DX LISTENING DIGEST 19-02, January 8, 2019 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 1964 contents: Alaska, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Congo DR, Cuba, Germany, Greece, India, Iran non, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Netherlands non, New Zealand, Oman, Perú, Russia, Sudan South non, Thailand, UK, USA; and the propagation outlook SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1964, January 8-14, 2019 Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 [1963 replayed] Tue 2030 WRMI 7780 [1963 replayed] Wed 0930 Unique 5045-LSB NSW Australia low-power [confirmed] Wed 1030 WRMI 5950 Wed 2200 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v [confirmed] Thu 0100 WRMI 7780 [confirmed Fri 0930 Unique 5045-LSB NSW Australia low-power Sat 0730 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [confirmed Bulgaria] Sat 0930 Unique 5045-LSB NSW Australia low-power [alt weeks, Jan 19] Sat 1200 Unique 5045-LSB NSW Australia low-power Sat 1200 WINB 9265 via Unique Radio Sat 1230 WRMI 9955 Sat 1531 HLR 9485-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [not confirmed] Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2200 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Sun 0400v WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415; confirmed from 0413] Sun 0830 WRMI 5850 5950 7730 Sun 1130 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [confirmed Bulgaria] Sun 2130 WRMI 7780 [confirmed] Mon 0230 WRMI 5950 9395 [confirmed] Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 [confirmed] Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Mon 0930 Unique 5045 NSW Australia low-power Mon 2330 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 [confirmed] 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 MORE PODCAST ALTERNATIVES, tnx to Keith Weston: https://blog.keithweston.com/2018/11/22/world-of-radio-podcast/ feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio NEW via tunein.com: http://bit.ly/tuneinwor 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. DX LISTENING DIGEST IN PDF, HTML VERSIONS Jacques Champagne in Ville-Marie, Québec, has developed programs to convert DXLD .txt into PDF and HTML versions for his own use, and now has made them available to the rest of us. Starting with 18-24, they have been posted as attachments to the WOR iog. And now also posted on our website. INTRODUXION to DXLD in HTML and PDF: http://www.worldofradio.com/DXLDformats.htm HTML and PDF versions converted by Jacques Champagne are now also posted shortly for open access: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1902.html http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1902.pdf Thanks also to Jacques for assisting with formatting of .txt original ** ALASKA. KICY-850 Nome is definitely coming in right now - // web stream --- Wed Jan 2, 2019 10:04 pm (PST) (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, IRCA and/or ABDX via DXLD) = 0604 UT Jan 3 My backyard antenna just happens to be aimed just 9 degrees away from Nome (antenna = 341 degrees, Nome = 332), which also means it's conveniently almost perpendicular to KOA. I usually get bits of XEMIA Guadalajara (the antenna is technically aimed both 161 and 341 degrees since it's unterminated) but for the past week or two I've been getting bits of what I knew had to be KICY. Attached is a hasty recording I made while I was listening live. Turn up the volume at first. I start with the radio, showing KICY mixing with KOA, then from time to time I turn on KICY's web stream to show it's the same song. 73 (Tim [image: image.png] 0700 UT Jan 3, ibid.) Here's another nice clip, the start of another locally-produced music program, with a nice mention of "here in Western Alaska." 73 (Tim ibid.) Nice catch, Tim! About 30 years ago from Rancho Bernardo (at home) I recall logging 2 Alaskans on freq's that were much more clear than they are now. 830 and 840. I presume 840 has gone silent or moved. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) Thanks Kaz! This is only my 2nd Alaskan in 42 1/2 years of DXing from the San Diego area, the other being KBBI-890. I think I recall you hearing the 830 and 840. Tried for TPs at 1400 UT but conditions were dead. Had NHK/KBS pips on 567 (no audio) and Japan on 828 (pips barely audible). XETB-1350 was in this morning. I didn't realize they relayed XERED-1110 for morning drive (5:45-10am CT). 73 (Tim, ibid.) Tim, congratulations on hearing Alaska. It gives us hope. You need to send a reception report for this rare logging (Martin Foltz, ibid.) I did. I'm a little out of practice! But I think the video clip will cinch it for them. They have a good reputation as friendly verifiers. Standing by (Tim, ibid.) KICY-850 is in again tonight - strong! Web stream is running abut half a minute behind the radio broadcast. They're actually an easy catch giving KOA a run for their money right now. If you have a loop antenna and you live on the west coast, Alaska is calling! "Singspiration" program of VERY local music. As I finish typing this e-mail, KICY is OVER KOA! 73 (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, (between San Diego and Tijuana), 0612 UT Jan 4, ibid.) Brief sample of KICY crushing KOA tonight --- This was recorded just before 0614 UT. Local music program "Singspiration " // KICY web stream. They've been crushing KOA for several minutes at a time tonight. If you're anywhere in the west, and you don't think you can hear this station, try for them anyway. You've got another hour before they switch to directional antenna and aim their whole signal at Siberia. 73 (Tim Hall, 0656 UT Jan 4, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** ALASKA. 7320, Anchor Point, 100 kW/300 deg, KNLS, Dec 28, 1539 - Usual very strong programming in Russian. Anchor Point must be down to a single transmitter, as the listed Chinese broadcast on 11890 is not on the air. A tight fit with some splatter from CRI on 7325 and CNR 2 on 7315. Probably not the best choice for frequencies (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. FRANCE vs ROMANIA, Telediffusion d'Algerie vs R Romania Int on 7375 kHz, Jan.6 1800-1859 7375 ISS 500 kW / 155 deg CEAf Arabic TDA, good 1800-1856 7375 GAL 300 kW / 285 deg WeEu Romanian RRI, weak https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/telediffusion-dalgerie-vsrromania-int.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 4949.741, Mulenvos, 25 kW/ND, Radio Nacional Angola, Jan 1, 0019 - It's rare to hear any audio, but tonight I can, weakly, but there in Portuguese. No Indian (yet). I see they're scheduled for 0030 sign on (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. 11775, Caribbean Beacon at 1120 with Melissa Scott monologue, caught in progress on random tune. The audio sounded funny at tune-in on the SW-2000629 and longwire, so I tried a big Grundig that has tremendous audio, but the station still sounded funny - Good signal; fuzzy audio Dec 29. 11775, Caribbean Beacon at 1945. Ittttt's Sundayyy! Caribbean Beacon is lit up with gospel music, followed by religious monologue from Pastor Melissa - Good Dec 30. 6090, The Caribbean Beacon at 2320, with Dr. Gene Scott, preaching from the edge of time and space - Excellent Dec 31. 6090, Caribbean Beacon/University Network at 0330. Noted earlier, still on with time-kill music to monologues with Pastor Melissa now, still good signals in here. NOT on last week for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but now on New Years Eve and Day. Filler music at 0400 but suddenly went off - Excellent Jan 1 (Rick Barton, AZ, WOR iog via DXLD) 11775, University Network; 1810-1819+, 12/29; PastorScott.com spot & “You’re watching the University Network...” into Robustly Resplendent, Recently Ribald, Rip-Roarin’ & Rarely Rankled Rev. Barbie. SIO=3+33 with xmtr hum & moderately muffled audio. Noted off at 2030. +++ 1933, 12/30; Purveyor of Many Profuse Manipulative Pontifications Pastor Melissa on Paul. Xmtr hum, rat-a-tat burst QRM plus some distortion at S8 6090, University Network (presumed); 0346, 1/1; Paragon of Prechifying & Prolific Purveyor of the Perplexing, Pastor Melissa being Particularly Mellow. S8 peaks with strong xmtr hum (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11775, Caribbean Beacon at 1700 with Pastor Melissa lecture. Still there on 1930 recheck, with Doc Gene Scott, on the edge of time, sermonizing after some filler music (at 2045). I expected it to close at 2P local (2100 UT), but there was filler music, short monologue with Pastor Melissa, more filler, and another monologue - all going thru the hour. (Finally closed on this frequency at just before 2200). Noted audio hum and scratchy voice audio, and confirmed by turning in with a second radio - Signal level Very Good Jan 6 (Rick Barton, AZ, Grundig Satellit 205(T.5000) & 750; HQ-200; RS SW-2000629, with various outdoor wires, WOR iog via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Activa - Argentina 9990 kHz (Onda Corta 31 mietros) Musicas a las 2222 UT Día 03 Enero 2019 https://youtu.be/9H_RgZhyOP0 RX: Yaesu FRG 8800 Antena: DS SWL DL Dipolo Assimétrica 42 Mietros + 15 Metros Coaxial Y balun (Daniel Wyllyans, Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, Brasil, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** ARMENIA. Public radio of Armenia broadcasting in different languages on the frequency of 4810 kHz was not broadcast on December 28 and December 29, 2018 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, RusDX Jan 6 via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ".....Tecsun's sister company Av-Comm operates a teleport from Sydney's Northern Beaches, where they operate multiple satellite uplinks providing services throughout Australia and the Pacific Islands. Av-Comm also operates a facility in Goulburn NSW, where we have recently been granted a domestic HF broadcasting license to operate on 5050kHz. This project is being worked on in our spare time (we're all hobbyists after all!) and we hope to be operational by mid-2019. We also have ambitions to broadcast in DRM on Shortwave to spur further interest in the benefits of DRM. http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/SW_Radiogram_2019-01-05.htm#AV (via roger, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050?? Especially in DRM, that would be far too close for comfort to other Aussies on 5045 & 5055! Oz authority has this strange idea that only a certain very few frequencies are available for private SW (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Unique Radio 9265 via WINB is not in hiatus and 5045 kHz is back from Monday 7th January 2018. Detail at https://www.uniqueradio.biz Downloads and plays: http://www.uniqueradio.podomatic.com All the best and happy new year (Tim Gaynor, Unique Radio, Gunnedah NSW, Australia, Jan 2, WOR iog via DXLD) Unique Radio Gunnedah NSW Australia --- Hi everyone, Always double check the website. 5045 KHz schedule is different to that of Unique Radio via WINB, as that one won't be missing whereas 5045 is dependent on my working schedule at times, especially on weekends while that never impacts the WINB relay on 9265 kHz. Thank you to everyone who have written to me about the relay for North America and the Pacific, I always appreciate your contact, comments and reports are always welcomed and always QSLed. Don't forget the extra relays on Thursday night at 7:30 PM EST (USA and Canada) via WINB and Saturday night at 8:30 PM EST (USA and Canada). I have had no reports on either one as yet. Thanks as always (Tim Gaynor, Unique Radio, Gunnedah NSW, Australia, Jan 2, WOR iog via DXLD) Unique Radio via WINB 9265 --- Rather weak and noisy sig which was difficult to listen to with 'World of Radio' from tune-in at 1225, through to snatches of Unique Radio mentions in closing announcements to 1230. Not very listenable at all, maybe better luck with the Gunnedah signal on 5045 from Monday 7 Jan per website info. WOR IOG Fair signal from Unique Radio's low power tx at Gunnedah, NSW on 5045 LSB from 0936 t/in with Glenn Hauser's World of Radio program. Better listening than last [sic] night's transmission on WINB on 9265 (Matt Francis, Paddington, NSW, Australia Mon Jan 7, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Distance from Gunnedah to Paddington NSW is 355 km = 208 statute miles (gh, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 5055, Innisfail, North Queensland, 1.5 kW ND, Radio 4KZ, Dec 28, 1358 - Fair reception with what clearly sounds like a relay. A lot of static crashes this morning. Into Australian accented news at 1400. Still going at 1415. Power appears much improved from previous sessions here. The next night, I recorded the frequency overnight from 0600 to almost 1400. I note that LSS at Innisfail is about 0853, but I was already hearing audio about 0749, over an hour before LSS! Signal was good by 0810 (with Heh, Jude). 6:00 time check at 0800 UT. Marine forecast at 0806 and ID with AM, FM, and SW 4055 announced. Good at this point already. By 0900 more static crashes noted. 'National news on 4KZ' at 0900:30. Weather at 0906 again, and same ID at 0907. Signal seemed to improve again towards 0930 before fading off before 1000. Signal continued, though at fair to good level right through 1356 tune out (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Getting very weak audio from Radio 4KZ in North Queensland right now (1210 UT). Too weak to make out any details other than music vs. talk, but people in quieter locations than I am may have better luck (Art Delibert, Maryland, Jan 5, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 7530, Kununurra WA, 100 kW/335 deg, Reach Beyond Australia, Dec 28, 1520 - Special English regarding the first Christmas tree (perhaps in Riga, Latvia), followed by birth of Jesus. Perfectly readable at good to very good level despite only a S8 to S9 strength. With little or no noise, works just fine! Beamed to SE Asia and Japan. Signed off with announcements and the Kukuburra just after 1532. The latter surprised me! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 693, Dhaka, 1000 kW Bangladesh Betar, Jan 1 1644 - Very good reception in Bangla with many mentions of Bangladesh. It's been a while since hearing this one, and I'm most pleased! Best heard on the north Beverage. Did fade down some. But returned a number of times at good level! Checked in just before 1730, and indeed, they seemed to go off without any announcements. Just some music. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Walt`s complete MW report at DX-PEDITIONS far below ** BELGIUM. And here is the last minute of Vivacité on 1125 kHz which was shut down at 1903 UT: http://www.mwlist.org/sounds/2018-12-31T19_02_00Z_1125.00_am_hainaut-picardie.ddns.net.mp3 (Alexander Busneag, Germany, WOR iog via DXLD) ``From the audio recording I made using the U. Twente SDR receiver, it appears that the 621 kHz transmitter was switched off at about 1938 UT`` (Richard Langley) Google Maps gives the fastest route between the two transmitter sites as 42 minutes --- I indeed suspect that one and the same engineer first went to Houdeng and, after doing his dirty job there, drove to Wavre. Would again remind of the MDR mediumwave closure where it was also fun to observe how 1044 kHz disappeared after 1188 kHz the time it takes to drive from Reichenbach to Wilsdruff (Kai Ludwig, Germany, WOR iog via DXLD) I can confirm that the blank carrier on 621 kHz disappeared a few seconds after 1938 UT on local KiwiSDRs (Alexander Busneag, Germany, WOR iog via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. From the low lands to the high seas: Belgian pirate radio’s rise and demise --- Tuesday, 08 January 2019 12:17 © Lectrr After the Second World War, the Belgian government wanted to have complete control over the airwaves. They consequently seized and destroyed any radio station that did not have a license. For a long time, Belgians could only listen to public radio, which had very limited programming. Tired of government-approved music, monolingual programs and establishment views, activists and music lovers set up hidden stations in garages, basements, church towers and garden sheds. Some even took to boats in order to escape authorities’ efforts to shut them down. While there are almost no Belgian pirate radio stations left today, history shows that despite the odds, a new wave of clandestine radios can conquer the air any time.. . [much more, illustrated] http://www.brusselstimes.com/magazine2/13673/from-the-low-lands-to-the-high-seas-belgian-pirate-radio-s-rise-and-demise (via Mike Terry, WOR iog via DXLD) Not just pirates, but general history of broadcasting in Belgium (gh) The two short paragraphs on Radio Atlantis and Radio Mi Amigo have several errors; in fact there is little that is correct. Surprising, given that both Radio Atlantis and separately owned Radio Mi Amigo had significant audiences in Belgium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Atlantis (Mike Barraclough, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, Thimphu, 100 kW/ND, Bhutan BS, Dec 28 0128 - Presumptive diagnosis with S Asian sounding music, then talk by a YL at 0129 in presumed listed Sharchop. Some slop from 6030, but otherwise about an S5 signal. In any case sounds nothing like a PBS station (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Hi Glenn: Radio Santa Cruz signed off on New Year's Day at 0208 UT (9:08 p.m. ET New Year's Eve). The signal here in southwest Michigan was fairly good. They were airing their usual program rather than anything that seemed related to the holiday. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't stay on later. But, they had been missing for several weeks, as you noted, so it was nice to have them back. The carrier was on 6134.867 kHz according to my Airspy HF+ SDR. 73, (Andy Robins, Kalamazoo, Michigan USA, WOR iog via DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. 4930, Moepeng Hill, 100 kW/20 deg, VOA, Dec 28, 1819 - Strong reception, but with very heavily accented English making it a difficult copy. Some static crashes. Day 8 of a doctors strike apparently. Government threatening to fire all of them. Courts have ruled the strike as anti-constitutional. Not sure which African country they are referring to (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Walter, Sounds like Zimbabwe. The doctors there have been on strike for some time now (Bill Bingham, Jo'burg, RSA, WOR iog via DXLD] ** BRAZIL. 6090, Radio Bandeirantes at 0049 in Portuguese with a man with talk with mentions of “Sao Paulo” and “Brasil” and a definite mention of “Bandeirantes” at 0051 then talking with a woman at 0053 – Fair Jan 3 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [NON]. 6090.00, Jan 8 at 0047-0051, one signal S7-S9 very poor but enthusiastic talk seems Spanish. IRAN is scheduled here, and the same is inbooming via UTwente SDR. It`s an anti-American Cuban talking. I am checking this again, because another monitor has repeatedly said he hears ``Bandeirantes`` and ``Sao Paulo`` mentioned on this frequency, such as at this time on a previous date --- despite info from Brazilian DXers that Bands. is long gone from SW and has even dismantled its equipment. I also brought up Bands. webcasts which were nice to hear in Portuguese of course, but not the same programming as on 6090: https://radiobandeirantes.band.uol.com.br/ http://www.radiosaovivo.net/bandeirantes/ BTW, Anguilla was absent, but next check at 0355 PMS was on, next2 check at 0635 was off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6180, Radio Nacional da Amazonia at 2156 in Portuguese with a man and woman with “Nacional Informa” news program and the man with “Bom noite” (Good night) at 2158 followed by a woman with some promos and a man with a “Radio Nacional” ID at 2200 and a man and woman continuing with “Nacional Informa” but news in brief with music stingers between items then a man with a “Radio Nacional do Brasil” ID at 2204 and a woman with promos to 2208 and a male DJ with male ranchero vocals – Good Jan 7 – The time zone in Amazonas is UT -4 which means “Nacional Informa” runs from 5:00 PM to about 6:05 PM local time (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) Later: went back to 11780 at all times (gh) ** BULGARIA. 9400, Kostinbrod, 100 kW/306 deg, Uncle Bill's Rockless New Year's Eve Special, Dec 31 1813 - Fair to good reception with nice vocal by an YL. Definitely no rock music heard. Mostly music with intermittent new year's greetings and song introductions from an Irish(?) accented presenter. Improving over the hour to good level. Uncle Bill's Melting Pot ID at 1830, and mention of Bulgaria relay. Then with a song from South Africa at 1833. 1843 played Scotland the Brave. 1855 'This is a special broadcast on 5130 from the United States and 9400 from Bulgaria', then announced special eQSL for this broadcast, then a Latin American song. Continued past 1900 with their email address (I think TILFORDproductions@gmail.com). Ended at 1900:35. Dead air until 1902:36 when joined American preaching. Later (1911) noticed Brother Stair giving his schedule, including WINB 9265 and Overcomer Ministry mentioned (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 11600, The Mighty KBC at 1317 with “Uncle” Eric Van Willegen with oldies music and general silliness and KBC Imports ads – Fair with slight fading Jan 5 [Saturday] – A much better choice for your weekend oldies music fix than 5960 at midnight Sunday UT (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** BULGARIA [and non]. Shortwave Radiogram this weekend is in MFSK32 and MFSK64, with eight images. http://swradiogram.net/post/181708174612/shortwave-radiogram-4-6-january-2019-extremely The first transmission is today (Friday) at 2030 UT (3:30 pm EST) on 7780 kHz from WRMI in Florida (Kim Elliott, WOR iog via DXLD) Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 81, 4-6 January 2019, in MFSK modes as noted: 1:41 MFSK32: Program preview 2:56 China's extremely low frequency antenna for submarines 6:40 MFSK64: Dream Chaser spaceplane nears production* 11:03 Ocean Cleanup project returns to port for repairs* 14:34 This week's images* 24:29 Tecsun Radios Australia decoding competition* 28:15 MFSK32: Closing announcements (via SW Radiogram Jan 4+ via roger, WOR iog via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. 351 kHz, Jan 4 at 0629 UT, beacon YKQ and dash. 500 watts from Fort Rupert-Waskaganish, Quebec. That`s at the far SE corner inlet of James Bay, east of the Ontario border. (Does James Bay have a First Nations name?) At same time tuned to 351, I am also hearing IN at a much different pitch, which is really on 353 at International Falls MN, previously logged. 401 kHz, Jan 4 at 0633, beacon YPO and dash; 500 watts from Peawanuck, Ontario, relog. (I could log many more if I concentrated on these for hours, but just check a few for relief from other DX, often at bedtime, hoping to hit upon some not heard before) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re my 351 kHz YKQ beacon log, Eric Floden, Canada replies: James Bay is Wînipekw in Cree https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bay [that`s a circumflex topping the first I] ``This southerly bay was named in honour of Thomas James, a Welsh captain who explored the area more thoroughly in 1630 and 1631`` Every log a potential learning experience: Also linx to beacon town: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waskaganish ``Waskaganish (Cree: ????????/Wâskâhîkaniš, Little House) is a Cree community of over 2,200 people at the mouth of the Rupert River on the south-east shore of James Bay in the Eeyou Istchee territory in Northern Quebec, Canada. Formerly called Fort Rupert, the location is one of three original Hudson's Bay Company posts on James Bay, the other two being Fort Albany on the west shore, and Moose Factory on the south.`` [the Cree alfabet copies clearly onto MS word, notepad and yahoo mail, but surely ???? in plain text readouts] Distance to Enid: 2255 km = 1401 statute miles (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I got to thinking about why I knew about James Bay and realized that the road up there gets the odd news story. I am curious to go up there, but not in MY car hi. Attached is one story that caught my eye (Eric Floden, Ottawa Ont, DXLD) Viz.: Potholes on James Bay Highway inspire Cree singer to write blues tune Manuan Lafond chases a lifelong dream with the release of a blues song about how bad the James Bay Highway is. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/james-bay-potholes-blues-1.4856127 (via Eric Floden, DXLD) ** CANADA. 680, Jan 2 at 0637 UT, weather on ``680 CJOB``, vs IBOC noise from 670 WSCR unless I tune 680 to LSB (yes, not USB, since the IBOC peak is about 13 kHz away from sources). Plug some free app ``Radioplayer Canada`` to get lots of stations without a radio! Back to talk show ``live across Canada``. This is probably my second-often Winnipeger after CBW 990, 50/50 kW U1, which is audible anynight except when auroraed out. CJOB 50/50 kW U4 night pattern has a tiny tail to the south and day pattern is totally north, so unseems on either of them now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This tail extends pretty far south. CJOB is a semi-regular in the winter months here during the day. CJOB also has been cheating as well with using their day facilities at night (Todd Skaine, MN, ICOM 7300 with a Superloop, 2 Modified 2010s barefoot, Toyota car radio, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 3330/RCUSB, CHU with EE/FF time and digital time codes: CHU Year: 2018 DUT1: 0 TAI-UTC: 37 DST: 5 No leap second warning. CHU Day: 365 Hour: 23 Min: 40 Sec: 32 ... CHU Day: 365 Hour: 23 Min: 58 Sec: 39 CHU Year: 2018 DUT1: 0 TAI-UTC: 37 DST: 5 No leap second warning. CHU Day: 365 Hour: 23 Min: 59 Sec: 32 ... CHU Year: 2019 DUT1: 0 TAI-UTC: 37 DST: 5 No leap second warning. CHU Day: 1 Hour: 0 Min: 0 Sec: 32 etc. 4+5554+, 2340-2345 and again, 2358-0005 31/Dec and 1/Jan Happy New Year! SDRplay +SDRuno +Multimode Cocoa for the digital bits +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6070, CFRX (via Toronto, ON) at 0959 with instrumental music song Inca Dance/Cusco (also used by Coast-to-Coast), ad spot for Kinetico Water, Woodbine Casino, to newscaster Karen? Top news headline was the death of Canadian musician from Burlington Ontario. 1007 announcer introduces "The Rush" on "News/Talk 1010" - Good/Very Good Dec 31 (Rick Barton, AZ, WOR iog via DXLD) ** CHAD [non]. NIGERIA [non]. Radio Ndarason International & Radio Nigeria Kaduna in 22mb on Jan.7 [see also NIGERIA [non]] 0700-0800 on 13810 WOF 250 kW / 165 deg to WeAf Kanuri Radio Ndarason Int-very good 0700-0900 on 13840 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa, R. Nigeria Kaduna, very good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/radio-ndrason-international-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan.6-7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. "...China's new antenna is five times the size of New York City, but some fear it could be a cancer risk --- 2 January 2018 China has built a giant experimental radio antenna on a piece of land almost five times the size of New York City, according to researchers involved in the highly controversial project. The Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project took 13 years to build but researchers said that it was finally ready to emit extremely low frequency radio waves, also known as ELF waves. Those waves have been linked to cancer by the World Health Organisation-affiliated International Agency for Research on Cancer......" http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/SW_Radiogram_2019-01-05.htm#ELF (via SW Radiogram Jan 4+ via roger, WOR iog via DXLD) See RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** CHINA [and non]. 6180, Jan 6 at 1452, Firedragon jamming vs Chinese, i.e. RTI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 12045, CNR 1 (broadcast used as jammer) at 1110. Frequency normally occupied with Voice of America, via Philippine relay, in Chinese language. Monologue with M in Chinese dialect; Usual high-powered blast, hard time pips at the BoH - Very Good Jan 7 (Rick Barton, AZ, Grundig Satellit 205(T.5000) & 750; HQ-200; RS SW-2000629, with various outdoor wires, WOR iog via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. CNR-1 vs Sound of Hope Xi Wang Zhi Sheng in 19mb, Jan 3 till 0900 on 15800 unknown kW / non-dir to EaAs Chinese, good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/cnr-1-vs-sound-of-hope-xi-wang-zhi.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Albania: 6020, China Radio International with ”Language Café” – talking about the phrases “Drop the ball“ and “facepalm”, and “low key” which they seemed to think the opposite was “high key” rather than “high strung/twitchy” ... and what the various phrases mean. I think the ‘lesson’ here is ‘don’t take English lessons from the Chinese’? J 1500 Hz het on the USB from something (Vietnam seems unlikely) but it was notchable quite easily so it didn’t impact the signal. 4+44+44 but starting to fade by the BoH, with my local noise peeking through even when the signal was strong. 0010-0030 3/Jan SDRplay +SDRuno +ANC-4 +randomwire (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. 5960, ALBANIA, CRI at 2039 // 7285 (Good via Albania) with “Alight on Literature” with a man continuing to read from Yanchi Quan's “Mao Zedung: Man, Not God” - Fair with fading Jan 6 – It's quite amazing how far the Chinese have come in being able to put some critical perspective on the life of Mao Zedung (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6030, Beijing, 30 kW/ND, CNR 1, Dec 29 2219 - Partial audio decoding. 1746 kbps UEP (22.2%) AAC+ P-Stereo and Chinese (Mandarin) on the DReaM readout. AM would be perfect copy. Later in our local evening 0117 UT, I see a weak DRM signal (presumed China) on 13850. Too weak to decode, though. Nothing on listed 13825, nor 17800 or 15250, but instead almost decent copy on 15580 with occasional dropouts. Again, very high bit rate makes it difficult to decode properly. NOPE, it's my laptop. I switched over to my ASUS and it's decoding 100%. I can only guess I was tasking the Dell a little too heavily! For some reason, the SNR is vastly different on the 2 machines. The Dell only reads 13.8 dB, wile the Asus is 27.4. Big difference! 15580, Dongfang, 30 kW/16 deg, CNR 1, Dec 28, 0206 - Snippets of audio decoded, DRM with 17.46 kbps UEP (22.2%) AAC + P-Stereo and Chinese (Mandarin) listen on the DReaM software. Unfortunately, a very powerful KBS on 15575 doesn't allow for perfect decode, that would otherwise be possible, I think. The same is true for 6030 tuned in at 0700 UT. Same issue with an AM carrier on 6030 which, I'm assuming, negates proper reception, as once again, the signal is relatively strong, but no decode (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 1350, 20.12, 0200, HJHL, Bésame Ibagué, var det. Fick dock konsultera HK då det fanns fler SS här samtidigt. Som vanligt kommer HK med intressanta kommentarer och en riktigt kul association till en låt i utsändningen och refererar till fläsksvål som anses vara en läckerhet bl a i Danmark och som gillas av en del även här. HK: ”City Gross brukar annars ha lämplig råvara. Däremot har man förstås inte "lechón" eller"lechona" (spädgris). Varför drar jag upp detta? Jo, på din inspelning finns det mer än en station, men från och med sek. 43 kan man nog räkna med att det är Bésame Ibagué som tar ledningen och bl a talar om att ett trettiotal områden i departementet Tolima får gratis internet (ska väl läsas som gratis mobilanslutning till wifi). "Det är vi som levererar internet till Ibagué.." säger en röst. Faktum är att denna station och många andra inte går att spela upp på Windows, men däremot på Android och iPhone. Och så spelar man en av hundratals jullåtar, en från 1944, La puerca (Suggan), med sång av Luis Carlos Meyer. Tú cogiste y mataste la puerca. No me diste ningún chicharrón. Yo también, yo también haré lo mismo cuando mate, cuando mate a mi lechón. Jag fick ingen fläsksvål när du tog och slaktade suggan. Därför ska jag göra likadant när jag dödar min spädgris. I sista varvet byts la puerca ut mot la chiva (geten) och ningún chicharrón mot siquiera la cola (inte ens rumpan) samt lechón mot lechona för rimmets skull. Låten kan du enkelt googla fram - finns t ex på youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uW5DB2pAzE ” Tack Henrik för bekräftelse av ID samt en intressant vinkling till låten som spelades (Thomas Nilsson, ARC mv-eko 2 Jan via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. Reception of Radio Kahuzi. 6210.20 1 Files 4 MB MP3 Radio Kahuzi southwest.ddns.net_2019-01-01T17_39_18Z_6210.00_amn.mp3 Hi Glenn, Thought I would send this to you -- not sure how frequently this station has been reported, but it shows what a bit of determination and skill when tuning the Kiwi SDR network can bring. I was checking for Europirates on new year day in the 1730-1745 UT range, and noticed a station on 6210.20 -- it was clearly African in nature, and I had a thought that it could be something from Africa rather than some relay in Europe or some pirate with an African flavor. The Kiwi site was the http://southwest.ddns.net:8073/ It sounded like some sort of special new years broadcast -- announcer mentioning various locations in Africa, including "Rwanda and Tanzania....." and "Senegal......" There was a music bed beneath him -- I had to resort to LSB reception to null out some maritime talkers on or nearby the frequency. Around 1745-1747 the announcer was clearly beginning to end the program, and sure enough there was an instrumental piece, then what sounded like an interval signal instrumental, then an abrupt shutdown at 1747. Give a listen to the attached mp3 -- I threw this out to a number of experienced DX'ers and Ron Howard came back with the following item which I assume was on DXLD, though I can't seem to locate it. Anyway, it does appear that what I heard is the very rare Radio Kahuzi -- a wonderful new year's present, kind of a throwback to the good ol days (Dan Robinson, Jan 2, 2019, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) viz.: ``6210, R. Kahuzi, Bukavu. Not too far away across the border in DR Congo so no surprise the signal was good. African music at 1735 but had signed off by 1748 check on 20/7 [July 20]. Irregular as not noted on other occasions while we were in East Africa. From Uganda: We went to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the fabulous mountain gorillas. A couple of African signals penetrated the impenetrable – (HOLIDAY DX WITH DAVID FOSTER, Oct [2018] Australian DX News via DXLD)`` Dan/Glenn, This is certainly Radio Kahuzi based on my previous loggings of this station on 6210; however, the signal strength is quite noticeably better than any of my loggings and now wondering if they have upgraded xmtr or antenna. I have a good relationship with Barbara and Harold "Smitty" Smith in Florida who are the station's admin staff - Barbara is the sister of Radio Kahuzi's manager, Richard MacDonald. Richard and his wife Kathy have been in DR Congo for many years with Radio Kahuzi and as you can imagine have had many narrow escapes from the unrest in that part of Central Africa. Dan, if you want I can e-mail this recording to Barbara and she and Smitty will quite quickly determine if this is indeed Radio Kahuzi. The native choral singing later in the recording is very similar to what I've heard in the past, most recently (2012) from 4S7VK (Victor's) Perseus server site in Sri Lanka. Great catch and Happy New Year! Nice to see that R. Kahuzi has not gone the way of other low-powered religious broadcasters! 73's (Bruce W. Churchill, 1406 Devin Dr, Fallbrook, CA 92028-4271, Mobile: +1 (760) 803-2181, E-Mail: brucechurchill61@gmail.com Shortwave Listener since 1952, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, ibid.) Thanks for the tip. Your signal is great. Also heard here in Finland on hardly readable level at 1600 and s/off at 1611. Measured 6210.19 kHz today. Probably being on after sunset due to elections. 73, (Mauno Ritola, 1640 UT Jan 2, ibid.) CONGO Dem. Rep. --- die letzten Tage gab es einige Hinweise auf R Kahuzi, ausgedehnt wegen der dortigen örtlichen Wahlsendungen. Im Juli hatte der legendäre David Foster* aus Australien die Station in Afrika gehört. * er hatte die Indonesien / PNG TB Listen in 1975 heraus gegeben. Gray Zone ist jetzt zwischen Kigali und Kinshasa. 1650 UT Trotzdem ist nur ein dünnes Signälchen bei 6210.188 kHz gemessen zu sehen, fast nicht zu hören mit S=4-5 oder -98dBm. Aber die großen Ohren werden die Antennen schon gen 170 Grad auslegen. 