DX LISTENING DIGEST 18-18, May 1, 2018 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 2018 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 1928 contents: Antarctica, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Germany, Iran, Korea North & South, Luxembourg non, Mongolia, Perú, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sa`udi Arabia, South Africa, South America, Taiwan, UAE, UK, USA; and the propagation outlook SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1928, May 1-7, 2018 [all 9330 airings on WBCQ removed here, not heard since April 22, apparently canceled without notice] Tue 2030 WRMI 9455 7780 [1927 replayed] Tue 2130 WRMI 9455 7780 [confirmed] Wed 1030 WRMI 9455 Wed 2100 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v [confirmed] Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1431 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2300 WRMI 7780 [not last three weeks; canceled?] Sun 0200 WRMI 7780 Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 Mon 0130 WRMI 5850, 7780 Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 Tue 2030 WRMI 9455, 7780 [or #1929?] 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 IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!! WOR IO GROUP: Effective Feb 4, 2018, DXLD yg archive and members have been migrated to this group: https://groups.io/g/WOR [there was already an unrelated group at io named dxld!, so new name] From now on, the io group is primary, where all posts should go. One may apply for membership, subscribe via the above site. DXLD yahoogroup: remains in existence, and members are free to COPY same info to it, as backup, but no posts should go to it only. They may want to change delivery settings to no e-mail, and/or no digest. The change was necessary due to increasing outages, long delays in posts appearing, and search failures at the yg. Why wait for DXLD issues? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our io group without delay. ** ALASKA. 6045, KNLS, *1200, April 28. Voice of Freedom already on frequency with good signal, along with N. Korea jamming; suddenly on with ID & IS; // 7355. My audio at http://goo.gl/g5Hpsv (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) 9730, ALYASKA/USA, KNLS at 1550 with alternative / Christian rock, M in Russian, familiar KNLS music signatures. Sign off at top of hour, Excellent reception on SW 2000629 and 9 foot vertical helix ("Tomato Stake antenna"). Apr 25 (Rick Barton, Logs from Central Arizona April 25. 73 and Good Listening....! WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA [non]. 9395, April 28 at 0221 tune-by, R. Tirana ID, music, reconfirmed via WRMI the 0200 UT Tue-Sun broadcast. The revamped skedgrid now shows R. Tirana relay in English also remains at 2300 on 5850, but Fridays alone, which is the only DOW it starts early any more at 2230; I have kept missing a confirmation check of that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 6050, R. Algerienne-Holy Qur'an (Issoudun) 0430+ 26 April. Never a good signal, but nice to have some Arabic competition for HCJB in the evenings (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE, Reception of TDA Telediffusion d'Algerie via Issoudun April 28 1900-1959 11985 500 kW / 162 deg CEAf Arabic Holy Quran px* very good 1900-1959 12060 500 kW / 194 deg NWAf Arabic Holy Quran px* very good 2000-2059 9655 500 kW / 162 deg CEAf Arabic Holy Quran px, very good 2000-2059 12060 500 kW / 194 deg NWAf Arabic Holy Quran px, very good *xx00-xx03 frequency announcement in Arabic & xx03-xx13 news bulletin in French http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-tda-telediffusion-dalgerie.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 28-29, WOR iog via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. 11775, April 29 at 1337, PMS is on; I don`t keep a detailed log, but it seems she is often active on Sunday mornings, strangely enough, altho it`s not a live service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA 36 now on air at this unusual time --- Log via SDR Kiwi Paraguay http://paraguay.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/ and SDR Kiwi Pardinho, near Sao Paulo, http://appr.org.br:8073/ best on Paraguay receiver. Very weak on SDR Kiwi Swiss: http://hb9odp.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/ Only very weak carrier here in Lugo at this time. The best time to hear it here is more later. 15475.97, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, now on air, 1415, unusual time. Spanish, female, comments, ID "Desde Base Esperanza, transmite LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel", answering phone calls. "Nuestra querida radio, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel para todo el mundoooo." It seems to be on air only on Wednesdays. Heard 28 March, 18 April and now 25 April, other days of the week out of air (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, 1441 UT April 25, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) LRA 36, signal interrupted abruptly, at 1442 UT (Méndez, 1446 UT, ibid.) Do you mean the unusual time is heard only on Wednesdays, or also during the 18-21 UT span? (gh, DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 4810, Voice of Armenia, Yerevan in Arabic 04-25-2018 1818- 1828 man talk (mentioning Italia and many other nations) with music breaks, heard in SSB, moderate fast QSB, fair (Gianni Serra - Roma- Italy, JRC NRD 525 receiver; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S antenna; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Sony MDR-101 stereo headphones, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Welcome back, Gianni; last heard from you on November 11, 2012! I`ve put your full report on the WOR iogroup (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, Al Kirton (general manager of Radio 4KZ, on 5055 kHz), sent a brief video of the 4KZ studio, located at Innisfail (Queensland). Has a nice view of the Johnstone River. Video at http://goo.gl/8FCKWB 4KZ update: John Wright (Australia) indicates that the 5055 kHz station, as of April 26, is now 1 kW. On April 28, I did in fact note a slight improvement and was almost able to catch a song title, checking from 1119+. So is worth starting to monitor 4KZ again, especially on days with good propagation. Thanks to Johno for this info (Ron California, April 28, WOR iog via DXLD) 5055, 4KZ, on April 29. Yes, all the evidence here points to being 1 kW now; 1214+ with mostly pop songs and some commercial announcements; above threshold level audio; finally at 1315 was able to ID a song (Dobie Gray - "Drift Away"), whereas the other songs played I was not familiar with. My local sunrise was at 1316 UT. This station started last year on Dec 20. Was doing fairly well for only 500 W back in Dec-Jan, but Feb-Apr found most days with below threshold level audio (unusable), so was very nice today to be able to actually hear this at a level that I could ID a song. Look forward to days with even better propagation here. [non-log] 4835, Ozy Radio, on April 29, continues to be silent here. Only hearing some faint audio from AIR Gangtok (presumed), at 1257 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) May 1 - Another day with above threshold level audio on 5055.0 and best in USB to avoid the QRM from China (BBR) on 5050; from 1331 till cut off at 1356*; playing EZL pop songs (Barbra Streisand with "The Way We Were," etc.). (Ron, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, ibid.) I checked 5055 here around 1015 UT today (May 1) and they were there but not copyable. They usually improve later but I went back to sleep. 73 (Don, Lamont, Alberta, Moman, Perseus, beverage, ibid.) Don, I recorded them from the ATT-selectable [?] site using the W Beverage at 1230-1305 and they were just about S9 – sounded like a local. Screenshot attached. Doesn’t get much better than this, even Down Under! (Bruce Churchill, CA, ibid.) Hi guys, I also checked the west beverage at 1340 UT this morning. Nice audio still in well past my local sunrise with pop music including Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right" and promos for the KZ Network. Abrupt off mid song at 1356 UT. Received a very nice QSL package this week from Al Kirton for my April 6th reception. He mentioned that at that time they were using 250 watts and enjoyed listening to his own voice from Canada on the recording I sent him. 73 (Mick Delmage, AB, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 11904.97, Reach Beyond Australia, Kununurra WA. Special English to Indonesia at 1145 with the Spotlight program, (Sat & Sun only) good signal, 22/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. Hi Glenn & Patryk! Re 18-17: Be careful that you don´t mix up the two Azerbaijani companies. There is the state owned "Azerbaijan TV and Radio Broadcasting CJSC" http://www.aztv.az/index.php?lang=en and there is the public broadcaster "Ictimai Televiziya vä Radio Yamilari Sirkäti - ITV" http://www.itv.az/index.php/en which is member of Eurovision. Both have radio and TV channels. The programme on shortwave is the radioprogramme of ITV called "Ictimai Radio" and NOT a TV audio relay. I could confirm that with checking their audio stream some years ago. http://www.itv.az/az/radio-c Of course a still remaining question is the reason for this transmission. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ok then, This makes sense. Thanks for contributing more to the thread and for useful clearances. I have not taken the CJSC into consideration, but actually was not sure which of the rest of institutions is a radio regulator, and which is the public broadcaster itself. On Azerspace there are only Respublika and Araz transmitted as audio services, and Ictimai TV as a TV service. In both cases a value of "TeleRadio" is inserted as the program provider. Greetings and 73, (Patryk Faliszewski. Poland, ibid.) ** BAHRAIN. 9745, 0416, R Bahrain, USB mode, pr-fr in Arabic but heard much stronger at 1900z (Paul Ormandy, Drake SPR4, 5 m EWE antenna, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar - HS, 1235-1242, April 30. The Monday only SAARC (The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) news bulletin in English; “Assalamu alaikum. This is Bangladesh Betar”; items - three members of the UN Security Council delegation visiting Bangladesh held news conference, loan agreement for railroad project signed Friday in Beijing between Bangladesh & China, eleven children died Thursday due to train hitting a school bus in India and Indian guru sentenced to life in prison for rape; very rare that I can make out so many news items, as usually there is too much CODAR and CNR1 QRM; at 1255 the end of the daily very brief segment with the weather in English (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) 15505, April 29 at 1400:00, JBA carrier from Bangladesh Betar, but enough to hear the final timepip right on the mark! Congratulations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13580 - Bangladesh Beter, Dhaka, 1803, 29 Apr 2018 - YL & OM with English announcements to YL with ID and intro to program “Voice of Islam” followed by recitations then English readings. Signal is at S4 but audio is pretty good; at least 70% readable. Moderate static and fades. Very good reception for mid afternoon here (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, Mass., Perseus SDR, 20 x 40 terminated, superloop antenna, hauula7@comcast.net, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) I can hear them here but way too much CODAR to make much out. ID at 1818 UT. Thanks for the heads up, Steve. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, ibid.) You`re welcome, Mick. Still hearing them here (Stephen Wood, Harwich, MA, 1834 UT, ibid.) Yes, a bit better on the log with less CODAR but JBA as they say. The music comes thru better. I hope all with well with you. Best 73 (Mick, 1840 UT, ibid.) 13580, BANGLADESH Betar at 1815 tune in April 29 with talk in English and ID at 1818 UT. Music program at 1835 including "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen. Poor with CODAR. Gone at 1900. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Rx: Perseus SDR, Ant: Wellbrook loop, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN [and non]. 6035, Bhutan BS, Thimphu. Weak signal under the co-channel PBS Yunnan when first tuned in at 1100, but became stronger than Yunnan by 1135 with English programming, consisting of chat and a phone-in quiz. Phrases such as “Are you ready for the next question….?” would pop up out of the noise. 1141, female ballad. Sudden s/off at 1145, leaving a weakened Yunnan signal in the clear. Always a difficult one to hear so a pleasing result tonight, 24/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BHUTAN/CHINA. 6035, on April 26, with BBS extended broadcast: PBS Yunnan (assume FM99 relay), from 1141 to 1301+; in Chinese; announcers and music. BBS, mixing with PBS Yunnan, from 1141 till about 1255. From 1141 to 1202 seemed to be in English, with pop songs; 1202-1223 usual OM monologue; normal brief breaks for indigenous instrumental music at 1217 and 1221; then 1221-1230 into segment with songs; after 1230 announcer and later some more songs; still heard at 1250, but probably off about 1255 (too weak to be positive). In the past was always nice when BBS went past 1200, as Yunnan would go off about 1200, but no longer the case, with PBS running till at least 1600 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) ** BOUGAINVILLE. PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3325, NBC Bougainville, Buka, 1018- 1030. Talk in English by a man in what appeared to be both Pidgin and English. Pop ballad music at 1027. Back to talk at 1030. Weak signal with a few good peaks. First audio heard here this year on the carrier that is present on most days. 4/27/2018 (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, IC- R8600, IC-R75, Perseus, Various Portables, Random Wire, Wellbrook Loops, NASWA Flashsheet April 29 via DXLD) [and non]. 3325, NBC Bougainville, 1116 till cut off at 1201*, April 27. In Pidgin, with several long interviews; one with police commissioner; very little music being played today, but several C&W songs (Alabama with "Take Me Down," etc.); very slight RRI QRM. BTW - NBC Madang (3260) today also with decent reception. 3325, NBC Bougainville, on April 29, with another Sunday of religious (Christian) programs; impassioned preaching in Pidgin; religious / inspirational songs ("Keep On the Sunny Side," "Show Me The Way To A Brighter Day," etc.); above average reception; 0937-1054 & 1205*. Also this Sunday with the same format of religious programs was NBC Madang (3260), with even more preaching in Pidgin than on 3325. 1001-1010, on 3325, with NBC news/sports, but 3260 didn't carry the news, but instead more preaching. A rare day with both stations well above the norm (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. "Devido a mal propagação a Rádio Casa está operando em 4999.76 kHz em 60 metros ." (Rádio Casa via DX Altas Ondas via Daniel Wyllyans, Brasil, April 30, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Instead of what, 8000? (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9630.585, 0430, R Aparecida v good in Portuguese on off-set frequency 7/4 (Stu Forsyth, Mangawhai convention, NZ, WinRadio G33- DDC, 5m EWE, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) 9664.98, 2035, R. Voz Missionária. In the clear, mx & ma, ids, tlk. Mxd unid. Also heard pr/fr 0355 (Paul Ormandy, Drake SPR4, 5 m EWE antenna, ibid.) 9725.357, 0434, R Evangelizar fair but noisy with music and PP talk 7/4 (Forsyth, Malaysia, ibid.) Also herd 2038 (Paul Ormandy, ibid.) 9818.817, 0450, R 9 do Julho - fair with Portuguese talk. 7/4 (Stu Forsyth, ibid.) Also heard 2040 (Paul Ormandy, ibid.) 11734.95, 1823, R Trans Mundial with Portuguese ident, web address, contemporary Christian vocals 6/4. No sign of Zanzibar this day (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, North Island, New Zealand, WinRadio G33DDC SDR with Delta aimed NE or E, ibid.) 11735, 2014, R. Transmundial, fa relig, ma id, clock chimes at 2015. Best of 25mb Brazilians (Ormandy, ibid.) 11815, 2029, R Brasil Central, weak with religious music (Ormandy, ibid.) 11855.87, 2018, R Aparecida, MA with religious talk (Ormandy, ibid.) ** CAMBODIA [non]. 11695, VOA (Tinang) *1330+ 28 April. English VOA jingle & opening in Cambodian doing quite well this morning (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6030, Calgary - CFVP relaying CKMX (AM 1060), 1208+, on April 25; mixing with stronger CNR12; comedians with lots of canned laughter; several clear IDs; "Laugh your ass off to and from work with Calgary's all new funny 10-60 AM" and "share a laugh with us . . . Calgary's all new funny 10-60 AM. Jerry Seinfeld"; Calgary and Monterey today with same sunrise time (1320 UT). Surprising how well 100w was doing up against 100kW. Audio of two IDs attached (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. 7852 approx., April 27 at 0027, bonker is QRMing CHU 7850! Something new, but believe I also noticed yesterday. Steady anvil bangs at rate of 96/minute, which conflicts with CHU at 60 pips per minute. Could avoid by tuning LSB for CHU, except it`s on USB only. Bonker, begone! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) does seem to be gone, not heard since (gh) ** CHINA [+ non]. 6030, CNR12 (Beijing) 1245-1315+ 23, 24 April. Thanks to Ron Howard for the initial tip & Jaro Savolainen for the full ID info. Nice clean signal most mornings with evening Chinese chat, light music, frequent "yule guangbo" drop-in IDs, and a neat "ad" with barnyard animal sounds both mornings at 1258, just before the TOH Beijing TC, & "Zhongyang Renmin Guangbo Diantai, A-M qi-si- qi..". 9505, Voice of Strait (Fuzhou) (Presumed), 1245-1256+ 24 April. Pleasant evening programme of traditional-sounding Chinese songs-- missed the close-down announcements & initial move to 4940, but re- tune at 1303, VoS was playing "Firedrake Light" ("Fireduckling?") very similar to the music our local Hung-Gar King Fu Club plays at Chinese New Year's celebrations (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7345-USB, V26, at 0912, on April 30. Numbers given in Chinese; poor. For about three days have not heard Russia (R. Sakha) here, nor on 7295 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11460, CNR1 1325+ 27 April. Jammer v. unheard SOH. 11540, CNR1 1325+ 27 April. Jammer v. unheard RFA's Tibetan broadcast. (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. ALBANIA: 6020, China Radio Int’l; 0153-0200+, 4/28; “Beijing Hour”, English feature on a Beijing hat maker to 0155, “Chinese Studio”, “I Want To Learn Chinese” featuring word associated with football (Nobody is ever going to learn Chinese from these programs). 0159+ ID to IS & continued in CC at 0200. S30 CUBA: 9570, China Radio Int’l; 1321-1330+, 4/29; “Chinese Theater” weird English drama about young girl trying to decide whether to get married or go to college & who was going to decide, her, the village or the government; 1330 into “Ink & Quill”. SIO=4+54 13740, China Radio Int’l; 1430, 4/28; “Rountable” about the “Legend of the Mystic Sofa”.! SIO=3+53 (Harold Frodge, Port Hope MI2 DXpedition, Drake R8B + 250’ RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver ----- DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. EAST JAMMERSTAN: 9745, Crash & bang music jammer; 1936, 4/27; well over co-channel; Radio Free Asia in Chinese via Kuwait listed (Frodge-MI2) 11785, Crash & bang music jammer; 1208, 4/28; S8; no other audio evident. VoA in Chinese via Philippines listed (Harold Frodge, Port Hope MI2 DXpedition, Drake R8B + 250’ RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9155, April 27 at 1335, CNR1 about S8, presumed the Chinese like on several 49mb frequencies, as jammer to Sound of Hope, which Aoki/NDXC shows on precisely ``9155.071 0000-2400 TWN * SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Chi ? 1-7`` That was where Wolfgang Büschel once measured it, but the * stands for the on-frequency CNR1 jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 11610, CNR1 (broadcast station used as Jammer) at 1650 with woman and Chinese pop music. Listed at this hour has Radio Free Asia via Mariana Islands, and certainly another program could be heard buried underneath the carrier in audio that most likely was in fact RFA. VG on portable in 9-foot vertical Apr 25 (Rick Barton, Logs from Central Arizona April 25. Grundig Satellit, RS SW-2000629, and HQ-180A. with various outdoor wires. 73 and Good Listening....! WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11785, May 1 at 1349, VG signal with soft piano music, soon M&W talking over in Chinese. It`s CNR1 jamming VOA Chinese via Philippines, of which not a trace is to be heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 11900, April 28 at 1359, VOA Yankee Doodle Dandy IS and sign-on, already mixing with CNR1 jamming leading to 5+1 timesignal at 1400. VOA is a one-hour broadcast in Chinese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. 6115, Radio Congo, Brazzaville in French 04-21-2018, 1821- man talking and local songs, some clear IDs (Radio Congo) by other man at times. heard in SSB with moderate QRN, fair. 6115, Radio Congo in French 04-22-2018 1810-1834* men/women talking (possible news with correspondents, mostly unclear), music break at 1823, man talk, music & local song, woman talk, possible brief song and abrupt S/OFF at about 1834, better heard in USB with and without Nir 12, strong QRN, poor. 6115, Radio Congo in French 04-25-2018 1843-1852* man talking with afropop songs after each talk, IDs as Radio Congo, abrupt S/OFF few seconds to 1853, heard in SSB, strong QRN statics, fast QSB, poor/almost fair (Gianni Serra - Roma-Italy, JRC NRD 525 receiver; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S antenna; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Sony MDR-101 stereo headphones, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6115, Radio Congo (presumed), on April 27, with *0538; programming entirely with announcers in French (no music) till tuned out at 0555; mixing with Japan (IDing as "RN2, Radio Nikkei"), which was playing mostly non-stop music; today RN2 weaker than normal; Brazzaville local sunrise was at 0457 UT (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) ** COOK ISLANDS. In Early April, US DXer Gary deBock holidayed in Aitutaki with a C Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight and 7.5-inch loopstick antenna. He reported in the IRCA Mailing List that he observed Radio Cook Islands 630 running all night after switching to a Radio NZ feed at 2358 local time (0958 UT), until resuming local programming around 0600 local time (1600 UT). (Mauno Ritola via Bryan Clark, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) Gary only observed this once, with open carrier on the two following nights, so we presume it was because of the threat of Tropical Cyclone Keni, so may only happen when there are cyclone threats. The relay will be from RNZ Pacific’s satellite feed on Intelsat 19 which is being utilised increasingly by South Pacific stations that previously used RNZ Pacific’s DRM service for their off-air relays. With RNZ National from Hawkes Bay also on 630, if we did hear RCI with RNZ overnight there will be a pronounced ‘echo’ effect due to the delay from the satellite feed (Bryan Clark, ibid.) ** CUBA. 13700, April 25 at 1259, RHC remains spurless, with usual strange frequency announcement at this hour, that at 15 UT, 11760 will be added! Axually it`s already on. The point is, it will then be the *only* frequency still running during the early midday siesta. And also that 6100 on 49m is now closing. Nothing about all the frequencies really vigent now, such as 13740, which is NOT on yet nor at 1311, tho should have begun well before the 1300 start of 13700. Finally at 1333 recheck, 13740 has come on. Something`s always wrong at RHC. But wait, first news at 1300 is that tomorrow at 15 UT, RHC on radio and webcast will air a special live forum celebrating its 57th anniversary, which is really on May 1, featuring some of the founders of the station (no doubt including Arnie). WTFK? Perhaps they will add some more besides the aforementioned 11760? Here`s info from website: http://www.radiohc.cu/especiales/exclusivas/160641-realizara-radio-habana-cuba-foro-online-por-su-57-aniversario-(+podcast) ``Realizará Radio Habana Cuba Foro Online por su 57 aniversario (+Podcast) FORO ONLINE 26 DE ABRIL 2018 11:00 AM (HORA DE CUBA) ``57 AÑOS CON LA VERDAD DE #CUBA`` La Habana, 24 abr (RHC) Este 26 de abril Foro Online por el Aniversario 57 de Radio Habana Cuba. Nuestras ondas radiales y redes sociales transmitirán en vivo entrevistas a fundadores, testimonios de sus trabajadores y anécdotas relacionadas a esta voz amiga que recorre el mundo. En la Revista Cuba Online y desde nuestros perfiles oficiales en Facebook y Twitter usted podrá interactuar con un panel que dará respuestas a sus inquietudes sobre esta emisora cubana.`` Well, I have plenty of well-known inquietudes; but I would hate to be a party-pooper. Wasted jamming department: 13820, pulsing at 1307 UT April 25, vs abandoned B-season-only R. Martí frequency. Current channel 13605 is much more heavily jammed. Before 1255 I was also hearing jamming on 7355 covering what little signal KNLS English may have had, yet another ex-Martí frequency, in the tarde. Something`s always wrong at the DentroCuban Jamming Command. 11980, April 26 at 1422, pulse jamming vs nothing, as often appears here for no historical reason, presumed +50 kHz stray/spur out of the 11930 pileup against R. Martí. The same thing happens at night with 6080, also 50 kHz above 6030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard on RHC, 6165, April 26, 05:03 - Announcement that Radio Havana Cuba will be celebrating its 57th anniversary with an online forum, to start at 11 am local time or 1500 UT on Thursday, April 26, 2018. More details can be found on the website at: In English - http://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/nacionales/160794-radio-havana-to-hold-on-line-forum-this-thursday In Spanish - http://www.radiohc.cu/especiales/exclusivas/160641-realizara-radio-habana-cuba-foro-online-por-su-57-aniversario-(+podcast) For anyone who will be participating in the conversation via social media, the station is suggesting the use of the hashtag of #RadioHabanaCuba57 #RHCVozDeAmistad 73, (James Branum, KG5JST blog.jmb.mx - www.broadspectrumradio.com WOR iog via DXLD) 11760, April 26 at 1501, RHC opening special anniversary show as publicized yesterday, on only SW frequency normally active after 1500 and only one announced. Quick check of others on 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 MHz finds none. 1504 introduces four panelists from management, not including minor figure Arnie, but we do hear him for a couple minutes at 1517 in a clip someone else produced, one of his multiple historical bits from `En Contacto`. This show was promoted on website not only in Spanish but also English (at least), but the program is entirely in Spanish. They are prompting online paeans from fans, many of which are quoted, and some apparently in own voices. At 1520, someone refers to listening on 15230, but it must not be right now. 1523 mentions having relayed Voice of Vietnam during the War (a topic recently discussed in our WOR group, DXLD; that was in English for US). 1539 about plans to add three languages: Maya-Quiché, Aymara, and Suajili --- I do not catch whether this is a future plan or a long abandoned past plan. (BTW, what became of Italian, which was added a year or two ago to their website, but not to broadcasts? Oh oh, http://www.radiohc.cu/it is ``Errore: Manutenzione del sito`` -- at least the error message is in Italian; otherlang pages such as français are fully funxional. Something`s always wrong at RHC). 1602 news headlines and resuming show, but tune-out. Could have lasted another bihour. I put up with overblown constant self-congratulation and swipes at Imperialism to glean the above tidbits (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Recorded RHC's English broadcasts on 6000 kHz overnight last night (27 April UT) starting around 0130 to see if there would be any mention of the anniversary. Nothing. Of course, each hour's broadcast is a repeat. However, at about 0657, English switched immediately to Spanish before the English broadcast was over and continued for about 4 minutes until transmitter sign-off at 0701:40 UT. I don't understand Spanish but it seemed to be a discussion of RHC, perhaps the anniversary, although I don't think I heard the word "anniversario." Anyway, if anyone is interested in hearing the clip, I can provide it here or direct via e-mail. Interestingly, the English broadcasts have sub-optimal modulation as is often the case, along with the hum. But the following brief Spanish audio from the same transmitter had much better modulation (-- Richard Langley, WOR iog via DXLD) 12000, April 27 at 0018, RHC Spanish finally back in whack, almost, after several days of huge distorted crackling blobs. Now it`s S9+25, stronger than // 11840, merely lightly distorted and splattering plus/minus 13 or so. Something`s always wrong at RHC. I did not check previous night, but apparently already fixed then, per a report not mentioning any problem, from Luis H. Esquivel: ``Hello, spotted Radio Habana Cuba on 12000 kHz, 0310 UT 4.26.18 (35433) running their musical program La Trova Cubana, into Retratos De Jazz (musical program about international jazz) at 0330! Hmmm, a harmonic of their 6000 kHz? No, checking 6000 and the English programming was running at the time there. 73 de K6LHE`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11950, April 27 at 0020, S9+30 of dead air, as RadioCuba sloppyrators have failed to turn it off circa 0000 after `Mesa Redonda`. Lots of other RHC on same band now, 11670, 11700, 11760, 11830, 11840, 11850, 12000. Should produce some leapfrogs, so I check 12140, which would be 11760, another 190 kHz above 11950, but not even a JBA carrier to be heard on 12140; something`s always wrong at RHC. 5025, April 29 at 0121, R. Rebelde music is distorted and overmodulated, carrier unstable. Something`s always wrong at RadioCuba. 11760, Sunday April 29 at 1335, quick check of `En Contacto` on RHC finds anchorette & Arnie discussing ``Radio Sud-Atlántico`` and ``Ani Argentina`` as names have been misretranslated concerning the Falklands War, e.g. really called Radio Atlántico del Sur. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. USA / CUBA: Radio Martí heard 16th April 2018 at 0058- 0105 UT on 6030 for 0000-1200 UT transmission in Spanish to Cuba, via Greenville, NC (USA). Signal was of mixed strength. Station confirmed by ID heard over the radio. Not a bad catch when I am on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. 73s, (Dave Harries, Bristol, England (using Tecsun PL880 with no external wire), DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 7210-LSB, April 27 at 0037, the Cuban/exile ham radio war is still raging here, same bit of Spanish music played repeatedly to jam other Spanish talkers, also other noises; meanwhile, ATM 7200-LSB is free of all-American naughtihams (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. CHINESE DTV BOXES --- There was quite a lengthy discussion about Cuba selecting the DTMB standard on the WTFDA Forums a few years ago. There is a guy named Eric that lives in Havana that has shared some information about the choice to go with DTMB rather than ATSC. Radiocuba, the broadcast regulator in Cuba, originally selected ATSC as the standard but the roadblock was the US trade embargo. Radiocuba didn't stand a chance of getting the ATSC technology in equipment from the US. Cuba deals with China quite regularly for electronics, so a deal was struck to use DTMB (the China standard) and China would give Cuba a bunch of *free* stuff. Currently there are NO widescreen TV's available in Cuba WITH a DTMB tuner installed. It was decided a long time ago the Cuban market isn't big enough to support that approach in television manufacturing. What the Cubans got from the Chinese government for the modified DTMB model for the Cuban TV market is a standard def box and an HD model. And the government had to help the public out - citizens of Cuba got the standard definition boxes at cost. No one could afford a retail price on the boxes. Anyone that wanted or wants one of the HD models has to pay full price. And those boxes are almost impossible to import into the US, unless you want to order a quantity of 1000. The WTFDA has a few members in Florida that have tried to get a DTMB box for some time now (Jim Thomas, Mailbox, May WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) ** EAST TURKISTAN. CHINA. 7260 kHz - CNR-1, unknown transmitter site --- 7260 kHz from about 1530 until approx. 1700 UT - CNR-1 from unknown location (parallel check with 4800 kHz) with deep fadings. Looks like not image, side channel or any other phantom. 2404201827493 SW 7260 kHz - CNR-1 unknown TX site https://youtu.be/hkRGXo9hSc4 1648 UT, 4800 kHz - parallel. Not the image or side channel. Received in Moscow region 24.04.18 on Degen 1103. Best regards, Eduard Korsakov, Moskva, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) HFCC and Aoki/NDXC shows on 7260, PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi stops at 1205 (gh) CHINA, Probably annual technical maintenance on Urumqi two shortwave location sites, like 100 kW older, Urumqi SW domestic site, 15 x tx 50-100 kW. 58 shortwave masts 43 58'26.04"N 87 14'56.35"E https://goo.gl/maps/uQPUwLwrfiJ2 and newer Urumqi Hutubi 500 kW site. CHN_Urumqi SW site_CRI 100/500 kW 26 shortwave masts 44 08'53.99"N 86 53'45.58"E https://goo.gl/maps/5Vng48HQGMr Maybe after 'daylight' repair work at Urumqi, there are real test transmissions then real 'ON AIR'? Work will be last during whole May time span, planned til June 2nd. 73 wb df5sx wwdxc CHINA - Aus technischen Gruenden ist vom 3. Mai bis 2. Juni unsere Sendung von 20 Uhr bis 22 Uhr MESZ auf der Frequenz 11650 kHz sowie von 7 Uhr bis 9 Uhr MESZ auf den Frequenz 17615 nicht zu empfangen. (Deutsche Redaktion von CRI) Offensichtlich Senderwartung in Urumchi. (Walter Eibl, WWDXC). (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Thank you for the information. It seems, they use low-powered transmitter for test. The signal is weak with deep fadings. Usual Urumqi broadcast is booming here. 73, (Eduard, ibid.) ** EAST TURKISTAN. 15590, April 30 at 1328, dramatic dialog with SFX, music, bits of Chinese --- typical CRI programming now and sounds the same as on JBM 9570 via Cuba. It`s one of the ubiquitous 308 degree beams from Urumqi, English at 1200-1500, making it over here unlike anything else on the band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EAST TURKISTAN. Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station (XJBS) [from?] May 10, 2018, UT: Uighur: 2300-1800 (not Tue 0800-1100) 13670 0200-1400; 7205 2300-0200, 1400-1800 11885 2300-1800; 9560 0300-1200, 6120 2300-0300, 1200-1800; 7275 2300- 1800 Chinese Service: 2300-1800 (not Tue 0800-1100) 11770 2300-1800; 9600 0200-1400, 7310 2300-0200, 1400-1800; 7260 2300- 1800; 5960 2300-0257, 1157-1800 9835 0257-1157 Kazakh: 2300-1800 (not Tue Thu 0800-1100) 9470 0300-1200, 6015 2310-0300, 1200-1800 7340 2310-1800 Mongolian: 2300-0330, 0530-1030(Tue Thu 0800), 1230-1800; 6190 2310-0330, 1230-1800, 9510 0530-1030; 7230 2310-1800 Kyrgyz: 0330-0530, 1030(Tue Thu 1100)-1230 9705 0330-0530, 1030-1230, 7230 1210-1230 11975 0330-0530, 1030-1230, 6190 1210-1230 (NDXC via May Australian DX News via DXLD)) ** EAST TURKISTAN [and non]. 11685 CRI (Kashi-Saibagh) *1400+ 28 April. IS & opening announcements in Tamil. NHK-WRJ is also here 13- 1345 in Bengali via Kranji just breaking the noise level on the Cali coast (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. 9530, R. Akhbar Mufriha (HCJB), Ascension Is. S/on 2145 with ID and what sounded like a radio play (!). Beams to WAf and heard with a weak signal here until f/out at 2200. Depending on which reference you look at, the language of this broadcast is either Pulaar or Hassinya. Pulaar is a Fula language spoken by people in Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and western Mali. Hassinya is an Arabic language from the Maghrebi group (there are many regional varieties of Arabic!) and is spoken in Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Libya, Senegal, Morocco and neighbouring countries. What I was listening to SOUNDED more like a derivative of Arabic to my ears --- but really I just don’t know. I remain defeated in this language identification! 23/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9894.9, Radio Cairo (presumed); 2050-2101+, 4/27; W French announcer and Arabic poppish music; S9 + distortion (Harold Frodge, Port Hope MI2 DXpedition, Drake R8B + 250’ RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. 7235, Voice of Peace & Democracy of Eritrea from ETHIOPIA. 20/4 s/on at 0354 with rhythmic drums & ID in vernacular, some like “Edi endalatrai Ertrai”; same program is repeating from 1801 on same day but on 7236.6 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF2001D, Folded Marconi Ant - own made thanks to OM Rob Wagner & ADXN June 1999, May 2018 Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** ESWATINI. Reception of Trans World Radio Africa via Manzini on April 24 1557-1627 15105 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg to SoAf Kirundi Mon-Fri, strong: Continues with old TWR Africa IS: "This is Trans World Radio Swaziland". http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-trans-world-radio-africa_25.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 24-25, WOR iog via DXLD) I am inclined to maintain this under SWAZILAND, q.v.; consider this a cross-reference (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Voice of the Tigray Revolution, wonderful signal tonight at 0305 tune/in with unending stringed riff of HOA music with drum, almost like jazz, really nice. Then segue to milder song next. Super signal tonight [which?], no QRM, no static, just glorious (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, IL, Drake R8B, Dentron Super-Tuner, Ameco & Palomar Preamps, Wellbrook Loop, 350' LA BOG, Delta Skyloop, NASWA Flashsheet April 29 via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Reception of Radio Deegaanka Soomaalida Itoobiya April 27 from 1902 5940 JJG 100 kW / non-dir to EaAf Somali, fair/good signal http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-radio-deegaanka-soomaalida_28.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 27-28, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. On Friday 20 April on exact 7235.0 kHz s/on with carrier at 0342 UT, from 0354 UT rhythmic drums and IDs in Vernac; at 0401 UT ID some like "Edi enddalatrey Ertrai" or similar, but repeated from 1801 UT on same day on 7236.6 kHz measured by Sony ICF2001D (Geschenk von Wolfie!). (Rumen Pankov-BUL, hcdx Apr 24 via BC-DX 30 April via DXLD) see also ERITREA [non] Der Gedja Sender laeuft fq-maessig wieder sehr flott davon. Tigrinya Voice of Democratic Alliance mit S=9+20dB auf 7236.235 kHz um 1505 UT am Dienstag April 24. Jetzt um 1547 UT ist er bei 7236.524 kHz, laeuft und laeuft fq-maessig aufwaerts. 7236.603 kHz at 1556 UT April 24 [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 24, ibid.) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY, Reception of Voice of Oromo Liberation via MBR Nauen, Apr 25 1700-1800 15420 NAU 100 kW / 144 deg EaAf Afar Oromo/Amharic Wed, good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-voice-of-oromo-liberation_26.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 25-26, WOR iog via DXLD) Reception of Voice of Oromo Liberation via MBR Nauen, April 27 1700-1730 on 15420 NAU 100 kW / 144 deg Afar Oromo Wed/Fri/Sun, good: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-voice-of-oromo-liberation_28.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 27-28, WOR iog via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. FRANCE, Oromo Voice Radio & Voice of Amara Radio via TDF Issoudun, April 25: Oromo Voice Radio 1600-1630 17850 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg Afan Oromo Mon/Wed/Sat, fair/good Voice of Amara Radio 1700-1758 15360 ISS 250 kW / 120 deg Amharic Sat/Sun/Mon/Wed very good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/oromo-voice-radio-voice-of-amara-radio_26.