full of emotions and without leaving home." Looking at the archive, this program has been a regular summer change from mid/late July until the end of August/early September for several years (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, August 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17855. Fri, Aug 4 at 1834-1845, Radio Exterior de España, Noblejas-E, in Spanish. Men in conversation about theater and other cultural themes, the world of the show, and mainly the humor; ID. REE returns in this frequency with very good signal and modulation, 45544. Regards, (JRX, Brasil, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Aug 5th, 2003 UT, Radio Exterior de España news in Spanish on Venezuelan coup matter, heard in all West Europe: 17855 S=9+30dB 17715 S=9+20db 15520 S=9+30dB 15390 S=9+25dB vy73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via DX LISTNING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. The Sri Lanka BC is to introduce a Tamil language service for Sri Lankan Gulf workers. Ethnic Tamil and Moslems in Sri Lanka speak Tamil. Starting 17th August 1700-1800 on either 11910/11890 but most likely will be changed but within the 25metre band. 125 kW from Trincomalee. I will advise in the next few days. BTWay the Sinhala 1630-1830 will also continue on 11750 kHz which is not every day of the week though. Well, for this new service I will assist anyone with good reports, helpful reports to get your QSL card. :) [Later:] If anyone in the Gulf, Middle East would like to recommend a frequency I will seriously consider it. I will of course check with the remote receivers in the area and select a few and see if they tally with yours, and if so give credit and use it. :) CRI toooo strong on 11900 so I will not agree to the suggested freqs. of 11890 and 910 when the band has many free slots. :) Like 3 August 5 at 10:21am Edited (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, Aug 5, WRTH FB via DXLD) ** SUDAN [and non]. 15620, VATICAN, Afia Darfur Radio at 1801 in Sudanese Arabic with a man with a telephone interview of another man – Fair to Good with jammer Aug 5 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) What kind of jammer? (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Test transmissions of Radio Taiwan Int. in German in AM mode & DRM mode. AM mode August 25-27; September 1-3/29/30; October 1/3 and DRM mode October 4/10: 1800-1900 on 9680 TSH 100 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German Radio Taiwan International 1800-1900 on 12030 TSH 100 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German Radio Taiwan International http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/test-transmissions-of-rti-in-german-in.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 7600.164, one of the stronger 100 watt SOH Taiwan transmissions to China mainland noted at 1952 UT, S=7 fair signal. Heard on July 29 in remote unit in eastern Thailand [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 29, BC-DX 6 Aug via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 1975 year. --- Acknowledgment from the Tajik radio. September 8, 1975 / 1800-1810 MSK / 4635 kHz. Card from the archive Sergei Izyumov, Moscow, Russia. DX-Friend from Dushanbe Yefimov in 1975 helped me to get a QSL-postcard from Radio Dushanbe You can see the card here - http://rusdx.blogspot.ru/2017/07/blog-post_29.html (Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) 4635 later acquired by The Buzzer, USSR ** TURKMENISTAN [non]. 15255, August 2 at 1422, fair S9-S7 signal with M&W in Turkic language, lots of pursed-lips umlauting. Aoki shows it`s RFE/RL in Turkmen, 1400-1600, 300 kW, 74 degrees via Woofferton UK. Considering hostility toward a free press, surprised this is not being jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFE/RL CORRESPONDENT ACHILOVA THREATENED WITH DEATH IN TURKMENISTAN July 31, 2017 WASHINGTON -- RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent Soltan Achilova reports (in Turkmen) she was threatened with death on July 29, while en route to take photos documenting Turkmenistan’s "Day of Bicycles." Achilova further reports that today (July 31), the man who made the July 29 threat identified himself to her as a police officer tasked to watch her wherever she goes, and again warned her against taking photos, or she will be "finished." The threats follow an assault last week when a man tried to steal her cellphone as she was about to take a picture. - ... https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/28651354.html (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Aug 2, DXLD) The rest, with many embedded linx in original: The recent attacks on Achilova, 68, resemble assaults she experienced in November 2016, when two women approached her, yelling “This is the one who takes pictures and pours dirt on Turkmenistan” in the cafeteria at a rehabilitation center northeast of the capital, Ashgabat. This attack came one day after Human Rights Watch issued a statement decrying an October 25 assault on Achilova, saying “Achilova’s ordeal was clearly yet another orchestrated attempt to silence a critic.” “Journalism is not a crime, in Turkmenistan or elsewhere in the modern world. Soltan’s life has now been explicitly threatened in an effort to stop her from doing her job in Turkmenistan,” said RFE/RL President Thomas Kent. “The Turkmen government must immediately put an end to the persecution of Soltan Achilova and assure her safety.” Achilova’s reports appear regularly on the website of RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk radiosy. According to Turkmen Service Director Farruh Yusupov, she is one of the main contributors to the website of photos and videos from within Turkmenistan. Recently, the focus of her reporting has been the government’s preparations for the Asian Games, including a story on the removal of a statue of former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov from a major thoroughfare in the capital, Ashgabat. Attacks on RFE/RL contributors in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed societies, have intensified over the past three years. Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, a video journalist who contributed to the Turkmen Service, disappeared more than two years ago, and is now in prison on narcotics charges that rights groups say were “trumped up” in retaliation for his reporting on decrepit infrastructure and economic inequality in the country’s western region. After filing video reports about local life in Turkmenistan’s northern Dashoguz province, correspondent Khudayberdy Allashov was taken into custody and severely beaten in December, 2016; he and his mother were subsequently jailed for three months on charges of possessing chewing tobacco, a product that is widely used in Turkmenistan and is not known to have led to any previous arrest. In December 2014, Achilova was questioned by unidentified men in civilian clothing, as she interviewed people waiting to purchase fresh meat that had suddenly became available in shops around the country. The United States, the OSCE, and media advocacy organizations have expressed concern about Turkmenistan’s persecution of journalists. Turkmenistan is ranked “not free” in Freedom House’s 2017 press freedom survey of 199 countries and territories, tied with North Korea at the bottom of the scale with 98 points out of 100. Because of political conditions, RFE/RL has no bureau inside Turkmenistan, instead working through a local network of contributors to provide the country’s only Turkmen-language alternative to state- controlled media. Its Turkmen Service website logged a monthly average of 440,000 visits and 800,000 page views in 2016, and it has 175,000 followers on Facebook (RFE/RL via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. R Ukraine International --- I do enjoy book/story readings and drama/radio play programmes on shortwave; however there are relatively few such programmes to be found. But there are some. R Ukraine International has such a weekly programme called Reading Lounge on Tuesdays (which I heard via WRMI (11580 kHz) on 11 July at 2330 UT). It is an audio book reading programme with audio versions of Ukrainian classical and modern literature. RUI are currently reading a story called The Fatal Eggs. It is well-read, includes a little incidental music to liven up the reading. My only criticism of this reading, (and this is something that I have noticed on occasion on other stations where the reading continues week-by-week) is that the reader launched straight in to where the previous episode ended without any context setting, or even a brief recap for newcomers to the reading or to remind existing listeners of where the story had reached. However, this aside, I enjoyed the programme and add it to the list of recommended programmes. The background to the current story itself is quite interesting, as I find in this Wikipedia entry: The Fatal Eggs is a science-fiction novella by Mikhail Bulgakov, a Soviet novelist and playwright whose most famous work is The Master and Margarita. It was written in 1924 and first published in 1925. The book became quite popular, but was much criticised by some Soviet critics as a satire of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the leadership of Soviet Russia. The Reading Lounge is aired Tuesdays at 2330 and Wednesdays at 0200 on 11580 kHz via the facilities of WRMI. Until next time – good listening and 73 (Alan Roe, Listening Post with Alan Roe, listeningpost@bdxc.org.uk Aug BDXC-UK Communication, via Alan Roe for DXLD) ** U K. CELEBRATING FIVE DECADES OF OFFSHORE RADIO BROADCASTING GB5RC --- Thursday 3rd - Monday 7th August 2017 https://www.qrz.com/db/GB5RC (via Mike Terry, Aug 3, dxldyg via DXLD) as in Radio Caroline: Special event ham stations; encourages SWL reports (gh) The radio amateurs on board the Ross Revenge are currently on air. Noted on the following frequencies, 7155.8 LSB and 3726.1 LSB. They seem to be very busy with a lot of contacts. 73's (John, Faversham Kent UK, Hoad, JRC NRD-525 + Wellbrook ALA1530LF, 1033 UT August 4, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) They are always _very_ busy on the bands when operating from that location :-) Every now and then they are also on 20 m (14 MHz), so keep looking for them on the DX cluster if you are not close to the UK (or want to listen through Twente WebSDR). 73 (Harald Kuhl, Germany, ibid.) Good here at 1100 UT on 14215 kHz USB. 73's (John, Faversham Kent UK, Hoad, JRC NRD-525 + Wellbrook ALA1530LF, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** U K. “Wouldn’t it be ironic” says JONATHAN KEMPSTER “if further to Mike Terry's comments re: Radio Caroline on 648 kHz from an ex-BBC transmission site. When I last visited the Orfordness transmitter facility, then operated by Babcock just before the closure, the Chief Engineer took great pleasure in showing me an old Continental Electronics MF transmitter (50 kW, I think) which was used by the British government in an attempt to jam Radio Caroline in the 1970s. I am absolutely certain there would be no public record of this operation, but wouldn't it be interesting to hear from the engineers tasked with the operation?” (August BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K. Reading Meeting Report --- Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) was the usual venue for our meeting on Saturday 22nd July, and there was a good turnout: Alan Ball, Mike Barraclough, Graham Bedwell, Chris Gibbs, Chris Greenway, Stephen Howie, Ian Kelly, Dave Kenny, Keith Knight, Mark Palmer, Alan Pennington, Alan Roe, Clive Rooms, Jon Ryland, Edwin Southwell and Klaus Werner. But before of our talk, Mike said a few words about Arthur Ward who sadly passed away in July. Many of you know of Arthur’s essential role in the World DX Club as printer, then club secretary and editor of ‘Contact’ from July 1974 until the World DX Club closed in 2012. All present then stood for a minute’s silence in memory of Arthur. An obituary appears on page 3 of this edition. Our guest speaker was music author and journalist Rob Bradford, who gave an entertaining talk on RECORDS THAT HAD BEEN BANNED BY THE BBC OVER THE DECADES, largely based on his research at the BBC Written Archives, housed at Caversham Park, across the river from RISC. The BBC’s “Dance Music Policy Committee” was set up in the 1930s to judge which gramophone records or live songs couldn’t be broadcast. The Committee was especially busy in those pre-WW2 days of Director General John Reith, especially with the innuendo and risqué lyrics in songs such a George Formby’s “My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock” or “My Little Ukulele”. One committee member compared their role to that of a “crazy weathervane in a storm”. During WW2, the BBC’s Director of Music, Sir Arthur Bliss, instructed the Committee to ban songs “which are slushy in sentiment” or could undermine troop’s morale (e.g. the Mills Brothers “Paper Doll” about unfaithfulness). “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (1942) could not be played in case munitions workers join in the song’s clapping routine! But his instructions extended to banning pop versions of classical music pieces, so even by the 1960s, records such as the Cougars “Saturday Night at the Duck pond” (Swan Lake) were still being banned! Many of the 167 records banned in 1961 were deemed unsuitable for broadcast as they mutilated classical pieces. Though somehow in 1962, B Bumble and the Stingers’ “Nut Rocker” escaped a ban! During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, Tom Lehrer’s “We Will All Go Together When We Go” was played on “Housewives’ Choice” (with 6 letters of complaint received from a 25m audience). More obvious bans were on songs that were sexually explicit – “Je T’Aime” in 1969 a well-known example and Max Romeo’s “Wet Dream” in 1968, whose title couldn’t even be mentioned in a chart run-down. Judge Dread is the artist with most records banned by the BBC (11). Also songs with foul language, drug references or were political were barred (e.g. folk singer Ewan MacColl was judged subversive, because of his communist sympathies). Songs that mentioned products (“advertising”) couldn’t be played either, so even “Radio Times” by the BBC Dance Orchestra was banned in 1935! So later the Andrew Sisters “Rum & Coca Cola” was barred, but the Kinks’ “Lola” escaped with “Coca Cola” in the lyrics changed to “Cherry Cola” on its single version. Songs could also be banned on religious grounds with various BBC Head’s of Religious Broadcasting passing judgement – so e.g. Don Cornell’s “Hold my hand” was barred from airplay in 1954 as it compared a relationship with a girl to “the kingdom of heaven”. The Beatles’ Day in the Life” (last record played on ‘Big L’ of course) was also banned. Frank Gillard, BBC Director of Sound Broadcasting, wrote to EMI explaining the ban in May 1967, saying the line “I’d love to turn you on” “could have a rather sinister meaning”. The letter (and Beatles’ reaction): https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/05/23/bbc-emi-letter-ban-a-day-in-the-life/ After a break in the RISC cafe, Rob played some of the banned records, plus some that escaped due to inconsistencies in applying guidelines. So the Who’s “My Generation” was initially banned in case it offended people who stuttered, but it was pointed out that “K-K-K-Katy” had been sung by the Mike Samme Singers on the Light programme “Sing Something Simple”! Mike had bought two compilations of banned records, available from Fantastic Voyage Music as CDs/MP3s: http://fantasticvoyagemusic.com/?s=this+record+is+not+to+be+broadcast (also from Amazon). Thanks to Rob for a fascinating presentation – next meeting is on 7th October! (Alan Pennington, August BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K [non non]. BBC World Service coverage Q2 RAJAR results now published: Quoting Radio Today: "Special mention too for the BBC World Service in the UK, which now reaches 1.593m listeners each week – up nearly 20% compared with last quarter (an extra 250,000 listeners)." https://radiotoday.co.uk/2017/08/rajar-q2-2017-london-and-national-headlines/ To clarify I should emphasise this relates to listening figures in the UK. Posted by: (Mike Terry, Aug 4, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 12095, ASCENSION ISLAND BBC at 2112 // 9915 and 11810 with a “Newshour” feature on Syrians trapped in Aleppo and unable to contact relatives in the outside world – Fair Aug 3 – This is what I love about the BBC. They report on what we seldom hear from our North American tabloid-based media. If the BBC ever totally abandons shortwave radio it will be a bad day for humanity (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via DXLD) See also ASCENSION --- you may wonder why these are filed in two widely separated places: 12095 is about BBC programming from the UK; 11810 is about a peculiarity applying only to the ASC site (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Iman FM, Sheffield (103.1) has been has been taken off air for broadcasting more than 25 hours of lectures by radical American Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Ofcom said parts of the material was "likely to encourage or incite crime or lead to disorder". Iman FM told Ofcom it was not aware of Awlaki's background. The station said it had downloaded and broadcast Awlaki's lectures during Ramadan - 26 May to 24 June - despite not having listened to them in their entirety beforehand. The station then broadcast a show on 23 June in which it condemned the lectures and apologised to listeners. In its ruling Ofcom said it considered the breaches of the Broadcasters Code to be "extremely serious". It said it planned to revoke Iman FM's licence and had given the station 21 days to respond. Ofcom announced on 27 July that the