73 wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, ibid.) I received a response from Richard Montgomery as follows: "I just shared with Gregoire that you had sent a recording of the last minutes of his closing musical sign-off of Radio Kahuzi and he agreed to greet you by name this evening and several days in several languages including English. You got him saying his name at 5:54 into your recording yesterday, and the ID sign off Mountain Blue-Grass Music was unique to Best Radio Kahuzi in Bukavu! Barbara Smith will be happy to send the QSL Card and info about us and our National Director and his family situation in case you have any suggestions Powering off here! Our power cuts off with SNEL often -- I just lost a longer reply to you! But Keep Looking UP! And Keep On Keeping ON! Richard & Kathy McDonald" (via Dan Robinson, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, ibid.) Ditto and thanks to Dan for the tip - R Kahuzi heard today from KiwiSDR site in SW England on 6210.2 from 1655 tune with man talking in dialect to 1705.5 then into program of very pleasant highlife music/vocals with a man announcer (sounded like a call-in), going past 1750. SINPO 33333 with weak/intermittent SSB QRM and noticeable QSB. QRM from 6205 increased after 1730. The best I have heard R. Kahuzi including from a handful of sites in W. Europe and Sri Lanka 2010-2012. Last heard in 2012. If I remember correctly the station moved a few years back and may not be in Bukavu any longer - I can verify that with the station admin folks (Bruce Churchill, 1752 Jan 2, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, ibid.) 6210.2, R Kahuzi off abruptly in mid-program at 1812 (Bruce, ibid.) 6210.188 kHz, Close-down at 1811 UT on Jan 2nd according to Christoph: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christoph Ratzer" Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2019 7:14 PM Subject: Re: [A-DX] Reception of Radio Kahuzi. 6210.20 Um 1811 UT schaltete Radio Kahuzi heute ab. 73 Christoph http://ratzer.at http://remotedx.wordpress.com http://a-dx.at/facebook (via Bueschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) Reception of Radio Kahuzi on Jan.2 1710&1805 on 6210.2 unknown kW / unknown to CeAf, weak https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-kahuzi-on-jan2.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kahuzi: It may also have been active irregularly, but closing before sunset and now for some reason with prolonged schedule, at least coinciding with the elections. Hopefully Bruce Churchill can find out more info. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, WOR iog via DXLD) RK noted again today via UK SDR, with religious program, a religious song and then brief comments by male announcer before shut down at 1723 UT (Dan Robinson, Jan 3, WOR iog via DXLD) Not even a carrier could be detected using the U. Twente SDR receiver this afternoon (-- Richard Langley, 1827 UT Jan 3, ibid.) Twente has not been performing as well as it was before for some reason -- I noticed this in recent weeks, forcing me to go to various Kiwi sites for Europirate reception (Robinson, ibid.) Radio Kahuzi, 6210.2, off earlier today at 1615 as noted from KiwiSDR in SW England – some music was heard at 1605 tune (tentative Radio Kahuzi as no speech was heard) but noticeably weaker than the 2 Jan reception due to the gray line not having reached SW England. Without extended schedule this will become harder to hear as the days lengthen. According to the station’s schedule, 1745 [sign-off] is the nominal schedule, assuming availability of power which has been an issue in Bukavu. Bukavu is currently undergoing a “gold rush” as gold was discovered in the area recently and this has greatly inflated pricing in the region. This in turn impacted Radio Kahuzi’s move to their new site and getting the station back on the air in 2018. I spoke with Barbara Smith yesterday and the improved signal strength has been due to a new Inverted V SW antenna that was installed at the new transmitter/studio site in Bukavu. The antenna installation was completed in July 2018 with assistance from an engineer from SonSet Solutions in Elkhart IN (SonSet Solutions was formerly HCJB Engineering but became independent when HCJB became Reach Beyond). (Bruce Churchill, CA, Jan 4, WOR iog via DXLD) Kahuzi seemed to go off today in the 1600-1700 range, signal much weaker than previous days. Best days were January 1 and 2. Best SDR continues to be the SW UK site (Dan Robinson, 1851 UT Jan 4, ibid.) Thanks very much for the updated info. Don't you know if its power remained 0.8 kW or whether the program start at 0700 UT remained the same? Or, how much responses they receive from listeners living in the region? I ask because the frequency is at the top of the 49m band and also because I'm curious. One Hungarian Roman Catholic missioner lives in DRC operating an eye hospital in Mbuji Mayi town in Kasai Oriental province and I am a reader of his site describing his job and medical care missions which he does outside the town, and the traveling onto those places, it is very detailed. His site is http://www.procongo.hu (Tibor Gaal, Hungary, ibid.) ** CONGO DR. Radio Kahuzi and Congo in general I think Radio Kahuzi's reactivation is not connected to the general elections (presidential, legislative, municipality) which took place on Sunday, 30th December 2018 except on 3 troubled territory. After the elections a telecommunication restriction has been imposed as the AFP news agency's news article shows below. Maybe Kahuzi's electricity supply have increased due to the ongoing rainy season. Yes, it would be good to know more about Kahuzi's current location and its parameters, if they are really in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province (Sud-Kivu in French) and what the radio station owners are doing in that very big country. Fulfilling the information vacuum after the elections is the task of the former shortwave broadcaster, Radio Okapi - an U.N.-backed radio station - which is on FM Congo-wide. Around the capital of the Dem.Rep. Congo, Kinshasa and along the borders of the DRC, radio stations can be heard from the neighbouring countries. In the case of Kinshasa, Republic of Congo's stations due to the proximity of Rep. of Congo's capital, Brazzaville which is on the other coast of the river Congo facing Kinshasa. This is why the AFP article mentions that people are visiting Kinshasa's markets for easier internet access via mobile phone networks penetrating from Republic of Congo. However the article doesn't mention that FM stations from Rep. of Congo are also penetrating since radio waves don't recognise human-made borders. The AFP's article mentions that RFI's broadcasts are jammed, but it didn't mention which broadcasts and on which band. Tibor Gaal, Budapest, Hungary And now, the article. The source where I downloaded is the Citizen Newspaper in Tanzania: mobile.thecitizen.co.tz (for easy access), and http://www.thecitizen.co.tz (for the sophisticated-minded). DRC govt: We cut internet over uprising Posted on thursday 03 january 2018 By AFP Kinshasa. The DR Congo government said Tuesday it had cut the country's internet services to avert a "popular uprising" as tensions rise pending the results of fractious presidential elections. The opposition accused authorities of cutting the internet on Monday to thwart activism, while leading Western powers called on the troubled central African nation's government to quickly restore web access. The long-delayed vote was barely completed on Sunday when the three main candidates -- President Joseph Kabila's hand-picked successor and two opposition leaders -- each claimed that early counts showed them winning. Kabila's diplomatic advisor, Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, told AFP the national security council had decided it was "imperative" to shut down the internet to allow the electoral commission to finish counting and compiling votes. "There are people who have indoctrinated the public with false numbers about this election. This has laid the groundwork for a popular uprising," he said Tuesday. Karubi did not say how long internet access would be down in the country which rivals continental western Europe in size. The country's electoral commission said Tuesday that provisional results will be announced on Sunday. Final results are expected on January 15 and the next head of state will be sworn in on January 18. A marathon vote count is underway in a climate of deep suspicion about fraud in a country scarred by political turmoil and haunted by memories of violence. The Democratic Republic of Congo has never had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, and bloodshed marred elections in 2006 and 2011. Worries of a new descent into violence deepened two years ago after Kabila, in power since 2001, refused to quit when his two-term limit expired. Internet operator Global told AFP on Monday that web access had been cut for an indefinite period on government orders. Several residents in the capital Kinshasa tried their luck at large hotels, where some internet could still be accessed. Others headed to street markets to buy credit for services in the neighbouring Republic of Congo. The authorities also cut mobile phone texting, according to service provider Vodacom. Radio France Internationale (RFI) said its broadcasts had been jammed since Monday evening. The station has carried extensive coverage of the election in the francophone country. - 'Vandalism' - The European Union, United States, Canadian, and Swiss heads of mission in Kinshasa issued a joint statement Tuesday urging the government to restore internet access. "We request that the government refrains from blocking means of communication, in particular access to the internet and the media," said the statement. They also backed a request by the country's two main election monitors -- the National Episcopal Electoral Conference of Congo (CENCO) and SYMOCEL, an alliance of citizens' observer missions -- to get access to vote counting centres. A CENCO representative told AFP that observers had been refused access to voting centres in two provinces -- Lomami and Sankuru. However the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) said Tuesday that counting at all 179 local centres were "continuing normally" (via Tibor Gaal, Hungary, Jan 3, WOR iog via DXLD) ** CUBA. 530 kHz "Radio Sancti Spiritus" ID on a R. Rebelde outlet A couple of weeks ago I reported here to the WOR group what I thought was a funny "Radio Espiritus Sanctu`` ID that I heard on a 530 R. Rebelde, likely via the Isla Juventud (10 kW) location, but I was incorrect, actually. Glenn pointed out that there is both a "Sancti Spiritus" city and province in Cuba (I appreciate Glenn pointing this out what with his great geographical knowledge). I was finally able (after the Christmas holidays) to review my 11 December recordings of enhanced Cuban MW reception to my northern Mojave Desert location, and indeed at 0300 UT on 11 Dec 2018 I recorded a very fine "Radio Spiritus Sancti, Spiritus Sancti" ID slipped in before the futbol announcer said "Radio Rebelde" a second afterwards. I had not ever heard this before and I am wondering if the audio-feed that evening for the 530 Rebelde transmitter was originating from Sancti Spiritus itself, or is one of the 530 transmitters (studio too?) now located in/near Sancti Spiritus proper? Over the past few years Rebelde has been adding more 530 kHz MW transmitters, per the past few WRTHs. The short audio file is here: https://archive.org/details/TheBestOfHawaiiMediumwaveamBroadcast-bandDx-86To91/530_Radio_Sancti_Spiritus_Cuba_Rebelde_Relay_11Dec2018_0300z_Inyo_SPMcGreevy.mp3 I should go out again soon to see if this recurs again. It's not so cold by night presently as it was in December here in the desert... The receiver used on this 11 Dec. reception was a Sony ICFSW7600GR coupled via a 3-turn loop that slides over the receiver and connected to a Burhans J-310 active ant. to a mag-mount 9-foot tall "CB-whip" atop my 4Runner) -- 73 - (Steve McGreevy - N6NKS - http://www.auroralchorus.com -- all of my DXing is done real-time with traditional (non-SDR) receivers-- Jan 8, WOR iog via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC on MW 1240?? See DX-PEDITIONS ** CUBA. 6000, etc. RHC English hour programming, including arts show. Better than usual signal quality, but still mostly 'muddy' modulation on this channel despite rather significant/spread spectrum sidebands to this signal. 6060 was far more 'subdued' in the sideband spread, but sounded better! 6165 was stronger than 6060 but sounded much worse/undermodulated. Quality all OVER the place from RHC tonight! 6165: 5 4+5 4+2+ (undermodulated) 6100: 4 4 5 4 1+ (undermodulated even worse than 6165) 6060: 4 4+5 4+3+ (best of the bunch but still not great) 6000: 5 5 5 4+3+ (hum / muddy modulation) 5040: 4+5 5 4+3 (distorted - overmodulation/clipping) 0640-0655 29/Dec SDRplay +SDRuno +ANC-4 +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 5040, Radio Habana Cuba; 2220-2231+, 1/1; Somber march music with occasional shouted orders in Spanish (somebody die? maybe just celebrating the 60th anniversary of the revolution); 2227+ Cuban Anthem followed by “apunte, fuego” & gun fire to 2229+ SS speech about the revolution, Fidel, etc. SIO=443 with ute warble QRM (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6000, Jan 3 at 0610, RHC English AWOL from here, while still going on 6060, 6100, 6165 and 5040. 6000 is the odd one out, from Quivicán site. Something`s always wrong at RHC. 15311.6 & 14968.4, Jan 4 at 1514, JBA carriers from the plus/minus 171.6 kHz spurs out of 15140 RHC; strangely, nothing now from the inner pair previously heard slightly stronger circa 15283 & 14997. Something`s always wrong at RHC. 13766, Jan 4 at 1539, RHC-FM spur out of 13700-AM is VG S9+10; first one hit was the next one up as I tuned down, 13834 with the F# tone marring the music, but the closest ones are otherwise almost clear; then also found at further plus/minus 65-67 kHz intervals: 13898 S6-S7; 13962 S5; 14035-trace; 13634 S9; 13567 S9; 13501 S3; 13435-trace. The lower ones confront CODAR swishes. Something`s always wrong at RHC. The RHC FM service is back in force today, other days completely absent. 13505, 13570, 13635, 13765, 13830, 13897, 13960, 14028-trace, very approx. broadband FM spurs, none of them clear, from RHC-AM 13700, Jan 6 at 1429. Something`s always wrong at RHC. 13700, Jan 6 at 1445, RHC `En Contacto` has Arnie saying that we are almost to solar min by summer near zero sunspot count, forecast to start rising in Sept as high as 30 by yearend when SW reception should be much improved. His info probably comes from Yanqui SWPC. 14968.44 & 15311.56 approx., Jan 7 at 1437, JBA spurs out of RHC 15140 transmitter are detected and also the closer pair circa 15283 & 14997. Something`s always wrong at RHC. But today the 13 MHz band is clean of spurs, just fundamentals 13700 & 13780 --- except: 13750, Jan 7 at 1503 surprised to hear RHC Spanish audio here but does not compute as spur or mix of 13700, 13780. Instead it is 1390 kHz below 15140! I.e. receiver overload mixing with my strongest local KCRC. Not noted before; must be because distorted 15140 is unusually strong. 13750 vanishes with preamps off or attenuation. 15140, Jan 8 at 1735 on caradio, this RHC is awful, more distorted than ever, while 11760 is OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. NUMBERS STATION, Cuban Spy Numbers HM01 on very odd frequency 11634.8 kHz, Jan 8: 0755-0850 on 11634.8 secret tx probably BEJ 50 kW Spanish Tue/Thu/Sat, weak signal https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/cuban-spy-numbers-hm01-on-very-odd.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ivo reports a lot of these over and over, which I usually skip, but this is significant: a similar off-frequency shift to several RHC frequencies: not that there was ever any doubt that they share transmitters (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 5039.936, UT Tue Jan 8 at 0640, RHC English is unusually way off-frequency; ``Ed Newman`` is introducing the 2-weekly `Focus on Africa`, claiming it is also transmitted to Africa on 11880! Which is a long-gone frequency, now 9720. Complies with listener requests for more music on this show. Also, 15139.822, Jan 8 at 1401, RHC Spanish distorted; one thing RHC usually manages to do, is stay close to nominal frequencies. The latter cuts off at 1402, uncovering *no* Oman, but Ivo Ivanov says that did come on by 1405. RHC is back on by 1407 at S9+20. No FM spurs on 13 MHz band today, but something is always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Reception of RHC via Titan-Quivican on Jan.7: from 1445 15140 QVC 250 kW / 130 deg SoAm Spanish, fair to good signal NO SIGNAL 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu English R.Sultanate of Oman! https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-habana-cuba-in-19-mb.html Radio Habana Cuba on odd freq. 15139.8 kHz via Titan-Quivican, Jan.8: till 1403 15140 QVC 250 kW / 130 deg SoAm Spanish, good signal and off NO SIGNAL 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu English R.Sultanate of Oman! From 1405 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu En R.Sultanate of Oman is on https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/radio-habana-cuba-on-odd-freq-151398.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Habana Cuba on odd freq. 15139.8 kHz via Titan-Quivican, Jan.8: till 1403 15140 QVC 250 kW / 130 deg SoAm Spanish, good signal and off NO SIGNAL 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu English R.Sultanate of Oman! From 1405 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu En R.Sultanate of Oman is on https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/radio-habana-cuba-on-odd-freq-151398.html (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 5910, CRI at 0300 with a man with “CRI News” - Great signal but low level audio Jan 7 – The low level audio made this virtually inaudible at times. I wonder if CRI will ever catch on to the crappy service they are receiving. RHC can and should do far better than this for their customers (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 & 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) But they get a free bonus on 11820! (gh) ** CYPRUS [non]. See USA: WRMI ** DENMARK. 5825, OZ-Viola, Hillerød, 2020-2110, 28-12, non stop instrumental music. Very weak, barely audible, best on LSB, but later improving signal and audible on normal AM. 15311 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Log in Reinante and Lugo, Tecsun S-8800, cable antenna, 8 meters, WOR iog via DXLD) ** DENMARK. 5840, World Music Radio, Randers, 2112, 28-12, pop songs, id. in Spanish: "Esta es WMR, World Music Radio". 35433. 15805 kHz, World Music Radio, Randers, 1146-1405 UT December 30, Caribbean songs in Spanish, pop songs in English, ID "WMR, World Music Radio", pop songs, at 1347 identification: "World Music Radio, WMR", more pop songs, at 1400 new identification: "World Music Radio, WMR". SINPO 25422. At moments good signal, but other moments the signal disappears (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Log in Reinante and Lugo, Tecsun S-8800, cable antenna, 8 meters, WOR iog via DXLD) World Music Radio 15805 kHz (Shortwave 19 meters) Music 1034 UTC 04 January 2018 https://youtu.be/xIVesEokcis RX: Yaesu FRG 8800 Antena: DS SWL DL 42 Meters + 15 Meters Coaxial + Balun (Daniel Wyllyans Nova Xavantina Mato Grosso Brazil, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) World Music Radio (WMR) commenced broadcasting on 15805 kHz on December 25th, 2018 and has now been on the air daily (well almost) since then. Now today is the final day of daily broadcasting. As from tomorrow WMR will only be on the air on 15805 kHz Saturday and Sundays. Broadcasting hours are 0700-2000 UT and the power is only 0.2 kW making it a difficult – and irregular - catch. But the signal does get out. Right now (08 UT) WMR can be heard in Russia (Ural and perhaps into Siberia) and in Southern Europe. In a couple of hours the signal can be picked up in Brazil and around 13-16 UT good reception has been experienced almost daily in Eastern North America on 15805. Propagation after local sunset in Denmark is apparently rather ‘sketchy’. Only once the signal made a short skip propagation into Ireland and Western UK. Would be interesting to learn if the signal can be received – anywhere – after 16 or 17 UT. Reception reports are welcome to wmr@wmr.dk and will usually be QSLed within a month. Best 73’s (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Jan 6, World Music Radio, PO Box 112, DK-8960 Randers SØ, Denmark; http://www.wmr.radio HCDX via DXLD) Weak signal in Bulgaria at 0915 UT, Jan 6 (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) Weak signal of World Music Radio Denmark in 19mb, Jan.6 from 0913 on 15805 0.2 kW Randers/Denmark to Eu English Sat/Sun https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/weak-signal-of-world-music-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB at 0310 in Spanish with female vocals and a woman with talk with music bridges – Fair with fading Jan 5 – Friday and Saturday only from 0230 to 0500 in Spanish (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7140, Jan 5 at 1432, JBA carrier, presumed VOBME longpath. Nothing detected from other VOBME 7180, nor Somaliland 7120 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. Re: Mystery Alsmood 17545 imminent --- Very good copy today Jan 5 at 1527z tune in - Music then OM at 1530z with "echo" effect for a minute then back into music (Rich Ray, Near Chicago IL, WOR iog via DXLD) Saturdays only, 1500-1600 via RMI via FRANCE (gh) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. SECRETLAND, Radio Warra Wangeelaa-ti via SPL Secretbrod on Jan.5 1500-1530 on 15515 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg to EaAf Oromo Sat, good signal https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-warra-wangeelaa-ti.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Radio France studio equipment auxion Radio France is renovating its famous Studio 105 and is selling off functional, but obsolete equipment in an auction and at the studio in the Maison de Radio France on January 19. Pianos, Nagra sound recorders (in "bad shape"), audio consoles and even audience chairs are being sold off. There are lots of Gorgy clocks, where the seconds are indicated by LEDs that renew every minute, but I'm not sure if they work independent of a central controller. Electronic items can be found at: http://www.art-richelieu.fr/html/index.jsp?id=94306&lng=fr&npp=300 Six pianos are available: http://www.art-richelieu.fr/html/index.jsp?id=94389&lng=fr&npp=150 If you want to inspect any of the items in person, you can sign up for a January 14 viewing here: https://doodle.com/poll/3hsddgyucwirwd47 As an aside, I notice that Art Richelieu recently auctioned off a Syd Barrett 45rpm for about $12,000. The ORTF drilled into the disc in pinholes suggests that the single came from the Radio France library: http://www.art-richelieu.fr/html/fiche.jsp?id=5952889 (Mike Cooper, GA, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Radio Farda on unscheduled 9420 kHz after 0730 & continues at 0920 UT, very strong, probably via Lampertheim, videos later today 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Jan 4 0925 UT, WOR iog via DXLD) Reception of Radio Farda on unscheduled 9420 kHz, Jan.4 0730-1030 on 9420 LAM 100 kW / 108 deg to WeAs Persian, very good parallel freq. 7585 KWT, 12005 BIB, 13765 LAM, 15690 BIB till 0830 parallel freq. 9990 KWT, 12005 BIB, 13765 LAM, 15690 BIB from 0830 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-farda-on-unscheduled.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan.4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) re 9420 kHz R Farda single day on Jan 4th, probably antenna repair test on dipoles at IBB BBG Lampertheim Germany? Nothing heard today on that channel at 0850 UT Jan 5th (Wolfgang Bueschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GREECE usually runs until a few minutes after 0800, so Farda would collide; and Greece could be on 9420 for 24 hours (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Fair signal of Radio Marabu via Europa 24, Jan.5: from 0744 on 6150 DET 015 kW / non-dir to CeEu German Daily https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/fair-signal-of-radio-marabu-via-europa.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DARC Radio now daily on C292 --- Hi All, The latest Channel 292 schedule now shows that DARC Radio, the German Ham Radio News programme which usually goes out on Sundays and Mondays, will now be daily on 7440 kHz from Monday to Saturday at 1600 to 1700 UT as well. The high power broadcasts continue on Sundays as per normal on 6070 kHz. The schedule shows this right up to the end of January, but whether it continues after that we'll have to wait and see. This should at least allow more distant members the opportunity of hearing it now, I would think (Alan Gale, Jan 2, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) Interesting time slot, exactly at the gray hour. Coincidence or intention? However, the direct path to NZL goes completely through the darkness. https://www.dropbox.com/s/hz5y9y5mn0bozbt/2019-01-03_ch292_DARC.png?dl=0 Currently weak in southern Spain and Iceland, reasonably usable in northern Scandinavia, where there are more elks than shortwave listeners. ;-) foF2 ~ 3.5 MHz 7.4 MHz > 1300 km..... (roger, germany, jan 3, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) Dear SW-Listeners, of course it is INTENTION to send RADIO DARC exactly on a greyline time slot. It is sunset time in Germany and our intention is to give some chances for far-distance reception in Asian Countries like India, Indonesia, and maybe Australia. We already got reception reports from New Zealand, but with weak signals only. Our intention is to transmit for 1-2 months and then review the success of the new slot. The daily transmissions at 1600 UT are a repetition of Sunday´s main transmission on 6070 / 7440. vy 73 Rainer RADIO DARC - The Editor Rainer Englert (DF2NU) Dorfstrasse 14 85567 Bruck-Alxing GERMANY Tel +49 8092 83246 Fax +49 8092 83247 Email radio@darc.de (via roger, wor iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) New frequency Channel 292 - 7440 kHz. 03.01.2019 BY IGOR It is possible that not everyone knows that since the end of October 2018, Channel 292 has started broadcasting on the new frequency - 7440 kHz. Broadcasting at a frequency of 6070 kHz remains unchanged. Let me remind you that Channel 292 is a German HF broadcast operator using the former Deutsche Welle transmitter (its power is up to 100 kW, usually broadcasting with a power of 25 kW). On the air Channel 292 sound transmission so-called. “Free broadcasters” that do not have their own transmitter and broadcasting license (for example, Radio Waves International, IBC Radio, Radio Ohne Namen, Atlantic 2000, SM Radio Dessau, From The Isle Of Music, and many others). On the official website of Channel 292 it appears (at the time of publication) that broadcasting on both frequencies - 6070 and 7440 kHz - is conducted around the clock. It is also said that the station signal at 7440 kHz is heard very far - even in New Zealand. Rainer Ebeling DB8QC, the owner of a transmitting station located near the German city of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, is waiting for reports on reception at the new frequency to assess the signal quality. The report can be sent via the web form on the website http://www.channel292.de/deutsch/kontakt/ The broadcasting schedule for both frequencies is different - it can also be viewed on the official Channel 292 website: 6070 and 7440 kHz. I'd add that a good reception at 7440 kHz in Central Russia is possible in the morning, as well as before sunset, when interference from stations from the East is minimal. https://swling.ru/2019/01/03/novaja-chastota-channel-292-7440-kgc/ (via RusDX Jan 6 via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** GERMANY. We have some changes on 3985 kHz from today (05. January 2019), on air daily 1500-2130 UT. Radio Tirana in German moved from 2030 to 1530. Radio Tirana in Italian 2230 »1500 UT SRF "Das war der Tag" at 2100 cancelled. New: 2030-2050 Radio Belarus in French 2050-2110 Radio Belarus in Spanish 2110-2130 Radio Vatikan in German Wir wünschen guten Empfang (Christian Milling, Jan 5, disgraced FB of WRTH, via Richard Langley, DXLD) Christian Milling's Shortwave Service, which brings many external services broadcasts back to shortwave, changed the schedule for 3985 kHz on January 5, 2019: All times in UT. 1500-2130: 3985 kHz (Kall 1 kW) 1500-1630 R. Tirana (Italian, 1530 German, 1600 French) 1630-1657 R. Slovakia International (French) 1657-1700 Mon-Fri Nordschleswiger (German) 1700-1800 Swiss Radio Echo der Zeit (German) 1800-1900 Mon-Fri R. Mi Amigo International (different languages), Sat Sun R. Canada International (Sat French, Sun English) 1900-1927 RSI (German) 1927-1930 Mon-Fri Nordschleswiger (German) 1930-2030 RSI (French, 2000 English) 2030-2110 R. Belarus (French, 2050 Spanish) 2110-2130 R. Vatican (German) Listeners in French, Italian and Spanish will certainly feel challenged to check the new schedule and encourage the respective services by writing letters or e-mails. The most interesting change for German speaking listeners is the addition of R. Vatican. http://www.shortwaveservice.com/images/SWS_B18_Freq.pdf (via Bernd Seiser & Dr. Hansjörg Biener 6 January, DXLD) ** GOA. Noted 11619.977 kHz odd fq AIR Nepali 1331 UT, as usual Goa Panaji site S=9+15dB in Delhi remote SDR. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Bueschel, Jan 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Reception of Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz, Jan.3: 0750&0755 on 9420 AVL 150 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek*tx#3 *Arabic/Serbian nx & the transmitter switches off at 0803 UT https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-voice-of-greece-on-9420.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. 1350 and 1530 are still off the air. In 1998, the legislature changed the city name, Agaña, back to Hagatna. Street signage would confirm this, but the KUAM-630 ID I taped still says Agaña (Pete Taylor, on a cruise ship Oct 2018, DXWW II, IRCA DX Monitor Jan 12, published Jan 8, via DXLD) ** GUAM. 12040.01 approx., UT Thu Jan 3 at 2214, praise music, into ``Jesus 101`` in English, S9+10. Despite good signal here, it`s KSDA, 100 kW at 255 degrees, English days 135, Sundanese days 2467 per HFCC and Aoki; EiBi says English on days 247, Sundanese days 1356. For Aoki, day 1 = Sunday, for EiBi, day 1 = Monday; For HFCC, day 1 = Sunday. So Thursday is either day 4 or day 5. And of course, in the FE target, it`s the *next* local morning already. As my head reels, each listing appears to be correct by strict UT days. Too bad they don`t all calculate the same way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, Chiquimula, 1 kW/ND, Radio Verdad, Dec 29, 0557 - Clearly, propagation is favouring a southerly path tonight, as last night, Verdad was only weakly heard, while tonight, at sign-off it's very strong. Choral NA. Open carrier remains on several minutes after sign-off (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 9650, Conakry, 50 kW ND, Radio Guinee, Dec 31 1930 - Fair to good reception with African music. No one else on channel heard. Noted 40 Hz on high side (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA & SAUDI ARABIA, Radio Guinée Conakry & Radio Riyadh on 9650 kHz, Jan.5 from 0855 9650 CON 050 kW / non-dir WeAf French R Guinée Conakry vs. from 0856 9650 RIY 100 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic Holy Quran R, Riyadh https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/radio-guinee-conakry-radio-riyadh-on.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA & SAUDI ARABIA, Radio Guinée Conakry and Radio Riyadh on 9650 kHz, Jan.8: from 0815 9650 CON 050 kW / non-dir WeAf French Radio Guinée Conakry, good from 0845 9650 RIY 100 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic Holy Quran R. Riyadh, good: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-guinee-conakry-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9650, R. Guinea, Conakry: nice signal 2130-2150*z Jan 5. African vocals/highlife music, M in French with announcements 2145z, Apparent sudden s/off 2150* (Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen TX, 40' LW. Tecsun R9710 analog, Kchibo KK-D6110 digital, WOR iog Jan 5 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. KWAI-1080 is off. It was not healthy when we were in the Islands last April --- hum, distortion. brokered programs (Pete Taylor, on a cruise ship Oct 2018, DXWW II, IRCA DX Monitor Jan 12, published Jan 8, via DXLD) ** INDIA. Rathore inaugurates sharing of AIR News with Private FM channels @airnewss Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore on Tuesday launched 'Sharing of All India Radio News with Private FM channels in New Delhi. Private FM channels can now carry All India Radio News free of cost on trial basis up to 31st May this year. News Services Division of All India Radio has permitted its news bulletins in English and Hindi to be carried in unaltered form by Private FM Channels as per certain terms and conditions. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Rathore said it is a matter of happiness that a common citizen can now listen to the news on any FM channel. He said an aware citizen is an empowered citizen and added that this step is a collaborative effort of bringing together all the Radio Stations of India to inform, educate and empower people. He said, creating awareness among the general public by way of news is primary and generating revenue is secondary. The Minister thanked all the radio stations and media houses that are collaborating with AIR. In his message, Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash expressed happiness that All India Radio News will now be broadcast by private FM channels. He said this is a matter which has been under discussion for quite sometime. Mr Prakash said it is a historic moment for India's public service broadcaster to collaborate with the private radio broadcasters in the country. He added that it is an era of collaboration and convergence and this is a very good example of that. President, Association of Radio Operators of India, Anuradha Prasad thanked the government for accepting the long-standing demand of private radio broadcasters to present news on their platform. Director General (News) of All India Radio, Ira Joshi termed the move as historic and path-breaking. Any private FM broadcaster who intends to broadcast the news bulletins will first register with All India Radio news. Details on registration and technical parameters are available on the website - http://newsonair.nic.in The commercials which are broadcast during news bulletins have to be carried along with news in too. The registered broadcasters will give due credit to AIR for sourcing their news. They will be allowed to carry AIR news bulletin either simultaneously or deferred live, by not more than 30 minutes. In case of deferred live, an announcement should precede that it is a deferred live broadcast. The news bulletins of AIR are currently carried through the terrestrial mode and are also available on the DTH platform including DD Free Dish, which is free to air. Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Amit Khare, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Director General of AIR F. Sheheryar and other senior dignitaries were also present on the occasion. Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has said that nearly one hundred private FM radio stations have registered to carry All India Radio News bulletins. In a tweet, Mr Vempati said, the launch of Sharing of All India Radio News with Private FM broadcasters marks a milestone in the wider dissemination of news to people. http://www.newsonair.com/Main-News-Details.aspx?id=357695 Jan 08, 2019 (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) TROTS: The alternative has been: Private broadcasters not allowed to broadcast news at all! So this is progress in The World`s Largest Democracy? where there is no such thing as Freedom of the (Broadcast) Press (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4920, Chennai, 50 kW/ND, AIR Chennai, Jan 1, 0014 - The unmistakable sound of the AIR IS audible under cochannel PBS Xizang in Tibet. Signal is strong enough, but modulation low (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. [re 19-01:] 6968, All India Radio, Dec 28, 0113 - Sick transmitter at strong level, and fairly good audio drifting upwards. Started at 6968, and within a minute or so had drifted up 600 Hz. Very wobbly signal. Rechecked at 0217 and it was on 6972.4 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noted 7340.002 AIR Urdu sce on air (Wolfgang Bueschel, in Doha Qatar and Delhi remote units, Jan 5 circa 0900 UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The one which had wandered 7.0-6.8 MHz area (gh) ** INDIA. All India Radio: 9620 05/01 1823 in Arabic on 11710 05/01 1825 off 13540 05/01 1826 off 7505 05/01 1827 off 7520 05/01 1828 in Urdu on 9445 05/01 1830 on 9950 05/01 1832 on 11935 05/01 1834 off 13640 05/01 1835 in Arabic off 13645 05/01 1838 in Arabic on (would not it be 13640 for that hour?) 13695 05/01 1842 in English on 7550 05/01 1844 in English (digital) on 9910 05/01 1847 in English on The frequencies verified were from the Aoki list and from the shortwave info site. The lists may be outdated. The listening has been from my QTH, Twente SDR and Qatar SDR (Jorge Freitas, My Blog: https://dxlogfreitas.blogspot.com/ Feira de Santana Bahia 12°14´S 38°58´W - Brasil, Tecsun PL-310ET, Antenna Delta Loop 8.5 meters, WOR iog via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR National Channel to close down AIR National Channel to close down with immediate effect. Thanks to Mr. K. Raja Raja for the flash news. National Channel schedule is 6.50 pm to 6.10 am IST (1320 to 0040 UTC) Present frequencies: 1215 kHz New Delhi 20 kW 1566 kHz Nagpur 1000 kW 9380 kHz Aligarh 250 kW http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/Oppurtunities/Tenders/Documents/National%20channel%2003122018.pdf http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/Services/National%20Channel/Pages/Default.aspx QSLs : https://qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/nagpur_630.jpg https://qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/nagpur_1566.jpg Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Mobile: +91 94416 96043, http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos dx_india yg via WOR iog via DXLD) Glenn, Não ficou claro para mim. Vai encerrar as transmissões da All India Radio ou apenas daquelas 3 que estão nesse e-mail? 73 (Jorge Freitas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is not at all clear what is happening here, or the extent of it; linked AIR pages are not at all helpful, or outdated. We await further info from Jose. Check the frequencies anyway. BTW, N American MW DXers have recently noted that 1566 has not been audible lately (Glenn Hauser, WOR iog via DXLD) India: "All India Radio to shut down national channel, regional academies in 5 cities to cut costs It has been decided by Prasar Bharati to close down the national channel of AIR and RABMs located at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Thiruvananthapuram with immediate effect. By PTI New Delhi |Updated: January 4, 2019 3:11:27 pm All India Radio to shut down national channel, regional academies in 5 cities to cut costs The national channel, which broadcasts from 6PM to 6 AM, came up in 1987 and played an important role in keeping people abreast with national issues, an AIR source said. (File/Representational Image) Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has decided to close down All India Radio’s national channel and its regional training academies in five cities as part of “cost-cutting measures” and to “rationalise” services. The programme, technical, ministerial and other staff posted at National Channel in Todapur and Nagpur etc, apart from those working at Regional Academies of Broadcasting and Multimedia (RABMs) in five cities, may be posted as per the requirement of the organisation, said the order issued by the Directorate General, All India Radio (AIR). In order to “rationalise AIR services and keeping in view of the cost-cutting measures”, it has been decided by Prasar Bharati and communicated to DG AIR on December 24, 2018, to close down the national channel of AIR and RABMs located at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Thiruvananthapuram with immediate effect, it said. The order, dated January 3, stated that the programmes of archival value maintained by national channel should be sent to the central archives in Delhi for digitisation and preservation for posterity. The national channel, which broadcasts from 6PM to 6 AM, came up in 1987 and played an important role in keeping people abreast with national issues, an AIR source said. “National channel has a huge repository of programmes and the personnel will now be redeployed,” the source said. It is understood that certain sections within AIR are not happy with the decision as they believe that the national channel was an important part of the broadcasts and there were other ways to cut costs than shutting it down altogether. “These days you can livestream, you can make it an application-based service, there are many other ways of cost-cutting. The effort should have been to strengthen national channel and not close it down,” a source said. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/all-india-radio-shut-down-prasar-bharati-5523225/ 4 January 2019 (via Hj. Biener, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) At least now at 1855 all 3 frequencies are on the air, checked via Delhi Perseus (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There's a little more information here: https://theprint.in/governance/prasar-bharati-to-shut-down-all-india-radios-national-channel-five-regional-academies/173219/ https://indianexpress.com/article/india/all-india-radio-shut-down-prasar-bharati-5523225/ (Alan Roe, England, WOR iog via DXLD) Good signal Jan. 4 on SW 9380 at 2050 UT; videos later today (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) Seems, that they are now // 819 kHz. Is there a date for these transmitters to be closed or will they continue with Delhi programming? Thanks, (Mauno Ritola, dx_india yg via DXLD) Right now, I can confirm on a KiwiSDR in Kerala (southern India) that the National Channel of AIR is still on air. The signal on 9380 kHz is very strong with good audio. The // 1566 kHz from Nagpur is quite strong but with a close second station in Kerala. However, the Delhi channel 1215 kHz is a (strong) empty carrier on the New Delhi SDR of TWR Monitoring. 1566 is also strong in Delhi. Listening time: 5 January 2019, 2028 UTC. Music; English news with ID at 2030. Hindi news at 2035. New Delhi: http://newdelhi.twrmon.net:8073/ Kerala: http://kiwisdr.vuhams.net:8074/ 73! (Eike Bierwirth, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, fair signal here at 2030-2040 in English/Hindi & 2130-2140 in Hindi/English (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Jan 5, dxldyg via DXLD) re 9380? Yes, I have been noticing them on the air, too, but did they ID as National Channel? I heard them earlier tonight // Delhi 819 kHz. I asked Indian DXers, but no reply (Mauno, Jan 5, dxldyg via DXLD) WRTH shows 819 kHz Delhi as N=North zone regional programming (gh) 9380, Jan 4 at 2231, no signal from AIR National Channel, but some JBA RTTY. 15 hours earlier, Jose Jacob informed the dx_india yg that AIR had suddenly cancelled the overnight National Channel, also deleting megawatt MW 1566 (which North American MW DXers had previously pointed out was no longer being heard; off or QRP?), and 20 kW 1215. Mauno Ritola was still hearing all three at 1855 today via Delhi remote. Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, still had 9380 at 2050 Jan 4. 9380 sked had been 1320-0040 UT. One more 9380 check here at 0022 UT Jan 5: Nothing. Hansjoerg Biener and Alan Roe found more about this at: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/all-india-radio-shut-down-prasar-bharati-5523225/ And another from Alan Roe: https://theprint.in/governance/prasar-bharati-to-shut-down-all-india-radios-national-channel-five-regional-academies/173219/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, The information is that the National Channel of AIR which presently operates from 6.50 pm to 6.10 am IST (1320 to 0040 UT) on 1215 kHz New Delhi 20 kW 1566 kHz Nagpur 1000 kW 9380 kHz Aligarh 250 kW is to be shut down shortly. They were noted on air even from yesterday evening to this morning as usual. Other Home Service stations will continue. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, 0340 UT Jan 5, WORiog via DXLD) AIR National Channel still on air, fair signal, Jan 5 2030&2035 on 9380 ALG 250 kW / 188 deg to SoAs Hindi/English 2130&2135 on 9380 ALG 250 kW / 188 deg to SoAs English/Hindi https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/air-national-channel-still-on-air-fair.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR National Channel noted as usual today 6 Jan 2019 from 1320 UT on all 3 channels, viz. 1215 kHz New Delhi, 1566 kHz Nagpur, 9380 kHz Aligarh. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those interested in sending Reception Reports to AIR National Channel from Nagpur on 1566 kHz may send it to the following email: nagpur.spt@air.org.in Timings of broadcast 6.50 pm to 6.12 am IST (1320 to 0042 UTC) Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Jan 6, dx_india yg via DXLD) Jose Jacob urges not to panic and go here: https://qsl.net/vu2jos/air/loc.htm There are still enough local Indian stations on the NE, there are hundreds of them (RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) Jose later reported all three finally went off, morning of Jan 10 (gh) ** INDIA [and non]. Ottimi segnali DRM di AIR su 7550 alle 1930 e di Radio Kuwait su 15540 kHz alle 1920 UTC. Ricevitore Yaesu FRG-7000 e antenna dipolo. Convertitore autocostruito. 73 de (Giovanni Lorenzi, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3325, Palangkaraya, Kalimantan, 10 kW/ND, Voice of Indonesia, Dec 30, 1400 - Non-descript music until 1402 with Voice of Indonesia heard and continued in Indonesian at excellent level into presumed news (with music in background). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Flyby of Ultima Thule Radio played its part in this incredible achievement: "Signals from NASA probe confirm it survived flyby of Ultima Thule, most distant object ever explored in Solar System" (BBC News - 15:43) (via Mike Terry, Jan 1, WOR iog via DXLD) Yes, but WTFK??? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) X-band. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/new-horizons-phones-home http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.472.8206&rep=rep1&type=pdf Similar frequencies are used for the study of quasars and other esoteric cosmic radio sources using very long baseline interferometry as I did for my Ph.D. work -- but for geodetic applications (-- Richard Langley, NB, ibid.) ARRL story says ``New Horizons downlink transmissions take place on an X-Band frequency of approximately 8.4 GHz (the uplink is 7.2 GHz).`` Still no exact frequencies; probably confidential to avoid risk of intentional QRM from the anti-science cabal (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Radio: 97°W Galaxy-19 11.960-V/22000 Msps Voice of Turkey EE //to SW (q.v.) with feature programming, and into “Question of the Month” and then Turkish music. ID and schedule with SW frequencies at 0446, and NOT mentioning Galaxy 19 but did mention the internet and Eastern satellites. Carrier off on SW at 0455 but continued on satellite with Turkish music. Into @@ at ToH. 54% and steady, Service ID 2002 QPSK/MPEG-2 compression. 0420-0500 31/Dec - (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2 for Satellite logs: Manhattan DJ-1997 FTA rx +96" movable dish, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Television: 97°W Galaxy-19 12.146-V/22000 Msps with many streams of video, all in 480i SD using QPSK modulation and MPEG-2 compression: Svc ID Lang ID, Notes 0801 Arabic Palestine Satellite C News 0803 Arabic Sudan TV News 0804 Arabic Saudi TV1 talk show 0805 Arabic Al Iraqiya Silly Sports programme 0806 Arabic Abu Dhabi TVfeatures 0807 Arabic Sharjat TV 0808 Arabic Oman TV 0810 Arabic Qatar TV News 0811 Arabic Libya Al Wataniya Music TV 0812 Arabic Jordan TV features 0814 EE/Arbc South Sudan BC News show with local time All seen from 1730 to 1800 with 52% quality steady signal, decoding well. 30/Dec --Zichi MI2 97°W Galaxy-19 12.146-V/22000 Msps Abu Dhabi TV (stream 806) with their ‘traditional’ (at least for us now!) New Year’s eve show including a new hostess (pretty, but not as stunningly beautiful as the one hosting in past years) and interviews with a singer, and a bit with a magician (who had a bunch of cards with English animal names on them, he had the hostess cut the deck repeatedly and throw away half the cards until two were left, and then picked on which said ‘mouse’ on it but HE didn’t look at it, and they sealed the card in a small box. They opened the box and a live mouse was in it. I want to know what would happen if they put the card that said ‘elephant’ in the box! While the hostess wasn’t as beautiful and the costuming was not nearly so elaborate, the fireworks at midnight were very impressive! This ‘new year’s at 3 PM’ is becoming a tradition and as I get older, it makes more and more sense logistically! ;) Now THIS is the way to ring in the New Year! 54% quality and in well, 480i QPK/MPEG-2 1859-2015 31/Dec --Zichi MI2 97°W Galaxy-19 12.177-V/23000 Msps with many streams of video: Svc ID Lang ID, Notes tech 0002 Arabic IS TV alkerazatv.compreacher 576i/QPSK 0003 Kurdish Rudaw Nx480i/QPSK 0006 EE P ressTV Nx1080i/h.264 0007 Arabic Al Mayadeew (telegram.me) Nx480i/QPSK 0008 EE “OCN” Religion 480i/QPSK 0009 n/a God’s Learning Ch ID slide 480i/QPSK 0010 n/a “This channel available” slide 480i/QPSK 0011 Arabic Azadi-TV 480i/QPSK 0012 Asia LL “Good Idea TV” (shopping) for CA 480i/QPSK 0020 Arabic SNTV (sntv.so) Somalia medical call in 0023 Russian? Kazakh TV 480i/QPSK 0026 Arabic Al Sirat TV (Lebanon)480i/QPSK 0037 Arabic Al-Karma (alkarmatv.com) Christian 480i/QPSK All seen from 1710 to 1730 with 54% quality steady signal, decoding well. 30/Dec --Zichi MI2 101°W SES-1 3.956-V/2734 Msps Decades w/their ‘weekend binge’ with pretty much 24/7 airings of a single show, this weekend being “Greatest American Hero” a rather under-rated show from the 1980s that featured William Katt and Connie Seleca as a ‘crime fighting husband and wife’ duo who team up with Robert Culp’s FBI agent character after a UFO leaves a ‘super suit’ for Katt that allows him to run faster than a speeding bus, see holographic images of <-- 2334 photo things far away, become invisible, is impervious to bullets and other harmful things bad guys try, and sometimes allows him to fly. He lost the instructions for the suit and has to learn how it works by just trying stuff. The show never takes itself seriously, and is way more fun than it sounds like from that description. ;) Next week’s binge will be ‘Renegade’. I got sucked into watching 2 episodes and had to turn it off or I would have gotten sucked into watching more! :) 61% and steady, 480i QPSK/h.264 2214-2359 29/Dec (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2 for Satellite logs: Manhattan DJ-1997 FTA rx +96" movable dish, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7305, Jan 3 at 1834, very poor talk in unID language. HFCC shows it`s IRIB in Sqi = Albanian, 500 kW, 320 degrees from Sirjan. Notable because this is 2 minutes after local mean noon near the shortest day of the year, one of few broadcast signals on band --- just with 7375 Romania, q.v., no North Americans on now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. Reception of Radio Farda on unscheduled 9420 kHz, Jan.4 0730-1030 on 9420 LAM 100 kW / 108 deg to WeAs Persian, very good parallel freq 7585 KWT, 12005 BIB, 13765 LAM, 15690 BIB till 0830 parallel freq 9990 KWT, 12005 BIB, 13765 LAM, 15690 BIB from 0830 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-farda-on-unscheduled.html (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) re 9420 kHz R Farda single day on Jan 4th, probably antenna repair test on dipoles at IBB BBG Lampertheim Germany? Nothing heard today on that channel at 0850 UT Jan 5th (Wolfgang Bueschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. 5985, USA, IBC Radio (via WRMI) at 0346 with “Jordan's Corner” with a man with an “IBC” ID and playing Christmas recordings of an Armed Forces Radio and Television broadcast from December 24, 1986 and Tom Meijer on Radio Netherlands' “The Happy Station” from December 23, 1979 – Good Jan 4 – IBC announced that they were dropping shortwave as of December 31st due to the costs and that coverage in Italy via Channel 292 from Germany was quite poor. The transmissions from WRMI have little hope of being received in Italy as their antenna beams don't cover Europe so I'm not sure if these are being dropped, as well. If they are included then these transmissions I have monitored this week have already been paid for (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ?? Axually, one beam is right on Europe, 44 degrees, currently via XMTR 1, 7780, including IBC on sked: Tue 0100, Sat 0130 --- but rather inconvenient times in Italy! Surely some earlier hour on 7780 could have been arranged. (Jan 10 at 2140 as I write this, via UTwente, 7780 is fairly audible with VORW.) (15770 is also 44 degrees, but only for Supreme Master TV at 14-20) (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. 9860, SM Galeria, 250 kW/184 deg, NHK Radio Japan, Dec 28 0516 - Fair reception with their English broadcast via Vatican City. Shame Radio Japan hasn't broadcast our way in English for years (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. 4950, INDIA, Srinagar, 50 kW ND, AIR Srinagar, Dec 31, 0210 - Good to very good signal in an unknown language (later determined to be likely Kashmiri). Non-stop talk, then off suddenly at 0215. Matches this station (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KAZAKHSTAN. Re: Kazakstan - Last Days on SW Four years after the closure... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x051rzYX2A From minute 17 transmitter rooms, left behind with dangerous traps, reminding of block E at Nalepastraße [Berlin] ten years ago. There, however, it took the studios a bit more than four years to develop into such a condition (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 31, swsites yg via DXLD) Some still photos from this visit: https://4stor.ru/zabroshki/103668-radiocentr-7-tolkyn-volna.html The older RTs-5 site closer to Almaty, also very nice indeed: https://urban3p.ru/object9901/gallery And once more RTs-7 at Tolkyn. From a completely different point of view. https://ok.ru/radiotsent/photos https://ok.ru/radiotsent/photos?st._aid=NavMenu_SubMenu_AltGroup_PhotoS tream Not the only transmission facility in the FSU where a considerable number of the engineers were female. Considerable when comparing to the situation elsewhere, of course (Kai Ludwig, Jan 5, 2019, swsites yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6085, JAPAN, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze at 1345. Familiar piano music and monologue with M in Korean. Went off at 1400 on the money. First I have caught them on this new frequency (new being a relative term). I incorrectly reported them on a frequency that was actually Furusato no kaze, which Glenn H. then pointed out. I finally caught them at the right time this morning over heavy jamming - Very Good Jan 1 (Rick Barton, AZ, WOR iog via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. UZBEKISTAN, Frequency change of North Korea Reform Radio via Tashkent, Jan.2 2030-2130 NF 7505 TAC 100 kW / 076 deg to NEAs Korean, very good signal, ex 7495 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/frequency-change-of-north-korea-reform.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 5857.5, HLL, Seoul-Gangseo, 3 kW/ND, Seoul Meteorologic Radio, Dec 28, 1639 - Strong reception with English weather broadcasts. A strange modulation, as can be heard distorted in all modes, AM, SSB and FM. Must be missing something. Changed language at 1642:35. 5857.5, Seoul, 3 kW, HLL Seoul Meteorologic Radio, Jan 1, 1428 - Good reception of English marine weather forecast not in accordance to EiBi which lists Japanese and then Korean. A bit distorted due to transmission mode. Switched over to oriental language just before 1435. Use USB to avoid OTH radar which extends just up to this frequency (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 11970, Sulaibiyah, 250 kW/100 deg, Radio Kuwait, Dec 28, 0508 - Too weak to decode audio, but able to read the ID for Radio Kuwait. 17.46 kbps, and Radio Kuwait DRM. Appears to be a bit on the low side of the channel. // to AM transmission on 15529.712 at poor to fair level. In English. 13650, Sulaibiyah, 250 kW/350 deg, Radio Kuwait, Dec 31, 1918 - Almost strong enough to decode, but not quite. DRM_radio_kuwait and 17.46 kbps EEP AAC+ P-Stereo on the display. Listed in Arabic (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ciao a tutti. Ottimo segnale DRM di Radio Kuwait ricevuto dalle 0955 alle 1015 sulla frequenza di 15110 kHz il 5 gennaio 2019. Condizioni di lavoro: Yaesu FRG-7000 e antenna dipolo. Convertitore 455/12 kHz per DRM autocostruito. QTH: Messina. Allegati: screenshot identificativo visivo e clip audio identificazione. Buoni ascolti e 73 de (Giovanni Lorenzi, Italy, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Ottimi segnali DRM di AIR su 7550 alle 1930 e di Radio Kuwait su 15540 kHz alle 1920 UT. Ricevitore Yaesu FRG-7000 e antenna dipolo. Convertitore autocostruito. 73 de (Giovanni Lorenzi, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4010.226, Bishkek, 100 kW/ND Kyrgyz Radio 1 (Birinchi Radio), Dec 31, 0225 - Good reception in presumed Kyrgyz. Right on the grayline within a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, will unlikely hold up when they're scheduled in English, Russian, and even Ukrainian. Wow, even within a few minutes the signal deteriorated from very nice reception to only poor/fair (by 0230). Unusable afterwards. 4010.223, Bishkek, 100 kW/ND, Kyrgyz Radio 1, (Birinchi Radio), Jan 1, 0118 - Aoki reports them in English at this time. Wouldn't that be nice, but perhaps New Year's Day is not the best time to check that. Only non-stop vocals heard, though. Strong enough S5 signal, in the clear, but the audio (speech) was a little low and muffly. Can't tell the language. Thought for a minute they were reading numbers (like an address), but wishful thinking. Not in English, nor Russian. I can only assume it's Kyrgyz. They mentioned 'Radyo' at 0129 (OM), then a female announcer. Again, the same 'Radyo' at the BOH. Listening at 0135, sure sounds German to me. I see that German is listed for them at other times (like 1410 to 1420), so possible. Seemed to follow a speech (boring; remember Soviet times? On and on, presumably in Kyrgyz). Rapidly went downhill, unfortunately, despite transmitter LSR isn't until about 0230 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4010.22, Birinchi R., Bishkek in Kyrgyz (presumed) 01.05.2019 1636-1710, local chant, man talk (mostly unclear) till 1647, with one brief music pause, local songs, man/ woman talk with some brief music pauses, (presumed brief sentences in local lang. translated into possible Chinese by woman), local music pauses at about 1700 then man talk (reading news?), heard in lsb and from 1648 better in usb with inter filter, with and without Nir 12, fast qsb, strong qrn, poor/very poor at times (Gianni Serra, Roma, Italy, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN [non?]. Re: 19-01: ``4820even, CHN, V E R Y F A U L T Y audio buzz signal from Lhasa Tibet seven x 100 Hertz apart distance signals visible either sideband, by PBS Xizang Mandarin Chinese program, from morning log 0215 til 0400 UT [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Bueschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` The signal with ± 100 Hz spurii is actually Kyrgyz Radio 2nd program, which is carried only between 0000-1230 on this frequency, not 24h as given in WRTH 2019 country entry. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Jan 8, WOR iog via DXLD) Really? Never seen Kyrgyz Radio Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek on even frequencies these days, always odd channels 4010.2, 4819.7, 5130.2 etc. etc. 73 wolfie (Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DXLD Yes, it has been on even fq for maybe two years, but with reduced schedule, so not much reported. Please check here, before Xinjiang fades in: http://sdr.71036.kz:8073/?f=4820.00amz14 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) re 4820even, Okay, okay, I'll check it coming days/nights. Today at 1500-1515 UT Jan 8th in Delhi, Qatar and Moscow remote SDR's: 4010.221, Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek S=9+15dB. 4820even, PBS Xizang Lhasa-Baiding #602 site, S=9+20dB in Chinese 5129.942, Afghan Christian program, in Dari/Persian, S=8-9 via 15 kW unit. 73 wolfie (Bueschel, ibid.) Radio Voice of Life (Sedaye Zindagi) transmitting at a frequency of 5130 kHz was not seen on the air from the 17th to the 29th of December, 2018. Kyrgyz State Radio has the following programs: Birinchi Radio - Informational Radio (At a frequency of 4010 kHz and CB, on some days and hours, the programs “Dostuk”, “Baldar”, “BBC”, “MRK”, “Svoboda” and Turkish Radio also sound). - Kyrgyz Radiosu - cultural and educational radio. According to unconfirmed data, it transmits from 0000 to 1200 UT at 4820 kHz. - Min Kyal FM - youth entertainment radio - Dostyk Radiosu - in the languages ??of ethnic minorities, including programs in Russian - Baldar FM - children's radio, includes programs in Russian. - Information about the Kyrgyz State Radio RAG received from the Deputy Director General for Broadcasting at my request (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) Birinchi Radio - First Radio. Broadcasting in Russian at different times on frequencies: 612 kHz / 150 kW / Krasnaya Rechka (Kyrgyzstan) 4010 kHz / 100 kW / Krasnaya Rechka (Kyrgyzstan) UT: 01.05-01.10 Sat 01.10-01.40 Sun 01.40-01.50 Sat 01.55-02.00 Sat, Sun 03.25-03.30 Mon-Fri 04.35-04.45 Tue 04.45-04.55 Mon, Wed 05.00-05.05 Mon-Fri 05.05-05.30 Mon-Wed 05.35-06.00 Mon 05.05-06.20 Tue 06.20-06.23 Mon-Thu 06.30-06.45 Fri 07.05-07.10 Sat, Sun 07.30-08.00 Mon-Fri 10.00-10.05 Mon-Fri 11.00-11.30 Mon-Fri 12.30-12.40 Mon-Fri 12.40-13.00 Mon-Sat 13.00-13.20 Sat 16.48-16.57 Th 17.00-17.10 Sat 17.28-17.57 Mon-Fri (“Broadcasting in Russian”. Issue 25 via RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. TAIWAN, Suab Xaa Moo Zoo, Voice of Hope via Tamshui, Jan.4 2230-2300 on 7530 TSH 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs Hmong, fair/good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-suab-xaa-moo-zoo-voice-of.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA [and non]. Rimantas Pleikis - RADIOSENZURA ------------------------------------------------- Author's site http://www.radiojamming.puslapiai.lt/article_ru.htm Illustrated version on Agentura.Ru http://www.agentura.ru/equipment/radiocenzura/ https://vk.com/page-3271973_26249414 (via RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 2018 12-19, 5009.95, 2115-2300, R Nasionaly Malagasy, Ambohidrano. Extended broadcast in Malagasy, Apropop, Radioplay, 15131 // same frequency heard via KiwiSDR at TWR Africa in AFS, 45444 (Anker Petersen, from Skovlunde, Denmark, heard on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, but with poor reception conditions, wbradio yg via DXLD) On this day, the final round of the presidential election was held (Dr Hansjoerg Biener, 1815 Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 13670, World Christian Broadcasting at 1830, vintage music worthy of "Marian's Attic", followed by M in English with biblical story - Solid and Very Good Dec 29 (Rick Barton, AZ, WOR iog via DXLD) 9690, Mahajanga, 100 kW/355 deg, MWV New Life Station, Dec 31, 1925 - A poor choice of frequencies as both dominant RNE in Spanish, and Madagascar are well heard. Latter with a Christmas carol (Oh Come All Ye Faithful). Clearly the shortwaves have recovered again over the past day or so (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) / USA --- Radio Novaya Zhizn [New Life] in Russian, a studio in Alaska, from 1900 to 2000 UT at 9690 kHz, sounds along with the Voice of America radio station in Amharic (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) Sounds along with? What is he talking about? VOA is not sked this hour on 9685, 9690 or 9695. The 3-way collision on 9690 involves Spain and Nigeria (gh, DXLD) On Jan.7 no signal of KNLS Madagascar World Voice MWV. From the staff of Madagascar World Voice wrote: "We have a problem with Madagascar here. Yesterday there was a storm and lightning struck the station started a fire and the transformer burned out. So while broadcasting of Madagascar will not. The exact date of repair is unknown because the new the transformer must be brought from the mainland". Winter B18 of MWV: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/no-signal-of-knls-madagascar-world.html (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mainland? Of Africa or America? (gh, ibid.) MWV back on Jan 14 (gh) ** MALDIVES. My Sarath Weerakoon (UADX) posted some interesting news about Voice of Maldives: Dhivehiraajjeyge Adu, (Voice of Maldives) The Director of Public Service Media, Maldives has advised us in writing that the AM transmission of Dhivehiraajjeyge Adu, (Voice of Maldives) on 1449 kHz is expecting to resume transmission from the new site in Thilafushi island by early February 2019 (Christoph Ratzer, ARC mv-eko 2 Jan via DXLD) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week --- In less than two months, there won't be a single woman atop the IFT. With María Elena Estavillo Flores's term expiring at the end of February, there were rightful concerns about gender equality at the agency and the fact that its governing body could be left without any women. Irene Levy went so far as to call for the application process for new IFT commissioners this time around to only be open for women. But that didn't happen, https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/columna/irene-levy/cartera/solo-para-mujeres and the short list of four candidates sent to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador includes no women (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, Jan 3, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Who turned off the sun? The power company, for nonpayment. That's reportedly the problem for XHAYA-FM in Atoyac de Álvarez, Guerrero. La 100.9 https://www.facebook.com/La-1009-236955337046116/?ref=search&__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARCK-G6uCXoqF0fVejl7adh8zIqQDnXfCIyYEkKPlHYQwL6HPYWGE1y4ewAlXAq6h94EwhxgXXTxzMO3 — which some people still call Estéreo Sol—went off the air New Year's Day because, according to commenters on a Facebook post, they were in dire financial straits. XHAYA, which is owned by Corporativa de Comunicación de Guerrero (Fernando Navarrete Madaleno, Francisco Alejandro Wong, Fernando Navarrete Gómez Farías and Luis Castelán Limón), apparently has gone bankrupt and was shuttered after the power company turned off the electricity. Of course, without power, you can't exactly broadcast. Wong and Castelán Limón also are the owners of XHNQ-FM Tulancingo Hgo. The Navarretes, who own the other 50 percent, do not own any other broadcast stations (Raymie, Jan 6, ibid.) [RE: Mexico press via gh in DXLD 19-01:] Lots to comment about... XEMZA: The AM and FM primary facilities are in Jalisco, but the studios are in Manzanillo right on the coast. XEINFO: Tell me about it, this seemed like the last station to deserve it but they did everything right. (If I had a Station of the Year award, Aire Libre would have run away with it for 2018.) They did not reactivate the 1560 frequency even though they should be obligated to do so for one year. XEPE: The only sports program on XESDD's schedule is Tribuna Deportiva which airs at 4pm weekdays. Meanwhile, that Chiapas religious stations article is quite interesting. The density of religious radio stations in Chiapas—and of new station awards made to individuals, often an indicator that the station will wind up being religious—has been very high in recent years. It also has some glaring errors. (Apparently the study cited was done in 2013—I just found the original.) Radio Tepeyac does not have a concession, though there is a Catholic social station in San Cristóbal this article completely misses, XHCRIS. The topic, however, is timely and of quite a bit of interest because there is an increasing number of religious stations in the state. I'd actually be very interested to talk to the academic who did the study. Notably, Radio Tepeyac is unlike any currently operating religious wolf in that it is diocesan-owned and operated. This will change when XHPBJZ-FM 98.9 Juchitán—a station evidently combining the ownership of one established Catholic station with the frequency and location of another—gets on the air. (One of its owners is a priest listed as the communications director for the Diocese of Tehuantepec.) There is also a lingering permit application for Ensenada, CODIPAC, A.C., whose name, an acronym for "Diocesan Commission for the Communication Ministry", and membership suggest a diocesan ministry with an established online radio station. http://lavinaradio.com/ (Raymie, Jan 6, ibid.) Zihuat's going on? That might as well be the question at one of Mexican radio's revolving doors, XHZHO-FM Zihuatanejo Gro. It looks like in late November, Costa Medios and its La Nueva branding went out and in went a new operator and a new name, "La 98.5, Siente el Beat". (There's even a photo of new management ripping out old signage at the studios!) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2350494351644614&set=pcb.2350494001644649&type=3&theater But I'm feeling the beat of a different drummer. The station appears to be in common operation with XHJR-FM Capital Máxima, despite not using any Capital Media brand collateral and maintaining the same XHZHO studios. The stations are sharing each other's posts, and the new Beat page is run by the same guy as the Capital Zihuatanejo page. This is exceptional because Capital doesn't operate clusters. Anywhere. When Capital got a chance to make a cluster in Colima with XHOMA and XHTTT, they instead declined that opportunity. Also, the new Beat branding does not match anything existing at Capital Media. [tagline:] Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa (Raymie, Jan 8, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. An Interesting Article by Jonathan Marks The Forgotten Firsts — Remembering Radio Netherlands https://medium.com/@j.p.marks/the-forgotten-firsts-remembering-radio-netherlands-44c04c151f0b (Richard Langley, Jan 2, WOR iog via DXLD) Excellent article published on December 30, 2018 by Jonathan Marks, Editor Media Network here: https://medium.com/@j.p.marks/the-forgotten-firsts-remembering-radio-netherlands-44c04c151f0b?fbclid=IwAR2I8KOChbDkSExqyJQ_CKxAfpwNfMYrJBfXKDiLwcVcylXe9FiIyThKRmo (via Mike Terry, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) And in case anyone still wonders whatever became of this organization after it was not wound up in 2012 but got new leadership that saw a bright future also with a slashed budget... "Now official: Netherlands without foreign broadcasting" https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/medienmagazin/radio_news/beitraege/2018/flevoland.html In German but with links to mostly English-language sources. In short: What is now called "RNW Media" has explicitly left the field of media/journalism and moved over into the NGO scene. Try to imagine a journalist stating that "political issues are too risky to tackle head on": Impossible, ridiculous, appalling (Kai Ludwig, Germany, WOR iog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. 1008 kHz Closedown --- Hi All, An interesting video of the closedown was posted on Boobtube by Max Berger, who runs the SM Radio Dessau station, this video also contains a number of stills of the transmitter site and antenna and so is well worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4pL1YKPSY&feature=em-uploademail (Alan Gale, England, Jan 2, WOR iog via DXLD) 1008 kHz Closedown --- By the way, have ever any recent pictures from the transmitter hall or just details about the current or more recent set-up surfaced? It seems that this transmitter site disappeared more than a decade ago behind a fog of secrecy. Gossip has it that Radio 10 was from 2004 to 2007 transmitted with a new solid-state rig. Handing over the frequency to Grootnieuws Radio involved a change of transmission providers, back then to KPN Broadcast again. Allegedly they brought the old transmitter back on. And this was the last I ever heard about the 1008 kHz equipment. 747 kHz for its part was allegedly run with the original tube transmitter until the very end in 2015. But as said: This all is just gossip, no really hard facts. And meanwhile it is January 3 and the transmitter is still on. So much for the agreement to definitely shut down the facility on 1 Jan 2019 (Kai Ludwig, 2327 UT Jan 2, WOR iog via DXLD) I checked 1008 kHz at 2138 UT and it seems to me that the transmitter is on but there is no audio loop advertising the station's further receiving possibilities. It is not very economical to operate a transmitter with a carrier without an audio content (Tibor Gaal, Jan 3, WOR iog via DXLD) [and non]. 