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 25-26, WOR iog via DXLD) FRANCE, Reception of BRB Voice of Amara Radio via TDF Issoudun, Apr 28 1700-1800 15360 ISS 250 kW / 120 deg Amharic Sat-Mon/Wed, very good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-brb-voice-of-amara-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 28-29, WOR iog via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Bandscan logs of 22-4. Typical rig config: R75 - 16 inV. 6375, pirate 2136 oldies of 60s, max S3 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Harmony is on the air on 6375 kHz at 1211z 25 April, peaking S7 here in South Yorkshire (Patrick Travers, Airspy HF+ SDR and SDR Console software, my antenna is a Wellbrook ala-1530 loop at 4 metres AGL, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) Hi Glenn, On the UTwente WebSDR receiver just now, (1725 GMT 4-27) tuned to 6375 kHz, hearing a nice beautiful music station "Harmony Radio". Standards "I'm Sorry" "Fever" "Venus" "Too Young". Good modulation. Reminds me of my board op days at WDWS-FM in the 80's! Take care! (Eric Loy, Sports Director, Neuhoff Media Danville [IL], WDAN D102 K-ROCK,. WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. See LUXEMBOURG [non] ** FRANCE [non]. Radio France International in Swahili on wrong A18 frequency, April 30 0530-0600 on 11790*MDC 250 kW / 305 deg to ECAf Swahili, instead of registered 11760 * co-ch same 11790 YAM 300 kW / 330 deg to FERu Russian NHK World Japan Netw R.Japan 0530-0600 on 11790 MDC 250 kW / 310 deg to EaAf Swahili is Radio France Int. in B-17 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/radio-france-international-in-swahili.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via DXLD) ** GUAM. Reception of KTWR Trans World Radio Asia in English on Apr 14 1059-1156 on 11965 TWR 100 kW / 263 deg to SEAs English Sun, weak/fair 1102-1146 on 9910 TWR 200 kW / 305 deg to EaAs Chi/Eng Sun, fair/good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-ktwr-trans-world-radio_29.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 28-29, WOR iog via DXLD) Additional transmission of KTWR Trans World Radio Asia in new language 1230-1245 9975 TWR 200 kW / 315 deg to EaAs Uighur Mon-Fri from June 3 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/additional-transmission-of-ktwr-trans.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, April 25 at 0519, no signal from TGAV, Radio Verdad, which on weeknights normally runs until about 0610* after multi-lingual sign-off, and lovely multi-stanza anthem, viz.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_anthem_of_Guatemala 8 stanzas alternating with 4 choruses, not very bloodthirsty, but emphasizing not being enslaved, and topped by declaring the quetzal superior to the condor and royal eagle; take that! 4055 is on at next check, April 25 at 1138 with hymn. Dr Madrid notified us April 24 that the Radio Truth webcast had been restored, via: http://mixlr.com/radio-verdad-chiquimula-guatemala/ It worx, but there is a bit of hum, and it`s too loud with distortion on peax. 4055, again UT Sunday April 29 at 0542, no signal from Radio Verdad, instead of -0610v*. Wonder if a permanent earlier sign-off, not just on UT Mondays? Still hearing it at earlier random evening chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 15769.957, AIR Goa Panaji relay, in English language at 1055 UT on April 23, S=9+20dB signal. Not subcontinental 'machine-gun' English accent of the male reader, though rather high Oxford England speaker instead now. On remote SDR unit on Thai-Cambodian border in South East Asia. \\ 17895.007 kHz from AIR Bangalore bcast center, S=7 in Thailand. 13645.016 kHz, Empty carrier noted at 1110 UT on April 23, of pres. AIR Aligarh center, already produced a test tone of 1020 Hertz at S=9+15dB level, just before AIR Thai language service scheduled to start at 1115 UT. Then unclean audio started of like a 'garden fence' visible, of many 50/100/150 .... Hertz audio strings, both sidebands. Something is always wrong with AIR foreign service shortwave outlets. On remote SDR unit on Thai-Cambodian border in South East Asia [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 23, BC-DX 30 April via DXLD) 15410, All India Radio Bengaluru in presumed English 04-28-2018 1024- 1043 man chanting boring Indian vocal with local music sound till 1030, unclear announcement by possible man, woman unclear talk till 1036, man chanting boring Indian vocals, same woman unclear talk (1038-1040), woman brief announcement and carrier on only --- re- checked 1048-1058, with woman unclear announcement and local song till 1054, same woman announcement, man talk and woman announcement with possible ID, then S/OFF. Heard better in SSB with and without Nir 12, strong QRN and fast QSB, poor/very poor (Gianni Serra - Roma-Italy, JRC NRD 525 receiver; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S antenna; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Sony MDR-101 stereo headphones, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. From International Radio Disaster and Relief Team: "Dear Group Members and Followers, The IRDR (International Radio Disaster and Relief) Project Team is pleased to welcome you to our public email group at Groups.io. The intention of this public web-based group is to gather support to reach our goal of keeping the currently allocated shortwave IRDR frequencies clear of interference throughout their coordinated time slots. This is to try and guarantee that the IRDR frequencies will be immediately available for use, without reception problems, during times of disaster or in emergency situations. The HFCC manages and coordinates global databases of international shortwave broadcasting, according to Article 12 of the ITU Radio Regulations. However, there are many unknown and unregistered transmissions on the air, which could endanger the aim of having clear and free to use IRDR frequencies. You can find out more about the IRDR project at www.hfcc.org/humanitarian Therefore we would like to invite the very large shortwave community and DXers out there, to assist the IRDR Project Team in keeping the IRDR frequencies clear of interference. We believe that many shortwave listeners observe unregistered or unknown transmissions nearly every day. The new email group will give you a platform to report your observations based on your reports, if interference is detected on any of the IRDR frequencies, the IRDR Project Team will endeavor to contact the provider or operator of such unregistered transmissions, to inform them about the IRDR project and support them by finding alternative frequency channels, etc. https://groups.io/g/IRDR/ The IRDR Project Team would be very grateful if your observations only concern the IRDR frequencies, which are indicated on the website of this email group at www.hfcc.org/humanitarian/ Thank you and best regards, IRDR Project Team" (via WRTH FB Feb 27 via DXLD) Checked April 30, they now have 9 members and there have been 2 posts, the last in March about A-18 extending hours for 9430. The schedule, not copiable, includes 11840 at 0600-0100, despite Radio Habana Cuba; don`t they know??? SMG VATICAN serves as placeholder site for IRDR registrations in HFCC; has never been implemented for a real disaster, of which there have been several; just rare test (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN / SAUDI ARABIA [or non]. One of the four (or more) types of Beijing jammings is so called "sirene" (the others are fire drake / pseudoopera, program of CNR1 (V of China) and noise scratch jamming). Usually noise and sirene are using vs Sound of Hope and RFA (f.e. vs AIR is CNR1). By the way from unidentified sources are jammers on MW 1431 and 1548 kHz, when are txs used by Radio Sawa. So whether ARS is jamming Iran in Arabic, let we checking \\ MW 1080, 1224 etc. {checked both MW channels in Doha Qatar on April 23-25 at various times of the day, no ARS jamming observed on mediumwave so far. wb.} (Rumen Pankov-BUL, hcdx Apr 24, BC-DX 30 April via DXLD) ** IRAN/UNIDENTIFIED. Probably VIRI IRIB on unscheduled 7410 April 25 0605-0805 7410 SIR 500 kW / 198 deg N/ME Arabic, not // 13610/13780 VIRI IRIB was back on 13610 kHz April 25, instead of 9800 kHz April 24 0530-1430 13610 ZAH 500 kW / 289 deg EaAf Arabic + siren jamming 0530-0830 13780 SIR 500 kW / 198 deg N/ME Arabic + siren jamming 0930-1130 13780 SIR 500 kW / 216 deg N/ME Arabic + siren jamming 1130-1430 13785 SIR 500 kW / 216 deg N/ME Arabic + siren jamming WORLD OF RADIO 1928, BSKSA Radio Riyadh Holy Quran on wrong freq. 13780, instead of 11935 1130-1200 13780 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg N/ME Arabic, instead of 11935 1130-1200 17615 RIY 500 kW / 100 deg SEAs Arabic, as scheduled A18 BSKSA Radio Saudi Int on wrong 13780 kHz, instead of 13785 April 24 1200-1300 13780 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg SoAs Urdu, instead 13775 A-18 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/unid-probably-viri-irib-on-unscheduled.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 24-25, WOR iog via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Radio Ranginkaman/Radio Rainbow via BaBcoCk Tashkent, April 23: 1600-1630 7580 TAC 100 kW / 236 deg WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri, fair to good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/radio-ranginkamanradio-rainbow-via_27.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 26-27, WOR iog via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. USA: Italian B'casting Corp on 5850 via WRMI at 0122- 0125 s/off with DX reports. Not listed in EiBi. Digital signals after voice s/off. Heard with SDRUno with a 25ft longwire grounded at the far end. 1 May. Nice to be back. I check the famous alera1 address but note new email ("Liz Cameron" , MI, WOR iog via DXLD) ** KIRITIMATI [and non]. 846, 0740, CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Radio Kiribati over/mixed Masterton, with island chorus, // 1440 9/4. On my SDR one can clearly separate NewsTalk ZB [NZ] on 846.000 from Christmas Island on 845.996. Still irregular, missing 14/4 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, North Island, New Zealand, with WinRadio G33DDC SDR & EWEs to NE, East & SE, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 3320 // 6400, Pyongyang BS, 1244 & 1322, April 26, with 6400 much stronger, but this frequency certainly not on the air daily, while 3320 is every day (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 9435, April 28 at 1403, VOK in English about the N/S summit at the DMZ, S6-S9 with self-jamming bleed; if // 11710, it`s very poor. 11735, April 29 at 0530, VOK IS and Spanish sign-on, S4-S6; not heard for a long time as I often check 11725 for NZ. Maybe a sign of summer conditions. // 13760 is JBA carrier. Un announced that the NK timezone will be moved back to UT+9 as a step toward reunification. When he abruptly changed it to +8:30 a few years ago, all VOK broadcasts also shifted, mired in local rather than Universal time, so we may expect the same again, i.e. 30 minutes earlier than they have been (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) North Korea says it will shift to the GMT+9 time zone on 5 May. So all NK broadcasts will be 30 minutes earlier according to GMT from that date (Chris Greenway, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) No More NK 3 +1 Pips on the Half Hour? Apparently North Korea has decided to join the rest of the world with Top of the Hour pips on the top of the hour N.K. to revert to same time zone as S. Korea on May 5 North Korea's parliament has decided to return to the same time zone as South Korea starting May 5, the country's state media said Monday. (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), IRCA HCDX via DXLD) Hello! North Korea changes time again from 5 May Juche 107 (2018). From then on, the former UTC +9 time will apply. Read official full text below. Vy 73, (Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: PROPOSAL FOR RESETTING DPRK’S STANDARD TIME KIM JONG UN, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, put forward a proposal for resetting the standard time of the DPRK. During his visit to the southern area for the third historic Inter- Korean summit and talks, he discussed with south Korean President Moon Jae In the matter of unifying the standard times of the north and the south. He felt heartrending to see two clocks hanging on a wall of the summit venue that indicate the Pyongyang and Seoul times, he noted, proposing unifying the times before doing anything else. It is not an abstract meaning that the north and the south become one, but it is just a process in which the north and the south turn their different and separated things into the same and single ones, he said, expressing his resolution to unify the two times existing in the Korean peninsula as the first practical step for achieving national reconciliation and unity. True to his suggestion of examining and approving the proposal by a relevant field in the north, the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly adopted a decree "On Resetting the Pyongyang Time". http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/news/?22+3453 DECREE ON REDESIGNATING PYONGYANG TIME The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK adopted the following decree on April 30 to unify the Pyongyang and Seoul times. The decree reads: Firstly, the Pyongyang time shall be reset into GMT+09:00 (30 minutes earlier than the present time) with 135 degree of east longitude as the prime meridian. Secondly, the reset Pyongyang time shall be applied from May 5, Juche 107 (2018). Thirdly, the Cabinet and relevant organs of the DPRK shall take practical measures to implement the decree. http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/news/?19+8938 (via Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KOREA D.P.R. Summer A-18 SW schedule of Voice of Korea from May 6 0300-0357 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0300-0357 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 0300-0357 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0300-0357 on 15105 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 0300-0357 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0400-0457 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0400-0457 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0400-0457 on 9730 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0400-0457 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm English 0400-0457 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs French 0400-0457 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm English 0400-0457 on 15105 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs French 0400-0457 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm English 0500-0557 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 0500-0557 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 0500-0557 on 9730 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 0500-0557 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0500-0557 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs English 0500-0557 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0500-0557 on 15105 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs English 0500-0557 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Spanish 0600-0657 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0600-0657 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0600-0657 on 9730 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs English 0600-0657 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm French 0600-0657 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 0600-0657 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm French 0600-0657 on 15105 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 0600-0657 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm French 0700-0757 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0700-0757 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to FERu Russian 0700-0757 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to FERu Russian 0700-0757 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0700-0757 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 0700-0757 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 0800-0857 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 0800-0857 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 0800-0850 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0800-0857 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to FERu Russian 0800-0857 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to FERu Russian 0800-0850 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0800-0857 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 0800-0857 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 0900-0957 on 6070 KNG 250 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0900-0950 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean KCBS 0900-0950 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean KCBS 0900-0957 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 0900-0957 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1000-1050 on 6070 KNG 250 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1000-1050 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1000-1057 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm English 1000-1057 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs English 1000-1050 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1000-1057 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs English 1000-1057 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm English 1100-1157 on 6070 KNG 250 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1100-1157 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 1100-1157 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 1100-1157 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1100-1157 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm French 1100-1157 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs French 1100-1157 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1100-1157 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs French 1100-1157 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm French 1200-1250 on 6070 KNG 250 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1200-1250 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1200-1250 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Korean KCBS 1200-1250 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Korean KCBS 1200-1250 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 1200-1250 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Korean KCBS 1200-1250 on 15180 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to CSAm Korean KCBS 1300-1357 on 9435 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm English 1300-1357 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm English 1300-1357 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 1300-1357 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Chinese 1300-1357 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1300-1357 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1400-1457 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1400-1457 on 9435 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm French 1400-1457 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm French 1400-1450 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Korean KCBS 1400-1457 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1400-1450 on 13650 KUJ 200 kW / 238 deg to SEAs Korean KCBS 1400-1457 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 1400-1457 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 1500-1557 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1500-1557 on 9435 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm English 1500-1557 on 9890 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Arabic 1500-1557 on 11645 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Arabic 1500-1557 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm English 1500-1557 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1500-1557 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1500-1557 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1600-1657 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1600-1657 on 9435 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm French 1600-1657 on 9890 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME English 1600-1657 on 11645 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME English 1600-1657 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm French 1600-1657 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1600-1657 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 1600-1657 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 1700-1757 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1700-1750 on 9435 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm Korean KCBS 1700-1757 on 9890 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Arabic 1700-1757 on 11645 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Arabic 1700-1750 on 11710 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to NoAm Korean KCBS 1700-1757 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian 1700-1750 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS 1700-1750 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS 1800-1857 on 7210 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf French 1800-1857 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1800-1857 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME French 1800-1857 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME French 1800-1857 on 11910 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf French 1800-1857 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1800-1857 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1800-1857 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 1900-1957 on 7210 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf English 1900-1957 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1900-1957 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME English 1900-1957 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME English 1900-1957 on 11910 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf English 1900-1957 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1900-1957 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Spanish 1900-1957 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Spanish 2000-2050 on 7210 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf Korean KCBS 2000-2050 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS 2000-2050 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Korean KCBS 2000-2050 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 296 deg to N/ME Korean KCBS 2000-2050 on 11910 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to SoAf Korean KCBS 2000-2050 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS 2000-2057 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 2000-2057 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 2100-2157 on 7235 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 2100-2157 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 2100-2150 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2100-2157 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Chinese 2100-2157 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Chinese 2100-2150 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2100-2157 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 2100-2157 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 2200-2257 on 7235 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 2200-2257 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Chinese 2200-2257 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2200-2257 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Chinese 2200-2257 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Chinese 2200-2257 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2200-2257 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Spanish 2200-2257 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Spanish 2300-2350 on 7235 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean KCBS 2300-2350 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean KCBS 2300-2350 on 9650 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2300-2350 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Korean KCBS 2300-2350 on 11635 KUJ 200 kW / 271 deg to CHN Korean KCBS 2300-2350 on 11865 KUJ 200 kW / 109 deg to JPN Japanese 2300-2350 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS 2300-2350 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Korean KCBS Cancelled transmissions (currently inactive transmissions) 0300-0350 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0300-0350 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0300-0350 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0300-0350 on 9730 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0700-0757 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0700-0757 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 0800-1250 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Japanese 0900-0950 on 9875 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to ERus Korean PBS 0900-0950 on 11735 KUJ 200 kW / 028 deg to ERus Korean PBS 0900-0950 on 13760 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Korean PBS 0900-0950 on 15245 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Korean PBS 1000-1050 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1000-1050 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1200-1257 on 7220 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1200-1257 on 9445 KUJ 200 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1300-1357 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1300-1357 on 9425 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Korean PBS 1300-1357 on 12015 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Korean PBS 1800-1857 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 1900-1957 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean PBS 2100-2350 on 3250 PYO 100 kW / non-dir to NEAs Japanese (??????????? ?? Observer ? 10:54 AM via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH & SOUTH. The future of Korean cross-border broadcasts The declaration issued at today's Korean summit says: "South and North Korea agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain..." We should be watching to see if this means a halt to any of the cross-border radio stations that both sides operate (Chris Greenway, UK, April 27, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) COULD CROSS-BORDER PROPAGANDA RADIO FALL SILENT WITH SUMMIT AGREEMENT? (Photo: Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps) Martyn Williams, April 28, 2018 Among the agreements reached by North and South Korea on Friday is one that could have a quick effect on propaganda radio broadcasts on the Korean peninsula. The two countries agreed: - South and North Korea agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain, including land, air and sea, that are the source of military tension and conflict. In this vein, the two sides agreed to transform the demilitarized zone into a peace zone in a genuine sense by ceasing as of May 1 this year all hostile acts and eliminating their means, including broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets, in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line. On the radio waves, propaganda broadcasts flow freely across the inter-Korean border, largely from the South to the North for hours and hours each day. The South Koreans have two radio stations operated by the National Intelligence Service, Voice of the People and Echo of Hope, and a station run by the military, Voice of Freedom. A radio broadcasting station in South Korea, believed to broadcast propaganda at North Korea (Photo: North Korea Tech) The stations broadcast anti-regime propaganda and news and are aggressively jammed by North Korea, which broadcasts noise on the same frequency to make the program difficult to listen to. North Korea isn’t quite as active at sending radio broadcasts to the south, in part because few people in South Korea bother with shortwave radio these days. But the South Korean government does broadcast over the top of North Korea’s domestic radio and TV signals so citizens in and around Seoul cannot hear the broadcasts. Looking at the wording of the agreement, the South Korean government’s three propaganda stations probably fall under the definition of “hostile acts,” as they exist solely to target the other country. The jamming of domestic broadcasts, both in North and South, doesn’t quite fit the definition because it’s aimed at each government’s own citizens. So, will the stations go off the air? Echo of Hope has been on the air since 1973 and Voice of the People since 1986 so doing so ceasing transmissions would be somewhat historic, but everything about the summit has been just that. (North Korea Tech via May Australian DX News via DXLD) Hi Glenn, With all the current political activity going on in Korea, we should certainly be monitoring Korea for any new developments on SW. Ron, California - - - - April 27: Email from Martyn Williams: "Hey Ron, I'm closely monitoring the North/South propaganda radios with interest. The declaration signed at the summit today said "South and North Korea agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain, including land, air and sea, that are the source of military tension and conflict. In this vein, the two sides agreed to transform the demilitarized zone into a peace zone in a genuine sense by *ceasing as of May 1* this year all hostile acts and eliminating their means, including broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets, in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line." [my emphasis - Ron] I have no idea if this means the radio stations will temporarily (permanently) fall silent or just continue. The broadcasting mentioned above, that always pisses off the North Koreans, is the loudspeaker stuff. Let me know if you notice any changes. It's all still on the air now with jamming, via remote SDR." - - - WRTH Facebook page (April 27): Chris Kadlec: *Expect some major changes on the Korean radio dials starting on May 1* All propaganda stations on FM, MW, and SW are likely to go dark or change programming. VOF and the others from Hwaseong, Taereung, and Goyang are likely to go dark. With the loudspeakers being turned off on the 1st, expect 101.7, 103.1, and 107.3 (all run parallel to the speakers) to likely revert back to their old format of military educational stations (formerly "DEBS" when I first moved to Korea with English lessons, etc.), though no clue what will become of Jayu FM (94.5, 96.1, 97.7, 100.6). V15 and V24 numbers stations are likely to go dark as well, which they usually are 99% of the day anyway. No information from the north on the fate of their stations, naturally, but I'd expect 97.8 Haeju and its rebroadcasters outside Seoul to turn off (as they are purely propaganda only), though the other AM and FM networks are domestic- based. Jammers will likely continue due to this. Or not? (Nobody knows anything). [*my emphasis* - Ron] April 26, at 1020+, found VOF with their usual strong signal on 6045.0 kHz and again heard April 27 - Ron http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2018/04/28/2018042800193.html (Ron Howard, CA, April 27, WOR iog via DXLD) Voice of Korea English language broadcasts today (28 April) had a long item about Friday's summit meeting at Panmunjom. The 1330 UT broadcast on 13760 kHz (the best frequency) was recorded using the U. Twente SDR receiver. It had the usual self-jamming noise as well as some splash from CRI on 13755 kHz up until about 1400. The 1630 broadcast on 11645 kHz, while not as strong as the earlier broadcast, was free of both self-jamming and QRM. It was also recorded. 1330 recording archived here: https://shortwavearchive.com/archive/voice-of-korea-panmunjom-summit-april-28-2018 and here: https://archive.org/details/VoiceOfKorea13.760MHz28April20181330UTC (-- Richard Langley, NB, WOR iog via DXLD) Checking 3910 at 1100 UT this morning, getting very little content from VOP, but can clearly hear N Korean jamming. 3930 is much the same, but I can copy an OM in Korean thru the muck. EOH is audible on 3985, OM announcer, can`t hear jamming on this one (unless you call a ham QSO jamming...) :0) (Chris KC5IIE Krug, Tulsa, OK, Flex3000, 40m loop, April 30, WOR iog via DXLD) April 30. So far all SW activity seems normal, with the usual S. Korean stations being jammed. What will happen tomorrow? (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KOREA NORTH/SOUTH. On May 1, looking for any of the expected changes that might have happened today. None noted; the status quo has been maintained. Checking the two frequencies I was most interested in, found 6015 with KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 blocked by the usual white noise jamming from N. Korea and 6135 also had strong white noise jamming, when monitoring from 1043 through 1358, so no chance to check for Madagascar on 6135. Also 6045 with the normal good signal strength from the Voice of Freedom, but also with the usual light jamming. Can we still hope that the jamming may stop in the near future? (Ron California, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6040, JAPAN, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze at 1340, W in Korean in long monologue. Again, I am not hearing the high-pitched jammer usually present. I'm now wondering if the jamming has stopped for some reason. Any west coast DXer out there know if DPRK has let these broadcasts go unmolested in the past? (OTHER than, I know, when the NoKos haven't yet found a new frequency - which is not the case here). VG (Rick Barton, Logs from Central Arizona April 25. Grundig Satellit, RS SW-2000629, and HQ-180A. with various outdoor wires. 73 and Good Listening....! WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7215, Shiokaze (via Yamata) 1350-1400* 27 April. Shiokaze's NF is buried by CRI (Xian) in Chinese until CRI shuts down at 1357; at least Shiokaze's contact info & piano outro rolls in clearly 1357-1400* (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Dan, Yes, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze has again made a terrible frequency assignment. Going from ex: 6040, where they were only dealing with N. Korea jamming, up to 7215, where they are now going head-to-head with 500 kW CRI and not doing well at all. April 28 (Saturday), at *1300, in Japanese; distinctive emergency siren. My audio attest to the resulting mess - http://goo.gl/vrWD8A BTW - On April 28, noted that ex: 6040 had strong N. Korea jamming at 1136, while waiting for Shiokaze to come on at 1300, which never happened due to move up to 7215. So 6040 was causing serious QRM for the PBS Yunnan relay of FM99 (China) on 6035 kHz, as well as QRM for Voice of Freedom on 6045, which also had their own N. Korea jamming, so double jammed (Ron California, ibid.) JAPAN, Frequency changes of JSR Shiokaze Sea Breeze from April 28 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/frequency-changes-of-jsr-shiokaze-sea.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 28-29, WOR iog via DXLD) Viz.: 1300-1400 NF 7215*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg NEAs, ex 6040 as follows 1300-1330 Chinese Mon; Japanese Tu/Sat; Korean Wed/Fri/Sun; English Th 1330-1400 Korean Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat; Japanese Tue/Sun; English Thu * co-ch same 7215 XIA 500 kW / 190 deg SEAs Chinese China Radio Int 1600-1700 NF 6165#YAM 300 kW / 280 deg NEAs, ex 6090 as follows 1600-1630 Chinese Mon; Japanese Tu/Sat; Korean Wed/Fri/Sun; English Th 1630-1700 Korean Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat; Japanese Tue/Sun; English Thu # co-ch same 6165 URU 500 kW / 270 deg N/ME Turkish China Radio Int Respectively new frequency of Furusato no Kaze via JSR Shiokaze Sea Breeze 1405-1435 NF 7325^YAM 300 kW / 280 deg NEAs Japanese Daily, ex 6070 ^ from 1430UT 7325 BEI 500 kW / 165 deg SEAs Filipino China Radio Int (??????????? ?? Observer ? 2:22 PM via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. MOST ACCURATE STANDARD TIME STATION IN SOUTH KOREA TO OPEN NEXT YEAR Posted on April 30, 2018 by Korea Bizwire in Consumer Technology, Feature, Photo News with 0 Comments According to the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), a new long-wave station will open early next year in Gyeonggi Province. (Image: Yonhap) [caption to a photo of N&S K leaders conversing at a dinner table ---- as if that had something to do with this story --- gh] DAEJEON, Apr. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The most accurate standard time station to date in South Korea will begin its test broadcasts sometime next year. According to the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), a new long-wave station will open early next year in Gyeonggi Province. Using a frequency between 50 and 100 kHZ, the new station will be able to transit electromagnetic waves over a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers, which will enable one radio tower to cover the entire country without having to rely on antennas [sic]. The most accurate standard time station to date in South Korea will begin its test broadcasts sometime next year. (Image: Yonhap) [caption: view of the KRISS building and campus] The new facility will allow people to check the standard time of Korea across the Korean peninsula as long-wave stations can reach those indoors and underground unlike GPS signals. “With one long-wave station, we can broadcast the standard time for the whole of Korea. Given the historical context of the unification of weights and measures, we believe the facility will serve as a strategic point that provides the standard time for the Korean peninsula in the future,” a senior official at the KRISS said. Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com) (via Richard Langley, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) WTFK? 50-100 kHz --- that narrows it down! ``Most accurate``? Does that mean they already have inaccurate ones??? Well, there`s HLA at Daejon, 2 kW on 5000-AM, 24h, which has not been DX-reported in ages, off? Per WRTH 2018 which already has TFK! ``65 kHz, KRISS planning test transmissions from the KBS site at Yeoju``. ``Without having to rely on antennas``?? Neat trick (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) The article mentions a reception range of 1000 km. I wonder what power that might equate to and what might be the odds to hear this station in the Pacific Northwest [sic] (of the United States)? Regards, (George, NJ3H, Stein, Redmond, Oregon USA, Kenwood TS-940S, Hustler 4BTV with 30m and 17m, Yaesu FT-1900R and FT-60R, SDRs: Perseus and Elad FDM-S2, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA1530AL-2, WOR iog via DXLD) http://www.kriss.re.kr/standard/krisstory_view.do?seq=1475&category=1&page=1 http://time.ewha.or.kr/ http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/05/19/0200000000AKR20170519081200063.HTML Google-Translator: "....On March 31, last year, a satellite navigation system (GPS) radio wave attack, which is estimated to have been conducted by North Korea, occurred. As a result, domestic aircraft and 110 vessels were affected, including the malfunction of GPS plotters (navigational devices such as navigation systems) operating in the Yellow Sea. When GPS radio disturbance occurs, obstacles occur in the mobile phone base station, the airplane being operated, the ship, etc., to receive GPS signals normally. In particular, since the present time synchronization network receives GPS signals and operates, if GPS satellites fail or GPS jamming (radio disturbance) attacks occur, there is a possibility that various communication devices may fail. For this reason, there is a need to establish a self-sustained time synchronization network that is not affected even if GPS is disabled. The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science said on February 19 that it plans to establish a broadcasting station for long-range standard time with the aim of trial broadcasting in February 2019. Standardization is currently testing long-wave standard time trial broadcasting with the goal of transmitting a 200 km radius from the KBS Yeoju AM Transmitter site, which is now closed, using the vacant frequency of 65 kHz band. The construction is scheduled for September. Additional information can be added to Korea Standard Time to be used in various applications such as smart home appliance, smart grid, and intelligent transportation system (ITS), and it is expected to be applied to disaster situations such as weather, earthquake, and radiation. In Japan, long-wave broadcasting is also used to automatically adjust the traffic signal system or insert a chip into a taxi meter to prevent the late night rate premium. "The long-wave broadcasting will become a radio infrastructure for the people's public interest." In Korea, too, it is essential to provide long-term standard time to reach the rank of "time advanced country." (via roger, germany, WOR iog via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, MOLDOVA, Radyo Denge Welat in Kurdish 04- 15-2018 0738-0817 man talk with other man, (interview), non stop local songs with instrumental music, woman brief announcement, time pips at 0800, music break, man announcement and news (mentioning Russia, America, Iraq, Europa, Syria). with some music breaks till 0815, music break, man talk. very good / good. heard // in streaming on site http://www.denge-welat.org with some seconds of delay from shortwave frequency (Gianni Serra - Roma-Italy, JRC NRD 525 receiver; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S antenna; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Sony MDR-101 stereo headphones, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 5959.886, Radio Kuwait odd frequency Arabic music service, S=9+45dB powerhouse, noted at 0519 UT in Doha Qatar remote unit. 20.5 kHz wideband audio signal, excellent quality transmission. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG [non]. The French station RTL will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the events of May 1968, with a web radio "RTL Radio 68". This webradio will be audible for 24 hours from May 3rd at 1600 UT on http://www.rtl.fr Also audible the night from 2300 to 0230 UT on the LW 234 kHz and also FM in France (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice France, April 28, bdxc-news iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) Thanks, Christian. The "radios périphériques" (RTL and Europe 1) played an important role in those events (Chris Greenway, ibid.) ** MADAGASAR. 5009.92, 1843, R Nasionaly, pr-fr with FA vocs [female announcer voices??]. Only heard 10/04 (Paul Ormandy, NZ, Drake SPR4, 5 m EWE antenna, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 620, XESS, ESPN Deportes Radio, Puerto Nuevo, BC, APR 16, 1200 - My local pest cued up the wrong feed again, and ID'd as co- managed XEPE ESPN 1700 in English. A minute later, they put on the right feed for XESS ESPN Deportes. Way over KTAR. [Hall-CA] 690, XEMA, Buenavista de Rivera, Zac., APR 7, 1140 - Mixing with partially-phased local KTSM with bandas and norteños with frequent "La Mejor" slogan ID's by a male with a seemingly exaggerated deep throaty voice. FM (XHEMA 107.9) ID with address by same man at 1201, followed by local ads. [Vance-TX] 990, XECL, Mexicali, BC, APR 25, 1258 - Spanish version of the Rolling Stones' "Last Time"; national anthem at 1300 (two verses), followed by this ID: "Ésta es XECL 990 AM, Rocola 990 transmitiendo desde Centro Cívico Comercial, Mexicali, Baja California. XECL, una estación más de Grupo Larsa Comunicación"; Spanish rock/AC music followed. In the clear for a few minutes but soon mixing with KTKT. Local KRKS was off the air. [Wilkins-CO] 1050, XEBCS La Paz, BCS, APR 15, 1211 - Faded up with norteños, full ID at 1218 including the "Radio de Sudcalifornia" slogan, then back into music. Mixing with XED. [Vance-TX] 1280, XEAW, Involvidable, Monterrey, NL, APR 9, 1057 - High choral version of Mexican anthem, followed by weather for northern Nuevo León. New, NL #11, Mexico #299, Station #1426. [Hall-CA] 1280, unID, APR 9, 1057 - Another station running a high choral version of the Mexican anthem (possibly the same version as XEAW, but out of sync). Into program with theme song in minor key. Monitoring of web streams the next few days failed to ID the station. Several web streams were down. [Hall-CA] 1340, XEDKT, Radiorama 1340, Frecuencia Deportiva, Guadalajara, Jal., APR 9, 1059 - Very distinct slow instrumental version of Mexican anthem, which slows down even more on the last line. ID, "XEDKT 1340, frecuencia deportiva" by male announcer. Briefly on top of channel, but soon lost to KPYV. Monitoring their web stream, I found that despite their slogan, they were running U.S. rock oldies before 6 a.m. 5 kW day power helps, but still a good catch at about 1170 miles. New, Jalisco #23, Mexico #300, Station #1427. [Hall-CA] 1340, unID, APR 9, 1100 - About 50 seconds after the top of the hour, I heard what appeared to be a partial FM call, "XH..." XEDKT has no FM, so it wasn't them. Whatever this was, it would have been a good catch! [Hall-CA] 1490, XECJC, Cd. Juárez, Chih., APR 16, 1202 - Mexican instrumental national anthem; ranchera music followed. Did not catch ID but undoubtedly XECJC, which occasionally makes a rare appearance here. Tough copy in the null of semi-local KCFC. XE graveyarders are always rare here. [Wilkins-CO] 1570, XERF, Cd. Acuña, Coah. APR 17, 1101 - National anthem, followed by Coahuila state anthem; 1108 ID's for XERF with 100,000 watts and XHRF-HD with 4 kW on 103.9 FM; address given as Madero 600 Centro; member of IMER; finally, after the long ID sequence, into a salud (health) program at 1109 UT. Very good signal with no competition. [Wilkins-CO] Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA; Perseus, SDR-IQ, 1200-ft terminated BOG first aimed southeast, then northwest, on a straight patch of road about 2/10 mile from my house. Glenn Hauser, Enid OK; NRD-545 with ALA-330S or north/south not very long wire, DX-398 or PL-880 with internal antenna only, sometimes IC- R75 with ~100-ft east/west longwire [logs already in DXLD] Robert Vance, El Paso TX; WiNRADiO G33DDC, various indoor and outdoor loop antennas. John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO; Drake R8, 4-foot box loop (International DX Digest, ed. Bruce Conti, NRC DX News, April 27 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week [including DTV] One down and two to go as Tampico clears the Article 90 reserved band — and it looks to be cleared very shortly in southern Tamaulipas. Today, XHFW-FM moved to 88.5, keeping all other things unchanged. There are strong signs that its sister XHTW-FM will make its move to 94.9 in the very near future, and XHEOLA-FM has already begun promoting its move to 103.5. These stations were on 106.3, 107.1 and 107.9, respectively. XHOX-FM/Sonora (106.5 to 99.3) in Ciudad Obregón also updated one of its Facebook pages today with the new frequency. They had notably not had their frequency on their main page since the image refresh of Exa FM a couple months ago. It's unknown if XHOX/Son. has actually changed. Last edited by Raymie; 04-26-2018 at 09:03 PM. (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, April 26, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Movement continues in Mazatlán radio as there's one less commercial operator. ABC Radio has exited the city, and its two stations, XHVOX 98.7 and XHENX 104.3, have gone to Grupo Siete, which wasted no time in flipping them to Quiéreme and Crystal. Mazatlán is now the only city where Grupo Siete has more than two stations, as it also owns XHMZT on 93.1 (Raymie, April 27, ibid.) Raymie, my apologies if you've already explained this but --- Why do so many of these new stations have four-letter suffixes with "P" as the first letter? (XHPTUL, XHPHBP, XHPIXT, etc.) (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) I have no idea why, but it serves as a very easy marker to denote IFT- 4 FM stations. Sometimes, the P is incorporated into the calls more fluidly if the place name starts with a P. For instance, XHPETO-FM is in Peto, Yucatán; XHPTOJ-FM is in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; and XHPATZ-FM can be found in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. (Though, XHPPLY-FM Playa del Carmen is not an example.) The AMs do not have the P: examples include XEGMSR-AM, XELRDA-AM, and XEROPJ-AM. The AMs are more named for their concessionaires than their places. In general, the IFT era has seen a profusion of six-letter callsigns, notably including the XHPB** series of public stations in the last few years (XHPBUG-FM, XEPBPV-AM, XHPBMY-TDT), the Imagen TV network (XHCT** for Cadena Tres I, S.A. de C.V.), and all 32 IFT-6 TV stations (Raymie, ibid.) XHNEZ-FM 97.3 Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Mex., goes on the air Saturday with a full-on inauguration. https://regeneracion.mx/ciudad-nezahualcoyotl-inaugurara-la-radio-comunitaria-en-neza-radio-xhnez-97-3-fm/ "En Neza Radio", which won its concession in the courts, is the second community station in Neza, after XHARO-FM 104.5 Radio Rélax, which was permitted in 2010 (Raymie, April 27, ibid.) Wednesday marks the start of the 59th National Radio and Television Week, and Mexico watchers will note this is an odd time of year for this important industry event. Programming includes panels with all five presidential candidates, an ATSC 3.0 seminar, technical panels and a show floor, as well as the traditional dinner with broadcasters. http://www.cirt.com.mx/portal/index.php/59-snrt/programa-delegados The convention normally takes place in November. However, in the wake of last year's earthquakes, the CIRT postponed the event, stating that the time and attention normally devoted to planning the event was needed to organize relief efforts and assist radio stations that sustained damage (Raymie, April 30, ibid.) It's been surprisingly slim pickings lately at the IFT, but we finally got some documents, and here's a recap of some of the noteworthy activity from March 14: New station awards from MX groups: Two 2015 mutually exclusive frequencies from the 2015 PABF were resolved. 90.5 Chetumal, a class B1 frequency, will go to Culturalmente Chetumal as the first social station in the state capital of Quintana Roo. 1280 AM in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, will be given to Fundación Cultural para la Sociedad Mexicana, marking its second AM. 1280 was formerly used in San Miguel by XESQ radio, which through its social arm Proyección Cultural Sanmiguelense (XHGSM- TDT) had the other bid for the frequency. The Morelia permit forest has also been resolved. There were five applicants for the one frequency on offer: Junto Vamos a Crecer saw its application tossed for economic competition reasons. We don't know anything about this group. The oldest application was taken, so that left Impulso a la Música Mexicana, Dulce María Reyes Sánchez, and Ana Yunuén Romera Sánchez out of the running. The winning applicant was the Secretaría de Cultura, which now finally has all of the three Radio Educación stations asked for a while back. Technical changes, of an unknown type, have been approved for XHEY, XHEPF, XHEVP, XHZAZ, XHLK, XHCJZ, XEWK and XEHL-AM. ——— An Oaxaca pirate should consider finding a new frequency. You might recall that in that meeting, Fundación Radiodifusoras Capital Jalisco picked up stations in Oaxaca and Cosoleacaque, Veracruz. While the documents are not up, these applications came from the 2015 PABF and will be for 92.1 and 89.3 MHz, respectively. The 92.1 station should cause serious trouble for the long-running Radio Plantón teachers' pirate. They moved recently from 92.1 to 92.3, and almost certainly when Capital comes on the air, they will need a new frequency. ——— There was also IFT-4 news as Compañía Periodística Sudcaliforniana announced the name its FM stations will take. All three (XHPSJC, XHPLPZ and XHPVBB) will be known as Radiante. The format will have pop, rock and jazz music with news and other programming. The newspaper publisher, known in that realm as Grupo Editorial Tribuna, will be known as CPS Media in the world of broadcasting. There is a placeholder website for Radiante at radiante.fm and for CPS Media at cps.media; their Facebook pages are starting to become active, however. https://www.facebook.com/RadianteFM.pvr/ Expect these to come to the air soon — then their engineers can focus on building the IFT-6 TV stations they got. ——— On Sunday, XHEMIA-FM got going for real. While the transmitter had been fired up a few weeks in advance, Sunday at noon marked the formal launch of Radio Disney Guadalajara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dKGShCbLU With XHEMIA up and running, ACIR's attention has been on building out XHOK-FM. At the Colonia Libertad AM transmitter site (and studio location) in Guadalupe, near the Plaza Lindavista shopping center, a new tower is going up for the FM radio station, according to local reports (Raymie, May 1, ibid.) Just in time for the start of National Radio and Television Week, six of the country's largest broadcasters are going on the warpath over inappropriate contesting in Mexico City radio by the capital's audience giant. Today, this full-page ad appeared in the major newspapers, backed by Grupo ACIR, Imagen Radio, MVS Radio, NRM Comunicaciones, Televisa Radio and Grupo Fórmula: It reads as follows (translated)... —— To the Communications Industry and the General Public: Grupo Radio Centro broadcast last month, on its station 91.3 FM, live and spoken by DJ Toño Esquinca: the offering of money for favorably responding to diary audience ratings surveys, emphasizing that those who say they listened to 91.3 FM more often would receive more money. This is an irrefutable demonstration of the attempts to manipulate the results of radio ratings surveys in favor of Grupo Radio Centro's stations, against best practices of market research, the advertising industry, and broadcasting itself. We exhort the CIRT, the Asociación de Radio del Valle de México [ARVM, the Mexico City broadcasters' association], the Media Research Council and the Mexican Association of Research Agencies to take appropriate measures to avoid these actions. The signatories below take a stand against these practices, in favor of the unity and healthy growth of the radio industry in Mexico. —— Also included is a YouTube link and QR code to this video, a 1:26 clip of two examples of promotions and mentions of this beyond-the-pale contesting by XHFAJ-FM's airstaff. (The second one, read by Esquinca, also mentions Monterrey, where XHMF essentially is a Monterrey simulcast of XHFAJ.) Esquinca is not just another name on the airstaff; he is one of the most popular radio personalities in the country, with a morning show simulcast on Radio Centro's 91.3 and 97.7 in Mexico City and more than a million Twitter followers. The timing of this is no coincidence. The newspaper ad is also being displayed on large banners at the Radio and Television Week (photo courtesy Twitter/@ERUIZP): (Also, the Capital Máxima banner to the left still has Izúcar de Matamoros on it. Yikes!) ——— The actual festivities of the National Radio and Television Week also got underway today with an opening address given by the Secretario de Gobernación, Alfonso Navarrete. IFT Commissioner Elena Estavillo was quick to pile on criticism, noting that there was not a single woman on the stand for the opening address. https://twitter.com/elenaestavillo/status/991729729752453121 Yesterday saw a change of leadership at Radio Independiente de México, which represents 116 broadcasters owning 311 stations. Michael Meneses Olaya of XHPOR-FM in Putla Villa de Guerrero, Oaxaca, concluded his three-year term as president of the organization and was replaced by Gloria Caballero of XHZS-FM/Ver (Raymie, May 2, ibid.) The Esquinca/contesting story has been occupying attention all day in the news and getting attention beyond the industry. It forced Francisco "Pancho" Aguirre, the director of Grupo Radio Centro, to come out and conduct a press conference https://www.sdpnoticias.com/nacional/2018/05/02/grupo-radio-centro-niega-compra-de-audiencias-y-le-saca-la-amarilla-a-tono-esquinca along with Esquinca, who defended his move as a promotional tactic like others in which listeners have received cash. Aguirre said he was "issuing a yellow card" to Esquinca while also pointing out that Alfa doesn't even comprise 10 percent of the group's revenues. He also challenged the other broadcasters to conduct an audit through the Media Research Council (Consejo de Investigación de Medios), "no matter how much it may cost" — which is being called by Esquinca and others at GRC the #RetoRadioCentro (Radio Centro Challenge). Another director of GRC, Juan Aguirre Abdo, says that INRA especially needs to be audited because it seems to be favoring two of the broadcast groups that attacked GRC more than Nielsen, IPSOS, and Reforma. https://twitter.com/jaguirreoficial/status/991800174631686145 In response, INRA took to Twitter, where the company defended its methodology and emphasized its tradition of regularly auditing its ratings and ratings-gathering processes. https://twitter.com/INRAmedios/status/991800840334667776 (Raymie, May 2, ibid.) The two social TV stations awarded early in March have callsigns. Fundación Garza Limón will broadcast on TV in Durango on XHFGL-TDT 7. This is the second Mexican station on channel 7 post-transition; the other is also a newly awarded social wolf, XHLAZ in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Patronato Pro-Difusión Social gets on air in Río Bravo, Tamaulipas, and if you've been reading me long enough, it's happening, folks: XHRBA-TDT channel 29 is real! [tagline:] Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa (Raymie, May 2, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. 7260, Mongolian Radio 3, Ulaanbaatar. Mongolian announcements and Asian pops at 1217, fair to weak signal. There seems to have been a network changeover since the reactivation a few weeks ago. Formerly Radio 2. Now with continuous music with only occasional announcements, pleasant programming actually! But I heard nothing on the two 60mb outlets. 21/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) . 4830, 4895 & 7260, Mongolian Radio 3 (presumed), on April 26, after 1114+; only carrier on 4830 & 4895, with audio on 7260 (QRM China); 7260 is noted daily, while 4895 is on some days, while 4830 has not been used often. Jim Young (Calif.) was also hearing these today. 7260 being the only active frequency for Mongolian Radio 3 (presumed), on April 27; both 4830 & 4895 silent; 1245+; one of their better days here; mostly easy-listening pop songs; briefly with announcers; slight China QRM. My audio at http://goo.gl/hZvAyA [see also CHINA 7260] 4830 and 7260, seemed the only active frequencies for Mongolian Radio 3 (presumed), on April 30, at 1205; 4830 with decent level carrier and 7260 the usual audio mixing with China; while 4895 was completely silent; both still noted at 1245, but 4830 was off the air by 1258, with 7260 still on (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. LOG: 9400 kHz [BULGARIA] KBC MFSK-32@1500Hz 15.30z [ "....9925 kHz ==> NA...." ] RSID: <<2018-04-28T15:30Z MFSK-32 @ 9400000+1500>> On May 6, 0000-0200 UTC, the new North America frequency for The Mighty KBC will be 9925 kHz ... Sending Pic:150x35C; That’s next Saturday night 8 to 10 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Please report decode to themightykbc@gmail.com (roger, Germany. WOR iog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. The highlight of the weekend, for me at least, was the address by Denis (Doc) O’Callahan, one of the original Radio Hauraki pirates. He was apparently supposed to speak about antennae, however that hardly featured. He even apologized for not doing so, and nobody cared, such was the level of interest and fascination in what he was talking about. A transcript of this talk can be found on the DX League’s website: http://www.radiodx.com/denis-ocallahans-address-tonzrdxl-convention-2018/ It may take a while to appear there as photos are being added shortly (May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 7255-, April 27 at 0609 check, VON is AWOL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) but back subsequent nights (gh) ** NIGERIA [non]. Radio Dandal Kura Int & Radio (Ndarason) International, April 25 0600-0700 11910 ISS 100 kW / 167 deg CeAf Kanuri Radio Dandal Kura Int 0700&0710 13810 WOF 250 kW / 165 deg WeAf French Radio International?? BUT Apr23 13810 WOF 250 kW / 165 deg WeAf Kanuri Radio Dandal Kura Int http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/radio-dandal-kura-int.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 24-25, WOR iog via DXLD) 11910, Dandal Kura via Issoudun. Poor in Kanuri to CAf at 0645 on 10/4. Hard to copy due to Splash from CNR 6, Beijing on 11905 (John Adams, Port Douglas Far North Queensland (Sangean ATS-909X 7 Metre Reel Antenna), May Australian DX News via DXLD) Weak at first but getting stronger. A talk in the Kanuri language before Afro songs and then a phone-in before s/off at 0700 on 11/4. I think this a new station (Dennis Allen, Milperra NSW (Icom IC-R75, Realistic DX-160, Longwires), ibid.) Radio(Ndarason)International & Radio Dandal Kura Int, April 27 from 1800 12050 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg WeAf French Radio International?? from 1803 11830 ISS 100 kW / 167 deg CeAf Kanuri Radio Dandal Kura Int http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/radiondarasoninternational-radio-dandal.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 27-28, WOR iog via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. SECRETLAND, Radio Nigeria Hausa Sce/Radio of Truth via SPL Secretbrod, April 24 1800-1900 15110 SCB 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf Hausa Radio Na Gaskiya, weak to fair: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/radio-nigeria-hausa-sceradio-of-truth.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 24-25, WOR iog via DXLD) SECRETLAND, Radio Nigeria Hausa Sce/Radio Na Gaskiya via SPL Secretbrod, April 29 1800-1900 on 15110 SCB 050 kW / 195 deg to WeAf Hausa Radio of Truth, weak/fair signal: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/radio-nigeria-hausa-sceradio-na-gaskiya.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. == Shortwave Pirates == WREC Radio Free East Coast. Saturday, April 21, 2018, 1826, 6925 usb. WREC "Radio Free East Coast" with special guests Charlie Loudenboomer and Sanjay. Music by J. Geils Band, "Freeze Frame," at 1828. Sanjay again at 1833 introducing a song by Bob Marley. Multiple IDs with email address wrecradio at gmail at 1840. Announced live show with guest announcer Loudenboomer at 1841. Good signal, s7 peaks. (Will-MD) Seven Trees Radio. Friday, April 27, 2018, 6905 am. Manic Depression by Jimi Hendrix. Open carrier at 0103. The Who, Tommy, at 0104. Continuous classic rock playlist through 0144 with music by Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and many others. ID at the end of the broadcast. s9, good. (Will-MD) == QSL == WREC QSL received from PJ Sparx for a report of their April 21 1808- 2020 broadcast on 6925 USB with Pirate Radio Boston and Partial India Radio (Larry Will, Mount Airy, MD, IC-R75, PL-880, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6935-USB, April 27 at 0041, pirate music at S5-S6, 0042 long pause, and more, past 0100 with no TOH ID when pirates should also be *required* to ID. Also unID for these: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,42080.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6905-AM, April 27 at 0042, weird sounds, 0051, country/rock song, 0055 Irish? song; past 0100 with no ID; 0104 ``Pinball Wizard`` cut short for some other song. Still going at 0133 with rock music at S9 to S9+10. Meter moves a bit with modulation, so carrier is slightly reduced. Is right between two LSB SS peskies on 6900 & 6910. Finally at 0143, ID twice as ``Welcome to Seven Trees Radio, 6-9-0-5`` with a hotmail address, and off at 0144:15*. Many more logs here: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,42082.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Seven Trees Radio --- Pirate noted on 6905 kHz in AM mode with AC/DC hits at about 0140 UT last night (26 April UT) here in NB with a fairly strong signal mostly above the RFI. Multiple IDs heard (-- Richard Langley, WOR iog via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6930-USB, April 28 at 0235, S9 to +10 peaks, electronic music, then talkover repeatedly about ``young people``, voice rather like DGS, off at 0240*. Several logs here, all unID too: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,42106.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6945-USB, April 29 at 0123, VG S9+10 pirate song, 0125 Wolverine Radio ID; off at next check 0201. Many more logs: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,42138.0.html and it seems that after WR went off at 0138, Underdog Radio came up on same frequency for about 5 minutes including SSTV: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,42144.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 530, April 26 at 1945 UT check, K530AM Vance AFB still on with dead air; what a waste of 10? Watts (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 91.7, April 26 circa 0555 UT, I find KOSU OKC stuck in a loop of what sounds like a heavily processed voice in a couple of syllables, sometimes one, with slight variations from one to the next. This goes on and on with no breaks until 0613 when finally fires a standard canned KOSU/KOSN/KOSR cool ID by Jenifer Reynolds, who hasn`t been on staff for many years, and back to The Spy music: http://www.w4uvh.net/KOSU-Spy-ID.mp3 This is not the first time I have heard something like this emitted by KOSU out of whack. No telling how long it was ongoing before I intuned this time. Another SNAFU by KOSU, and this time I notify the GM, Kelly Burley: ``Kelly, KOSU continues to suffer from some really big programming mixups, apparently with no human paying attention or in control. In case you are still unaware what happened: Tuesday [May 1] I was listening to Fresh Air, but it stopped abruptly at 12:54 [pm CDT = 1754 UT], into local promos, 12:55 Jenifer timecheck as 1:00, opening Takeaway, 12:56 dead air instead of news. I didn`t keep listening but on previous occasions the DA stayed until the real clock caught up with the KOSU clock. There was also some kind of strange looping, over and over during Spy time. Here is how I reported it, and you can hear it yourself: [as in my previous report] How can this keep happening? Regards, Glenn Hauser, Enid`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. K288FX, 105.5, Enid, licensed to the gospel-huxter behemoth EMF, per May VHF-UHF Digest, has moved from its original site on the residence of a broadcast equipment tech in eastern Enid across from NWOSU, west of 30th and Randolph. Zooming in on map at 36-23-57/97- 52-48, it`s now in downtown Enid at the NW corner of Maple & Independence - the skyscraper previously known as Continental Tower North, changing ownership and names every few years and now labeled INDEPENDENCE TOWER. It does have an antenna farm atop. This allows 105.5 to block KROU 105.7, public radio from OU via Spencer, even more effectively within Enid (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. FCC channel change repack actions granted, with new RF channels: Ardmore 20 K24IW From 24 Ardmore 28 K19II From 19, 15kw, 34-01-58/96-48-01 Enid * 9 KBZC-LD From 42, 3kw Idabel 22 K23HY From 23 Tulsa 23 KTUO-LD Request to move to 36-07-53/96-04-14 dismissed Tulsa 30 K46LF From 46, 15kw Weatherford 28 K19KL From 19 (FCC News, May WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) * KBZC-LD altho licensed to Enid is *really* in Oklahoma City, and rarely viewable in Enid on 42 with tropo help. Map shows it`s in the NE OKC antenna farm. FCC doesn`t show the details for channel 9, but expect it to stay in OKC, as ultimate successor to KWTV (maybe even on its tower), which is now on RF 39, and eventually repacking to 25 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. 7730 at 0700! What’s up with WRMI’s 7730 frequency? Non-stop MFSK 32 images of US postage stamps since returning to our cabin after the evening’s entertainment. The answer came at 0727 with digi ID for broad spectrum radio, Radiogram #7, but my first. Excellent decode as we sail in rough weather towards Kauai. Some lovely images of Cuban stamps, from his own collection (one stamp dated 1878) 73, (Walt Salmaniw, maritime mobile, 0735 UT April 30, WOR iog via DXLD) Viz.: This week on BSR Magazine Show from BroadSpectrumRadio.com This week for the BSR International Magazine Show --- An all digital format show 1st half hour -BSR Radiogram #6, (scheduled for last week but not aired due to a technical issue) with a few small fixes - featuring pictures of postage stamps on the topic of Oklahoma 2nd half hour - BSR Radiogram #7 - pictures of Cuban postage stamps from the Spanish colonial era to the current revolutionary republic, all taken from my own stamp collection. --- In honor of Radio Havana Cuba's 57th birthday. Format is MFSK32. The mp3 file will be uploaded in a few minutes to broadspectrumradio.com. 73, (James Branum, KG5JST, blog.jmb.mx - 0654 UT April 30, WOR iog via DXLD) Whew, how`s that for short notice? (gh, Enid) Got it! Great reception in Hawaii tonight on 7730. 73, (Walt, WOR iog via DXLD) This is super-thrilling to hear that you are decoding this on board a cruise ship! Thanks for sending this report (James, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. See BOUGAINVILLE [and non] 3260 ** PERU. 1610a, 0753, Radio El Sol, Arequipa, carrier first observed 2/3 and positively identified on 12/3 with SS ident & huaynos on 1610.037, causing het with CHHA. Opened at 0656 on 16/3 on 1610.042, drifting down to 1610.038 by 0920. S/on time varies, e.g. 0647 on 15/3 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, North Island, New Zealand, WinRadio G33DDC and AOR7030+ receivers, EWEs to North, Central & South America, April NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** PERU. 5980, May 1 at 2356, JBA carrier from R. Chaski; cuts off sometime between 2359 and 2400. No more slippage to time, no more fun, but just to note it`s still there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9380, FEBC Radio, Bocaue, 1135-1138. Religious music followed by Chinese talk over music by a man. Talk by a woman at 1138. Weak signal with moderate fading in heavy noise. Also heard with threshold level signal on 7410 at 1127 with talk in Cambodian. 4/22/2018 (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, IC-R8600, IC-R75, Perseus, Various Portables, Random Wire, Wellbrook Loops, NASWA Flashsheet April 29 via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) Upcoming change of FEBC Radio (registered in HFCC) 1000-1600 NF 9275 BOC 100 kW / 345 deg EaAs Chinese, ex 9380 to avoid: till 1200 on 9380 ALG 250 kW / 188 deg SoAs Hindi AIR Vividh Bharati & from 1320 on 9380 ALG 250 kW / 188 deg SoAs Hi/En AIR National Channel http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/upcoming-frequency-change-of-febc-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 24-25, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) Originally on 9435 before doomed move to 9380. 9275 may be a problem for WMLK, q.v. if it ever come back (gh, ibid.) Much odd frequencies of FEBC Radio, April 27 1300-1330 on 11825.6 BOC 100 kW / 305 deg to CeAs Tibetan 1330-1400 on 9465.6 BOC 100 kW / 305 deg to CeAs Yunnan 1400-1430 on 11750.6 BOC 100 kW / 305 deg to SEAs Lahu http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/much-odd-frequencies-of-febc-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 26-27, WOR iog via DXLD) ** PUERTO RICO. REMEMBERING AM RADIO'S VALUE IN PUERTO RICO Emily M. Reigart Apr 25, 2018 As power outages and other major challenges continue to confront Puerto Rico more than seven months after Hurricane Maria made landfall, it’s hard to imagine any positive consequences that may have come from the storm. But Ryan Bell of the Columbia Journalism Review highlighted one bright spot in a recent article: The natural disaster may have inadvertently reinvigorated AM radio. He points to Mayagüez-based station WKJB(AM) [710], which remained on air during and after the hurricane — in part because the station had learned the hard way when Hurricane Georges blew through the island in 1998. The staff had installed a backup power generator and a reinforced antenna. [Even if your station isn't in the path of hurricane season, Marty Hadfield can teach you about emergency preparedness — his station survived Hurricane Katrina.] The information the station and its mostly volunteer staff put on the air was crucial during the month-plus period that television station were off the air and digital publications were off line. Read the full CJR story online here. https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-radio.php It’s a good reminder about the importance of emergency preparedness as we head into another hurricane season (Radio Magazine Online via May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** ROMANIA [and non]. 7335, April 27 at 0035, Romanian QRM adds to the jamming and Radio Martí, but comes in third. Sounds the same as on clear but weaker // 9790, i.e. 0000-0200 RRI to North America. Simultaneous RRI English one-hour with classical music is on clear 7375 and weaker // 9730. A monumental failure of coördination to be blamed on IBB/OCB, which unexpectedly picked 7335. Current HFCC shows it 0000-0700 effective 25 March along with everything else, but 7335 was not in earlier HFCC versions. RRI should QSY for its own good. BTW, they`re lucky 7375 is not getting jammed by Cuba as an ex-Martí frequency, like 7355 still is (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio Vostok Rossii, Khabarovsk, 765 is off air, having lost their electricity supply due to financial difficulties (Hiroyuki Okamura, Chris Kadlec and 2 others posting to DXing.info FB Page via May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. About Radio Radonezh ------------------------ Over the past 4 years, radio Radonezh has not been broadcast in Vladivostok or its suburbs. And it is unlikely to be restored, since most SW, MW, LW transmitters are either dismantled or in a state of conservation for their further fateful decision ... The last time the renewal of SW, MW broadcast was during the disaster after Typhoon in the Primorsky Territory ... Sincerely, S. Karachevsky (Rus-DX 29 April via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6000, 1900, GTRK Adygeyan Radio opens Sundays only with tuning signal, announcement & music, refs to Adygeyan, folk music & announcements. Fair, but initially suffered jamming from 5995 & 6004. Good by 1945. One of only 2 ways to hear Russia on SW now! (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, North Island, New Zealand, ** Using the League’s Northland SDR, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) Reception of GTRK Adygeya/Adygeyan Radio on April 29/30: 1900-2000 6000 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Adygeyan Sun, fair/good 1800-1900 6000 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Ad/Ar/Tu Mon, very good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/reception-of-gtrk-adygeyaadygeyan-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 7345, NVK R. Sakha, Yakutsk. Lovely clear signal at fair strength, at 1055 with Russian pop song. Time pips and a clear ID at 1100, into talk (possibly news?) --- until the CNR 1 s/on at 1101 which covered up Sakha. // 7295 which was also in a clear channel but at weaker strength and heavy splash QRM from RTI and CNR 1 jammer on 7300. 21/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ- 1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) [non-log]. 7295 & 7345, Radio Sakha, via Yakutsk, on April 30. Has not been heard for about three days now (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) see also USSR: JAMMING ** RWANDA [non]. Reception of Radio Itahuka via MBR Talata Volonondry on April 28 1800-1900 15420 MDC 250 kW/320 deg Kirundi [sic] Sat weak plus jamming http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-radio-itahuka-via-mbr_29.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 28-29, WOR iog via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 13790.040, April 29 at 0535, very poor music and talk in Chinese. That would be RFA scheduled at 0300-0700, rather than the jammer which would not be so off-frequency, while the Kamosa stations have a track record of imprecision (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. IRAN/SAUDI ARABIA log 1500-1524 UT, on April 26 taken on remote SDR unit in Doha Qatar. 9810.006 IRN IRIB Hindi S=9+30dB 1500 UT 11825.010 IRN IRIB Bengali S=9+10dB 1504 UT 12060.004 IRN IRIB Hindi S=9+5dB 1506 UT 9650.003 IRN IRIB Arabic, S=9+45dB 1508 UT powerhouse plus SIRENE jamming 9650.031 kHz underneath. 9790.008 IRN IRIB Arabic, S=9+40dB 1512 UT powerhouse plus SIRENE jamming 9790.038 kHz underneath, plus two siren strings either sideband underneath and peak pulses apart away of 1.992 Hertz either sideband, on 9786.059, 9788.046, 9792.030, 9794.017 kHz. 6090even IRN IRIB Uzbek, S=9+30dB 1520 UT 9465.013 IRN IRIB Urdu, S=9+30dB 1522 UT 7300even IRN IRIB Urdu, S=9+45dB 1524 UT 9540.004 IRN IRIB English S=9+35dB 1535 UT 73 wb [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 26, dxldyg via DXLD) Unscheduled frequency 7410 kHz for Radio Riyadh Holy Quran, April 26 from 0530 7410 JED or RIY / unknown to N/ME Arabic, plus other carrier // 15380 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to N/ME Arabic, with 6 sec. delay! // 17895 RIY 500 kW / 040 deg to CeAs Arabic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16mcJ1K26-c&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5UkaOHNi7E&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN9DN_jfnPE&feature=youtu.be Radio Saudi International on unregistered frequencies in HFCC Database 0900-1155 on 15120 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs Bengali, good signal 1200-1455 on 13785*RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs Urdu, instead of 13775 * co-ch same 13785 SIR 500 kW / 216 deg to N/ME Arabic VIRI IRIB+siren http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/unscheduled-frequency-7410-khz-for.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 25-26, WOR iog via DXLD) i.e. Saudi is blocking or jamming IRAN, q.v. (gh, DXLD) Radio Riyadh Holy Quran again on 7410/13780 April 27 from 0530 on 7410 JED or RIY / unknown N/ME Arabic plus other carrier // frequency 9715 RIY 100 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic // frequency 15170 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg N/ME Arabic // frequency 17895 RIY 500 kW / 040 deg CeAs Arabic from 1130 on 13780 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg N/ME Arabic, instead of 11935 Radio Saudi International in Urdu vs VIRI IRIB in Arabic on April 27: 1200-1300 on 13775 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs Urdu as scheduled A18 from 1300 on 13785*RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs Urdu instead of 13775 * co-ch same 13785 SIR 500 kW / 216 deg to N/ME Arabic VIRI PARS TODAY http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/radio-riyadh-holy-quran-again-on.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 26-27, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. IRAN/SAUDI ARABIA, monitored 0527-0559 UT, on April 29 taken on remote SDR unit in Doha Qatar. No siren jammer heard on 7410v kHz channel, but two Arabic Holy Quran prayer. One of them was IRIB program, which closed-down TX signal at 0527 UT on 7410.010 kHz. The other was co-channel BSKSA HQ service heard on two peaks 7410even a n d 7410.027 kHz also. this \\ 9715.039 S=9+30dB, 15170.016 S=7, 17895 S=7-8 regular BSKSA Riyadh. BSKSA Swahili service to NE Africa was also on air on 15285.016 kHz, S=6 fair backlobe signal heard in Doha Qatar remote SDR unit. At 0558 UT check noted also IRIB/Saudi Siren jamming again: Main peak on 13610.008 kHz, but also peaks on 13610.128 kHz, and on lower side 13609.648, 13609.768, 13609.888, 13609.967 kHz. Moving wave of Siren audio seen down/up-wards on 13608 and 13611.150 kHz wideband. Also Saudi Siren audio jamming visible on S=9 level on 13780.010 and 13780.044 fq pair [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello DXers, I noticed today some strange actions taking place on the frequencies of the Arabic section of VOIRI. I monitored that incident from 0500 UT and noticed the following: 7410 is having strange noise plus Radio Saudi was on the same frequency 13610 strong with jamming in the background on and off 13780 heavily jammed no trace VOIRI Wonder what's going on. Best 73 (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Sent from my iPad, May 1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 11745, Al Azm Radio, Jeddah in Arabic 04-25-2018 0938-0953 local chant, man brief announcement (unclear), same chant in brief, man talking (unclear), Arabic chants with instrumental music, heard better in LSB to avoid lite splats, fast QSB and strong QRN, almost fair / poor (Gianni Serra - Roma-Italy, JRC NRD 525 receiver; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S antenna; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Sony MDR-101 stereo headphones, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. Very good signal of FEBA Radio via BaBcoCk Yerevan, April 26 1600-1630 on 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg to EaAf Guragena Mon-Wed 1600-1630 on 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg to EaAf Amharic Thu-Sun 1630-1700 on 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg to EaAf Amharic Daily http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/very-good-signal-of-feba-radio-via.