licence had been revoked and would not be reinstated (BBC News 8 July via NR; Ofcom 27 July via August BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U S A. 13557-13565, August 3 at 1440 check, not a trace of any of the HIFER beacons we used to log in this range, GNK, MTI, K6FRC, or SZX, as in this roster: http://www.lwca.org/sitepage/part15/index.htm Almost daily bandscans for many months in daytime and nighttime have not detected any of these, so wonder if they are still active (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) but See UNIDENTIFIED 13563 ** U S A. 9330, 25.07.17 2358-0010, USA, WBCQ, Monticello, English: End of "World of Radio" by Glenn Hauser, Song, ID, and TK by a demonized OM! 35333 (Antonello Napolitano in Taranto (Italy). RX: ICOM IC R70, Sony ICF 2001. ANT: 20 metre outdoor wire. Tecsun AN-200 Medium Wave Tunable Loop antenna, July DX Fanzine published August 2, via DXLD) Now, now, it`s Terry Blalock, with Tourette`s Syndrome? Our inevitable follower six nights a week (gh, DXLD) Hello Glenn: I am happy to confirm hearing World of Radio #1889, at 1030-1059 UT on 5850 kHz on August 2 UT at 4:30 AM local time before sunrise, ID at 1045 UT. It was a foggy morning and now the darkness days are coming. Radio: JRC NRD-535 HF, Antenna: random long wires in the trees. Good listening, (Richard Lemke, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, August 2, 2017, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx for checking that one, Richard, as I am not intentionally awake then; however the next day I happened to be and found the same WRMI frequency good, but // 9455 JBA carrier if at all. Hope that does better on the other side of the terminator (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed Wednesday August 2 at 1315.5, following the gh WRMI ID at 1315.0; fair, steady reception staying above beepjamming from Cuba, q.v. Next: Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 13] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed Wednesday August 2 at 2100 on webcast of WBCQ, and shortly on 7490, fair vs summer noise level. Also confirmed Aug 2 at 2330 on WBCQ 9330.135v-CUSB, fair. Next: Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 13] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed Thursday August 3 at 2345 the 2330 on WBCQ 9330.07v-CUSB, fair. Next: Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 13] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed Friday August 4 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9331.310v-CUSB, fair; whew, way off-frequency. Next: Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 13] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11580. Sat, Aug 5 at 2300-2329, Radio Miami International, Okeechobee- FL, in English. Program "World of Radio": Glenn Hauser presents a DX program, writing many logs of various countries, including some of my JRX logs. WRMI with fair signal and modulation, 35433 (sometimes 35332). (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier, Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Sony ICF-SW100S, Longwire, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO 1899 monitoring: confirmed Saturday August 5 at 2254, the 2230 on WBCQ, still off-frequency-plus at 9331.32v-CUSB, fair. Also confirmed Sat Aug 5 at 2319, the 2300 on WRMI 11580, S9-S7 unusually with some hum, and slightly high circa 11580.02. Also confirmed at 0206 UT Sunday August 6 the 0200 on WRMI 11580+, S9+20/10. Next: Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 13] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed UT Sunday August 6 at 0340 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, Wentzville MO --- but too much storm noise to figure out when it would have started, nominal 0315. Next: Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [lately 9331+] Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: confirmed Sunday August 6 at 2330 on WBCQ 9331.49v-CUSB, good S8 [WORLD OF RADIO 1890]. Also confirmed UT Monday August 7 starting at 0302 on Area 51 webcast, and JBA amid QRN on WBCQ 5129.84-AM at 0328; also confirmed at 0330 UT Monday August 7 on WRMI, 9955, S9+10 to 20. Also confirmed Monday August 7 at 2330 on WBCQ 9331.500v-CUSB, fair. Also confirmed UT Tuesday August 8 at 0030 on WRMI, 7730, S9+30. Expect new WOR 1890 to start August 8: Tue 2130 WRMI 9455 to WNW, 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9331v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 9455 to WNW Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW WORLD OF RADIO 1889 monitoring: last repeat of this edition reported by Rick Barton, AZ: ``7730 UNITED STATES WRMI at 0030. Confirming GH`s W o R on the channel with armchair reception. August 8 most with R.S. SW-2000629 or Grundig Satellit 750 and indoor antennas`` WORLD OF RADIO 1890 contents: Australia, Biafra non, Bougainville, Bulgaria, Canal Zone, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Fiji, Germany, Guam, India, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Korea South, Kuwait, New Zealand, North America, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Perú, Spain, USA, Yemen non WORLD OF RADIO 1890 monitoring: first airing less than an hour after completed, confirmed Tuesday August 8 at 2130 on WRMI, fair on 9455, very poor on 15770. Also confirmed Tue Aug 8, the 2330 on WBCQ, now drifted up to 9331.526v-CUSB, fair at 2353, just as I am mentioning the shift. Next: Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 9455 to WNW Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1431 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW [maintenance break until Aug 19] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 2300 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0200 WRMI 11580 to NE Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9455, August 2 at 1312, this WRMI is back to `The Power Hour` // 9395 & 7780, all poor-fair and presumably // 13845 JBA WWCR. Just as I am about to mention on new WOR 1889 via 9955 that as of July 31, 9455 had gone back to Oldies during that hour. Recheck at 1425, same set of frequencies for TPH as previous hour, nothing left for Oldies. 7780 // 9395 // 9455 WRMI, and non-synchro // 13845 WWCR, August 3 at 1400, `The Power Hour` on all with its filler-segment for affiliates not breaking to news, and now WRMI is not either, no more VOA news relay inserted --- at least not today. And the Oldies remain nowhere, man (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Additional frequency of "The Power Hour" via WRMI tx#05 effective from August 3 instead of "Oldies" with Bob Biermann 1300-1500 on 9455 YFR 100 kW / 285 deg to WNAm //frequencies 1200-1500 on 7780 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu English tx#01 1200-1500 on 9395 YFR 100 kW / 355 deg to ENAm English tx#06 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/additional-frequency-of-power-hour-via.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9455, August 4 at 1354, Oldies back on WRMI --- no, it was just a music break, back to `The Power Hour`, better than // 9395, much better than presumed // 7780 JBA, but by now 13845 WWCR is good with some sporadic E boost. 7780, Saturday August 5 1218, WRMI with canned Bob Biermann ID claiming to be only on 9395, i.e. Oldies, back to music. 9395 can also be heard at much stronger level. 7570 & 7730 at this time are BSing. 9455 // much stronger 9955 with gospel huxter in Spanish and hymn, rather than R. Prague in English as scheduled on grid updated August 3 for Monday-Saturday at 1200-1230: http://tinyurl.com/WRMI9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9455, Sat Aug 5 at 2318, Bob Biermann is preaching so must be amid an unscheduled airing of `Your Weekend Show` (axually, I will not claim it, rather `His Weekend Show`, or rather2, `My Weekend Show`.) I suppose it would have been on the Biermann prime channel 9395, except during this hour it`s overturned to the Overcomer, and at 23-24 Brother HyStairical happens to have neighboring //s not synchro from 9350 WWCR and 9370 WWRB; but at 2327 recheck, 9370 is off and so is its eventual successor 3185, but which is audible in the nearby storm noise circa 0100 August 6. 9455 // 9395 // 7780, August 6 at 1323, three WRMIs with AWR Wavescan at secret time of Sunday 1300. The WRMI schedules show only 25 airings of WS per week, but we include a few more like this we have run across, on DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS. 9395 // 9455, Aug 8 at 2258, both with WRMI Oldies, except at this moment wrapping up a VOA newscast relay insert. 7570 & 7730, Aug 8 at 2304, no signals from WRMIBS, but weakest 7780 is on. As I listen, 7730 at last cuts on about *2304:40, still no 7570. 7570 & 7730 are scheduled to start at 2300, 7780 from 2200. Currently none of them are switching immediately from a higher frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Shortwave Radiogram this weekend is mostly in the usual MFSK32, with one item in MFSK16 in case reception is difficult ... http://swradiogram.net/post/163794122557/shortwave-radiogram-5-6-august-2017-can-also-be received using rabbit ears. Decode the text and images using Fldigi on PCs or TIVAR on Android devices (Kim Elliott, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/SW_Radiogram_2017-08-05.htm#SWRG 1:35 Program preview (now) 2:48 Old fish species returns to Illinois* 8:04 Apple accused of bowing to Chinese censors* 13:52 Russia's "ghostly" radio station* 18:02 Millenials discovering TV antennas* <==== 21:51 MFSK16: Tiny "Sprite" satellites 24:47 MFSK32: Image* and closing announcements "......Some millennials are discovering TV antennas 3 August 2017 The Wall Street Journal reports that millennials have unearthed an amazing hack to get free TV: the Antenna - But is it Legal? it seems 29% aren't sure.................... .........Image: There is no satellite dish or cable connection at the Elliott household. Instead, we use something like this ... Sending Pic:179x251; http://www.rhci-online.net/files/pic_2017-08-05_162134z.png ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope this antenna is also suitable for receiving "digital colored content". ;-) Furthermore a waterfall image contest: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/SW_Radiogram_2017-08-05.htm#IBC http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/SW_Radiogram_2017-08-05.htm#KBC A little problematic with audio harmonics and intermodulations (roger, germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. (7490), August 2 at 2059 on WBCQ webcast, fragment of closing theme on `Financial Survival`, really catchy tune usually heard as I check for WORLD OF RADIO Weds at 2100. I suppose most pop fans know what it is, and now I do after Googling the lyrix: by ABBA: http://www.metrolyrics.com/money-money-lyrics-abba.html ``I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay Ain't it sad And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me That's too bad In my dreams I have a plan If I got me a wealthy man I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball Money, money, money Must be funny In the rich man's world Money, money, money Always sunny In the rich man's world Aha aha All the things I could do If I had a little money It's a rich man's world It's a rich man's world A man like that is hard to find but I can't get him off my mind Ain't it sad And if he happens to be free I bet he wouldn't fancy me That's too bad So I must leave, I'll have to go To Las Vegas or Monaco And win a fortune in a game, my life will never be the same`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Radio Alexandria - this past Wednesday [August 2], I heard a program for the first time entitled "The Next Chapter," on WBCQ 7490 kHz at 2300 UT. Very interesting programming and philosophy about using "the knowledge of books of today, spreading their ideas to the remotest villages and the smallest hamlets throughout the world via shortwave." This was my first logging of The Next Chapter/Radio Alexandria and I was both fascinated and impressed. I highly recommend a visit to http://www.radioalexandria.net/ for more details. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490.03v-AM, UT Sat August 5 at 0018, WBCQ is just too weak in the noise level to copy `Allan Weiner Worldwide`. John Carver, mid- north Indiana, usually provides us for DXLD a summary of each week`s content (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Tonight's AWWW [WBCQ 7490v, UT Aug 4-5] --- Program started early this evening at 2357 as did the Fred Flintstone show before it. Found out early on that there was a power outage in Monticello last night and one of the station's computers was lost as a result. So a clock being off a few minutes is understandable. Program ran without interruptions or dropouts. Brief talk about the cost of electricity in Northern Maine. Long rap about life in Monticello, single phase power for the station and visiting engineers from Germany this past week. 3250 transmitter work is coming along and hopefully will be testing on air in a week or two, assuming the electrician finishes his work there. Phone call with further talk about 3250 transmitter. For a while 3250 and 5130 will be using the same antenna, the rhombic, but will not be diplexed so only one transmitter can use the antenna at a time. Another phone call touched on the 3250 transmitter briefly and then it morphed into a discussion of electric power in general. Reading of the emails started at 0106. After the first two or three emails was an email from Robert and Fritzi announcing a special program to be aired on August 12 at five to 8 Eastern [2100-2400 UT] on the history of the British radio ship pirates. Program will preempt Shortwave Saturday Night [7490] for that evening. With reading of the Free Radio Weekly, emails were finished and program was off the air at 0132. No mention was made of last weekend`s HAARP experience (John Carver, Mid-North Indiana, 0147 UT Sat Aug 5, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9331.32v-CUSB, Sat Aug 5 at 2300 after WOR, ID for WHVW Hyde Park (Pirate Joe`s non-pirate station), but quick cut to WTO opening an `AWWW` playback on WBCQ, with --- Pirate Joe substituting as AW is off at a hamfest in NH, Near-Fest. That`s in April or May, I think, if the playback is even from this year. 7490.01-AM, Aug 5 at 2301, Pirate Joe is also on this WBCQ, presumably live amid his `SW Saturday Night`. He`s hunting for an electoral map on the web to confirm Trump did NOT win NH as he recently claimed. There is no end to the acting president`s stupid lies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. From the Isle of Music, August 6-12: Charanga, Charanga and Changüi: This week is dedicated to Charanga and Changüi. Our guest is Abilio Betancourt, Director of Orquesta Sublime, a charanga with a lot of swing that is noticed less than it should be outside of Cuba. You'll hear what we mean with some of their recordings. Also: Orquesta Estrellas Cubanas, another excellent charanga, and some seldom-heard Orquesta Reve from the 1960s. Be prepared to dance. Four opportunities to listen on shortwave: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in all directions with 100 kW, Sunday 1500-1600 UT on SpaceLine, 9400 kHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK) 2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UT on WBCQ, 7490 from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9 pm EDT in the US) 3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UT and Saturday 1200-1300 UT on Channel 292, 6070 from Rohrbach, Germany. Episode 24 of Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, a musical variety program that features a little bit of everything from around the planet, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490, Thursday, August 10 from 2300 to 2330 UT (7:00-7:30 pm EDT in the Americas). This week includes a wonderful new Tango recording, some progressive Folk music from Poland and what might be China's answer to Lady Gaga (not sure whether that was the question though) among other things. Thanks for all you do for radio (William "Bill" Tilford, Owner / Producer, Tilford Productions, LLC, August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From the Isle of Music, August 13-19 More dance music this week --- This week, our special guest is Fernando Dewar, leader of Septeto Santiaguero, Cuba’s best working Septeto today and a winner of Cubadisco and Latin GRAMMY awards. He will be talking about their new album Raiz, and we will be listening to some of it. Also, some music from Andy Rubal, a nominee in the Popular Dance Music – Newer Artists category in Cubadisco 2017. Four opportunities to listen on shortwave: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in all directions with 100 kW, Sunday 1500-1600 UT on SpaceLine, 9400, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK) 2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UT on WBCQ, 7490 from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9 PM EDT in the US) 3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UT and Saturday 1200-1300 UT on Channel 292, 6070 from Rohrbach, Germany. Episode 25 of Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, a musical variety program that features a little bit of everything from around the planet, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490, Thursday, August 17 from 2300 to 2330 UT (7:00-7:30 pm EDT in the Americas). This week we spend some quality time roaming the Balkans with a little surf rock gibberish on the side. This week’s episode includes a contest. WBCQ’s signal has frequently been reaching the Americas, East to West, down at least as far as São Paulo, Brasil, and well into Central Europe of late. Graphics attached. Thanks for all you do for radio (William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer, Tilford Productions, LLC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TURMS TECH GETS CP [for DRM on SW from NJ] Turms Tech - founded by that forest-products and finance guy previously reported - has received a Construction Permit from the FCC. http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0802/DOC-346036A1.pdf From May, here is the DRMNA.info post about this station: http://drmnainfo.blogspot.com/2017/05/fcc-construction-application-for-drm.html (Benn Kobb, August 2, WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This FCC notice has NO details. See DXLD 17-19: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1719.txt (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. KVOH tour photos from NASB meeting in May 2017: http://drmnainfo.blogspot.com/2017/05/drm-dominates-conversation-at-nasb-2017.html (via gh, DXLD) 17775, August 2 at 1359, unlike yesterday, KVOH is already on and poorly audible at S7-S5, music and English sign-on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1635 UT on Aug 4th KVOH in NY and FL US coastline remote SDR's, and weaker at Edmonton Alberta too: 17774.981 kHz measured in NY and FL-US SDR remote stations S=7 or - 88dBm signal on east coastline. Spanish talk 'hay problemas ...', "Gloria en Pentida" [?] at 1712 UT, followed by most modern music/singer in Spanish. Much stronger S=9+15dB on this time slot: 17815.010 kHz of WHRI Cypress Creek towards NoEaAF - frequency/service which is not mentioned in Aoki Nagoya database table yet. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9265, WINB with Jesus C/W music and a good old boy announcer between tunes. Name of the show was Bluegrass Gospel (or something like that anyway) but it was VERY hard to understand the announcer both because he kept turning away from the mike and because this station has rather muffled modulation to begin with! From the looks of the spectrum, I’d say they were using a telephone line to feed the programming. Either that or the transmitter is very sick! Program address at ToH but blew past without a station ID. 3+5443 (muffled modulation) 0235-0305 30/Jul SDRPlay +CubicSDR +randomwire (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope, MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 9265, August 3 at 2157, WINB with gospel huxter address, and the carrier is *really* wobbling now. One wonders how much longer the old transmitter will survive. This useful historical roster, but not up to date? http://www.swcountry.be/usa.html shows the only WINB transmitter is a 50 kW Continental 417B from 1962y (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9475, 9917, 9930, 9943 & 12105, Saturday August 5 at 2037, all WTWW transmitters are OFF, nor detectable on night frequencies 5830, 5085. 9475, Aug 5 at 2327, WTWW-1 is on and undermodulated with SFAW talk about vitamins; all WTWWs had been off earlier in afternoon. 5085, UT Sunday August 6 at 0103, WTWW-2 is on at S9+40 to S9+20 with `Theater Organ in the Ozarx` starting almost on time. Bob Heil says he will be playing recordings of a modified Hammond Organ he made and installed in Columbus OH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12050, Aug 5 at 2323, WEWN Spanish S9 with no spurs, so maybe the 12059.63 one earlier against Algeria non on 12060 was a birdie in the other receiver (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I hope this finds you well. Haven't been listening too much of late, due to a high noise level and quite a few thunderstorms in the area. And everyone has their A/C's blasting in this typical New Jersey heat and humidity this time of year. 8 Aug 2017 - I was tuned to WEWN on 15610 kHz at 1850 UT with an S9 + 20 dB signal. At 1855, announcer said the signal will go off the air briefly for antenna adjustment. I believe that up to 1855, program was beamed to the Mid East. Then at 1900, programming was beamed to Africa. Signal was still good, but dropped to S9 dB on my R8A. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7504.957v-AM, Aug 6 at 0110, WRNO is S9+30 and varying slightly. Had not bothered to log this lately. Woman is talking about out-of-body, near-death or even death experience at hospital (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11580, AWR (via WRMI) at 2003 with “Wavescan” with Ray Robinson reporting on invented and artificial languages, then Jeff White at 2006 introducing a report on WWCR and a possible inclusion of DRM broadcasting to their schedule – Fair Aug 4 – Heaven forbid! It’s a colossal mistake! (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) ** U S A. 580, 5.11 0602, WIBW Topeka KS --- November 2016, we were having trouble with our directional array on 580. It’s supposed to be directional to the south and west, but it was flipped for a few weeks, making it receivable north and east of Topeka. That’s why you were able to get it when you did. You probably won’t be able to receive it now.". (OJS/L = Odd-Jørgen Sagdahl, Trondheim, 1000 meters @ 305 degrees at the old Loran C site in Berlevåg, Norway, Arctic Radio Club mv-eko 7 August via DXLD) ** U S A. SHOPPING AREA PLANNED UNDER WLW-AM'S ICONIC MASON TOWER WLW-AM's iconic diamond-shaped radio tower and historic transmitter building on Tylersville Road soon will be casting their shadows on retail stores. . . http://wvxu.org/post/shopping-area-planned-under-wlw-ams-iconic-mason-tower#stream/0 (via artie Bigley, OH, Aug 4, DXLD) Viz.: Shopping Area Planned Under WLW-AM's Iconic Mason Tower By John Kiesewetter • Aug 4, 2017 Sign for developer/property manager NAI Bergman at WLW-AM tower site on 710 Tylersville Road, Mason [caption] WLW-AM's iconic diamond-shaped radio tower and historic transmitter building on Tylersville Road soon will be casting their shadows on retail stores, restaurants and offices beneath it. The "Tower Park" planned unit development along Mason's booming Tylersville Road corridor was approved by city council earlier this year, a city staffer tells me. Ohio Historical Marker at the WLW-AM tower site. Credit John Kiesewetter [caption] The diamond-shaped Blaw-Knox tower, only one of six still used today by U.S. radio stations, will remain in operation. Apparently remaining will be the red brick building which housed the 1934 one-of-a-kind 500,000-watt transmitter; the brick residence for WLW-AM's chief engineer; a guard tower; and a second antenna west of the transmitter building. The 26.7-acre concept plan approved by council calls for four restaurants, five office buildings, a small retail building, a mini- warehouse, 700 parking spaces and a loop service road with a roundabout. Some of the parking spaces and buildings are under the tensioned guy wires, cables supporting the 831-foot WLW-AM tower, which could drop icicles after a winter storm. (I bet anyone who ever parked under the WKRC-TV and WLWT-TV towers won't park under that tower after a winter storm!) Michael Bergman, of NAI Bergman, says the site developer did not want to comment at this time. Bergman said that his client believes that "discussion now would be premature." Concept plan for Tower Park. Credit Provided [caption] The WLW-AM tower definitely is "The Big One." Workers connected two pyramid-shaped radio towers to make the 831-foot structure with flagpole (since removed). It is 35-feet wide in the middle at the WLW call letters, but only 30 inches wide at the base, which rests on a ceramic insulator. Transmitter building, guard tower and engineer's residence built in the early 1930s. Credit John Kiesewetter [caption] Crosley literature in the 1930s boasted that the 135-ton tower was taller than the Washington Monument (558 feet) and Cincinnati's 49- story Carew Tower (574 feet). It's also taller than the 41-story Great American Tower at Queen City Square (660 feet). WLW-AM founder Powel Crosley moved his transmitter from Harrison to Tylersville Road in 1928. After Crosley was granted experimental "super power" by the federal government, President Franklin D. Roosevelt activated the 500,000-watt transmitter on May 2, 1934 from the White House. With a signal 10 times more powerful than any other U.S. broadcaster, "The Nation's Station" beamed programs coast to coast (and beyond) for five years. After 1939, WLW-AM continued to use "super power" midnight-2 a.m. until 1943. An Ohio Historical marker was erected at the transmitter site entrance, 710 Tylersville Road, notes that local residents "reported hearing (WLW) broadcasts on barbed-wire fences, milking machines, rain spouts, water faucets and radiators." Eight guy wires support the WLW-AM tower. Credit John Kiesewetter [caption] The custom-built 500,000-watt transmitter was a joint venture between RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse, the sign says. The transmitter was 54-feet wide, 13-feet tall and 7-feet deep. It used 22 glass radio tubes -- each 5-feet high – cooled by 700 gallons of distilled water per minute circulating from a nearby pond. In recent years, debt-plagued iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel) sold the Mason tower property to Vertical Bridge Holdings of Boca Raton, Fla., the nation's largest private owner and manager of communication infrastructure. Vertical Bridge leases towers, rooftops, billboards, utility attachments and other assets to telecommunications carriers or other users of wireless technology. Crosley's "Everybody's Farm" – a farmhouse and working farm used for agricultural programming for rural listeners – was once located across from the tower property. It has been parceled off for retail. Crosley engineers also built the Voice of America relay station and antennae west of the WLW-AM property on Tylersville Road, now a museum, park and bustling retail area (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Glenn, Ron Gaier is the CE of the Cumulus radio group in Cincinnati: Ron, What was the purpose of the guard tower in the 30s and 40??s Artie: The purpose was to guard was against any sabotage against the tower and or building, especially the Nazis. Hitler I think in two speeches referred to the site as “those Zincinnati liars”, so there was concern. All the trees around the area were cut down so the guards would have a clear view of the area. There are WWII era spotlights down by the tower. I knew about all of this, I have an FM on both towers and pretty much have free access to the transmitter building. Ron Ron, I figured you knew about this development and had full access to the building. This and the VOA park would be interesting places to visit in the future! I did receive the old WLW QSL card in 1970 back in San Antonio and see they are sought after on ebay. Artie Artie: There is a lot of history around both of those places. I got to visit the VOA when it was still in operation, very impressive. Ron (all via Artie Bigley, Columbus, DXLD) ** U S A. WCPT 820 Chicago - echo in audio. One station I don't pay attention to often is WCPT 820 Chicago. At night they put a rather poor signal here, in their null to the SW. Perhaps a few 10's of watts are aimed my way, mixing with WBAP in the background with a noticeable SAH. I did listen early this morning to their night signal and heard a very noticeable echo effect in the audio. After their switch to day power at 06:00 CDT this morning the audio cleans right up. Tonight the noticeable echo is again there. Why only at night? It sounds like a crappy cell phone connection with an echo. Do they have a separate day and night site? If so maybe the line or feed for the night site is causing the problem. I just wonder if any of the staff actually listen in to their night signal (Tom Jasinski, Joliet, IL, 0610 UT Aug 6, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. 880, August 3 at 1113 UT, YL with news about infrastruxure funding, on the ``World Radio Network`` --- huh? N/S so obviously KRVN Lexington NE; 1115 UT website worldradio.com and discuss Nebraska corn crop, on ``Nebraska World Radio`` --- huh? We already have the WRN based in London and the religious HCJB-affiliated WRN in the RGV. I honestly thought they were saying ``world`` but website reminds me it`s really ``Rural``! And any qualified Nebraskan may join the NRRA for $25 and get a certificate. Other stations in the group are KNEB 960 and KTIC 840. Anyhow, the world beyond its daytime coverage area will be trying to hear KRVN around 1800 UT August 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. JoeFM.net KJIB-LP 87.9 FM --- And the question is: Is it LEGAL or NOT??? The perpetrator in question is none other than the broadcast station from Clear Lake TX, a stone`s throw from Houston, calling themselves JoeFM. They are currently operating on 87.9 FM, which the FCC engineer in charge of investigating the station's equipment some time back, would not pursue because, ahem, it was above his *pay grade*. Joe FM is not authorized to be operating on 87.9 but; well, you can read their history and controversy here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KJIB-LP And if you care to check them out, here is their website, which includes a link to listen to them llve: http://879joefm.weebly.com/ I have tried finding any documents for them through a FCC search or using the FCCInfo website and both come up empty. I have included their legal TOH ID, which I snagged from their online stream at 8 AM on Friday, July 28, 2017. Attached Files File Type: mp3 KJIB-LP 87.9.mp3 (412.9 KB, 12 views) (Jim Thomas, Springfield, MO, Making FM Dxing more fun than a barrel of monkeys! July 28, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Hey, Joe himself will tell you it's legal! cd (Chris Dunne, FL, ibid.) I still can't find anything authorized anywhere near Houston for operation on channel 6. KIPS has an application to move *towards* Houston, with a noise-limited (optimistic) coverage area that probably includes part of Houston - but that's still digital. An argument can be made that audio on 87.9 under an analog channel 6 LPTV license is legal (many of the rules that applied to analog full- power stations are arguably not applicable to LPTV stations). But there has to be an underlying permit. I don't even see a digital permit for channel 6 in Houston (again, there's the KIPS *application* that might arguably serve part of Houston - but again, that's an *application*, and it's digital). There's nothing in the FCC rules that say you can't put up a website and stream that *claim* you're broadcasting on 87.9, as long as you don't actually put up that FM signal. The Texas Attorney General or Department of Consumer Protection might have a problem but the FCC won't (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com July 28, ibid.) Doug: In a similar vein, do you know the deal behind this, below? This seems like a similar situation. I am a bit skittish to call them: http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?11452-87-9-SS-La-Pantera-87-7-TX-%BFdonde&highlight=Pantera Oh, and do you all remember how ch 6 Schenectady tried to pull off 87.9 analog audio over seven years ago (while running DT 6)? FCC said nope. I was able to catch that one time in '09. cd (Chris Dunne, Pembroke Pines FL, ibid.) However, JoeFM has been logged in Florida and Ontario now, via Es. And how are they classified? TV or FM? And if the FCC doesn't have any supporting documentation for them operating on 87.9 MHz, are they technically a pirate radio station, even though they are giving a TOH ID? Can't figure out how a broadcast facility owner can *push* the FCC around (Jim Thomas, Springfield, MO, July 29, Making FM Dxing more fun than a barrel of monkeys! ibid.) There are channel 6 LPTV licenses in Arlington, Texas (tower 780m from the Wikipedia coordinates for Fort Worth) and in Dallas. The stations list different licensees but since the call letters are KBFW and KZFW I suspect they know each other. The Dallas transmitter is in the Cedar Hill tower farm 490m HAAT. It's highly directional favoring the northeast (across the city). The Fort Worth (Arlington) transmitter is in downtown Fort Worth at 166m HAAT. It has a shallow null towards Dallas but is not particularly directional. Both stations are authorized for 3 kW *visual* power. For full-power analog stations, audio power was limited to no more than 22% of visual -- 660 watts in this case. But as I mentioned in the other thread, many regulations that applied to full-power analog stations arguably don't apply to analog LPTVs. I think a case could be made that audio power of 100% of visual could be legal – 3 kW for both transmitters. In the same way, I'm not sure it's not legal for these stations to operate their aural transmitters on 87.9 and 87.7 MHz (if they were full-power stations they would need to be on 87.74, 87.75, or 87.76) (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, July 28, ibid.) ** U S A. FM DX will get a little tougher FM TRANSLATOR WINDOW ENDS WITH 1,000 STATIONS IN THE GAME Chairman Pai called it a success August 3, 2017 By Emily M. Reigart More than 1,000 AM radio stations participated in the FM translator filing window that concluded before 6 p.m. yesterday. Beginning July 26, this short period gave some Class C and D AM stations the opportunity to apply for new FM translators. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai declared it a success in statement released today and said this window, in conjunction with the two in 2016, "will help AM broadcasters continue to play a part in our competitive media landscape as the FCC continues to address the unique technical challenges involving AM radio." Pai also noted that "These translators will enable many of these AM stations to broadcast local programming to their communities at night for the first time." The dates for the next auction have not yet been announced. http://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/0002/fm-translator-auction-ends-with-1000-stations-in-the-game/340142 (via Kevin Redding, TN, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) Actually there will be more targets (Rick Shaftan, Atlantic Media and Research, OBX NC, ibid.) OBX = Outer Banx ** U S A. It's time for summer break --- Glenn - Thanks to your efforts, we're making good progress toward ensuring that public broadcasting maintains its funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and beyond. We still have a long road ahead of us, but as Congress gears up to leave for its summer recess, here's a quick update on where we stand in the federal funding process for public media: The full House Appropriations Committee passed its Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Ed) FY 2018 spending bill, which includes full funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Ready To Learn. Unfortunately, the House did not include funding for Interconnection - which provides the essential infrastructure that allows your stations to broadcast your favorite programs - in its budget. When Congress returns from its summer recess after Labor Day, we will have work to do to ensure that all public media funding, including funding for Interconnection, is included in the Senate spending bill and any final spending bill negotiated between the House and the Senate. In the next few weeks, we'll be following up with some light, poolside reading on why federal funding for Interconnection, CPB, and Ready To Learn is essential to our local stations. We hope this will help us get geared up to protect public media funding when Congress returns. We couldn't have made it this far without your help and look forward to continuing to work together to preserve public media. Sincerely, The Protect My Public Media Team (Aug 4, via DXLD) August 4, 2017, Dear Mr. Glenn Hauser, Thank you for sharing your thoughts about funding for public broadcasting and the Ready-to-Learn Program under the Department of Education. As you may know, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a non-profit, private corporation whose primary function is to distribute federal appropriations supporting public television and radio stations. That funding is then aggregated through the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) for individual stations. CPB appropriations amounts to 15 percent of public television and 10 percent of radio broadcasting total annual funds. The majority of CPB appropriations, approximately 70 percent, provides Community Service Grants to eligible public stations. For FY17, CPB was funded at $445 million. According to the most recent available information from fiscal year (FY) 2012, the public broadcasting system reported a total revenue of $2.8 billion. Revenue by source shows that CPB funds represent 14.9 percent, 1.6 percent came from federal grants and contracts, and the remaining 83 percent came from non-federal sources. Membership represents the largest single source of income, which represents 28.5 percent of total revenue. I have previously met with Oklahoma's OETA management to identify good options to protect the future of PBS broadcasting in Oklahoma. There are many options available to provide the quality educational programming offered on PBS and NPR stations, without causing PBS or NPR to go "off the air." Concerning the Department of Education’s Ready-to-Learn program, the program was reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and provides grants for elementary education programming. Funds are given to public telecommunications entities and are required to consult with the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on programming strategy. In 2015, CPB in conjunction with PBS was awarded a $99.1 million, five-year grant aimed at developing education programming for children in low-income communities. For FY17, the Ready-to-Learn program was funded at $25.7 million. Twenty years ago, much of the programming for public broadcasting was used to finance college education distance learning. Today, most of the programming is for children's education due to the growth of online education. Over the years PBS and NPR have adapted to the changes in media needs. This is a moment when we must evaluate again how to sustain PBS/NPR but also not spend almost half a billion dollars each year on publicly owned radio and television networks. As a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, I remain committed to working through the full budget and appropriations process each year to adequately fund important federal programs. As Congress works through the process, please remain engaged with my staff and I regarding proposals that would affect public broadcasting and the Ready-to-Learn Program. Please feel free to contact me again via email at http://www.lankford.senate.gov for more information about my work in the U.S. Senate for all of us. In God We Trust, James Lankford, United States Senator (to gh via DXLD) Altho really a form response in the negative, my other senator and representative did not bother to reply, even auto-acknowledge. I am now on Lankford`s mailing list making clear his far-right agenda, but seems a little more reasonable than his colleagues (gh, Enid) HOW CBS NEWS IS TRYING TO REINVENT ITSELF Digiday Modern Newsroom August 2, 2017 by Sahil Patel https://digiday.com/media/inside-cbsn-a-cbs-news-for-a-new-era/ The CBS Broadcast Center, nestled a block from the Hudson River in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, is home to several venerable news institutions including “60 Minutes” and “CBS Evening News.” But on the building’s second floor, a digital upstart has been trying to do something new within the confines of a decades-old news institution: Build an always-on news brand that doesn’t fall into the trappings of endless cable news shout-a-thons on one end and cheap, forgettable social news clips on the other. In the fall of 2014, CBS launched CBSN, a 24-hour streaming news channel available for free online and across all manner of smartphones, tablets and connected TV screens. Described by a CBS source as a “child” under the joint custody of CBS Interactive and CBS News, CBSN programs 15 hours or more of live-streaming news every day, including episodes of major CBS News programs such as “CBS This Morning,” “Face the Nation,” “60 Minutes” and “CBS Evening News.” CBSN is no small operation, with as many as 250 people from across CBS News Digital and CBS Interactive working on CBSN in some capacity. This includes dedicated staffers within editorial, engineering and other departments, as well as those with “central roles” from CBS Interactive in departments spanning product, marketing and sales. Nearly three years in, CBSN is profitable. Going forward, the plan is to “take some of the success and reinvest it” into the business, according to Christy Tanner, svp and gm of CBS News Digital for CBS Interactive. This includes putting money and resources toward new content, distribution partnerships and editorial products, which will often involve working in tandem with other departments in the broader CBS portfolio — a testament to how much CBS higher-ups value CBSN. CBS News for a new era “We are not endeavoring to start a cable news channel online,” CBS News president David Rhodes said in an interview with Politico when CBSN launched in 2014. That’s been the mantra at CBSN ever since, which has meant eschewing some of the things people have grown accustomed to with linear news broadcasts and cable TV. For instance, on a recent day when other cable news outlets showed live coverage of Air Force One landing at Joint Base Andrews, CBSN was live at the news conference with the Minneapolis police chief following the shooting of Justine Ruszczyk. And very little punditry occurs on CBSN, said Nancy Lane, who, as senior executive producer for CBS News Digital, is responsible for all content on CBS News’ digital properties. “Cable news reports it and then starts arguing with each other with the same people,” said Lane. “We’re trying to give you more factual details with new voices.” While CBSN’s editorial and social teams produce short, social videos for Facebook and other platforms, it’s not at the expense of the flagship streaming channel. If, for instance, a video does well on Facebook, then the plan is to cover that topic at some point on the streaming channel, Lane said. CBSN is also an opportunity for CBS News to go deeper on topics broadcast and cable news outlets underreport. In the past year, CBSN has launched a “CBSN Originals” program to produce documentaries that cover topics such as Latino Trump supporters and the drive to end child marriage in Nepal and the U.S. “It’s not something that conventional wisdom would tell you is a ratings driver,” said Tanner. “We don’t want to be caught doing the same documentary that everyone else is doing,” added Lane. Getting younger By producing a streaming news channel that’s available across different streaming platforms and devices, CBSN is helping CBS News reach a younger audience. This is especially important in a time when traditional broadcast and cable news viewers are aging, said Jason Maltby, president and co- executive director of national broadcast for Mindshare North America. The median age for a Fox News and MSNBC TV viewer is 65 years old; for CNN’s prime-time viewership, the median age is 59 years old, according to Nielsen. “Like most other linear products, CBS News is aging up. They’re not getting millennials, which is not a sustainable long-term and mid-term business proposition,” said Maltby. “With CBSN, they’re trying to figure out where do they fit in the digital world and how they can be relevant across platforms.” CBSN’s approach seems to be working so far. Its median age is 38 years old, with 80 percent of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 — but don’t call CBSN a “millennial news outlet.” “We don’t want to be in the category of trying so hard that it’s painful to be a millennial news outlet,” said Tanner. “The conventional wisdom would have been at one point, ‘Oh, you’re starting to prepare for the evolution of the audience, so just hire a bunch of 25-year-olds to be on camera as your correspondents.’ We have found that our viewers respond to people who are knowledgeable.” In 2016, CBSN drew more than 240 million live streams, up 232 percent over the previous year. The growth is continuing into 2017, with total streams up 38 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous year. “CBSN presents an opportunity to engage cord cutters, knowing consumers don’t need to authenticate via a subscription, which is common among other news publishers and is available on a multitude of platforms,” said Beth Weeks, associate director of media for DigitasLBi. In the thick of it In the past, digital businesses under larger parent companies were often treated as stepchildren — cast to the side to do their own thing while the parent focused on its lucrative, legacy businesses. With its headquarters at the CBS Broadcast Center, its own control room next to the CBS News control room and studio sets and offices that sit side by side, CBSN is not siloed from other parts of CBS. It’s not uncommon to see co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell walk off the “CBS This Morning” set and head to CBSN for an additional segment. On Monday, CBS News premiered “CBSN: On Assignment,” a new summer TV series airing on TV and simulcast on CBSN and the CBS All Access subscription streaming service. Each hourlong episode will feature multiple documentary-style reports CBSN produces. CBS All Access, which reportedly had 1.5 million paying subscribers as of February, will carry CBSN’s live feed starting on Aug. 3. Behind the scenes, CBSN’s product teams frequently work with their counterparts at CBS All Access on troubleshooting and other product and engineering elements — as CBSN was developing its app for PlayStation consoles, it would consult with the All Access team on various troubleshooting elements, Tanner said. “You can’t get from A to B as quickly at other companies with just one phone call,” she said. Externally, CBSN gets to enjoy the benefits of being owned by a major media company. For instance, CBS Corporation recently struck a deal with FuboTV to bring CBS-owned channels to the online TV service. The deal included the creation of a CBSN-branded linear channel on FuboTV. This area is expected to grow as more TV services come online and seek to distribute CBS networks. Said Tanner: “We’re doing a lot more, and what enables us to do that is this collaboration within the company.” Images via CBSN (via Indiana Radio [sic] Watch via John Carver, DXLD) ** VANUATU. 7259.941, August 5 at 1205, talk at very poor level on off-frequency characteristic of R. Vanuatu; nothing on 7260.0 now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN CITY. Fair to good signal of Vatican Radio on August 7 0600-0615 on 15595 SMG 250 kW / 107 deg to N/ME Italian Mon-Sat 0615-0630 on 15595 SMG 250 kW / 107 deg to N/ME French Mon-Sat 0630-0645 on 15595 SMG 250 kW / 107 deg to N/ME English Mon-Sat On August 6-7 no signal of these transmissions of Vatican Radio: 0300-0330 on 7360 SMG 250 kW / 151 deg to CEAf English 0300-0330 on 7360 SMG 250 kW / 151 deg to CEAf English 0330-0345 on 7360 SMG 250 kW / 150 deg to CEAf Swahili Sun 0330-0400 on 7360 SMG 250 kW / 151 deg to CEAf Swahili Mon-Sat 0345-0400 on 7360 SMG 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Somali Sun 0400-0430 on 9645 SMG 250 kW / 114 deg to N/ME Arabic 0400-0430 on 11715 SMG 100 kW / 098 deg to N/ME Arabic 0530-0600 on 9660 SMG 250 kW / 234 deg to WeAf Portuguese 0600-0630 on 11625 SMG 250 kW / 210 deg to WeAf French 0600-0630 on 13765 SMG 250 kW / 184 deg to WCAf French 0630-0700 on 11625 SMG 250 kW / 210 deg to WeAf English 0630-0700 on 13765 SMG 250 kW / 184 deg to WCAf English 0645-0705 on 9645 SMG 250 kW / 228 deg to NEAf Arabic Mon-Sat 0645-0705 on 11740 SMG 100 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Arabic Mon-Sat 1200-1220 on 17520 SMG 250 kW / 185 deg to CeAf Italian 1200-1220 on 17590 SMG 100 kW / 112 deg to N/ME Italian http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/fair-to-good-signal-of-vatican-radio-on.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN [non]. Re DXLD 17-31, remote SDR's in Oman and Qatar monitoring, re Saudi based Radio Sana'a Yemen relay in Jeddah and Riyadh broadcast centers re SAUDI ARABIA / 11860 kHz Yemen Radio relay via ARS. Thanks to tips of David and the Brazilian DXer, to use Oman and UAE remotes for monitoring, concerning TX switch overtime around 1753 ... 1757 UT daily, I checked 11860 kHz channel between 1755 and 1800 UT today on Aug 4th. At remote web SDR in Doha Qatar the signal was straight S=9+10dB til SWITCH OVER at exact 1757:59 UT, when a very poor tiny signal left on that channel as tiny S=3-4 level in Qatar SDR remote post. So, - as assumed already, Jeddah site in distance close to Yemen is used at local daytime 0400-1757 UT, and Riyadh site at night time at 1800 to 0400 UT, with different antenna characteristic, latter in order to cover Yemen at Sana'a and on southern peninsula tip Aden too. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But people are still reporting this only as Jeddah site, an unjustified assumption (gh, DXLD) 11860. Fri, Aug 4 at 2015-2025, Radio Sana´a, Jeddah-ARS, in Arabic. Man announcer talks and talks; 2020 Arabic music. This Clandestine station with awful transmission today and spur interference by Radio Aparecida on 11855 kHz. 11860. Sat, Aug 5 at 1825-1839, Radio Sana´a, Jeddah-ARS, in Arabic. Man announcer talks; 1833 A song; 1835 Female talks, exciting manifestation and in conversation with a man; People participation. Station with fair signal and modulation, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier, Location: Cabedelo-PB, Brazil (UTC-3), RX (s): Sony ICF- SW100S, Antenna: Longwire, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa, Lusaka. From 29th July this station has modified its program schedule from Monday to Friday, according with an e-mail received from the Station; "This week we have changed the schedule, and now run 1600-1900 UTC M-F on those frequencies. We also added 9680 & 11680 0500-0800 UTC M-F. Details at: http://voiceofhope.com/schedule/voh-africa_program_grid.pdf Consulting this website, this is the program schedule: Before 29th July: Monday to Friday 1630-2200 on 4965 and 6065 kHz After 29th July: Monday to Friday 0500-0800 on 9680 and 13680 kHz 1600-1900 on 4965 and 6065 kHz Saturday and Sunday remains unchanged as before 29th July: Saturday 1200-1700 on 9680 and 13680 kHz Sunday 1200-1730 on 9680 and 13680 kHz (via Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Actually, Sunday is: 1200-1700 on 9680 & 13680 1700-1730 on 9680 only (Ray Robinson, KVOH, ibid.) 6065, Voice of Hope, Lusaka, 1852-1900*, 03-08, religious songs, ID “From Zambia, this is The Voice of Hope Africa, broadcasting on 6065 and 4965 kHz, This is The Voice of Africa closing down”. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, Tecsun PL-880, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Voice of Hope Africa 1430-1600 time slot is totally blocked by NHK & CRI 1200-1700 on 13680 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg to WeAf English Sa/Su Voice of Hope Africa 1430-1500 on 13680 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Persian Daily Radio Japan NHK World 1500-1600 on 13680 KAS 500 kW / 308 deg to WeEu Chinese Daily China Radio Int/CRI/ http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/voice-of-hope-africa-1430-1600ut-slot.