1008 kHz: The playout of the looped advice was already interrupted for an extended period during the early evening. It finally stopped at 2130 UT, followed by another presentation of the song they had also played as last one before they switched to this loop (MercyMe / Word of god speak, they say that's what they played when starting their program in 2007). Finally open carrier from 2133 until 2157*****. Now also modulation could be pulled from what was until then just a 2 kHz het: Apparent 1010 WINS from New York who greets its friends from Europe with a friendly "Error 1020, Access denied, What happened? This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks" – who[ever] uses such kind of geoblocking (the Los Angeles Times has at least a politely worded message) should really not expect sympathy. And concerning the Zeewolde site: After a bit of digging it seems that the transmission provider for 1008 kHz has changed in the meantime and that it was since a solid-state transmitter of 100 kW, probably even the very one already used for Radio 10 from 2004 to 2007 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 0044 Jan 4, WOR iog via DXLD) "... such kind of geoblocking ..." No doubt this is a reaction, or possibly over-reaction, to our friends the Russians, who don't seem to be satisfied at merely selecting the "president" of the United States, his Cabinet officials, and doubtless a large number of Republican stooges infesting this country. It's a shame, as WINS/1010 generally runs a superb all-news operation (Greg Hardison, CA, ibid.) I'd suggest to stop listening the propaganda spewed by the mainstream media. It seems to have affected you so much that you now believe the entire population of Russia not only are commanding the US but also care about whatever CBS or its hundreds of media outlets have to say (Eduardo Peralta, Argentina, ibid.) Friends, I think this geoblocking is not the product of a conspiration theory. I think rather related to the newly imposed GPR rules in Europe which have a very strict requirement for user data protections and the fines are very harsh. And even this GPR regulation is not only affecting just EU countries but others too who process, store or provide access to EU citizens (consumers). The reaction on the part of U.S. sites is to block EU citizens until they try the way how to be compliant with this GPR data protection rule. Maybe they will find out later that it isn't worth the effort and the result will be to keep geoblocking. Some UK stations are applying geoblocking because they aren't authorised to broadcast copyrighted materials abroad by the copyright owners/holders. Especially football matches: sport games are affected since you have to buy the broadcasting rights and these are very-very expensive, or let's say, overpriced. This is why the satellite feed of the Hungarian televisions not necessarily airs some sports games while they are available on their terrestrial network (Tibor Gaal, Budapest, Hungary, ibid.) On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 12:44 AM, Kai Ludwig wrote: ``Finally open carrier from 2133 until 2157*****.`` This seems to be a little error: The open carrier on 1008 kHz was in fact shut down at 2257 UT. Here is a recording from 2128 to 2133 UT, including the farewell song [in English]: https://www.mwlist.org/sounds/2019-01-03T21_28_52Z_1008.00_am_kiwi-sdr2-leiden.impactam.nl_FAREWELL.mp3 (Alexander Busneag, Germany, WOR iog via DXLD) Ha, so the notice I saw really referred to UT instead of CET and I was a few seconds too late when coming back to see if the plug will be pulled at the end of the day. Thank you for paying attention! A pity that they either never had an automated switch to a backup source, triggered by silence detection, or remembered to deactivate it in advance. Would have loved to see happen again what happened when MDR left mediumwave: "Retune" loop stopped... and back on was the regular programming, now from satellite. And some people were rolling on the floor laughing, because they knew that such a switch had been set up at some point. Bingo!!! (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) [non]. 1008 clear now --- With 1008 now clear, interesting sigs, Greece at 1515 gmt with possibly Pakistan under it (Edward Baker, G1MXP, 1535 UT Jan 4, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. GERMANY. Studio52 Radio Group - next broadcast 19 January --- Was on air today. This from the group website: We are a network of small hobby radio stations in the Netherlands and in Germany. We broadcast our program from the Netherlands via our stream and sometimes via a shortwave transmitter. Our next live transmissions on shortwave for West Europe runs on: Saturday, 19 Jan. 2019 / 1200-1500 UT always on 5970 kHz with 125 kW via Nauen / Germany. More details at: https://studio52radiogroup.jimdo.com/ Studio52-Radiogroup We play music for europe !! Link zu unserem Stream / Link to our Stream (via Mike Terry, Jan 1, WOR iog via DXLD) Re: [WOR] STUDIO 52, 5970 kHz 1200-1500z Unsere nächsten Live-Sendungen auf Kurzwelle für West-Europa laufen wie folgt: Dienstag, den 01.01.2019 / 13 - 16 Uhr MEZ Samstag, den 19.01.2019 / 13 - 16 Uhr MEZ immer auf 5970 kHz mit 125 kW via Nauen. Wir wünschen allen Hörern dazu guten Empfang :-) ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://studio52radiogroup.jimdo.com/ Der Stream läuft bereits. (via roger, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) Hi, Does it mean that on other days their broadcast is from Nauen and not Issoudun as AOKI says? (Tibor Gaal, hungaroboy, Jan 1, ibid.) Yes. 1.) https://studio52radiogroup.jimdo.com/ Our next live-transmissions on shortwave for west-Europe runs on: Saturday, 19.Jan. 2019 / 12:00 - 15:00 UTC on 5970 kHz with 125kW via Nauen/Germany. 2.) Already in the penultimate radio broadcast (a live show) "Nauen" was mentioned, with "125 kw". (Studio on the grounds of Nauen, maybe MB insider involved) https://www.dropbox.com/s/ox996b21esfaiwo/2018-12-25_STUDIO_52_14-15_CET-cut-.mp3?dl=0 3.) In a TDoA measurement, a position of 30 km west of Berlin resulted. Seen in this way, there are no further questions for me. AOKI may be a good source for the situation in Asia, but not for European conditions. In this regard, the EIBI list is better and more up-to-date. And you should not forget to use your own mind. Of course this is not meant personally, but in general. ;-) (roger, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 5960, EAST GERMANY, The Mighty KBC (Nauen) at 0003 with DJ Dave Mason with e-mail address and a singing ID and into oldies music – Fair but noisy with fading Jan 6 – Believe it or not, this is the best I have heard this one in several weeks, whose signal quality did not depreciate much over the entire two hour broadcast, but regardless, I'll still take 11600 via Bulgaria on Saturdays at 1300 over this one. Whether it's Bulgaria or Romania there always seems to be a pipeline of good signals between my QTH and Eastern Europe (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 9780, Rangitaiki, 35 kW/35 deg, RNZI, Dec 28, 1802 - Despite a strong signal, can't quite demodulate it without a lot of rapid drop outs. I can still follow the news, but it's not an enjoyable experience. Haven't heard RNZI in DRM for quite a while, with their restricted schedule now. Used to be a regular for me in our local evenings (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11690, Rangitaki, 35 kW/35 deg, RNZI, Dec 30, 1922 - 100% copy with 15.48 kbps EEP AAC+ Mono. Display field has their DRM schedule as follows: Reception reports to using the QSL option. 1650 to 1750 7330, 1751 to 1850 9780, 1850 to 1950 11690, 1950 to 2050 13840 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6115, Jan 5 at 1424, 49m bandscan finds English here so it`s not R. Nikkei, which now closes at 1000 daily per NDXC/Aoki, and is S8-S9, stronger than the other Nikkei on 6055. DJ is talking about pop music hits of years gone by on this-day-in-history; 3:26 live timecheck at 1426 UT = NZDST of absurd UT+13; another song runs past 1430, then ``half past three`` TC, on the RNZ National All Night Programme, time for something from BBCWS, questions about space, but I miss the show title; starts recounting Gagarin`s 1961 first flight. I was standing by maybe to hear one of their new Melanesian programs at 1430, which Adrian Sainsbury told us about: ``From RNZ Pacific news in Pidgin followed by news from Buzz FM Vanuatu, plays at 1130 and 1430 UT. Will be back on air from 21 January. News in Pidgin – presented by Koroi Hawkins; BuzzFM News – from Port Vila, Vanuatu``. 21 Jan is Monday; he does not say whether this be 5- or 7-days a week, unlike the other Melanesian program, Wantok, which will be M-F at 1028, 1230 and 2230 from Mon 14 Jan. 6115 was tested one or two days in December before 1300, but now it permanently replaces 7390 where there is nothing, as RNZP sked shows effective Jan 5, 6115 from 1259 daily: until 1650 except UT Saturdays until 1758. From 1759 Sats switches to 9700-AM; while from 1651 all other days switches to 5975 DRM. So RNZI 6115 will be fading out into the dayside over here earlier than when on 7390 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ROMANIA 6115, RNZI – Rangitikei, 1/6, 1445. New frequency as of 5 Jan. Show about Indonesian Tsunami. News 1500, weather 1510, 1515 music “Old Cape Cod” Fair to poor by 1505 (George Herr, CA. Equipment: Perseus SDR, 25’ vertical, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 6115, RNZ Pacific, January 6, 2019, 1528–1543 in English. New Frequency for this outlet, as of 5 January, 2019. SIO 444. Interview and conversation in English with OM and YL. Discussion of social media. Pop MX after interview concludes, station ID given. YL announcer. Listed target is Pacific (Vince Henley, Anacortes, WA, U. S. A. Equipment in use: WiNRADiO G39DDCe SDR, ICOM IC-R8600, Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R8B, SDRPLAY RSP Duo, TECSUN PL-880. Antennas: whip on PL-880 and Alpha-Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside east west at 30 feet for all others, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Is Radio New Zealand missing from 9765 or is it just solar minimum conditions plus a bad frequency to propagate to Eastern North America? They are scheduled from 0659 to 1058 but, whether I am up with insomnia, or get up early enough to catch their last hour on this frequency, lately I have been hearing nothing but noise. In fact, lately all I've been seeing is DXers on the left coast logging them, at all. Is anyone else in Eastern North America hearing them? (Mark Coady, Ont, Jan 8, ODXA iog via DXLD) Conditions have been all around terrible (Dan Robinson, ibid.) Conditions on AM have been fairly rancid lately too here in Wyoming (Paul Walker, ibid.) Mark, I don`t know about 10-11 UT, but when I am up as late as 0700 (not the last few nights), 9765 has been the SSOB (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** NIGERIA. 9689.925, Ikorodu, 250 kW/248 deg, Voice of Nigeria, Dec 28, 1814 - A strong signal, slightly off channel, in African accented English, but low modulation. A shame, as they could be quite strong otherwise! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. 7235 NIGERIA. Radio Nigeria Kaduna – Kaduna (P), 2118, 1/1/19, in Hausa. Man announcer, musical bridge of indigenous drumming, 2nd man announcer. Poor – fair (Mark Taylor, Madison, Wisconsin. Equipment: Perseus, Elad FDM-S2, Airspy HF+, ICOM R75, Tecsun PL 880, and various other portables; 42 meters dipole, 100’ long wire, W6LVP loop, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) via FRANCE FRANCE, Radio Nigeria Kaduna in 41mb via TDF Issoudun, Jan.3 0500-0700 on 7335 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa, very good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-nigeria-kaduna-in.html Radio Nigeria Kaduna in 22mb via TDF Issoudun, Jan.3 0700-0900 on 13840 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa, very good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-nigeria-kaduna-in_3.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE, Radio Nigeria Kaduna via TDF Issoudun, Jan.8 0500-0700 on 7335 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa, good signal 2000-2300 on 7235 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa, no signal Jan.7 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radio-nigeria-kaduna-in_8.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. MARE Harold Frodge reminds us that: Besides the usual 6860-6960 kHz range, North American pirates have been popping up all over the place lately. 4010-4080 has been active for a few weeks now. In recent days, 3200-3500, 4800s & 5800-6100 have all been active (MARE Tipsheet Jan 4 via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. == Shortwave free radio Skippy Radio. Sunday, December 30, 2018, 2121, 6925 usb. Bluesy rock music into a spoken word bit. Music by Robin Trower at 2126. Rough copy, fair signal, s3/s5. (Will-MD) Old time radio. Sunday, December 30, 2018, 2351, 6770 am. 1950s jazz music, Avalon Cigarettes commercial, Avalon Time radio show starting. Fair signal. (Will-MD) Radio Enterhakken. Monday, December 31, 2018, 2042, 6275 am. Polka version of U2 song "Still haven't found what I'm looking for." Radio Enterhakken ID at 2047. SSTV at 2209 and into rock music. Very good sound and signal, s7. (Will-MD) [not a European, right? gh] Mix Radio International. Monday, December 31, 2018, 2045, 6913 usb. Soul music, fair signal, s3 with a slight het. (Will-MD) Mix Radio International. Monday, December 31, 2018, 2141, 6861 usb. Mix Radio International with pop rock music. Fair to good signal, s5. (Will-MD) Yeah Man Radio. Tuesday, January 1, 2019, 2020, 6925 am. Music by Steely Dan, "Peg". ID at 2021. "Home At Last" at 2026. Fair to good signal, good AM sound. (Will-MD) Unid. Friday, January 4, 2019, 1631, 6925 usb. Various spoken word bits, including The Three Stooges "quiet, numbskulls, I'm broadcasting." Poor signal, just barely above the noise floor. (Will-MD) Radio Ga-Ga. Friday, January 4, 2019, 2132, 6924.95 usb. Music by Bob Seger "We've Got Tonight," at 2133. "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men at 2137. Spoken word, comedy bits, at 2141, including Screwy Squirrel from the Tex Avery cartoons. "Crew Slut" by Frank Zappa (live version) at 2142. "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate at 2148. "Get Down Tonight" by KC and the Sunshine Band at 2151. Unid hair band metal song at 2157. ID, SSTV and sign off at 2200. Fair signal, s3/s5 (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, radio@zappahead.net, Icom IC-R75, G5RV, PL-880, DX LISTENING DIGEST) one more pirate, on FM 90.3: See UNIDENTIFIED ** NORTH AMERICA. 4015, PIRATE, WDBR [WDDR - gh] Radio, Jan 1, 0208 - Good reception with piano music. Much stronger than 4063U, on at the same time. Yes, an SSTV image at 0210! Looks like the main character from My Favorite Martian! Recognize the antenna (lol)! The caption looks like Basdar 3000 Radio, but I stand to be corrected! ID sounds like WDBR radio at 0217. Numerous SSTV images subsequently including Andrew Yoder Radio, Redhat Radio (twice), Tree House SWI Radio, a whale image with caption missed, Dr Strangelove Radio, Dickweek Radio, DXCAN Radio (and a shout out to Alberta listener), and most recently Tuco Radio around 0536. Obviously the last pirate standing. Still going at 0617 (and I'm fading!). Last SSTV was for Ranco Radio. Might have to pull the plug on this one! One more SSTV image of a helicopter at 0636. Can't quite make out the caption, although maybe just, 'Helicopter Radio'. Getting progressively very weak. Thank goodness for my very low noise floor. No joy earlier in the evening from my friend, Colin Newell in a suburban environment in Victoria. Looks like he finally left the air at 0650 as I no longer hear anything. Thanks for the long pirate radio evening!!! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 4063, PIRATE, Pirate, Jan 1, 0159 - I suppose the pirate community has given up on below 41 meters with the low MUF, so more activity down here. Just noted another music pirate on 4063 with classic soul music vocals. Piano fanfare at 0201 (apparently just the next song). Generally pretty weak. Listened to the mp3 and no IDs heard until past 0220. Will need to check HF Underground. [later: I'm always thrilled to receive a QSL from a hobby pirate radio station. Mix Radio International was widely heard in eastern North America on New Year's Eve on 4063 USB, and well heard at my DX cottage in Masset, BC. Thanks, Mix! 73 (Walt Salmaniw, Jan 6, visible in the WOR iog, via DXLD] 4080, Yet another pirate!, Jan 1, 0226 - This is the place to be tonight. Yet another pirate came on at 4080 just now. Not as strong as 4015, but not too shabby, either. 4080.179, UNID Pirate, Jan 1 0113 - Not sure whether a Europirate or a North American. Fair reception with C&W song. I noted the transmitter to be intermittent, but once the song started, it stayed on alright. Oops, spoke to soon, as at 0115:00 it was off for a second or so, before resuming another song. SNR seems best on the North Beverage, but weak all around. Gone on recheck at 0134 (I did tape it, so I'll have a listen). Seems to have left the air at 0131 without any obvious IDs, although something was said at 0118:35 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 4727-USB PIRATE (No. Am.) Voice of Ozarks Corn Whiskey, 0208, 1/1/19. Program of lite jazz, 0224 Op giving New Year’s greetings into more jazz, IF and talk, “It had to be you” and other talk and jazz. Poor – fair. (Taylor – WI) 4863-USB, PIRATE (No. Am.) Mix Radio International, 2212, 12/31/18. Program of hard rock and soul music. ID at 2222. Poor. (Taylor – WI) 4871-USB, PIRATE (No. Am.) Mix Radio International, 0055, 1/5/19. Program of 60’s music. ID from HF Underground. Barely audible (Mark Taylor, Madison, Wisconsin. Equipment: Perseus, Elad FDM-S2, Airspy HF+, ICOM R75, Tecsun PL 880, and various other portables; 42 meters dipole, 100’ long wire, W6LVP loop, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6950, PIRATE, Radio Boo Boo, Dec 29, 0044 - Good reception with Jazzy vocals. SSTV image at 0107 depicting a bear looking into a window, with the caption, Radio Boo Boo at the bottom. First for me for a station with this name (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6951, PIRATE Unknown, Jan 1, 0028 - First noted a few minutes after 0000 at fair to good level. Interesting choice of frequencies. No one else on the air that I can hear so far (remember the days of Radio Yellowknife, years ago, that I enjoyed during the deepest of winter, and perhaps on New Year's Eve as well!). Played Rocky Mountain Way until 0039, then gave a computer generated ID 'Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year', then transmitter cut. Didn't quite catch the ID, if there was one. No SSTV either (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6930-AM, Jan 5 at 2222, JBA M&W talk, 2225 gone. Several more unID logs here, first as a conversation with Alexa: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,49805.0.html and a rather grotesque SSTV image, but no IDs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6949.9, Jan 5 at 2218, JBA talk, pirate? Barely // 1390v KCRC local with CBS Sports Radio. However, some pirates are reported as 6950-USB around this time: Voice of Uncle Don: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,49809.0.html and Brockett 99: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,49814.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. We had light snow and freezing rain yesterday and overnight, not enough to break wires or trees, but a ``winter wonderland`` thru the sunshine. Temp going up into the high 40s, and tropo is enhanced; as of 15 UT Jan 4, Bill Hepburn`s maps show a Level-2 oval from SW to NE OK, surrounded by a greater Level-1 oval from NW TX to SW MO, with Enid on the edge. Despite my damaged antenna aimed toward OKC, from 1602 to 1610 UT I bandscan to find, the only DX decodes: RF 20, KQCW Muskogee, 19-1 as CW, but *no* 19-2 any more which W9WI.com lists as ThisTV RF 42, KBZC-LD ``Enid`` which is really in OKC and normally invisible, with 7 subchannels, [brackets as listed by W9WI.com; screen positions denote visible bugs; PSIP ID on all of them the same: KBZC-LD]: 42-1 sports [Stadium] 42-2 700 Club with CBN ``News`` [Tuff --- really?] 42-3 BUZZR LR -- gameshows 42-4 GetTV LR: `Walker, Texas Ranger` 42-5 QVC LR 42-6 shopping [QVC+] 42-7 shopping [Liquidation] BAD signals on the meter: 50, 47, 46, 45, 34, 33, 30, 28, 26, 24, 21, 11, 10. Most correlate with Tulsa market, like KQCW-20. Note that some of these are OKC channels which are being blocked by DX QRM: 50, 46, 33, 24! From listings one could only guess some LDs or translators elsewhere in OK might be responsible. Or for ch 50, K50JG 19 kW, Independence KS, relaying TBN KDOR Bartlesville. DTV tropo, Jan 5 at 1617 UT, much like yesterday morning; in fact, Set-Top-Box still tuned to RF 20, and KQCW 19-1 Muskogee / Tulsa again decoding; now with one other companion, RF 28, Ion 44-1, i.e. megawatt KTPX-TV Okmulgee = Tulsa market, presumably with the usual 6 subchannels, unexplored (BTW, #3, Ion Life gets no exposure on cable around here, everywhere?). BAD DX signals then found on meter undecoding: RF 10, 11, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 31, 34, 35, 36, 42, 45, 46, 50. Again this includes OKC stations disrupted by DX: 19, 23, 25, 46, 50 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 6m Es map show DX contacts between here and FL over SE/NW paths with estimated MUF into the 100s, so another try for some FMDX, Jan 5 at 1630 UT: nothing heard; tropo is up making ACI and CCI worse than dead conditions, something on every channel or adjacent splat. To keep this from being a total waste of time, I check the RDS on the DX-398 of our two new Enid market stations, which are static and as to be expected, from KHRK and KWOF: 97.7 THE_HAWK, 106.3 THE_WOLF (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority had a big surprise in store for us. Ever since the digital transition, the second of four OETA channels has been called OKLA --- a mixture of repeats of PBS and OETA main-channel programs, kidvid, and shall we say, second-tier PTV shows. On Monday January 7, OKLA was suddenly gone, replaced by PBS World, apparently a sub-service of PBS which has already been available elsewhere. Break-ins with some OETA repeats remain on the new 13-2, but overall it provides a much more diversified schedule. For example, BBC World News America had been airing at 2200 UT on OKLA, and again at 2300 weekdays on OETA-HD (main channel). Now on 13 -2 instead, we have NHK World news at 2200, and DW News at 2230. NHK had been absent from any OETA service for more than a year. Now we can get three major foreign TV news sources in a row for a sesquihour. I have mixed feelings about the change, since there was already more worthwhile programming on OETA than I had time to watch! Full schedules of all four OETAs are available here: http://www.oeta.tv/schedule/ I can get OETA off the air, sometimes, depending on slight tropo enhancement, but often marginal with breakup, or not at all. I strongly suspect that the problem is not a weak signal, but QRM from the second harmonic of local KNID 107.1 on 214.2 MHz, right in the middle of the RF channel 13, 210-216 MHz spectrum. 13-1 and 13-2 are also on Suddenlink cable, 13 & 145, but maddeningly have been only with flat mono sound, which I had to endure even during the recent holiday music specials, and lots of PBS programs, notably Nature have excellent stereo music background soundtrax. After prodding OETA repeatedly to get this fixed, instead I finally reached someone at Enid Suddenlink to investigate. It turns out that their main source for OKC channels including OETA is a fibre-optic feed from competing cable company Cox, which owns the OKC market. He switched to Suddenlink`s backup, an off-air pickup in Seminole OK (the other side of OKC, rather indirect!), and voilà, I hear stereo again (on headphones, so there is no ambiguity). Thus we again have $tereo on OETA via cable as long as they keep getting it via Seminole. If I want to see something on OETA Create, their third channel, I still have to get it off the air or not at all. I have been unable to find any PR on the OETA website about the change from OKLA to PBS WORLD, but here`s something of far more import, behind-the-scenes problems we never would know about from watching TV: ``OETA Acts to Protect Donor Funds Last Updated by Aaron Morvan on Jan 09, 2019 at 4:34 pm http://www.oeta.tv/blogs/media/oeta-acts-to-protect-donor-funds/?preview The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) Board of Directors voted unanimously today to terminate its relationship with OETA Foundation. In taking this action the Board is protecting donor funds and the investment of Oklahoma’s taxpayers as well as the integrity of OETA. OETA intends to fully comply with the intent of the state law 1982 Okla. Sess. Laws 607, SB 454 to “encourage contributions by private individuals, companies, foundations, corporations and others in the private and public sectors” and will immediately take steps to form a “public, nonprofit foundation which will operate for the exclusive purpose of receiving, investing and expending privately donated nonstate appropriated funds related to the support, promotion, development and growth of educational and public broadcasting in Oklahoma.” In 1982 OETA collaborated with a diverse group of philanthropic Oklahomans to create the OETA Foundation, Inc. The OETA Foundation and OETA worked together for just over three decades with a shared goal to bring Oklahomans quality, accessible, non-commercial programming intended to entertain and enlighten. OETA holds the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license for public television in Oklahoma and as the licensee, OETA is closely regulated by the FCC with sole responsibility for programming, management, and content. The once-cooperative and courteous relationship between OETA and the OETA Foundation, Inc. has deteriorated dramatically. Recognizing this serious situation, the OETA Board of Directors led intensive efforts over a multi-year period to negotiate a modernized and reformed operating agreement with the OETA Foundation, but unfortunately were rebuffed by the OETA Foundation. As a result, multiple long-time OETA Foundation Trustees resigned in 2018 in protest of this continued irresponsible and harmful behavior towards OETA and the State of Oklahoma. In December of 2018, OETA Foundation filed suit against OETA to assert control of the operations of OETA and to prevent donor funding from reaching OETA. In response, OETA filed a petition asking the judge to affirm OETA’s authority to select a more prudent and responsible steward of OETA’s donor dollars and charitable gifts. “After trying in good faith for over two years to reach an amicable resolution we now find ourselves in the unfortunate position of being forced to terminate our relationship with the OETA Foundation, Inc.,” commented Garrett King of Weatherford, Chair of the OETA Board of Directors. “The OETA Foundation has precipitated this unfortunate situation, but the OETA Board of Directors will uphold its responsibilities to the public and to OETA’s generous donors. We will protect and preserve OETA and its ability to execute the mission given it by the Oklahoma Legislature.” The OETA Board of Directors voted today in favor of a resolution which provides the Chair of the Board the authority to proceed with terminating the agreement with the OETA Foundation. As a result, OETA intends to notify the OETA Foundation in writing directly of its decision. “We took this action today pursuant to all applicable law and policy, but we took no joy in being forced to do so by the OETA Foundation’s reckless and damaging behavior,” King said. “It is what we must do. We have also taken the first crucial steps towards rebuilding OETA’s capacity to fully cooperate with a new supporting charity as was envisioned by the Legislature in 1982 and as was the reality for so many positive, productive years. Private support has been and will be crucial to OETA’s continued success and role as a positive force in the lives of Oklahomans.” King expressed his appreciation to the full OETA Board of Directors for its engaged, resolute support of OETA’s employees and mission. He also commended public media veteran Polly Anderson, the Executive Director of OETA named by the Board in late 2017, for her steadfastness in steering the organization through challenging times`` The root cause of this schism is totally unclear. Is it all about money, or programming philosophy, or a personality power struggle?? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A follow-up: FAQs about OETA and the OETA Foundation Posted by Aaron Morvan on Jan 11, 2019 at 11:06 pm http://www.oeta.tv/blogs/media/faqs-about-oeta-and-the-oeta-foundation/ (via gh, DXLD) ** OMAN. Very good signal of Radio Sultanate of Oman in English Jan.3: from 1400 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg WeEu English-distorted audio https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/very-good-signal-of-radio-sultanate-of.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) Very good signal of Radio Sultanate of Oman in English Jan.6: from 1400 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu English + weak signal at same time 15140 QVC 250 kW / 130 deg to SoAm Spanish R.Habana Cuba https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/very-good-signal-of-radio-sultanate-of_6.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Sultanate of Oman in English and Arabic on Jan.8 from 1405 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu English, very good from 1500 on 15140 THU 100 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Arabic - very good https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/radio-sultanate-of-oman-in-english-and.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALESTINE. IL: Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation raided 5 January 2019 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46771332 Five men have been arrested after the offices of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in Gaza were ransacked. Thousands of dollars' worth of equipment was destroyed when the armed men attacked the building on Friday. The broadcaster is funded by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is dominated by the Fatah faction. Staff initially blamed the raid on the faction's rivals Hamas, which controls Gaza, but the Islamist group said unhappy PA employees carried it out. The five men who have been arrested are "employees of the Palestinian Authority whose salaries have been cut recently," the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza said in a statement. "It turned out that one of them was a Palestine TV employee whose salary was cut last month," it added. Cameras, editing and broadcasting equipment were all destroyed in the raid. The interior ministry said an investigation had been carried out and the men had been identified by surveillance footage and were all members of Fatah. But officials in the West Bank, which is dominated by Fatah, condemned the incident and said the "de facto authorities" Hamas bore responsibility. The two factions have been at odds since Hamas seized control of Gaza in a brief but violent battle in 2007. In October 2017, the rivals signed a reconciliation deal that was meant to see Hamas hand over administrative control of Gaza to the PA, but disputes have delayed the deal's full implementation (5 January 2019 via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** PERU. Jan 2: 4747, Huanta 2000, Ayacucho, Perú, 1030, 44422, Spanish 4855, 44422, espúreo de 4747 (ALFREDO CAÑOTE, Lima, Perú, TELF: 51+99958-6329 (1300-0100 UT); RECEIVERS: ICOM IC-R71A, GRUNDIG YB400PE, SONY ICF-7600DS, REALISTIC DX-440, ALINCO DJ-X3, condiglista yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 15640, Tinang, 250 kW/270 deg, Radio Pilipinas, Dec 28, 0209 - Excellent reception with English news. Telephone quality only. // 17700 a little weaker, as is 17820. Surprised that in the middle of winter, the MUF holds up to allow reception. 15640, Tinang, 250 kW/270 deg, Radyo Pilipinas, Dec 30, 0202 - Relatively strong but terrible audio. Worse than telephone quality. What's going on at Radyo Pilipinas? Not nice to listen to at all, despite the strong enough signal! English news. 17700 and 17820 both only weakly heard. About the return of bells from the US, important to the country (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 5930, Tsiganeshti, 100 kW/30 deg, Radio Romania International, Dec 31, 1959 - IS, then into Ukrainian program, announcing daily program to Ukraine at 18, 20, and 22 hours Ukrainian time. Almost good reception with over the Pole Beverage. Some ute interference 1 kHz low. 5955, Tsiganeshti, 100 kW/210 deg, Radio Romania International, Dec 31, 1932 - Fair level in listed Macedonian. Not in DRM which some sources claim. Heard only on the over the Pole Beverage antenna. Program ended at 2026 when back into RRI IS. 5955, Tsiganeshti, 75 kW/30 deg, Radio Romania International, Jan 1 1803 - 2 for 2 with RRI's Ukrainian broadcast. Heard yesterday at 2000, and today audible at fair level with New Year's broadcast. A bit of splatter initially from 5950 (?WRMI), but gone within a minute or two. Ukrainian might be as rare on SW these days as Hebrew. Compared to the cold war and the 90s, there are precious few broadcasters using the language anymore. 5955, Tsiganeshti, 100 kW/30 deg, Radio Romania International, Jan 2, 1612 - A triple crown. I've now heard all 3 Ukrainian language programs from Romania. This is the earliest one. Heard at good level, besides some ?local noise. Likely the strongest of all I've heard, but not unusual, as it's still dark here. A program about ?orphaned children. ID at 1616. Then into classical music at 1617. Continued on until RRI IS at 1626 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7375, Jan 3 at 1839, YL talk sounds like Romanian, S5-S7. Yes, RRI in Romanian scheduled 18-21, 300 kW, 285 degrees from Galbeni. One of two extracontinental signals reaching here on band a few minutes after local mean noon on one of the shortest days in the year; the other, IRAN 7305, q.v. Algeria via France is also listed at 18-20 on 7375, but aimed SSE, so not heard here? Must be colliding over there. 9770-9775, Jan 5 at 0715, DRM noise weakly audible, as sked on 9770 from RRI in German from Tsiganeshti, not enough to bother strong 9765-AM RNZI from 0700. Also has 9765-9770-9775 DRM in English via Galbeni at 0630-0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. All broadcasts of GTRK Adygeyan Radio are cancelled 1800-1900 on 6000 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Ad/Ar/Tu Mon 1800-1900 on 6000 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Adygeyan Fri 1900-2000 on 6000 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Adygeyan Sun No signal from GTRK Adygeya / Adygeyan Radio on Dec.31 & Jan.4 Brother HySTAIRical via SPL Secretbrod is on 6000 kHz, Jan.4 1802-2000 on 6000 SCB 050 kW / 030 deg to EaEu English-fair https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/all-broadcasts-of-gtrk-adygeyan-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan.4, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But are you sure this is permanent rather than a holiday pause? (gh) ** SAO TOME. 6080.025, Jan 3 at 0604, VOA English news ending, into music, and it is this far off-frequency, so previous assumption that it would be Brasil is contradicted; altho if on, it may be off- frequency plus too, around here. Also light stray Cuban pulse jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1521, Jan 8 at 1745 on caradio as I drive around Enid, JBA het upon nearby KOKC. Hard to believe it be the 2000 kW from Duba, even before noon here, but can`t think of a better explanation. On the caradio so not a local device, altho I have also heard it on home rigs. Close skywave is certainly in play now tnx to the lowsun on highband, from at least Iowa to Texas. So if Saudi can get to the east coast, it`s not too fantastic to reach this farther under the circumstances. Are they hearing it in Massachusetts this early? Other spots further from a local 1520 should listen for it too, and try to get a bearing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 7240, Jan 5 at 1434, S8/S9+10 talk in SW Asian language; HFCC has nothing before ARS in Persian at 1500-1800, 500 kW, 40 degrees from Riyadh. But Aoki/NDXC covers this time, same at 1357- 1757 (and 1157-1300). SSOB within the official 41m SWBC band, most likely I suppose via long path, and way off-beam forwards or backwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9650.039, ARS, BSKSA [sic] Riyadh's new daylight fq Arabic sce, S=9+10dB at 0910 (Wolfgang Bueschel, in Doha Qatar and Delhi remote units, Jan 5 circa 0900 UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See GUINEA ** SINGAPORE. 3915, Kranji, 250 kW or 100 kW, BBCWS, Dec 29, 2212 - Fair to good reception in English, but with very broadbanded OTH radar (?Chinese). Some sources state 100 kW at 160 deg, while others have 250 kW at 0 degrees. Take your pick. Also occasional ham here. 40 watts, then up to 95 or 100 watts. KL7AA. The other guy is running 1200 watts into a ground loop. He notes the pulsing noises as well (now gone). // weaker 5845 also from Kranji (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 7570, WRMI Radio Miami Int’l; 2301, 12/30; Blatantly Bizarre & Boldly Befuddled Bro. Stair said that the Jews have developed a red heifer which will be offered at the next Passover, and that a snake crawled out of Jerusalem’s West Wall and scared a pigeon perched there, and that these are signs of the coming Messiah. (I must listen to KRVN to find out about this red heifer.) S10 peaks (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9330, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 1739, 12/31; Bro. HyStairical sed he’s an 85-year-old prophet & broke into song. B.S. bragged about still being on the air even when he was in “the prison house”. Also offered that the New World Order will collapse in an hour. SIO=3+54 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oooh, missed it! (gh) 9330 & 9395, Jan 8 at 1740 on caradio, TOMBS with some reverb, unusual; makes the LDPOG sound really cool, ha. Rails against those who do not believe he is: turn the dial. OK! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 9690, REE Spanish ID and into "English Service" which was mostly SS music, with the occasional EE announcement but not explaining what they were broadcasting or talking about anything resembling 'commentary' or 'news' etc. They did go into a multi-lingual 'happy new year' bit at 2311 and again at 2325 and had several English IDs sprinkled about the rest of the show, but still, nothing even resembling 'programming. Just running short-staffed for the holidays? This has such potential, but are we asking too much that they actually programme it now that they have some air time? Now that I think on it, this 'non' programming has been going on for quite a while now! Time pips and into French at BoH. In well for a change: 4+4+4+44 with only my local noise really causing issues, and then only during fades. 2255-2330 28/Dec SDRplay +SDRuno +ANC-4 +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 12030, Jan 2 at 1554, S9+10 open carrier, 1555 starting earworm REE IS, as non-American service now from 1600 weekdays. 9690, Jan 2 at 2302, REE English resumed on this Wednesday, after skipping NYE, Alison introducing lots of great Spanish classical guitar music for almost the entire semihour, VG. Final orchestral piece ends right in time for 2330 switch to French rather than dumping out of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11940, REE at 2000 // 9690 (overdriven audio) and 12030 (Good) in Spanish with three men with excited football coverage – Good Jan 5 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 12034.901, Jan 4 at 1549, JBA carrier with flutter. HFCC shows AWR in Marathi, 125 kW, 345 degrees at 1530-1600. Yes, Trincomalee is another of those sites we can depend on for offfrequenciness; but Wolfgang Bueschel says some of their transmitters are accurate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 9505, Al-Aitahab, 100 kW/210 deg, Voice of Africa, Jan 1, 1747 - Weak, but in the clear, and I think they're in English at this time, though might also be in French. Just too weak to be perfectly clear. Lots of musical bridges. As I listen more, sounding more French than English to me. Been a lot of years since I've heard them, so nice to hear them again. When Africa is in, I check for 11735 Zanzibar, but no luck with them, so perhaps they're on one of their extended outages. Checked also Sudan's other frequency of 7205. Very strong in Esperanto [7205 17-18 CRI Beijing - gh], but there's clearly an African sounding station cochannel. I had thought Sudan only had a single transmitter which alternates frequencies, but perhaps they have two (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reception of Voice of Africa Sudan Radio and Radio Omdurman on Jan.2 1715-1800 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf English Voice of Africa, weak/fair from 1900 on 7205 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf Arabic Radio Omdurman, good signal https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/voice-of-africa-sudan-radio-and-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fair signal of Voice of Africa Sudan Radio, Jan.5 1630-1715 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf French 1715-1800 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf English https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/fair-signal-of-voice-of-africa-sudan.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reception of Voice of Africa Sudan Radio on Jan.6 1630-1715 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf French, good 1715-1800 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf English-fair 1800-1830 on 9505 ALF 100 kW / 210 deg to CeAf Hausa, weak: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-voice-of-africa-sudan.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan.6-7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. Transmissions of Eye Radio again left SW Jan.1: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/transmissions-of-eye-radio-again-left.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 0400-0500 on 11620 MDC 250 kW / 335 deg to EaAf Juba Arabic* Mon-Fri 1500-1600 on 15410 SMG 250 kW / 139 deg to EaAf Juba Arabic* Mon-Fri 1600-1800 on 15410 ISS 250 kW / 139 deg to EaAf Juba Arabic* Mon-Fri *including other langs: English/Dinka/Nuer/Shilluk/Bari/Zande/Lutoho [former schedule] Observer ? 9:38 PM (via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 9940, Manzini, 100 kW/343 deg, TWR, Dec 31 1915 - Excellent, armchair copy in listed Lingala. I forgot the new name for Swaziland (is it, Estevani or something like that?). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) eSwatini ESWATINI, Reception of Trans World Radio Africa Jan.5 1905-1935 on 9940 MAN 100 kW / 343 deg to CeAf Lingala Daily 1935-1950 on 9940 MAN 100 kW / 343 deg to CeAf French Sat/Sun 1935-2005 on 9940 MAN 100 kW / 343 deg to CeAf Lingala Mon-Fri https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-trans-world-radio-africa_6.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. On December 28, 2018, after 0500 UT, the CB (frequency 936 kHz) received a very weak signal in Russian, possibly from Damascus. Unfortunately, for comparison, the transmitter on CB 783 kHz does not work for 1-2 weeks (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) 783 is the external service frequency, CB is Bulgaro-Russian for MW. i.e. Srednyaya Volna, Cyrillic abbr.: CB! (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non?]. Sound of Hope / Xi Wang Zhi Sheng in 25mb, Jan.5 from 0950 on 13890 unknown kW / non-dir to EaAs Chinese, good: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-sound-of-hope-xi-wang-zhi.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4765.060, Tajik Radio from Dushanbe, Yangi-Yul site usually on even fq on 4765 and 7245 kHz since decades, today use the 3rd TX unit there, which was odd fq from time to time. Heard local Central Asian colorit music, 2335-2345 UT on Jan 8th*. S=9+15dB signal in Delhi and Doha Qatar remote SDRs. In Europe, Ireland, Belgium, Hungary, and Moscow Russia only S=9+5dB strength. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (wb df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8) * in USSR era good old days the exactness of their transmitter services on the Orthodox Christmas holidays in Jan 5 to 10 was never high (Wolfgang Bueschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 6765.1, 1815, Bangkok Meteorological Radio good in USB mode with possible i/s, then female in Thai until 1826 when music resumed 12/12 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai ** Using the League’s Northland SDR, Jan NZ DX Times via DXLD 19-01 via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, 19-02) Not often reported. Despite music, as semi-utility does not qualify for WRTH, but EiBi shows both 6765.1 and 8743, same hours in Thai and English: 00-02, 03-05, 06-08, 09-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20, 21-23, i.e. two hours on, one hour off. IIRC they do/did have a QSL card (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) This probably encouraged Ivo to try their other frequency: UTILITY, Reception of Bangkok Meteo on Jan.6: from 1840 on 8743 USB in English, good signal https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-bankok-meteo-on-jan6.html (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. HSK9 Radio Thailand World Service in 41mb, Jan.5 1800-1900 on 7475 UDO 250 kW / 316 deg to WeEu Thai 1900-2000 on 7475 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to WeEu English 2000-2015 on 7475 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to WeEu German 2030-2045 on 7475 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to WeEu English 2045-2115 on 7475 UDO 250 kW / 316 deg to WeEu Thai https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/very-good-signal-of-hsk9-radio-thailand.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4905, PBS Xizang, Lhasa, 50 kW/ND, Holy Tibet, Dec 28, 1607 - Decent reception, but with the usual very difficult to follow heavily accented intonation. Also a CW intruder 1 kHz low, and intermittent data bursts 1 kHz above mars reception. // 4920 is cochannel AIR (both about equal). The CW IDs as G5VD, 'DE G5VD G5VD V QW2A QW2A DE G5VD...' Who's that, I wonder? Very strong CW, in any case. 4905, Lhasa, 50 kW/ND, PBS Xizang, Dec 30, 1630 - Good reception today with Holy Tibet program in English. Same intermittent digital signal 1 kHz above, and CW 1 kHz below. //4920 slightly weaker, with AIR also there in background. Other listed frequencies are 6025 (poor/fair and ruined by CNR's own DRM on 6030, so have to use LSB), 6110 and 6130 not heard, 6200 fair/good level, 7255 (poor), and 7385 poor/fair with splatter from much stronger RNZI on 7390. Mostly music program today. CW decodes as QW2E (or QW2A) DE G5VD whoever that might be. 4920, Lhasa, 50 kW/ND, PBS Xizang, Dec 29, 2208 - Amazingly good reception // 4905 in Tibetan. All this at 2:00 PM local. One can easily DX here 24 hours/day. Nice Tibetan music (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHINA, PBS Xizang Holy Tibet in 60, 49 & 41mb on Jan.3 1600-1700 on 4905 LHA 100 kW / non-dir to EaAs English 1600-1700 on 4920 LHA 100 kW / non-dir to EaAs English 1600-1700 on 6130 LHA 100 kW / 290 deg to EaAs English 1600-1700 on 7385 LHA 100 kW / 290 deg to EaAs English https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-pbs-xizang-holy-tibet-in.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Voice of Tibet 1230-1235 on 11601 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan remotedly on Jan 5th: S=9+5dB in Moscow Jan 5, 1221 UT carrier S=9+20dB in Delhi Jan 5, 1227 UT carrier 1235-1300 on 11605 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan S=9+5dB in Moscow Jan 5, 1241 UT 1300-1305 on 9896 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan S=9+30dB in Delhi, til 1305:10 UT 1305-1330 on 9899 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan S=9+30dB in Delhi from 1305:25 UT far away CNR1 jamming on 9895 kHz. 1330-1400 on 9899 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan S=9+30dB in Delhi from 1305:25 UT far away CNR1 jamming on 9895 kHz. China mainland jamming against Voice of Tibet, Oslo Norway today, has lowered their jamming operation these days. 1300-1330 UT for example today, the CHN CNR1 jamming kept 9 kHz away distance on 9890 kHz channel. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Bueschel, Jan 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 6125, V Turkey, English newscast, ID at 0409 and then back to more news read by OM, and then another ID at end of news at 0410. Then into feature programming with talx re the ‘meaning’ of ‘the state’ and how that is different in Western and Eastern countries. Audio cut out occasionally on both SW and Satellite (at the same time) so apparently there were feed issues! 45443 rather subdued modulation, //Galaxy 19 (q.v.) but much poorer quality audio than on the bird, so it’s the transmitter not the studio feed at fault here! 0405-0425 31/Dec SDRplay +SDRuno +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) TRT Voice of Turkey on very odd frequency 11795.7 on Jan.3: 0930-1055 11795.7 EMR 500 kW / 105 deg WeAs Farsi, instead of 11795.0 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-on-very-odd.html Reception of TRT Voice of Turkey on very odd frequency 7245.7 Jan.3 1200-1225 7245.7 EMR 250 kW / 300 deg SEEu Bulgarian, instead of 7245 Jan.2 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-on-very-odd_3.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 1-3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12035.711, Jan 3 at 1421, VOT English into closing IS, VP S3-S5 and way off-frequency today unlike stronger Turkish, music close to 11815.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TRT Voice of Turkey in Turkish, odd frequency 11925.7 Jan.5 0700-0955 11925.7 EMR 500 kW / 105 deg WeAs Turkish instead of 11925.0 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-in-turkish-on-odd.html TRT Voice of Turkey in Arabic on odd frequency 11955.7 kHz on Jan.5 1000-1055 11955.7 EMR 500 kW / 180 deg NEAf Arabic, instead of 11955.0 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-in-arabic-on-odd.html Reception of TRT Voice of Turkey on very odd frequency 7245.7, Jan.5: 1200-1225 7245.7 EMR 250 kW / 300 deg Bulgarian instead of 7245 Jan.4 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-in-bulgarian-on-odd.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6125, Voice of Turkey at 0357 with IS and ID loop to time pips at 0400 and a man with ID, sked, web platforms, and contact info then a woman with program highlights and a woman with news at 0402 – Fair Jan 5 – // 7240 not heard. I would certainly be interested in hearing how this frequency propagates to Central and Western North America (the target area) as, at my QTH in Eastern North America (Ontario), it certainly outperforms our targeted frequency of 5960 at 2300 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) Sometimes it`s on about 6125.7 like other TRT offset frequencies. Altho the later one may be for WNAm based primarily on its timing, the two transmissions are HFCC-registered with exactly the same parameters: 500 kW at 310 degrees on a type-215 antenna. Yet CIRAF targets are not the same --- based on propagational calculations 5 hours apart? Or desired targets? 5960 2300 2400 5,8,9,11N,17,18,27,28W 6125 0400 0500 3-5,7N,9N,17,18,27,28,11,8 Mark is in zone 4 - Ontario & Quebec, not for the 23, but right on the boundary of Z8, which is eastern USA. Note that Z6, western USA is not a target of either, and our very own Z7, central USA, only for the 04. Both are also for W Europe, Iceland and Greenland. Note also how Z11 & Z8, Caribbean and E USA, are at the end of the 04 list as if they were afterthoughts or somehow secondary. Altho it`s broadened a lot by the time it gets here, the boresight on the 310-degree beam from Emirler crosses America: from NYC to Pensacola; weakening west of that (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TRT Voice of Turkey in Swahili on odd frequency 15235.7 kHz, Jan.7 0700-0755 15235.7 EMR 500 kW / 210 deg CEAf Swahili, instead of 15235 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-in-swahili-on-odd.html TRT Voice of Turkey in Kazakh on odd frequency 9785.7 kHz, Jan.7 1430-1455 9785 EMR 500 kW / 072 deg CeAs Kazakh, instead of 9785.0 https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/trt-voice-of-turkey-in-kazakh-on-odd.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11815.731, Jan 8 at 1411, TRT Turkish talk at S4-S8, way off-frequency today, while English is relatively close at 12035.022 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Ukrainian Radio 1. Radio Crimea Realia is a joint project of Radio Liberty and the First Ukrainian Radio. Broadcasting in Russian in the direction of Crimea: 549 kHz / 400 kW Beam (Ukraine) 873 kHz / 25 kW Hours Yar (Ukraine) UT: 05.35-05.59 Mon-Fri 03.03-06.29 Mon-Fri 06.40-06.59 Sat 09.00-09.19 Sat 10.10-10.39 Mon-Fri 12.03-12.30 Sat 15.30-15.59 Sat 16.29-17.29 Mon-Fri (“Broadcasting in Russian”. Issue 25, RusDX Jan 6 via DXLD) ** U K. Were the Big Ben Chimes at New Year on BBC WS "Fake"? See WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** U K [non]. 15490, Fri Jan 4 at 1945-1950+ on caradio, good but deep fades, African language mentions Nigeria frequently. HFCC shows it`s a new Hausa broadcast from BBC via ASCension just started January 3 at 1930-2000 (Fridays extended to 2030; also new: French at 1800-1830). For some other reason I have 15490 in the BST-1 memory bank; must have been something more interesting in a previous season. And in fact, checking some HFCC from this December, these are *not* new transmissions, yet re-registered with exactly same parameters effective Jan 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7341-USB, Mon Jan 7 at 1506, crypto letter messages, calls include Red Cloud 41 and Heartland 40? Presumably another CAP net (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MARE Paul Dobosz passes along the following notice from the ARRL: Special Bulletin 1 ARLX001 Newington CT January 3, 2019 Third Wednesday Monthly Communications Exercises Set FEMA Region 10 will conduct monthly communications exercises (COMMEX) on the third Wednesday of each month, starting on Jan 16, 1730-1900 UT. Amateur Radio operators are invited to take part. The intent of these exercises is to test and exercise interoperable communication (federal/state/local/tribal/Amateur Radio) during a major disaster in which the communication infrastructure is significantly damaged or destroyed. FEMA Region 10 will use the call sign WGY910. Other stations associated with agencies and organizations that provide response support in accordance with the National Response Framework are encouraged to participate. The COMMEX will use these "dial" or "window" frequencies on 60 meters - including 5330.5, 5346.5, 5357.0, 5371.5 and 5403.5 kHz - as part of the exercise. The area of operation is the continental US (MARE Tipsheet Jan 4 via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) ``60 meters`` (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA, 1953 Czechoslovakia deaths --- Sunday, January 5 BBG Watch has interesting, lengthy piece: HISTORY 1953 CIA Source: People Died in Czechoslovakia Because of Pro-Communist Propaganda from Voice of America http://bbgwatch.com/bbgwatch/history-1953-cia-source-people-died-in-czechoslovakia-because-of-pro-communist-propaganda-from-voice-of-america/ (Mike Cooper, Jan 5, DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1962 monitoring: 9955, USA, Okeechobee FL, 100 kW/160 deg, World of Radio, Dec 29, 2227 - WOR 1962 heard at very good levels, not a time I was aware of (Saturday), then right into Czech Radio with Christmas programming, BUT suddenly at 2230 switched into a Bible huckster program! Darn, I'd rather hear Czech Radio! Presumably heard off the back end of the beam. 1860, Wentzville, Missouri WA0RCR, Dec 30, 0405 - Good reception with Gateway 160 meter program. ID'd and into a repeat of a net from Dec 19th (I think). WOR is scheduled tomorrow night. WOR heard at another time, though: 0517 in mid report at good level UT Sunday. Nice to hear Glenn actually on the radio, instead of just downloading his program! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1963 monitoring: confirmed this week`s first SW broadcast, Wednesday January 2 at 1047, the 1030 on WRMI 5950, S9+10. Also confirmed Wed Jan 2 at 2200 on WRMI 9955, S9 no jamming; and 9 seconds later on WBCQ 7490.13, S9+10. Next: (Tim Gaynor updates about Unique Radio, via WINB not in hiatus after all; and own 5045-LSB resumes January 7 and will then also // WINB) [WORLD OF RADIO 1964] 0729 UT Saturday HLR 6190-CUSB Germany to WSW 1200 UT Saturday Unique 9265 via WINB to WSW 1230 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 1531 UT Saturday HLR 9485-CUSB Germany to WSW 2030vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM non-direxional 2200 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 0400vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415], ND 0830 UT Sunday WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950 to WNW, 7730 to WNW 1130 UT Sunday HLR 7265-CUSB Germany to WSW 2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE 0230 UT Monday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 9395 to NNW 0400vUT Monday WBCQ *5130v Area 51 to WSW 0430 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE 0930 UT Monday Unique 5045-LSB ND low power NSW Australia 2330 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW]; also 5950 to WNW? * also webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7490.14, WBCQ Monticello ME; 2209-2230+, 1/2; Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio #1963; cited M.A.R.E. Gary Vance’s catch of RNZ test on 6115; WoR to 2229 music fill & BoH WBCQ ID by Goddess Irina. S10 at tune-in till 2117 started diving into QRN waves, covered occ’ly (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7780, WRMI at 0116 with Glenn Hauser's “World of Radio” - Good with fading [UT Thu] Jan 3 (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) Confirms a surprise new time; tnx, Mark! (gh) Checking WRMI skedgrids Jan 4 to update DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS, I spot a couple more new airings of WORLD OF RADIO: the only way I can find out about them. Unfortunately, not in time to confirm them by monitoring this week: UT Thursday 0100 on 7780; and Thursday 2100 on 7780 & 5950. The latter is very confusing, since at 2100, 7780 is *also* scheduled to carry RAE in German M-F. And the transmission grid atop also says that on Thursdays only, VORW instead at this hour! I can only check what`s happening with both on Friday January 4 during the 21-22 hour, at 2125: 7780 is indeed in German; 5950 is // 9395 with music, presumably Oldies. More certain WOR airings next: [WORLD OF RADIO 1964] 0729 UT Saturday HLR 6190-CUSB Germany to WSW 1200 UT Saturday Unique 9265 via WINB to WSW 1230 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 1531 UT Saturday HLR 9485-CUSB Germany to WSW [back from break?] 2030vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM non-direxional 2200 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 0400vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415], ND 0830 UT Sunday WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950? to WNW, 7730 to WNW 1130 UT Sunday HLR 7265-CUSB Germany to WSW 2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE 0230 UT Monday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 9395 to NNW 0400vUT Monday WBCQ *5130v Area 51 to WSW 0430 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE 0930 UT Monday Unique 5045-LSB ND low power NSW Australia resumes 2330 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW]; also 5950 to WNW? * also webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unique Radio via WINB 9265 --- Rather weak and noisy sig which was difficult to listen to with 'World of Radio' from tune-in at 1225, through to snatches of Unique Radio mentions in closing announcements to 1230. Not very listenable at all, maybe better luck with the Gunnedah signal on 5045 from Monday 7 Jan per website info (Matt Francis, NSW, Sat 5 Jan, WOR iog via DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO 1963 monitoring: confirmed Saturday January 5 at 1204 the 1200 from Unique Radio via WINB 9265, fair. Also confirmed at 1230 on WRMI 9955; abrupt start interrupting Blalock the Blaster; it seems we can no longer expect a canned WRMI ID just before WOR, as such overrides have also been heard at other times, at least on the BoH. And supposedly scheduled at 1200 Sat on 9955 is Wavescan, not The Full Gospel [semi]Hour. Anyhow WOR is good S9+10 at this new confirmed time. Just in case, 5950 checked, but it is not // now. Next WOR at 1531 UT Sat Jan 5 on Hamburger Lokalradio 9485-USB: as usual nothing audible here at 1542; via UTwente SDR at 1551 there is a trace of a carrier and voice which could be mine at minor peaks. Alan Gale, England, reports about this: ``Hi Glenn, Yet again I couldn't hear World of Radio on 9485 kHz via HLR at 1530 to confirm it was there, but at least I am now pretty sure that long skip is the problem, as I was hearing HLR, first on 6190 kHz up to 1200 UT, and then on 9485 kHz at a listenable level, right up until it suddenly faded out at around 1410 UT, about 10 minutes into Radio Tropical. I am sure that the lengthening days should eventually bring it back again, but I'll keep checking for it every week. 73 for now, Alan`` Next: 2030vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM non-direxional 2200 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 0400vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415], ND 0830 UT Sunday WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950? to WNW, 7730 to WNW 1130 UT Sunday HLR 7265-CUSB Germany to WSW 2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE 0230 UT Monday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 9395 to NNW 0400vUT Monday WBCQ *5130v Area 51 to WSW 0430 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE 0930 UT Monday Unique 5045-LSB ND low power NSW Australia resumes 2330 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW]; also 5950 to WNW? * also webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1963 monitoring: confirmed by Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria: ``GERMANY, Reception of World of Radio via HLR on 6190 CUSB, Jan.5: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-world-of-radio-via-hlr-on.html 0731-0800 6190 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg CeEu English Sat, good signal`` Also confirmed Saturday January 5 after 2200 on WRMI 9955, good at new time (5950 // 9395 with music). Also confirmed UT Sunday January 6 at 0428 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, Wentzville MO, about 10 minutes into, so started circa 0418, S9+10/20. Also confirmed Sunday January 6 at 0857 the 0830 on WRMI, yes on all three frequencies: 5850, 5950, 7730, from VG to F to G. (only 5950 stays on after 0900, with gospel huxter). Also confirmed by Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria: ``GERMANY, Reception of World of Radio via HLR on 7265 CUSB, Jan 6: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-world-of-radio-via-hlr-on_6.html 1131-1200 7265 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg CeEu English Sun, fair signal`` Next: 2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE 0230 UT Monday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 9395 to NNW 0400vUT Monday WBCQ *5130v Area 51 to WSW 0430 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE 0930 UT Monday Unique 5045-LSB ND low power NSW Australia resumes 2330 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] * also webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7730, UNITED STATES, WRMI, 0820. Radiogram broadcast. Started mixing with country music nearer the BoH. ID at the BoH, then open of Glenn Hauser WoR (# 1963) - Very very strong Jan 6 [Sunday] (Rick Barton, AZ, Grundig Satellit 205(T.5000) & 750; HQ-200; RS SW-2000629, with various outdoor wires, WOR iog via DXLD) Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria reports: ``GERMANY, Reception of World of Radio via HLR on 7265 CUSB, Jan 6: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-world-of-radio-via-hlr-on_6.html 1131-1200 7265 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English Sun, fair signal`` Confirmed Sunday January 6 at 2130 on WRMI 7780, poor Confirmed UT Monday January 7 at 0230 on WRMI 5950 fair, 9395 JBA Confirmed UT Monday January 7 from 0401 on Area 51 webcast and at 0429 on WBCQ 5130.4, very poor Confirmed UT Monday January 7 at 0430 on WRMI, S9+10/20; exactly like last week at same time, interrupting the song ``Hallelujah`` (not the original version) Confirmed Monday January 7 at 0930 on Unique Radio, NSW, by Matt Francis, also NSW, 355 km or 208 statute miles away: ``Fair signal from Unique Radio's low power transmitter at Gunnedah, NSW on 5045 LSB from 0936 tune/in with Glenn Hauser's World of Radio program. Better listening than last night's [sic] transmission on WINB on 9265 (Matt Francis, Paddington, NSW, Australia.`` Confirmed Monday January 7 at 2330 on WRMI 9955, good (but not 5950 as on WRMI skedgrid, which is axually // 4980 & 9395, Supreme Master TV) WOR 1963 on WRMI System B 9955, at least, had a strange glitch in the opening when I cite the number: ``19--`` with the ``63`` missing. I made sure it was OK for the remaining repeats, due to delay in compiling all the information. Confirmed UT Tuesday January 8 at 0030 on WRMI 7730, very good Confirmed Tuesday January 8 at 2030 on WRMI 7780, fair WORLD OF RADIO 1964 contents: Alaska, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Congo DR, Cuba, Germany, Greece, India, Iran non, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Netherlands non, New Zealand, Oman, Perú, Russia, Sudan South non, Thailand, UK, USA; and the propagation outlook WOR 1964 ready for first airings January 9: 0930 UT Wednesday Unique 5045-LSB ND NSW 1030 UT Wednesday WRMI 5950 to WNW 2100 UT Wednesday WRMI *9955 to SSE 2100 UT Wednesday WRMI *7490v to WSW 0100 UT Thursday WRMI 7780 to NE [NEW] 2100 UT Thursday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 7780 to NE [NEW; unconfirmed] [later: NOT on either; must be a spurious schedule entry] 0930 UT Friday Unique 5045-LSB ND NSW 0729 UT Saturday HLR 6190-CUSB Germany to WSW 0930 UT Saturday Unique 5045-LSB ND NSW [alt weeks; Jan 19?] 1200 UT Saturday Unique 5045-LSB ND NSW 1200 UT Saturday Unique *9265 via WINB to WSW 1230 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 1531 UT Saturday HLR 9485-CUSB Germany to WSW 2030vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM non-direxional 2200 UT Saturday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] 0400vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415], ND 0830 UT Sunday WRMI 5850 to NW, 5950 to WNW, 7730 to WNW 1130 UT Sunday HLR 7265-CUSB Germany to WSW 2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE 0230 UT Monday WRMI 5950 to WNW, 9395 to NNW 0400vUT Monday WBCQ *5130v Area 51 to WSW 0430 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE 0930 UT Monday Unique 5045-LSB ND NSW 2330 UT Monday WRMI *9955 to SSE [NEW] * also webcast; direct linx to these and many others at: Complete updated WOR sked, all affiliates, satellite, webcast, AM&FM: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO on HLR, new times on WRMI summarized (WORLD OF RADIO 1964) WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ WBCQ: ** U S A. 5130.518, Monticello ME, 50 kW/245 deg, Uncle Bill's Rockless New Year's Eve Special, Jan 1, 0002 - Well, here's the North American edition from Uncle Bill's Melting Pot. Gypsy type music just now (from Bulgaria, I think he said). It's still 30 minutes until LSS, so propagation should improve over the course of the hour, although I never receive WBCQ very well on the west coast. Note I don't really have any antennas pointed that far east, either. Note how far off frequency they are! Must be a bit drifty, as at 0032 they measured on 5130.481. Scotland the Brave at 0043. Initially the N Beverage worked best, but now as LSS is here, the NW BoG is giving more signal strength, so switched. Frequency is now 5130.475. Much better now at 0055. I recognize this as the same program from this morning via Bulgaria. Frequency now 5130.469. Good level. Into a program sponsored by guns and ammunition, a family owned business. Maine Military.com Food, water, gold and silver aren't enough! For all your surplus needs! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5130, WBCQ with ”Uncle Bill’s Rockless New Year’s Eve” in only marginally better than from Bulgaria earlier in the day. The promised mix of ‘unusual’ music (including bagpipes! An underused instrument!) from MARE’s own “Uncle Bill” Tilford. Suffering from a rather high noise floor (wind driven static maybe since the gusts were over 20 MPH and sustained winds were in excess of 15 MPH throughout...) but getting better as the hour progressed. Carrier continued, but fading after the ToH to the point of being able to tell it was still there, but s/n of less than 3 dB made it useless. Started out 35342 but up to 45443 by 0045. 0005-0105 1/Jan SDRplay +SDRuno +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) (7490), UT Sat Jan 5 at 0059, WBCQ webcast closing the FKB program, still imagining he`s on 9625 from WINB (and 5050 from WWRB?); some dead air and AWWW starts, interjexions indicating a lot of complaining to come, so over to John Carver`s summary: ``Show started more or less on time after a period of dead air on 7490. Allan and Angela in the studio. Opening chatter about next year being the 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting. More talk about the political climate in the US and Canada and how it looks like more of the same that we've been suffering through the last few years. First phone call from Freddie at 0109. Said he was talking to a trucker on the CB who had delivered a truckload of rebar to the superstation last summer. Freddie was also trying to find the superstation on Google maps and not having much luck. Some talk from Allan about a Dutchman who was at the station last summer and shot a documentary about the station and posted it on YouTube. Some confusion about what keyword would allow people to find it. Brief talk about station automation and how it's saved many radio stations from going under and how all but one program is now automated at the station. Some talk about everyone meeting at the station in two weeks to begin assembling the new transmitter. Phone call from Freddie again at 0144 asking for the model number of the new transmitter which Allan had some trouble locating. Recap of 5130 programming but nothing new mentioned. Reading of emails at 0152 with Angela reading the first one and then alternating with Allan on the rest. First emailer states that he's listening tonight on 5130 which Allan said he shouldn't be able to do. A quick check shows that AWWW is indeed on 5130 this evening instead of the regularly scheduled program. Closing prayer at 0158 interrupts a discussion of pirate broadcasts on satellites and whether or not a government on earth can police or regulate a satellite broadcast since it's coming from space. In other words, who owns space? Show was off the air at 0200 and 7490 was off the air shortly after that. A quick check showed that 5130 was off the air also at this time. Apparently the automation at the station that Allan briefly mentioned this evening isn't working well this evening. John Mid-North Indiana`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. From the Isle of Music, January 13-19: This week, we feature the music of Ramon Valle, winner of the Instrumental Music category in Cubadisco 2018 as well as a nominee in the Jazz Soloist and Jazz Ensemble categories. All this with three different albums, and we will taste a little of each. The broadcasts take place: 1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK) 2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0100-0200 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). 3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC (New CETs) on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany. Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, January 13 and 15: Episode 96 features vocalese (sometimes called Scat) from around the world, from Bebop to Roma, from Cuban to Carnatic. 1. Sunday 2300-2330 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe 2. Tuesday 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach Iceland AND Western Russia due to a long skip. Also recommended: Marion’s Attic, a unique program produced and hosted by Marion Webster featuring early 20th Century records, Edison cylinders etc played on the original equipment, comes on immediately before UBMP on Sundays from 2200-2300 UTC on WBCQ 7490 Khz. As always, Thanks for all you do for radio! (William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer, Tilford Productions, LLC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI WRMI: ** U S A. 5850, Okeechobee, FL, 100 kW/315 deg, VORW, Dec 28, 0109 - Excellent S9 + 15 reception with Beatles music, then shout outs to various listeners. // 7780 is at good level, while scheduled 9395 not heard at all. Pleasant listening. Including a listener on Vancouver Island. Close! Most listeners are via Sound Cloud. 