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 26-27, WOR iog via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA [non]. 9455, April 29 at 1405, R. Eslovaquia Internacional still here in Spanish, yet not shown explicitly on revamped WRMI schedules: just System B ``repeats of regular programming`` at 14-15 on 9455, or rather 10-11 am EDT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 25 YEARS OF RADIO SLOVAKIA INTERNATIONAL On Thursday [?? Which Thursday --- gh], RSI celebrated 25 years of its existence at a special event. Besides welcoming the newly appointed Culture Minister Lubica Laššáková, the Education Minister Martina Lubyová, the US Ambassador Adam Sterling, the Russian Ambassador Alexej Fedotov, other diplomats and representatives of RTVS, the editorial team was also addressed by the Slovak President Andrej Kiska. At the beginning of his video speech, Andrej Kiska congratulated the team on their 25 years of broadcasting abroad. He underscored the role of public service radio at a time when there is an array of questionable and doubtful sources of information. "A public service radio which is - quite rightly - subject to public control; which verifies the sources of its information. A public radio whose editorial team can be sure of their information." Said the President, adding that the issue of freedom of speech and its limits is a big subject of debate globally. "But it is also a key factor because … it is not only those of our citizens who may find themselves for a certain time outside Slovakia's borders, who live or work abroad, who deserve verified and truthful information. Our fellow Slovaks living abroad also deserve it. And in fact everyone who takes an interest in what is happening in Slovakia or Central Europe and wants to find out more deserves it", concluded Andrej Kiska. On the occasion of the 25 years since the launch of the independent foreign broadcast by the public Slovak Radio, Radio Slovakia International was also addressed by the Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcák: "37 years ago, Music TV aired the hit "Video kills the radio stars". I am very happy today that this black vision has not come true and radio was, is and will be." The Foreign Minister continued with a remark on the important anniversaries to be remembered in 2018. To the centenary of the former Czechoslovakia, 50 years since the Prague spring and 25 years of an independent Slovak Republic, Miroslav Lajcák added 25 years of the Slovak Radio foreign service. According to the RTVS General Director, Jaroslav Rezník, broadcasting abroad should be part of the fully-fledged portfolio of every public media. Back in 1993, Radio Slovakia International informed about the establishment of the new country, later on about its transformation and success story. Today, RSI represents the primary source of relevant information about Slovakia on the internet, too. In his speech given on the occasion of its 25th birthday, Jaroslav Rezník called RSI the media foreign affairs ministry. "I am very happy that today I can meet people who were at the beginning as well as those who today are preparing broadcasts not only for RSI but also for the Slovak Radio as a proud and patriotic company", said the current RTVS General Director (Station website via May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. I am advised that the SIBC’s AM transmitter on 1035 kHz is sporadically back on the air, specifically to cover Parliamentary broadcasts. I do not yet have a schedule, but some DXers may have already heard the station again. As you will recall, 1035 kHz was taken from the air by SIBC management a month or two ago as the electricity bill to operate it became unaffordable (Martin Hadlow via DX Dialog via April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Frequency changes of Channel Africa effective from May 7: 0400-0455 NF 6145*MEY 250 kW / 019 deg EaAf English Mon-Fri, ex 6060 *to avoid on 6060 BAU 100 kW / 010 deg ENAm Spanish Radio Habana Cuba 1700-1755 NF 11885#MEY 250 kW / 328 deg WeAf English Mon-Fri, ex 11745 #to avoid on 11745 JED or RIY / unknown N/ME Arabic BSKSA Al-Azm Radio http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/frequency-changes-of-channel-africa-in.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. LISTENING TO PIRATE RADIO STATIONS FROM SOUTH AMERICA --- by Chris Smolinski Looking for a new DX challenge? In addition to shortwave pirate stations in the USA, and Europe (Europirates as we call them), there’s a relatively new group of pirate radio stations being heard in North America, those from South America. It’s really only been the previous year that we’ve confirmed that there’s a significant number of pirate radio stations in South America that can be received here. Radio Piraña has been known for some time, and I believe there were a few reports of it, and at least one other station that I cannot remember the name of, but that’s about it. For years there have been logs of very weak UNID stations heard on the 43 meter band (6800-7000 kHz), presumed to be pirates of some sort, and it is possible some of these were South American pirates. Most of these stations use homemade transmitters, often of the “Lulu” design, with a IRF510 or similar MOSFET RF final stage. That means they are generally in the 15 or 20 watt carrier range, although some are higher power. That also means that unless otherwise noted, all of these stations use AM mode, and in general the frequency is highly variable, easily varying 100 Hz or more from night to night, or even during transmissions. It’s well worth checking the Latin American Pirate logging forum on the HF Underground website https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php to see what is presently being heard. The HF Underground is the best way to keep up to date with the hobbyist radio scene in general, with dedicated forums for North American Pirates, Europirates, and of course radio in general. And for those of you into collecting QSLs – many of these stations are reliable QSLers! In general, the easiest station to hear is Lupo Radio from Argentina. It is on the air most evenings on 6973 kHz in AM mode. At least at my location, it puts in the strongest and most reliable signal. Usually in the SIO 222 to 333 range, sometimes stronger. There are frequent IDs. I use Lupo Radio as a “beacon” to gauge how good conditions are to South America on 43 meters. Another station that is often on the air is RCW – Radio Compañía Worldwide from Chile. They use 6925.13 kHz, and their carrier is more stable and usually on this offset frequency, which makes it easier to determine that it’s likely you’re hearing them vs a US pirate station. New to the scene is Radio Marcopolo on 6991 kHz. Also new to the scene is an as yet UNID pirate from South America on 6934.9 kHz. I have received them for several weeks now in the local evenings, usually starting around the 2300-0300 UT window. They put in a respectable signal (relatively speaking), strong enough for Shazam to ID songs. They have frequent breaks in their transmission, with the carrier often going off and on many times during a broadcast. They also occasionally transmit audio test tones, and sometimes seem to relay audio from licensed stations in Argentina such as Radio El Mundo. This could be someone testing a new transmitter? A new mystery to solve! Radio Dontri is somewhat unique in that they use USB mode, on 6955 kHz. Outside the 43 meter band, there is Rádio Casa 8000 kHz. I have only received weak carriers from this station, although partly that may be because I do not frequently check for it, and it does not turn up on my overnight SDR recordings. Radio Triunfal Evangélica is other station outside of the 43 meter band, they use the nominal frequency of 5825 kHz, often closer to 5824.9 kHz. Again I have only received a carrier from them. As the name implies, they are a religious station, affiliated with a church. Now that we’ve talked about the pirate stations from South America, we should probably mention things you are likely to hear that are not pirates. Specifically, what we call Peskies (or Pesky as the singular), short for pescadores, the Spanish word for fishermen. Peskies generally use LSB mode, and can be heard on many frequencies in the 43 meter band, engaging in QSOs. Years ago, pirate listeners started to call these stations pescadores, since some of them were indeed fishermen, and could be heard discussing related matters. There’s a logging forum on the HFU dedicated to Peskies, if you’re interesting in learning more about them. Occasionally they use AM mode. We’ve logged several on 6965 kHz (+/- of course), that at first were thought to be pirates. But they never transmitted music, and after some discussions with DXers in South America, it was determined that they were more properly considered peskies (via April NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. SOUTH CAROLINA PREACHER ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT RESUMES RADIO PROGRAM By Michael Majchrowicz mmajchrowicz@postandcourier.com Apr 26, 2018 Updated 20 hrs ago [see original for illustrations, embedded linx] https://www.postandcourier.com/news/south-carolina-preacher-accused-of-sexual-assault-resumes-radio-program/article_60134fde-497b-11e8-8a8f-eb34b8a72fa9.html Ralph Gordon Stair appeared in court Wednesday, Jan. 24. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff The 84-year-old Walterboro-area preacher and radio personality accused of sexually assaulting multiple women at the secluded Christian compound he runs is back on the airwaves. On Thursday afternoon, Ralph Gordon Stair could be heard on the radio inviting visitors to feast with him and his followers, who he calls "the saints," to take part in a Pentecost celebration May 20 at Overcomer Ministry. "This is the last generation," Stair said during the broadcast. "The last time." Brother Ralph Gordon Stair is pictured during an international radio broadcast at Overcomer Ministry near Walterboro in 2007. Stair was arrested in December on multiple charges of criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and burglary. File/Staff Stair was arrested in December after state and federal authorities raided the sprawling 130-plus-acre property, tucked off S.C. Highway 61, known as Overcomer. The preacher faces charges including criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual conduct with a minor, kidnapping, burglary and assault. Stair returned to the compound in January after a judge set bail with various conditions. Four women interviewed by The Post and Courier last year described incidents ranging from groping to rape they said occurred in various locations on the property, including Stair's radio room. "He has a lot of control there," one of Stair's accusers said at a Jan. 24 bond hearing, his first court appearance since waiving his initial bond hearing after his December arrest. "If something were to happen there, no one would say anything." In the past three decades, Stair has drawn an international following with his shortwave radio program preaching that the end of days is near, which is broadcast via satellite, AM and FM frequencies. Immediately after Stair was arrested, stations across the country dropped his program from their lineups. Many of the six dozen or so followers who live and worship at Overcomer Ministry credit the radio sermons as the source that drew them there in the first place, according to multiple defectors. The Post and Courier previously reported that the broadcasts serve as the ministry's largest recruitment arm and its most significant expenditure. SLED investigates the compound at Overcomer Ministry where Preacher Ralph Gordon Stair, 84, was arrested in December on various charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff By Grace Beahm Alford gbeahm@postandcourier.com It was not immediately clear when Stair began broadcasting again. Nobody at Overcomer could be reached for comment Thursday, and one of Stair's defense attorneys, Jack Swerling, said he was unsure when production resumed (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) 9329.685v-CUSB, April 26 at 1428, TOMBS via WBCQ. Light het from presumed ARMENIA on 9330.0. Currently is residing considerably on the low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BULGARIA: 11600, Overcomer Ministry; 1619, 4/28; Bro. HyStairical the last days prophet of the Overfondlers with long pauses between rants; “Why aren’t you making plans for coming down for Penta-cost?”, “”Why do you mock me?”, “Don’t sit there and lie to me.” SIO=2+53- 5129.85, WBCQ, Monticello ME (presumed); 0119-0125+, 4/28; Bro. HyStairical ran a news bit about junkies shooting up in San Francisco BART stations; into B.S. ruminating about his end. S20 9330/USB, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2124-2136+, 4/28; Bro. HyStairical, the last days prophet of the Overfondlers running John Birch Society speech excerpts, then ran an unusually long hymn, not by the B.S. chorus. After the hymn, ran a news bit about Sam’s Club closings (I’m sure there was some deep ecclesiastical significance of this.) S20 peaks (Harold Frodge, Port Hope MI2 DXpedition, Drake R8B + 250’ RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sat at 2130: when WOR used to air (gh) ** SPAIN. 15520, Sunday April 29 at 1401, no signal from REE, but 17855 is good S9, and weaker // 17715 also audible as excited coverage of a partido estúpido de pelotas is getting underway (Glenn Hauser, OK< DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Reception of Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Apr 26 1630-1730 on 11750 TRM 125 kW / 345 deg to N/ME Sinhala City FM, good 1700-1800 on 11835 TRM 125 kW / 345 deg to SoAs Tamil, fair to good: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-sri-lanka-broadcasting_27.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 26-27, WOR iog via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, April 27 a few seconds before *0115, SLBC carrier cuts on weakly but enough to make out the 2+1 mis-timesignal ending at 0115:05 precisely. At least their offness seems now consistent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. WHY SWAZILAND IS NOW THE KINGDOM OF eSWATINI By Jason Daley April 26, 2018 You might need to go shopping for a new globe. That’s because Mswati III of Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarch, has declared that his nation’s official name is now the Kingdom of eSwatini. Though it sounds like an attempt to bring the small, landlocked nation into the digital age, it’s actually the country’s name in Swazi, the local tongue. AFP reports the change was made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the country’s complete independence from British rule in 1968. The move also coincides with the king’s own 50th birthday, which was on April 19, Sewell Chan at the New York Times reports. “I would like to announce that Swaziland will now revert to its original name,” the king said during the Independence Day celebration, according to Reuters. “African countries on getting independence reverted to their ancient names before they were colonized. So from now on, the country will be officially known as the Kingdom of eSwatini.” The change, according to the king, is also an attempt to distinguish the country’s name from other nations. “Whenever we go abroad, people refer to us as Switzerland,” he added. The switch is not out of the blue. Reuters points out the country had recently begun using its traditional name at the U.N. General Assembly and at the African Union. In recent years, during addresses to parliament, the king has used the name for the region used before British colonization in 1906. Chan reports that similar name reversions occurred when other African nations gained independence from colonial rule. Over the latter half of the 20th century, Nyasaland became Malawi; Rhodesia became Zimbabwe; North Rhodesia became Zambia and Bechuanaland became Botswana. Throughout the world, efforts of decolonization can be seen as the names of cities and features return to local languages or replace names introduced by colonial rule. For instance, the Indian city of “Bombay” reverted back to the local name “Mumbai” in 1995. A 2015 paper in the African Journal of History and Culture details a vast catalogue of names of geographic locations, many of which conveyed important information about the spot or some history of the place, that were changed during colonial rule. The paper acknowledges that some efforts have been made to decolonize place names, but suggests each nation should create a national policy and methodically work to replace colonial-era names under the guidance of a Geographical Names steering committee. Once that happens, then it will really be necessary to buy a new globe (The Smithsonian via May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND/eSWATINI. I would have thought it should be considered a new country - all others that have changed their name have been so considered - Chief Ed. Stu Forsyth, Malaysia, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) Really, so Congo DR / Zaïre / Congo DR counts as 3 countries, etc.? (gh, DXLD) see also ESWATINI ** SWEDEN. SAQ on air on May 1st - a reminder WORK IT OUT AND SAQ TRANSMISSION World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station participates in the ERIH event WORK it OUT – Industrial culture, on May 1 and as part of the event we plan for the first SAQ transmission since 2016. The transmitter start-up will begin at 11.30 (0930 UT) and the transmission will begin on 17.2 kHz CW at 12.00 (1000 UT). You can also watch a live video stream of the event on http://www.alexander.n.se No QSL-cards will be given this time and no List of Reports will be constructed but we accept shorter Listeners Report to e-mail info@alexander.n.se. We sincerely hope that all the SAQ transmission on 17.2 kHz will go as planned, but as always there is a reservation that the transmission is cancelled with short notice. http://alexander.n.se/saq-on-air-on-may-1st/?lang=en SAQ Transmission on Alexanderson Day Cancelled – The Alexander association (via Mike Terry, April 25, WOR iog via DXLD) And when would that have been?? (gh) A good signal this morning (1/5) from SAQ on 17.2 kHz. Leaving the receiver tuned to 17.2 kHz it is usually possible to hear a weak steady carrier come on as if some energy leaks from the generator to the antenna before the morse key is actually pressed. This weak carrier came on at 0946 and gave me time to peak a few tuned circuits on the home-brew receiver before the CW started at 0947. Good signal, SIO 444, with only slight QRM from Norway on 16.4 kHz and Russia RDL on 18.1 kHz. Usual IDs: "V V V V V V V V V DE SAQ SAQ SAQ", with a few interruptions, until the CW message was sent at 1000. All over with by 1006, with the generator then heard to wind down in speed. Also managed to catch a couple of the Russian time signal stations on 25 kHz, RJH77 Arkhangelsk at 0907 & RJH66 Kyrgyzstan at 1007 UT. Both good signals with frighteningly fast CW IDs. German station DH038 on 23.4 kHz was noted off-air this morning at 0930, but good signals came in from NAA Cutler, Maine, 24 kHz. 73's (Nick, Buxton, UK, Rank, Home- brew VLF rx, ferrite rod aerial, sat on a QRN-free Buxton hill-top, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) So what did the CW message say? (gh) ** TAIWAN. 9774, Fu Hsing BS, 1115 & 1243, on April 28. Best in LSB; faint audio; nothing on clear frequency of 9410. Same noted again on April 30. Hiroyuki Komatsubara, observed on his "Now On The Radio" website: http://radio.chobi.net/DX/bbs/?res:3100#3219 "-2320- [April 29] 9410kHz TAIWAN Fu Hsing BS, // http://hichannel.hinet.net/radio/index.do?id=287 maybe // with 9774kHz (but very weak signal..) [April 30] "I could confirm 2 frequencies (9410/9774 kHz) in the morning at the site, but seemed to be broadcasting only at 9774 kHz at night. >> http://radio.chobi.net/DX/bbs/?res:3216 -1140- 9774kHz TAIWAN Fu Hsing BS(tent.), weak modulation.. 9410kHz No signal" (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. Fair signal of Voice of Tajik on April 28: 1300-1400 on 7245 DB 100 kW / non-dir to CeAs English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/fair-signal-of-voice-of-tajik-in.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 27-28, WOR iog via DXLD) ** THAILAND [and non]. Not typically an easy catch in eastern North America, HSK9 Radio Thailand was noted with a fair signal here in NB yesterday, 25 April, at 2030 UT on 9390 kHz with sign-on for its English transmission to Europe. BBC WS is also typically hard to hear these days at decent signal levels in NA but 9410 kHz from Woofferton was at a good level for its one hour of use between 20 and 21 UT yesterday (-- Richard Langley, NB, WOR iog via DXLD) ** TIBET. Hello, Glenn. Whilst tuning around on the dial at 2345 UT (0045 hrs BST) on 26th April 2018 I came across a broadcast in what I suspected to be something similar to Chinese on 6130 kHz (49 mb). I queried a couple of online databases and the only thing I could find that I might be hearing on that frequency and at that time was CNR11 for 2300-0000 UT in Tibetan, via Lhasa-Baiding. I can't confirm the station as I couldn't understand the language but there was some music which also sounded Chinese. Transmitter distance (form my location) was 4810 miles (7741km). A good catch if correct I think. 73s, (Dave Harries, Bristol, England (using Tecsun PL880 with no external wire), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably, but Laos is also on then (gh, DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. 11517, Voice of Tibet, Dushanbe. Long talks in Mandarin at 1203. Sudden change to 11507 kHz at exactly 1207. A few seconds of music on the new frequency then a continuation of the talk. Fair signal on both frequencies and no jamming noted either here or on the Shenzhen SDR; so I don’t know why they bother with the change! 24/4. 11603, Voice of Tibet, Dushanbe. Tibetan service at 1250 with talk and occasionally interrupted by chanting and drums. Pop song at 1255. 24/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** TURKEY. 21680, 0355, Voice of Turkey tuning signal, time pips, announcements, poor 18/4. Listed as transmission to Malaysia at 0400- 0500 UT. Their first use of 13m I think (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, North Island, New Zealand, WinRadio G33DDC and AOR7030+ receivers, EWEs to Nth, Cent & Sth America, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. 15239.928, Saturday April 28 at 1406, JBA music, on signature off-frequency of WWRB, measured on my R-75, i.e. R. Munansi back after a week off for maintenance. Better signal at 1428 with hilife, via UTwente on 15239.93. At 1719 back on own receiver, very poor music at S3 about equal to noise level (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Search "Dr Kiyingi on Radio Munansi" and you will find a number of YouTube audiovideos up to more than 2 hours long, presumably material we have been hearing on 15239.928. Tnx to Conexion Digital for displaying a stillo from one of them (gh) USA, Reception of Radio Munansi via WWRB Global 2 on April 29: 1425-2055 on 15240 WRB 100 kW / 045 deg to ENAm Music/Luganda Sat/Sun http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/05/reception-of-radio-munansi-via-wwrb.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News, April 29-30, WOR iog via DXLD) ** U S S R. The history of DX and radio == WE JAMMED THEM, JAMMED THEM Dark night. Kids are sleeping. Behind the window of the Kiev apartment is the guaranteed stability of the 1970s. The information program Time has already told about the record harvesting of mixed fodder in the Non-Black Earth Region and numerous victims of the Israeli military in the Middle East. It's time for a dream. But Lyubov Gissova and her husband can not sleep. They twist the radio receiver's handle, trying to catch the right wave. Through the artificial crackling and gnashing in the air, the faint voice of Radio Free (RS) announces. The commentator from Munich reports the sad fate of Ukrainian dissidents in the USSR and the economic squalor of the Soviet system. "It was best to hear the German wave, the Roman radio. And the Voice of America was heard worse, - recalls her experience of night radio listening to Kiev. "Radio Liberty was very badly heard." Millions of Soviet citizens, including Ukrainians, like Gissova, for four decades in a row strained their ears, trying to catch voices from the West. For 40 years, Soviet power with the help of special equipment "jammed" the ethers of hostile stations. In parallel with these countermeasures, the domestic and foreign radio ether was rapidly developing in the USSR. "It was certainly propaganda broadcasting," recalls Sergei Bunin, the radio broadcaster in the past. - Radio Kiev broadcast that labor collectives reach high yields. Condemned American imperialism." By the end of the 1980s, the wave of Western radio stations had smashed the Soviet jamming systems, and with them the USSR itself. Deafness. When there was not yet developed television and there was no Internet, the information world was run by the radio. In the post-war USSR, the radio coverage of the whole country passed in a few years. Not every apartment has a telephone, not all gas, electricity or water supply, but the most primitive one-program receivers [wired, rediffusion] were installed in almost all apartments, factory shops, railway and bus stations, hospitals, nursing homes, city squares, beaches, in recreation parks. The decisions of the Central Committee of the CPSU were broadcast on the radio, the victories of socialism and the defeats of capitalism were told. Sometimes classical music sounded, radio plays were played out, and also radio assemblies of village workers, steelworkers, cultural workers took place. Broadcasting began at 6 am by the anthem of the USSR, it was completed at 24-00. In 1964, the first round-the- clock radio station Mayak appeared. Its task is to repulse the Soviet "audience" from the Western "voices". But the non-alternative radio could not satisfy the information hunger, which grew as the cardinal transformations of the second half of the 20th century grew. Immediately after the end of World War II, the Iron Curtain fell [sic] between the West and the USSR. The world entered a period of protracted "cold war", in which there was almost no direct military confrontation, but from this, the hidden "battles" between socialism and capitalism did not become less rigid. Radio waves became one of the "offensive weapons" of the American and Western European "militarism" in the fight against the USSR. On April 19, 1949, the Soviet government instructed the Ministry of Communications to suppress foreign radio stations. "This [jamming] was a vile phenomenon, illegal according to international standards," says Academician of the Academy of Communications and Engineering Sciences of Ukraine, Bunin. "The Soviet Union, of course, sneezed at all. In all regional centers, powerful transmitters [for suppressing the radio signal] were installed. " Initially, 350 stations operated on radio suppression in the USSR. Already in the 1950s - 600. Eight years later - 1660 (more than conventional broadcasting stations). Since 1953 the radio station of the homeland began to be strengthened with the help of "jamming" in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, the GDR. On the other side of the barricades, the American Committee of Free Europe began building its radio network in the Old World. The programs were recorded in the US and sent to Germany, to Munich, where the headquarters of Radio Free Europe was located. The first ether here began at 11 am on May 1, 1951, a transfer to Czechoslovakia. Five hours later, an "answer" followed - the official Prague included the "jamming". March 1, 1953, on the air of the RS for the first time sounded in Russian words directed to Soviet listeners: "The radio station Liberty is speaking. Listen to us on short waves in the range of 31 meters." And the same ether was filled with radio interference. A voice from the beautiful is far away. Western "voices" in the USSR were divided according to the degree of hostility. In the first category - the "most dangerous", which was most silently jammed, except Radio Liberty and Free Europe, came the Voice of Israel and the Albanian Radio of Tirana. "Freedom had an inclination to fight the Soviet Union," Bunin said. "By the way, most of all they joked." In the second, softer, but still hostile - the British BBC, the German wave, the Voice of America, the radio of Korea and the radio of Beijing. They were jammed with electronic noise, a speech-like signal, and since 1964 - by the music-information program of Radio Mayak, the first Soviet 24-hour radio station. "I confess that I was partly engaged in anti-Soviet activities," Vsevolod Lievenstein, the legendary Seva Novgorodtsev, the leader of the Russian service of the British Air Force, is ironic. - For example, when all the rotted [construction] of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), a large BAM, I once said: "Hello from our big Ben [London Big Ben, the tower of the Palace of Westminster] to your big BAM." But not sarcastic comments, and Soviet radio listeners eagerly caught the objective information. "Our people kept silent," Bunin said. "The fact that the Americans flew around the moon I learned from Western radio stations. America tried to convince us that private enterprise is good, one-party system is bad. That we have the Gulag, the persecution of people on political views. What was the opposition of the Soviet Union? The program in which I worked part-time?" The transfer, which the Correspondent's interlocutor mentioned, is the broadcasting of Soviet radio stations to the West. At a time when US stations in 45 languages of the world broadcast 1,818 hours a week, the Soviet stations in the same week - 2,022 hours in 82 languages. Plus, the Communist allies of the USSR issued an additional 5,000 hours of ideological programs. In particular, the radio of Havana, with the help of transmitters in the territory of the Soviet Union, broadcast to Africa and Europe. "There was counter-propaganda," Bunin said. "But they did not jam us, but we jammed them." But folk craftsmen constantly found gaps in this wall of noise. Lviv radio amateur Georgy Chliyants tells the Correspondent that in those days he and his colleagues installed special quartz filters and cunning antennas to remove noise on the air. Who lacked education and skills, left to listen to "voices" in the countryside: kilometers in 20 from large settlements, the power of frequency suppression was significantly weakened. "It's impossible to score with jammers," states Chliyants. - The voice of America sounded at five or six frequencies. Heard thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. " To help Soviet curiosity, all technical tricks were also carried out by Western journalists. "For the news, we tried to take women with sharper voices - they passed through jamming. And men with a beautiful baritone did not pass through the stub, "Novgorodtsev says. His own voice for the inhabitants of the USSR was almost the only source of relevant information about western rock music. In April 1963, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU abruptly changed the tactics of the struggle. He removes jamming from the Voice of America and the Air Force, intensifies pressure on Radio Liberty and introduces a ban on the sale of shortwave radios in Soviet retail. By that time, shortwave, and for at least five years, were not allowed into the domestic market. "All of our receivers were with a range of up to 25 meters [the minimum wavelength that the devices could receive]," recalls Bunin, head of telecommunications at the National Technical University of the KPI. - This range is good at dumbing. And there is another range of 13, 15, and 18 meters, where the wave from the jamming is superficial, fades quickly, and it was very good to hear the West." Soviet models with forbidden waves were produced only for export. Imported equipment is an unattainable luxury item. For example, the German "Grundig". For his shortwave nature ironically immortalized by Vladimir Vysotsky: "There is a dentist homeworker Rudik, he has a receiver "Grundig", he twists it at night, catches, counter, FRG," sang the Soviet bard. Feel like a wave. August 21, 1968 Gissov once again caught on his tube radio receiver Record the wave of Radio Liberty. She turned on and froze. "I remember very clearly the day when Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia," she recalls. - It impressed me. My husband was on a business trip. When he called, I told him [about the news]. He answered me: do not phone. " Talking on the phone, and not only on the phone, really had to be very careful. Any information from Western radio stations was viewed as anti-Soviet activity. "[This] was dangerous from the point of view of the Bureau of Deep Drilling [the paraphrased abbreviation of the KGB - the State Security Committee]", is encrypted according to the old habit of Chliyants. The ideological battle in the radio was exhausting both sides of the conflict. In early 1968, the American CIA even proposed to close Radio Liberty "for financial reasons." But then there were "Czechoslovak events" and the West changed its mind. Instead of curtailing the project, the appropriations increased. By the beginning of the 1970s, the annual budget of the RS and Free Europe was $ 50 million, by the 1980s it had already exceeded $200 million. The union was even harder. The annual broadcasting of the Moscow Radio cost the decrepit budget of the USSR $700 million. Another $200 million for the maintenance of thousands of radio stations, which, for the most part, produced nothing but ethereal noise, and served only for jamming hostile voices. Nevertheless, the new Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev resumed the suppression of the radio signal of American and British stations. And although in 1973, during the so- called detente, the regime of jamming temporarily softens, it lasts not long, six years, before the invasion of the USSR into Afghanistan. By the end of the 1970s Soviet people were emboldened. They began not only to listen to the forbidden radio, but also to send letters to their favorite presenter. Secret couriers often acted as foreign students from exotic countries who studied in the Soviet Union. For the years of work at the Air Force Novgorodtsev thus came 15 thousand messages. "The record of my activity, this letter, thrown in a bottle from the side of the steamer, passing the Channel," says Novgorodtsev. "The bottle was nailed to the shore, and it was delivered to me." In 1983, the White House allocated $ 1.3 billion for the technical re- equipment of the stations that conducted the airwaves to the East. In response, Moscow was preparing to build a long-range defense station in Syria and Vietnam. But in 1986, the chairman of the KGB Viktor Chebrikov acknowledged that "ensuring the quality of jamming throughout the USSR is a technically difficult task and requires considerable material costs." The project was temporarily frozen. As it turned out forever. In 1987, the BBC and Voice of America left interference. And on the night of 29 to 30 November 1988, they turned off all the jamming of the country. 40 years of Soviet loneliness are over. Three years later the USSR died. https://vk.com/radioreceiver (via RusDX April 29 via DXLD) ** U A E. 15215.1, Gaweylon Tibetan R., Dhabayya. This FEBC sponsored program noted at 1215 in Tibetan with a weak signal and lots of talk. ID and an address in India was given at 1226, then the distorted FEBC “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” interval signal, and finally off at 1229. An odd frequency, registered with HFCC as 15215, so surely Dhabayya can get a little closer to that! 24/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) See also U K [non] ** U K. 7445, April 27 at 0033, kid voices singing and unison chanting in SW Asian language, S9 peaking at S9+25. HFCC shows it`s BBC in Prs, which means Dari, a recent addition 5 April, 0030-0100 eastward from Woofferton, then switching to OMAN for semihourly alternations with Pashto to 0330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. From today (27 April) BBC is introducing an additional World Service transmission to South Asia at 1200-1300 UT on 12065 and 15310 kHz (both are from A'Seela). Also from today additional frequencies are available at 0000-0100 on 7290 kHz and 0100-0200 on 9410 kHz (both are from Tashkent) and also at 1300-1400 on 12065 (from Singapore). (Alok Dr Dasgupta on WRTH – World Radio Tv Handbook Facebook Group, 27 April via Alan Pennington, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) 12065, April 29 at 1335, interview in English, fair S7-S9. Altho WEWN is allegedly scheduled at 1200-1500 per NDXC/Aoki, it`s really BBC via SINGAPORE at 13-14 (also 12-13 via Oman) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7445, BBC. 19/4 at 0200 in (?)Pashto, but heard also with demodulated sound on 7485 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF2001D, Folded Marconi Ant - own made thanks to OM Rob Wagner & ADXN June 1999, May 2018 Australian DX News via DXLD) Listed site: OMAN. Does that mean a spur without carrier, or what? (gh, DXLD) U A E. 5955, BBC, Dhabayya. English WS to SEAs at 2230 with news. A very hummy audio quality, hard to tell if it’s the transmitter or an audio feed issue, but certainly not up to BBC standards! 20/4 9410.12, BBC, Dhabayya. Arabic to EAf at 0345, weak signal, odd frequency…seems typical of some Dhabayya outlets these days….often off-freq and generally to the high side. 25/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** U K. 15510, April 29 at 1809, S5-S9 halting talk in unknown tonal language; almost sounded like the modulation was cutting out. 1816 percussive HOA music added, and then another non-halting speaker. HFCC shows besides an imaginary ARM listing earlier, only 15510 is: ``15510 1730 1900 47E,48W WOF 300 140 0 618 1234567 250318 281018 D 15450 Ara G IBR BAB 16110 FN01`` i.e. IBRA Radio in Arabic via BabCock, Woofferton UK. But this is NOT Arabic. NDXC/Aoki is more accurate: 15510 1730-1800 G IBRA MEDIA/Radio Sama Bej Woofferton 1-7 15510 1800-1830 G IBRA MEDIA/Radio Sama Fur Woofferton 1-7 15510 1830-1900 G IBRA MEDIA/Radio Sama Ara Woofferton 1-7 So it`s Fur following Bej before Ara. EiBi lang. abbrs. are resp. TGR, FUR and A. But there`s no FUR on his readme language list! Next stop: WRTH 2018 page 491 for IBRA B-17 sked under Sweden: it`s Fur --- that is the full name of the language. Next stop, Google search to: ``Fur languages - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fur_languages The Fur or For languages constitute a small, closely related family which are a proposed member of the Nilo-Saharan family. Fur in western Sudan had around 750,000 speakers in 2004, and Amdang (also called Mimi) in eastern Chad had around 40,000 speakers in 2000`` While we`re at it, what about 1730-1800? NDXC/Aoki says Bej, but EiBi says TGR which means Tigre (not Tigrinya) as in Eritrea. WRTH says Beja, so is that another name for Tigre, or completely different? No Bej in EiBi list (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7296-USB, April 25 at 0219, contrarian net of hams on USB, NOT LSB as conventional on 40m, (and NOT AM, either where such modes also congregate close to bandedge; are there similar opposite spots on other bands, such as LSB on 20/15/10m?). KJ5GT, Al, with much stronger W5NQH, Dave; technical chats. ARRL says W5NQH is: Johnson, David J, Odessa, TX 79761. Apparently a regular net, but have not caught its name or schedule. Searching my archive not on the frequency but on KJ5GT finds all these 40m logs in USB. Note all the times are in the 02+ UT hour, but different days of week: ``7296-USB, Dec 2 [2017] at 0214, the contrarian net of hams on USB instead of LSB on 40m. Main one heard is K9WT discussing propagation, equipment work. Also with KJ5GT. ARRL/FCC lookup shows K9WT is VENDELY, JOHN A, Malabar, FL 32950-3603. 