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Updated summer A-17 shortwave schedule of KVOH Voice of Hope Africa Lusaka. All frequencies of Voice of Hope Africa were registered in HFCC Database on August 6, all LUV = Lusaka, 100 kW 0500-0800 9680 000 deg SoAf English Mon-Fri tx#1, new additional 0500-0800 11680# 315 deg WeAf English Mon-Fri tx#2, new additional 1600-1900 4965 000 deg SoAf English Mon-Fri tx#1, ex 1630-2200 UT 1600-1900 6065 315 deg WeAf English Mon-Fri tx#2, ex 1630-2200 UT 1200-1700 9680* 000 deg SoAf English Sat/Sun tx#1, unchanged time 1200-1700 13680^ 315 deg WeAf English Sat/Sun tx#2, unchanged time 1700-1730 9680 000 deg SoAf English Sunday tx#1, new additional ^ co-ch same 13680 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg WeAs Persian R.Japan NHK World 1430-1500 ^ co-ch same 13680 KAS 500 kW / 308 deg WeEu Chinese China Radio Inter 1500-1600 # co-ch same 11680 KNG 050 kW / non-dir NEAs Korean KCBS Pyongyang, QRM TRT 11675 * co-ch same 9680 PAO 100 kW / 352 deg EaAs Chinese R.Taiwan Int&CNR- 1 1200-1400 * co-ch same 9680 NAU 250 kW / 060 deg EaEu Russ Sat MW Friedensstimme 1600-1630 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/08/updated-summer-17-shortwave-schedule-of.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier search: the ``season`` has begun --- I`d rather be sleeping, but since I`m awake, August 3 at 1047, a quick check for TP carriers, on 9 kHz steps via the handheld DX-398: Yes, JBA ones detected only on 774 from the WSW, i.e. 3LO Melbourne, Australia; and at 1049, 1098 kHz from the west, i.e. V7AB, Marshall Islands. Sunrise here: 1140 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710, Aug 7 at 0539 UT, JBA carrier even with R75 preamps off; perhaps pirate as reported sometimes, or TIS. I usually start/end MW bandscans here with nothing heard. There are also Australian and Argentine broadcasters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Captaciones de Rodolfo Tizzi, desde Uruguay --- Una de las varias boyas de arrastre escuchadas este último fin de semana entre la abandonada banda de 120 metros y los 2800 kHz aproximadamente. Deduzco por las condiciones de propagacion al momento de la escucha que el artefacto debería encontrarse en alguna parte del Océano Atlántico. Drifting buoy "HO4" (unid location) - 2712 kHz (Conexion Digital 6 agosto via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3271-USB, August 3 at 1145, 2-way in language, maybe Burmese? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWN, 5940, 1452-1500, Modern African-like music with vocals (electronic based), SINPO 33333 (with QRM from underlying station on same frequency). (ED SYLVESTER, 7Z1ES, RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, Aug 4, Rig: WJ-8711/Drake R8B; Ant: Pixel Magnetic Loop with rotor, Up 30', dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) One of them should be V of Freedom, Korea South to North, which uses this frequency sporadically (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6180, August 8 at 0636, very weak signal from algo, which at 0607 would have been VOA French via São Tomé, but supposed to end at 0630 weekdays. Anker Petersen, Denmark, has twice reported RN Amazônia recently on 6180 around 0130 with no interference from CRI in English via Kashgar, which is all I`ve heard that early. So is RNA on, perhaps with low power and/or sporadically? No, 6180 does not work out to be a possible Cuban leapfrog on 49m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7520-USB, August 8 at 2305, 2-way in Spanish before becomes occupied by WWCR at 0000 or India at 0015, and after RFA Tibetan via Kuwait uses it twice a week until 2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13563, August 3 at 2148, JBA CW beeps at steady rate of 72/minute, perhaps a HIFER rather than with IDs. Going by the LWCA roster, maybe it`s ``13563~ KC7MMI Mesa AZ DM43ck CW reported 2016/09`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1890: Thanks to Chuck Ermatinger, St. Louis, for another contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com One may also contribute by check or MO in US funds on a US bank to Glenn Hauser, PO Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ INSIDE A NUMBERS STATION A newly published article on the Numbers Research and Information Centre website: "Our site has various articles and documents showing the use of numbers stations. Yet, never before have we had an account from a person who has 'worked at the numbers stations'. This person whose name we will not disclose has shared his story in working in foreign radio transmission base six decades ago. While his story carefully conceals what was the station and to whom it broadcasted, it tells us the basics of numbers stations operation." http://www.numbers-stations.com/articles/working-at-a-numbers-station (via August BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ CIDX BARBECUE, MONTREAL, AUGUST 19 We are just a few short weeks away from this year’s CIDX Vernon Ikeda Memorial Barbecue in Montreal. I had mentioned last month that we are planning to do something special this year that will give CIDX members around the world to be a part of the annual event. Now we have the details for you. Some of you may be familiar with CIDXer Gilles Letourneau of Montreal, who transmits weekly shortwave related programs on his YouTube channel, “OfficialSWLChannel”. It can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSWLchannel On Saturday, August 19th, at 4 PM Eastern, 2000 UT, Gilles will transmit a live broadcast on the channel direct from the CIDX Barbecue at CIDX HQ East. All you need to do is to go to the channel on YouTube and you will be able to see the live feed and hear messages and comments from those in attendance. You will all be able to participate through the channel’s on-line chat to send greetings, ask questions, or add comments. In attendance this year in addition to the regular Montreal contingent of CIDX members, will be CIDX VP’s Mickey Delmage from Sherwood Park, Alberta and Gilles Michaud of Laval, QC. As well John Fisher and Eric Cottrell, CIDXers from Massachusetts and members of their local BADX group, will also be in for the event. We thank Gilles Letourneau for offering to set up this unique opportunity, a first for the CIDX Montreal barbecue. We look forward to hearing from many of you on August 19th. Remember that the broadcast will begin at 4 PM Eastern; 2000 UTC. You can go directly to the event by entering https://www.youtube.com/OfficialSWLchannel/live Have a great August. We’ll see everyone again in September! CIDX ANNUAL VERNON IKEDA MEMORIAL SUMMER BARBEQUE Saturday, August 19th 2017 - 1 pm Eastern (1700 UTC) LOCATION: 79 Kipps Street, Greenfield Park, QC Google Map: http://goo.gl/maps/1UvxP We are pleased to announce the 2017 CIDX Annual Vernon Ikeda Memorial Summer Barbecue. Sausages & hamburgers will be served. Please bring your own beverages. Any food contributions (snacks, desserts, etc) will also be appreciated. Please confirm your attendance by telephone, 450-671-3773, or by e-mail to Sheldon Harvey at ve2shw@yahoo.com All CIDX members and radio friends are welcome to attend. Check out live YouTube broadcast from the barbecue at 4 PM eastern; 2000 UT at https://www.youtube.com/OfficialSWLchannel/live (Sheldon Harvey, August CIDX Messenger via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ DX MUSEUM LIBRARY - LOVE HARAZIN R UNITED TO RADIO VOICE OF VIETNAM (VOVWORLD) - In a museum with an area of ??only 60 square meters, the love of Indonesian Khazarin R. Junner is preserved to radio stations of different countries of the world, in general, and the radio "Voice of Vietnam" in particular. The DX museum library, located in the suburbs of Indonesian Yogyakarta, stores 4,000 books in 45 languages, over one thousand memorabilia associated with various radio stations of the world, 100 of which are souvenirs of the Voice of Vietnam radio. In the museum with an area of ??only 60 square meters, the love of the Indonesian Khazarin R. Junner to the radio stations of different countries of the world, in general, and the radio "Voice of Vietnam" in particular, is preserved. Visiting the museum library "DX" on a day off, we can feel the local lively atmosphere. In the corner of the library several students are looking for teaching materials. On the shelves neatly placed books on different topics and readers can easily find the books they need. Liana, a student at the University of Gaja Mada, said: "I'm studying Southeast Asia. On weekends, I and classmates often come here to take books, in particular, books on the culture and language of Vietnam. Here we can find even CD-ROMs guides to the sights of Vietnam and CDs with Vietnamese music." In another corner of the library, a couple of Russians admire collections of memorabilia, money and souvenirs from various radio stations around the world. Regularly listening to broadcasts on short and medium waves and sending letters to different radio stations in the world, Khazarin R Junner received from them many different souvenirs. He carefully keeps all the gifts received. "I have been listening to the radio since childhood. In 1987, I started collecting souvenirs from various radio stations around the world, wishing to turn them into educational resources for young people. It is a pity that as a result of the earthquake in 2010, many valuable items were destroyed, so I had to restore my business and recreate the museum library "DX". It was reopened in 2015". 56-year-old Khazarin R. Junner loves to travel, listen to the radio and learn new languages. He speaks fluent English, Russian, French, Spanish, and in the languages ??of some Indonesian nationalities. He visited many countries, collecting many memorabilia from around the world, including from Vietnam. As a child, Hazarin and his brother often listened to the radio broadcasts "Voice of Vietnam" in Indonesian, English and French. "During my first trip to Vietnam in 2012, I visited the Voice of Vietnam radio. Then I came to your country several times. I'm interested in the history of Vietnam. I admire President Ho Chi Minh - a friend of our President Sukarno. Now I want to express my love for the land, the people, the history and culture of Vietnam." In the display case for collections of Vietnamese souvenirs, Hazarin displays cards-receipts, hats and t-shirts of the radio "Voice of Vietnam", Vietnamese dongs, CDs, postage stamps. In the upper part of the cabinet there is a picture of President Ho Chi Minh, over which the Vietnamese flag is displayed. It is noteworthy that there are 10 albums of Vietnamese postage stamps in the cabinet, some of them Khazarin removed from letters sent to him by the Voice of Vietnam radio. Others he collected during his trip to Vietnam in 2012. As Khazarin noted, listening to the report on the market in Hanoi where the postage stamps are going to listen to the Voice of Vietnam, he immediately visited this place during his trip to Vietnam in 2012: "Having heard on the radio" Voice of Vietnam "a report about the market, Where the fans of Hanoi postage stamps gather, I learned that it is held on weekends. Fans of postage stamps, including foreigners, are gathered here. All who come here feel the hospitality of the Vietnamese people. This trip helped my son learn more about your country." The museum library "DX" was built on Khazarin's own land. She's been working all week. All interested persons can visit it for free. In addition, Khazarin intends to open a center for the study of Vietnam, in which local students can come to search for materials about Vietnam, study culture, history and get acquainted with the inhabitants of Vietnam. (from http://vovworld.vn/ru-RU/special-and-reportage/museum-library-dx-love-hazary-popular--radio-good-vessage563169.vov via Rus-DX August 6 via DXLD) WHY THE RADIO IS ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST IMPORTANT INVENTIONS Clive Martin, CNN - July 27, 2017 There are few more important inventions in the history of the world than the radio. While in recent years it may have become less popular than television or the internet, it could be argued that the radio was the first electronic gadget to play a prominent part in people's lives. Radio is where the world first heard Britain declare war on Germany, where Orson Welles accidentally fooled the public into believing a real alien invasion was under way in his "War Of The Worlds" serial and where young people first heard Billy Haley's "Rock Around The Clock," spreading popular music around the world. But it is not just an aural medium. Like all important pieces of technology, design has had an essential part to play in its evolution. . . http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/design/history-of-radios-cooper-hewitt-museum/index.html ... Celebrating this connection between design and radio is a new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt museum in New York. Entitled "The World Of Radio," [AHEM! gh] https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/the-world-of-radio/ it tells the story of how the design world impacted this every day item, and the importance of radio in people's lives (via Don Moman, Aug CIDX Messenger, and gh, DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ OREGON CLIFF (ROCKWORK 4) ULTRALIGHT DU'S FOR 8-1 [see also FIJI] The largest collection of ferrite this side of the Ukraine rolled over the Columbia River bridge to Oregon at 0130 local time this morning, as four very "airport unfriendly" FSL antennas deployed for a one week DXpedition to the wild Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita. Originally the plan was to wait until Wednesday to hit the cliff, but I had a premonition that something special might show up if an unscheduled, early morning trip was made from Puyallup. Sure enough, the usually anemic 558-Fiji had its best signal for the past few years at the cliff (even better than in Kona, Hawaii last April). Upon arrival at 1025 UT (0325 local time) the ICF-2010 spotting receiver showed a decent carrier on 1017, and a rush effort was made to set up the 17" monster FSL for a recording. A3Z in Tonga cooperated nicely with decent-level island music, about the same time I noticed another car drive up to the cliff turnoff to join me in the total darkness (always a moment of trepidation, since you never know what to expect on the wild cliff). This turned out to be Chuck, who unfortunately noticed Tonga's sign off about the same time his broadband loop was ready (1105). 531 had a potent mix of 4KZ and PI for over an hour, while the usual Kiwi powerhouses (603, 657 and 702) were testing the crunch resistance of my CC Skywave ultralights after 1230. About this time 558-Fiji started sounding like it might even have a real 10 kW transmitter, despite the fact that everyone knows it has serious signal issues. I tried for Theo's 612-Star but it was missing in action, although the 657 frequency had its strongest signal ever heard at the cliff (by far). 702-Magic and 2BL were in a wild S9 snarl for much of the time after 1245, while an apparent 585-2WEB (not // 576) was playing some pop music. Chuck and I discussed the propagation quite a few times, finally wrapping up the chase around 1330. My overall impression was that the session had a lot to offer, especially considering the fact that 558-Fiji only showed up 1 day out of 11 last year. Tom has yet to join us -- hopefully he will share in the great propagation. 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji Actually sounding somewhat energetic with typical island music at 1307 https://app.box.com/s/vprj88dgl97t4lcp5tx23edh31gorfd0 The usual male announcer with more island music at 1333 https://app.box.com/s/2y8dsur5tdymla0qs4fgfw64e4b4mwnq 1017 A3Z Nukualofa, Tonga Island choral music at decent level around 1036 (after a rush FSL antenna setup) https://app.box.com/s/ef3lyfav23rqu7k86eqbw79xvkuks8oa For Theo: 657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ Yikes! With a news signal like this on the "Kiwi Cliff,", who would choose to vote against the Labour Party? Here is 657-Star doing its best to melt down my Ultralight's front end at 1304 https://app.box.com/s/9zien3rdlj80pe61vmfsq8sz8jox26rg 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, Oregon), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave Ultralights + 17", 15" and 15" Airport-clearing FSL antennas Aug 1, IRCA via DXLD) Rockwork 4 Ultralight DU's for 8-1 (Conclusion) Well, Theo mentioned that he was looking forward to some more recordings from the "Kiwi Cliff," so I thought I would oblige him. Not to mention the DU-English in some of these ads is way beyond the deciphering capability of any sleep-deprived Yankee DXer. 531 UnID-DU (either 4KZ or More FM) OK Theo, this lady's DU English speech is potent indeed, but her accent is so strong that she might as well be speaking Chinese (which would be easier for me to understand). Heard at 1255 in a mix with a weaker PI https://app.box.com/s/lbmcayqyvvivedjx1j1ru5ihdcdydsem 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Strong island music at 1247; generally dominant on the frequency until 1255, when the above station kicked it off the cliff https://app.box.com/s/kva0d28m5i9behw4b13mr496mxducw9d 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, "10 kW" Actually sounding somewhat energetic with typical island music at 1307 https://app.box.com/s/vprj88dgl97t4lcp5tx23edh31gorfd0 The usual male announcer with more island music at 1333 https://app.box.com/s/2y8dsur5tdymla0qs4fgfw64e4b4mwnq 585 UniD DU English station not // to 576 at 1204; maybe 2WEB? https://app.box.com/s/vxvrtwbaeb037cej1m3qxicl36544hm4 603 Radio Waatea Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Maori music at S9+ level for over 3 minutes around 1256; the strongest signal this big gun has ever managed at the cliff https://app.box.com/s/s594rz5pctqf9hahfhpk7p1du2ajuzp0 657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ, 50/ 10 kW S9+ News concerning the Labour Party; another one of the session's awesome Kiwi signals https://app.box.com/s/9zien3rdlj80pe61vmfsq8sz8jox26rg Equally strong Christian music and mini-sermon by Irish-accented preacher at 1215 https://app.box.com/s/psfs64lczen4cfk137pijj0hpqc43dad 702 Magic-2BL A royal mess at 1243 as the two big gun DU's manage to wipe out the frequency for most of sunrise enhancement. Magic is the oldies station, while the female DU English speaker is from the Oz LR network (2BL, 3LO etc.) https://app.box.com/s/m1hlbzi2c98m5ur83mi62ihg2ppyjrpw 1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 10 kW Island choral music at decent level around 1036 (after a rush FSL antenna setup) https://app.box.com/s/ef3lyfav23rqu7k86eqbw79xvkuks8oa 1386 Radio Tarana Auckland, NZ, 10 kW Potent signal, but who knows what language this lady is speaking (at 1253). Maybe Hindu-accented DU English, Theo? https://app.box.com/s/rnz50cg9xv8duvz161jgymjr3xlp4q8h 1503 Radio Sport Wellington/ Christchurch, NZ (5/ 2 kW) By far the easiest language to understand all session long --- Yankee-accented English from the Fox Sports Network at 1315 https://app.box.com/s/x2qfq4vcsdq2f8jvsusob1cbfjdj51x8 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean side cliff near Manzanita, Oregon, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave Ultralights + 17", 15" and 15" airport-closing FSL antennas, Aug 2, IRCA via DXLD) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-2 The stars were dazzling at 0920 UT (0220 local time) as I drove up to the Rockwork 4 cliff, hoping to catch some exotic Pacific island sign offs on 540, 621 and 1440 (that I had heard at S9 levels in Kona, Hawaii, but all of which were completely plastered by west coast QRM this morning). I noticed a "sleeping squatter" in Chuck's prime antenna setup spot, and remembering that Tom was also driving in overnight from Seattle, it was clear that real estate at our ocean cliff turnoff site would be in serious demand. 