DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-101, August 23, 2007 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 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1371 Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB or 17495-CLSB Thu 0600 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Thu 1500 KAIJ 9480 Fri 0630 WRMI 9955 Fri 1030 KAIJ 5755 Fri 1100 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 [irregular; confirmed 8/18/07] Sat 2130 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1500 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular; not 8/13/07] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0830 WRMI 9955 Tue 1030 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 7385 Wed 0730 WRMI 9955 WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: 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 For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALGERIA. RASD transmitter location, 8 km from Rabouni? Looks like Google Earth high resolution imagery shows the transmitter location now visible at 6300 / 1550 / 700 kHz, - 8.6 km north of Rabouni 27 33'05.72" N 08 05'56.09" W / 27.551589 N -8.098914 W [earlier:] Google Earth imagery. Rabouni location at 27 28 04.98 N 08 05 16.54 W six Saharui container villages and repositories of the Saharui refugee government, also near 27 27 52.35 N 08 10 27.05 W 27 28 18.54 N 08 01 49.50 W 27 30 57.11 N 08 02 50.81 W 27 30 50.64 N 08 00 34.28 W Greater Tindouf village near 27 40 27 N 08 08 52 W Saharui refugee camp also 16 kms westerly towards W Sahara/Mauritania border 27 38 15.08 N 08 17 14.84 W Southerly a mine field towards the border area 27 21 08.03 N 08 38 07.02 W (June 17, 2007) 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, Arcángel San Gabriel on 15476, from 1912 Aug 21 with Spanish music and talks (Female), poor but fair. Best with the Dierkingfilter (works great) At 1931 full ID, 1945 very poor, best with LW 25 meter and ALA1530 RX= NRD545. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, R. Nacional Arcángel S. Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 2046-, 21 Aug, no program content due to signal weakness & some noise, but the carrier could be detected; 15441 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. I have the complete story on Operation Deep Freeze, a pic and frequencies on my blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2007/08/operation-deep-freeze-2007-08-begins.html 73 de LVH (Larry Van Horn, N5FPW, udxf yg via DXLD) Includes link to 354-page Antarctic manual, quite interesting reading, not only for the considerable fraxion devoted to radio communications: http://www.usap.gov/travelAndDeployment/documents/USAPFieldManual.pdf (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 1710 kHz, 0352 070805, 7 ARG, AM1710, Ciudad Autónoma de B. Aires-mx leggera, px in S (...il sole sorge) 24222 GCc 1709.82, 0403 070805, X XXX, UNID poss. Plata. SS mentioning "Ciudad." 0/1 FC Ciao! Ascolti effettuati dal gruppo di ascolto "Mosquito Coast DX Team" presso la Laguna Veneta di Aquileia, Italy, il fine settimana del 05-07 Agosto 2007 http://home.tele2.it/MCDXT/ FC = Francesco Clemente, GCc = Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Napoli, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15345, RAE (Buenos Aries). 1800-1815. 17 Aug 07. English. Sign on announcements and IDs in several languages. Mentions of the production staff and a DX program to follow. Into a segment of Argentine folk music. Ugly het and completely covered by BSKSA at 1815. Poor (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Per numerous other observations, including my own, RAE is the one off- frequency, sometimes hi sometimes lo. I don`t think Saudi Arabia is on 15345.0 --- if you were hearing Arabic, it was RTV Marocaine, as in Aoki list, not HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. An interesting piece of history I came across in a local free Adelaide fortnightly magazine. Seems we had our own offshore pirate many years ago... http://www.adelaidereview.com.au/features.php?subaction=showfull&id=1187233292&archive=&start_from=&ucat=16& (Richard Jary, ARDXC via DXLD) Radio PROSH, off Cape Jervis, SA, in 1966y; but WTFK?? (gh, DXLD) ** BHUTAN. Harold Frodge brings us this news about Bhutan: The Bhutan Broadcasting Service has a new 100 KW transmitter. Their web page (18-Aug-07), http://www.bbs.com.bt/Radio%20Schedule.html lists English at 1100-1400, 1500-1600 & 2040-2100. It does not indicate if this is local or UTC. If local, then the UTC times would be 1700-2000, 2100-2200 & 0240-0300. Neither of these schedules corresponds to the current WRTVH or Passport. The web page also does not list any frequencies, but WRTVH and Passport indicate 6035 khz (MARE Tipsheet Aug 23 via DXLD) Their webpage, correct URL http://www.bbs.com.bt/RadioSchedule.html is surely in local time of UT +6, made clear by labels of morning, afternoon, evening segments. Wrong; to convert from local to UT, you subtract rather than add six hours. As of Aug 23, it shows English for one hour each at 11, 15 and 20 local, not 2040. So UT would be 05-08, 09-10, 14-15. English has been reported recently in DXLD 7-095 as heard in NSW at 1418 under Chinese interference. I`m afraid that of the three English hours this is the only one with the remotest chance of making it to North America as the others are in full daylight (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9645.24, R. Bandeirantes 0951 23 Aug, just talk by M and W in PT while tuned in briefly, and unmistakable cat meowing SFX played very often as they have in the past. 0952 ads, mention of Brasil. Fady. Off frequency quite a bit. There was a signal on 11925.23, but it wasn't strong enough to get any reasonable audio. Quite a few ZYs on the bands this morning (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL: CAOS LEGAL EN EL SISTEMA RADIOFÓNICO DE SAN PABLO El Observatorio del Derecho a la Comunicación de Brasil expresó recientemente que sólo 3 de las 37 radios paulistas cuentan con licencias de transmisión. La mayoría de las concesiones finalizaron sus plazos. La investigación apunta que existen licencias que vencieron hace 17 años. Las licencias en Brasil tienen una validez de 10 años y pueden ser renovados por igual período. Además, la investigación señala que empresas de comunicación como Bandeirantes y el Grupo CBS mantienen hasta 5 emisoras diferentes en San Pablo, cuando la legislación les prohíbe contar con más de una radio en la misma localidad. De estas 39 radios, 22 recibieron sus licencias para operar en otros municipios y no en la capital paulista (PULSAR via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Aug 23, condiglist yg via DXLD) It looks like rimshooting has suddenly become a big issue in Brazilian broadcasting. Following thread may have come up coincidentally? (gh) Rádio Guarujá - Santos --- Caxias do Sul, 22 de agosto de 2007. Hoje, observei que o site da Rádio Guarujá - Santos não menciona em nenhum lugar a Globo. Só por curiosidade. Tenho uma dúvida... No site, há informação de que há um estúdio em Guarujá e outro em Santos. Porém, também há uma frase no site que diz que a emissora transmite de Santos pra todo o país. Afinal, alguém sabe informar, por favor, onde está localizada, geograficamente, a emissora? Guarujá ou Santos? 73 a todos (Alexandre L. Schöler, Aug 22, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Alexandre, O estúdio e transmissor da Guarujá Paulista ficam situados à rua José Vaz Pinto, 175 no município de Guaruja, em São Paulo. O endereço para correspondência: rua Montenegro, 196 Lj 01 Vila Maia CEP 11410-040 Guarujá - SP. Isso é o que está registrada no site da Anatel. Falar que transmite de Santos deve ser apenas como uma referência. Ou será porque é mais charmnoso?... Forte 73, (Giuseppe Cysneiros, ibid.) Alexandre, Existe ainda um agravante: você quer saber o endereço do estúdio ou do transmissor? De qualquer forma, você pode consultar o site da Anatel para ver estas informações. A relação Guarujá e Santos já me chamou atenção no passado. Descobri, por exemplo, que ligações telefônicas entre uma cidade e outro são tarifadas como chamada local. Ou seja: para as operadoras de telefonia fixa, as duas cidades são um só quando há telefonemas. Será que algum colega que conhece a região poderia nos contar um pouquinho do contexto histórico desdas duas cidades? O que faz "R Guarujá Paulista" se identicar com a cidade de Santos? Guarujá foi emancipada recentemente? --hg (Huelbe Garcia, ibid.) Huelbe, Tenho observado há algum tempo aqui no estado de São Paulo que emissoras em cidades vizinhas a cidades maiores se identificam como estivessem nestas. Veja as emissoras da grande SP que se identificam como da cidade de São Paulo, existe uma emissora em FM de Jundiai SP em 105.1 que se identifica como SP e apesar da proximidade, Jundiaí é uma cidade bem definida em relação à Capital. Mas estes exemplos seguem, como uma emissora em 92.7 em Aguas de Sao Pedro, ela se diz de Piracicaba, e um exemplo local aqui em São Carlos, a emissora DBC FM 106.3 está em Ibaté, 12 km daqui, mas a emissora se identifica quase sempre como São Carlos e por ai vai. No caso da Guaruja, sempre ouvia, há muito tempo, sua identificação como sendo do Guaruja, já sua FM como Santos. Talvez agora, com esta nova estrutura da emissora adotem como Santos por ser Santos bem mais conhecida e o polo de toda aquela regiao. Encontrei que o Guaruja se emancipou de Santos em 1926. 