7275.0-USB, May 16 [2016] at 0224, informal ham net on USB, yes, upper instead of lower sideband on 40m. Gabbing about previous Dayton Hamvention rainy, 17m band being almost dead for a week, how aeronautical equipment funxions on USB only, which maybe has something to do with this anomaly. KJ5GT is one call I am fairly sure of; less sure about WD0Z, W8IMC, KM4V, as no one bothers with fonetix, and they all slur calls or are too weak. 7269.0, Sept 7 [2015] at 0212, a net of hams on USB, not LSB. If it has a name, I have yet to hear it, and the exact frequency changes around here from night to night. KJ5GT, who is CHAVEZ, ALFRED A, in Albuquerque on his S9+25 signal says he went on a 50-mile bike ride today east of the mountains where the temp was a comfortable 77 degrees; also yesterday went ``200`` miles south (presumably by auto) to Alamogordo for a hamfest, but not much of interest in overpriced gear. At 0218 over to W9RAN portable 0 who is in Columbus NE about to fold up as a storm approaches. At 0220 I find another USB ham but weak on 7290.0. 7261.0-USB, August 1 [2015] at 0232, I am bandscanning thru the 40/41 mb in USB mode to find something besides hams, but here`s a ham in USB mode! Ragchewer finally IDs as KJ5GT, I think, no fonetix, and his Js sounds like his Gs; much weaker contact is also in USB mode. I guess LSB on 40m is a convention, not a requirement, so why not? ARRL shows: CHAVEZ, ALFRED A, KJ5GT, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87110`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7296-USB, April 28 at 0234 quick check finds the USB hams are back, including KJ5GT (not KJ5GD as I wrote a trinight ago) (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6739-USB, April 26 at 0624, crypto alfanumeric fonetik message from USAF/military, S9+20; a tone intrudes at each pause; ``This is Criteria, out``. 1625 resumes with ID and key of first six characters, ON5CAQ (or was it DN5CAQ, as I sleepily scribbled?). 0625 proceeds to repeat the entire sequence which I don`t bother to copy, zzz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. ARMED FORCES DAY CROSSBAND TEST ON MAY 12, 2018 https://swling.com/blog/2018/04/armed-forces-day-crossband-test-on-may-12-2018/ Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Brian (W9IND), who shares the following announcement regarding the next Armed Forces Day Crossband Test: The Army Military Auxiliary Radio System will host this year’s Armed Forces Day Crossband Test, scheduled for May 12, 2018. This annual event is open to all radio operators, and will not impact any public or private communications. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is only an exercise scenario, designed to include hobbyist and government radio operators alike. The AFD Crossband Test is a unique opportunity to test two-way communications between military communicators and radio stations in the Amateur Radio Service (ARS), as authorized in 47 CFR 97.111. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly-controlled exercise scenario that does not impact any public or private communications. Military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and will announce the specific ARS frequencies monitored. All times are ZULU (Z), and all frequencies are Upper Side Band (USB) unless otherwise noted. The frequencies used for the test will not impact any public or private communications, and will not stray outside the confines of the exercise. The following stations will be making two way radiotelephone contacts with stations in the ARS between the time periods listed on the frequencies listed in kilohertz below. WAR, WUG-2 and NSS will also make CW contacts. AAZ / FT HUACHUCA AZ 1500Z – 2359Z 5330.5 14438.5 18211.0 AAC / BARROW ARMY RESERVE CENTER KY 1300Z – 0100Z 5346.5 7542.0 13963.5 20920.0 ABH / SCHOFIELD BARRACKS HI 1600Z – 2300Z 5357.0 14438.5 18272.0 20997.0 ABM1 / CAMP ZAMA JAPAN 1500Z – 0100Z 14487.0 20994.0 ADB / CAMP FOSTER OKINAWA 1500Z – 0100Z 14487.0 20994.0 WAR / PENTAGON WASHINGTON DC 1200Z – 2400Z 5357.0 13963.5 18211.0 24760.0 USB + CW WUG-2 / ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS TN 1300Z – 0200Z 5403.5 13910.5 18293.0 20973.5 USB + CW AIR / ANDREWS AFB 1200Z – 2400Z 4517.0 7305.0 15807.0 20740.0 AGA2SY / HANCOCK FIELD NY 1200Z – 2400Z 4575.0 7540.0 13993.0 AGA5SC / SCOTT AFB IL 1600Z – 2300Z 3308.0 4872.0 7545.0 AGA9TR / TRAVIS AFB CA 1600Z – 0100Z 5346.5 7329.0 13996.0 14411.0 AFM4AF / NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY MID-SOUTH MILLINTON TN 1200Z – 0300Z 7375.5 13498.0 NMC1 / COAST GUARD ISLAND ALAMEDA CA 1700Z – 2359Z 7542.0 15740.5 22924.5 NIIW / USS MIDWAY CV-41 SAN DIEGO CA 1400Z – 0400Z 4013.5 5371.5 7493.5 14383.5 18211.0 NWKJ / USS YORKTOWN CV-10 CHARLESTON SC 1200Z – 2200Z 4000.0 7360.0 14663.5 NEPM / USS IOWA BB 61 LOS ANGELES CA 1500Z – 2359Z 4043.5 6903.5 14463.5 18293.0 NWVC / LST-325 EVANSVILLE IN 1200Z – 0400Z 4007.0 6913.0 9988.5 13974.0 NSS / US NAVAL ACADEMY ANNAPOLIS MD 1300Z – 0200Z 4038.5 5330.5 7533.5 9447.0 14487.0 17545.0 USB + CW An AFD test message will be transmitted utilizing the Military Standard (MIL-STD) Serial PSK waveform (M110) followed by MIL-STD Wide Shift FSK (850 Hz RTTY) as described in MIL-STD 188-110A/B. Technical information regarding these waveforms is provided at: http://www.n2ckh.com/MARS_ALE_FORUM/MSDMT.html The AFD test message will also be sent at 0300Z in Continuous Wave (CW) mode (refer to the far right column in the table below). The message will be transmitted on the following frequencies in kilohertz and at the listed times: 1400Z AGA2SY 13506.5 kHz ACC 17443.0 kHz 1420Z WAR 13506.5 kHz AGA2SY 17443.0 kHz 1440Z ACC 13506.5 kHz WAR 17443.0 kHz 1500Z AAZ 13506.5 kHz AAZ 17443.0 kHz 2200Z ADB 13506.5 kHz AGA2SY 17443.0 kHz 0300Z NWVC 5346.5 kHz For those who wish to document their contacts with a QSL card, go to http://www.usarmymars.org/events and complete the request form. (via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. A new VOA broadcast is to be added effective 29 April 2018 to Bangladesh. It will be in English and can be heard at 1130- 1200 UT on 1575 kHz (MW-Thailand), 12020 (Thailand), 15715 and 17790 kHz (from Philippines) (Alok Kr Dasgupta on WRTH – World Radio Tv Handbook Facebook Group, 26 April via Alan Pennington, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 5129.8, WBCQ, with Glen[n] Hauser's World of Radio with the usual DX tips, including mention of DRM -- which is more accurately an abbreviation for Dwindling Radio Mode -- and mentioning Art Bell's death. Then at 0329 into Hobart Radio International show with lots of music, and Abbot and Costello routine. 44+543+ ALMOST an O=4. 0318-0358 23/Apr [Mon] SDRplay +SDRuno +ANC-4 +randomwire (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet 27 April via DXLD) Hi Glenn, I got on just a little late, but I did hear the World of Radio broadcast this morning via WRMI. To wit: 9455, WRMI at 1040. I got on a bit late, but confirm World of Radio, Glenn Hauser on, and monitored to the end. Very Good signal and audio on just SW-2000629 and 9' garden stake antenna (vertical wire helix). [Wed] Apr 25 (Rick Barton, AZ, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1927 monitoring: confirmed Wednesday April 25 at 2100 on WRMI 9955, and two words behind on WBCQ 7490v. About equal levels, S9-S7. Not confirmed, Wed Apr 25 at 2330 on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB, while TOMBS continues past 2331, and sounds // 5129.83 JBA. Once again, Thu Apr 26 at 2331, TOMBS music, no WOR. I`ve previously asked AW whether he intends to keep WOR on this daily schedule, but no response, other than it showing up occasionally, last time being Sunday April 22. Lacking that, there are no SW airings of WOR now on UT Thursday or Friday. Unless notified that 9330 is canceled for us, I`ll keep them on the roster with provisos: Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Sat 0629 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 28] Sat 1431 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 28] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2130 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Sat 2300 WRMI 7780 to NE [not last two weeks; canceled?] Sun 0200 WRMI 7780 to NE Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 29] Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 to NNW [NEW] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Mon 0130 WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950 to S [? not last week], 7780 to NE Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] WORLD OF RADIO 1927 monitoring: missing again Friday April 27 at 2331 on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB --- still TOMBS in music bit. Next: Sat 0629 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 28] Sat 1431 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 28] Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2130 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Sat 2300 WRMI 7780 to NE [not last two weeks; canceled?] Sun 0200 WRMI 7780 to NE Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW [to resume April 29] Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 to NNW [NEW] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Mon 0130 WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950 to S [? not last week], 7780 to NE Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6190, HLR, Goheren, *0600-0700, 28-04, English, ID "Welcome to Hamburger Lokal Radio", at 0630 Glenn Hauser’s program “World of Radio”. 25332. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Lugo, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1927 monitoring: Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria reports: GERMANY, Reception of World of Radio via HLR on 6190 CUSB, April 28 0631-0700 6190 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CEu Sat fair to good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2018/04/reception-of-world-of-radio-via-hlr-on_28.html Altho UTwente could not hear Hamburger Lokalradio Saturday April 28 at 1431 on 6190-CUSB, Alan Gale in England reports: ``Hi Glenn, I can confirm that World of Radio was audible here today again on 6190 kHz CUSB at 1430 UT, though reception was a bit mixed, with the signal up at times, and fading right out at others. The strongest reception was between 1448 and 1455 when the signal was at its loudest. Mind you, I couldn't hear HLR at all before 1430 and was beginning to think HLR was still off the air, so I was pleased to hear the programme at all. Alan`` Another no-show on WBCQ, 9330v-CUSB, Saturday April 28 at 2131, where it had been for months altho never correct time shown on the schedule; instead presumed TOMBS continues, and lately it`s always been music around this time of mid-hours rather than talk. If WOR still missing Sunday at 2330, it will have been off for a full week and I may be tempted to think it`s been canceled without notice. No one tells me anything. However, AW may have been distracted lately by getting remarried. Another no-show for WOR, Saturday April 28 at 2300 on WRMI 7780; instead for the third week, `Voice of the Report of the Week` is playing, despite WRMI skedgrid still showing WOR. I had asked Jeff if this was intentional or a mistake, but no reply other than continuing to play VORW. It seems VORW has no website where one might look up the current schedule as known to him [WORLD OF RADIO 1928] WOR 1927 finally confirmed UT Sunday April 29 at 0200 on WRMI, 7780, fair S9 to S9+10. Another no-show on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, Wentzville MO, nominally scheduled 0315 UT Sundays: not on at 0331 check, so running late as often happens? Still not at 0358, but ARRL news, until 0408 switch to Amateur Radio Newsline. I`ve asked Vern what happened, but no reply yet. His website schedule does not mention World of Radio, so maybe also canceled without notice? Next: Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 to NNW [NEW] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Mon 0130 WRMI 5850 to NW, [5950 to S ? not last weeks], 7780 to NE Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [maybe] Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1928?] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glen[n], Sorry for the late airing of WOR. This Week In Amateur Radio ran a special edition with the full one hour interview with Art Bell, W6OBB recorded two years ago, to remember his passing, Apr. 13. This added to the 1 hour of regular news and features. Unfortunately, that threw our whole schedule timing off. If TWIAR did not begin at about the normal time, the Houston AMSAT Net and ARRL News, and W.O.R. would all run early. There was simply no way to keep everything in rotation, following the normal schedule. Hopefully, I won't have many instances where this will occur. The Houston AMSAT Net, ARRL News, and WOR all normally run at approximate scheduled times in this time segment. We can deal with 55 to 90 minutes for TWIAR, but not 121.8 minutes!! WOR did air, but not until 23:07 CDT start. Again, our apology. Keep up the Good work. 73, Vern [rather, later:] Hi Glen[n], Well it was late last night when I responded to your inquiry. I found the problem. Our paper program log had WOR at the right place in rotation. HOWEVER in my haste Friday night in putting the program segments into the automation, I failed to notice that the evening edition was the previous week`s WOR program, which had been deleted from the wav files; but was still in rotation. The afternoon report did air, but the evening report was outdated and deleted. Automation skips over any segment that is not available, and goes to the next available program, in this case, Newsline. Thank you for catching that! PS: usually the running time for a deleted or not available program just shows up as dashed lines, but in this case the time shown was correct (29.4 min.), so the time appeared for a non- available program. Only the date stamp 0418 vs 0425 was missed by yours truly, (Vern, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1927 monitoring: barely confirmed Sunday April 29 at 1904 on WRMI 9395, my voice recognizable but not what I say, while at 1900 on another receiver only a JBA carrier. Not confirmed Sunday April 29 at 2330 on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB: still sticking with Brother HyStairical, now one week after the last time WOR was to be heard on 9330. Ditto Monday April 30 at 2330. Still no explanation or response from WBCQ. So I am removing all the 9330s from my schedules. WOR 1927 confirmed, UT Monday April 30 at 0130 on WRMI 5850 VG, 7780 good, and 5950 remains off the air despite WRMI`s contradictory schedules. Also confirmed UT Monday April 30 at 0300 on Area 51 webcast, and on WBCQ 5129.83 at S9+10, fair-good but noisy. Also confirmed UT Mon Apr 30 at 0330 on WRMI 9955, good S9; and also on WRMI webcast only repeated at 0400. Also confirmed UT Tuesday May 1 at 0030 on WRMI 7730, fair. WOR 1928 expected to be ready for first airing Tuesday May 1: Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW Wed 1030 WRMI 9455 to WNW Wed 2100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Sat 0629 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1431 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2300 WRMI 7780 to NE [not last three weeks; canceled?] Sun 0200 WRMI 7780 to NE Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 to NNW Mon 0130 WRMI 5850 to NW, 7780 to NE Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1929?] Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1929?] Full WOR sked on all outlets, podcast access: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1927 monitoring: received a reply from Vern of WA0RCR about WOR missing from 1860-AM, UT Sunday April 29 at 0315 and later: a detailed explanation, but basically it was an automation programming problem because of an earlier extended TWIAR interview with Art Bell; he assures that WOR will be back on usual slightly variable schedule. 1927 confirmed Tuesday May 1 at 2030 on WRMI 7780 JBA and 9455 VP. Final airing, as 1928 not quite ready, but: WORLD OF RADIO 1928 contents: Antarctica, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Germany, Iran, Korea North & South, Luxembourg non, Mongolia, Perú, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sa`udi Arabia, South Africa, South America, Taiwan, UAE, UK, USA; and the propagation outlook WOR 1928 confirmed first airing Tuesday May 1 at 2130 on WRMI 7780 & 9455, JBA to VP, both heavily marred by storm crash noise from Kansas (which is supposed to hit us in OK, afternoon of May 2). Slept thru Wed 1030 on WRMI 9455; maybe someone can confirm that. Next: Wed 2100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Sat 0629 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1431 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2300 WRMI 7780 to NE [not last three weeks; canceled?] Sun 0200 WRMI 7780 to NE Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1030 HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW Sun 1900 WRMI 9395 to NNW Mon 0130 WRMI 5850 to NW, 7780 to NE Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 0400 WRMI webcast only Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1929?] Tue 2130 WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1929?] All 9330 broadcasts on WBCQ have been removed here as none confirmed since April 22! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New WOR site http://www.listenersguide.org.uk/swl/world-of-radio/ Hello Glenn, Just a line to say I carry the latest two episodes on The Listener's Guide. Waste your time with Bob's website: http://www.listenersguide.org.uk/ Cheers now, (Bob Ellis, UK, April 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New Outlet for World of Radio Hi Glenn. I hope you are well. I wanted to let you know that World of Radio has a new outlet which will be getting the program from Global Community Radio Channel One (GCR1) on Sunday nights. Your program will now be heard on KPDO (89.3) in Pescadero, California. This is a brand new community radio station which will be taking programming from Global Community Radio, as well as from the mostly Spanish language public radio service Radio Bilingüe. [Pescadero is on the coast, Hwy 1, west of San José; WTFDA DB shows not an -LP but 0.1 kW, HAAT -7m, and ``silent`` --- no longer. Maybe someone on Asilomar State Beach can hear it, 50+ miles away down the coast?] World of Radio will air Sundays at 6 PM Pacific [UT Monday 0100]. The station has already started streaming, in addition to broadcasting on FM. Their website: http://www.kpdo.net I know you will want to mention this on WOR as soon as possible. I have more GCR news which I'm sure will be of interest to you personally. If you have time to mention it on WOR at some point, please do. Global Community Radio has expanded its program offerings from two to three 24/7 streams. GCR1 remains a news and talk service with an emphasis on world news. GCR2 now focuses on a wide variety of popular music genres. The new GCR3 is primarily dedicated to Classical and Jazz. In addition, GCR3 presents several talk shows on various aspects of the arts, along with several hours per week of radio theatre, both Old Time Radio and contemporary radio drama. Find complete program schedules for all three GCR streams, along with a list of local rebroadcasters for GCR at our website: http://globalcommunityradio.blogspot.com Keep up the great work. Best, (Jake Longwell, May 1, Global Community Radio, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490, UT Friday April 27 at 0031, WBCQ with a guy describing how to make different ice cream flavors, John on `Voice of the Report of the Week`? NO! It`s Allan Weiner. Must be replay of an AWWW I haven`t heard. VORW had been scheduled during this hour but now it`s an ``Available Time Slot``, typically filled FTTB by AWWW. Thursday evening anyway is still the major launch of each VORW episode on multiple WRMI frequencies. I do hear the self-absorbed guy before 0100 on 7730, 9395 and 9455 --- and again after 0100 on 5850 and 7780. The WRMI transmission skedgrid now shows 5950 on air with VORW on UT Fridays only, but it`s not, nor was it during WOR UT Monday at 0130. The blue System D program schedule below contradictorily still claims all three frequencies in use at 0100-0200 daily (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5850, WRMI with Broad Spectrum Radio (a music only show with an eclectic mix and nothing more) then SW Radiogram with the usual mix of digital text and photos, but with some 'mode' experiments. Stories were about: MFSK128: UK media regulator probes RT's impartiality; MFSK64: Volcanic rock traps CO2 and turns it inert; MFSK32: Meteorite's diamonds might be from lost planet; Thor 50x1, 50x2 and 100 (story in segments): Brazilian aquifer may be diminishing and finally an MFSK32 Image of tulips in bloom in Holland. Then at 0830 into Wavescan #NWS478 with stories about critters inside transmitters (and never once mentioning what roasted rodent smells like!) and the continuation of the discussion re SW transmitter construction with the representative of Ampegon that was begun last week with mention that WMLK may be on the air before the end of 2018. Not as strong as usual, but in well despite that. 44+544 with local noise evident during fades. *0656-0900* 23/Apr SDRplay +SDRuno +ANC-4 +FLDigi +randomwire (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet 27 April via DXLD) 7730, April 28 at 0225, this WRMI is off, contrary to new sked showing until 0400 with TOMBS, which is still running on 7570 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitored WRMI Sunday Evening / Monday Morning (UTC) 7780 kHz Schedule From my recording last Sunday evening, 29-30 April UT: 2030 Reserve Military Retirement 2100 Voice of the Report of the Week, VORW Radio International 2200 Oldies 2250 VOA News, More Oldies 2300 Wavescan 2330 Shortwave Radiogram 0000 Radio Slovakia International in Slovak 0030 Radio Slovakia International in English 0100 Rockphesy 0130 World of Radio (-- Richard Langley, NB, May 1, WOR iog via DXLD) Hello, Glenn, In regard to a slightly offset frequency you mention in regard to recent monitoring of WRMI, all the frequency synthesizers are (or were) slaved to a very high accuracy master oscillator. It is possible (of course!) for an error (programmed or otherwise) to creep in to a computer controlling an individual synthesizer, or for a cable connector in that chain (computer-to-synthesizer) to develop a bad connection. Otherwise, all transmitter frequencies should be dead on, or else all off by the same amount (should the master oscillator deteriorate). Hope this is useful info. 73, (Dan Elyea, ex-WYFR/WRMI, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Dan, Tnx for the info. I`m drawing a blank however on having reported an off-frequency for WRMI. Unless you are referring to the sudaudible heterodyne I was hearing for several nights on 5950, making me suspect WRMI was running two slightly unsynchronized transmitters at once, a few Hz apart. Was that it? If so, why was that done? In any event, there was a second signal on 5950 but no second audio. No other stations were scheduled. 73, (Glenn to Dan, ibid.) That's what I was referring to, Glenn. If what you suspect was indeed what was happening, I couldn't answer that question. Jeff would have to speak to that. I only get out to the transmitter site a couple times a year. Sometimes if a transmitter gets out of neutralization, it can self-oscillate at some unintended frequency in the band. Maybe the spurious could tend to try to get in lock-step with the proper frequency, and thus be really close, but that's speculation. 73, (Dan Elyea, ibid.) ** U S A. WBCQ Monticello ME. 9330 CUSB, Friday April 27 at 2045. Brother Scare preaching, low-fi audio, good signal but bothered by other services nearby and a noisy band. Parallel 5130 AM with better audio but very weak signal (Larry Will, Mount Airy, MD, IC-R75, PL- 880, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) (7490), April 28 at 0009, WBCQ webcast without AW again, instead sounds like J P Ferraro (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BIG NEWS ON ALLAN WEINER WORLDWIDE, UT APRIL 28 Trying 7490 this evening. Theme started at 0001 after a bit of seemingly dead air with some voices low underneath and some music fragments. Pirate Joe is hosting again tonight. The theme music starts again and runs all the way through before being stopped again. In a shocker, Pirate Joe announces that Allan and Angela have gotten married. For some reason, Pirate Joe starts a longish, rambling discourse about the women that Bill Cosby abused over the years. Was difficult to follow as he hemmed and hawed through it. A strange topic even for AWWW. Eventually morphed into a discussion about Paul Ryan, speaker of the House, at 0019 then moves into a general discussion of politicians in Washington. He's using made-up nicknames for them so I have no idea who he's actually talking about as I'm not up on who's who in Washington. Gives out a phone number for call-in and says his computer is down so no emails this evening. Phone call at 0026 with a reception report and talk of Art Bell. After the call he returns to the talk about Zenith Transoceanics that he started the last time he hosted the show. This moved into his experience working at a radio repair shop when he was younger. Show was off the air at 0100 (John H Carver, Jr, Mid-North Indiana, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5129.85, WBCQ, 0024-0042+, 4/29; Old Radio Clandestine program with R.F. Burns; “Your bootleg radio station, Radio Clandestine” with pop music. S20 peaks (Harold Frodge, Port Hope MI2 DXpedition, Drake R8B + 250’ RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6115, WWCR, Nashville TN. A crazy American conspiracy theory program called Stop the Crime at 2240. Apparently radio frequencies are killing us. Plus Water Wars. References quoted were YouTube, the Internet and other “reliable” (cough, cough) sources. Started out as a fair signal at 2246 but fading rapidly by 2258 as this band closes for the morning, 20/4 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Horizontal Sky Loop, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) Must be long path (gh) 3215, April 25 at 0518, WWCR-1 is off again tonight; how come? #1 transmitter seems OK, JBA as usual in daytimes on 15825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last night and tonight I listened to WWCR-1 frequency 3215 sign off at 0400 UT with a message about signing off for technical adjustments. And that they would return later in the day. Not sure if this is temporary or permanent. Since they have no current schedule posted I guess we will have to monitor the situation (Peter W Hansen, 0417 UT April 27, WOR iog via DXLD) WWCR Nashville TN. Friday, April 27 0000-0100 on 4840 with "The Divided Kingdom." Tonight Lou read islamophobic right wing screeds from various web sites, while Liz added colorful paranoid conspiracy theory commentary about, among other things, "a trojan horse in America." Towards the end of the hour they shifted to fear and paranoia about sanctuary cities, criticizing places like San Francisco as having turned into a "garbage heap of disease and death" infected with "mariwanner" and "tent cities." At least they weren't parroting bullshit from Alex Jones' web site this week. Good signal with heavy A/C hum (Larry Will, Mount Airy, MD, IC-R75, PL-880, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5890, April 28 at 0243, this WWCR in an active hour, one of few left on air without BS, and just as I tune in, other gospel huxter mentions ``all the buzz`` --- which is really apropos, as his audio at S9+30 has a big buzz with it! Rather than a WWCR imposition, I think, but this means the 5980 leapfrog over 5935 PMS another 45 kHz beyond is also active at S7. His sermon topic has something to do with chickens (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15555-USB, April 25 at 2009, a rare ``sighting`` of WJHR, gospel huxter with US accent audible, of course none other the eponymous John Hill, his deadself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9462.1 & 9487.9, April 26 at 1432, WTWW SFAW on 9475 putting out the usual weak minus/plus 12.9 kHz spur carriers which are associated with the #2 transmitter (5085/9930), now around a #1 frequency. Whenever 5085 is on at night, the same parasites infest it. 9930 is never on any more, and I don`t hear them around 5830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11660, WTWW, 1315-1350 28 April. Possibly 2 x (unheard) 5830 but pretty clean for a harmonic. Regardless of the frequency, it's the usual 'TWW programming (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5085, April 29 at 0122, WTWW has succeeded in airing `Theater Organ in the Ozarx`, VG and with the weak parasitic spurs plus and minus 12.9 kHz, which no one else seems to notice or report; also flanking 9475 when it`s on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 11660, May 1 at 1344, WTWW, with hateful racist and anti- Muslim talk, and against ``black-natured savages coveting white women``. This is S9+10, and slightly stronger than 5830 fading to only S9. Yes, second harmonic! Never heard before. Altho falling in 25mb, one might assume it was fundamental. Ted has obviously mis-tuned the transmitter or removed any harmonic filtering. If there`s one harmonic, there could be more: check 17490, 23320 if propagation ever allow. 11660 was first reported by Dan Sheedy, California, at 1315-1350 April 28. 11660 cuts off abruptly at 1403*. By 1404 I tune to 9475 and it`s already on at S9+20, with the usual spurs 9462.1 & 9487.9, not accompanying 5830 or 11660, so separate transmitter. After 1400, 11660 also was colliding with another station, listed as CRI in Urdu via Kunming. (CRI is also on 11660 at 11-14 in English, but via Kashgar, not heard under WTWW). Once in the clear, CRI is S6-S9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRNO, 7505 kHz -- confirmed by e-mail and stated that QSL cards are currently being redesigned. That’s all for this time around.” (Ian Cattermole, Blenheim, May NZ DX Times via DXLD) WRNO, now there’s a station I haven’t thought of in a while, though it used to be a music station with some DX stuff (Theo Donnelly, BC, ed., ibid.) Like World of Radio --- WRNO its initial SW outlet (gh, purveyor of DX stuff) 7505v, WRNO, on April 26, from 1121 to 1138. Have monitored their Chinese language programs a number of times, but today heard with a different format; native speaker of English preaching, saying a few sentences, followed by another person translating into Chinese; 1137 contact info in Chinese and English. My audio at http://goo.gl/jG2Znm (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, WOR iog via DXLD) ** U S A. Reviews: Ray Sajeski — 1 star. Real christians dont spread hate, nor do they judge one another for that is for God to do. I often see your negative hateful displays along route 78... January 23, 2018 7 Reviews Comment2 WMLK Radio The meeting to discuss Transmitter location and other very important measurements was held on Wednesday and Thursday (1/17-18/2018) Pictured from the left clockwise is Dr Simon Keens, Deacon G.E. MacAvin, TE Elder Jonathan S Meyer, Deacon Nathaniel A Meyer and Heinz Gugger, planning Engineer. The meeting was very productive and the requirements of Ampegon and the WMLK representatives were answered. Praise Almighty Yahweh for His goodness! Image may contain: 5 people, people smiling, people sitting, table and indoor January 23 at 10:13pm Public Progress. The required operating tubes for the Ampegon 300 kW set were ordered this week by our builder in Switzerland. Electrical operating parameters have been provided from WMLK for the HV input powers necessary for the assorted parts required in building the new set, such as the transformers. The building measurements were also reviewed to allocate room for the new set. Originally the building was designed to accommodate two Ampegon 300 kW sets. Ampegon requested a larger space from us if possible. Almost two-thirds of the new building has now been allocated for the new transmitter. The office/Control room has now been completed. The TX room is being wired for current and future requirements such as air compressor, work bench, electronics repair module etc. By His grace progress continues to be realized at the new WMLK building. More to come when the weather breaks. We will keep you updated. Thank you for your encouragement and support! Praise Almighty Yahweh! March 20 at 7:43pm Public (WMLK FB via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) Watch out for FEBC; see PHILIPPINES ** U S A. 750, April 25 at 1206 UT, self-promotion for jobs at Alpha Media; see alphamedia.com or contact a P O Box in Lebanon MO, into talk show. It`s KBNN Lebanon MO, 5 kW daytimer/500 watt PSRA. Need to aim E/W by nulling KMMJ Nebraska N/S. However, the website says Alpha Media is in Farmingdale NY, software developers. Not spelt; could it be Alfa Media? No, that is even further away, in Germany! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET) ** U S A. 990, April 25 at 1158 UT, open carrier atop CCI, so I keep listening expecting a formal daytimer sign-on; dream on. Is making a SAH of 138/minute = 2.3 Hz. By 1159 UT, English ad for Missouri Soybean Growers, mosoy.org, and CBS News bong. Only MO on 990 is: KRMO Cassville, Farm+ format, 2500/47 watts U1, but not CBS per NRC AM Log; more likely that is from KWAM Memphis TN. 990, By 1201 UT April 25, Spanish as `La Voz del Evangelio`, but may be program name rather than station. Anyhow, I am quite sure the SS is the usual KFCD Farmersville TX (Metroplex) 7000/920 U4, not a daytimer, so whence the OC just before? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1000, April 25 at 1214 UT, just as I null KTOK OKC, slow SAH of less than 1 Hz, immediate ID in passing as ``KKIM AM 1000``, which is Albuquerque NM, 10000/53 watts U1 and also PSRA of 12.2 watts. Yeah, right, another cheater on day power already, ahead of official April FCC sunrise of 1230 UT. But what would you expect from a licensee called Wild West Radio Corporation, yet religionous? In May, LSR will be 1200 UT, so they`ll have to cheat earlier than that. At 1215 UT, Chicago mentioned, could be KKIM gospel program source rather than WMVP (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1060, April 25 at 0545 UT, praise songs in Spanish, S9+10, deep fadeout and backup, with fast SAH, signature of KIJN Farwell TX, perpetually cheating 10 kW ``daytimer`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1090, April 25 at 1217 UT, sounds like Mother Angelica, true to her nunnish calling, advocating whacking children; this and more bad advice are greeted by roars of laughter from her audience (nulliparous females?). No WEWN in English mornings on SW anymore to compare, but by 1230 UT, EWTN mentioned in a call-in (long ago?). Loops NE/SW, i.e. KEXS Excelsior Springs (KC market) MO. By nulling, soon one may choose Protestants from KAAY Little Rock AR, rather than KMXA Aurora CO which is now secular Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1130, April 24 at 2135 UT check, KLEY Wellington KS is not SNAFU at the moment, back in whack. 1130, April 27 at 1945 UT check, KLEY Wellington KS has reverted to SNAFU mode of carrier and modulation cutting on and off irregularly, mixed with steady faster noise bursts. 1130, April 27 circa 1900 UT, KLEY Wellington KS, brief recording off the caradio showing the talking carrier cutting on and off beside the rapid click-click. Disregard too much background line noise along most Enid streets; will try again if I find a quiet spot: http://www.w4uvh.net/KLEY1130SNAFU2.mp3 1130, April 28 circa 1700 UT, KLEY Wellington KS still out of whack cutting on and off. Another caradio recording made at Enid`s kite festival field away from power lines: http://www.w4uvh.net/KLEY1130SNAFU3.mp3 According to a sign visible for years, it`s a large vacant lot for sale by Hiram Champlin of 1390 KCRC about a mile away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1140, April 25 at 1203 UT, immediate ID at tune-in, KXRB and Sioux Falls SD news items. Not hard to overcome KRMP OKC. To me, 1140 will always be KSOO, like in the NRC AM Log 2017-2018 as the call swap with 1000 kHz came post-publication. But I hear two or three other stations on 1000. Whatever, still 10/5 kW U2 on 1140, no doubt (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL: THE EARLY YEARS OF WOWO IN FORT WAYNE From Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Winter 2018. To receive Traces four times a year, join IHS and enjoy this and other member benefits. Back issues of Traces are available through the Basile History Market. Photo: first broadcast of basketball game play-by- play, IHS, WOWO Radio Station Photographs Collection, P 524. Radio station WOWO in Fort Wayne first signed on the air on March 31, 1925, with 500 watts at 1320 kilocycles. The year before, musicians had gathered in the home of Harold Blosser at 2708 South Wayne Avenue for an experimental radio broadcast, which included an opera singer from Bluffton, the Allen County treasurer who did some old-time fiddling, and others. Using a five-watt transmitter, the broadcast had a limited range, but it was a hit. Fred Zieg, owner of the Main Auto Supply store in downtown Fort Wayne, had been looking for a way to promote the sale of Dayfan radios. He was pleased to receive hundreds of calls following this experiment. Kneale D. Ross, a salesman at the store, convinced Zieg that for $150 he could build a radio station above his store at 213 Main Street — WOWO was born. A listener contest came up with the slogan “Wayne Offers Wonderful Opportunities.” . .. [much more] https://indianahistory.org/stories/dont-touch-that-dial-the-early-years-of-wowo-in-fort-wayne/ (via Blaine Thompson, Indiana Radio Watch via John Carver, DXLD) ** U S A. Logs week ending April 27: == Medium Wave == 550, WSVA Harrisonburg VA with news talk, fair signal Friday April 27 at 2035. (Will-MD) 750, WBMD Baltimore MD, a Family Radio outlet, has been off the air now for several weeks. They have reportedly filed a Remain Silent Authority from the FCC after being evicted from their transmitter site on Moravia Road that they shared with WJZ 105.7. The other Baltimore Family Radio outlet, WFSI 860, noted Friday April 27 at 2035 with a good signal. (Will-MD) 780, WAVA Arlington VA. One of Salem's religious stations in this area, usually runs preachers and Christian talk, but noted Friday, April 27 at 1600 running "The Jay Sekulow Show" with right wing political talk, Trump apologetics, and commercials for the American Center for Law and Justice (the Sekulow family business masquerading as a nonprofit) from (surprise, surprise) Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow and his team of family members and other synchophants. WAVA cut the Sekulow show at its midpoint at 1630 and, after several commercials for various garbage products such as "got a timeshare you can't afford?", started a religious talk show. (Will-MD) 820, WWFD Frederick MD. Off the air 1400 UTC Thursday April 26 but back when checked at 1630. Parallel W252DC 98.3 Reston VA, 250 watts, was on at 1400 when WWFD was not. Parallel W232DG 94.3 Frederick MD, 160 watts, with good signal on Friday April 27 at 1515. WWFD and its translators run "The Gamut," an interesting mix of music from the 1970s through the present. RDS decode on 98.3 "FREE FORM THE GAMUT". This station plays Washington Nationals baseball games and the occasional hockey game, but otherwise runs the commercial free "Gamut" programming. Excellent signal and sound on 820 Friday, April 27 with music by The Who, "The Kids Are Alright." (Will-MD) 930, WFMD Frederick MD "Free Talk" 5000 watts day, 2500 watts night. This station continuously hypes a "local" and "community" focus despite filling up their schedule with the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Their schedule says that they run "Coast To Coast AM" overnight but their nighttime signal is very poor and never noted here despite being only 15-20 miles away. (Will-MD) 950, WCTN Cabin John/Potomac MD. Nonstop pop music primarily from the late 1970s and 1980s with frequent IDs and no commercials. Parallel W257BW 94.3 Potomac MD with fair to good signal in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, but here in Mount Airy W257BW is squeezed out by W232DG in Frederick. 