7730, Okeechobee FL, 100 kW/285 deg, Adventist World Radio, Dec 29, 0055 - Very good reception of the Wavescan program with Bob Padula's DX news and Christmas program. Bob Padula must only be heard on this program compared to the previous years, where he was widely heard. Sounding a lot older now, too (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5850, WRMI with the now usual ‘crash start’ of the BSR Radiogram in progress for 5 minutes, and then into SW Radiogram with only one text story about the approach of the New Horizons probe’s approach of Ultima Thule, the planetoid/asteroid/strange thingie on the edge of the solar system including an actual image from the probe as taken on August 16. The forms around Ultima Thule are bright background stars. Then into a nice selection of photos for the end of the year including: Golfers ignoring Hawaii Volcano Varigated Fairywren from NSW Aust. New Year’s Eve in Taipei The tecsun contest image There was also the second installment of Tecsun Australia's contest, "Decode to Win" ... in perfectly. Radiogram show ended with a ‘modern’ version of Auld Lang Syne -- I wish they announced who was doing it -- and at 0829 an audio ad for Tecsun SW Australia mentioning AM/FM/SW/DAB+ and DRM radios. Then a BoH ID by Ian McFarland. Then into WoR #1962 with a rather froggy sounding Glenn Hauser (get better Glenn!) with the usual news of radio goings on including items like his usual rant about what’s wrong at Radio Havana Cuba, Radio OZ Viola, the new Low Power station in Denmark, and the latest stuff from France in English that is no longer on SW including a plea to contact “The Sound Kitchen” to request the powers that be in Paris to re-instate broadcasts in EE. At ToH, bumper music (Besa me mucho) and Bob Zanotti’s WRMI ID and off just as he was about to announce the address for reception reports. Very well today, 4+54+4+4+ and near 100% text decode, plus nice photo decodes as shown. *0755-0900* 30/Dec SDRplay +SDRuno +FLDigi for the digital bits +randomwire (Ken Zichi, Pt Hope MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 15770, Okeechobee FL, 100 kW/87 deg, Supreme Master Television, Dec 30, 1929 - Very good reception with television feed, 'thank you for watching'. Going green, etc. Auld Lang Syne at 1932. Next World Plastics at 1935 to protect our world's oceans from plastics (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7780, WRMI Radio Miami Int’l; 2235-2301+, 1/2; Radio Argentina Exterior in Italian to 2300 abruptly into The Full Gospel Hour with Terry Blalock, a.k.a. The Screaming Cajun Preacher without ID (I wouldn’t either). This attempt at preachery is mainly incomprehensible due to his frequent huxtergasms. SIO=3+53- with QRN waves (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7500, WRMI Okeechobee 1/6, 0702-0722; Oldies Show features unknown artist with "The Way You Looked Tonight", CCR with "Proud Mary" R. Dean Taylor with "Indiana Wants Me". Fair with moderate fading (Ronald Sives, Easton, Pa. Equipment: Eton Field Radio; Princeton Sky Wire, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) This can`t be right -- WRMI never on 7500, but 5950, 9395? (gh, DXLD) [and non]. 9955, Sunday Jan 6 at 1454, WRMI, AWR Wavescan during logs from Japan, poor with ACI from stronger 9960, which is PALAU with Furusato no Kaze. Aoki/NDXC attempts to list every single program on 9955, but misses 1430 Sun Wavescan, instead ex-Word for the World. And on Wed at 1430-1445 & Tue at 1445-1500, among others, Famagusta Gazette! which has been gone for a year or more? I haven`t run across it in a long time. WRTH 2019 pp 467-468 under CYPRUS still shows a total of 11 weekly times for FG Radio on 9955 or 5950. But WRMI sked grid has only 4 when searched on FG: Wed 2100 on 7780 & 5950, unlikely; Thu 0245 on 9955; Thu 2245 on 9955; Fri 1015 on 5950. Any of these need to be confirmed, and whether they involve current news or stale replays, evergreens, as has happened before. WRTH notes: ``Weekly prgr with Europe related news, linked with the (now discontinued) online news portal `Famagusta Gazette``` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitored WRMI Sunday Evening / Monday Morning (UTC) 7780 kHz Schedule --- From my recording last Sunday evening, 6-7 January UT (late start due to charging of recorder battery): 2100 Wavescan (repeat of last week's #514) 2130 World of Radio (#1963) 2200 Oldies 2235 VOA News with Christopher Cruise 2240 Oldies 2300 Full Gospel Broadcast (program name used this week) 2330 Shortwave Radiogram (#81) 0000 Radio Slovakia International in Slovak 0030 Radio Slovakia International in English 0100 Wavescan (repeat of last week's #514) 0130 Through the Cross Ministry with Pastor Chuck 0200 Radio Prague in English 0230 Viva Miami (in Spanish, acknowledging Spanish listeners' reports) 0245 Living Water (still repeating; how long has it been now?) 0300 Transmitter off (-- Richard Langley, WOR iog via DXLD) Reception of Radiopanorama & Arabic Radio Program via WRMI-1, Jan 7 2000-2100 7780 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg WeEu Russian/Arabic Mon, good: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-radiopanorama-arabic-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 6-7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Does anyone know or can find out what exactly this Arabic program is? Unusually vague info even for WRMI. Good chance it`s Christian, like something on WWCR (gh) WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB WINB: ** U S A. 9265, WINB Red Lion PA (presumed); 1959-2005+, 12/31; Tune-in to U.S. Nat’l Anthem (nice to hear this) to ToH (no ID) into a cappella chorus from the Dallas TX Main St. Church of Christ. SIO=3+53- at tune-in, suddenly to S9 about 2003 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did WINB not *talk over* the NA at s/on, desecrating it? (gh, DXLD) 9265V, Jan 2 at 2259, WINB with ``Over the Rainbow`` on piano, recording with very bad wow (modulation problem, in addition to wobbly carrier frequency), quick ID and 2300 `Treasure of Truth Broadcast` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9265, Jan 5 at 0712, surprised to find WINB on at this late hour, preacher referring to Matthew IX: 35 (which per my NIV Cowboy Bible is rendered: ``Jesus went through all the towns and villages, preaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness``). It`s S9+10 with only slight carrier wobble and sufficient modulation. There is nothing to explain this in WINB twits, nor on their unupdated Dec 16 program sked still showing a break between 0330(?) and 1000 when Unique Radio starts on Saturdays; so why not? Less than 3 hours away. Nothing on 7310-7315-7320 DRM either, which could be on the air if this were not weekend (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHERSW OTHER: ** U S A. 9475, WTWW Lebanon TN (presumed); 1710, 1/1; Permanently Prone, Predictively Presumptive Pastor Pete Peters ragging on “The Establishment” including “The Church”. “Preachers are paid to scare the antithesis out of you.” SIO=354 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15809.983, Jan 6 at 1435, JBA carrier, must be the very irregular WTWW-3, typical frequency offset, on a very bad day for 19m propagation, as even the three Cubans are weakened and spurless. I struggle to hear enough mod to match it to 9475-, WTWW-1, which has a big echo: double-audio input of SFAW talk, unusual, S9+20/30. At 1500, 9475 has gone off! Back on in a minute with single audio; but why was it necessary to turn off the transmitter to fix it? I keep trying to match and finally do so during PPPP singing at 1503 as I measure the frequency. Then I find that Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria has been getting 15810 much better: ``Test transmission of WTWW-3 from 1400 on 15810, fair to good. Nothing from World Music Radio Denmark on 15805 -- 73! Ivo Ivanov`` at 1443 UT Jan 6. (And SHN says this is the final daily broadcast on 15805, to be weekends only) (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test transmission of WTWW-3 We Transmit World Wide on Jan.6 1415&1500 on 15810 TWW 100 kW / 040 deg ENAm English, weak/fair signal https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/test-transmission-of-wtww-3-we-transmit.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15555, Milton FL, 1 kW, WJHR, Dec 28, 1816 - Preaching canned programming. Almost a good signal. Wonder why they went to 15550, then back again here? (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Always USB, right? (gh) 15555/USB, WJHR Milton FL (presumed); 1725-1731+, 1/1; Religihuxter on whether Jesus was the son of God or an ordinary dude. SIO=3+53+ but very fady (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 185' RW, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver in real time, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15555-USB, Jan 3 at 1512, gospel huxter JBA, pennywhistle WJHR, FL. This one is so seldom heard (or active?), that it`s a significant catch when it is. Vatican much stronger on 15550 where WJHR had jumped in early Dec (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12050, Jan 4 at 1547, WEWN open carrier, off and on, then adds Spanish modulation but off again. 5970, Jan 7 at 0613 check, the sporadic WEWN is off again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Reception of World Harvest Radio International WHRI Angel 1 on Jan.5 2200-2400 7335*HRI 250 kW / 047 deg WeEu English Sat/Sun, weak/fair * co-ch 7335 BJI 100 kW / 255 deg EaAs Chinese China Nat.Radio-2: https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-world-harvest-radio.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 5-6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 570, Jan 2 at 0634 UT, South Dakota PSA, so WNAX Yankton even on the E-W longwire rather than KLIF Dallas; 0635 back to music interlude on C2CAM, now // 580 WIBW et al., et al. WNAX fades into some CCI, so maybe it really is on their night pattern (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MARE SparkyBlueFox shares the following bit of tid: "This is a look at broadcasting from inside the industry. News / Views / Stories. This story is a great start ! https://www.thebdr.net/articles/prof/history/HPH-WJR.pdf (MARE Tipsheet Jan 4 via DXLD) 5 pages illustrated, history of WJR 760 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 800, Jan 8 at 1323 UT, ``Motown Radio, 92.5`` and another FM frequency, ``back to oldies`` --- what? Surely not CKLW. The excellent WTFDA FM Database http://db.wtfda.org/fac_frequency/down/1 immediately has the answer as I search on the slogan even tho I am hearing this on AM: ``K223CR KVOM-800 92.5 MORRILTON AR USA 0.25 0.25 0.0 0.0 35-08-52 92-52-05 OLDIES MOTOWN RADIO`` Morrilton is in central AR near LR, 300 miles away. KVOM is the closest 800 to the east, but believe it is new here. Of course, this was all with KQCV OKC nulled, and BTW nothing heard from XEROK (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1010, WINS NYC geoblocking: see NETHERLANDS 1008 thread ** U S A [and non]. Justice Department Demands Radio Station Be Ordered to Register As Russian Agent The Hollywood Reporter January 02, 2019 7:14am PT by Eriq Gardner https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/justice-department-demands-radio-station-be-ordered-register-as-russian-agent-1172113 DOJ attorneys file counterclaims after RM Broadcasting alleges that no registration is required from its "commercial contract" with a Russian Federation-owned news agency. On New Year's Eve, the U.S. Department of Justice ratcheted up the legal war with the owner of a Washington, D.C., radio station that is broadcasting Sputnik International. In Florida federal court, the DOJ now demands injunctive relief requiring RM Broadcasting to register as a foreign agent of the Russian government. The dispute amounts to the first significant legal test after the U.S. government decided to get tough on foreign propaganda in the wake of an influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election. After passage of the John S. McCain Defense Authorization Act, which went into effect this past August, the Justice Department sent letters to several television and radio stations with foreign ties with word of new foreign registration obligations. Most of those outlets, including Russia Today, complied with the directive even amid vociferous objection. Vladimir Putin's Russia then in kind labeled Voice of America and eight other U.S.-backed news stations as "foreign agents," while also threatening to retaliate against CNN and other prominent America-based outlets. One individual has gone to court over the registration requirements. Arnold Ferolito, a 76-year-old American who worked in the television industry for decades, says he came out of retirement to found RM Broadcasting. His company has an FCC license, but has resold airtime for WZHF 1390 AM in Washington, D.C., to Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian Federation government-owned news agency that operates Sputnik. In a complaint filed Oct. 19, RM Broadcasting maintains it doesn't have "any kind of joint venture relationship whatsoever" with Russian interests and that "this commercial transaction in no way created an agency relationship." He thus argues that registration as a foreign agent is not required. If he's wrong, RM Broadcasting won't only have to register, it would be required to give listeners a more fulsome station identification as well as submit documentation regarding its financing and other contracting. The Justice Department filed counterclaims Dec. 31. The U.S. government alleges that Rossiya Segodnya "has complete control over the contents" of RM's station through a "Services Agreement" and is disseminating information to U.S. audiences "to advance Russian interests." The counterclaim also points to the way that RM is obligated to perform maintenance work on broadcasting equipment so that Sputnik content reaches as broad an audience as possible. DOJ lawyers are also looking to ensure that foreign governments can't evade registration requirements through American middlemen. According to the U.S. government's court papers, "RM Broadcasting is the only U.S. entity responsible to its foreign principals for broadcasting those foreign principal's content in the United States. Were RM Broadcasting not required to register, there would be no U.S. entity required to register under FARA in connection with Radio Sputnik, and Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian Federation, and other foreign principals could subvert FARA's public disclosure requirements, as well as statutory limitations on foreign ownership of broadcasting facilities, simply by contracting broadcasting responsibilities to U.S. entities." (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) This station is WZHF Capitol Heights MD, 1390 and its translator W288BS in Reston VA at 105.5. The FCC, especially in the current administration, espouses a hands-off, broadcaster-friendly approach to content except in such cases as obscenity, indecency and profanity as required by the Communications Act. I seriously doubt that FCC will find anything in its rules to enforce against WZHF. As the commercial viability of domestic AM declines, some licensees will air anything even if it's ultimately paid for in rubles. From Inside Radio: Court To Decide If Station Broker Is Foreign Agent For Russia / Jan 3 2019 http://www.insideradio.com/free/court-to-decide-if-station-broker-is-foreign-agent-for/article_013d05ee-0f2e-11e9-a14e-0321af3564cb.html The decision of whether a Washington, DC station operator must register as a foreign agent for leasing airtime to the Russian government-controlled Radio Sputnik is now in the hands of the federal courts. WZHF (1390) may be owned by Multicultural Radio Broadcasting but Arnold Ferolito’s RM Broadcasting has been leasing the time on the station and reselling it to foreign-language programmers for the past several years without much pushback. But that changed when it signed an agreement with Russian Federation government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya. It signed a control to carry the English-language Radio Sputnik on WZHF. That caught the attention of the Dept. of Justice’s National Security Division, which sought to have RM Broadcasting file a registration statement as a foreign agent. The request came as more evidence was released by U.S. intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But rather than comply with the DOJ’s request, Ferolito resisted. The 76-year old former television executive who came out of retirement to form the airtime brokering operation said his company had no legal obligation to register as a foreign agent since RM Broadcasting isn’t acting on the behalf of any principal. Under the terms of the Nov. 2017 agreement, Radio Sputnik gets all but five seconds per hour on the station, leaving WZHF enough time to air the required station identification and a disclosure to listeners which says, “The time is paid for by RM Broadcasting. Programming provided by international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.” Despite Ferolito’s objections, the DOJ has continued to demand RM Broadcasting register as a foreign agent. So in October the company went to U.S. District Court in Tampa asking a federal judge to issue a declaratory ruling saying such a disclosure wasn’t required. In its petition, the company said “at no time was RM Broadcasting acting under the direction and control of Rossiya Segodnya or as an agent of a foreign principal.” DOJ Says Russians In ‘Complete Control’ The DOJ filed its response to the legal maneuver over the holidays, and in its counterclaim it asks the court to compel RM Broadcasting to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. Government lawyers argue the Federal Communications Commission-required top-of-the-hour station IDs aired by WZHF fail to meet the foreign agent notification requirements and that Rossiya Segodnya and the government of the Russian Federation have “complete control” of the station. The DOJ also suggests the creation of English-language Radio Sputnik was specifically designed as a way to get around the FCC’s prohibition on foreign entities holding U.S. radio licenses. In court filings the government insists international politics aren’t at play, however, saying the foreign agent disclosure rule “does not limit the speech or political activities of its registrants, who are free to advance whatever message they wish, provided they disclose their relationship to their foreign principal and adhere to the recordkeeping and other requirements of the statute.” Instead, it says the disclosures are designed to inform the American public of activities by foreign entities to “influence” U.S. government officials. And the DOJ says the information would help those who study Russian “influence operations.” The contract between RM Broadcasting and Rossiya Segodnya runs through the next presidential election, with the pact set to expire Dec. 31, 2020. Financial terms of the agreement have been redacted from court filings. The company has told the court if it were to make such a filing, the release of confidential payment terms would “substantially impair” its ability to conduct business. That will be up to Judge Robin Rosenberg to decide. She’s set a tentative trial date in the case for August in West Palm Beach, FL. FCC Reviewing Radio Sputnik While the federal court case proceeds, FCC chair Ajti Pai has asked the Enforcement Bureau to take a closer look at WZHF. Pai also acknowledged the FCC has received a “small number” of complaints in a letter sent last May to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who has raised concerns the station has failed to comply with sponsorship identification disclosure rules. But Pai also noted the First Amendment and the Communications Act have generally prohibited the FCC from interfering with a broadcast licensee's choice of programming. Pai also pointed out that sponsorship identification rule violations “typically result in a forfeiture or fine for the licensee, as opposed to license revocation.” He also noted that any fine issued would be to the U.S. companies that own the stations and cable systems, not to Radio Sputnik. Rossia Segodnya also has a lease for the Reston, VA-licensed translator W288BS at 105.5 FM since July 2017 from Reston Translators, a company controlled by communications attorney John Garziglia. It will pay $900,000 — or $30,000 per month — for use of the Washington, DC market translator through the end of this year. Unlike RM Broadcasting, Garziglia hasn’t resisted making information public. In a nine-page filing with the DOJ in Dec. 2017, Garziglia said the hourly sponsorship identification disclosures aired by Radio Sputnik are transparent as they tell listeners the programming is “paid for and furnished” by Rossia Segodnya. And as for the station’s pro-Russia view of the world, Garziglia said the programming is available for people “who wish to listen and judge for themselves.” (via Benn Kobb, WOR iog via DXLD) ** U S A. 1550, KUAZ Tucson AZ: It appears this 50 kW Non directional Daytimer is still on. Heard with NPR 89.1 ID's during a local break between segments of "American Roots Radio" with some discussion and playing of rockabilly, rock n roll and country music. Sign off should be 5:45 pm Mountain [0045 UT] (Paul Walker, Laramie, Wyoming, Icom IC746 Pro and 25 ft long by 1-0 foot tall Wellbrook ALA100LN, Volleyball net magnetic loop antenna, UT Jan 7, HCDX via DXLD) It would appear at 11:45 pm mountain, 5 hours after my original check that KUAZ 1550 is still on the air. Now 6 hours after sign off time (Paul in Laramie, Wyoming, ibid.) KUAZ has been notified they were on all night and are very concerned. The radio program director assured me as soon as we hung up, he would be on the phone to an engineer (Paul Walker, 1746 UT Jan 7, ibid.) ** U S A. BCB log from Stillwater [OK?] --- Bandscan while on the road this week: 1680, 9:30 CST, KRJO Monroe, LA, broadcasting My Music 99.7, 1 kW AM simulcast of FM (Ted Gurley, Jan 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Recently, I have started DXing again (I listen on our car radio while my wife is thrift shopping – some parking lots are better than others, hi). I have noticed a few things that have changed since I was active. Almost all stations have network programs during most of the hour, and there even more sports stations than before. Station IDs are very hard to get --- not everyone IDs at the top of the hour (especially ESPN!) and most do not ID during the hour (bottom of the hour IDs are almost non-existent). Several stations use an FM frequency and slogan in their pseudo IDs (the NRC log lists FM parallels now). A lot of spots are not local, which makes me wonder if they are logged by the station? (Phil Bytheway, WA, re-introduxion, ABDX via DXLD) Phil, Typically stations deal with a couple of types of national spots depending on if the station airs a national program directly off the satellite or not. Usually a "live" program will have the spots embedded in the delivered program so the station would probably have no obligation to log the individual spots. The station would only have to certify that they aired the program in full at the correct time. The new digital sat receivers often have the spots resident on the receiver itself so that every market could conceivably air individualized spots even though the program may be nationally broadcast. Again, the station may have no idea what is scheduled, just that a spot (or spots) aired during a certain time period. Some of the time a station may be obligated to air spots outside of a specific program, more or less in a "Run of Station" schedule. In such a case the station would probably show the spots on their log and would be required to certify the broadcast times to the network or the advertiser. Good luck, (Jerry Lenamon, 94.5 Waco, ibid.) ** U S A. This compilation of the radio news networks in the United States, by Craig Francis, pertains to the New York City market, but is of interest to those of us elsewhere ... https://nyrmb.com/messages/447273.html There are ten top of the hour network newscasts in American radio. How many have you heard? 1. CBS News -- WCBS 880 carries the first segment around the clock. At 8am and 5pm, it carries several segments of the World News Roundup. WCBS-FM used to carry the first segment overnight in its pre-Jack days. I've only heard CBS's second segment while outside the NY market. 2. ABC News -- There is no local NYC affiliate for ABC carrying its newscasts, although it is considered one of America's best radio news networks. WABC is no longer connected with the ABC Network. WINS takes actualities and some national specials, such as The State of The Union Address, from ABC. And WOR has an affiliation with ABC, airing its newscasts on Christmas. 3. NPR News -- WNYC-AM-FM carry the first segment of NPR News most hours, but then it does its own local news, blocking out the second segment. 91.5 WNYE-FM carries the entire newscast on weekdays from 10am to 7pm. And NPR's first and second segments are heard on SiriusXM Channel 142, the NPR channel. 4. Fox News -- The only local affiliate I know in the New York area is 1460 WVOX New Rochelle, which carries Fox in morning drive and a few other times during the day and weekend. Fox feeds two versions at the top of the hour. One is briefer, one is longer. Different anchors are heard on each service. I'm not sure if this is true for all hours or only on weekdays. iHeartMedia has a financial interest in Fox News Radio, so most iHeart talk stations run it at the top of the hour, such as KFXR Dallas, KOGO San Diego, WXKS Boston and WIOD Miami. But some very big iHeart Talk stations don't air it, such as WOR New York, KFI Los Angeles and WLW Cincinnati, which have local anchors around the clock. KTRH Houston and WHAS Louisville run ABC News, although secondary iHeart talk stations in those markets carry Fox News. 5. Westwood One News -- This service is owned by Cumulus and airs on most of its talk stations. Cumulus-owned WABC carries Westwood One News overnight on weekdays and all weekend hours. (WABC has a local newscaster from 5 a.m. until midnight on weekdays.) 1130 WBBR carries Westwood One News on the weekend. Cumulus-owned 600 WICC Bridgeport carries it nearly all hours. 1100 WHLI Long Island carries it most hours, although that's a daytime-only station. This is a "white label" newscast, so the anchors never say "Westwood One." A local station can make it SOUND like the newscast is their own, although I've never heard a station go through that trouble. WW1 pulls reports off of CNN, but again, never mentions CNN by name. It simply says "Correspondent John Smith has this report." WW1 is also heard on SiriusXM's POTUS and Progessive Talk channels, although only the first segment. 6. Townhall News -- This is one of two news networks from Salem Radio, and is also heard on a few non-Salem stations. 970 WNYM recently ended its association with Fox to air its parent company's Townhall news, and carry the spots. WNYM carries only the first segment on weekdays. Other times it carries the entire newscast. 7. SRN News - This is Salem's other news network. While Townhall is primarily for conservative talk stations, SRN is mostly for religious and other formats. For instance, in Dallas, Townhall is heard on Salem conservative talk station 660 KSKY, while Salem business talk station 620 KEXB runs SRN News. Most Salem religious stations carry it, but I've never heard it on WMCA New York. 8. NBC News -- This is a product of iHeartRadio. Just as Westwood One pulls reports off CNN, iHeart pulls reports off NBC, and calls itself NBC News. While it's owned by iHeart, WOR never runs it, not even overnight. Except for Christmas, WOR always has its own local newscaster around the clock, who concludes each newscast with the line "WOR is an NBC Radio News station." The only place I know that carries it is 1450 WCTC in New Brunswick. But iHeart does have a 24/7 all-news service on line and on the iHeart app, called NBC News Radio. No reports are heard live, but it continuously runs prerecorded newscasts and other segments from NBC News, including sports, health, technology, celebrities, etc. 9. USA-IRN News - Mostly used by religious stations. For a time, it was heard on 540 WLIE on Long Island and 1700 WRCR in Rockland County, even though they were never religious stations. These days, I hear it only rarely, and not in the NY region. 10. AP Radio News - This network is only heard on a few stations, none in the NY region. At one time, AP was quite popular. It offered its newscasts for a fee, but stations did not have to run any commercials. Local stations were able to insert their own advertisers. In the early 2000s, AP offered an all-news service to affiliates, with top and bottom of the hour newscasts, as well as sports, business and features available at all times around the clock. But that ended about 10 years ago. And in 2016, it further scaled back. It current only offers newscasts on weekday mornings and afternoons. WINS uses some AP actualities and reports but, like ABC News, never runs its newscasts. I would say CBS, ABC and NPR have the best product. Fox, Westwood One and AP are good. But the others are clearly not up to the same standards. In the New York Market, CBS, Westwood One and Town Hall are heard on several of our major commercial stations. But in other markets, they are rarely or never heard. Fox and ABC might be the big networks in other cities, even though we don't hear them in NYC. And of course, NPR is heard on public stations in just about every market. (via Kim Elliott, WOR iog via DXLD) ** U S A. A New Congress, A New Beginning Glenn - Today, we begin making this year’s case to Congress for continued, robust federal funding for public media. The new 116th Congress was sworn in last week. This class includes more than 100 newly elected Members. Today, we have an opportunity to welcome lawmakers and request that they invest in public media funding this year. Email Your Lawmakers ? Now is a good time to reach out. Members of Congress have not taken positions on Fiscal Year 2020 federal funding, yet. The communications you send could help your lawmakers prioritize public media funding. You can make a positive impression on the new Congress by emailing your lawmakers now. Starting now, we can lay important groundwork to secure federal funding for the local stations that we value and need. Thank you for all that you do, (The Protect My Public Media Team, Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tropo from Kansas allowed KHCC Hutchinson, Radio Kansas to capture 90.1 from our closer KUCO-FM, Edmond OK, all day January 6. It`s another great classical/public radio station I only wish I could hear both all the time on different frequencies. Checking out the KHCC program schedule I found this, an unusually transparent page about the costs of public radio programming, inviting listener input: (gh) Launch! The new programming initiative of Radio Kansas. You probably think of Radio Kansas as your “NPR station,” but there are at least 4 different networks offering programming for us to purchase. To present your favorite show we may first have to pay a fee as an affiliate station before we then can consider the fee for the show itself. In other words, the producers of your favorite show may charge a reasonable $2400 per year for the show, but in order to choose that show we must first pay an affiliate's fee of $12,000. It's not that we don't love the same shows you do, it's just that we don't have the means to belong to every network at once! We often have more faith in your favorite show than the national producers do! We've offered many, many shows right up to the point that they were ended by their networks - not us! Remember that many of our series are limited run, 13-week productions. If you miss a favorite, please ask where it went, rather than holding it against your local station! We're always flattered to be compared to stations sponsored by large universities, but we simply don't have the resources to take a significant financial risk on new programming. If you would like to lead a grassroots effort to bring any of these programs to the area, let us know. Listeners are always in charge! The following programs have been requested by listeners and pre-identified by the Radio Kansas management team as meeting our commitment to public service. Unfortunately, the subscription fees for these shows are high-enough that we cannot take the risk until we know for sure that listeners agree they're worth the extra money! Please let us know how much more you can pledge in the coming fiscal year to bring any of these shows to our weekly schedule. Your additional pledge is merely a promise of extra funding if and only if we’re able to present your favorite show! Send us an e-mail at this link, and we'll update this page with the status of the effort! Thanks for your help, and good luck to all of us! . . . https://www.radiokansas.net/launch/start.cfm (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Minor regional tropo enhancement brings DTV DX, morning of January 6 from 1553 UT. Only decode, briefly at 1629, is RF 45 as 3-3, Ion, PSIP along with 3-4 Justice, 3-2 Telemun [sic], and 3-1 KSNW-DT, i.e. Wichita`s NBC. Poor Ion in that market, gets only its main channel on another station, not the other 5. Other BAD signals correlate mostly with Wichita/Kansas market rather than Tulsa yesterday and ante-yesterday: 8, 10, 12, 16, 19, 21, 22, 26, 35. Bill Hepburn`s tropo maps indicate more marginal openings this week on Tue-Wed-Thu mornings (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also OKLAHOMA ** U S A. Glenn, WHMB is a TV station owned by LeSea Broadcasting and located in Indianapolis, Indiana about sixty miles South of me. Main station is on channel 40 and two subchannels 40.1 and 40.2. 40 always aired about ninety to ninety-five percent religious programming. 40.1 was about seventy-five percent religious with some secular family programming. 40.2 was added just a couple of years ago and started out as a sports station but quickly became eighty or ninety percent religious programming. I read the reports in your logs and DXLD about LeSea having new owners or new management and just for kicks I started checking the EPG on my decoder box several times a day on the three channels to see if the station content had changed. Channel 40 now appears to be about forty-five percent or so of religious programming and tons of reruns of Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Sea Hunt and Flipper along with some family programs. 40.1 appears to be all family programming, movies and the Roy Rogers, Flipper, Sea Hunt and the Lone Ranger. 40.3 now carries the Shopping Network 24/7 as far as I can tell. Just thought I'd mention it (John Carver, Mid-North Indiana, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perhaps the EPG is confusing, but the way DTV works is that there is no difference between ``40`` and 40.1 (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Dystra nyheter från Venezuela --- TT meddelade strax före jul att under 2017 stängdes 52 radiostationer och 8 TV-kanaler i Venezuela. Bedrövligt att det ska vara så lågt i tak och synd på ett så trevligt radioland! – tl Grim news from Venezuela --- TT announced shortly before Christmas that in 2017, 52 radio stations and 8 TV channels were closed in Venezuela. Sad that it should be so low in ceilings and sorry for such a nice radio country! - tl (Tore Larsson, ARC mv-eko 2 Jan via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. 7280, Sontay, 100 kW/320 deg, Voice of Vietnam, Dec 28, 2131 - Fair to good reception in English to Europe. Some deep fades, but otherwise decent reception. Don't try this in the summer. Despite mid day, propagation on 41 meters from Asia continues! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12019.016 kHz, V of Vietnam, Son Toy, S=9 in Moscow Russia SDR unit. 1302 UT according to Aoki, Indonesian scheduled. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Bueschel, Jan 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN [non]. RECEPTION IN SÃO BERNARDO SP, BRAZIL Rx: KiwiSDR (São Bernardo) + Mini Whip Antenna (PA0RDT Standard) CLANDESTINE: 11745 kHz SAUDI ARABIA: Al-Azm Radio, via Jeddah, Arabic, 08/01 1813. A typical instrumental music (by flute). Commentary by male voice. 25542. Tx w/300º Az to Yemen. According WRTH: 'On Short Wave since 11 September 2017. Produced by Saudi Broadcasting Corporation for Saudi military personnel serving in Yemen and Southern Saudi Arabia'. 11860 kHz, SAUDI ARABIA: Republic of Yemen Radio, via Jeddah, Arabic, 08/01 1820. Commentary by female voice. Instrumental music. OM: talk. 35553. Tx to Yemen. According WRTH: 'Broadcasts in support of Yemeni president Hadi and the Aden-based provisional government. Appears to be a relocated service, formerly produced by the Yemen General Corp. for Radio & TV in Sana'a (after that the Sana'a broadcasting house came under rebel control). Possibly in state radio studios in Aden, or in Saudi Arabia. Assumed to be aired via a transmitter in Saudi Arabia'. NOTE: The Yemeni Civil War is an ongoing conflict that began in 2015 between two factions: the internationally recognized Yemeni government, led by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the Houthi armed movement, along with their supporters and allies. (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo SP, BRAZIL http://dxways-br.blogspot.com YouTube Channel: GrimmSBC Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, Lusaka, 100 kW/ND, Voice of Hope, Dec 28, 1616 - Good reception regarding the Voice of Hope transmitter in Israel. The only Christian broadcaster in the Middle East broadcasting in Arabic (they say) and asking for donations. Any amount and any denomination. Very nice signal into Masset. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. TANZÂNIA, 6015. 