1017-Tonga once again cooperated fairly well for its sign off at 1103, ending up with the usual island choral music (the apparent national anthem) before cutting power. Chuck showed up around the same time, and set up his broadband loop in between the "squatter" and me. When Tom also drove in from Seattle around 1130 (still in total darkness) I was ready to relocate to Rockwork 2 or 3, but since DU propagation wasn't quite up to yesterday's high level only two monster FSL's needed to be deployed to cover everything interesting, and I stayed put at the edge of the rock spire. Chuck came over several times expressing his disdain for the propagation, but in my opinion there were some interesting signals, including another strong appearance from 558-Fiji, a moderate appearance from 585-7RN, huge signals from the big guns on 594 and 657 (3WV and Star), and an UnID on 1017. Yesterday's monster signal from 531-More FM in Alexandra (with the cool winter weather) was replaced by the usual snarl of 4KZ and PI, with the latter having the edge at near S9 level for most of the session. Overall it was an interesting morning because of another strong run by 558-Fiji around 1302, indicating that the transmitter and antenna may finally be working as the Japanese donating group intended. 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Potent Samoan speech and island music at 1312, dominating over a lackluster 4KZ for most of the session https://app.box.com/s/7i377b31k71o8fa9xbro2fhlbsw5j582 531 4KZ Innisfail, Australia, 10 kW Oldies music very briefly on top of PI at 1256, but generally fighting a losing battle https://app.box.com/s/ebwixs5qag3u89wwj33upa2f5hxtp2qt 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW Another potent appearance from this rejuvenated wonder at 1302 (the second day in a row) https://app.box.com/s/f2lkogkmloww9vo6uehffdqenh7v8l0i 585 7RN Hobart, Australia, 10 kW Not especially strong but this male DU English speech was clearly // 792 at 1315 https://app.box.com/s/sma3mjwvlky8q0xzp72ac0gocwv7xrta 594 3WV Horsham, Australia, 50 kW Blistering signal from the Oz big gun at 1245-- typical of the LR Network powerhouses on 774 and 828; weak "Dwarf Stars" way down underneath https://app.box.com/s/m7d0fgnzxhzsg1hhxawzm1mtzct5zudw 657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ, 50/ 10 kW Not every "Star" was weak this morning-- this signal (at 1250) was as strong as any DU on band https://app.box.com/s/wj5chv6w11ez7zgcxws077gqo9ofd5pr 1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 10 kW The last minute of the station's sign off routine, including island choral music (the National Anthem?) and the abrupt signal cut off around 1103 https://app.box.com/s/oijccc92lwz29gth8f7ba8dt7b5ipzxa 1017 UnID-DU The mystery of the morning -- male DU English at 1310 (after the Tonga sign off) with apparent sports-related numbers https://app.box.com/s/0643sj50l9kpivgvz3hou584t2lvqe0n 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywaves and Tecsun PL- 380's + 17" and 15" No-Fly-List FSL antennas, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-3 The stars were again dazzling at 1030 UT (0330 local) as I drove up to the Highway 101 cliff, only to find a lone Harley motorcycle rider occupying Chuck's usual antenna space, and staring directly at me. He stuck around until the 17" FSL was set up and pointed in his direction, at which time he made a sudden, quick exit (total strangers don't trust each other very much in total darkness). Although 1017- Tonga was at a fair to good level and was going past its usual 1100 sign off time, it featured the bizarre male announcer with the bad habit of pausing for long breaks in between his speech (this must be the "island time" effect). He could take lessons from Paul Walker. Tom and Chuck drove up around 1130 and we were all eager for some nice DU propagation, but the ionosphere didn't seem to have been notified. Usually by 1215 at Rockwork 4 there is a DU snarl on 531 at an S9 level and some Kiwi big guns sounding like you are in downtown Auckland, but it seemed like both NZ and Oz were taking the morning off. Finally around 1245 some unusually strong Oz signals on 585 and 639 showed up, and the real session finally kicked off (for about 45 minutes). 558-Fiji was not impressed with the propagation and stayed down in the tropics, although on a morning like this even a rejuvenated DU transmitter could sound comatose. With the exception of the NZ big guns on 567 and 657 even the Kiwis lacked much energy, and if not for the unusual Oz signals on 585 and from a presumed 639-2HC the session would have been lackluster. Tom and Chuck must have figured that things were a little slack when I was taking pictures of our ocean cliff setup at 1230. 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Took a while to get untracked but finally reached a good level with Samoan music at 1317 https://app.box.com/s/8dh3wvqhhephwwrnor5rqmmy68tqqo6m 585 UnID-Oz The puzzle of the morning -- one of the strongest DU signals ever heard on 585 was received at 1243, but 7RN or 2WEB? All the ABC RN parallels on 576, 846 and 792 were comatose, and the ABC web site maze wasn't much help. Maybe David Sharp or one of my DXpedition partners can bail me out? https://app.box.com/s/aptynncjp3ll32d027s691rv82bau3m2 639 2HC Coff's Harbour, Australia, 5 kW Presumed the one with the call-in talk format at a decent level around 1310 https://app.box.com/s/8h3fcdmvzm2gslknf18r1f5z342ylxm9 657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ, 50/ 10 kW Very strong as usual at 1318 but maybe slightly off from the torrid strength of the last couple days https://app.box.com/s/8vbwk1o3vf13uvwq4fjnex12f7qur716 675 RNZ Christchurch, NZ, 10 kW Once again the leading RNZ frequency with weird female speech at 1322 (no idea what she's trying to say) https://app.box.com/s/hi6ah0ngzwos0v4aome4syt6yeovmp9w 1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 10 kW Good strength from this male announcer while running on extended time at 1127. Unfortunately he suddenly stops talking for extended periods, making you think that the signal may have collapsed https://app.box.com/s/zjc64srpsqz6xplxlr2v8o2i667qrvrc 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, Oregon, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave and Tecsun PL- 380 Ultralights + 17 inch and 15 inch "Airport Unfriendly" FSL antennas. This morning's ocean cliff session photo is posted at https://app.box.com/s/6no26zczmlkcnipu7p85vxd71g4siaa7 ibid.) Subject: [IRCA] Rockwork 4 DU Overload Yikes -- greatly enhanced propagation to NZ and Oz happened at the same time, with snarling frequency fights all over the band. As if that weren't enough the rejuvenated 558-Fiji pushed 558-6WA off the frequency to start a monster run at 1305, continuing well past 1350 (when Tom and I reluctantly dismantled antennas). We both agreed that it was the wildest, most exciting DU session that we have ever experienced at the ocean cliff. Some highlights were the repeat appearance of 558-6WA, the best ever signal from 765-Kahungunu (pegging the PL-380's S/N with its 2.5 kW), Oz vs. Kiwi frequency fights on 531, 594, 612, 603 and 702, 585-7RN and 585-2WEB in a mix near S9, and 558-Fiji with its best signal ever (near S9 at times). There is now no doubt that 558-Fiji has been completely rejuvenated, showing up here with energetic signals on three out of four days. Here was its powerful signal at 1308 this morning, shortly after it pushed the long-range Oz station 558-6WA off of the frequency https://app.box.com/s/13ra6q2edyniegz3jnwii1nlu6dcoz05 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), August 4, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-4 As reported earlier it was a pretty wild ocean cliff session, with both Tom and I judging it to have been the most thrilling ever at Rockwork 4. There was enhanced propagation to both Australia and New Zealand, with Fiji joining in the bonanza as well. Some highlights were the best-ever signals from both 558-Fiji and 558-6WA (in a snarl much of the time), the best-ever signal from the 2.5 kW Radio Kahungunu, unusual Kiwi-Oz mixes across the band, and 558-Fiji sticking around at an S5 level until 1350, 15 minutes after Oz and NZ had bailed. The underperforming Fiji of the past 2 years has suddenly become a DU-DX powerhouse. There is no way to make a detailed report of such a wild session without extensive file review (which I assume that Tom will be doing for weeks), but some of the highlight signals are linked below. While still in total darkness Tom and I both noticed that Kiwi propagation was unusually good around 1200, and we thought it would turn out to be a great Kiwi morning. It was, but in the increasing daylight the Australian signals also got a major boost, along with 558-Fiji. Snarling frequency fights broke out across the band as enhanced DU propagation kicked in throughout the entire South Pacific. Neither Tom or I had ever heard anything like it., but it certainly more than made up for Tom's dicey luck the past two days. His Perseus recordings from today may become real classics. 531 More FM? Sounds like another Kiwi ad string (minus the "Sheila") at 1258, but I'm certainly no expert on Kiwi English. In a mix with PI and an Oz talk station throughout the session https://app.box.com/s/jtq9cyi0te4bbri3tv7puzvt289fpsmx 531 UnID-Oz ABC-sounding talk hanging around at 1253 over and under PI and the rest. 558-6WA was in at the time but I didn't think to check for a parallel. Maybe 6DL? https://app.box.com/s/688ujh8qu23t7jl5dfuvwzsc6iudsw0e 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW The real star of the session, pounding in with serious strength after its recent rejuvenation. Was still easily audible at 1350 during final antenna dismantling. These two MP3's (at 1307 and 1323) were the strongest recordings ever made of the station at the ocean cliff https://app.box.com/s/13ra6q2edyniegz3jnwii1nlu6dcoz05 https://app.box.com/s/ykjkqqfa59l7h2rfcedhudikwn8ayfye 558 6WA Wagin, Australia, 50 kW In a snarl with Fiji for much of sunrise enhancement, the Western Australian station (with programming matching the "Overnights" podcast on the ABC website) made a return appearance at 1319 to repeat the North American Ultralight DXing distance record of 9,138 miles / 14,705 km. First heard at this cliff in August of 2015 https://app.box.com/s/cze5omzc1x01p28gpdo44wylhdl61l6y 603 Oz-Radio Waatea Mix For the first time ever, at 1254 an Oz station dominates the NZ Maori powerhouse Radio Waatea at the "Kiwi Cliff." Prior to this I had never even heard any competition for Radio Waatea on the frequency (during 12 ocean cliff DXpeditions here) https://app.box.com/s/i3mgrjxw0dwadrtc2c69x7f2f7h6qzua 765 Radio Kahungunu Napier-Hastings, NZ, 2.5 kW Yikes! The Kiwi Maori station melting down my CC Skywave's front end is running only 2.5 kW of power! Even with its reputation as an overachiever, this signal is straight out of science fiction. There is apparently a new Maori net ID at 1:30 into the recording at the 1300 TOH, but no Maori translator is currently available at the cliff https://app.box.com/s/qvu2atw8b22qvi8xwkgp95riigd5mlca 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-380 Ultralights + 17 inch and 15 inch "Weightlifter Required" FSL antennas, ibid.) Gary, that was More FM at on 531 kHz around 1258-1300 on our wild DXing session from the cliff. Location "Alexandra" mentioned at end of Curtain store commercial, and then "More FM" by announcer. https://app.box.com/s/5enl8w5c6rn4ztbodqbqnjzhy5uonvly As for the ABC affiliate 6DL on the same frequency, I was unable to get a match with 6WA as Fiji 1 was trashing it to the point of not being able to decipher but a few words and then 531 had faded down. However, on 531 they were discussing "racing" and the announcer says."..and ABC will go there". Has to be 6DL https://app.box.com/s/bo7ejkop0eklkt5pa931ea24wkjuvel2 A good and satisfying session was had today, Aug 5 although it could not match yesterday's dazzling session, it was better than any of the 3 we attended last year with our Japanese DXer guests. 6WA was in strongly at 1315. 73 from (Tom Rothlisberger K7WV, Delta loop with 60 feet of wire with FLG100LN and Perseus SDR, Rockwork 4 DXpedition 2017, ibid.) Tom, thanks very much for your detailed investigation on both of these nice DU catches. And congratulations on finally nailing down 531-More FM (even without Theo's Kiwi English deciphering assistance, without which I personally would be lost). As for 531-6DL, I figured that the combination of the ABC-type format and the proven Western Australian low band propagation made Dalwallinu the most likely suspect, but I appreciate you digging out the clincher for both of us! After yesterday's dazzling session this morning seemed much more sedate, but like you said 558-6WA in Wagin was again putting out a serious signal. I'm pretty sure I also had Fiji again as a co-channel at times, but nowhere near yesterday's awesome level. The choice of early August for enhanced DU propagation at Rockwork 4 certainly seems to be working out like gangbusters, Tom. If we continue to have propagation like this we may face a new challenge-- running out of exotic targets before the DXpedition ends :-) (Gary, Aug 5, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-5 Tom was fully set up and DXing at 1200 (in the predawn darkness) as I drove up to the cliff, but for the first time during this DXpedition a "sleeping squatter" had the temerity to park overnight in "my" usual antenna setup space. Of course nobody actually owns any real estate at these Highway 101 ocean cliff turnoffs, and it's truly the "wild, wild west," with no guarantees of anything (except that it will continue to be pretty wild). Yesterday's exceptional DU propagation cooled off somewhat this morning, but Tom and I still found some interesting signals. 558-6WA made a return appearance around 1315, which would have thrilled us in years past except that we had already received both it and 531-6DL yesterday. 558-Fiji seemed to be putting in a ghostly signal at times, but couldn't quite seal the deal. I had an interesting mix on 1026 around 1250 (the 2 kW Newstalk ZB and a presumed 4AA) while Tom mentioned that he found quite a few other unusual signals. After a phenomenal session like yesterday morning's I guess the main challenge is not becoming "spoiled," and reminding yourself that any of these DU's would be outstanding catches back home (especially for me, living in a "DU dead zone" like Puyallup, WA ). 