73 (Samuel Cassio, ibid.) É, por motivos comerciais, muitas emissoras, escondem que são de determinadas cidades pra parecerem ser de outras. Muitas vezes, o empresário pediu autorização pra tal cidade, mas não foi permitida; então comprou ou conseguiu autorização pra cidade vizinha menor e "faz de conta" que está na outra que queria mesmo (Alexandre L. Schöler, ibid.) Caxias do Sul, 23 de agosto de 2007. Huelbe, Eu gostaria de saber de onde transmitem, ou seja, o estúdio principal. No site que ainda está no ar, diz que há um em Guarujá e outro em Santos. Sei de outras emissoras que também têm estúdios em cidades diferentes. Mas sempre há a cidade "oficial", que ainda pode ser diferente daquela registrada na ANATEL. A Rádio Sara Brasil FM - Porto Alegre, provavelmente está registrada na ANATEL como localizada em Charqueadas. Mas, ela fala de Porto Alegre. Nunca percebi, em sua programação, algo que seja transmitido de Charqueadas ainda. A Pop Rock FM - Porto Alegre é outro exemplo curioso. Transferiu-se de Canoas pra capital do estado, porém o telefone de contato dos ouvintes segue sendo o de Canoas!! Quanto às ligações telefônicas entre Guarujá e Santos serem feitas sem códigos de operadora, isso ocorre sempre em áreas urbanas grudadas. Ocorre também entre Canela e Gramado, por exemplo. Pela experiência que tenho no mercado de mídia publicitária, suponho que a emissora seja, originalmente, de Guarujá. Porém, como Santos é uma cidade que proporciona mais audiência, mais valorização comercial e mais vitrina publicitária, houve essa aproximação com a cidade vizinha. É o mesmo caso da Pop Rock FM da Grande Porto Alegre, que se "cansou" de ser de Canoas... É o mesmo caso da Viva FM - Farroupilha, que gosta de se identificar com Caxias do Sul, ignorando sua própria comunidade muitas vezes. 73 (Alexandre L. Schöler, ibid.) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, Radio Burkina; 2319-2331+, 20-Aug; Commentaries by 2 M in French with drum/flute & thumb harp bumpers; mentioned Ouagadougou x2 & Burkina. Possible ID spot at 2328+ mentioning radiodiffusion. Hi-Life music at 2330. SIO=433, best in USB -- surprising sig strength (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 7-100, LOWER MAINLAND The perspective is from the provincial capital in Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Else is the Mainland, Lower mainland is the lower part, also known as the Fraser Valley (Upper Fraser valley from Hope west to Abbotsford/Mission; Lower Fraser Valley from Aldergrove/Maple Ridge to Vancouver and the sea) Lower Mainland includes the entire Fraser Valley, the Sunshine Coast (Gibsons, Sechelt) and often Powell River which are easily ferry-able from the Vancouver area and have several thousand commuters. They are in the 604 phone zone, now being overlapped with the 778 overlay phone area code. Ecozone and climate weather http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1SEC867662 also The Fraser Valley http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003047 and the changing definition in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Mainland and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Mainland_Ecoregion Recylcling map http://www.encorp.ca/cfm/index.cfm?It=902&Lo=300,1&Se=2&Sv=depot Provincial power generator map http://www.bchydro.com/info/system/system15277.html Provincial archives designation map http://aabc.bc.ca/aabc/lowmain.gif (Dan Say, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Odd that I can't see the carrier on 1690.7 that was so strong a few nights ago. Is the Greek broadcaster from Ontario now on channel? Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, BC, IRCA via DXLD) I was wondering the same thing, Nick. Absolutely nothing on 1690.7 for several nights (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, Aug 22, ibid.) Nick & Walt, The Greek Bcer [CHTO Toronto] has moved back on channel as of a couple days ago unfortunately. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** CANADA. 1609.9v, CHHA Toronto ON; 2350-2400+, 20-Aug; W in Spanish mentioning Nicaragua, Guatemala, Campeche & Yucatán. ID at 2358 "Radio Canadá, ésta es CHHA... Voces... [Latinas] ". 2358:30 English intro to program Sexuality & Sexual Health -- cut off at 2358:50 and into Spanish music! Fair with good peaks, frequency drifty within a few 0.01 kHz (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CHAD. 6165, Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne, N'Djaména, 2209- 2230*, 20 Aug, French, newscast, African songs program, announcements, national anthem; 53443, QRM de HRV (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Three stations heard on 6165 from 2157 UT onwards, Aug 21: 1 - when noted the Croatian National Anthem til 2159 UT, into Croatian news, but lost Deanovec in DEAD ZONE fade out at around 2211 UT. 2 - and heard endless monologue by French male announcer, seemingly Chad. 3 - and a tiny weak station under threshold, seemingly CR6 Beijing or Hanoi? 73 wb, (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re ASIA, 7-096: "Chinese jamming and monitoring station" China jams Chinese/Tibetan/etc. programs of SOH (Sound of Hope), VOA, RFA, BBC, AIR and so on. There are two types of jamming; “Firedrake” (musical jamming) and CNR-1. They use both Firedrake and CNR-1 to jam the in-band broadcast, while only Firedrake is used to jam off-band program such as SOH. Based on monitoring by NDXC members and directional analysis, jamming come from multiple sites – there is no site used for jamming only. Thanks to mis-transmission and directional analysis, we found that some transmitters in Hainan, Xian, Qiqihar and Kunming are used for jamming. The jamming is “controlled” by Radio Control Bureau of SARFT – The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television”, and the jamming is monitored by Radio/TV monitoring stations – one of the monitoring station (#573 monitoring station) is located north of Beijing . It is reported that Radio/TV monitoring stations are also located in Shanghai, Xinjiang, Hainan and Heilongjiang. The details of Radio/TV monitoring stations are unknown since official documents on China Radio/TV do not mention such monitoring stations. It has been long believed that jamming was controlled by Army and/or Communist Party. Thus it is quite interesting that jamming is controlled by “underground” organization of SARFT. De NDXC Monitoring, translated by S. Wakisaka (via Sei-ichi Hasegawa, Aug 23, Nagoya DX Circle via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. LV de Tu Conciencia: "Over the past several years we have placed close to 500,000 books, Bibles and New Testaments along with close to 50,000 Galcom radios into the areas of Colombia which are having internal conflict. . . . We would like to move one of our Short Wave transmitters to the Puerto Carreño area on the Colombia-Venezuela border. This would give us good 24 hour a day radio coverage throughout most of Venezuela and would put a very strong signal into Caracas. Our dual frequency Galcom solar radios are locked onto 5910 and 6010 kHz. If we leave 6010 at Lomalinda (within 50 km. of the geographical center of Colombia) and move 5910 (400 miles north east) to Puerto Carrenyo this will allow us to distribute the same Galcom radios in both Colombia and Venezuela with excellent results." (Russ Stendal, "Colombia Para Cristo" NL via DX-Plorer via DXLD) ** CUBA. RESTRICCIONES PARA MEDIOS RADIALES CUBANOS PARA ACCEDER A INTERNET El 13 de agosto de 2007, por orden del Ministro de Comunicación, Ramiro Valdés, el Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión mandó una carta a los dirigentes de medios de comunicación oficiales, anunciando nuevas restricciones para su personal. Ahora, las páginas Web y los servicios de mensajería deberán ser consultados a partir del portal de la empresa cubana de telecomunicaciones, http://www.enet.cu/ lo que permite al gobierno monitorear fácilmente a los usuarios, y sus actividades en la Red. "Esta medida es una prueba más de la paranoia del gobierno que se dota de medios para vigilar en la Red los hechos y gestos de los periodistas de medios oficiales, obligándoles a informarse y comunicar a través de un sitio oficial. Es importante recordar que la inmensa mayoría de los ciudadanos cubanos no pueden conectarse a la Red, con la excusa de que el embargo norteamericano impide su desarrollo" (ver la alerta de IFEX del 20 de octubre de 2006), ha declarado RSF. Según la agencia Encuentro en la Red, el documento, enviado el día del cumpleaños de Fidel Castro, conmina igualmente a los medios de comunicación a seleccionar de manera "apropiada" al personal encargado de actualizar las páginas Web. Los servicios de navegación, accesibles para los periodistas "de confianza", podrían verse sometidos a controles reforzados. Los periodistas de los diarios oficiales "Granma", "Juventud Rebelde" y "Trabajadores", afectados por la medida, estarán obligados a utilizar el nuevo sistema de conexión. La decisión es consecuencia de unas declaraciones del Ministro de Comunicación, efectuadas en febrero de 2007 a propósito de Internet, al que calificaba de "herramienta de exterminio global" que debía ser imperativamente "controlada". Según Encuentro en la Red, desde 2003, el tiempo de navegación por la Web de los periodistas de la prensa escrita, está limitado a una hora al día. En abril de 2007, el gobierno bloqueó, en las radios y las televisiones oficiales, el acceso a los sitios Yahoo y Hotmail (IFEX via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Aug 23, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hmmm, Comrade Arnie Coro is in at least a couple yahoogroups. How does he do it? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Re R. República on 15205: La señal era bastante fuerte, la detección sincrona funcionó perfectamente centrando la señal, algo que no hace con las "imágenes o mezclas". No creo que se tratase de una mezcla en el receptor, sino que me apunto a la teoría de un error en la estación transmisora. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re: ``IBC Tamil 7115.01 at 0008 in Tamil. Via Wertachtal. Rare that a DTK would be off freq. So rare, that I tuned to CKLW to see if my radio was out of whack. Not the case. Strong signal here every night. 73/Liz`` Today Media&Broadcast wrote back that the transmitter has been fixed and should not develop such deviations anymore. The problem was difficult to find because it arose only time and again, but this report made it possible to identify it in the transmitter log (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4920, AIR, Chennai, 2030-2040, 21 Aug, Hindi (tentatively) / English, match report (cricket?), advertisements; 55333; extended schedule (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear friends, Most stations of AIR (on MW, SW) will be on till around 2130 UT (instead of normal around 1740 sign off) to relay the running commentary of One Day Cricket Match between India and England as follows: 24 Aug 2007 1300-2130 UT 30 Aug 2007 1300-2130 UT (On 27 Aug, 2, 5 & 8th Sept the play is scheduled to end at 0845-1715) 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, Aug 22, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDIA. Here are some more audio clips : All India Radio Cricket Promo - English http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/aircricketpromoeng_23july2007_ul.mp3 http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/aircricketpromong2_4810_1712utc-22ju.mp3 All India Radio - Independence Day Live Commentary http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/air_idayopening_15aug2007.mp3 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. GOVERNMENT RULES OUT PRASAR BHARATI SPLIT Indiantelevision.com Team (22 August 2007 5:45 pm) http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/aug/aug329.php NEW DELHI: The Government today said there were no plans to bifurcate Prasar Bharati in an attempt to make it manageable or financially viable. Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told this to Parliament in reply to a question about reports appearing in the media that the public broadcaster would be split into various divisions. Media reports had indicated that either the public broadcaster would be split into two - one Asset Corporation, which will hold all assets, and a Programming & Broadcasting Corporation, which will oversee programming and other operations. Reports had also speculated that the pubcaster would retain the assets and operations of Doordarshan and programming and operation of All India Radio (AIR) with Prasar Bharati, while leaving the assets of AIR with the government. Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati sources told Indiantelevision.com that the Group of ministers (GoM) set up to examine various issues pertaining to Prasar Bharati is not considering bifurcation but is only considering other ways of restructuring the public broadcaster to make it financially viable. This comes at a time when Prasar Bharati has accumulated a revenue deficit of about Rs 40 billion over the past five years (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. THE 1000 KW TRANSMITTERS AT CHINSURAH IN WEST BENGAL, HAVE BEEN REPLACED The radio transmission system in the border areas is being augmented to strengthen the coverage there, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply, Minister of Information and Broadcasting PR Dasmunsi said several projects and installations of transmitters in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states are underway. The Minister said Phase-1 of Jammu and Kashmir Special Plan has been completed under which nine projects have been commissioned and three are technically ready. In North-East, two FM transmitters at Itanagar and Kohima are ready. Under the special plan, 1 KW transmitter at 19 new spots, 5 KW transmitter at Silchar, 10 KW transmitter at Gangtok and 100 transmitters of 100 KW have been approved for uncovered areas. The 1000 KW transmitters at Chinsurah in West Bengal and Rajkot have also been replaced by new ones, the Minister said. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Media__Entertainment_/Radio_transmission_in_border_areas_being_augmented_Dasmunsi/articleshow/2301069.cms (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. INDIA SENDS OUT SOUND WAVES TO SAVE AIRWAVES [misleading headline] 18 Aug, 2007, 0202 IST, Joji Thomas Philip, TNN http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/India_sends_out_sound_waves_to_save_airwaves/articleshow/2289706.cms NEW DELHI: There is a new dimension to interference in the airwaves. With countries launching more and more satellites for a host of purposes ranging from the military to weather to broadcasting and communication, the government here is going all out to ensure that Indian satellite and terrestrial networks are free from interference from the satellites of other countries. Interference from the other satellite networks has now lead to the ministry of communications and IT sending objections to the governments of numerous countries, including Indonesia, UAE, Turkey, Malaysia, China, France, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Russia, Holland, Thailand, South Africa, Pakistan and the US. The ministry has also demanded that these countries undertake detailed co-ordination with Indian satellite and terrestrial networks, sources close to the development told ET. At the same time, co-ordination meetings have already happened with some countries: "Bilateral inter-system satellite co-ordination meetings with the government of Belarus are over and a large number of Indian satellite networks have been co-ordinated with the satellites of that country," sources added. The move by the communications ministry is significant as interference between different satellite networks can cause havoc to weather predictions and impact both broadcasting and telecommunications systems in the country. "For instance, the Indian government's views on co-ordination of EMARSAT-4S satellite network of UAE with INSAT-2E in the extended C band has been examined and sent to the both the UAE government and the international telecommunication union (ITU). Similarly, Indian views on co-ordination of PAKSAT-1 satellite network of Pakistan with INSAT satellite networks has also been sent to the Pakistani government and the ITU," said an official source. Additionally, the communications ministry has also decided to send notifications to the ITU on the co-ordinates of all Indian satellites: "This will ensure that this data is available with other countries and with international associations so that interference can be avoided," sources said. "With a view to protecting our frequencies assignments and satellite orbital position for interference free operation of Indian satellite networks, detailed examination of special sections of all weekly circulars issued by the ITU are being undertaken on a continual basis. Space circulars received from the Radio Communication Bureau are being examined and objections are being sent to countries which interfere with out networks," the source added (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. SW Hurricane frequencies GOVERNMENT, NGO & MILITARY [presumably UT/zulu] 02670.0 USB USCG wx Cape Hatteras NC (0133 1303) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Fort Macon NC (0103 1233) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Eastern Shore VA (0233 1403) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Hampton Roads VA (0203 1333) 02670.0 USB USCG wx San Francisco (0203 1403) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Los Angeles/Long Beach CA (1303 2103) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Honolulu (0903 2103) 02670.0 USB USCG wx Marianas Section Guam (0705 2205) 02802.4 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-91) ** 03171.4 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-92) ** 03216.0 USB SHARES Regional Coordination Network (pri night) 03361.0 USB SHARES Regional Coordination Network (altn night) 04426.0 USB USCG wx NMN Portsmouth (0330 0500 0930) 04426.0 USB USCG wx NMC San Francisco (0430 1030) 04513.0 USB SHARES Regional Coordination Network (altn night) 04724.0 USB GHFS 05136.4 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-93) ** 05141.4 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-94) ** 05211.0 USB FEMA 05901.0 USB SHARES National Coordination Network (altn night) 06501.0 USB USCG wx NMN Portsmouth (0330 0500 0930 1130 1600 2200 2330) 06501.0 USB USCG wx NMO Honolulu (0600 1200) 06501.0 USB USCG wx Marianas Section Guam (0930 1530) 06712.0 USB USAF GHFS SAR 06739.0 USB GHFS 06859.5 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-95) ** 07507.0 USB USN/USCG hurricane net (pri) 07508.5 USB FAA Caribbean hurricane net 07550.5 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-96 - primary) ** 07632.0 USB SHARES National Coordination Network (pri night) 07698.5 USB American Red Cross Disaster (F-97) ** 08764.0 USB USCG wx NMN Portsmouth (0330 0500 0930 1130 1600 1730 2200 2330) 08764.0 USB USCG wx NMC San Francisco (0430 1030 1630 2230) 08764.0 USB USCG wx NMO Honolulu (0000 0600 1200 1800) 08992.0 USB GHFS 09064.0 USB SHARES National Coordination Network (altn night) 09380.0 USB USN/USCG hurricane net (sec) 10493.0 USB FEMA 11175.0 USB GHFS 13089.0 USB USCG wx NMN Portsmouth (1130 1600 1730 2200 2330) 13089.0 USB USCG wx NMC San Francisco (0430 1030 1630 2230) 13089.0 USB USCG wx NMO Honolulu (0000 1800) 13089.0 USB USCG wx Marianas Section Guam (0300 2130) 13200.0 USB GHFS 14396.5 USB SHARES National Coordination Network (pri day) 14455.0 USB SHARES National Coordination Network (altn day) 15016.0 USB GHFS 17314.0 USB USCG wx from NMN Portsmouth (1730) 17314.0 USB USCG wx from NMC San Francisco (1630 2230) Type-accepted equipment and an issued US FCC license are required to transmit on Red Cross frequencies (source? via Kent Winrich, K9EZ, Charlotte NC, Aug 20, radioinsidght.com DX board via DXLD) ** IRAN. IRAN WILL AGAIN OBSERVE DAYLIGHT SHIFTING TIME FROM 2008 Majlis approves bill on clock change Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:32:14 Iranian Majlis has adopted a single-urgency bill regarding Summer Time, proposing to change official time twice a year. The MPs, during their weekly open session on Wednesday, approved that the official clock would change once at the beginning of the Iranian calendar year (March 21) and once at the start of the second half of each year (September 23). Daylight Saving [sic] Time (DST) also known as Summer Time is used to ultimately save energy. It involves adjusting the official local time forward during the summer months, therefore moving an hour of daylight from morning to evening and once oppositely in winter. Of the 196 votes cast, 121 were in favor of general outlines of the bill, 54 against and seven abstained. SF/SG/BGH http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=20379§ionid=351020102 [Note: the start of the Iranian calendar year varies from year to year in regard to the Gregorian calendar, thus the begin/end of DST will vary accordingly. More e.g. here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_calendar - bt] (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, August 23, dxldyg) To clarify, Iran always starts its year at the spring equinox, or Nowruz (Persian for "New Day"). In Iran they not only celebrate the day itself but also observe the precise instant of the day when the equinox occurs. This first day of the Persian year is the first day of their month Farvadin (Kurds and Afghans also