8/1/2019, 0329-0350, Zanzibar BC, Dole-TZA, em Suaíli. Notíciário em locução feminina; 0344 Uma breve música, seguida de notícias, agora em locuções masculina e feminina. Recepção satisfatória da ZBC nesta madrugada em Cabedelo, 35433 (JRX_José Ronaldo Xavier, SWARL Callsign PR7036SWL, Cabedelo-PB, Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Atlantic JBA MW carrier search, Jan 2 at 0641-0656 UT. Usually I tune 1 kHz below on USB in 9-kHz steps to detect those 1 kHz hets, but this time I do it 1 kHz above on LSB, which might turn up some different close-in carriers. I happen to start at 693, downward and then back up but here rearranged into order: 531, 549, 558(2), 576, 585, 603, 612, 621, 639, 648, 666, 693, 729, 747, 774(2), 837, 855, 882, 909, 936, 1044, 1089, 1098, 1107(2), 1116, 1125(2), 1134, 1143(2), 1152(2), 1179(2), 1215(2), 1224, 1233, 1305(2 ~5 Hz apart), 1314, 1359, 1422, 1485(2), 1503, 1575. For 1305, mwoffset list shows most likely RNE Radio 5, Spain, with one transmitter 5 Hz low and a couple close to nominal: 1304.9950 E RNE Radio 5 (Ourense/Pereiro (RNE)) 24h 2015-10-12 1304.9999 E RNE Radio 5 (Bilbao/Santo Domingo (RNE5)) 24h 2018-02-16 1305.000 E RNE Radio 5 (Ciudad Real/Almagro (RNE)) 24h 2011-05-23 There are also some less likely synchros, Premier Christian Radio, UK. In addition I had some odd hits at 0646, approx.: 944.055, and shortly 1054.19, i.e. ~1 kHz off the bandplan, where no stations are known, so presumably somethings receiver-internal or local devices; or real spurs? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search, Jan 8 at 1326: all from the WSW, i.e. DU Au/NZ, not NW, i.e. Japan: 612, 702, 756, 837?, 882, 1035. We are at our latest sunrise now, 1344 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 930, Jan 6 at 0708, WKY OKC Spanish ESPN-D is getting overtaken by some C&W music, on my E-W antenna almost perpendicular to OKC, fades just in time for ID(?). Not too many C&W format possibilities in NRC AM Log: KAFF AZ, KRKY CO both of which would need to be on 5 kW day power; likewise WSEV TN. Or the two Canadians, CFBC NB, CJYQ NL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1570, Jan 8 at 1748 UT on caradio, low audible het from some of the midday skywave, besides XERF and KTUZ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. PIRATE RADIO, Reception of Music Pirate on Jan.5 0845&0915 on 5900 unknown kW / unknown to Eu Music, very weak https://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2019/01/reception-of-unidentified-music-pirate.html (Ivo Ivanov, SWLDXBulgaria News Jan 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. As it becomes more confusing as which are unauthorised broadcasters in the 49 metre band, what is the Dutch speaking station on 5900 kHz playing Dutch music and RNI and 227 jingles? Reception is not brilliant. 5825 kHz has Zenith Classic Rock producing excellent programming with a good quality signal. 5840 kHz World Music Radio weak but very clear this morning. 6190 kHz German speaking with old style music. Any ideas? Quite weak with QRM increasing (David J Morris, Lytchett Matravers, Poole, UK, 1147 UT Sat Jan 5, bdxc-news iog via DXLD) 6190 appears to be Hamburger Lokal Radio from txer characteristics – carrier + USB only (no LSB). Just gone off at 1200. 5900 went off earlier as I went to check! (Stuart Heathcock, UK, ibid.) @radiopiraten (on Twitter an hour ago) suggests 5900 was Radio 319 with an old RNI tape? Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) very strong here on 5905 kHz with German weather reports at moment (1207 UT) 73, (Alan, Caversham, UK, Pennington, AOR 7030plus, longwire, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6989.94-LSB, Jan 2 at 2240-2254+ very strange monolog by some guy, sounds rather like Japanese, but with huge vocalized pauses, mostly aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh, some other vowels, on and on (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6990-LSB, PIRATE (No. Am.) UnIdentified, 2225, 1/1/19. Not sure if this is pirate or something else. A strange broadcast of a man repeating a series of apparently Japanese phrases with “ahhhhhh” between words. Sometimes a series of words with “ahhhh” between and sometimes repeating the same word with “ahhhhh” between. Taking breaks every so often. Very odd. Good. (+) 0059, 1/6/19. Same man with apparent Japanese words with pauses between. Much shorter duration and no long “ahhhh’s” Good (Mark Taylor, Madison, Wisconsin. Equipment: Perseus, Elad FDM-S2, Airspy HF+, ICOM R75, Tecsun PL 880, and various other portables; 42 meters dipole, 100’ long wire, W6LVP loop, NASWA Flashsheet via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7325.7 & 7325.0, Jan 6 at 0654, two JBA carriers hetting. Aoki/NDXC shows BBCWS in English 7325 switching from Woofferton to Ascension at 0700, but even if overlapping, neither likely to be off-frequency. 7325 is also day frequency for AIR Jaipur, India, from 0630, also unlikely. Both BBC transmissions are *jammed by the ChiCom even tho they are in English, which far too many Chinese now understand (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9120-9135, Jan 6 at 0659, wideband humbuzz at S7-S5, not really DRM. (WINB 9265-AM is off unlike 24 hours earlier) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Who Is On 11750 kHz at 1829 UT On? Hello, I have been listening to a broadcast today, Monday Jan 7th 2019, on 11750 kHz from 1829 UT to now, past 1935 UT. It has been playing non stop, what sounds like Chinese instrumental music. So far, I have not heard an ID. The signal is not that strong. I measured 25223. There is lot of fading. My S meter is varying from S2 to S5 on peaks. At first I thought it might be Sri Lanka Broadcasting. But they are scheduled to close at 1830 UT. Maybe I have stumbled on something new. Hmm. I lost the signal at 2000 UT, with no ID (Charles Gessner, W3ON, Jan 7, WOR iog via DXLD) Could it have been the Chinese Firedrake jammer? Are you familiar with it? (— Richard Langley, ibid.) Clearly the Firedrake jammer (Dan Robinson, ibid.) That`s what I thought --- but against what? Nothing scheduled (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hello Again, Thanks for all of your replies. No, I was not familiar with the Chinese Firedrake jammer. Yep, after doing some research on a WIKI about the Firedrake Jammer, the broadcast that I heard sure sounded like a Chinese Firedrake Jammer broadcast. Hmm. Looking at the B18 broadcast schedule I did not see any broadcasts listed on that frequency during that time period that might cause that jammer to be in operation. Possibly it was intended for earlier broadcasts (1330-1400 UT) by the BBC to the Mid East, from the A'Seela, Saudi Arabia transmitter. Or the Radio Free Asia broadcast (1430-1500 UT) to SE Asia, from Saipan Island in the Northern Marianas. Or lastly the broadcast from Sri Lanka Broadcasting to Mid East (1630-1730 UT). Well, I definitely learned something today. Thanks (Charles Gessner, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 17725.059, Jan 3 at 2206, OSOB is a JBA carrier with Doppler flutter. Nothing listed now in latest HFCC, Aoki/NDXC or EiBi (except HFCC has a probably imaginary UAE registration at 12-14 only). Certainly behaving like a real signal. 16m is normally dead here in afternoons, except maybe 17775 KVOH before it close, evenso often JBA. At this hour one would only expect something from east Asia, but off- frequency correlates with UAE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. == FM Unid. Friday, January 4, 2019, 1800-1830+, 90.3 FM, south and east of Frederick, Maryland. The oldies station noted here many times before is still going with its sixties pop mix, fair signal and mediocre sound. Overwhelmed for a bit by a strong AC/R&B song (maybe from someone's nearby car?). The oldies signal lasted until going over the Monocacy River bridge at the battlefield on MD-355, then rapidly faded out (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, radio@zappahead.net, Icom IC-R75, G5RV, PL-880, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1964: Doug Brown, London, Ont. & Seminole, Florida for a US$ check to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 USA Glenn, I sent you a small contribution, in honor of WOR 1960, because it was in about 1960 that I got my first real shortwave radio, and began to learn the relationship between frequency and wavelength, meterbands, etc. I also began to learn about the vast variety of languages on SW, though I was still only in first year Spanish at school. Keep up the good work (Tim Hendel, AL, with a check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED FUTURELY: Thanks to William T Hassig, Mt Prospect IL, for another WOR donation by check with a greeting card to Glenn Hauser, PO Box 1684, Enid OK 73702. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, Glenn. Thank you for all the hard work you put into the weekly DX Listening Digest. Take care and 73 (Mike Stone, Arlington Heights, IL, with a donation via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) Thanks to Don Decaria, NF7R, for a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com Hi Glenn -- Thank you for the many years of enriching the lives of SWLs around the globe with your knowledge of our wonderful hobby -- PS You should sell RHC shirts with ``Something`s Always Wrong at RHC`` Ha! 73! (Ulis Fleming, Odenton MD, K3LU, with his QSL and other cards, and a check to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) Thanks for your dedication to the listening hobby. Happy New Year! -- (Terry Colgan, Austin TX, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) Glenn; I hope the new year will be good for you and yours. Best, (Bruce Miller Earle, with a generous PayPal contribution to woradio at yahoo.com) Here's what I consider is my yearly subscription fee. I haven't been listening as much lately, but I do read the i. o. group and hear the podcast from time to time. I hope this finds you well Glenn! (-Rodney Johnson, with a contribution via PayPal) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ "Radios Antigos", Brazil, souvenir sheet issued on Dec. 14th, 2018. "Fold, paste and assemble" style On Dec 14th, the Brazilian Posts administration issued a set of four stamps as a souvenir sheet, depicting an original graphic design. The theme is Antique Radios, "Radios Antigos", in Portuguese. It comprises a set of four stamps that together are an attractive emulation of the games of folding and assembling figures, in paper or cardboard. They printed only 50,000 sheets: [illustrated in the WOR iog] (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Jan 8, WOR iog via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY See also CANADA: CHU +++++++++++++++++ WERE THE BIG BEN CHIMES AT NEW YEAR ON BBC WS "FAKE"? BBC WS had the quarter chimes and the gongs of "Big Ben" at UTC [you mean, GMT] midnight on New Year's Eve. But the quarter chimes bells and Big Ben have been disconnected from the clock mechanism since August 2017 while the Elizabeth Tower is undergoing renovations, which reportedly will last four years. For special occasions, such as New Year's Eve, a bespoke electric mechanism has been built to power the Big Ben 200 kg striking hammer. But, as I understand it, the quarter chimes can't be rung at the present time. BBC Radio 4 has acknowledged that they currently use a recording of Big Ben. So does the WS also do that? Further evidence comes from the BBC Radio 5 Live coverage where we could hear the gongs but no quarter chimes. In fact the first two midnight gongs were double. Two live microphones with one delayed with respect to the other or a live mike and a recording that was subsequently cut off? Puzzling (-- Richard Langley, NB, Jan 2, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DXLD) I listened to the Big Ben New Year's chimes on the BBCWS online, and the two things I noticed were much lower background ambient noise than usual, plus the lack of the rumble and tumble sounds of the traditional clock mechanisms. There was a loud "click" between each bell chime, but I did not hear any "doubling." The quarter chimes also rang as usual. During the following newscast the BBC did say that Big Ben was under renovation, but had been reactivated for New Years. I figured some sort of temporary arrangement was in use to drive the bells, which might be the electric mechanism Richard referred to (Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Thanks, Stephen. The doubling of the first two bongs was only noticed on Radio 5 Live (I checked all the BBC radios from 1 to 5 plus WS). A snippet of the Radio 5 Live broadcast (from the online archive) is attached. Initially two microphones, one closer and one further from the bell or electronic delay due to buffering? After the second bong, only one audio feed? Anyway, no quarter chimes can be heard. If they were played, they should have been heard even above the din of the crowd noise (-- Richard Langley, with mp3 of it, WOR iog via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ CASTING CALL FOR THE 2019 WINTER SWL FEST (Third and Final Notice!) I sure hope this isn’t a sign of some sort. This is the first time we’ve had to run this notice a third time. On popular demand, we extended the extra half day to this year from last. But we still have some open slots for forum presentations. If you’ve been holding back, now is the time. If you’ve always wanted to do this but never have, now is the time. John ------------------------------------------------------- Once again, we invite one and all to be a part of the Winter SWL Fest! Edition 2019 will take place on February 28 - March 2 at the Doubletree Guest Suites in fashionable Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. This will be the 32nd such annual gathering and due to popular demand we have kept the extra half day, opening the event on Thursday afternoon and continuing through all of Friday and Saturday. Details and background info, as well as regular updates, are at . One of the centerpieces of the Fest weekend is our line-up of informative and entertaining forums. How do we get them? These excellent sessions are put together and presented by you and people just like you — people with a deep and abiding interest in radio and a willingness to share their experiences, knowledge and know how. So, how about it? Have you a topic that you think Fest participants will find interesting and would be willing to present? Tell us about it. As usual, your role will be to lead a one hour session forum. That means preparing about a half-hour presentation that leaves plenty of time for audience questions and interaction. It can be anything from a serious (or comic) lecture (or both) to a multimedia extravaganza. Your choice! And as a gesture of appreciation (and perhaps some measure of small compensation for your efforts), the Fest will comp your registration fee if your proposal is accepted by the Organizing Committee (which consists of Rich Cuff, yours truly and that Magic 8 Ball we found in Rich’s attic when looking for old Fest printed programs and giveaways. Hey… it worked last year!) We are seeking your help in fashioning a balanced and diverse line-up of topics and speakers. Make your suggestion/proposal to John Figliozzi at If you have any questions, we'll be happy to discuss them with you. And even if you've never led a forum before, don't hesitate. We've learned that people tend to unfairly and inaccurately minimize their own abilities. We know you'll be great --- but you have to let us in on what you're thinking! We promise a quick turnaround on your proposal once we are able to survey the field. Be a part of the 2019 Winter SWL Fest program! (John Figliozzi & Richard Cuff, 2019 Winter SWL Fest (and apparently for life) Co-Chairs, dxldyg via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ AM BANDSCAN FROM THE CARIBBEAN NEAR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Scanning the AM broadcast band from a shipboard location 100 miles north of Punta Cana Dominican Republic and not far from Puerto Rico. 8 AM local time, using an SDRPlay and a W6LVP amplified loop: https://youtu.be/akRLdFgPdw4 540 HICM Radio ABC Dominican Republic 5 kW 570 Radio Cristal Dominican republic 10 kW 580 WKAQ Puerto Rico 10 kW 590 Radio Santa Maria Dominican Republic 10 kW 600 WYEL Puerto Rico 5 kW 620 Radio Santo Domingo Dominican republic 10 kW 630 WUNO Puerto Rico 5 kW 650 Radio Universal Dominican Republic 15 kW 670 Radio Dial Dominican Republic 5 kW 680 WAPA Puerto Rico 10 kW 710 WKJB Puerto Rico 10 kW 720 Radio Norte Dominican republic 5 kW 740 WIAC Puerto Rico 10 kW 750 Radio Jesus Dominican Republic 5 kW 760 WORA Puerto Rico 5 kW 810 WKVM Puerto Rico 50 kW 830 HIJB Dominican Republic 10 kW 840 4VEH Haiti 10 kW 850 WABA Puerto Rico 5 kW 870 Radio La Vega Dominican Republic 5 kW 880 WYKO Puerto Rico 1 kW 890 HIOR Dominican Republic 1 kW 910 WPRP Puerto Rico 4 kW 930 WYAC Puerto Rico 2 kW 940 WIPR Puerto Rico 10 kW 950 Radio Popular Dominican Republic 10 kW 960 WDNO Puerto Rico 1 kW 970 Radio Barahona Dominican Republic 5 kW 980 Radio Reloj Cuba 1 kW 990 Radio Eternidad Dominican Republic 5 kW 1030 Radyo Ginen Haiti 10 kW 1040 WNVI Puerto Rico 10 kW 1060 WCGB Puerto Rico 10 kW 1070 WMIA 1 kW 1090 Radio Amistad Dominican Republic 5 kW 1100 Aliento Dominican Republic 1 kW 1120 WMSW Puerto Rico 3 kW 1160 WBQN Puerto Rico 5 kW 1190 WBMJ Puerto Rico 5 kW 1200 Radio Ven Dominican Republic 5 kW 1230 WNIK Puerto Rico 1 kW 1240 Radio Havana Cuba [?? the external service? RHC does not publicize any MW frequency, and WRTH 2019 does not show any Cuban on 1240! Terry Krueger, Clearwater, says he can`t hear any Cuban on 1240 to Y/N this -- gh] 1280 WCMN Puerto Rico 5 kW 1300 WTIL Puerto Rico 1 kW 1310 Radio Real Dominican Republic 1 kW 1320 WSKN Puerto Rico 5 kW 1330 Radio Vision Cristiana Dominican Republic 5 kW 1340 WWNA Puerto Rico 1 kW 1350 WEGA Puerto Rico 3 kW 1370 WIVV Puerto Rico 5 kW 1390 WISA Puerto Rico 1 kW 1400 WIDA Puerto Rico 1 kW 1420 WUKQ Puerto Rico 1 kW 1440 Radio Impactante Dominican republic 5 kW 1470 WKUM Puerto Rico 5 kW 1480 WMDD Puerto Rico 5 kW 1490 WDEP Puerto Rico 5 kW 1510 WBSG Puerto Rico 1 kW 1530 WUPR Puerto Rico 1 kW 1540 ZNS-1 Bahamas Radio 50 kW 1570 WPPC Puerto Rico 1 kW 1580 WVOZ Puerto Rico 5 kW 1620 Rebelde Cuba 1640 Radio Juventus Dominican Republic 1 kW 1660 WGIT Puerto Rico 10 kW 1670 La Voz del Yuna Dominican Republic 5 kW 1700 WJCC Miami USA 10 kW (Ivan NO2CW, Miami FL, Jan 4, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) LATEST DX-PEDITION AT MASSET, BC, 27 DECEMBER 2018 TO 2 JANUARY 2019 Well, another DXpedition under the belt to my favourite DX cottage off the north coast of British Columbia, Canada. Conditions for the most part were very good, although I think I just caught the tail end of the superb TA conditions. If only I could have been up in Masset a day or two sooner! Asian conditions were, as always, very nice with excellent openings from Japan, Korea and China. Plus, some interesting Filipinos, especially a new one for me on 1611, a smattering of Australia including armchair 4KZ 531 Innisfail, and Bangladesh was back one morning with 693 until 1730 sign-off. This time of the year, the DX keeps on coming, with the TPs carrying on until the afternoon hours, locally. The Iranian buzzer on 1575 heard frequently in Victoria was a daily visitor, both in our mornings, and into the afternoons/early evenings, as was 1539 Asianet via the UAE. I’ve collected many GB of Perseus wav files to enjoy for years to come. There was plenty of time to experiment with antennas. I had a total of 5 to choose from: The best, as always, is my 750’ WNW BoG. Then, the 2nd most used was the 500’ due north over the Pole Beverage. My permanent ALA 100LN large diameter loop oriented NE/SW is a good reference antenna. I erected a permanent 65’ x 35’ FLG 100 corner fed loop antenna this time around, and swung the direction to the S overnight, and to the north in the evenings with results perhaps about 75% as good as the Beverage/BoG. Finally, I toyed with a staggered // BoG and a phaser with occasional useful results. Not sure whether it was worth the effort, though! Besides the DX, there was always time for good food (thanks to my wife’s family in Masset --- fish, deer roast, pies, chili --- yum!), and exercise with golf and the polar bear swim on New Year’s Day. That’s me diving into the water! [illustrated in the WOR iog, golf] And, of course the famous Wullenweber array at the Canadian Forces Station in Masset. The latter is still functional, although remotely now via Ottawa, ON. I’ve been told that the usage has increased owing to the antics of Vladimir Putin! Now on to the really good stuff! Receivers were 2 Perseus SDRs only, each fed to its own laptop. Errors, as always, are my own, and I appreciate comments and corrections. Sometimes one gets a little bleary eyed in the early morning or late nights! 73 and the best of 2019 to all, Walt Salmaniw, Victoria [Normally I would reprocess all these logs and integrate them into country order, but I am far behind in editing, so to save gobs of time, here go the LW & MW more or less as originally presented, while the SW are integrated above --- gh, ed.] 153 NORWAY Ingoy 100 kW NRK, Jan 1 0057 - Good reception tonight with all western music. Joined by both Icelandic frequencies at good levels (189 and 207), as well as 162 (OC), 198 BBC, 234 Luxembourg and 252 RTE. Into news at 01:00, clearly Norwegian. Probably the best LW propagation I've heard on this trip, but not translating to anything in the MW band. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 153 ROMANIA Brasov Bod 200 kW ND Antena Satelor (tent) vs more likely NRK Norway, Dec 29 1431 - Something totally unexpected, but weak audio hear on the over the Pole Beverage. Makes sense as the Grayline for transmitter LSS is over Romania now. Too weak to make out any content, though. Improved and just about readable at 1500. Will be interesting whether other LW from Europe will be audible as sunset goes across western Europe! Much better on recheck at 1559 with an English song. No time pips at TOH, but into presumed news, first by a YL, and then OM. Still no other LW audible this morning. Later in our local evening (0057 UTC 30 Dec), reception again at fair to good level. ***Now I'm confused. This might in fact be NRK according to MW List with 100 kW in Ingoy. I had thought they had left the air on LW and MW long ago??? So could very well be Norway and not Romania?? Grayline passed through Norway at the same time. Have to admit, the intonation sounds more Norwegian than Romanian. At same time (0100 UT 30 Dec), besides 189, I'm also hearing 252 weakly (sounding more English than Arabic), but no one else from Europe on LW. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 189 ICELAND Gufuskalar 300 kW Rikisutvarpid Ras, Dec 29 0548 - Compared to last night, tonight is practically a write-off, except for Iceland. Yesterday, the LW band was extremely noisy, but with the steady drizzle today, the presumed salt spray build up on the power lines have washed away, leaving Iceland to be heard at good level. // rarely heard 207 also quite strong (but in the middle of beacons). Going out for dinner, I left the recorder going and a very interesting thing happened. The signal died away, but at 0437, it suddenly increased in strength to near armchair level. Next day at 0055 30 Dec 2018, again very nice reception on the North Beverage (with added 5 ground radials for what they're worth!). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 207 ICELAND Gufuskalar 100 kW Rikisutvarpid Ras, Dec 29 0551 - Rarely heard, indeed, and almost as strong as 198. Surrounded, though, by strong beacons make this one a challenge. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 531 ALGERIA F'Kirina 600/300 kW Jil FM, Dec 28 0137 - Often outstanding reception with Arabic music. 549 is a difficult channel here to check for //. Lower frequencies have a bit of power line noise here in Masset. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 531 AUSTRALIA Dalwallinu W Australia 10 kW 6DL ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt (tent), Dec 30 1500 - While listening to this channel before the TOH, I could hear some English being spoken under the dominant NHK 1 program. At 1500, there was the ABC Fanfare, so does this mean that it must be 6DL? Occasionally rises over NHK briefly. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 531 AUSTRALIA Innisfail, Queensland 5 kW 4KZ, Dec 30 1558 - Commercial ads now in English, and no sign of NHK1. Ads for tackle and bait, and motorcycles and more. No ABC fanfare at TOH this hour, so not ABC. Time pips likely NHK 1's. Very good level by 1603 with news by YL. 'Live on the internet, 4KZ.AU' at 1603:30. Perfect! I had thought of checking // 5055 and a minute ago, I did so, and though weak on the SW frequency, still same female voice. Marine weather after 1604. TC for '5 after 3'. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 531 UNID unid, Jan 2 1434 - Who's the EZL music station heard cochannel to JOQG Morioka, the dominant channel here? Confirmed not 4KZ, and style doesn't match Avtoradio Sakhalin (if they're still on the air). NHK sometimes fades down to reveal others cochannel. I happened to tune back just after 1602 and there was a national anthem in progress. Possibly a Filipino? Will need to go back and go over the Perseus wav file. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 540 JAPAN Yamagata 5 kW + others NHK 1, Dec 31 1751 - It's all NHK 1 all the time, on every channel! Japanese opera like singing, heard on 531, 540, 549, 567, 576, 585, 594, 603 (under Korea), and 612, and that's just on the lower channels! On 540, there are 6 transmitters, so it could be any of them, with 1 or 5 kW. A shame NHK 1 doesn't ID as conveniently as the NHK 2 network. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 567 JAPAN Sapporo, Hokkaido 100 kW JOIK, Dec 28 1712 - Huge signal totally in the clear with blues music. Cochannels weakly audible as well. Clearly a nice post LSR enhancement to Japan. Just when I was planning on heading back for breakfast! // to other NHK1 outlets, such as 594. and others in the vicinity, but none as strong as Sapporo! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 594 JAPAN Tokyo NHK1 300 kW JOAK, Dec 29 1401 - For second day, besides the ever dominant JOAK, there's a cochannel. At this time, they're playing Elvis Presley's 'Heartbreak Hotel'. This is different from the usual up here. I assumed this was the Filipino, DZBB. We'll see (and I see PAL lists off on Sundays from 1600 which will be useful). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 594 PHILLIPINES Super Radyo Quezon City 20 kW DZBB (tent), Dec 28 1733 - Predominantly JOAK Tokyo with an American Jazz program, but every once in a while, another station fades up and dominates to good level. Quite certain it's DZBB, as it fits the Super Radyo format. Not in English, but presumed Tagalog. Would be nice if it was one of the other exotics on channel like Burma or Jakarta! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 675 VIETNAM My Van 700 kW Dai Tieng noi Viet Nam (VOV 1), Dec 28 1452 - Armchair copy at times in the lovely sing song Vietnamese language. Did fade down significantly before returning. Tells me there are interesting things happening in the ionosphere. Of course they faded down before the TOH, only to return strongly at 1501. Gone are the days of strident, North Korean like presentation! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 684 JAPAN Nagasaki 5 kW JOAG and others, Jan 1 1731 - I'm hoping to find India on this frequency (has been heard in past), and there were tantalizing traces of Indian sounding music. Nonetheless, the NHK 1 network is playing classical music this morning which is easy to follow. Just before 1730, I quickly checked and noted the same program on 531, 540, 549, 567, 576, 585, 594, 603, 612, 621, 648, 666, 675, 684, 729, 756, 819, 837, 846, 891, 945, 963 and, then I ran out of steam!!! On 684, though, the dominant is IBC with the main transmitter being JODF in Morioka with 5 kW, and 3 other translators of 0.1 and 1 kW. Way over the NHK 1 sender. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 693 BANGLADESH Dhaka 1000 kW Bangladesh Betar, Jan 1 1644 - Very good reception in Bangla with many mentions of Bangladesh. It's been a while since hearing this one, and I'm most pleased! Best heard on the north Beverage. Did fade down some. But returned a number of times at good level! Checked in just before 1730, and indeed, they seemed to go off without any announcements. Just some music. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via WORLD OF RADIO 1964, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 693 UNID Unid, Jan 1 1459 - Another interesting channel once JOAB signs off from Tokyo with 500 kW leaving an OC. Once again a mish mash of signals. Up to the TOH, EZL music sounded religious in nature. Perhaps a Filipino, but of course, the TOH fanfare splatter from 690 [CBU Vancouver] destroys any chance for an ID. Many signals measured on the zoom function: 692.987 (very weak), 692.998, 693.000 (likely JOAB), 693.002, 693.003, and 693.004. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 702 NORTH KOREA Chongjin 50 kW KCBS, Dec 31 1734 - Huge buzzy OC, with Australia 2BL ABC Sydney clearly heard underneath. 100 Hz tones visible above and below (9 are visible on the waterfall). Also a het on 703.0. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 747 JAPAN Sapporo, Hokkaido 500 kW JOIB, Jan 2 0511 - Pretty rare to report audio at this early hour, as Sapporo is still almost 2 hours from LSS. English lesson at fair to good level, mostly problematic due to very loud 750 splatter (KFQD Anchorage with S9 + 50 signal ---ouch!!!! No way to phaser them out!). Instead, easier to tune to 702 JOKD which is much as strong (despite 10 kW) and more in the clear. Kitami is at the northern end of Hokkaido, so closest to LSS. Rechecked 702 at 05:46, very strong with now Spanish language lesson. S9+25!. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 774 CHINA Wuhan 200 kW Hubei RGD (tent), Jan 1 1445 - Another morning that NHK 2 network signed off at 1440. Of course JOUB from Akita with 500 kW dominates totally, then leaves the OC on. There are numerous stations on the waterfall, all about equal strength, so a mish mash of speakers. I measure 6 frequencies: 773.977 (very weak), .996, 774.000 (presumably Akita), .007, .026, and very weakly .051. Akin to listening to 1610 TIS frequency. A lot of speakers all at once without anyone being strong enough to dominate. Chinese music is heard at 1454, so one of their transmitters, perhaps Hubei RGD (200 kW listed on one sender from them). No hint of DU activity yet. Music improved towards the TOH. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 774 JAPAN Akita 500 kW JOUB, Dec 31 1440 - I was happily listening to their English lesson, when they suddenly pulled the plug and went into their sign off routine (after JOUB ID). Normally at the end of their language lessons, they say, 'Goodbye', etc. Very good. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 803.66 NORTH KOREA Hwadae 500 kW Pyongyang Bangsong, Dec 28 1749 - Buzzy, highly variable carrier with Korean vocals, typical of North Korea. Constantly drifting several hundred Hz. Seems // to 3320. Down to 803.3 at 1752 and heading back up. Nominal 801 has someone there, but under a strong, seemingly unmodulated carrier with a bit of a buzz, too. Same Pyongyang transmitter? (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 803.81 NORTH KOREA Hwadae 500 kW Pyongyang Bangsong, Dec 31 1739 - Buzzy, drifting, almost FM like signal continues here today with typical North Korean strident vocals. Drifted up to 804.31 by 1745. // 3320. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 810 CHINA Hangzhou 200 kW Zhejiang RGD, Dec 31 1800 - A presumed logging, with what sounds like a TV feed. PAL lists many transmitters with Hangzhou strongest, but with others between 1 and 10 kW. No echoes heard, though. South Korean jammer comes up every once in a while. Mostly very good reception. Was looking for AFN, but no joy. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 828 JAPAN Osaka 300 kW JOBB, Dec 30 1531 - One never knows for sure when the NHK2 network signs off. Since arriving several days ago, it seems they signed off at 1440, but today when tuned in at 1531, they were already into their xylophone portion of the sign off, so presumably 1530 today. Very good reception. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 840 CANADA Camrose AB 50/40 kW CFCW, Dec 31 2352 - C&W music, of course mixing with several other cochannels. The strongest is the Albertan. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 850 ALASKA Nome 50 kW KICY, Dec 31 0440 - Good reception with detailed weather report. I log this one since conditions are more southerly tonight. I have a number of antennas to choose from individually: ALA 100 LN to NE/SW, North Beverage, NW BoG and a second shorter BoG parallel to the first, unterminated about 2 to 3' from the main BoG, and S/SW directed corner fed to FLG 100LN loop. None of these on their own could hear KICY, but phasing the 2 BoGs, I'm able to hear clear copy. Nice! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1116 AUSTRALIA Brisbane 17/6.3 kW 4BC, Dec 28 1625 - Nice ID at 1626, and best heard on the ALA 100 aimed SW/NE. Good reception, but not super strong. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1170 ALASKA North Pole 50 kW KJNP, Dec 28 1437 - Drawn to the American National Anthem followed by full legal ID including translators throughout Alaska (starting with Barrow) at good level, with only slight otherwise domestic cochannel, and no sign of Korea, which is the usual dominant. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1188 JAPAN Kitami Hokkaido 10 kW JOKP, Jan 1 0547 - Despite there being over an hour to LSS at transmitter site, we were already hearing NHK 1 Kitami at pretty decent levels. Precious little activity to the south tonight, it seems. Another Hokkaido station on 1287 HOHR in Sapporo also in, as is JOIB Sapporo on 747. Nothing very strong tonight, however. Interesting, I didn't think that Christmas Is was even on tonight on 846, but using the phaser, I was able to see the waterfall, phasing the 2 // staggered BoGs. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1260 CANADA Edmonton 50 kW CFRN, Dec 31 2110 - Driving into town (about a 10 minute drive), of course I checked the AM band on the Nissan Frontier truck radio. The upper band especially was alive with signals every 10 kHz, but alas no hets indicating TA signals. One of the strongest was from Edmonton, a good distance away, but about a similar latitude in Alberta. ID for TSN. Excellent, of course. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1305.093 IRAN Bushehr 50 kW IRIB Radio Bushehr, Dec 28 0237 - Clearly off channel, with Middle Eastern chants, dominating the channel. Het from on-channel station(s), likely Spain, although here, I also see 2 channels, on 1305.003 (stronger) and 1304.998 (now about equal). Overall is an unpleasant hum. Weak modulation all around. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1440 MULTIPLE Unid, Jan 1 1514 - 1440 is another challenging frequency. I'd love to hear one of the two AFN Korea stations on this frequency, but it's an uphill battle. Besides domestics, JOWF is the ever dominant force with 50 kW from Sapporo. Mauno Ritola on FB kindly provided the information for the AFN stations, as there's been some changes. Camp Humphreys in Pyongtaek with 5 kW is measured on 1440.012. No one like that here today, while Camp Carroll in Waeguan is also 5 kW on 1439.989 which I DO see this morning. Here are the readouts on the waterfall: 1439.989 (quite strong), .991, .993 (strong), .996 (strong), .997 (strong), .998, 1440.000 (strongest, so maybe STV), and 1440.008. One day, perhaps, AFN will sneak through! An internet feed (if I had internet) would be very helpful! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1440 SAUDI ARABIA Ras al-Khair 1600 kW SBC Radio Riyadh (tent), Dec 31 1621 - I'm thinking this is the Saudi on this busy channel. Music sure would match. Was over the Japanese and domestics for a while, but never any voice, so tentative only. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1467.385 IRAN Qom 100 kW IRIB Radio Qom, Dec 31 1616 - To prove that Asian signals are possible in our mornings, I'm getting a good het on this off channel, which is highly likely to be Iran. Another station on fundamental, but not that strong. Het is heard only on the north Beverage. Also the on-channel frequency also best heard on the north Beverage. ? Saudi. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1485 UNID unid, Jan 2 0047 - One of the few frequencies with some audio tonight. 1485 is pretty much a graveyard channel. Nothing very powerful. Certainly from Europe/Africa/Central Asia at this time, but who. Had an Arabic hint to the music, but too weak to be sure, yet. I suspect it may be present on other nights monitored, so a frequency to watch for sure, as most powers are all 10 kW or less. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1485 UNKNOWN Unid, Dec 31 0012 - Wonder who's here playing an English language ballad. Only low powered stations listed in MWList. Strongest is 10 kW (Spain, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iran). I'm guessing most likely Spain. So far, Iran on 1575 is by far the loudest. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1494 TAIWAN Taizhong and Wanhua 10 kW BEE32 Educational Broadcasting System, Jan 1 1624 - Unid is solved! Everything falls into place now. I'm hearing French at good level over Japan. ?French....that's most unusual. Digging into PAL further, it's now obviously BEE32, which lists 2 transmitters (hence the echo) with BBCWS from 15 to 16 (what I heard earlier), and now RFI in French from 16 to 17. Solved!. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1494 UNID unid, Jan 1 1537 - An English speaker here! Up to a minute ago, the RSK network dominates (JOYR Okayama has 10 kW, and JOTL HBC from Nayoro Hokkaido has 1 kW plus relays), but then a slightly DU accented YL began to dominate in English, before the JJ speakers returned. There is the Kiwi station in Hamilton with 3 kW (Star) which would match their tone, and another in Timaru (Radio Sport) at 2.5 kW, and 2AY Albury NSW with 2 kW. Even V6AI in Colonia Yap FSM, with 10 kW would not be excluded. Then there are the Filipinos. Doesn't sound like a Filipino, though. What troubles me is the presence of occasional echoing. Why from the English speaker? At 1545, they faded up again, and sounds like talk about suicide. Possibly heard BBC WS ID at TOH. I'm leaning towards NZ on this one, but a real challenge. ***Solved!**** See next 1494 entry!. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1539 UAE Al-Dhabbaya 600 kW Asianet Radio, Jan 1 1607 - Clearly them at good level with Indian type music, but faded down to a jumble, likely China (not CNR 1). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1539 UAE Al-Dhabbaya 600 kW Asianet Radio, Dec 28 0132 - Very powerful signal, easily overpowering domestics on 1540. Indian sounding music. Heard very well hours ago, too, today, in the middle of our afternoon. S9 + 10 signal. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1539 UAE Al-Dhabbaya 600 kW Asia Net, Dec 30 2356 - Presumed audio from them, at lest briefly. At this time, also seeing activity on 1593, 1566, 1557, 1539, 1503 (Koran recitation it sounds like at 23:59, so presumably Egypt). 1485, 1467.43 (presumably IRIB), and 1467, 1458, 1422, 1413 (good audio, Radio Vesti), 1341, 1278, 1269, surprisingly 1215 only a weak carrier so far, 1161, 1098, and 531. Also and LW are 198, and esp 189 with good audio, and 153. Interesting that the opening is mostly upper half of the band so far. Earlier 531 was coming in with pretty decent audio. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1539 UAE Al-Dhabbaya 600 kW Asianet Radio, Dec 31 1610 - Good reception, especially on the North Beverage. Switched here when I noted the loud Iranian buzzer again on 1575. Very good at 1629 recheck with Indian type music. Totally dominating the channel and it's still 45 min or so until my LSR. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1548 AUSTRALIA Emerald, Queensland 50 kW 4QD ABC Central Queensland, Dec 28 1725 - The post dawn enhancement continues with a general enhancement to China, Korea, and now strong to 4QD, Australia, but only briefly, as they faded down soon after, but came back again a minute later. An interesting ionosphere today, indeed!. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1548 KUWAIT Al-Kuwayt/Umm al-Rimam 300/600 kW Radio Sawa, Dec 31 2003 - Almost certainly them. A difficult channel 24/7 due to a lower mainland very powerful 1550 transmitter, so always a lot of splatter to contend with, but style fits Sawa. Fair during fade ups. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1557 TAIWAN Kouhu 300 kW directional Music Interactive Network, Jan 1 1612 - I've been watching 1557 because of a rumbly noise in the background, and wide tracing on the waterfall. Multiple equally spaced lines are visible on both sides of 1557. Presumably Taiwan with good level of Chinese speaking. Pretty sure I heard 'Taiwan' at 1615 and into fanfare and something 'official' sounding. Does not sound at all like a music channel. Clearly a sick transmitter (more like a North Korean!), with buzzy audio with music when rechecked at 1738. Strong signal, otherwise. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 IRAN Abadan 800 kW Iranian jammer, Dec 28 1629 - Easily heard, best on the North Beverage, as one would expect. Cochannel to VOA Thailand. Interesting that I don't hear AFN today, as usually is the case when the jammer can be heard. Strong at times. I take that back. No AFN on the North Beverage, but there equal to VOA on the NW BoG (and the jammer barely heard). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 IRAN Abadan 800 kW Iranian jammer, Dec 30 2351 - Nothing like my first afternoon and evening here, yet, there are some signs of life for TA activity. A number of stations are being received including the loud Iranian buzzer jammer. Let's see whether anything will come to pass! Fingers crossed. I just erected a North directed corner fed loop (with FLG 100) and it's perfoming as well as my 500' Beverage. I can switch it around quite easily to make a southerly loop for tomorrow morning, if conditions permit. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 IRAN Abadan 800 kW Super loud buzz, Dec 28 0221 - Have been hearing the buzzer all afternoon, and it continues unabated, but at 0223, presumed Radio Farda came to dominate for a few seconds with 'Smooth Operator'. S9 + 10 signal. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 JAPAN AFN Misawa, Iwakuni and Sasebo AFN, Dec 30 1707 - 3 transmitters here, and I have heard all 3 with sometimes different programs. Today, I'm only hearing one feed spread out between 1574.999 to 1575.002, and another weaker channel on 1574.993, and possibly another weaker 'smudge' on 1574.998. Good reception of the mostly music program after Fox sports. S9+ 15 signal shows what's available here in Masset! As for the Iranian jammer, no sign of them now. ID at 1711 as, 'If you want oldies, see your grandma. Serving America's best, The Eagle'. PSA at 1714:30 (pick up after your pet). Local ad for a pick up service after a night of drinking. Should be able to track down which transmitter, here, although it's normally Misawa. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 JAPAN AFN network AFN, Dec 30 1542 - AFN is coming in well at this time with American pop music. Also very strong is the Iranian Jammer, especially so with my over the Pole Beverage. I taped the next 2 hours, and have listened to them later in the day. At 1826, the signal improved to very good level, just in time for a perfect local ID, with the Misawa Radio Report. Mentioned building 106, then into Air Force Radio news, and back to Eagle music programming. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1575 UAE Al-Dhabbaya 800 kW Radio Farda, Jan 2 0033 - Ever present jammer nice and loud tonight, but so is the audible programming from Radio Farda. Not much else at this time besides weak audio on 1215. One question about 1575: Just before heading out for some golf this afternoon, I quickly tuned 1575, and there they were in English! No time to check for details, but this should have been long past AFN fading out (and it wasn't their style at all). Does Farda have any English, including lessons? I did start the Perseus recorder, so can go back to check! Not sure whether anything will develop tonight. As so often is the case, the late afternoon looks promising, only to fizzle later. Certainly LW is poor tonight compared to last night. Notice that 1539 is at good level at 0038 with typical Asianet programming, too. Had the chance to trial a 30 to 35' height x 45 foot horizontal corner fed to FLG 100 loop aimed virtually N/S and reversible. In general, the loop performed well. I'd say about 75% as good as the 500' Beverage. For space limitations, it's a winner. I will likely leave that one up, as it's close to the shack and simple to maintain. I also have a DKAZ here, but not erected this time, so cannot compare it with the loop. The loop is much better than a simple ALA 100, although the latter is a lovely all round antenna for LW to SW. Not so much for heavy duty DXing. I even experimented with ground loops according to directions provided by Nick Hall-Patch (from a ham publication). I used a square 30' a side (double the size of the article). While better than nothing, it was the weakest of all of my antennas. It most definitely needed the FLG 100 for a boost. Deaf otherwise. I don't think I'll bother with it in the future. Bottom line, the Beverage/BoG still wins hands-down on Haida Gwaii! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1590 USA Netarts OR 5 kW KTIL, Dec 31 2337 - Amazing that way up north, driving in my truck to town, I pick up 1520 from the Oregon coast at armchair level! Don't think I ever hear them in Victoria. Oldies format. Of course no issue at the shack here, although there are others here as well, depending on the antenna choice. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1611 AUSTRALIA Vision Radio Network (tent) NOT, Dec 28 1422 - Very nice reception this morning and in fact, likely the best I've ever heard them. Super 8 Grocery ad at 14:26 Several others in succession. 'World Class Quality'. Numerous carriers noted, so it's difficult to be sure who this one belongs to: 1610.940, .984, .996, 1611.000, .011, .015 and .023. The on-channel station sounds best. Most likely Vision Radio Network, as there's a Christian song at 1431. Several sites are listed: Sydney, Tarnworth, Melbourne, Margaret River, Grafton, Chiltern, and Adelaide. All with 400 watts. Deep fades at times, only to come back to good level (pretty common in the X-band). Rechecking at 1544, they're not in English anymore. Unid language, so now I'm not so sure who this is. Did hear 'Jerusalem', so likely a religious program. Rete Italia/Niche Radio does list other languages, so perhaps them? See Philippines below! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1611 PHILIPPINES Naga City 1 kW DWNX Radyo Mo Nationwide, RMN, Dec 28 1543 - Almost certainly them, after all, as they ID'd. 'Nationwide' clearly heard. Sounds like sign-off announcements at 1550. Phone numbers given. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Philippines National Anthem' at 1551:30, so I suspect that it was them all along! A new one for my logbook! Very nice reception on 31 Dec as well, with 'Radio Mo' jingle at 1543. 1558, 'Happy New Year', and then into a new year song. Often a very good level, but when fades a bit, a lot of 1620 splatter. Lots of mentions of RMN (the network = Radyo Mo Nationwide). (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1611 PHILIPPINES Naga City 1 kW DWNX, Dec 31 1704 - Excellent reception with almost armchair copy with continuous music. Presumably on late for New Year's. A bit of splatter from 1620 only. Sounds a lot like the Dutch hobby pirates, with similar music, and few IDs! Caught them just as they were signing off before 1722. With a prayer, 'help us to live in peace with one another as brothers', then suddenly off. Rechecking at 1951, and they (presumably them) back on the air at fair +(at times) level. Same 1620 splatter as always. PAL lists them from 2000 to 1500, so either holiday hours or outdated information. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1656 AUSTRALIA unid, Dec 28 1730 - Pretty decent audio at times, but not fitting with Hindi (Radio Rhythm, Melbourne), nor Voice of the Australian Chinese (Brisbane and Sydney). ? 2ME, but they're in Arabic, with an empahsis on Hit songs, so who knows. Latter listed in Perth, though. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1663.5 JAPAN Tahara, Aichi prefecture Isewan Martis, Dec 28 1649 - Not often (ever?) reported, but fair reception of this maritime station. Shared with Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo, but matches this time. Some noise from 1665. In Japanese. Heard better notching 1665 and opening up the bandwidth a tad. (Walt Salmaniw, Masset BC, WOR iog via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See CANADA CJOB re WSCR +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See USA, incidentally ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See AUSTRALIA; CHINA; INDIA; KUWAIT; NEW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ZEALAND; ROMANIA; TIBET; USA DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See OKLAHOMA; USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ THE LOOMING ENGINEERING AGE-CRISIS This link was posted on the ultralight group, and may be of interest: https://radioinsight.com/blogs/107223/the-looming-engineering-age-crisis/ best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) Nick, a fascinating read, and Chris goes into further detail to answer the questions that I had asked of him when a group of about a dozen of us DXers toured Entercomm Milwaukee (WSSP-1250, and others) in August 2017. I had asked him if universities and broadcasting schools (Brown, and others) were doing anything to educate young people about the technical side of radio and about the duties of maintaining multi-tower sites. "Virtually nothing", he replied. "I'm 48, and I'm one of the youngest people I know of still doing this. There's nobody coming up behind us to take over." That portends an eerie future for radio, and for those of us who are hobbyists in it. Before that visit, I had been a staunch defender of AM's future, but now, I'm more like, "Well, I'm just going to milk this cow for however long there's milk left in her." 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, Jan 6, ibid.) A while ago, a group of us made the same observation about 2 meter repeaters. The gee whiz technology of the 1960's and those who know how to service these machines are now in their 80's and unable to climb towers any more. Shortwave radio is practically dead, NDBs are dying. I hope I am wrong but I don't like what I am seeing either. Thanks for sharing (Joseph Miller, ibid.) This situation exists everywhere within terrestrial broadcast radio, hobby and commercial alike. Radio is old technology and the younger generation has largely passed it by in favor of more modern and I daresay efficient technologies. Radio will continue to exist for a time but some of the younger folks among us may see a day when radio is history (Russ Edmunds WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, Grid FN20id, ibid.) Explains why my many QSL letters to "chief engineer" have gone unanswered in the last several decades! (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) In British Columbia, there is (based on my intel) virtually no techs or engineers to look after the aging CBC AM-FM infrastructure. If it breaks, someone from commercial radio is paged or emailed - fingers crossed. A family member is an on-air personality and content creator and he has actually climbed a tower to check connections on an antenna array with no technical training - yes, he’s an idiot (and an in-law...) In our dumb-down race for the bottom Donald Trump world, we forget that we actually need intelligent and educated folks occasionally As countries in Africa are being inundated with the latest Chinese made cell and internet technology and people are moving away from the freedom of radio, despots everywhere are realizing the wonders of one mouse click filtration and censorship. Radio is hard to jam and filter. Internet radio censorship is crazy easy - even a dictator can do it (Colin Newell - Victoria - B.C. CANADA, ibid.) FCC ENFORCES REGULATIONS AGAINST LED SIGNS By Mitchell Lazarus, CommLawBlog, May 18, 2018 Those bright, colorful LED signs are up everywhere. They advertise gasoline prices, announce church services, and promote specials at the dry-cleaner. You can program them to say anything you want, with eye-catching animation. And sometimes they cause interference to radio communications. See: https://tinyurl.com/ycv6x5kp A bit of tid posted a while ago (but which I just noticed!) on the WTFDA by Neal McLain in Texas (MARE Tipsheet Jan 4 via DXLD) BLAST FROM THE PAST BROADCASTS ABOUT HEALTH -- AND COMMUNIST BRAINWASHING === By Erin Blakemore, In the 1950s, the health interventions we may consider routine were still revolutionary. Antibiotics had only recently become available, and chemotherapy was still new. Even the ideas that children had distinct personalities and that child development was worth studying were novel. And in those days of the Cold War, midcentury Americans had to wonder: was it possible for the communist world to brainwash them? Enter the New York Academy of Medicine and WNYC, a radio station owned by New York City at the time. During the 1940s and 1950s, they created health-related lecture broadcasts, some directed at the public and others at doctors. Now, those lectures are online, digitized by NYAM and New York Public Radio, and they present an intriguing view of the state of midcentury medicine and health. . . https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/blast-from-the-past-broadcasts-about-health--and-communist-brainwashing/2019/01/04/e2518aba-0eb5-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_print.html?noredirect=on (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Article about Chinese ELF Formerly, you, colleagues suggested us an article about a Chinese HAARP-like ionospheric test that appeared in the South China Morning Post (titled: China and Russia band together on controversial heating experiments to modify the atmosphere, web address): https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2178214/china-and-russi a-band-tgether-controversial-heating-experiments Now, I suggest to read an article in the same newspaper about an ELF antenna built in China. I have some problems with the article is that at the beginning it talks only about an antenna and looks like about a transmitting station, which station turns its coat to a RADAR in the middle of an article which is totally different. This is the consequence when journalists, lawyers (like myself), humanity studies people, etc. write about a subject which they aren't understanding: physics. This article was translated into Hungarian and took over at least 2 websites: Index (http://www.index.hu, for blind people vakbarat.index.hu; it is in Hungarian) and Portfolio economic news site (http://www.portfolio.hu). In the Hungarian article of Portfolio the "journalists" visioned that the station can transmit signals to submarines in the depth of 2000-3000 metres under the water, which is a nonsense. The other problem is the health hazard issue which the article mentioned below. They are worried about the radiation level of this equipment. But nobody wanting to mention how much electromagnetic radiation will human have to bear when the new 5G mobile phone network will be deployed. As it is known, the 5G network needs more densely packed base stations than the old network needed due to its increased frequency band. I'm sure that electromagnetic radiation (popularly known as electrosmog) will be increased exponentially. But why nobody is worried about that? Why only about the emittance of long-medium and shortwave stations? Tibor Gaal, Budapest, Hungary Now, the article: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2180071/chinas-new-antenna-five-times-size-new-york-city-it-also-cancer South China Morning Post CHINA`S NEW ANTENNA IS FIVE TIMES THE SIZE OF NEW YORK CITY, BUT SOME FEAR IT COULD BE A CANCER RISK PUBLISHED: Monday, 31 December, 2018, 10:41am UPDATED: Tuesday, 01 January, 2019, 1:13am China has built a giant experimental radio antenna on a piece of land almost five times the size of New York City, according to researchers involved in the highly controversial project. The Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project took 13 years to build but researchers said that it was finally ready to emit extremely low frequency radio waves, also known as ELF waves. Those waves have been linked to cancer by the World Health Organisation-affiliated International Agency for Research on Cancer. Although the project has civilian applications - officially it will be used for earthquake and mineral detection and forms part of China's 11th five-year plan - it could also play a crucial role in military communications. Scientists said that its transmissions could be picked up by a submarine lurking hundreds of metres under the sea, thus reducing the vessel's risk of having to resurface to receive transmissions. The project follows the construction of China's first military-grade Super Low Frequency transmission station in 2009. The next year, a Chinese nuclear submarine successfully communicated with the station from deep water - making China the third country in the world to have established such a submarine communication system, after the United States and Russia. But the Chinese navy is eager to expand its capacity and has been pouring resources into the more advanced ELF radio technology, which allows submarines to communicate with the command centre from a greater depth and is harder to disrupt. The Chinese government, however, has played down the importance of the facility, which occupies some 3,700 sq km (1,400 square miles) of land, in information released to the public. Apart from the need to protect an important strategic asset, some researchers said that the secrecy was to avoid causing public alarm. The antenna would emit ELF signals with a frequency of between 0.1 to 300 hertz, the researchers said. The exact location of the Wireless Electromagnetic Method project has not been disclosed. Photo: PLA Naval Command The exact site of the facility has not been disclosed, but information available in Chinese research journals suggests it is in the Huazhong region, an area in central China that includes Hubei, Henan and Hunan provinces and is home to more than 230 million people - greater than the population of Brazil. Project WEM's main surface structure is a pair of high voltage power supply lines stretching from north to south, east to west on steel lattice towers, which form a cross that is 60km (37 miles) wide and 80 to 100 km (50 to 62 miles) long. At the end of each power line, thick copper wire goes underground through a deep borehole. Two power stations generate strong currents and electrify the ground in slow, repeating pulses, turning the earth underfoot into an active source of electromagnetic radiation. The radio pulses not only pass through the atmosphere, but travel through the Earth's crust as well, with a range of up to 3,500 km (almost 2,200 miles), according to the project scientists. A sensitive receiver within that range, which is roughly the distance between China and Singapore or Guam, would be able to pick up these signals. The closer to the power source, the stronger the pulses. The radar will be difficult for spy satellites to detect because it will appear no different to an ordinary power grid, although a radar expert said it might be possible to detect its emissions and use those to determine the location. The inland location of the new facility would also make it harder for an enemy to attack, compared with a facility located on the coast. Chen Xiaobin, a researcher with the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, who has been working on the project, said he did not know its exact location because that information needed a high level of security clearance. "This facility will have important military uses if a war breaks out ... Though I am involved in the project, I have no idea where it is. It should be up and running by now," he said. Lu Jianxun, the chief scientist on the project, also leads a key communication programme at the PLA Naval Command, according to information on Chinese government websites. The construction work was led by 724 Research Institute under the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which is a major supplier of communications and electronic warfare equipment to the Chinese navy. Hu Wenmin, president of the corporation, visited the emission site in May last year, according to a statement on the state-owned company's website. Hu "expressed his appreciation for the construction of the WEM project and put forward opinions and requirements for the follow-up development of the project and the technical application in related fields", the statement said. But the project has caused concern among some academics, who worry about the possible impact on public health. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, has previously warned that ELF waves are "possibly carcinogenic to humans". Numerous epidemiological and experimental studies conducted by researchers around the world have linked long-term ELF exposure to an increased risk of childhood leukaemia. In a 500-page report constantly updated since 2007, the WHO has documented a large number of academic investigations linking ELF radiation to a range of illnesses including delusions, sleep deprivation, stress, depression, breast and brain tumours, miscarriages and suicide. Though many results remain inconclusive, the WHO said the implementation of precautionary procedures to reduce exposure was "reasonable and warranted". Chen declined to comment on the impact the facility would have on residents' health. But some researchers said that China's environmental authorities have concerns about the project. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, for instance, asked for a comprehensive review on its environmental impact - a request that has not been granted. "The money came from civilian budgets, but the military has intervened and muted the ministry's complaint," said a Beijing-based researcher, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment. According to one calculation by the Chinese navy, a person standing on the emission site would be subject to ELF radiation no greater than 10 watts, enough to power up several LED light bulbs. But Qiao Fengshou, a researcher with the navy's Ship Communication Research Institute in Wuhan, who made the estimate, said there was nothing to worry about. According to China's safety standards, only radiation greater than 300 watts is considered harmful, so the project will cause "no harm to staff and residents in surrounding areas, it is not necessary to build extra facilities for the purpose of health protection", Qiao wrote in an article in the Chinese-language research journal Ship Science and Technology in 2016. Qiao also said that the project would be given an "exemption from supervision" by the environmental authorities. Xi Jilou, a researcher with the Institute of Earthquake Forecasting who was not directly involved in the project but informed about it, said that relevant authorities had recently conducted final checks on the emission site and concluded it was ready for operation. "There should be some devices monitoring the environment on the site for the protection of public health," Xi said. "China is not the first country doing this. Other countries conducted similar projects long ago." In 1968, the US Navy proposed Project Sanguine, a giant ELF antenna that would have covered two-fifths of the state of Wisconsin to enable undersea communications with submarines. There should be some devices monitoring the environment on the site Xi Jilou, researcher at Institute of Earthquake Forecasting The project was terminated due to massive protest by residents. The US Navy built a smaller transmitter, the Wisconsin Test Facility, with two 45 km power lines in the Clam Lake area, a place with a low population density. The station emitted ELF waves at 76 hertz and was decommissioned over a decade ago. In the 1980s the Soviet Union constructed Zevs, a considerably more powerful facility on the Kola Peninsula inside the Arctic Circle. The Zevs antenna was powered by two 60km electric lines and had a main frequency turned at 82 hertz. The radio waves it produced were believed powerful enough to reach Russian nuclear submarines hidden deep under the Arctic ice cap. Russia has since provided technical support to China as it started building its own systems, which may include other ELF stations in coastal areas. According to the WHO, an ELF field can affect human nerve fibres and stimulate synaptic transmissions in neural networks. It can also affect retina cells, generating a sporadic flash of light in people's eyes. Animals can use low frequency signals to detect threats or changes in surrounding environments, an ability critical for survival in nature, according to some biologists, and experiments suggest that ELF radiation could also have an effect on cattle. Huang Zhiwei, a professor with the department of electrical engineering at Nanhua University in Hengyang, Hunan, said the ELF radio was unlikely to cause acute damage to the human body due to its enormous wavelength, which could stretch over thousands of kilometres, but it might interfere with the sensory organs. "If the frequency caused a resonance with our sensors it could be a nightmare," said Huang, who was concerned because he and his family live in the region. Some previous studies had shown that wounds healed more slowly when exposed to ELF radio waves several times a day, Huang added. Huang, who has taken part in numerous military research projects, said the environmental impact of defence-related facilities was usually not scrutinised as much as civilian projects. "The matter must be handled with extreme caution, or it can easily lead to public panic," he said. Huang said the authorities in charge of the WEM project should recruit a large number of volunteers for comparison studies. The sample size must be sufficiently large because of variations in environment and timing or the individuals involved could produce different results. "Some people are more sensitive. They can see or hear things other people can't. They may be more vulnerable to the impact," Huang said. Researchers also said that the facility would also have a peacetime application and be used to detect mineral and oil deposits. Ground stations with special equipment can pick up signals to survey underground structures to an unprecedented depth. The ELF waves will also be able to detect rock deformations, which could help in studying precursors for major earthquakes. In 2013, China's state media reported that the PLA Navy had completed the development of the world's most powerful and sensitivity low-frequency communication system for nuclear submarines. The reports described the technology as having the world's largest communication distance and deepest communication depth, according to the official report. The US Navy shut down its Wisconsin transmitter in 2004, saying it no longer needed to rely on ELF radio. Instead, US nuclear submarine fleets use very low frequency or VLF radio waves, with a frequency ranging from 3 to 30 kilohertz, for long-distance communication. The VLF radio waves can carry more information than ELF signals because of this higher frequency, and can penetrate seawater to a depth of up to 40 metres (130 feet). (via Tibor Gaal, Hungary, WOR iog via DXLD) FCC SETS THE WHEELS IN MOTION TO CLEAR MORE SPECTRUM FOR 5G At its December open meeting, the FCC took a significant step toward facilitating the deployment of fifth-generation (5G) wireless advanced services. For those still wondering what exactly 5G is, we have written about the highly touted mobile broadband technology several times... https://tinyurl.com/8-71094321 https://www.commlawblog.com/2019/01/articles/cellular/the-fcc-sets-the-wheels-in-motion-to-clear-more-spectrum-for-5g/ (via Neal McLain, Brazoria, Texas, Jan 3, WTFDA gg via DXLD) *"The FCC has, for some time, had its eye on the Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands to free up some all-important millimeter wave spectrum."* Well, I guess TV DXers can breathe a sigh of relief, especially after reading the subject of the original post. At least they're not going after ch 35 and below --- yet (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ PIPELINE SOUTHERN AFRICA TO ONTARIO It never ceases to amaze me, despite good, bad, or indifferent band conditions, how there seems to be a pipeline of shortwave signals between the southern portion of Africa and my QTH in Ontario regardless if the signal is coming from Moepeng Hill, Botswana, Meyerton, South Africa, or Mahajanga or Talata Volondry, Madagascar especially considering the tropical band reception of Radio Sondergrense and Channel Africa. Even during solar and geomagnetic storm conditions signals from this part of the world seem to recover sooner than from any other location in the world (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S or Ten-Tec Argonaut II and 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA iog via DXLD) Trans-equatorial paths far from polar disturbances and near-antipodal position help (gh, DXLD) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES – Compiled by: Phil Bytheway Email: DXM.EiC@gmail.com Geomagnetic Summary December 1 2018 through December 31 2018 Tabulated from WWV on-line status daily (K @ 0000 UTC). ftp://ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/forecasts/wwv/ Flux A K Space Wx 1 69 8 2 no storms 2 69 12 4 no storms 3 68 10 2 no storms 4 69 8 2 no storms 5 71 5 2 no storms 6 70 5 1 no storms 7 70 10 2 no storms 8 71 10 2 no storms 9 72 9 4 no storms 10 71 11 2 no storms 11 71 7 2 no storms 12 71 4 1 no storms 13 70 2 0 no storms 14 71 3 1 no storms 15 71 2 0 no storms 16 70 2 1 no storms 17 70 6 2 no storms 18 70 7 1 no storms 19 70 6 2 no storms 20 70 12 3 no storms 21 71 5 1 no storms 22 71 3 1 no storms 23 70 2 1 no storms 24 70 3 1 no storms 25 70 4 1 no storms 26 69 3 0 no storms 27 69 4 3 no storms 28 69 24 3 minor, G1 29 69 11 2 no storms 30 69 10 2 no storms 31 69 7 1 no storms Gx – Geomagnetic Storm Level Rx – Radio Blackouts Level Sx – Solar Radiation Storm Level (IRCA DX Monitor Jan 12, published Jan 8, via DXLD) Space Weather Prediction Center National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Parts of the U.S. Government are closed. However, because the information this site provides is necessary to protect life and property, it will be updated and maintained during the Federal Government shutdown. For critical weather information, please visit http://www.weather.gov To learn more, see http://www.commerce.gov :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2019 Jan 07 0558 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 31 December - 06 January 2019 Solar activity was at very low levels on 31 Dec - 05 Jan and increased to low levels on 06 Jan due to an isolated C1 flare at 06/1051 UTC from Region 2732 (N09, L=215, class/area Cao/090 on 03 Jan). No Earth-directed CMEs were observed during the period. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels on 05 Jan and normal to moderate levels on 01-04 Jan. High levels were observed on 31 Dec and 06 Jan due to enhancements associated with recurrent coronal hole high speed streams (CH HSS). The largest flux of the period was 2,020 pfu observed at 31/1930 UTC. Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to G1 (Minor) storm levels. Solar wind parameters began the period under a waning positive polarity CH HSS. Solar wind speed decreased from approximately 520 km/s on 31 Dec to 290 km/s by 03 Jan with total field at or below 6 nT. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels on 31 Dec - 01 Jan while quiet levels were observed on 02-03 Jan. At approximately 04/0420 UTC, total field began to increase to a maximum of 13 nT at 04/1705 UTC which was indicative of the arrival of a CIR preceding a negative polarity CH HSS. The Bz component reached a maximum southward deflection of -9 nT at 05/0200 UTC. Solar wind speed increased to a maximum of 565 km/s at 06/1350 UTC. The geomagnetic field responded with mostly unsettled periods late on 04 Jan, quiet to G1 (Minor) storm levels on 05 Jan, and quiet to unsettled levels on 06 Jan. Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 07 January - 02 February 2019 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels on 07-19 Jan with a chance for C-flare activity on 20 Jan - 02 Feb due to the return of old Region 2732 (N09, L=215). No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 07-12 Jan, 25-27 Jan and again on 02 Feb due to recurrent CH HSS influence. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach unsettled levels on 07, 26 and 31 Jan. Unsettled to active levels are expected on 16 Jan, 24-25 Jan and 01-02 Feb. G1 (Minor) levels are likely on 24 Jan. Levels of elevated geomagnetic activity are anticipated due to recurrent CH HSS effects. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2019 Jan 07 0558 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2019-01-07 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2019 Jan 07 72 8 3 2019 Jan 08 70 5 2 2019 Jan 09 70 5 2 2019 Jan 10 70 5 2 2019 Jan 11 70 5 2 2019 Jan 12 70 5 2 2019 Jan 13 70 5 2 2019 Jan 14 70 5 2 2019 Jan 15 70 5 2 2019 Jan 16 70 12 4 2019 Jan 17 70 5 2 2019 Jan 18 70 5 2 2019 Jan 19 70 5 2 2019 Jan 20 71 5 2 2019 Jan 21 71 5 2 2019 Jan 22 71 5 2 2019 Jan 23 71 5 2 2019 Jan 24 71 20 5 2019 Jan 25 71 12 4 2019 Jan 26 71 8 3 2019 Jan 27 71 5 2 2019 Jan 28 71 5 2 2019 Jan 29 71 5 2 2019 Jan 30 71 5 2 2019 Jan 31 71 10 3 2019 Feb 01 71 15 4 2019 Feb 02 71 12 4 (SWPC via DXLD) ###