950 is noted for long periods of being silent, but has been stable lately. Whoops, they are off the air on Friday, April 27 at 1523, but at 2034 check they were back with a good signal. (Will-MD) 1000, WIOO Carlisle PA with local news and into nostalgia music, an old crooner from the early 1950s. Fair signal at 2040 on Friday, April 27. (Will-MD) 1220, WFAX Falls Church VA with Jay Sekulow Show and multiple fearmongering commercials about a global Muslim terrorist invasion, courtesy of the American Center For Law and Justice. Friday, April 27 at 2045, fair to good signal. (Will-MD) 1310, WDCT Fairfax VA. A kids show with happy music sung by children in English, but the talk following was all in Chinese. Fair signal Friday April 27 at 2040. (Will-MD) 1520, WTRI Brunswick MD. Running open carrier/dead air Monday April 23 through at least Thursday, April 26. Finally back with Radio Chai Indian/Bollywood music relay on Friday, April 27 at 1500. Canned overlay "WTRI Brunswick" ID at 1506. The top of the hour "Radio Chai" IDs mention several FM stations in New Jersey but has never acknowledged poor WTRI. Parallel W269BH 101.7 Leesburg VA, 220 watts, noted here with fair signal. (Will-MD) 1580, WJFK Morningside MD (transmitter just east of the DC line near District Heights MD) has dumped the "Veterans Radio" talk format for Spanish language sports talk, "El Zol Deportes." Fair to poor signal in Montgomery County, MD. (Will-MD) == FM == 89.5, WSCL Salisbury MD. Noted for the first time this year on the truck Delco radio Thursday, April 26 at 1430 with talk, ID and classical music, besting co-channel religious WCRH Williamsport, MD. (Will-MD) 89.9, WMTB Emmittsburg MD. Saturday, April 21 at 1700 with a heavy metal/heavy trance music show hosted presumably by a student at Mount St. Mary's College. This station doesn't have very many live shows, it seems; is almost always playing a classic rock/active rock jukebox playlist. Fair signal, IDs occasionally "high on the mountain, low on the dial, WMTB Emmittsburg." (Will-MD) 90.3, Frederick MD. The long running jukebox pirate on this channel is still here, last noted Sunday April 22 at 1700 UTC with a mix of 1960s and 1970s mellow pop music. The signal covers three to five miles centered in the area just south of the city of Frederick. (Will-MD) 91.1, W216CM Frederick MD. A new repeater for WCRH 90.5 Williamsport, MD comes in surprisingly well in Mount Airy despite a puny 6 watts and the powerhouse 75 kilowatt DC classical station WETA on 90.9 being nearby. (Will-MD) 91.3, WARN Culpeper VA. Preaching, far right wing evangelical political talk, and occasional hate speech is standard fare for this "American Family Radio" outlet. Occasionally good signal in Mount Airy with the PL-880. (Will-MD) 104.9, WZFC Strasburg VA. Another depressing format change on FM here as this station recently switched to right wing talk. Occasionally good signal here. Hannity on at 2035 Friday, April 27. (Will-MD) (Larry Will, Mount Airy, MD, IC-R75, PL-880, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ART BELL AND THESE OTHERS WERE `HAMS' https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/art-bell-and-these-others-were-hams/2018/04/27/91f60ae4-4829-11e8-8082-105a446d19b8_print.html Regarding the April 15 obituary for Art Bell, "Narrated the American nightscape" [Metro]: What do Gordon Barnes, Arthur Godfrey and Walter Cronkite have in common with Bell? They were all "hams," licensed amateur radio operators who were enthused about radio communication and seeking signals from faraway stations or, in Bell's case, the very dark edges of the universe. Bell's amateur license number was W6OBB. These broadcasters were among the earlier hams who tinkered with antennas, stayed awake at night and scanned the frequencies for someone either calling them or sending them strange noises such as the "Russian Woodpecker" that sought in the 1970s and 1980s to disrupt worldwide communications. But listen they did, and then they learned how to speak into a microphone and hold an audience's attention, whether it was Cronkite and his signature sign-off, "And that's the way it is," or Godfrey's sign-on, "How are ya, how are ya?," or Bell's telling of ghost stories like those told around a summer fire with campers glancing over their shoulders as each tale unfolded. Could the art of imagination have been a later spark for conspiracy theorists? To listen at night to AM radio now brings many scarier things than the science fiction offered by Bell. Gordon S. Creed, Washington (c) The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) FROM EAST OF THE ROCKIES TO BEYOND THE FRINGE --- HOW ART BELL AND “COAST TO COAST AM” TURNED CONSPIRACY RADIO INTO A THEATER OF THE MIND Michael Powell, The Outline https://theoutline.com/post/4343/art-bell-coast-to-coast-am-obitiuary The first time I heard Art Bell’s radio show “Coast to Coast AM,” I was a teenager staying at my grandmother’s house. She used to leave an AM radio on at night, and, prowling the kitchen late one evening as teenage boys are wont to do, I caught a snippet of a caller describing staring at a shadow with glowing red eyes at the foot of his bed. I sat riveted to the radio, treated a few minutes later to “The Sounds from Hell,” an urban legend regaling the story of Russian scientists who dug a deep hole in Siberia that punctured some geological heat pocket and unveiled what sounded like the screams of millions of people. Throughout the ‘90s and early aughts, should you scan the AM dial in the dead of night, you may have caught a deep-throated announcer bellow a bevy of phone numbers over The Moody Blues’ “Ride My See Saw” for people to call to chat with Art Bell. A late-night radio host with a — pun sorta intended — cult following who passed away this month at 72, Bell covered a constellation of topics relating to strange phenomena, pseudoscience, and niche concerns of the tinfoil hat sect. “Coast to Coast AM” broadcast weeknights 1 to 5 a.m. on the East Coast, taking over a block once commanded by CNN interviewer and Garlique enthusiast Larry King. Signing on with Giorgio Moroder’s “Chase” from “Midnight Express” every night, Bell was the type of guy who’d entertain any — and I mean literally any — idea, as long as it would make for good radio. “Coast to Coast” might feature an interview with a mainstream pop scientist like Michio Kaku one night, only to hit listeners the next night with Richard C. Hoagland’s theories about ancient moon civilizations. When it came to fielding listener calls, Bell was a firm believer in the “no screening” approach, rejecting the industry standard in talk radio. You never spoke to an associate producer. If you got through on one of the lines — one for Americans to the east of the Rockies, one for everyone to the west of the Rockies, a line for international callers, another for first-time callers, and a “Wild Card” line because why the **** not — you were talking to Art and you could rattle off whatever came to your sleep-deprived brain as long as you didn’t reveal your last name or make a cuss. That may not mean much in 2018, a world in we’re all a Wal-Mart yodel away from ubiquity. But in the days before YouTube and Twitter, when you needed to signal-jam a TV broadcast with a Rube Goldberg microwave device to get your bull**** heard, that was revolutionary. And though the callers and their myriad theories seemed “fringe,” that didn’t necessarily extend to the show’s audience. For years, “Coast to Coast AM” was aired over 500 AM radio stations and was reachable in damn near every corner of North America. Bell’s eerie baritone voice, permeating through the smoke-filled air inside the HAM Radio compound behind his secluded Pahrump, Nevada home, spoke an audience of 12 million. Appropriately, the town of Pahrump was the first contacted by aliens in Tim Burton’s ensemble B-movie sendup Mars Attacks. Bell’s quiet, powerful influence reverberated throughout the pop culture milieu after Ruby Ridge and before 9/11. Chris Carter, creator of “The X-Files,” was a fan, going so far as to appear on “Coast to Coast” and enlisting Art for a cameo on Carter’s other show, “Millennium.” Post-Coast films like “Men in Black,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “Conspiracy Theory,” and “Paranormal Activity” raked in big bucks a few years after with plots that felt ripped from the airwaves emanating from Bell’s compound. And to top it all off, the hokey disaster blockbuster “The Day After Tomorrow” was based on “The Coming Global Superstorm,” a book Bell co-wrote with frequent guest and his fellow card-carrying conspiracist Whitley Strieber. Like Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” or the overnight radio pioneer Long Jon Nebel before him, Art Bell amalgamated the ambience of the twilight and the crackling, wobbly, “theater of the mind” quality offered by AM radio to architect an immersive world that was mysterious, intriguing, a bit foreboding, sometimes unsettling, and often outright absurd, but always with the whimsy of campy horror or a B-movie. Fellow broadcaster Tom Scharpling of “The Best Show” once told me about Art’s Electronic Voice Phenomenon (or “ghost recordings”) shows, “That is the definition of terror. I hate the sound of that hiss of a cassette and then you just hear this weird sound on it. Oh, that spooks me! Shut that off, can’t hear it!” As an interviewer, Art would provide a platform for a vast array of ideas with varying levels of plausibility, asking questions that were just tough enough to press the guest or caller, lax enough to let the audience determine the truth for themselves. It was a nuanced balance requiring a sophisticated level of sensitivity and broadcasting prowess. As the talk-radio trade publication Talkers Magazine wrote of his passing: “Bell called his show ‘absolute entertainment’ and did not necessarily accept every guest or caller’s claims but offered a forum where they would not be openly ridiculed.” As a counterbalance to the arch strangeness, Bell also explored more respectable scientific territory like solar flares and climate change — the latter of which began as a conspiracy theory before becoming understood as an existential threat to humanity. Those who have come after Bell haven’t always treated the blur between fact and fiction with the same detached playfulness as the O.G. conspiracist. It became a quickly toxifying formula that bubbled and formed personalities like Alex Jones, whose InfoWars program touts itself as a lone bastion of “independent journalism,” arranging shreds of scant evidence into ominously bat**** claims such as their fable that the Sandy Hook shooting was a “false flag” event orchestrated to take guns from American citizens (which, for what it’s worth, got them sued). That’s not flying saucertype stuff. And, after helping put Trump in office, InfoWars has essentially become a paranoid Trumpian cheerleader; meanwhile, the president himself spends his days on Twitter, floating outlandish tales about plots to bring him down. Conspiracy theorists, almost by definition, must only exist outside power, not embody power itself — when conspiracy theories come from upon high, it’s just called propaganda. It’s true that some of Art’s more conspiratorial leanings came with some slight toxicity, and less discerning people could at times take what should be harmless theories as fact. But like Orson Welles’s infamous “War of the Worlds” broadcast or Art’s own controversy surrounding the Hale-Bopp Heaven’s Gate story, Art could’ve never anticipated that. His intent was more to create a true “marketplace of ideas” and allow listeners to judge his guests’ dispatches from the fringe for themselves. Coast to Coast AM was about opening perspectives, challenging preconceived notions, and relishing in the same science-fiction kookiness that you’d find in a supermarket tabloid. Today, Bell’s successors are true believers who want you to drink the Kool-Aid along with them. This was never the original Coast to Coast AM’s intent. Still, Art Bell is like a lot of pioneering pop culture figures: An artisan who crafted a spectacular and wide-resonating formula, only for hacks to learn the wrong lessons from it, copy it poorly, and pump bull**** out into the world — it’s the same trajectory that took punk rock from CBGB’s to the Warped Tour. And maybe it’s fair to compare Art Bell to punk rock, for he was punk in his own way: a lone figure broadcasting from his DIY studio inside a double-wide trailer in the high desert, exploring the boundaries of the human experience for anyone who was awake and wanted to get weird (via NRC DX News May 7, published April 29, via DXLD) obit ** U S A. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY TO ACQUIRE 107.9 KUMT; RETAIN CLASSICAL ON KBYU - RadioInsight radioinsight.com After announcing last October that it would flip “Classical 89” 89.1 KBYU-FM Provo/Salt Lake City to its Mormon “BYU Radio“, Brigham Young University has reversed face and will keep the Classical programming in place. Instead BYU will acquire AAA “107.9 The Mountain” KUMT Randolph UT from Community Wireless of Park City for an undisclosed amount. BYU will place the “BYU Radio” programming currently heard online and on SiriusXM on the 107.9 frequency upon closing of the sale. The original plan was met with numerous protests as it would have left Salt Lake City without a Classical FM outlet. BYU Broadcasting today announced it has entered into a purchase agreement for an FM radio station that will allow it to broadcast BYUradio over the air in Utah. The move also means that Classical 89/KBYU-FM, a much-loved classical music radio station, will remain on the air in Utah. This fall, in an effort to simplify and consolidate its operations, BYU Broadcasting announced plans to focus all of its effort … [more] https://radioinsight.com/headlines/168061/brigham-young-university-to-acquire-107-9-kumt-retain-classical-on-kbyu/ (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT Here’s our list from stats taken from the WTFDA FM Station Database, of the most used radio formats on the air today. Now we are not necessarily talking about the most popular formats (although that could be said in most cases), but the formats used by the greatest number of radio stations in the US. When you’re hearing stations by skip this summer, keep this list in mind. What formats are you hearing the most? Here’s the list of formats with the approximate number of stations broadcasting that format: 1, RELIGIOUS TEACHING (3020), 2, VARIETY (2700), 3, COUNTRY (2170), 4, CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN (1930), 5, NEWS/TALK (1460), 6, CLASSIC HITS (1040), 7, ADULT CONTEMPORARY (930), 8, CLASSIC ROCK (780), 9, CHR (780), 10, REGIONAL MEXICAN (750), 11, SPORTS (750), 12, HOT AC (700), 13, ADULT ALTERNATIVE (480), 14, TALK (470), 15, CHRISTIAN CHR/ROCK (460), 16, ROCK (420), 17, CLASSIC COUNTRY (410), 18, OLDIES (370), 19, CLASSICAL (320) and 20, ADULT HITS (280). Are you surprised by some of the formats on this list? One surprise to me seems to be the Regional Mexican format in the #10 position. I’m also surprised to see the Rock format down at #16 but I’m not surprised to see the religious and country formats up at the top. Rock and active rock are almost dead. What you have here is a general list of formats. There are well over 200 formats in the FM database and many are combinations of two formats (News, News/Talk, News/Talk/Classical, etc). I do believe that you will hear your share of Country and Religious Teaching stations this summer (May WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) ** U S A. STORMY SEAS AHEAD FOR PIRATE OPERATORS - Radio World The authors are communications lawyers with Pillsbury [sic]. Since the government first began regulating the airwaves, it has struggled to eliminate unlicensed radio operators. In its latest effort, the FCC is taking a hardline approach to this illegal behavior and is partnering with local and federal law enforcement . . . https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/stormy-seas-ahead-for-pirate-operators (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** VATICAN STATE. 15595.006, The only single SW service of morning Latin pray from the Vatican Church, scheduled 0520-0600 UT in HFCC database, S=9 at 0544 UT in the Middle East, 11.5 kHz wide audio signal [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search, April 25 at 1143- 1145: 756, 828, strongest 846(2?), 1098. LSR was 1146 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1340, April 27 at 0102 UT, classic country music is dominating for a minute or two until silly baseball game takes over. Most of the 1340s around here are sports, including closest KGHM Midwest City = OKC, but I check them all in adjacent states to find three possibilities with C&W per the NRC AM Log: KAND Corsicana TX, KSMO Salem MO, KGKG Salida CO. FWIW, on the east-west antenna; a bit early for CO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4150-USB, April 28 at 0257, 2-way sounds like Russian, unfortunately semiblocked by a local device blob. Could be legit ship comms; 2002 Klingenfuss guidebook showed 4149-SSB as a worldwide simplex ship frequency, among many others nearby on band, but not 4150 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11810-USB, approx., April 25 at 0527, INTRUDERS, weak 2- way in tonal language. Band funxional with weak Brazilians, strong Enzedder on 11725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11885, April 25 at 0528, pop songs, language unknown, S2-S5 past 0531 when sounds like praise song in English. Only thing in HFCC is CNR at 03-12, 50 kW, 230 degrees from Urumqi. More specifically from EiBi: PBS Xinjiang in Uighur. Likewise Aoki/NDXC. Could it be a test from KNLS? Scheduled on 11885 only at 08 for an hour in Mandarin (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11885, April 29 at 0528, no signal, contrary to the praise/music I was hearing before and after 0530 April 25. Also not heard anything on some intervening dates. The only listee of PBS Xinjiang remains doubtful (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 11981.022, May 1 at 1351, dead air open carrier fading S9 to S7, making big het with 11980 CRI English via Kunming until it quits at 1357 after a couple minutes of Chinese lesson, while 11981+ remains on. Only other 11980 scheduled was DW in Hausa via São Tomé, also until 1357, but this is surely too strong to be that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13564.36 approx., April 25 at 1305, JBA beacon ID as RF continually. LWCA still has no location for this other than gridsquare EM96 which corresponds to WV or VA, but as of 4/18 log on 13564.330 http://www.lwca.org/sitepage/part15/index.htm Someone called Finman started it last November, explained here with lots of responses, 3 pages so far: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,38588.0.html Nothing about location of course, but ``glad it`s making it to the west coast``, where it must not be. BTW, HFU pages periodically display an ad for such cheap Part 15 mini-transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1928: Great show. Keep up the good work (David Cheever, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED FUTURELY: Note from Brian Scott Gamble: Hello Glenn. Thanks again for WOR. Just wanted to drop you another donation for the cause. All the best, Scott Gamble (via PayPal) Hi Glenn, I always enjoy your weekly DX Digest. Thank you for all the great DX years! (Michael Stone, Arlington Heights, IL. WWW.PixelXaos.Com via PayPal) Thanks to William Hassig, Mount Prospect IL, for a check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 (along with a `Black Collar Crime` report featuring The Overcomer, from http://ffrf.org ) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NORTH AMERICAN SHORTWAVE ASSOCIATION Just a reminder that the 45 Wildflower Road address is now closed. The club’s new postal mailing address is P. O. Box 3292, Allentown, PA 18106. All renewals, questions about your membership, etc., should be directed to Rich Cuff at that postal address or the following e-mail address: hq@naswa.net. In the interim, Rich Cuff has taken the April edition of The Journal to the printer for publication. The Journal should be mailed within the next few days. Consequently, May’s edition of The Journal should be published toward the end of the month. Our editorial deadline will be adjusted accordingly. We hope to be back on schedule by the following month. Your Executive Council would love to hear from as many members as possible about the future of our club (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet April 29 via DXLD) HANS KNOT INTERNATIONAL RADIO REPORT MAY 2018 The new edition of the International Radio Report is out now. In this issue, which is 32 pages long, you will find memories to Graham Gill, Ad Roberts and Jaap de Haan, all the three people who worked in offshore radio and died during the past month. We have more about the new super station United DJ’s, Clive Warner’s book is out and in the report a chapter about his time on the Mi Amigo and of course how to order the book. Furthermore, among other things, information about a video which brings us the Voice of Peace and of course many e mails from our readers. Enjoy yourself by downloading the pdf with the following link: http://www.mediapages.nl/imagespdf/reportmei2018.pdf Best greetings (Hans Knot, April 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TINY TRAP +++++++++ Talinn, and Estonia, are ``tiny``, since population is barely over a million, according to Richard Engel, originating from there on MSNBC, April 28 at 0101 UT, an otherwise scoopworthy report on Natalia whatshername admitting she was an informant. Estonia is still ``tiny`` from anchorette Megan Thompson and even a reporter from there on PBS News [half]Hour, 2138 UT April 29. Just how tiny is it? 1.3 million humans. Say that all 1,300,000 upright Estonians were arrayed in rank and file occupying an average of 4 square feet each. They would take up 5,200,000 sq ft. If in a square, they would measure 2280+ feet on a side. Look or walk around that aggrupation, and tell me again how tiny Estonia is. Swaziland, population over 1 million is also ``tiny`` according to a BBC World News reporter from there about the name change, April 27 after 2200 UT. 2018 figures show almost 1.4 million, and a very similar exercise could be carried out (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ KOREA NORTH MOVED AHEAD ONE SEMIHOUR As widely reported, at the inter-Korean summit on 27 April Kim Jong-un said he would move North Korea back to the GMT+9 time zone (the same as South Korea and Japan). North Korea only moved to GMT+8.5 in 2015. The change will make the times of NK broadcasts 30 minutes earlier according to GMT (Chris Greenway, UK, April 29, WOR iog via DXLD) By the way, until the Japanese occupation in 1910 year, the old Korea had the time of North Korea reinstated on 15 Aug 2015 {GMT+8 1/2 hrs}, and South Korea introduced this time zone in 1954, after the military coup 5 years later then again the Japanese time zone came into effect {GMT+9 hrs}. In 1910 til 1953 year Japanese occupation time zone was GMT+9 hrs (Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 30 via DXLD) GMT+9 is not the Japanese or South Korean time zone; it is the correct time zone for any country at that particular longitude (gh, DXLD) much more: see KOREA NORTH MAY 1 IS THE SPRING FESTIVAL AND LABOR. --------------------------------------- In Russia, May 1 is the Spring Festival and Labor. The country is practically not working this week. Only two days are considered workers. Radio listeners can devote more time to their favorite hobby - radio. May 7 - Radio Day in Russia. ---------------------------- St. Petersburg. May 7, 2018 at 15.30 (local time) at the monument to A.S. Popov on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue of St. Petersburg will host a traditional city rally dedicated to Radio Day and the 159th anniversary of the birth of the inventor. The meeting will be attended by representatives of executive authorities of St. Petersburg, heads of civil and military higher educational institutions (including the St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after Prof. MA Bonch-Bruevich), electronic media, museums, enterprises, public organizations, as well as radio amateurs, ordinary citizens and all those who are not indifferent to the memory of the great Russian scientist A.S. Popov. Over the years, members of the St. Petersburg DX Club also participate in the rally. After the rally to the monument of A.S. Popov will be blessed with flowers. The organizer is St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" named after V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin). The leader of the rally is the director of the Memorial Museum of AS. Popova, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation Larisa Igorevna Zolotinkina (Alexander Berezkin, St. Petersburg, Russia) Tomsk. The Tomsk Region. On May 7, TUSUR will celebrate Radio Day with the traditional "Radio BOOM". As reported on the site of the city administration, the holiday will begin at 18.00 parade-procession of university students. "Columns will pass from F. Lytkin street, 8 - along the streets of Nakhimov, Soviet, Training and Vershinin, then they will return Nakhimov to dormitories," the message says. After that, the traditional dumping of defective and outdated equipment from the windows of the building of the sixth hostel will take place. The festival will end with a gala concert near the Palace of Sights and Sports. The program will start at 20.00. On the stage will perform both local and invited bands. Source: tvtomsk.ru http://onair.ru/main/enews/view_msg/NMID__69003/ (via Rus-DX 29 April via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ 50 Years Ago – From the May 16, 1968 issue of DX News: Two nice DX Tests for May: WSNY-1240 NY & KWYS-920 WY. David Kulka of Greenbrae, CA logged & taped his first Floridian, rare WSAF-1220 Sarasota @ 1 kW! John Hoogerheide checked in from Chile, hearing WGBS-710, WINZ-940 & WFLA- 970 (Floridians all) & seldom reported ACA20 790 Canal Zone. Bill Alisaukas, Jr. of NJ is about to become a postal letter carrier @ $2.80 an hour. AFRTS-1340 Guantánamo Bay, Cuba is very strong evenings into Miami. Frog Hartloff NYS logged CMNS-1603 Isle of Pines, Cuba. Glenn Hauser clocked in from Albuquerque, NM listing KTOE-1420 MN as his latest. Controversial Richard Wood of HI said, “a PP/c (prepared card) is NOT a verie – a DXer has no business putting words in station’s mouths!” LOL. Al Slater (ENG) topped the countries verified list with 127, followed by PA’s Ben Dangerfield at 105, Roger Anderson-VA at 98, & the remarkable Hilding Gustafson’s 89 from landlocked IL! (National Radio Club DX News May 7, 2018, published April 29, via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WELCOME TO THE EDXC CONFERENCE 2018 Dear DX Friend, We would like to invite you to the EDXC Conference 2018 to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia on 31 August-2 September with an additional programme in Vienna, Austria on 2-3 September. Our conference hotel in Bratislava is Hotel West http://www.hotel-west.sk We have agreed the following special prices with the hotel: Single room for 49 €/per room/per night Twin bed room for 59 €/per room/per night Prices include: buffet breakfast, VAT, parking. City tax (1,70 €/person/night) not included in the price The rooms can be booked by sending an email to Ms Michaela Kvasnicková (hotel@hotel-west.sk). For the booking, please add following information in your message: - Dates - Type of the room (single/twin) - Code: EDXC (to get our special prices) There might be a possibility to book also triple rooms. Their availability can be asked from the hotel. The preliminary programme is as follows: All times in CEST Thursday, 30 August 2018 - informal gathering in the evening for those arriving already on 30 August or earlier Friday, 31 August 2018 - 1200 Registration will be opened - 1400 Opening of the conference - 1430 Lectures and presentations (to be confirmed) - 1900 Dinner on your own Saturday, 1 September 2018 - Breakfast - 1000 Tour in Bratislava and maybe Hungary, too, lunch during the tour - 1530 DX programme at the hotel (to be confirmed) - 1900 EDXC Banquet Sunday, 2 September 2018 - Breakfast - 0930 EDXC matters and future plans - 1100 Lunch on your own - 1200 Check-out, transfer to Vienna - 1330 Arrival and a tour in Vienna (possibly visiting radio stations) - 1700 End of the official programme, departures for those leaving already on 2 September - 1800 Free time in Vienna, accommodation and dinner on your own (possible hotels to be informed) Monday, 3 September 2018 (extended programme): - visiting radio stations and other places of interest in Vienna - departures If you have anything to ask, please, do not hesitate to contact Kari (ksk@sdxl.fi). More information and updates can be found on EDXC blog https://edxcnews.wordpress.com/category/edxc-conference-2018/ Once again, we would like to see you at the EDXC conference 2018. You are warmly welcome! (Kari Kivekäs, Secretary General of EDXC; Jan- Mikael Nurmela, Assistant Secretary General of EDXC, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ PEAK DISTRICT, DERBYSHIRE Location: those of you out there in radioland who are planning to visit the UK and into MW DXing, don't forget to visit the Peak District located in Derbyshire. Great place to visit, especially for MW DX listening, night or day (disclaimer: have nothing to do with the above location, etc.) (Jon Collins, Birmingham, middle of the UK! DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITION TO DITCHLEY, VA APRIL 22-24, 2018 While my wife was promoting a book in Rochester, NY I made a 2-night visit to Ditchley, VA for a short respite from our QRN-ridden suburban DC home. With a 160’ DKAZ pointed at ~ 135 deg. true North and fairly low levels of noise I tried to make the best of pretty mediocre conditions. The one exception was South Africa on 729 and 828 kHz at sunset on April 22nd. Cape Pulpit on 729 was carrying English language religious programming and for the first time ever I pulled a web stream parallel trick on Magic 828 with a George Michaels song. Thank goodness I brought along a couple of HF+ radios to listen live while the Perseus was monopolized by Mestor. Otherwise the fare was a good collection of stations from Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic but a disappointing showing from Brazil. Still going through the wav files but here’s a web page that gives an accounting of what I’ve heard so far: http://realmonitor.com/am_logs_ditchley.php (Bill Whitacre, Alexandria, VA, April 30, nrc-am gg via DXLD) Good catches there, Bill, especially the South Africans. 729 het has been here when it was too auroral for typical Spain but I've yet to pull audio. It should be doable since usual 730 domestic pests (mostly Montreal) would be suppressed by a degree of aurora to leave a jumble of weaker southerly stuff such as WLTQ, the Colombian, and the Cuban: none of which is particularly problematic right after WJTO sunset power-down. Roy Barstow does fairly frequent beach outings. He picked up the 828 South African in April on a stop at the Chatham (MA) Lighthouse. I suspect that he will have 729 before I do. 576 is the South African I've heard at the house. I think 702 could be another one to try. A lot of people quit DXing in the spring but I have found this season nearly as productive as early autumn for trans-equatorial routes. The guys on the West Coast turn their attention from Asia to Down Under / South Pacific this time of year, so why shouldn't we in the east be gunning for the deep Africans and South Americans? I need to get a narrower beam antenna like a DKAZ or Bowtie going here. If I set this roughly southeast on the forward lobe, I should be putting a solid null at pesty WCRN 830 Worcester, MA leaving HIJB and WEEU as the remaining interference to 828. Existing antennas (SuperLoops) have decent nulling within maybe a 20- 30 degree arc but I could definitely use wider than that. One antenna that kills 220 to 300 deg. and another that takes out 290 to 10 deg. would be true DX workhorses here. With the yard layout I might be able to squeak in one "double loop" type antenna of adequate gain while leaving one of the existing SuperLoops (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, MA, ibid.) COOK ISLANDS ULTRALIGHT DX-PEDITION -- ASIAN TP-DX LOGGINGS (PART ONE) Checking out transoceanic DX propagation at an exotic ocean beach site can provide the hobby thrill of a lifetime -- if a DXer is lucky enough to choose the ideal time, place and gear to make the chase. All of these fell into place in an amazing way during a 5-day trip to Aitutaki Island (2600 miles due south of Hawaii) with Ultralight radio gear, resulting in the reception of MW stations in India, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Cambodia (all at over 6,800 miles). Because of extensive QRM from Australia and New Zealand the total number of Asian stations received was limited, but it was definitely a case of quality over quantity. Phenomenal gray line propagation around sunrise shut down Japanese signals almost completely, but boosted up those from the exotic countries in east and south Asia. Korean station reception was limited to the big guns, which was also primarily true for Chinese signals. Except for the ANZ pest QRM, the conditions seemed custom-designed for a west coast DXer to go after the exotic stations which rarely -- if ever -- show up in BC, Washington or Oregon (even though the Cook Islands' distance to them is greater). Gray line [sic] propagation at sunrise was strong enough to bring in both 693-Bangladesh and 1431-Mongolia at S9 levels almost every morning on my Ultralight gear, and allow both 657-AIR and 918-Cambodia to break through ANZ QRM on April 12th. No doubt many more of these exotic stations could have been logged except for Australian QRM on 576, 594, 872, 883 and 1566, but this only added to the thrill of the chase. The overall results were exceptional for a DXer using only a 7.5 inch loopstick Ultralight radio and 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL -- all designed to fit within hand-carry luggage, and easily pass through airport security inspections. 657 All India Radio Kolkata, India, 200 kW (8,075 miles/ 12,995 km) Recorded by accident during a sunrise check of the Korean big guns at 1641 on April 12, reception of this longest-distance station went unnoticed until file review after return to the States. The female speaker (in the Bengali language) is the third station in the recording, after the female vocal music from Pyongyang BS and the Irish-accented male preacher from NZ's Star network. Her speech peaks around 40 to 50 seconds into the recording. The isolation of the Star network at the 55 second point was done by the Ultralight's loopstick, not by the propagation. Thanks to Alokesh Gupta for the language and station identification https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ix71clk446ad5d5bkzbn3e0q94fe18wu 657 Pyongyang BS Pyongyang, N. Korea, 1500 kW Like most east Asian signals the N.K. big gun sounded pretty anemic in the Cook Islands. Its female vocal music at 1641 on April 12th shared the frequency with NZ's Star network (Irish-accented preacher) and AIR's female Bengali speaker https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ix71clk446ad5d5bkzbn3e0q94fe18wu 693 Bangladesh Betar Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1000 kW (7,960 miles/ 12,810 km) Probably the biggest surprise of the DXpedition, with S9 signal peaks on 4 out of 5 sunrise sessions. Frequently snarling with the Oz pest 3AW, it usually managed a few minutes on top of the frequency each morning from 1630-1700 UTC. Exotic South Asian music was the usual format, and was very easy to distinguish from the talk- oriented format of 3AW (and other Oz co-channels). This first appearance at 1652 on 4-10 featured a "Bangladesh Betar" ID by a male speaker at 8 seconds into the recording (thanks to Chuck Hutton for listening) https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/94j756mjptm1fuaij381dw2wbsqkre91 This was followed by a lot of exotic music until 3AW claimed the frequency just before the 1700 TOH https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ltl5f8aeo5w2qm3bf2n02x06xsu9fb9r The next day (4-11) the exotic station was back with S9 peaks, including this typical music and female speaker at 1625 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/3fu4wo3efoj34dfjm4c6jvg4mzb3nrcv The exotic music from Bangladesh was in an S9 snarl with 3AW (and another Oz pest) from 1659 throughout the 1700 TOH on April 11th https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/pa29z92iqim2y6ps40qlv08q84gtxbqv 774 JOUB Akita, Japan, 500 kW Oddly enough, this was the only Japanese signal making it to the island during the entire trip. Mixing with a goofy-sounding 3LO announcer at 1613 on 4-11, the Japanese female speech concerns a "doobutsuen" (a "zoo" in Japanese, similar to what the frequency sounded like with the 3LO announcer) https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/57lu1aeb7u77kjwub1v7gr1id66xho7l 819 KCBS Pyongyang, N. Korea, 500 kW The N.K. big gun managed a potent signal for its 3+1 pips across its "TOH" at 1630 on 4-12 but never could shake off RNZ's Tauranga transmitter https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4x2b670b8p2b2edy9xw19ns1eftnbg1w 909 CNR6 Quanzhou, China, 300 kW Strong signal with CNR ID (1:08) and Mandarin speech by male and female announcers. NZ's Star network was apparently off the air at the time, since it was a real blaster when transmitting https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/kgvitthtofeqvphnve4yoi35q1nxfypn 918 RNK Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 600 kW (6823 miles/ 10,981 km) Breaking through the Shandong and Oz QRM at an ideal time to dominate the frequency, its sign off transmission with the National Anthem peaked just before the 1700 TOH on April 12. Female speech in the Khmer language and exotic music are featured just before the anthem (thanks to Hiroyuki Okamura and Jari Lehtinen for listening, and identifying the National Anthem) https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8ji74eayhau8ttjv25pv6zlmcnt0jyai Chuck Hutton's improved audio file of the same reception (thanks) https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/qams92h5ktn7ki93u3qlvbzvyl3y8rru 918 Shandong RGD Synchros (Multiple) The dominant Asian signal on the frequency, it rarely allowed Cambodia to sneak through. Here it is with female Mandarin speech at 1647 on 4-11 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ml1vqzmgl35q9gfzpzlsepvvmz1l1shw Shandong RGD's transmitters were poorly synchronized, resulting in the two-tone time pips at the 1700 TOH on 4-12 (during Cambodia's National Anthem at 1:40, in the MP3 linked below). Although actually from two different transmitters, the sound effect sounds similar to that of a "cuckoo clock," resulting in some initial confusion about their source https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8ji74eayhau8ttjv25pv6zlmcnt0jyai (TO BE CONTINUED) (Gary DeBock, WA, April 27, IRCA HCDX via DXLD) Is South America / Central America to Cook Islands simply a path that doesn't work? So far I haven't heard much about DX that way, which would presumably be happening at or just after sunset on the Cook Islands end (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, MA, ibid.) John Bryant (Easter Island) and Richard Wood (Hawaii) did OK to South America, so I expect there were factors at work other than propagation (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Hi Mark, There is no doubt that Aitutaki in the Cook islands can provide exceptional sunset DXing for stations in Central and South America, similar to what the sunrise sessions brought in from south and east Asia. There were a couple of factors which made it very awkward for me to spend some serious live DXing time to investigate this propagation, however. The ostensible reason for our trip to Aitutaki was to celebrate the 38th anniversary of our meeting in Hong Kong, and hobby time needed to be carefully balanced with time spent on my wife's favorite activities (especially snorkeling and lagoon cruise touring, both of which took up many hours each day). She also discovered that sunset pictures along the lagoon beach were unusually attractive in Aitutaki, with the coconut trees framing dazzling colors in the dusky Southern Hemisphere skies. As such, there was rarely time for dedicated sunset DXing to either North or South America during the trip. During these sunset photography sessions, I recalled John B.'s DXpedition to Easter Island (having complete freedom to DX 24 hours a day) with some chagrin, although to be honest, a DXer really does need to have some balance in enjoying other activities to appreciate the full beauty of a dazzling tropical island like Aitutaki. Every evening I would check propagation about two hours after sunset (after everything was dark), and during these sessions there were six USA mainland stations that crashed the DU-DXing sessions with powerful transoceanic signals. I wasn't really looking for these, but they all managed potent signals on the hot-rodded Ultralight alone, wiping out adjacent 9 kHz-split stations in NZ and Australia. These were 640-KFI, 1070-KNX, 1160-KSL, 1170-KFAQ, 1430-KMRB and 1640-KDIA. Receiving Hawaiian stations were pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel, so i really didn't go after them. Such are the realities of balancing a DXpedition with other vacation activities. The other factor was a 150m hill on the northern side of the island, strategically placed in between my lagoon DXing location and the South American location (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), ibid.) COOK ISLANDS ULTRALIGHT DXPEDITION -- ASIAN TP-DX LOGGINGS (PART TWO) This is the concluding segment of the Asian TP-DX loggings made on Aitutaki island in the Cook Islands chain (2,600 miles due south of Hawaii) from April 9-13 using a 7.5 inch loopstick C.Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight and a 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna. As mentioned previously, phenomenal gray line propagation during the sunrise sessions enabled the modest gear to perform like gangbusters, resulting in reception of MW stations in India, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Cambodia -- all at distances greater than those from typical west coast DXing sites. The gray line propagation also tended to shut down Japanese signals, and take out most of the Korean stations as well. In combination with extensive ANZ co-channel QRM, this limited the number of Asian stations received. 972 HLCA Dangjin, S. Korea, 1500 kW The South Korean big gun played the part on most mornings, including this S9+ Korean female speech at 1631 on 4-12 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/gynxilf8rpe762f0y5wbj85k0krh1dvb 981 CNR1 Synchros Changchun/ Nanchang, China, 200 kW/ 200 kW The first of three CNR1 frequencies which usually produced strong signals, this music // 1377 was received at 1624 on 4-12 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/tybl0tglmfqkec7u2u1udhgncd4sc5d5 1377 CNR1 Synchros (Various) Overall this was not only the strongest Chinese frequency on the band, but was the strongest Asian station on the band as well. Awesome S9+ signals were typical each morning, as with this male speech and music at 1622 on 4-12 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5eh6zami9876vajyjjfoaqz764lcmo1a Another potent signal from this Chinese blaster at 1640 on 4-12 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8jlbyscbxe4i8ed1n4admt01f66gt7jt 1431 Mongolia (Relay Station) Choibalsan, Mongolia, 500 kW This station was easy to receive on the first attempt, with very little competition on the frequency. It typically managed an S9 signal after 1630 daily with the BBC's Korean service, which seemed to be broadcast during the peak sunrise enhancement time in Aitutaki's ocean-boosted propagation. Here is BBC's Korean male announcer at an S9 level at 1632 on 4-11, with the BBC interval signal at 47 seconds into the recording https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/bfl4ohbfmhf9fdvfa6mx6jnxapaayk4a The Mongolian relay program prior to 1630 was also in Korean, with this female Korean speech at 1627 on 4-11 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5892chd20zbxs3w7r1q1f2qx39f6l7gm 1566 HLAZ Jeju, S. Korea, 250 kW A very poor signal was typical during this trip, with the Chinese service barely showing up under 3AW and two other DU English stations (probably 4GM and Norfolk Island). Whenever 3AW was in a fade it had a chance, since other two co- channels were running very low power. Here is the latter situation, with the weak Chinese barely audible under the DU English snarl at 1641 on 4-12 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/hysvrh4f7i8u16f3740ch5azam0iervx 1593 CNR1 Changzhou, China, 600 kW This was another Chinese blaster, with S9 signals typical every morning. Here it was at 1641 on 4-12 with male Chinese speech and music // 1377 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/unn7d4h3wa9ro7g7wespunkqeaay6f6e 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (DXing in Aitutaki, Cook Islands), 7.5 inch loopstick C.Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/oephl2ru7ejk31saxdq2tijqx9db0ros + 5 inch TSA-friendly "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna (Lagoon beach DXing setup photo posted at https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/p0om9fb2q1yvtq2ffgj3aquyz3seal4h ibid.) Gary: Gray line propagation is semi-defined here: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/greyline.html While a name is just a name, I would guess you had no gray line propagation (nor close to it) but were simply the victim of decent sunset conditions (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Viz.: The "grey line" is a band around the Earth that separates daylight from darkness. Propagation along the grey line is very efficient. One major reason for this is that the D layer, which absorbs HF signals, disappears rapidly on the sunset side of the grey line, and it has not yet built upon the sunrise side. Ham radio operators and shortwave listeners can optimize long distance communications to various areas of the world by monitoring this band as it moves around the globe. This map will automatically refresh every 5 minutes. The current time is - - -`` (via gh, DXLD) Thanks. I'll be happy to be a "victim" of this kind of propagation any time - I felt like I had won the TP-DXing lottery (Gary DeBock, ibid.) DXING AND CRUISING - PART ONE Today, I finally read through Walt Salmaniw's post a week ago describing his efforts of listening at sea. Nick Hall-Patch had suggested that I post a rundown after seeing my description while cruising back around the western Indian Ocean in December. First, I'll agree with Walt about how quiet ships can be once you're outside their superstructure. The major problem is to find a spot on deck out of the wind, and with enough light at night for scribbling notes. Then there's the curiosity factor. One on my latest trip -- see below -- was especially hilarious. Early last year while travelling from Sydney to Valparaíso, I was on an upper aft deck on the 'Sea Princess' in the late evening north of New Zealand, trying to determine whether R. Fiji had managed to activate 990 kHz. An officer suddenly appeared and watched me pace (in and out of the only lights) with the PL-380 for a minute or so before deciding I wasn't about to jump. I guess I was picked up by a surveillance cam somewhere. I tried to post all this as one piece but it failed to appear. So to two brief reports I sent off to the 'New Zealand DX Times': the first about a circle cruise out of Mauritius in December... and the second, an unforgettable segment from Cape Town to the Canary Islands in February. The receiver was a stock Tecsun 380: "I spent 14 nights on a circle cruise of the western Indian Ocean out of Port Louis, Mauritius during the second half of the month. I should have had Douglas Johns on hand to figure out what was going on in Mauritius as my 2016 WRTH listings for FM didn`t seem to match up with reality! Three AMers are active: 684 (in mostly brief daytime checks) had a good but not overpowering signal where I spent a couple of days pre-cruise on the SE coast, and was carrying Kool FM in French (the other French service on FM only was Radio One, pronounced as in English). 819 had a thumping signal at Blue Bay near the airport and appeared to be carrying Best FM in Hindi, plus short bursts of Chinese and 1575 was poor with BBC World in English. I`m guessing 684 and 819 still share a site near Curepipe so why there`d be a noticeable difference in reception is a good question. My taxi driver to the ship was an entertaining elderly gent who was intrigued when I asked about the station on his radio (Best FM). He pointed out the former MBC building as we passed through Curepipe but they now have a massive building closer to Port Louis, and just as importantly he pointed out the nearby Phoenix brewery after asking whether I`d tried the local beer! Do you need any answer to that? On board, my dinner sitting was late so any evening checks were in the region of 10.30 pm and later either 1830 or 1930 UT, depending how far west we were. Very casual observations basically boiled down to lots of Iranians and Arabic stuff on MW; VoA 909 from northern Botswana was a powerhouse along with the parallel on 4930. The Beeb on 3255 and Sonder Grense 3320 were easy pickings any night and once we were on East African Time/UT+3, my check turned up presumed Madagascar at very poor strength/modulation on 5010. Also surprising was how weak RN Angola was on 4950; ditto for ZBC/11735. Thurs 21 Dec, the evening before the ship`s call at Zanzibar, it was covered by a religious outfit in Portuguese till 2000 UT; is there really a 50 kW Brazilian called R. Transmundial as listed in the WRTH and Aoki? [yes]. A hugely dominant African on 6090 was presumably Kaduna. One evening only, 999 had a Slavic language (I can`t tell the difference between Russian/Ukrainian) and since returning home, I think that must have been TWR/Kishinev-Grigoriopol which is listed as having a weird schedule. Another evening, 4965 had Voice of Hope from Zambia thundering in with its American-style presentation, never to be heard again, till I realised after looking at Aoki that they use the frequency Mon-Fri only and my re-checks had been on weekends. Gee! The Friday morning in Zanzibar, I was on deck about 8 am and 585 and 6015 were definitely on air. During a shore tour, I asked the local guide during a stop north of Zanzibar Town about how far we were from Dole? Eyes glaze over, tourists ask strange questions -- till I mentioned ZBC ah, were in Dole the transmitter site was maybe ten minutes` drive away, but banana palms and other trees kept any sighting, um, out of sight. The first two calls had been in the Seychelles; I`d recalled there should`ve been a MW transmitter still on-air, but never heard it, so maybe it isn`t. The other major highlight (for me) was the call at Mamoudzou on Mayottes Grande Terre, in the Comoros. I took a ferry across to the old French colonial capital at Dzaoudzi and wandered to look for the now Mayotte Premiere location but never found it. Anyone with an old ORTF QSL card for 3331 will have a view of the causeway. The last call was La Réunion: no MW as the two transmitters (and the one on Mayotte) closed during 2017." Subject: [IRCA] DXing and cruising -\ part two And from February, with the funny part at the end of the second para as long as the formatting holds: "As some already know, I took off back to Africa in early February when the chance to take a cruise calling at St Helena couldn't be resisted, even if credit card and bank account were s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. Flying to South Africa from the UK meant just a day in Cape Town for the usual tourist trip up Table Mountain which was clouded over until after I was back down! The only radio note was an SABC office location in a business / apartment complex south of the CBD and strangely no obvious sign of any towers for TV or FM in the heights above the city. During 21 days on the ship, I did manage a few evenings out on deck after late dinner. Observations were really quick, just noting educated probables rather than definite loggings, but I was surprised at how much the stock Tecsun PL-380 dragged in on the Saturday evening 10 Feb just before the first call at Lderitz in Namibia: a pile of the Botswanans (mostly poor or fair -- but no sign of VoA/909 just after 2100 UT) and I think all the higher-powered South Africans plus Lesotho/639 and TWR Swaziland/1170. More startling was stuff from further northeast: TWR/1233 Cyprus good signal with ID as well as probably Sawa/990 also Cyprus and a definite Sawa ID on 1548/Kuwait, along with presumed Saudis on 882/1449/1467/1512, that last one at very good strength. But the big puzzler was Chinese on 1098 at fair level -- and yes, as a Good Vancouverite I know Mandarin when I hear it! The obvious probable would be Golmud in western China as one source lists it with CNR1 before 2155 UT. The next major evening check around 2130 UT Wednesday 14 Feb was midway between Walvis Bay and St Helena, so basically due west of Angola, and a lot of the same stuff was still around, though not 1098; two quirks were fétbol in Spanish on 738 and 855, probably RNE but amazing to me being so far south. And French showed up on 1566, likely TWR/Parakou though it wasn't there previously during the Saturday check. The final major MW sweep was around 2230 UT Sun 18 Feb, the night before Ascension Island, and reception was changing... and causing noisy confusion on the 380 as 9- and 10-kHz channels were battling as Brazilians appeared, some very good such as 580/1220/1260/1350/1440/1600. Shortwave evening sweeps had, what else, Chinese on any band! 4800 in Mandarin ~2245 UT suggests Golmud again and a puzzler on 4885 in an Asian language, sort of like Korean, but not definite. The SABC's Sonder Grense on 3320 was a staple all the way, even up into the Canary Islands on the last night -- their daytime frequency of 9650 was easy pickings till after Ascension when Guinea ruled the roost with a massive signal. RTG seemed to stop programming at either 1100 or 1130 UT (I had other things to do during the day) but left the carrier on, but after a lunchtime broadcast seemed to turn the transmitter off 1400/1430-ish, allowing Sonder Grense to show up. Channel Africa/9625 also appeared mid-mornings in the early going. Presumed ELWA/6050 had BBC World at 1515, and later in the evening I caught it signing off with an anthem at 2230 even though it was a weekday. One puzzler was a Really Huge Carrier on 9635 the same afternoon ~1440 UT between Ascension and Dakar – there was either suppressed audio or a station underneath of African origin -- and jumping to a conclusion I'd say Mali as their claim to fame for me on 5995 at home has been low mod. However, having said that, later at 1900 UT, RFI (Aoki lists Issoudun) was on the frequency with the same massive carrier but normal modulation, and the African was still underneath. I doubt RFI would have a transmitter on with OC for so long. And a little tale connected to that: I was approached by a Senior Officer while dangling my feet over the rail with the Tecsun antenna into the sky. He struck up a conversation and wondered what I was hearing – I explained about Conakry/9650 and the Beeb's towers we'd seen on Ascension, which satisfied his curiosity but as he was about to walk away, he remarked his wife had told him that someone was fishing over the rail of the promenade deck. You couldn't make that up if you tried! Now to Jamestown on St Helena: I had resurrected my rather scruffy Radio St Helena Day T-shirt (from the 1992 broadcast) for wearing on shore, intending to visit what is now South Atlantic Media Services. First order of business was to climb Jacob's Ladder, 699 steps up the cliff above town. While recovering at the top, I fell into conversation with some local women who were collecting charity donations from unsuspecting tourists from the ship. They asked about the T-shirt and how I'd obtained it, and then remarked that I'd just missed Tony Leo, former station manager at RSH, as he was using his car as an extra taxi for the day. I thumped back down the 699 steps (worse than going up -- thighs were ruined for days) and after some wandering, decided on a Windhoek Draught at a tavern. Unbeknownst to me, the bartender had also noticed the T-shirt and just as I was about to go exploring some more, in tore this local guy, looking around expectantly. I sort of jumped to a conclusion, and sure enough it was Tony. As all the shore tours arranged by the ship had been sold out, I hadn't managed to get out of Jamestown but Tony drove me up to Longwood House, built for Napoleon's exile on the island, and afterwards decided he wanted a short interview for possible use by SAMS. And he then delivered me back to the quayside. Three days later, the call at Ascension produced a bonus. Landing is by tender but the swell was too dangerous at the quayside steps. As a consolation, the Captain decided on a clockwise circuit of the island which allowed for a fair viewing of BaBCock's antenna facilities out on the northern tip away from Georgetown. Once back at anchorage in the early afternoon, the swell had calmed enough for passengers to land, though I was on the last tender at 4.30 and got the last back from shore around 6.30 pm. Landing permits severely restrict access beyond the settlement so even if we'd had the whole day on shore, I wouldn't have even seen as much as the circuit provided. A shore tour of Dakar was interesting -- one stop turned out to be across the street from the main RTS compound behind a high concrete wall but with several billboards showing why. And later, the tour bus got caught in traffic outside a second building which appeared to be the RTS-FM location. And talking of FM, sorry Douglas, I didn't do much tuning around though did notice at Praia on Cape Verde that RFI Afrique is indeed on 99.3 MHz." 73 (Theo Donnelly, ibid.) Do any US stations make it to any of the western Africa locales where you sailed? Mauritania 783 and Canaries 621 are sometimes "blowtorch" level here on Cape Cod around sunset (as were now-gone Senegal 764/765 and Guinea 1386/1403/1404 in the old days). The guitar strumming on Mauritania at top-of-hour makes it stand out from several other Arabic language stations on 783: https://app.box.com/s/ns3aud9mair8kdh9japhnlmkbhv4zr3z NE US to West Africa coast seems like a low-loss path, less land and less auroral activity in the way than from here to northern Europe. I'd think that there would be a pretty good chance of the big NYC stations getting across as well as some out of FL as well. Brazilians, as you mention, should be fairly numerous. R. Itatiaia 610 has been particularly good here lately: https://app.box.com/s/mas9yjqvd1ldf5qfckwdvbfv6yhi4gh2 You should also get the 1030 Argie (R. Noticias del Plata) which sometimes pesters WBZ only about 55 miles away from here: https://app.box.com/s/oyrrwtxgcsbve9tbs5gh2tw6txg6i9o1 VOA Botswana 909 does indeed go off at 2100 UTC as heard on this recording here last November: https://app.box.com/s/724khhz6khcx72b0if8x1n39iztwc5ji VOA São Tomé 1530 should have been smokin' loud most of where you went. It's not half-bad here in MA: https://app.box.com/s/tv29mbjl81wqwjgia7gplbjoyfd77vaf (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, IRCA HCDX via DXLD) Hi Mark: Well, as I remarked, it wasn't a serious attempt at DXing but just time to make a few observations. Cruising is a very social activity and as my dining was at the late (8.30 pm) sitting, the table was seldom finished much before 10.30 pm. Looking back at my rough notes for the first night while listening just after 2100 UT/11 pm Central African I do have 1530 scribbled as 'vy good'! I just got sidetracked with the surprise of the 380 reaching so far so easily up into the Middle East and beyond. I'd been watching out for 783 and made a note of what was likely it on the second major night's sweep as fair at 2200 UT by which time the ship was on UT + 1 so again 11 pm. As for 621, dunno... I never wrote anything down even though the two presumed RNE's on 738 and 855 made it south. The Tecsun definitely did not like the listed 300 kW being pumped out at a few km's range once tied up in Santa Cruz de Tenerife... it was swamped. And if you take into account the times I was listening... mostly around 2100/2200 UT for MW... that would've been too early for eastern seaboard stuff from the US... 4pm/5 pm EST. On the last stretch, two days/three nights from Cape Verde to the Canaries, we were under a storm watch with predicted 6m/20-foot swells (which in the end never got to more than 4.5m head on) but the wind was just too strong to be comfortable out on deck in the dark. 73 (Theo Donnelly, BC, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BULLETIN, HD SIDEBAND SIGNALS HAVE BEEN CRACKED. YouTube user Rob Fissel has uploaded a nice video that demonstrates the iBiquity HD Radio decoder working with an RTL-SDR. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/video-demonstrating-the-ibiquity-hd-radio-decoder/ (amfmtvdtvbrla, Southeastern Louisiana, April 30, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) So this means you can use radio software for your computer to listen to HD Sideband signals? Does this also work for services like Alert FM and Radio Reading Service that use sidebands of stations? (Rrrrzzzz419, Currently DXing In Colbert And Lauderdale Counties In AL, And Alcorn And Tishomingo Counties In MS, ibid.) Interesting. Looks like it's a standalone program (not a plugin for other SDR software, which means I can't use it with the RSP1). I didn't realize FCC facility IDs were encoded into the HD Program Associated Data. I note WCBS's facility ID is wrong in the video, it's supposed to be 9611, not 21; WNEW's, however, is correct.. No, this isn't going to decode Alert FM or Radio Reading Service. Those are VERY different technologies. (Alert FM is part of the Radio Data Service or RDS; Radio Reading Services are analog subcarriers) (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com ibid.) There was a presentation on this subject at the SWL Winterfest in early March. This involves not listening to the HD but rather decoding the base data which identifies the station, etc. Here's a sample of what comes out, courtesy of Brett Saylor, W3SWL for his only HD local ( yes, many of us are eating our hearts out over that ): 04-25-2018 Frequency 91.5 Subchannel 0 13:49:11 DEBUG pids.c:114: Station Name: WPSU-FM 13:49:11 DEBUG pids.c:103: Country: US, FCC facility ID: 21 13:49:13 INFO output.c:326: Title: Classical Music 13:49:13 INFO output.c:326: Genre: Frequency 91.5 Subchannel 1 13:49:34 DEBUG pids.c:114: Station Name: WPSU-FM 13:49:34 DEBUG pids.c:103: Country: US, FCC facility ID: 21 13:49:35 INFO output.c:326: Title: BBC News 13:49:35 INFO output.c:326: Genre: Frequency 91.5 Subchannel 2 13:49:56 DEBUG pids.c:114: Station Name: WPSU-FM 13:49:56 DEBUG pids.c:103: Country: US, FCC facility ID: 21 13:49:57 INFO output.c:326: Title: Jazz Radio 13:49:57 INFO output.c:326: Genre: Frequency 91.5 Subchannel 3 13:50:18 DEBUG pids.c:114: Station Name: WPSU-FM 13:50:18 DEBUG pids.c:103: Country: US, FCC facility ID: 21 13:50:18 DEBUG pids.c:114: Station Name: WPSU-FM (Russ Edmunds, 15 mi NW Philadelphia PA, WB2BJH -- Grid FN20id, ibid.) That video is a good guide on how to run the program - it was very easy to get working. I have it running on Linux (Raspberry Pi) and Windows 10 with a $20 RTL-SDR dongle. Right now it's a command-line program that will decode and play the audio from a single HD channel at a time but, since the source code is published, someone will probably create a version that works with other SDR radios, and maybe work in a windows environment. I wrote some shell scripts to scan the entire FM band and save the output to a file for later analysis - my goal is to use it during skip season to search for HD stations like people do with RDS Spy now. I ran it in Allentown PA last weekend and collected data on the HD stations there. I want to go through that to look for ways to make my scripts run faster without missing HD decodes (Brett Saylor W3SWL, State College, PA, ibid.) My guess is that 21 is a default of some equipment or a placeholder? @tuxcator sent me a video of decoding XHFMTU this way and it also had 21 as its "facility ID" (Raymie Humbert, AZ, ibid.) It certainly looks that way. There is no station whose facility ID actually is 21. It seems a bit strange to place this in the HD datastream. The "Facility ID" is a creation of the FCC. Ibiquity has attempted to sell HD Radio technology in other countries - and has of course succeeded in Canada and Mexico. The standard says "FCC Facility ID (USA only)" without specifying what you do if you aren't in the USA & don't have one. It says a facility ID is necessary for data service scans to work properly. (which leads me to wonder if it accomplishes nothing on stations that aren't running data services - i.e., most stations) (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) There is a number that Mexican stations could conceivably use. All Mexican broadcast and telecom authorizations in the RPC have a folio electrónico number, like this: FER048191CO-105500 The R means radiodifusión (telecom auths are FET). The next six numbers are unique. CO for COncesión (there's also PE for PErmiso). The last six-digit number identifies the concessionaire and is shared across multiple stations owned by the same company. (This is XHCHA-FM Chihuahua). (Raymie Humbert, May 1, ibid.) Looks like the first number (the 048191) would be a suitable ID. The facility ID must be numeric but it only needs to be unique within its country (there must be only one 048191 in Mexico but there can be another one in the USA). A country ID -- same as the international telephone dialing code, i.e. 1 for USA -- is also part of the PAD (Doug Smith W9WI, iid.) Yup, that'd be perfect because those numbers are unduplicated (Raymie, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See COOK ISLANDS; USA: WOR; REF: Metronic ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM: Shootout ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also CUBA! MEXICO ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RIP WCMZ-TV/WFUM-TV, REPACKING CASUALTIES/SELLOUTS Digital / ATSC: RF and PSIP 28. WCMZ Full scale here since the tower is only 19 miles away. It signed off at 11:59 PM but I started watching at like 11:55 PM. The last show was BBC World News. Then they showed text with a voice over announcement explaining the reason for the shutdown, played a bunch of footage of natural resources / recreation areas in Michigan and people enjoying them with elevator music over it, then more text mentioning the sign off, then fade to black. RIP WCMZ-TV/WFUM-TV, 1980-2018 (Tom Doerr, Mt Morris MI, MARE Tipsheet 27 April via DXLD) A photo from (non MARE -- does anyone know him?) Gary Flinn presumably from Flint area as posted on YouTube. ... RF&PSIP 28. 28.1 WCMZ Flint MI 11:56pm 4/23 had TV on in other room. Heard program credits so went to see. I had previously noticed 28.1 running filler material instead of normal station breaks with program promos. Also had previously noted lack of CMU logobugs. WCMZ had been running plenty of crawl announcements about leaving the air. Around 11:57pm repeated a filler with scenes of presumed Tahquamenon Falls. 11:59pm had slate with shutdown annoucement. Saw it go to black screen, and then my converter box's "no signal" message came up. RIP TV-28 August 1980 - April 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmY-UFHOYqQ Not fun like an analog-TV offage; push the button --- get snow/static, which I did a few hundred times at 28-WFUM years ago (Larry Russell, Flushing MI, MARE Tipsheet 27 April via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ A VERY STRANGE LITTLE RECEIVER --- METRONIC 477221 Hi everyone, Whenever I go to the local shopping centre, I always spend some time looking at the new TV sets, hi-fi equipment and of course radio sets. Now over the past ten years or so you could only buy FM-only or AM/FM sets here in France. These are probably the same as those meant for the North-American market, including the inappropriate FM de-emphasis (75 µs as opposed to the European 50µs standard). The wrong de-emphasis isn't much of a problem as these sets are not meant to be hi-fi equipment. What is more serious is the choice of MW as the only AM band. Medium Wave here is quite useless, the only remaining AM-stations in the country being on LW, except for Bretagne 5 on 1593 kHz. Of course a DXer will find the MW band interesting, but you don't use a set worth 30 euros as a DX-machine. You just use it to listen to local stations and enjoy the programming. Yesterday I had more time to spend than usual, so I didn't just look at the sets but I took the boxes and read the specifications. There was one nice little red-and-black-coloured pocket receiver (Ref: Metronic 477221.) marked "Metronic Radio FM". But in smaller print it also said "Grandes Ondes" (French for LW). Wouah! At long last a manufacturer had realized that there was a market for LW-receivers in France! I immediately purchased one, not that I needed another receiver but rather to express my support for the initiative. When I arrived home I eagerly opened the box and found receiver with a few very interesting features. It has a timer and can be used as an alarm-clock. It displays the time when off and also when on, which is certainly more useful on that sort of receiver than the frequency. It comes fitted with a BL-5C rechargeable battery, a model that can be easily found in shops, since many mobile phones use that type. But more interestingly, there is also provision for 3 AAA cells. So if you can't recharge the battery, you just remove it and insert 3 cells instead. I must admit I had never seen anything like that. The specifications say there are 50 memories per band, which is of course useless on LW, but on FM the scanner found and stored 56 stations at my location. All Metronic models do so. 50 is just an average of what can be picked up on FM at any given location. How many stations they can actually store remains a mystery. On LW the scanner only picked up the stronger local stations during daytime, but at night it also found and stored Antenna Satelor on 153 kHz, BBC Radio 4 on 198 kHz and RMC on 216 kHz, which I thought was nice. I hadn't expected as much of a receiver in that price class. So far, so good. Yet, somehow, I didn't feel comfy with that receiver. It had something strange about it. I had to play around with it for quite a while to define what it was. Well, normally you expect a receiver using a ferrite bar to receive AM to be able to null out stations by rotating it in the appropriate direction. But not that one. Of course the ferrite bar is very small in a 12*7cm box, so it can obviously not null out stations fully, but still... There was no difference, no matter what direction you rotated the set. And suddenly I realized what it was. The ferrite probably isn't fitted horizontally but vertically. If you lay the set out flat and rotate it there is a null, and even a rather deep one at that, if you consider that the bar can only be about 5 cms long (make it 2 inches) at the outside. An of course leaving it in that position considerably improves reception compared to the "normal" position. I also found it to be pretty sensitive on FM. So, all in all, a rather unusual little receiver but certainly very good value for money indeed. https://www.metronicstore.com/recherche?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=477221&submit_search= 73, (Rémy Friess, France, April 25, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Does it work on MW? 73 (/Andrew Brade, UK, ibid.) No, just LW and FM. 73 (Rémy, ibid.) In that case, very strange indeed! Why would someone market a receiver that works on LW and FM but not MW? 73 (/Andrew Brade, ibid.) Because it’s aimed at the French market and there is just one private MF station in Bretagne (which is often off the air). (Stuart Satnipper, ibid.) Exactly. And it is exactly what is needed here. And it seems to be a huge success. When I bought mine a few days ago there were about 20 boxes left, and also about 20 MW/FM models. This morning I went to the shopping-centre again, so I had a look. The 20-odd MW/FM sets were still there but there was only one LW/FM receiver left. Concerning Bretagne 5, I don't expect it to remain on MW very long. The transmitter is often out of order and the overwhelming majority of their listeners listen online anyway. Also their initial idea with MW was going digital as soon as possible. At that time many thought DRM would replace AM on MW in the near future. As we now all know DRM is a big flop. So why go on using MW? Regards, (Rémy, ibid.) XHDATA D-808 PORTABLE I just received a new toy: the XHDATA D-808 portable. I have been watching it on the Aliexpress.com Chinese site, but it usually says NO SHIPPING TO USA. One recent Saturday it said FREE SHIPPING to USA and I ordered one shipped for under $75 with coupon. It took about 3 weeks to arrive. It's smaller and lighter than my Tecsun PL-660 and Sony 7600GR. Rather than AA batteries, it uses a single Type 18650 lithium rechargeable via a supplied USB cord. Also came with a carry pouch, 9.5 foot antenna wire & instruction manual. Actually, the crappy manual just shows the features and you are on your own to figure them out. Took me half a day to change temp reading from C to F in the display. But once you get over the quirks and start operating this baby, it really shines. Unlike the 2 bandwidths on the PL660, the D-808 has 6 for AM and SSB. Audio is pleasant and some stations come in better than on my IC-7200. FM has RDS info in the display. This one is a keeper and will be my new travel portable. I'll run it through more tests before the Moscow- St. Petersburg cruise in June (Don Hosmer, MARE Tipsheet 27 April via DXLD) RECEIVER REVIEW: TECSUN PL-880 AND SANGEAN ATS-909 SHOOTOUT Edwin Lowe VK2VEL Tecsun PL-880 test receiver courtesy of Al Hirschel VK2OK. Tecsun PL-880. A Brief Review. Released in November 2013, the Tecsun PL-880 multiband portable receiver has been a significant presence in the crowded portable multiband receiver market. The flagship model of the Tecsun portable range, the PL-880 is arguably one the best value for money portable receivers available, both in terms of style and design –– with a clear nod to the Grundig Satellit 500 and 700 styling –– and more importantly, being simple and intuitive to operate, and with a performance that is hard to beat. All this, in a radio that lands at your doorstep from at anywhere from $220 to $250. Every radio has its pros and cons, and the PL-880 is no exception. This review is not intended to be an in-depth review of the PL-880’s design or performance, since this has been already been done many times before, and all freely available on the net. Neither can this review be considered a comprehensive technical review, since it involved no scientific test equipment other than the two receivers on the side of my head, and the central processing unit in between! That said, the salient points of the PL-880 can be summarised briefly. Year produced: 2013 to present, with two firmware releases (currently 8820). Frequency coverage: 100 kHz-29.99 MHz, 87.5-108 MHz. Filter bandwidths: 0.5 kHz-9 kHz (see below). Tuning steps: 10 kHz, 9 kHz, 1 kHz, 10 Hz. Power: 3.7VDC lithium rechargeable battery, charged on- board with a 240VAC/5VDC USB charger. Weight: 520g (less battery). Manufactured: China. Cost: $220-$250 [Australian, presumably] Sensitivity is excellent, with excellent reception using the whip antenna. This indicates a ‘hot’ receiver –– and indeed it is––but on the SW bands at least, there is no problem with overloading when the supplied wire reel antenna or an outdoor external antenna is connected. This points to a robust, well designed front end –– a far cry from the likes of the Sony ICF-2001 and ICF-2001D (2010) which threaten to overload if you even think about connecting an external antenna to them! MW however, was a different story –– see below for further details. Selectivity is perhaps the best to ever grace a portable receiver, with a wide range of DSP based selectable filter bandwidths to satisfy the SWL and DXer. In AM mode: 9.0 kHz 5.0 kHz 3.5 kHz 2.3 kHz In SSB mode: 4.0 kHz 3.0 kHz 2.3 kHz 1.2 kHz 0.5 kHz This is an outstanding selection of filters bandwidths, which provide great audio fidelity both in AM and SSB (the latter when used in ‘ECSS’ tuning, ie tuning an AM signal in SSB, using the 4 kHz setting), as well as a range of useful narrower bandwidths. All this, don’t forget, is in a portable receiver! These filter bandwidths make the PL-880 a wonderful receiver for both SWLing listening pleasure, and the greater demands of DXing. The PL-880 has a layer of hidden functions, buried in the menu and not advertised or explained in the user’s manual, but discovered by users and publicised online. Most appear to be utility or service functions, but others appear to be unsuccessful or unrealised design functions, such as the selectable side band synchronous detector. Synchronous detection can be selected from the hidden menu in either USB or LSB modes. The performance however, is not great, with poor detector lock resulting in howling and screeching as the detector locks and unlocks on the signal as it fades in an out. No wonder the function isn’t advertised! This is no great loss, since ECSS tuning using the widest SSB filter bandwidth of 4 kHz provides near AM fidelity even on the more marginal signals that might otherwise have called for a functional synchronous detector. Design and styling is not only attractive, with that Grundig Satellit 500 & 700 influence, but it is also very ergonomic and functional. Prominent on the right hand side are three separate tuning, fine tuning and volume control knobs. The separate tuning knobs are a great touch, allowing the user to quickly and easily coarse and fine tune (down to 10 Hz steps in SSB). The buttons operate a mostly single menu layer, with the occasional dual layering of menu settings. Also prominent is the large speaker grill on the front face, hinting at the excellent audio quality and fidelity that the PL-880 is capable of producing, with deep and rich tones. The performance and value for money of the PL-880 is even more significant, when it is realised that Tecsun is a Chinese company, and that it is marketed under its own brand name, and not one of Tecsun’s OEM products sold under the Grundig and Eton brands (eg Eton/Grundig Satellit 750 and Tecsun S2000). This marks a significant shift in consumer electronics technology over the last 10 to 15 years, where consumer technology is not only manufactured in China, but increasingly, as the Chinese consumer technology sector matures, is designed in China and marketed under Chinese brand names. In the portable receiver field, this is a manufacturing shift away from Taiwan (having itself overtaken Japan as the portable radio manufacturing base in the 1990s) to China. The portable radio market in the present day very happily offers a dizzying variety of many products, dominated by Chinese manufacturers –– very much at odds with the trending decline of international shortwave broadcasting. The result of all this is that top of the line performance is available under Chinese brand names, at a fraction of the relative cost of Japanese, European and Taiwanese brands of the 1980s and 1990s. Hmmm, a new radio. Could I? Should I?... I have been reading and watching the various reviews of the PL-880 for some time now, and I have been very impressed by the reviewer’s assessments of this radio. However, I have a long serving (20 years) Sangean ATS909 that still functions flawlessly, and while not without at least one significant quirk, is otherwise an almost flawless radio –– almost. There is no way that I could justify buying a PL-880, no matter how well it is reviewed, certainly not while I had a perfectly functional ATS909. Or could I? Could I replace the ATS909, considered by some to be the bench mark portable multiband radio for the DXer, with a new PL-880? How could I take the risk of buying a new radio and maybe ending up with a comparative dud, particularly at such expense? Happily, fortune smiled and answered my question! Recently, a fellow amateur radio operator asked for my recommendation and help with buying a multiband portable, and given his requirements, it was hard to pass the PL-880. Duly purchased, it was a perfect opportunity for me to give the PL-880 a good going over to satisfy my own curiosity, and to conduct a comparative review –– a shootout –– between the Tecsun PL-880 and ‘old faithful’, the Sangean ATS909. Sangean ATS909 Retro-Review Years produced: 1996-2011. Purchase date: 1998. Cost: $399 from DSE (the equivalent of $657 in the present day value!!). Frequency coverage: 153 kHz-29.99 MHz, 87.5-108 MHz. Filter bandwidths: 6 kHz & 4.5 kHz. Tuning steps: 10 kHz, 9 kHz, 1 kHz, 40 Hz. Power: 6VDC (x4 AA batteries). Weight: 880g (with batteries). Manufactured: Taiwan. Ergonomics are excellent and very well thought out, with styling and design clearly influenced by the Sony ICF-SW55 and ICF-SW77. With a remarkable 15 year production run (only to be replaced by the updated model), the ATS909 has established a firm reputation as the benchmark portable multiband receiver for the DXer. Fully featured with excellent performance, the ATS909 is noted for both a significant design error, and design virtue in the same circuit. Rather infamously, the ATS909 is ‘slightly deaf’ when the telescopic whip is used to receive SW signals, with relatively poorer performance in terms of pulling in weak signals (in a side by side comparison with the Sony ICF-2001, a famously ‘hot receiver’). The whip is adequate for receiving fair to strong broadcast stations, and I have even used it to receive amateur DX stations i.e. VK stations (theoretically 400W maximum) while I was in China, but in terms of weak, difficult SW signals, it's a relatively poorer performer, especially in this price class. The reason for this deafness turns out to be an impedance mismatch between the whip antenna and the antenna input circuit. While this is a serious design flaw, which can be successfully remedied by a 4:1 impedance transformer modification, the sensitivity on MW and FM using the internal ferrite rod and whip antenna respectively is superb, hinting at the potential sensitivity on SW with an external antenna. Once connected to an external antenna however, even with the supplied reel antenna extended 2m indoors, less than a third of its full length, the ATS909 is a completely different beast on shortwave, pulling in weak signals lost to the telescopic whip. However, when connected to a properly designed outdoor external antenna, the ATS909 displays exceptional performance, approaching or even equalling that of a lower end communications receiver, ie without the bells and whistles of passband tuning, DSP etc. Certainly I rate the ATS909 superior to the Icom R72 –– I first bought the ATS909, then bought the R72, then sold the R72, while keeping the ATS909. This exceptional performance with an external antenna extends to the MW band (via a correctly wired antenna input plug which bypasses the designed-in attenuation of the external antenna on the MW band), where the radio, with its famously robust front end, combined with the well thought out variable RF gain control, is free from overloading that plagues just about every other portable with an external antenna on MW, and often even on SW. The Sony ICF-2001 for example, with its famously hot receiver, easily overloads on SW with an external antenna. On MW, the Sony will overload simply with inductive/capacitive coupling as my hand touches the plastic radio chassis or goes anywhere near the telescopic whip. I recently used my ATS909 on a 160m full wave loop in the field, and on my 80m OCF in the Sydney urban RF environment on MW without the slightest hint of overloading. It is this robustness and capability to use external antennas, coupled with the well chosen filter band widths, which make the ATS909 the ideal portable for the DXer or discerning SWL. Other multiband portables may be well championed, when based on certain yard sticks, such as the Sony ICF-2001D (ICF-2010 in North America) and its famous synchronous detector. Others such as the Sony ICF-SW77 have a well deserved reputation for performance, providing one is able to afford it –– $1250 in 1991 – yes, a portable receiver –– and still commanding upwards of $1000 second hand in the present day! The ATS909 may not command the same rave reviews as the two Sony sets, but under everyday situations in crowded bands and electrically noisy urban environments, it is just as good, if not better for the DXer digging out weak signals, the lack of a synchronous detector and the poorly designed telescopic whip antenna notwithstanding. Comparative Testing The ATS909 vs PL-880 shootout takes the form of six sets of comparative tests, followed by a general assessment. The comparative tests take the form of the most common forms of usage for DXing in an urban environment, and the most realistic home use situations. 