use the Persian calendar, but have different names for the months). Confusion arises because, although, like the Gregorian calendar, the Persian calendar has leap years, their leap years are not always in the same years as ours. This is because their leap years are not every four years, but every four or five years, as part of a 33-year cycle (this is a slight simplification of the actual position). The Persian calendar will next have a leap day inserted at the end of next year (i.e. in March 2009). The leap day is always added as the final day of the year. Because of this, the 1st of Farvadin is either 20 or 21 March (Chris Greenway, England, ibid.) Exactly, and in 2008 the DST will be from 21 March to 21 September (Bernd Trutenau, ibid.) And they never get around to relating this to UT! + 3.5 winter, + 4.5 summer. IIRC, when they had it before, this did not affect timing of external SW broadcasts, right? Why don`t they try 30 minutes of DST, evening up their zone, at last putting Iran in step with the rest of the world? Of course not (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRELAND. Irish Radio Transmitters Society Radio News Bulletin Sunday August 19th 2007 For some weeks we have been carrying an item about broadcasts of Mass from a Church in the north Dublin area on 28105 kHz FM. Stations are reminded to listen out for these transmissions on weekdays at 1000 hrs and on Sundays at 0900, 1000, 1100 and 1200 local time to try to identify the Church concerned. Stations in the Dublin area are asked to take bearings on the transmissions or try to identify the general area from which the transmissions originate. We would appeal again to stations in the Dublin area to put a little effort into identifying the source of the transmissions so that details can be forwarded to ComReg. We are getting international reports on these transmissions and we have an obligation to do something about them. We have also received reports of transmission of Mass on 28285 kHz. We do not have any idea yet where this transmission is originating. We would ask stations countrywide to listen on 28.285 MHz FM at the appropriate times in their areas so that this station can also be identified. If you hear anything worth reporting you should send a report to Thos Caffrey EI2JD the IRTS Intruder Watch coordinator at QTHR or to "thoscaffrey at hotmail dot com" with a copy to Sean Nolan EI7CD at QTHR or to "ei7cd at gofree dot indigo dot ie". The report should include date, time, frequency, signal strength, possible location of station if identified, beam heading in degrees from true north and any other relevant information. If the station is identified from an announcement of local events, details should be given. Should you hear anything, no action should be taken other than forwarding a report as requested (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. ISRAEL PLANS TO LAUNCH ARABIC RADIO FOR GAZA source: AFP August 22, 2007 http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070822-025914-1414r JERUSALEM -- The Israeli army will set up an Arabic radio station to broadcast "propaganda" to the Gaza Strip, and warn Palestinian civilians before it attacks militants there, it was reported Tuesday. Israel's commercial television station "10" said it will cost 10 million shekels ($2.3 million) to set up the radio outlet, aimed at the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the impoverished Strip on the Mediterranean. An Israeli army spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the report when asked to comment. All the best Dxers (via Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, dxldyg via DXLD) see also PALESTINE; hmmm, any connexion? ** ISRAEL. Dear Mr. Hill, I acknowledge that the program listed in your reception report dated 26 June 1007 [sic] was indeed broadcast on 11.585, 11.590 mHz [sic] at 0134-0158 UTC in Hebrew. I would like to add that Kol Israel`s shortwave service is closing down next week. Sincerely /signed/, (Sylvia Rapoport, Kol Israel Radio, P O Box 1082, 91010 Jerusalem, Israel, July 23, typed letter to Norman W. Hill, Arlington VA, photocopy via DXLD) I expect that wording would count as a QSL for those needing to include ``no QSL`` Israel among their enumerations. Closed down? Well, not exactly, as meanwhile discussed in some detail in DXLD: It`s the external service programming (except Persian) which has closed, with lotsa languages from domestic service still emanated on SW. Apparently that distinxion is lost even upon the staff (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Rai still in service --- 11855, Rai Rome in French at 1630- 1655 UT strong on S=9+10 dB level, news in French, weaker on 7180 and 9845 kHz here in Germany. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. "Why Yamata transmitters can not broadcast the program of “Furusato no Kaze”?" Currently 3 programs “Shiokaze”, “Furusato no Kaze” and “Nippon no Kaze” are broadcast towards North Korea from VT Communications, and only “Shiokaze” is transmitted from Yamata. Why Yamata transmitter can not send the message of “Furusato no Kaze” towards North Korea? Japanese law on broadcasting says only NHK can broadcast “international service”. And government controlled the license of broadcasting – it is quite difficult to get the permission (license) of broadcasting promptly. At the opening announcement of Shiokaze, they announce call sign as JSR. Exactly speaking, JSR is not call sign for “general” radio stations. Shiokaze got a license for “special utility broadcast” – same as Traffic Information Service Radio on 1620 kHz – not for “general broadcast”. In the case of “Furusato no Kaze”, they get neither the license of “utility broadcast” nor “general broadcast”. And NHK reject the proposal of Japanese government to broadcast “Furusato no Kaze” within the program of Radio Japan. Thus Yamata transmitter can not send message of “Furusato no Kaze.” de NDXC Monitoring, translated by S. Wakisaka (via Sei-ichi Hasegawa, Nagoya DX Circle, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait broadcasts in English until after 0600 UT on 15110 [0500-0800 -gh]. Do not expect me to research this station because Kuwait is an enemy country and I have no postal links. Reception here in Israel is perfect and I think you will enjoy their programs (David Crystal, August World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 11990, Radio Kuwait (Kabd). 1831-1930. 17 Aug 07. English. OM with news of various parts of the ME. Talk of mining disaster in Utah. Music program at 1838 followed by ``The Beginnings of Kuwait`` at 1900, and ``The March of Democracy in Kuwait`` at 1920. Several IDs as ``Radio State of Kuwait.`` G-VG (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Muito bem escutada ontem a MOI KUWAIT em DRM em 9880 kHz, entre 2000 e 2100 UT, com transmissor em Sulaibiyah, 120 kW, taxa de 11.64 kbps AAC mono, e MSC em 16 QAM, o que permite recepção com menos SNR que em 64 QAM. Nivel RF entre S7 e S9, SNR media de 17 dB, audio 100%. Equipamento usado: http://paginas.terra.com.br/lazer/py4zbz/hamdream/rxdrm.htm http://paginas.terra.com.br/lazer/py4zbz/sdr/sdrz.htm#drm 73 de (Roland M. Zurmely, py4zbz Aug 23, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 9750, V. of Malaysia, Kajang, *0958-1020, 22 Aug, IS, Bahasa Indonesia, ID, national anthem, pops; 35433 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. USA (PIRATE): Radio Ice Cream. 6925 f/d color glossy "Ice Cream Girl" cone-shaped card, along with 3 CDs of different shows the station has aired, a Hard Rock Cafe hologram card, and two "Commander Bunny For President '08" bumper stickers, all in 141 days. Click on the link below to see the QSL: http://www.geocities.com/jdstephens_99/qsl/pirates/r_ice_cream.jpg 73, (J. D. Stephens. Hampton Cove, AL, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Thoughts on the flood coverage: http://www.okctalk.com/art-books-film-tv-radio/10937-thoughts-flood-coverage.html (via DXLD) ** PALESTINE. PALESTINIAN RADIO TO RESUME GAZA BROADCASTS, SAYS OFFICIAL | Text of report by Palestinian news agency Wafa website on 22 August Ramallah, 22 August: Basim Abu-Sumayyah, director of the Palestinian Radio and Television Corporation, announced today that the Voice of Palestine [VOP] radio station will resume broadcasting its programmes to the Gaza Strip, adding that this will mark the beginning of the restoration of legitimacy in the area. He said the radio can be heard on 102.2 [MHz] FM. Speaking on VOP’s “Today’s Events” programme, Abu-Sumayyah said broadcasting to Gaza stopped during the bloody coup, when those taking part attacked the television and radio premises. Abu-Sumayyah noted that those behind the coup had oppressed reporters in the Gaza strip and had stifled their voices, especially by stopping corporation staff from doing their jobs. Abu-Sumayyah said the VOP would be heard in all parts of the West Bank northern governorates within days (Source: Palestinian news agency Wafa website, Gaza, in Arabic 1900 gmt 22 Aug 07 via BBC Monitoring) August 23rd, 2007 - 10:37 UTC by Andy (Media Network blog via DXLD) See also ISRAEL: hmmm, any connexion? ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. R. West New Britain on 3235 kHz received that are active on Aug. 22 at 1130 to 1400 s/off UT. Good condx. DXer of Nagoya received on same frequency open carrier on Aug. 21 at 1341 s/off. de (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4955, R. Cultural Amauta, Huanta, 2300-2314, 21 Aug, Spanish, very brief newscast followed by a program about LAm musicians & themes, starting with Guatemala; 35332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re 7-099, Hi Glenn, did you get any reply to this? It's Arkhangel`skaya GTRK, ``Pomor`e``, so a bit different spelling than in "more", sea. Yes, Pomorya is genitive case of Pomorye, like Radio Rossii is "Radio of Russia". It's a y-sound. It means the White Sea coastal area. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Mauno. Unfortunately Cyrillic does not make it thru my MS Word and plain text editing process for DXLD, so I had to transliterate Mauno`s original message. The [`] means soft symbol, which looks like a b (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 7320, Aug 23 at 1248, station in Russian, with rippling carrier, obvious with BFO on and also audible in AM as low buzz; 1250 into music. Just missed sign-off, if any at 1300:30* as meanwhile I was paying attention on another receiver to Live from Turkey, propagating well enough this date on 15450. Rather like Korea North on 9666v, but not that bad. Are they aware of this at station, and figure they, and their listeners, can live with it? Per Aoki, this is 50 kW, 45 degrees toward us from Magadan: 7320 R. Rossii 2000-1300 1234567 Russian 50 45 Magadan RUS 15010E 5946N, RR // 5940 a07 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Re DXLD 7-099 "Would appreciate any DXer who can provide me with the latest address where I can write in for a QSL CARD (Peter Ng - MALAYSIA, Aug 20, dxing.info via DXLD)" --- Please try radiojeddah @ yahoo.com (Tony Ashar, Indonesia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Trans Polar 25m --- Germany (non): DW in German to C Asia & S Asia, 12095 at 0150z via Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. // 6075 Sri Lanka: SLBC Hindi to S Asia, 11905 at 0210z. Only 30 kW but aimed North to India and over the pole. USA (non): R Liberty in Uzbek via Sri Lanka, 12110 at 0230z (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Texas, Drake R8B with sloper, UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, R. Apintie, Paramaribo, 2303-..., 21 Aug, Dutch, talks; 24331, CODAR QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Siria. Radio Damasco ha vuelto a conectar su segundo transmisor en onda corta y los programas en alemán, francés, inglés y español, son captados desde las 1810 hasta las 2300 horas en las frecuencias de 9330 y 12085 kilohercios (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Aug 20 via DXLD) See also PUBLICATIONS ** UGANDA. R. Uganda heard as I write this, 2108z, on 4976 kHz, with local "pop" and "rap" songs. Singing ID jingle at 2103. Weak/fair, strong QRN, some QSB, but a local noise ruining the reception!! (José Turner, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is that unusual? (gh, DXLD) Great signal here in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 2113 UT, ibid.) ** U K [and non]. Re: "Radio Station Yanks BBC Programming" The BBC has only itself to blame in losing access to its radio audience in Russia (Russia forces World Service off FM radio, August 18). International broadcasters have, over recent years, reduced investment in shortwave transmission in favour of FM rebroadcasting with partner stations and on the internet. These may be cheap, but can simply be switched-off by national governments, whereas shortwave can always get through. Jonathan Kempster, London (Guardian letters, August 20) Jonathan Kempster (Letters, August 20) should be reassured that short wave is still an important means for audiences to listen to BBC World Service broadcasts. In fact, nearly 60% of our 183 million weekly listeners around the world listen on short wave. In Russia the proportion is even higher. Globally, the BBC has remained the most successful international broadcaster at a time of seismic changes in media markets, emerging technologies and increased competition. One of the key reasons is because we have been flexible and agile at responding to changing audience demands by matching the prevailing local media market conditions to the appropriate delivery methods. A "mixed economy" approach brings dividends. For instance, despite the recent setbacks with our FM partners in Russia, the majority of Russians access our radio services via short wave, medium wave, online and satellite. Richard Sambrook, Director, BBC Global News (Guardian letters, August 22) (via Mike Barraclough, England, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. BISCUITS AT THE BEEB --- HOW WILL THE BBC SAVE -L-2 BILLION? AXE THE JOURNALISTS, OF COURSE Rod Liddle The Spectator (Great Britain) Issue: 18 August 2007 A short while after becoming director-general of the BBC, Greg Dyke gathered a whole bunch of staff together at some warehouse near the City Airport to thrash things out and to deliver unto them his vision for the corporation. There was an air of trepidation among those gathered; Greg had very recently flexed his muscles at Television Centre by banning biscuits. These biscuits were the sort you have at meetings and which, incidentally, I have never seen anywhere except in meetings -- three or four different kinds of biscuit waiting balefully on a white plate alongside a screw-top jar of stewed, rubbery coffee, telling you that you were in for an hour or two's concerted misery, probably with a PowerPoint presentation on an overhead projector and maybe even a professional facilitator. There was an oatmeal-type biscuit and one resembling an Abbey Crunch and a pale circular thing which, if it could talk, would have explained indignantly and probably in a Midlands accent that it was `a type of shortbread, actually'. Dismal Meeting Biscuits. Anyway, they all got banned by Greg and we staffers got nervous as a result. Plus there was the jealous suspicion, as there always is at these times, that further up the food chain in the BBC people were still having their biscuits and eating them, probably coconut biscuits too, or maybe even Bonne Maman Galettes from Waitrose. Greg had also said that the BBC was too bureaucratic, that there were far too many middle managers and that quite a few would have to go, but that wasn't a problem because we all agreed with him on this issue. Everybody knows the BBC is too bureaucratic. Axe the middle managers, sure -- but leave the biscuits alone. Which is why the meeting in Docklands was so surreal -- I mean even more surreal than these ghastly corporate get-togethers usually are. Hundreds of us waited patiently with our hands raised ready to urge Greg to wreak havoc upon the useless and stupid middle managers, to kick them out and chop them up, to brook no excuses from them, to be merciless. And Greg, sitting up on a dais, had a slightly bemused expression on his face because every single one of us was, indeed, a middle manager. And it must have slowly dawned on him that while every one of us was a middle manager, and he knew we were middle managers, we all thought other people were middle managers and that we, meanwhile, were doing useful, productive stuff. The level of vituperation towards middle managers from the floor became so intense at one point that the DG actually felt moved to say that middle managers weren't necessarily bad people and that they had wives, families, hopes and aspirations, etc. And so it was that the bureaucracy did not get pruned, or did not get pruned very much; it had become so entrenched, so dependent upon its other constituent parts, that it no longer considered itself to be a bureaucracy at all. It had deluded itself and, over the years, built up complex mechanisms for supporting that delusion. I mention this because the BBC needs to save two billion quid in the next six years and seems not to have the slightest idea of how to go about it. The biscuits, remember, have already gone. Seen from the outside we find it easy to say the following: cut the jobs of 2,000 people who do not contribute directly towards programmes. A swift 10 per cent cut in staff. But seen from the inside this is an impossibility, because the delusion rules. It is a very similar delusion to the one remarked upon by a friend of mine who sits upon the BBC's executive board and frequently asks why the BBC is doing certain things. `This is core broadcasting,' comes the perpetual response -- to which the question is, well, what exactly is peripheral broadcasting? The present Director-General, Mark Thompson -- a good man – seems determined not to lose a single BBC channel, presumably because he thinks they are all `core broadcasting'. And yet only people within the BBC could possibly argue that BBC4, with its pygmy 0.4 per cent audience share and annual budget of -L-46.8 million has a separate raison d'etre from BBC2. We all know that BBC4 -- which produces some genuinely first-rate programmes -- is doing the job which BBC2 is meant to do but which has largely given up doing in order to pursue the ratings. At the moment a quarter of viewers have no access to BBC4, one of the few channels which really does fulfil its public service remit. (BBC2's new `idents', by the way -- that's the number two shown in different settings as a `window on the world' -- cost -L- 700,000. Core broadcasting, mate.) BBC3's budget is close to -L-100 million and the BBC insists that it pays its way by producing new drama and comedy. But it hasn't produced very much, despite its multifarious awards and critical acclaim. And shouldn't BBC1 be the conduit for new drama and comedy? Did you know that there was a BBC7? Have you the remotest idea what it does? Do you want a BBC7? The likelihood is that the Corporation will shelve or scale down some of its more grandiose and expensive schemes -- such as the move back to Broadcasting House, which will cost much more than the originally budgeted -L-813 million -- maybe cut a few jobs here and there but, on the whole, carry along as usual. That will mean an across-the-board reduction in quality and particularly in the BBC's ability to do in- depth news and current affairs. Foreign bureaux will close; staff numbers on important, public-service programmes (Newsnight? Panorama? Today?) will be reduced. The BBC's newsgathering operation has already been warned that it will need to save -L-4.5 million from its yearly -L-90 million budget -- and you can bet it won't be the vast profusion of fairly useless middle managers there who take the bullet. It will be the journalists, the producers and the researchers. The middle managers, as ever, will be the ones making the cuts. The choice for the BBC is pretty simple. It has either to shed the delusion and redefine itself, stressing quality of output over quantity and tilting the balance back towards the public service ethos and away from the pursuit of ratings. Or it has to continue its attempt to straddle the two poles of public service broadcasting and pursuit of ratings and see its reputation for quality, and thus the licence fee's reason for existence, ever more quickly eroded. Seems a simple choice to me, but then I don't work for the BBC anymore (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. HOW TO SPICE UP VOICE OF AMERICA'S DULL BROADCASTS --- Its editorials miss the opportunity to explain US policy persuasively and intelligently. By David J. Trachtenberg from August 23, 2007 edition Washington - The naming of baseball great Cal Ripken Jr. as a State Department "envoy" to promote greater understanding of the United States abroad suggests US public diplomacy needs a pinch hitter. Today, when the civilized world is under assault from religious extremists and terrorists, effectively communicating US policy is essential. Unfortunately, we are striking out. . . http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0823/p09s02-coop.html (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** U S A. AFGE Local 1812 has a new item dated August 22 at the head of their website, objecting to the way RIFs are being used to get rid of workers at VOA: http://www.afge1812.org/Content_Page_1.