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Relaxing Samoan island music at a good level around 1223; in a mix with an apparent More FM later in the session https://app.box.com/s/drszu22tfpnt0qr9npjjniphqao00ete 558 6WA Wagin, Australia, 50 kW Not as strong as yesterday, but definitely there with ABC talk at 1315 (and paralleled by Tom for confirmation) https://app.box.com/s/8ok0u5g8g54u5eiyjprj4c0tger5v4gw 657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ, 50/ 10 kW As usual, one of the best performers on the cliff with great-level Christian music at 1310 https://app.box.com/s/q6bb88n9nm2b1irndlnu01ch37uizw0t 765 Radio Kahungunu Napier-Hastings, NZ, 2.5 kW Another overwhelming signal from this low-power overachiever at 1259; a Maori net ID is given 35 seconds into the recording (at the 1300 TOH), followed by apparent Maori-accented Kiwi English (just what a sleep-deprived Yankee DXpeditioner needs) https://app.box.com/s/nxbw4oexrw5svw83c3nd7jfcsy282zb8 855 UnID-DU Male DU English speaker at a pretty good level with ABC- sounding format at 1319, but getting diced up by my home semi-local KHHO https://app.box.com/s/xh0gr9lobe3uwd8l7nhw2k05piwvr75a 1026 Newstalk ZB (mix) Kaitaia, NZ, 2 kW The low-powered Kiwi station (with talk) in a mix with an apparent 4AA (playing music) https://app.box.com/s/xreujg4l6mhh9avuly33ad74rpua5s7d 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywaves and Tecsun PL-380 + 17 inch and 15 inch (TSA-spooking) Monster FSL antennas, ibid.) Ocean cliff site DXpedition session photo from this morning (kindly taken by Tom) is posted at https://app.box.com/s/dqaag49l6uboqcfboq4b7fn5fy9dsr1f (Gary DeBock, Aug 6, ibid.) 3.5 INCH (89 mm) "FREQUENT FLYER" FSL ANTENNA ROCKS AT ROCKWORK The airport-friendly 3.5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna was specifically designed for easy, hassle-free airline travel to exotic places around the world. Despite the fact that it fits easily within hand-carry luggage, it can provide inductive gain boosts comparable to those of a 4 foot air core box loop (once the DXer becomes skillful in its operation). This morning one of these "Baby FSL" models demonstrated exactly what it can do to enhance transoceanic signals at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, Oregon. During typical propagation it provided tuned gain boosts to a stock C.Crane Skywave model, resulting in these enhanced transoceanic signals from New Zealand and Australia. The full "Heathkit-like" construction article for this model (23 pages, describing design, construction and operation) is posted at http://www.mediafire.com/file/pnfm8909c77zjoy/3.5inch-FF-FSL.doc 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Samoan talk at 1227 https://app.box.com/s/ngt43po9muyp0y493necbwekjsdf1vct 603 Radio Waatea Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Maori language chants at 1312 https://app.box.com/s/efw3khfw8y09vmfv1qbvy8wh9tpmqgij 765 Radio Kahungunu Napier-Hastings, NZ, 2.5 kW Maori music at 1255 https://app.box.com/s/zfh4rbwi0p7mld5c5mgc6efueyyp5k11 774 3LO Melbourne, Australia, 50 kW ABC female talk at 1332 https://app.box.com/s/60dye0v5k46o9zr066px103mmh4fes8b 3.5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL photo at Rockwork 4 this morning is posted at https://app.box.com/s/3nu279oodi3ko757xj0h608l465zcv97 73, Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-6 The Highway 101 ocean cliff turnoff was jammed with vehicles this morning as two "sleeping squatters" joined Tom and me in the early morning darkness. Since Tom had arrived first (and was fully set up by 1200) it was my job to squeeze in between the two "squatters," hoping that they would not wake up and make any real estate claims. As it turned out they were crashed for the duration, despite having three huge FSL antennas deployed all around them. DU propagation was good to New Zealand (what else is new?) and OK to Australia, but after Friday's awesome session I think that Tom was looking for more exotic fare. 558-Fiji was in there throughout the session, but seemed to be stuck in the "Twilight Zone" between KPQ splatter and enough strength for a serious breakout. 531-More FM continues to come in like a regular, a drastic change from previous DXpeditions when it was a very rare catch. The 2 kW 1026-Newstalk ZB overachiever had its best signal ever here this morning (sounding like a Kiwi big gun), while the 594-Star network was roasting the Oz big gun 3WV. 666-2CN made an unusual appearance here at 1320, and 585-7RN showed up again for the fourth time in six days. The main highlight of the morning here was the first ocean beach test of the new 3.5 inch (89mm) "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna, a model specifically designed for long-range airline travel. It tracked down several Kiwi and Oz big guns at potent strength, providing serious inductive coupling boosts to a stock CC Skywave. But it wasn't the only "Frequent Flyer" model at the cliff this morning-- Tom's drone aircraft with a high-resolution video camera made a nice test flight right above the plunging ocean cliff, hopefully taking unique photos of the awesome scenery. 531 More FM Alexandra, NZ, 2 kW Another Kiwi ad string at potent strength at 1307 (unfortunately I can't translate Kiwi, Theo); in a snarl with NZ co-channel PI all session long https://app.box.com/s/bxpqcx70dks3xrzvrfquv9iq3ukqt0p7 A typical, half-second More FM ID by the Yankee-accented male voice at 27 seconds into this recording at 1313. They have been using these super short ID's for at least two years https://app.box.com/s/r4mfi1dtjyonr47vtt88pdibwuedwydh 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Very good level R&B music at 1237 during a brief break from More FM competition https://app.box.com/s/xp2j1k6wjx1gs6eqco3w89is84koqzzh 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW Stuck in the twilight zone between KPQ splatter and a decent breakout at 1258 https://app.box.com/s/2q01s73w7nrsa6w7x9boc8avtilvdpe7 567 RNZ Wellington, NZ, 50 kW Finally a powerful signal from this ex- big gun at 1239, whose potent transoceanic signal generally collapsed along with its old tower a couple of years back https://app.box.com/s/uk0aochlroo67tm1x0lm435fkva6dwz8 594 Star Timaru/ Wanganui, NZ, 5/ 2 kW The powerful weather report from the Kiwi Star network sends the Oz big gun 3WV to the showers https://app.box.com/s/xsgmjwzl4w66y5817s1dpj4fentg97ko 603 Radio Waatea Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Powerful Maori vocal music at 1312z on the 17" Monster FSL (during antenna comparison with the 3.5" Baby FSL) https://app.box.com/s/2jfj2iplij9dcvyqepfcx0bwl95z7nw7 666 2CN Canberra, Australia, 5 kW Pretty unusual appearance at the "Kiwi Cliff" late in the session at 1320 https://app.box.com/s/63nkybe0oi440v5m58rowk2an3x9jbnf 1026 Newstalk ZB Kaitaia, NZ, 2 kW Awesome signal from this low- powered Kiwi relay with female talk during call-in program at 1247 https://app.box.com/s/u562952qyj0n4izhipoo4972062m0qlx 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean side cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywaves + 17 inch and 15 inch Monster FSL antennas, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-7 (Preliminary) The last major DXpedition targets were nailed down this morning with the reception of the 1 kW station 936-Chinese Voice in Auckland, NZ, and the 2.5 kW station 576-Star (the "dwarf star") in Hamilton, NZ. As a bonus a huge signal from the obscure 639-5CK pounded in at 1307 (// 891). This was Tom's last session at the cliff, and it has been a lot of fun sharing exceptional DU propagation with him over the past few days (well, at least on the fantastic August 4th session). 639 5CK Port Pirie, Australia, 10 kW ABC LR network program // 891 at exceptional level around 1307 https://app.box.com/s/o0jujrozx7w0wf7t4dnqq5dn7g20j0tr 936 Chinese Voice Auckland, NZ, 1 kW Female Chinese speech at fair to good level at 1320 https://app.box.com/s/k59fahu3g93b1cha02gyyas4co0endwq 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-7 Tom and I had all the real estate we wanted at the ocean cliff this morning as all the "visitors" cleared out. When you drive up to the cliff in total darkness you never really know what to expect, and you need to be prepared for bizarre weather, strange "visitors" and loud audio frequency QRM from 18-wheelers. Propagation pulled a sudden switch this morning as moderate Oz propagation suddenly morphed into excellent Kiwi conditions. The relatively obscure NZ stations 576-Star (2.5 kW) and 936-Chinese Voice (1 kW) finally showed up on the cliff after 6 days, along with a blistering signal from the relatively obscure Oz station 639-5CK. The Kiwi bonanza occurred late in the session, however, so there was no time to go after other exotic fare like 585-Ruatoria (Radio Ngati Porou). Like 531-More FM, that is an another ultra-rare Kiwi station that has never shown up anywhere else on the west coast. This was Tom's last session at the cliff, and it has been a lot of fun to chase DU-DX with him at this awesome site. This was by far the most thrilling trip we have ever experienced here, with two Western Australians (531-6DL and 558-6WA), multiple receptions of 531-More FM, 558-Fiji (over and over), 639-5CK at monster level, 936-Chinese Voice, 1017-Tonga (over and over) and many others. The choice of early August for optimal Rockwork 4 DU propagation proved to be spot on, and Tom will probably enjoy reviewing his Perseus files from the dazzling August 4th session for months to come. 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Strong Samoan music and speech at 1319; occasionally in a mix with 4KZ and More FM https://app.box.com/s/e8zw2gq5uz991fc0bxfciql9c360vstk 576 Star Hamilton, NZ, 2.5 kW The "dwarf star" finally shows up with music // 657 late at 1327 https://app.box.com/s/e9ddentnlmrxkxlayqgql1di62w2ezhc 594 3WV-Star mix The Oz big gun had a serious edge over the falling Stars with a health related LR network program at 1253 https://app.box.com/s/rhdqyg98kxtazesu8edtwmy8uvt4fx8w 639 5CK Port Pirie, Australia, 10 kW One of the big surprises of the session with a blowtorch signal // 891 at 1307 from this obscure DU https://app.box.com/s/o0jujrozx7w0wf7t4dnqq5dn7g20j0tr 936 Chinese Voice Auckland, NZ, 1 kW The rare, low-power Kiwi station finally makes a decent appearance at 1307 during enhanced conditions https://app.box.com/s/k59fahu3g93b1cha02gyyas4co0endwq 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-380 + TSA-spooking 17 inch and 15 inch FSL antennas, ibid.) Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-8 It certainly seemed like DU propagation kicked back into the exceptional stage this morning from Australia, NZ and Fiji, but unlike last Friday (with Tom) there was no Perseus-SDR DXer to record the bonanza. 558-Radio Fiji One was the main star of the session with awesome signals from 1305-1330, while a presumed 585-2WEB (not // 576) wasn't far behind with its rock music late in the session around 1335. The NZ regulars 531-PI and 603-Waatea easily pegged the PL-380's S/N readout at 25, while 1017-Newstalk ZB (2.5 kW) made its first decent appearance. The ocean cliff was crowded with "interlopers" (as Tom calls them) as I drove up in total darkness at 1150 (0450 local time), but I decided to set up the FSL's in between them, anyway. For the first time ever an "interloper" approached me in the total darkness and stared at me within 10 feet of my DXing position, which provided a little early excitement in the session. Oddly enough this turned out to be a lady, who finally asked if I was "investigating the clouds." After my technical explanation of FSL antenna theory she lost interest very quickly, and promptly returned to her vehicle. Longwave propagation was dead, but as soon as I set up an FSL on 531 kHz around 1210 a torrent of S9 signals pounded in, including the Kiwi regular PI and an Australian talk-format station that wasn't 4KZ (which was playing oldies at the time). Finally the talk format station had a commercial ad, which narrowed its identity down to a probable 2PM (which would be the fifth DU station to be heard on 531 during this DXpedition, after PI, More FM, 4KZ and 6DL). The rejuvenated 558-Fiji had modest signals until about 1300, when it seemed to get a turbo boost to reach the strongest level I have ever heard (S9) in any North American recording. Late in the session around 1335 a presumed 585-2WEB (not // 576, like its very weak Tasmanian co- channel) went on a monster run to reach its best level (S9) ever heard in any ocean cliff DXpedition. It was the last DU signal on the band around 1345, finishing up a seriously enhanced session. 531 2PM Kempsey, Australia, 5 kW (presumed) Australian call-in talk station with strong signals at 1242 running commercial ads and not 4KZ (which was audible with oldies music under it, at times). This seems like the only real possibility https://app.box.com/s/jztickg7d207ykg2re1c9jtvtjokznf5 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Samoan music at overwhelming strength at 1248; this was the strongest signal from this station received in over two years https://app.box.com/s/b391cdrlt9s4c7y4gp3kt9q1dxbgpj4j 558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW Reaching S9 levels at times from 1300-1330, this rejuvenated Pacific island wonder was the real star of a very exciting session. Three exceptional Fiji island choral music MP3's are linked below. 1318z https://app.box.com/s/6b2fxp2ai8p44t38fih4dn1meffzocxi 1323z https://app.box.com/s/ca7tpo195gua5eayhc46evv9ix29e9oz 1313z https://app.box.com/s/tno4iqsiuaw1kx62i80y8rg722y15e4o 585 UnID-Oz Yikes! This S9 rock music recording at 1335 was not // 576, which means that it is most likely 2WEB, Outback Radio in Bourke. If so, it would be far and away the strongest signal ever heard from David Sharp's station https://app.box.com/s/46t2trpbuqw90na4zdrl97v1p9ijuq5l 603 Radio Waatea Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Another science-fiction level signal from this Kiwi regular with music and female Maori chants at 1303 https://app.box.com/s/wruaavle3k3s4x9my9armbxl4od0369s 702 2BL-Magic mix The Auckland oldies station runs out of Magic up against the Oz big gun, leaving it will little but "Sorrow" https://app.box.com/s/ur43ihfmgka0d1p6bupbhch9ixc1nvrv 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA), 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-380 Ultralights + 17 inch and 15 inch Monster FSL antennas, ibid.) My oddest question about an antenna was: "Does that wire have anything to do with falconry?" Not knowing how to respond I simply said, "Why, yes it does!" There were no further questions after that. Thankfully. I guess there are some differences being at a rest stop in America versus Canada or anywhere else for that matter (Colin Newell - CoffeeCrew.com - VA7WWV - Victoria - BC, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See GERMANY; GUAM; INDIA; KUWAIT; NEW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ZEALAND; TAIWAN; USA DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See NETHERLANDS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also OKLAHOMA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MILLENNIALS UNEARTH AN AMAZING HACK TO GET FREE TV: THE ANTENNA The Wall Street Journal. Ryan Knutson http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/millennials-unearth-an-amazing-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna/ar-AApmLwm Dan Sisco has discovered a technology that allows him to access half a dozen major TV channels, completely free. “I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists,” says Mr. Sisco, 28 years old. “It’s been awesome. It doesn’t log out and it doesn’t skip.” Let’s hear a round of applause for TV antennas, often called “rabbit ears,” a technology invented roughly seven decades ago, long before there was even a cord to be cut, which had been consigned to the technology trash can along with cassette tapes and VCRs. The antenna is mounting a quiet comeback, propelled by a generation that never knew life before cable television, and who primarily watch Netflix, Hulu and HBO via the internet. Antenna sales in the U.S. are projected to rise 7% in 2017 to nearly 8 million units, according to the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group. Mr. Sisco, an M.B.A. student in Provo, Utah, made his discovery after inviting friends over to watch the Super Bowl in 2014. The online stream he found to watch the game didn’t have regular commercials— disappointing half of his guests who were only interested in the ads. “An antenna was not even on my radar,” he says. He went online and discovered he could buy one for $20 and watch major networks like ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS free. There is typically no need to climb on a rooftop. While some indoor antennas still look like old-fashioned rabbit ears, many modern antennas are thin sheets that can be hidden behind a flat TV or hung like a picture frame. But many consumers still aren’t getting the signal. Carlos Villalobos, 21, who was selling tube-shaped digital antennas at a swap meet in San Diego recently, says customers often ask if his $20 to $25 products are legal. “They don’t trust me when I say that these are actually free local channels,” he says. Earlier this year, he got an earful from a woman who didn’t get it. “She was mad,” he recalls. “She says, ‘No, you can’t live in America for free, what are you talking about?’” Almost a third of Americans (29%) are unaware local TV is available free, according to a June survey by the National Association of Broadcasters, an industry trade group. Since the dawn of television, the major networks have broadcast signals over the airwaves. It is free after buying an antenna, indoor or outdoor, and plugging it into your TV set. It still exists, though now most consumers have switched to cable television, which includes many more channels and costs upward of $100 a month. Much of the confusion dates to federal legislation that required broadcasters to stop sending analog signals in 2009 and shift to high- definition digital transmissions. The change meant old TVs wouldn’t get the broadcasts, forcing consumers to buy new televisions or converter boxes to pick up the free signals. Scott Wills, a wireless-industry executive living in the San Francisco Bay Area, worked for over a year on the legislation that set the transition in motion. Mr. Wills discussed his work extensively with his son, who was almost a teenager at the time. About a decade later, Mr. Wills had a hunch many people, especially young people, thought the transition simply killed TV signals, rather than made them better. He asked his son. “His answer was, ‘Dad, you should know better than anyone that there’s no broadcast TV!” Mr. Wills recalls. “He thought broadcast TV went away.” His son, Hunter, now 24 and living in Chicago, says he mostly watches Netflix. “I had no idea,” he said of broadcast’s continued existence. “I’m still not even that familiar with the concept.” The Federal Communications Commission spent millions on a campaign to educate the public about the digital TV transition and Congress set aside more than $2 billion to help consumers pay for converters so old TV sets could process digital signals. But the focus was largely on older people who already relied on antennas. William Lake oversaw the agency’s effort. A few years later, when he offered to buy an antenna for one of his daughters, then in her early 20s, so she and her roommates could get live TV, she had no idea what he was talking about. “She thought it was some modern satellite service or something,” the former FCC official says. In 2013, during a congressional hearing about the satellite-television industry, the discussion turned to a contract dispute that temporarily left Time Warner Cable subscribers unable to watch CBS. “Can I make one point?” said Gerard Waldron, an attorney who testified on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters. “I just want to emphasize that broadcast is a free, over the air service. So during the so-called blackout, the service was available 100% of the time. I realize that some people might not have antennas, or some people might have reception problems, but I do want to emphasize...” “So I could have seen CBS if I had rabbit ears?” Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.) interjected. “I don’t think people knew that.” A spokesman for Rep. Bass said she was aware TV antennas existed, just not that the station was still broadcast during a cable blackout. Richard Schneider, founder of a St. Louis manufacturing company called Antennas Direct, says his occupation results in awkward small talk. “If I’m at a party and I tell people what I do for a living, they’ll say, ‘That’s still a thing?’ I’d think you’d be out of business by now.’” Quite the opposite. He started selling antennas as a hobby more than 15 years ago and only expected to sell a few hundred each year. He says he sold 75,000 antennas in June. Even the latest high-definition flat-screen TVs need an antenna to get free broadcasts. Michelle Herrick, 39, a photographer in Phoenix, says she was desperate to cancel her cable subscription after her bill topped $200 a month. The only reason she hadn’t was because she wanted local stations. Then, about two years ago, her mother told her about modern antennas. Now, Ms. Herrick is the one who regularly has to explain to puzzled guests how she’s able to watch free television. “Everyone I talked to, they had no idea.” Even for those who have an antenna it can take some getting used to. In May, Robert Tomlinson, a 21-year-old college student in Kalamazoo, Mich., was bummed when he couldn’t stream ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” online. Then, he remembered his antenna. “I just forgot it was there” (via Terry Krueger, FL, DXLD) Seriously (Terry, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ CYBER THREATS PROMPT RETURN OF RADIO FOR SHIP NAVIGATION Reuters August 7, 2017 Cyber specialists say the problem with GPS and other GNSS is their weak signals, which are transmitted from 12,500 miles above the Earth and can be disrupted with cheap jamming devices that are widely available. The risk of cyber attacks targeting ships’ satellite navigation is pushing nations to delve back through history and develop back-up systems with roots in World War Two radio technology. Full article here: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2017/08/07/cyber-threats-prompt-return-of-radio-for-ship-navigation/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ CONUS HF BAND CONDITIONS The purpose of this experimental Web site is to provide 24-7-365 actual (REALTIME) band condition information to CW QRPp, QRPe and CW/SSB for Contesters interested in increasing their scores. It can also be of benefit to other Radio Amateurs to determine band conditions for Nets and casual QSO's. http://www.bandconditions.com (via John Fisher, N. Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Radio HF Internet Newsletter August via DXLD) THIS SPORADIC E SEASON Martin McCormick, WB5AGZ of Stillwater, Oklahoma reported on July 23: 23 "This has been one of the less spectacular sporadic E seasons so far with several openings but very few that are the type one will remember much after they occurred. After learning that WWV had installed a turnstile antenna on its 25 MHZ transmitter, I began parking a receiver on that frequency to see if I could hear it in North-Central OK. The first couple of weeks were nothing but then WWV began coming in around 0000 UTC starting July 20. Whatever is ionizing the E layer to create this propagation is sticking around for a few days because once it started fading in, it has made numerous appearances this last week. It has mostly been in the mid to late evenings Central time but on Sunday July 23, it has been in with a fair signal since around 1200 UTC and is still somewhat audible at 1700 UTC as I write. It is good that WWV is transmitting on 25 MHZ as there are almost no steady identifiable signals in high HF and low VHF anymore to indicate when the bands are open. There is an announcement at 17 minutes past the hour stating that the turnstile antenna's configuration will not change until after the eclipse on 21 August. The theory that one of the possible triggers for a Sporadic E event has to do with clouds of iron and magnesium atoms from meteorites is interesting because we seem to have nothing for days at a time even though Geomagnetic activity is not unusually low or high and then we have several active days of Sporadic E and the numbers are not any different than they were when there was no E sub S at all." Today Martin wrote: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010JGRA..11512318K "The idea that a cloud of something such as magnesium or iron ions is one of the factors makes a lot of sense since we don't have Sporadic E every day, all Summer or all Winter even though the angle of Solar radiation is totally predictable and the Geo magnetic activity indices are always present if variable so something else which is hard to see and slow-moving must also contribute to causing sporadic E. Those of us who have been listening to both sporadic E and normal ionospheric propagation for years notice that the fading rate of signals always speeds up when there is lots of variation in the Sun's magnetic field and slows way down when things are quiet. The 25 MHZ WWV signal was audible here last week almost every evening and most of last Sunday but this week, there have been only a few seconds in which it pops in briefly and then everything goes dead again." (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 30 ARLP030, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA July 28, 2017, To all radio amateurs, via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER IS BEGINNING via Southgate August 2, 2017 This week, Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet 109P/Swift- Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Specks of dusty debris hitting the top of Earth's atmosphere faster than 110,000 mph are burning up in the night sky, producing a spray of shooting stars from the constellation Perseus. Meteor rates are relatively low now, but they will increase sharply in the nights ahead. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Aug. 11-13 with perhaps dozens of meteors per hour visible in bright moonlight. Visit http://SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PERSEID METEOR SHOWERS PEAK NEXT WEEK The Perseid meteor showers are coming soon. If its cloudy, find an empty spot on your FM radio and you can hear them ping and zing on your dial. It might only pop up once or twice a minute or two but if you are patient, you will definitely hear them. If you don't want to hang around and your radio has RDS, then you could come back to an ID on the screen. pjstar.com Looking Up: Meteors in the moonlight [caption?] Meteors are more common after midnight because by that time as our Earth spins, we are on the side facing the incoming meteor stream, as our planet moves in its orbit and collides with the rocky particles. They race through the upper atmosphere, and become luminous, as they heat up. Many of these meteors are fairly bright and leave a long, thin gray trail in their wake, which quickly dissipates. Showers named for the constellation from which they seem to radiate, as the meteor stream collides wit Earth. Perseid meteors may be seen anywhere in the sky, but all can be traced backwards to their radiant in the Perseus constellation. This group of stars rises in the northeast around 11:30 p.m. in August. In the wee hours, with Perseus high up, many more meteors can be expected (via Kevin Redding, Aug 4, ABDX via DXLD) DON'T MISS THE SOLAR ECLIPSE QSO PARTY on Monday, August 21 from 1400 to 2100 UT. This is a wide-ranging propagation experiment intended to observe what happens when the moon blocks ionizing solar radiation from the ionosphere. The event is sponsored by ARRL and HamSCI, and the details are in the August 2017 QST, or you can read the same QST article at http://bit.ly/2tJ6EON (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 30 ARLP030, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA July 28, 2017, To all radio amateurs, via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) SPECIAL EVENT STATION OF THE MONTH Multiple Operations – Total Eclipse of the Sun 21 August 2017 So far there are at least half a dozen 1x1 callsign events scheduled to operate throughout the day. I expect more will be added as we get closer to the day. There is a great write up on ham radio activities associated with the Eclipse Event in the August QST and a copy of this article can be found at: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST/This%20Month%20in%20QST/August2017/Silver.pdf (August CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ECLIPSE2017 | TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017 On Monday, [Aug 21], all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of the sun. Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe inspiring sights - a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun's tenuous atmosphere - the corona - can be seen, will stretch from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun's disk. NASA created this website to provide a guide to this amazing event. Here you will find activities, events, broadcasts, and resources from NASA and our partners across the nation. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ECLIPSE CREATES RADIO RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/stories/eclipse-creates-radio-research-opportunity,114722 (via Mike Terry, ibid.) THE SECRET OF MAGNETIC CYCLES IN STARS Spacefellowship.com By Klaus Schmidt July 26, 2017 Cambridge, MA – Using new numerical simulations and observations, scientists may now be able to explain why the Sun’s magnetic field reverses every eleven years. This significant discovery explains how the duration of the magnetic cycle of a star depends on its rotation, and may help us understand violent space weather phenomena around the Sun and similar stars. During what is known as the solar cycle, the magnetic field of the Sun has reversed every 11 years over the past centuries. This flip, where the south magnetic pole switches to north and vice versa, occurs during the peak of each solar cycle and originates from a process called a “dynamo”. Magnetic fields are generated by a dynamo, which involves the rotation of the star as well as convection and the rising and falling of hot gas in the star’s interior. For the Sun, scientists know that magnetic fields originate in its turbulent outer layers and have a complex dependency upon how quickly the Sun is rotating. Scientists have also measured magnetic cycles for distant stars with fundamental properties similar to those of the Sun. By studying the characteristics of these magnetic properties, scientists have a very promising way to better understand the magnetic evolution in our Sun associated with the dynamo process. Article continues here: The Secret of Magnetic Cycles in Stars | International Space Fellowship https://spacefellowship.com/news/art51263/the-secret-of-magnetic-cycles-in-stars.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2017 Aug 07 0315 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 31 July - 06 August 2017 Solar activity was mostly at very low levels with low levels observed on 01 August due to an isolated C1 flare observed at 01/0747 UTC. Region 2670 (S05, L=119, class/area Cso/160 on 02 Aug) rotated around the east limb on 02 Aug. This region was the return of old Region 2665 which was responsible for two M-class flares as well as a fast halo CME on the far side of the Sun. However, during its return on the visible disk, the region has been relatively quiet and stable, only managing to produce B-class flares with the exception of the aforementioned C1 flare that occurred as it was rounding the eastern limb. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed during the period. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 04 Aug and high levels from 31 Jul-03 Aug and again from 05-06 Aug. The largest flux of the period was 8,649 pfu observed at 06/1715 UTC. Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to active levels over the period. The period began at nominal levels with solar wind speeds near 340 km/s and total field around 4 nT. A solar sector boundary crossing from a positive sector to a negative sector was observed around midday on 01 Aug along with an increase in total field to near 10 nT and an increase in solar wind speed to near 450 km/s. A general decrease in total field and solar wind speed to nominal levels was observed on 02 Aug. The geomagnetic field responded with quiet conditions on 31 Jul and 02 Aug with an isolated unsettled period on 01 Aug. At approximately 03/1000 UTC, an increase in total field was observed to 20 nT followed by an increase in solar wind speed to near 750 km/s as a corotating interaction region preceded an positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). Phi angle rotated into a mostly positive orientation around 04/0220 UTC and remained positive through the rest of the period. Solar wind speed began a slow decline late on 05 Aug after having reached a maximum of 794 km/s at 05/1216 UTC. Quiet to active levels were observed on 03 Aug and 05-06 Aug with unsettled to active levels on 04 Aug. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 7 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER 2017 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels throughout the forecast period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach moderate levels on 08, 17, and 31 Aug while high levels are expected on 07, 09-16, 18-30 Aug and from 01-02 Sep due to CH HSS influence. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be unsettled to active levels from 07-09 Aug, 17-22 Aug, and 30 Aug-02 Sep with G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels likely on 18, 31 Aug and again on 01 Sep due to recurrent CH HSS activity. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2017 Aug 07 0315 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 2017-08-07 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2017 Aug 07 74 8 3 2017 Aug 08 74 10 4 2017 Aug 09 74 8 3 2017 Aug 10 74 5 2 2017 Aug 11 74 5 2 2017 Aug 12 74 5 2 2017 Aug 13 74 5 2 2017 Aug 14 72 5 2 2017 Aug 15 70 5 2 2017 Aug 16 70 7 3 2017 Aug 17 70 16 4 2017 Aug 18 70 18 5 2017 Aug 19 70 16 4 2017 Aug 20 70 14 4 2017 Aug 21 70 12 3 2017 Aug 22 70 10 3 2017 Aug 23 70 7 3 2017 Aug 24 70 5 2 2017 Aug 25 70 5 2 2017 Aug 26 70 5 2 2017 Aug 27 72 5 2 2017 Aug 28 74 5 2 2017 Aug 29 74 5 2 2017 Aug 30 74 12 4 2017 Aug 31 74 24 5 2017 Sep 01 74 18 5 2017 Sep 02 74 16 4 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1890, DXLD) GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF AUG 10, 2017 Keith, From Space Weather Services Australia, the global HF propagation forecast thru August 12: normal at low and middle latitude bands, normal to fair at high latitudes. From Space Weather South Africa, thru August 11, magnetic conditions unsettled to quiet, shortwave fadeouts unlikely, MUF unstable From MET Office UK thru August 13, solar activity very low; geomagnetic field quiet to active with K indices of 2 to 4. From F K Janda in Prague, the Geomagnetic field will be: mostly quiet on August 11, 16, 27 quiet to active on August 12 - 13, 17 - 20, 22 quiet to unsettled August 14, 21, 23 - 24, 28 quiet on August 15, 25 - 26, 29 - 30 From the Space Environment Predixion Center of China, Planetary A index peaking at 19 on August 13, 20 on September 1. Solar flux peaking at 79, August 16 and 17. On the contrary, from SWPC in Boulder: Solar flux dipping to 70 from August 15 to 26. Geomagnetic field expected to be unsettled to active from Aug 17 to 22 with G1 minor storms August 18, A and K indices peaking at 18 and 5; also Aug 30 to September 2, A and K at 24 and 5 on August 31. Lowest A`s and K`s of 5 and 2: August 10-15 and 24-29. William Hepburn`s VHF UHF DX maps at www.dxinfocentre.com show extreme tropospheric ducting: off Baja California Norte thru August 15 and occasionally also southern Alta California; off the northwest coast of Africa all week; across the central Mediterranean thru August 12; eastern Mediterranean from August 11; western Mediterranean August 14 and 15; across the Caspian Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea all week; along the coast of Angola from August 12 (via DXLD) WEST MICHIGAN TROPO / JULY 20-21 Here are two audio compilations of the big tropo opening in West Michigan, July 20-21, received in Fremont. Each recording includes the listed stations in order by frequency, more or less. JULY 20, 2017 1800 PM - 0500 AM Audio Compilation: http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/2017_07/July_20_21_Tropo_01.mp3 A high pressure set up a strong tropo event to the northwest in West Michigan on Thursday night at which time very rare Minnesota stations were received, along with a single South Dakota station. Tropo was already in full swing by 6pm and continued throughout the night. . . JULY 21, 2017 1200 PM - 1900 PM Audio Compilation: http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/2017_07/July_20_21_Tropo_02.mp3 (Chris Kadlec, WTFDA gg via DXLD) ###