1. SW DX in an urban environment, indoors with high RFI. The indoor location chosen is a particularly tough environment for man-made RFI. In a home office situation with laptop, monitors, printer, ADSL modem, all with respective power supplies and LED downlights. The radios were physically located in the worst QRM location, in the middle of all the electronic devices. The reel antenna extended 2m indoors in the same area. RNZI, 15720 kHz, 0218. Tecsun: Weak, but with very clear audio. Very sensitive on whip antenna, no reel antenna needed. Sangean: Very weak with whip antenna, reel antenna needed to provide the same level of performance as the Tecsun. AIR, Bangalore, 13695 kHz, 0228. Tecsun: Very weak, barely audible and not intelligible on whip. Reel antenna increased RFI QRM significantly, with no appreciable difference in the signal quality. Sangean: No signal on whip. Reel antenna raised reception to the same level as the Tecsun with its whip. CNR 2, 15500 kHz, 0300. Both very poor, almost inaudible. Tecsun was almost intelligible with the whip. Both had very high noise with the reel antenna. 2. SW DX in an urban environment, indoors with low RFI. The location was chosen to be specifically lower in local man-made RFI. The reel antenna was extended 2m indoors, but relocated to a lower RFI location. The location is in the same home office space, but about 3m away from the previous location with significantly less RFI. Laptop, monitors and LED downlights were turned off. CRI, Beijing, 11750 kHz, 1115. Very strong signal Tecsun: very strong with clear, strong audio on whip antenna. Sangean: Slightly weaker than Tecsun, but still a very strong signal received, with clear, strong audio on whip antenna. Signal strength increased to same level as Tecsun when the reel antenna was connected. CNR 1, Beijing, 7345, 1715. Weak signal. Tecsun: Weak on whip, very poor audibility, with strong hissy noise. Reel antenna was needed and once connected, increased signal strength and good audibility. Sangean: Very weak on whip, almost inaudible, but with less noise than the Tecsun. Reel antenna increases performance to the same as the Tecsun, again with less noise on audio. 3. SW DX in an urban environment, outdoor external antenna. CNR 1, Beijing, 7345 kHz, 1715 (as above) Both radios were moved to the main shack location with significantly lower household RFI, and connected to an external outdoor 80m OCF dipole. Signal strength was significantly improved, with no overloading on either radio. A strong heterodyne, possibly from 7350 kHz was evident. Changing the Sangean filter from 6 kHz to 4.5 kHz, and the Tecsun filter from 5 kHz to 3.5 kHz (the next filter width down in AM) eliminated the heterodyne. However the audio fidelity was much more greatly reduced on the Tecsun compared to the Sangean, with both wide and narrow filters used being narrower than those of the Sangean. When the desired signal was tuned in SSB mode (ECSS reception), the audio fidelity was essentially the same, since both radios were using a 4 kHz filter (the widest filter for SSB on the Tecsun). 4. MW DX in an urban environment, internal ferrite rod and external outdoor antenna. There are two ‘go to’ MW DX frequencies in my location in inner SW Sydney. 909 kHz CNR6 Shenzhou zhi sheng (300 kW) and 837 kHz CNR5 Zhounghua zhi sheng (1000 kW), both transmitting from Quanzhou, Fujian province, China. At this location, both CNR stations can be heard regularly all year round. 909 kHz is a clear frequency in Sydney apart from CNR6, and 837 kHz is co-channel with 4RK ABC Rockhampton, and can be heard at varying strengths, at times over the top of 4RK. The external outdoor antenna is an 80m OCF dipole. It is pointing almost exactly end on at the transmitter location at 320 degrees. CNR 6 Shenzhou zhi sheng, Quanzhou, 909 kHz, 1342. Tecsun: Comparatively lower signal strength with internal antenna, but intelligible and clear audio. 80m OCF dipole increases noise, probably both QRN and RFI with no appreciable increase in the desired signal. Sangean: Comparatively much stronger signal with internal antenna, much more intelligible and stronger audio. 80m OCF dipole increases the desired signal significantly to comfortable listening strength, at signal peak. CNR 5 Zhonghua zhi sheng, Quanzhou, 837 kHz, 1516. Tecsun: CNR5 almost inaudible with internal antenna, with 4RK clear and strong. 80m OCF dipole causes overload, with images of 2RF Rete Italia (Gosford) on 801 kHz dominating over fluttery ABC, probably from a multi-phased combination of ABC outlets on nearby frequencies, with 828kHz 3GI, 819kHz 2GL, 810 kHz 2BA, all well received, and very possibly other nearby ABC frequencies in NSW, QLD and VIC. The OCF dipole is also roughly, though not exactly pointing end on towards 2RF. For reference, the Sony ICF-2001 behaves in exactly the same way, when the telescopic whip is extended (the whip is connected to MW on the Sony), or when a reel or external antenna is connected. Sangean: CNR5 clearly audible and intelligible under 4RK with internal antenna. 80m OCF dipole increases the signal strength and intelligibility of both CNR5 and 4RK, with no sign of overloading and images. At one point, 4RK faded out for a short period, and CNR5 was being received at a stronger level than 4RK at its peak, with easy comfortable listening. 5. FM with telescopic whip 89.1 MHz 2BLU Radio Blue Mountains Tecsun: Better signal to noise than Sangean. 90.9 MHz 2PNN ABC Illawarra Tecsun: Noisier with hissing when the signal becomes fluttery Sangean: Better audio clarity under the same conditions 91.8 MHz. Unknown, unassigned weak transmission of Easy Hits Radio, a DAB station of the Southern Cross Austereo group. Perhaps a neighbour with a low power repeater? But why repeat a DAB station on FM? The transmission appears to be 10-15 secs ahead of the webstream, but I don’t have a DAB receiver to compare that stream. Signal was heard on the Tecsun, the Sangean and on a Selena B206. Tecsun: very noisy and hissy. Sangean: Much more audio clarity. 6. Amateur Bands in SSB with both whip and indoor reel antenna. In general, tuning in the amateur bands yielded essentially the same results as the SW broadcast bands, both with the whip and external antennae on both sets. What is more critical here is the relatively lower power of amateur transmissions, which makes the relative deafness of the ATS909 with its whip antenna much more noticeable. However once the external antenna is connected, there is nothing really to distinguish the two receivers, as SSB performs solidly and flawlessly on both. The essential difference lays in the fact that the ATS909 tunes at 40 Hz steps in SSB, whereas the PL-880 tunes at 10 Hz steps, at the finest setting. While there is little effective difference between the two when zero beating 5 KHz wide AM broadcast signals, there is a much more pronounced difference in the amateur bands, where the SSB phone bandwidth is 2.3 kHz and the CW bandwidth is a mere 500 Hz. Here the PL-880’s ability to tune 10 Hz steps, coupled with the much wider range of DSP based filter bandwidths, allows a much, much, finer resolution of tuning, enabling a perfect zero beat capability of a CW signal––such as the VK2RSY CW practise beacon used in the test––or of a SSB phone signal, equal to that of communications receivers in the class of the Kenwood R5000 or Icom R75 (if not better by virtue of filter bandwidths), or indeed some modern amateur transceivers. Like the older R5000 and R75, the ATS909 is limited by the physical filter component––in the case of the ATS909, a broad 4.5 kHz in the narrow setting. While a 4.5 kHz filter may be considered the ‘perfect’ SSB narrow filter choice for SWL or broadcast band Dxing when tuning in ECSS mode, it is much too wide under crowded amateur band conditions. Performance Summary The Tecsun PL-880 appears to be all that it is said to be in online reviews, with very few vices. There are reviewers online who do criticise the poor synchronous detector performance, but given that Tecsun has never advertised this as a functional capability, I think this being unrealistic and excessively critical. As usual, the reviewer’s personal expectations, or context failure overshadows the receiver’s true performance. The PL-880 is pleasure to use, with easy ergonomics and easy, intuitive operation. The Sangean ATS909 remains, 22 years after the model’s release –– once its well-known vices are accounted for –– an extremely capable DX receiver, and under certain conditions, equal to, or better than, the more recent PL-880. The PL-880 receiver is sensitive on all bands and displays excellent weak signal reception, using the internal ferrite rod on LW and MW or the telescopic whip on SW and FM. On SW, the PL-880 easily manages an external antenna, be it the supplied reel antenna, or a full sized 80m OCF dipole. On MW, an external antenna presents clear problems of overloading, perhaps not unexpected with a ‘hot receiver’ in the crowded Sydney RF environment. To be fair though, there was no attempt to tune the OCF dipole, and a tuned antenna such as the tuned loop made by Tecsun, may yield a different result. However, the result of the comparative test remains valid. The ATS909 on the other hand, is ‘bomb proof’, capable of handling an external antenna on SW and critically, on the crowded MW band without overloading, yet displaying a sensitivity that excels at weak signal reception. The much discussed design flaw of lower sensitivity with the telescopic whip is very obvious, yet the exceptional MW performance with the internal ferrite rod is a virtue much less discussed, and I look forward to testing the ATS909’s MW performance with a tuned loop antenna. The audio quality from the PL-880 is excellent, providing that the signal is a fair to strong signal. The audio is sonorous and room filling, with rich and booming tones, making it a pleasure to listen to, across the spectrum of popular to classical music on FM. Audio is excellent on MW and even on SW. When the received signal is weaker however, the PL-880 does tend to offer a more sporadic audio quality, compared to the somewhat muffled audio of the ATS909 that remains rock steady across a much wider range of conditions (that said, my ATS909 suffered the infamous speaker failure about 8 years or so ago, necessitating a replacement speaker from Kiwa Electronics). With the PL-880, weaker signals tend to produce much noisier audio with a hissy quality, across the range of SW, MW and FM bands. Perhaps this is a software issue through DSP and noise reduction functionality? The PL-880’s DSP based filters offer an exceptional range of bandwidth settings for a portable receiver, and are generally well chosen to provide a rich audio experience at the wider settings, and more utilitarian functionality at narrower settings. What is lacking is a tried and tested 4 kHz filter in AM mode which provides a richer audio combined with a useful narrow bandwidth; and a wider, say 5 kHz SSB filter, to provide AM fidelity in ECSS tuning. That said, the wide range of filter bandwidth choices, coupled with the 10 Hz SSB tuning step, offers ideal performance on the crowded amateur bands. The ATS909 features much more limited options with only two filter options available, but at 6 kHz and 4.5 kHz, are the very well chosen indeed, offering both excellent fidelity and selectivity for broadcast signals in both AM and SSB modes. On the crowded amateur bands with much narrower transmission bandwidths, the narrow 4.5 kHz filter and much coarser SSB fine tuning step of 40 Hz of the ATS909 is much less capable than the PL-880, and this is a reflection of the age gap between the two. When the ATS909 was released in 1996, its SSB capability with a 40 Hz tuning step was undisputedly supreme amongst portable receivers, significantly better than the mythical Sony ICF-2001D (ICF-2010) –– shock horror –– with its very coarse 100 Hz step. The PL-880’s light weight construction makes it an ideal travel portable. However, its non-standard sized lithium battery, charged on- board via a USB charger, might pose some challenges to recharging when travelling off the beaten track, or in the developing world with poorer power infrastructure, requiring more complex, space and weight costing charging solutions (vehicle charging adapter, solar charger etc.) In contrast, replacement AA batteries for the larger and heavier ATS909 can be purchased almost anywhere. In summary, the PL-880 is very much a portable with high level performance, with wonderful audio, at an exceptional value and affordable price. Despite it being a portable receiver, I suspect that there are few better choices for the discerning general SWL currently available on the market. For the DXer, the PL-880 offers remarkable performance in a portable radio. Despite its age, the ATS909 continues to deliver performance that compares very favourably with the newer PL-880, which speaks volumes for its over 22 year old engineering and design. Verdict So down to the point of the comparative testing and the question posed: “Could I replace the ATS909, considered by some to be the bench mark portable multiband radio for the DXer, with a new PL-880?” The answer is both yes and no. While both receivers display exceptional and very similar performance, despite the over 20 year gap in technological development between the two, there is yet the significant matter of sensitivity with the ATS909’s built in whip on SW, and the matter of the PL-880’s overloading with the external antenna on MW. If I were a frequent traveller who enjoyed portable bandscanning, SWLing or casual DXing ‘on the go’; or if I were ‘a SWL and a mostly casual, but sometimes serious DXer who enjoyed good audio’; or if I were a serious DXer who wanted a high performance portable to add to an existing stable of ‘desktop receiver’ or fully featured communications receiver; I would have no hesitation in choosing the PL-880. The light weight, small size, high performance, audio listening pleasure and sheer value for money makes the PL-880 the obvious choice. But, but, but….if I were a serious DXer, interested equally in SW as much as MW, and who intended to use a portable as a primary field and DXpedition receiver; and/or I could only afford to own one higher performance portable as my main DX receiver, I would choose the ATS909 over the PL-880. I just would not need the sensitivity of such a hot receiver through the whip antenna in a RFI flooded urban environment–– I would use a properly designed outdoor external antenna. I would prefer the flexibility of standard format AA batteries, available anywhere in the world, rather than be dependent on complex charging solutions of a USB charged, non-standard lithium battery. Under these admittedly exacting criteria, the ATS909 is a narrow winner. However since it is now several years out of production, it would have to be the successor model, the Sangean ATS909X, an updated model that carries over all of the virtues and some of the vices of the original model. When I first purchased my ATS909 in 1998, I was firmly in this latter category. I was a serious DXer and discerning SWL, getting back into radio hobbies after many years away with studies and life, and buying my first fully featured receiver with direct entry and digital read out with my own money –– a distant dream for my earlier and poorer teenage self. Now, 20 years later, I use some much more capable and complex radios in my shack, but I still have my ATS909, and it is still my trusty portable field and travel receiver, having carried it through the Europe and Asia over several journeys, and DXpeditions at home across the range of Australian environments and weather. So will I be replacing my old ATS909 with a new PL-880? The answer is no. But if the ATS909 ever fails, I would probably replace it with the PL-880, and be very, very happy with it. As usual, your mileage may vary (May Australian DX News via DXLD) AM PORTABLES MEGA SHOOTOUT - 2018 UPDATE https://radiojayallen.com/am-portables-mega-shootout-2016-update/ Sent from my iPad (Dennis Gibson, April 27, IRCA HCDX via DXLD) A monumental work. Incredible! (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Has anyone done any real international DXing with the top rated models like the CC Radio 2E? I'm curious, since the Tecsun family seems to be at the bottom of the ladder (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) A BRAND NEW RADIO --- SONY ICF-P26 I went into Walmart for a $4 prescription and ended up buying a Sony ICF-P26. It’s a good pocket radio and runs on 2 AA batteries.. Its the first radio that I have seen that is of any type in aeons there. If we want to be able to buy new radios we have to buy new radios where we see them. This one is new in the box for $19.88. It won't break the bank. AM is good and FM is better. This is better than most if not all radios in the price range. Its analog and very easy to use. I like mine and find it far superior to the Sony MK10. It has a 1 1/2" speaker an antenna for FM and a wrist strap if you want to put it on. $19.88 at Walmart. Go get one (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, May 1, ABDX yg via DXLD) Yep; I use it a station monitor I can slip into my pocket or anyplace convenient. It holds its own, even on the transmitter cabinet. lol (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, ibid.) SDR vs TRADITIONAL DXING Some robust comments from members regarding remote SDR listening over the Web vs traditional DXing. As a reminder, the original words (from Craig Seager at the header of the April Trail) were: "Some items follow, heard by people with remote receivers. We don’t have a firm policy (yet) on how to treat these, as in my naïveté I had not considered that people would seek to DX this way – though many folk have used the internet for some time as a reference, to confirm that something distant is indeed active. Interested in peoples’ views, but I think our core activity will always be sitting in front of an actual receiver, whether it be conventional or software defined". Veteran New Zealand Dxer, Tony King offers the following: "I share your sentiment strongly, and am disappointed that the emphasis now being placed on much DX listening in NZ is via fixed communal SDR receivers rather than NZ DXers simply dialing up on the own equipment. I've been Dxing now for 65 years and believe the core activity has been using your own combination of receivers and antennae and your 'skills' to get enjoyment and sometimes surprises from this hobby. The surge in NZ is now to use a fixed based SDR in Northland (if you don't have one yourself), log a station you may not hear on your own gear (Alaska), send a reception report and expect a QSL. They THEN enter these QSL's in competitions for which they have made no effort!" "The whole skill, fascination, satisfaction is now lost if you simply dial up your PC. This is not radio DXing. Last year a member in the DXL logged and requested QSL's using SDR's in other countries - posing as a listener in that area and requesting a QSL by email so that his rx location was not identified". "I've not reported stations for years - they are all captured on cassette/PC file as my QSL's and my proof of each exciting occasion - and they date back to the 70's. I hope this comment is of interest. I attach some samples from my library. Best 73" Tony also sent along some fascinating off-air recordings, which are too large to embed here, but we’ll find a way to link them in a future ADXN! Rob Shepherd (Toowoomba) has kindly onforwarded an e-mail that he original sent to Bryan Clark of our sister club, the NZRDXL, in response to a similar discussion there: "Via NZRDXL Dxdialog, you made some good observations re SDR and the benefits it could bring to older retired DXers and potentially attract new members (bring back some aging ones)". "Those well considered comments resonated with me (hey I’m not old) as some SWL / DXers, including a few I know, have downsized kit, or sold kit as they need the extra funds for living costs, etc". "So SDR certainly isn’t a gimmick, it has practical application depending on a person’s needs. For me I generally access SDRs for 1 of 4 reasons: (a) checking propagation conditions in other locations, (b) verifying if a station is operational, (c) confirming a low audio station I’m hearing is actually the one I believe it is, e.g. last Monday reception of Marconi Radio International on 6970 kHz USB 1000 Watts, (d)allows tuning to a station one would never hear in their own DX location". "This is my opinion only, but beyond the above I don’t class my SDR efforts as REAL DXing, just a bit of fun, e.g. Found a good public domain SDR website and accessed systems in U.K., Paraguay, Brazil (Rats Island !) and Argentina. That exercise enabled me to hear UK SDR (Radio Caroline plus others), Paraguay (certain LA SW stations), Brazil (Radio Bandierantes, etc.); Argentina (Argentine Coastal Naval Maritime station in Ushuaia on 2065 kHz – I guess classed as a ute), and ever hopeful of LRA36 15476 kHz, RN Arcangel S. Gabriel, Antarctic Base at around 2100 UT". And this from Bruce Churchill, in the U.S. "First, I believe there is a misunderstanding of the difference between “Internet listening” and “remote receiver DXing”. Not among all, of course but in some quarters at least. “Internet listening” consists of going to a station’s URL and listening to a live radio stream. As you mentioned in the Bulletin, an excellent way to ID a parallel station on shortwave. In fact, I used this just last night to positively ID Mongolian Radio on 7260 after tuning them on SW at 0849. I actually used this mode of listening to hear Radio Nauru and even tried getting a QSL that way – just to show you how bad the QSL scene is these days, even that brought no response! ?? “Remote receiver DXing” on the other hand, requires the same skills that are used on your home rig(s) – understanding tuning, receiver optimization, using station schedules, unidentified stations, propagation factors and careful listening. But in addition to these, there are additional challenges: on some networks having your receiver “hijacked” in the middle of a rare DX recording session (Global Tuners); on other networks (Perseus, KiwiSDR), having the internet connection intermittently drop, requiring some innovative strategies to compile accurate logs/times, etc., or being unable to establish a connection at the critical moment because the receiver is “busy”; and perhaps most importantly, understanding shifting propagation factors across the globe. In regard to the latter, my biggest “tool” is a program called “DX Atlas” which gives me a real-time gray-line picture anywhere in the world. On my own receiver, this is hardly necessary. Another tool I find very useful is a program called “Pizza”, a freeware application that computes great circle paths from anywhere to anywhere on the globe. Thus I can compute the “DX value” of a reception using remote receivers. For example, WRMI in Okeechobee FL is not exactly a DX catch in Southern CA, but when heard from a remote receiver in NZ or Australia, becomes a bit more challenging. Sometimes the DX target broadcasts at a time that will never be heard in Southern CA, so no matter the distance, still becomes a decent DX target". "So…what have I gained from using remote receivers? Access to stations that just would not be possible otherwise, including MW stations; “the thrill of the chase” so to speak, which matches anything I’ve done on my own rig; a richer educational experience in learning in-depth information about other countries; thousands of recordings of stations that are both good DX and those that provide better-then-normal reception from remote locations; and finally, extending my enjoyment of a hobby that is declining each year. So, in my view, while remote receivers may be taking advantage of today’s internet and software technologies unknown in the 1970’s/80’s heyday of DXing, this mode if listening should be considered as normal in today’s world as sitting at your own rig – and every bit as challenging. Over the years, many DXers have travelled on exotic DXpeditions to excellent listening sites all over the globe – remote receivers are a “virtual” form of DXpeditions without the travel and cost headaches. I value my remote receiver QSLs as much as any I’ve received – it’s not how I heard the station, but the archival value of the station or a special broadcast that provides value. My country and QSL totals are modest by any standards, but what has always brought the greatest joy to my hobby is the education in geography, languages, music and cultures from around the world and the opportunity to meet new people (DXers and radio personalities) and create new friendships". "Thus is my view on this aspect of our hobby. Don’t necessarily mean to justify this view, but more to provide an insight into what “floats my boat” about remote receiver DXing. If you would like to view my Powerpoint “Show” on this topic as presented to two DXer fests in the past year, here is a link to the show: https://goo.gl/acynFU This link is direct to the shared file – it does not require www.box.com membership. This file type is not supported for preview by www.box.com but the Show can be downloaded and viewed off-line. Feel free to share with the Club, again as you see fit. I don’t know if this is feasible, but it would be interesting to try a webinar to share this at an ARDXC meeting sometime… Cheers, Bruce W. Churchill" So there you have it; some differing views from three highly respected DXers. No doubt it is a debate that will continue (May Australian DX News via DXLD) AMATEUR RADIO - NEW 630-METER BAND REPORTED “VERY BUSY” ARRL 04/24/2018 http://www.arrl.org/news/new-630-meter-band-reported-very-busy Amateur Radio got two new bands last year, but is anyone actually using them? Ralph Wallio, W0RPK, of Greenville, North Carolina, and others who took part in ARRL’s WD2XSH Part 5 Experimental operation or have a deep interest in what now is the 630-meter band, 472–479 kHz, say activity is picking up on the new allocation. Wallio has been maintaining an informal database tracking the activity of stations on a state-by-state basis, as well as how many states each station has worked. Topping the list is Eric Tichansky, NO3M, in Pennsylvania, with 36 states worked on 630 meters, and 35 confirmed, including Hawaii and Alaska. NO3M, who also operates as W3CDX, reports 8 DXCC entities worked on the new band. Wallio said his list will be updated weekly. “During the past 6 months our list of stations in the US participating in QSOs on 630 meters has steadily increased to 108 stations across 39 states,” Wallio told ARRL. “As of mid-April 2018, we have 6 months of operating experience over the past winter. Our 630-meter band has been very busy.” Wallio said modes frequently used for 630-meter contacts include CW, JT9, WSQ (weak-signal QSO), and FT8 with occasional additional digital mode experiments and SSB. Numerous US stations are also participating in WSPR beacon transmission, reception, and reporting on 472 kHz. “An analysis of the past 30 days finds 59 stations occasionally transmitting 630-meter WSPR beacons in the US,” Wallio added. Transatlantic and transpacific contacts on the new band also have been reported. John Langridge, KB5NJD, posts a daily discussion of 630- meter operations and conditions. He advises stations operating on 630 meters to upload their logs to Logbook of The World, so 630-meter operators participating in the 2018 ARRL International Grid Chase (IGC) can receive credit. Another WD2XSH participant, Rudy Severns, N6LF, discusses LF-MF antenna design on his website, with notes. An archive of 600MRG discussions also is available (via Mike Terry, WOR iog via DXLD) IS THIS WHAT FM TRANSLATORS ARE COMING TO? Someone told me recently that translator stations on FM only have to give a legal ID three times per day. Is that true? I noticed recently that one of my local translators, K222CT with relays KICK 1340, has completely given up the AM aspect in all announcements. They have gone full blown billing, themselves as "92.3 KICK" and at the TOH they are jamming the K222CT id between commercials or wherever they can squeeze it - the translator calls ID is like three seconds. I never hear them say anything about their AM frequency anymore, which makes me wonder if it sounds like an FM station over on the AM side? I don't listen to AM radio so I can't verify if its actually a simulcast of the AM. Also, one of the local TV stations provides their weather forecasts and even the meteorologist says something like, "that's your weather update for 92.3 KICK". There are ZERO mentions that they are connected to an AM radio station. Is this the intention of the FCC and what an FM translator for an AM radio station is suppose to sound like? IF SO, I don't even understand why they have an AM license anymore ((Jim Thomas, Springfield, Missouri, April 25, WTFDA gg via DXLD) Translators don't have to be aurally IDed at all, actually - if they ID once an hour by frequency-shift-keying their carrier in Morse Code. Those that choose to ID aurally must do so, as you note, three times daily, once between 7 and 9 AM, once at 1 PM and once between 4 and 6 PM. This is actually a very old part of the legal ID rules. What good does it do for 99.999% of average listeners to hear "K222QC, East Tinwhistle"? It means nothing to them. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Jim, what you describe is very common among AM's with an FM translator or two or more - they sell the FM because 1) people don't listen much to the AM and 2) the translator often has much better coverage of the target area. It ain't the way it used to be, but it's the way it is now (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, Grid FN20id, ibid.) No, I don't despise AM radio. I just don't listen to it as a rule - other than a few sports stations I like. But I have nothing against AM radio in itself. For the record, I am currently listening to KICK 1340 and it is exact same broadcast that is on 92.3 - the 4 pm ID on 1340 was for the FM side and nothing was said about AM radio. All station promos are for the 92.3 frequency now. I guess they are not promoting their AM signal anymore (Jim Thomas, MO, ibid.) The reason most of these guys get FM translators is because their AM is dying/not making any money. So now they have their translator and don't need the AM anymore so why promote it? I bet they'd love to just turn it off if they could and I bet that happens sometime in the future (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) At least in Canada they didn't play any games. Stations that wanted to move from AM to FM simply asked and it was approved, with a 6-month simucast. That was it. The only AM's left will be ones in the large metros where the FM dial is too crowded. I don't think they care anymore about extended AM coverage into remote areas since the FM's have pretty good range, and they can just pop in a few low-powered translators to cover remote communities. It's a shame the stations have to play games in the US. The FCC should just let them shut off the AM already. A lot of the real estate is valuable (B. Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) But it’s not that simple, Bill. Too many FM stations have been allocated in the U.S., along with too many translators. In major cities, the FM band is already overloaded. With the FCC’s current policies, we’d need another 10-20 MHz on FM just to accommodate the AM stations switching to FM, and the FCC won’t do that. That agency worsens the clutter, seemingly with every ruling they make. Their latest proposed fiasco is loosening the translator interference rules. That might work if HD was eliminated on FM (along with the accompanying translators), but that won’t happen either. When an agency basically is controlled by the industry it purports to regulate, it becomes out of control. Many AM stations _should_ go away, but then their owners wouldn’t be content with low-wattage translators, maybe with the exception of more rural areas. – (Rick Lewis, ibid.) True, Rick. But since they're already shoe-horning in the FM translators - and the folks running the stations seem fine promoting their being on FM with no mention of AM, it would seem that the station owners are fine swapping an AM station for a low-power FM station. There's tons of them showing up in New York State. I'm just saying they should be given the option of shutting down the AM in these cases and stop pretending they are an AM station with an FM translator when they are in fact an FM station saddled with an AM station they're not allowed to turn off. I'm not saying this is true for all of the AM->FM translators, but for a big chunk of them, I think so. Of course we all agree the FM band is being (or is already) trashed wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/fm-translators-and-boosters#ID Identification of translator and booster stations. Translator stations must be identified by the licensee by the following means: 1. ... by arranging with the primary station whose signal is being rebroadcast to identify the translator by call sign and location. The identification must occur 3 times daily: once between 7 AM and 9 AM, once between 12:55 PM and 1:05 PM, and once between 4 PM and 6 PM. Stations that do not begin operating before 9 AM must provide the identification at the beginning of the broadcast day. The licensee of the translator station must arrange for the primary station to keep in the primary FM station's file (and to make available to FCC personnel), the call sign and location of the translator station. This record must include the name, address, and telephone number of the translator licensee or his service representative to be contacted in the case of a malfunction of the translator. See 47 CFR Section 74.1283(c)(1). 2. ... by transmitting the call sign in Morse Code at least once hour. See 47 CFR Section 74.1283(c)(2) for additional requirements for transmission of the call sign in this manner. (Rick, W1RJC ("Richard J. Cabral, W1RJC" Apr 26 12:41PM -0700, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2018 Apr 30 0140 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 23 - 29 April 2018 Solar activity was very low. The strongest event of the period was a B2/Sf from Region 2706 (N03, L=281, class/area Dao/130 on 22 Apr) on 24/2145 UTC. The region slowly decayed to plage by 28 Apr. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available coronagraph imagery. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit were at high levels on 23-24 Apr, normal to high levels on 25 and 28 Apr, and moderate to high levels on 26, 27 and 29 Apr. The slowly decaying elevated levels were enhanced from CH HSS activity prior to 23 Apr. Geomagnetic field activity was mostly quiet with isolated periods of unsettled observed on 23 and 27 Apr. No notable disturbances in the solar wind were observed. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 30 APRIL - 26 MAY 2018 Solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels over the outlook period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 30 Apr and 07-26 May. Normal to moderate levels are expected from 01-06 May. Enhancements in electron flux are expected due to the anticipation of multiple, recurrent CH HSSs. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to range from quiet to G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm levels. Quiet conditions are likely to persist until the arrival of the first of two negative polarity CH HSSs. Unsettled conditions on 06 May are likely to increase to G1 (Minor) storm levels on 07 May before decreasing to active on 08 May and finally unsettled over 09-10 May as the CH HSS wanes. Quiet conditions are then likely to persist over 11-16 May until the arrival of the second CH HSS. G2 (Moderate) storm levels likely on 17 May during the onset of the CIR ahead of the HSS. Unsettled to active conditions are likely on 18 May as total field strength decreases to around 5 nT with the HSS proper. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected over 19 May as solar wind speeds slowly taper off. The remainder of the outlook period is expected to be mostly quiet under a nominal solar wind environment. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2018 Apr 30 0140 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 2018-04-30 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2018 Apr 30 70 5 2 2018 May 01 70 5 2 2018 May 02 68 5 2 2018 May 03 68 5 2 2018 May 04 68 5 2 2018 May 05 68 5 2 2018 May 06 68 8 3 2018 May 07 68 15 5 2018 May 08 68 12 4 2018 May 09 68 10 3 2018 May 10 68 8 3 2018 May 11 68 5 2 2018 May 12 68 5 2 2018 May 13 68 5 2 2018 May 14 70 5 2 2018 May 15 70 5 2 2018 May 16 70 5 2 2018 May 17 70 42 6 2018 May 18 70 12 4 2018 May 19 70 8 3 2018 May 20 70 5 2 2018 May 21 70 5 2 2018 May 22 70 5 2 2018 May 23 70 5 2 2018 May 24 70 5 2 2018 May 25 70 5 2 2018 May 26 70 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1928, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL DYING +++++++++++++++++++++++ ASSISTED DYING IN THE U.S. https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21741174-hawaii-becomes- sixth-states-allow-doctors-give-lethal-medication-some (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, DXLD) ###