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: We have received tons of E mails asking if the FAA approved Non Directional Beacon located here at our Private Airport (Co-located with the WWRB transmitter facility) is operational: We are waiting for the final approval from the FCC. We have been told the approval will come in the next week or two. Details: Facility Name: ROSEANNE Freq: 529 KHZ Facility ID: LYQ Power: 100 watts FAA Airport ID: 43TN Morrison, TN Manufacturer: (ATC) Airline Transport Communications, Inc Model: BCN 760L-100 - V Antenna Tuner: AT-760-F Auto Tune Antenna: FT-130-A AWOS-3 capability (when approved) We will QSL the Beacon: reception reports follow instructions via WWRB web page: http://www.wwrb.org By the way, did you see our photo gallery on our new web page?? You did not mention it. This is something new on the page. Ground and aerial photos of the WWRB transmitter facility (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PIRATE RADIO PUMPS UP THE VOLUME By Charlie Owen, Vail Daily, Colorado, August 22, 2007 Yarrr, matey: There be pirates in the Vail Valley. They don't sail the seas, of course - instead, they cruise the local airwaves, illegally flying their flag from an undisclosed location. There's a new voice in town on FM 103.5, and it has legitimate broadcasters and the FCC very concerned. A short burst of guerrilla advertising consisting of white paper yard signs with their call sign scrawled in black magic marker created just the right kind of buzz for these mysterious broadcasters. . . http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070822/AE/108220064 (via Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WCRB, WEEI Partner Up --- The future of commercial classical radio in eastern MASSACHUSETTS was supposed to have been secure after last year's big shuffle that sent the intellectual property of WCRB (102.5 Waltham) to New Jersey-based Nassau Broadcasting, landing WCRB's classical format on the former WKLB-FM (99.5 Lowell). Last Thursday, WCRB's fate took a quick roller-coaster ride in the press and on the message boards, beginning with morning reports that Nassau was thinking of flipping 99.5 from classical to sports, challenging Entercom's WEEI (850 Boston) with a lineup that would include WEEI's current morning team of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. By the end of the day, though, a different picture emerged: instead of competing with Entercom and WEEI, Nassau is joining forces with the bigger broadcaster, selling a half-interest in WCRB to Entercom for $10 million in cash and a deal to put WEEI's sports programming on 11 Nassau stations on Cape Cod and across northern New England. Here's how it plays out: WEEI's network, which already includes Entercom-owned signals in Worcester (WVEI 1440), Springfield (WVEI-FM 105.5 Easthampton) and Providence (WEEI-FM 103.7 Westerly), will expand to cover most of the rest of the region. As NERW goes to press, we've identified some - but not all - of the Nassau signals that will become WEEI relays. On the Cape, it's rocker WPXC (102.9 Hyannis) that will go all-sports, tucking in nicely on the dial right next to the wide-coverage WEEI-FM signal on 103.7. (Will "Pixy," or at least its Opie & Anthony morning show, be reborn on one or both of Nassau's Cape Cod "Frank" simulcasts, WFQR 93.5/WFRQ 101.1?) In Portland, MAINE, Nassau will replace ESPN sports with WEEI's New England sports talk on WLVP (870 Gorham) and WLAM (1470 Lewiston), providing a much stronger challenge to J.J. Jeffrey's "WJAB" sports trifecta (WJAE 1440/WJJB 900/WJJB-FM 95.5), and raising the strong possibility that the Red Sox will move over to 870/1470 when their contract with WJAB is up. In Laconia, NEW HAMPSHIRE, the WEEI network will land on WEMJ (1490), replacing a combination of talk and travel information that's never caught fire in the ratings. Over in the Connecticut River Valley, along the VERMONT border, the ESPN "Score" simulcast of WTSV (1230 Claremont NH) and WNHV (910 White River Junction VT) will join the WEEI network. By our math, that still leaves five more WEEI affiliates yet to be named. In their press release announcing the deal, Entercom and Nassau announced the markets in question as being Cape Cod, Portland, Lebanon/Rutland/White River Junction, Concord/Lakes Region and Montpelier/St. Johnsbury. Only the last of those isn't on the list of stations we've seen so far, though it's not at all out of the question that there might be other stations in those first four markets, too, especially in the Manchester/Concord area, where Nassau has five FMs with a variety of rock, pop and country formats. We'll know the rest of the stations involved in this deal soon enough, certainly - but the real question in our minds is what happens next. Here are some of the questions we're wondering about, now that the door's been opened to a bigger WEEI network and a new relationship between Nassau and Entercom: What about the rest of New England? Even after this initial deal, the WEEI network will still be missing a few key parts of the region. Nassau can't help out much where the Hartford area is concerned, nor with Burlington, Vermont, where several move-in signals will be on the market soon enough if WEEI really needs a toehold there. But there's also Augusta and Bangor, Maine, an area blanketed by the FM signals of Nassau's four-station "W-Bach" classical network - which just happens to be quietly for sale, we're hearing. So what was that about a commitment to classical music? It was only a year or so ago when Nassau was making big noises about its corporate passion for the classical format; in fact, we recall a press release or two that talked about using the newly-acquired WCRB intellectual property as a springboard for an expansion of classical radio to even more of its New England stations. A year later, WCRB itself was widely rumored to be flipping to sports, and W-Bach is for sale. Not that we're surprised to find out that the Red Sox trump Rachmaninoff when it comes to building a regional network - but we're not expecting any new WCRB relays anywhere, either. What now for Dennis and Callahan? The sports talkers can't be in a very comfortable situation right now. There's no reason to believe they had any idea about an Entercom/Nassau deal when they were negotiating to launch a sports format on WCRB. Now there's no sports WCRB as an escape hatch, which means they'll pretty much have to take whatever deal Entercom offers in order to get back on the air at WEEI, as we expect they'll do sooner or later. Or was the talk about sports on WCRB more than just a smokescreen? Here we're delving deep into speculation. We simply don't know - and nobody's saying, of course - whether Entercom and Nassau already had a network deal put in place before Dennis and Callahan started negotiating for what they thought would be a rival offer. Was the announcement of the expanded WEEI/Nassau network something that had been in the works for a while, or was it a hastily-arranged deal to avoid the competition that a Dennis and Callahan-led WCRB would have offered to WEEI? Why, for that matter, is Nassau selling half of WCRB for only $10 million, after spending $60 million or so to acquire the station just a year ago? Yes, Nassau gets attractive regional programming, and likely Red Sox baseball within a few years, at a number of struggling signals, but even so, that doesn't speak especially well of the value of the classical format on 99.5 going forward, and it keeps us wondering... ...Is 99.5 going to end up as part of the WEEI network, too? Yes, Entercom and Nassau made all the right noises in their press releases last week about being deeply committed to the classical format on WCRB, but we've heard those lofty intentions before. On the other hand, Entercom has seen huge success in Rhode Island with WEEI's sports programming on a big-coverage FM signal, and as the company struggles to make its expensive Red Sox contract pay off, we'd have to imagine that the idea of a similar FM signal just north of Boston will look increasingly good to the Entercom brass. (Did we mention that the 99.5 signal not only nicely complements the 103.7 signal from the south, but that it also fills in some gaps in the 850 signal north and west of Boston at night?) Again, we emphasize that we're in purely speculative mode here - but an eventual WEEI FM outlet on 99.5 seems like a likely possibility to us. (In fact, we'll go so far as to wonder whether the talk about a Nassau sports network on 99.5 wasn't a way of testing the waters, to see how loud the outcry would be if WCRB, already much diminished from its heyday on 102.5, were to disappear entirely, or perhaps be relegated to an HD2 somewhere.) (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Aug 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. This is of no practical use out here, but remember the WINS 1010 silent periods? There were supposed to be about 10 of them for the remainder of August, so I wonder if they have finished the HD installation yet, or will there be more chances to DX something else on 1010 in the East, at 0430-0830 UT? 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WTFDA- AM, et al., via DXLD) I had oldies last night on 1010 and suspect Stevens Point WI is on day power. I wish I could have IDed it but CFRB was too strong (Saul Chernos at Burnt River ON, Aug 22, ibid.) So are you saying WINS was off at that (what?) time or did it not make any difference at your location? (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Queridos amigos, podrían decirme las emisoras que aparecen en el WRTH 2007 en Venezuela en la frecuencia 650 AM. De antemano muchas gracias (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, condig list via DXLD) JE, Solo hay: YVLH Aragueña 650, Maracay 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Querido amigo, muchas gracias por el dato; estaba interesado en esa estación a ver si había cambiado de nombre. Es bueno saber que sigue identificándose como Aragueña 650. Por cierto Glenn, esta emisora antes de llamarse Aragueña 650, se identificaba como Radio Girardot; muchos años la escuché con ese nombre y recuerdo como si fuera ahora su programa nocturno con el locutor Manolo Rincón Hernández. Por casualidad Glenn, tendrás tu en tus archivos algún sonido de esta identificación Radio Girardot? Un abrazo y espero comentario (José Elías, ibid.) Saludos iguales, José Elías, Sería mejor escuchar su ID actual, siendo la info en WRTH atrasada ahora de casi un año. Lamento no tenerla en mis archivos. (En realidad mis `archivos` sonoros quedan algo desorganizados.) 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** VIETNAM. 6165, Dài Tiéng Nói Viêt Nam, Xuan Mai, 2231-2239, 20 Aug, H'mong, talks; 23441; audible after TCD [Chad, q.v.] sign-off at 2230; QRM de HRV (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 1550 Saharaui back on (?) Arabic talk pretty much covering up WNTN-1550 at about 2325 UTC last evening at the Granite Pier DXpedition site in Rockport, MA. Adjacent Kuwait-1548 also good at times. I'm thinking that this is the R.A.S.D. (nominally Tindouf, Algeria) station reactivated. This was noted "after the fact" on an SDR-IQ spectrum capture, so not possible to see if parallel to 6300 kHz. Has anyone else noted this? (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA, Aug 22, MWC via DXLD) see also ALGERIA ** ZAMBIA [and non]. Joe Wood brings us up to date on Zambia: Interesting reply from Eike about the Zambia CVC. "The CVC broadcasts had been specified to originate from German transmitters until June 30, then to be transferred to new transmitters that CVC apparently builds in Lusaka, Zambia. As the last update of my listings still relied on this information, it now shows Zambia as this was supposed to be true starting from July 1. However, a very recent update from the German transmitter operator informed me that CVC continue their broadcast via Germany until August 31. Due to lack of free time, I have not yet finished to incorporate this and a lot of other news into the listing, but I plan to do so shortly. So 9430 still comes from Germany. With this (I think, third) postponement we may doubt whether the Zambian transmitters actually will start to operate on September 1. If you listen to their broadcast regularly, it will be useful if you could share your observation, whether there is a change in signal quality from Sep 1 or not." (Eike Bierwirth via Joe Wood, MARE Tipsheet Aug 23 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. Re 7-100: Aug 21 UT evening ZWE was on 4828. Random checks made here during past weeks, they've always been on 4828 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3396, ZBC, Guineafowl, has been getting the same sort of bad propagation like the other 90 m band African signals, but even so puts better signals than the rest; 1907-1911, 21 Aug, Vernacular, talks; 45242, and no better later at recheck at 2025 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am monitoring 4828, and 3396 which has been on again for the last two nights. 73 (Alan Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1181 signal map update I have just plotted data or updated data to show the location of the mystery signal on 1181. This latest addition shows signals from Prince Edward Island, Manasota Key in Florida, and Fort Walton Beach in Florida. Observation from Enid OK was changed to 125 degrees. The new map is posted at http://tonnesoftware.com/1180F.gif As before, this is an 800x600 graphic and you may have to click on it to get the clear version. It is centered on Atlanta, Georgia and only the night patterns of stations on 1180 are shown. Notice that Enid, Manasota Key, Austin and Memphis all show one location (northern shore of Cuba). And New Jersey, Prince Edward Island and (also) Austin show a second location (Puerto Rico). A thought occurred to me that this business of the signal going off and then coming on at a different signal strength *could* mean that there are *two* locations, as hinted at in the above paragraph. Telephonic or radio communication could coordinate the switching operation. I think someone measured the frequency of the signal and it had such precision (within one Hz of 1181) that I doubt that it was an accident. By far the most likely way to have such accuracy is to use a modern-day frequency synthesizer. I think this rules out operation by any of the Caribbean nations themselves. - JimT (Jim Tonne, Aug 22, IRCA via DXLD) A couple quick updates before I head off to bed. I discovered tonight that my QX Pro is not perfectly symmetrical. One end produces a bearing maybe 5-10 degrees different than the other end. I didn't try to verify which is the more accurate. I'll probably have to try it during the day time anyway since I get so many MW signals at night. I could verify with a beacon, but I suspect the LW and MW coils are on opposite ends of the ferrite so it's possible the result for one wouldn't be valid for the other. This small inaccuracy doesn't explain why I'm getting such different results than most everyone else, but it's still kind of interesting. I took my DX-398 out in the back yard and gave it a try using the method Glenn described. In USB I zero beat the 1181 carrier, then tuned down a few notches to generate a low tone. I was getting a lot of splatter from 1180 (I'm hearing at least four different SS stations on 1180) so it was difficult to find a null even with the rather distinct low tone. (I was using my Etymotics ear phones so I was isolated from the noise of all the bugs out in the woods.) My best guess on a bearing would be very slightly more N/S than my previous reports, but it's nothing I would bet on. If I get time I'll give it another try in the morning. Maybe there won't be quite so many stations interfering. Looking at the BC Map bearing plots posted at tonnesoftware http://tonnesoftware.com/1180E.gif is the latest I could find I noticed that if the bearing from Texas was moved 10 or 15 degrees to the north and you considered the back plot of my bearing, four of the reports would converge on the Tampa area. Of course, moving the report from Tennessee a bit to the north would get four of them to converge on Puerto Rico. I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings about statistics -- they are far too often used as a drunk uses a light post, for support rather than illumination. I will keep monitoring and report any changes (Jay Heyl, Orlando, FL, AR7030+/QX Pro/Timewave DSP-599zx/DX-398 nekkid, UT Aug 22, ABDX via DXLD) 1181 viewed from Scotland --- I used SpecLab to examine the signal on 1181 overnight here. Signal strength trace: http://paulc.mediumwaveradio.org/images/11811.jpg (The frequency trace is, I suspect 2 Hz too high - I didn't have time to calibrate for MW and I was using my LW setting). The time axis shows local time (deduct 1 hour for UT). I switched on just after midnight local time (2300 UT) by which time the signal was just beginning to build. It eventually faded at 0715 UT (sunrise here was 0502 UT so the signal lasted a full two hours after sunrise here. With the signal appearing at around 2300 UT (I'll check again tonight to see exactly when) this is about 30 minutes before sunset in Santiago de Cuba and almost an hour before sunset in Havana (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Aug 22, IRCA via DXLD) As promised, I checked for the emergence of the 1181 signal on SpecLab last night. Here is the plot: http://paulc.mediumwaveradio.org/images/11814.jpg Times are BST (deduct 1 hour for UT). The random yellow dots show that no signal is being received. The first evidence of a signal is at around 2250 UT and the signal is established at 2305 UT. The emergence of the signal is consistent with the previous night`s observations This map shows the greyline at 2300 UT: http://paulc.mediumwaveradio.org/images/sunset.jpg Sunset is just reaching Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic at this time, or Puerto Rico. I note that the two directional plots on Glenn's [sic] chart http://tonnesoftware.com/1180B.gif point rather more towards the Dominican Republic than they do towards Cuba (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Aug 23, IRCA via DXLD) Well, there is HIBE, R. Mil, 10 kW on 1180; nothing listed on 1180 in PR. Could those near the DR check if HIBE is off-frequency. It would also be helpful if someone to the west could make similar readings of when the 1181 signal fades out, i.e., is it too early for Cuba, even eastern Cuba? At of 1430 UT Aug 23, the latest map is at http://tonnesoftware.com/1180F.gif (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Your signal could be coming up as much as an hour or more before LSS at the transmitter though. All it needs is a path which is predominantly darkness. After all in the Fall here we will start hearing TA's well before dark (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, IRCA via DXLD) This should confuse the issue considerably! Checking at 1130 PDT (0630 UT [sic – means 1830 UT]) finds a tone cutting through very nicely on 1181 using LSB filter. Not heard using any other filter as KLOK-1170 IBOC is nasty. Not noted on 1180 using LSB, only 1181. The tone is not strong but not exactly faint either. It is easily audible and this just before noon local time... ??? (Don Kaskey, San Francisco CA, ibid.) How about a direction from that Kiwa loop of yours? (Kevin Redding, to Don Kaskey, ibid.) To add my 2 cents to the 1181 mystery, the tone is quite strong into northern New Mexico tonight, listening on the car radio. Mesa Mike LA de NM (Mike Westfall, Lost Almost, time? Aug 22, ABDX via DXLD) Now I am beginning to think there are *three* sites! But we need DF information from the northwest part of the country when signals "up there" are reasonably strong. If this has been posted, kindly e-mail me or repost it; I can't find any such information. Or perhaps this is just a skywave signal from a short transmitting antenna(s?). (Jim Tonne, ABDX via DXLD) I tried nulling last night and there seemed to be two nulls, one just barely east of where the null is for NYC stations [eastern Florida, western Cuba] and another south or even south south east of me [eastern Cuba, Puerto Rico etc.]. The nulls were both rather subtle. I used the technique of putting the Drake R8 on 1181, CW, 500 Hz bandwidth, AGC off, RF gain down low, then tuning down until I could hear a 250 Hz or so tone. Keep in mind that my shack is in the basement and this may be why my nulls are so subtle. I'm feeling like I need a decent compass, the old fashioned kind (Phil VY2PR Rafuse, PEI, Aug 23, ibid.) Here's something we have not thought of. More than one MOBILE transmitter (Powell E. Way, SC, ibid.) I checked this morning about 0900 EDT and there was no sign of anything at all on 1180 or 1181. The lack of anything on 1180 surprised me since I heard several weak signals there earlier in the week, but that was a little earlier in the day and it may have still been dark at the point of transmission. (Or whatever it is that daylight does to the ionosphere hadn't taken full effect yet.) The lack of any detectable signal at all on 1181 would put a damper on my Tampa area theory, unless the signal was simply off (Jay Heyl, Orlando, FL, AR7030+/QX Pro/DSP-599zx Aug 23, ibid.) Pardon my ignorance, but if you're tuned to 1181, and you put the radio in LSB mode, wouldn't you normally get a 1 kHz het from a station on 1180? What am I missing? (Brian Leyton, CA, ibid.) If you slowly tune from 1180 to 1181 you should be able to zero beat on 1181. You may get a tone from 1180 but it will be getting higher in pitch as you move toward 1181 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ibid.) Being kind of odd man out here as far as the bearing on the 1181 carrier goes, I wanted to be sure I was being as accurate as possible. At work today I printed out a giant compass rose. On my way home I stopped at WalMart and bought a real compass. It was only $5, but it actually looks pretty decent. Hopefully the Chinese manufacturers didn't fill it with anything toxic. Here is the WalMart compass verifying the layout of the compass rose on my desk top http://images28.fotki.com/v986/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4298large-vi.jpg I then centered the QX Pro on the compass rose http://images27.fotki.com/v983/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4304large-vi.jpg I tied a key to a string and taped the string to the center of one end of the head on the QX Pro http://images28.fotki.com/v1000/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4305large-vi.jpg It looks a little off in this photo http://images27.fotki.com/v990/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4300large-vi.jpg but I measured the placement of the string to be sure it was dead center (+/- 1/32") on the end. With the layout in place, I tuned the AR7030+ to 1181 in CW mode http://images28.fotki.com/v1002/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4302large-vi.jpg and worked with the QX Pro until I had the signal nulled. When the plumb bob key stopped swinging it turned out my initial report of 75/255 was remarkably accurate http://images28.fotki.com/v977/photos/1/139156/2070277/IMG_4299large-vi.jpg So, nothing really new to report other than I've verified my previous results and am satisfied they're as accurate as I can get them (Jay Heyl, Orlando, FL, AR7030+/QX Pro/DSP-599zx/$5 WalMart compass, ibid.) Very nice post, Jay! Where did you find an image of such a large compass rose? If I read this correctly then the null is 72/252, and that would make the bearing to the transmitter 162/342. It looks like Jim Tonne's map is plotting your null rather than the bearing to the transmitter. Or am I confused? 73, (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN, bcdx.org, ibid.) It wasn't that big when I started. The original is here http://images27.fotki.com/v991/photos/1/139156/2070277/Compass_rose-vi.png I used Gimp to blow it up to be about 16" diameter and then split it into two parts so I could print it on two 11"x17" sheets, which I then taped together. Yes, the null is 72/252, but this position is with the signal in the null. It's far easier to accurately put the signal in the null of the antenna than to try to peak the signal (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) Jay, Good going on the rose, but a couple things: You are confusing us with terminology like this. `Null` means No signal, (or minimum signal). Yes, you find the null, and it is 90 degrees away (plus or minus), from the peak direxion. Should not refer to the peak direxion once it is determined by any method, as a ``null``. As I pointed out some time ago, if you are using a magnetic compass to find true north, and hence any other direxion, you must make an adjustment for your local magnetic declination (or deviation). The compass points to the N geomagnetic pole, not true north (unless you are on the 0 declination line). This could amount to an error of several degrees. I gave a USG website which will calculate the correxion easily. Also, could you use this setup to see if you get 0 degree azimuth on MW stations in cities which according to my globe happen to be due north of Orlando: Savannah (630 in daytime?) and Cleveland OH (1100 if you can get it). I checked 1181 carrier UT Aug 23 around 0400, and Aug 24 around 0300, and got same results as usual, estimated 125/305 degrees (Glenn Hauser, Enid, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had forgotten - my late father was a geologist and he had a really good compass. The 1181 tone is very strong tonight in the Dallas area, so it was relatively easy to get a strong null. The bearing, correcting for the relative magnetic position, is clearly straight toward Cuba. Because the island of Cuba is aligned with the bearing, locating a particular city in Cuba is impossible, all cities would have about the same bearing. Anybody else have a good bearing done with precision instruments tonight? (Bruce Carter, TX, 0324 UT Aug 24, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. At 1600 to 1640 UT the unID Arabic singer station noted today on 7175 kHz, S=6 level on Aug 22. Seemingly ahead of Asmara-2 Eritrea co-channel. Purpose is music jamming from Ethiopia?? (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-100, unID 9355 at 1200 --- R. Cultura AM, de São Paulo would be possible, although the unID was right on 9355. The conditions were poor, and it was a non tonal language. I could not get enough to get a firm idea of what language, so it might have been Portuguese. It definitely was not the `overheated` DJ sound we often hear from Brazilian pop programs, although something more reflective was certainly possible. There was not anything on, or in the vicinity of 9355 here after RFA Lao service sign-off at 1200 (Mark Taylor, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meaning on the second day checked, Aug 22 (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ CLUB S500 Estimados amigos, un saludo para todos. Queremos comunicaros que ya está disponible el último número del boletín del Club S500, correspondiente al mes de agosto (nº 13), en la dirección habitual se puede realizar la descarga gratuita del pdf: http://www.upv.es/~csahuqui/julio/s500 Como siempre esperamos vuestros comentarios y colaboraciones. Estamos preparando el escaneo de nuevos boletines del Club SW de Radio Budapest que esperamos colgar dentro de poco en nuestra web Club S500 (Julio Martínez juliomaju@hotmail.com Emilio Sahuquillo csahuqui@yahoo.es Noticias DX via DXLD) Very nice quarterly bulletin, 16 pages, all in Spanish, starting with feature article on Radio Damasco; lots of illustrations including QSLs (gh, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MADISON / MILWAUKEE GET TOGETHER REPORTS: The annual Madison-Milwaukee get-together on Saturday, August 18, was another huge success despite the steady downpour of rain. Although I didn't do a nose count, it appeared that there were about 40 radio hobbyists of all persuasions in attendance. The weather did not cooperate making things rough for Bill and Nina Dvorak who hosted the gathering at their home. A healthy collection of NASWA members were present: Bob Broswell, Paul Brouilette (and oldest son) Gerry Dexter, Bill Dvorak, Karl Forth, Kevin Mikell, Joe Olig, Mark Taylor, Tim Noonan, Bill Tilford and RAD. Former editor Mike Nikolich made an appearance as I was leaving; it was good to see him after almost 20 years. Next year Milwaukee will host the gathering with Tim Noonan being in charge of arrangements. The Madison-Milwaukee get-together continues to be the major mid-west hobby event that is worth traveling to. Radio hobbyists from the shortwave, medium wave and TV-FM world were in attendance (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) The annual Madison-Milwaukee get together yesterday was another good one, despite a nerve wracking drive home in tremendous rain and sky show. Thanks to Bill and Nina Dvorak for all the time and work they put in to playing host and hostess (Gerry Dexter, WI, ibid.) As another attendee of the Madison ­ Milwaukee GTG, I agree the event was a success! After coming and going, the final count was 49 attendees, along with many patient "go alongs" of wives, daughters, sons, girlfriends, and at least one father. It was very nice to talk with friends old, and newly met. I want to add my thanks and congratulations to Bill and Nina Dvorak for their hospitality, and particularly Bill's hard work. Next year's GTG will be on Saturday Aug. 16, 2008 in the Metro Milwaukee area with Tim Noonen as host. (Mark Taylor, WI, ibid.) SUMMARY OF THE 14TH ANNUAL MADISON-MILWAUKEE DX GET-TOGETHER Typically the weather on August 18 should behave as if it were a Dog Day of Summer. Instead, in Madison, Wisconsin on the 2007 Saturday labeled with that date, the temperature climbed no higher than 62 degrees. However, cool weather was not the major handicap faced by attendees to the 14th annual Madison-Milwaukee Get-together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts. Rain was. It started raining late in the morning, and never let up until midway through the following day. From mid-evening on it poured, as over the weekend Madison had 5.5 inches of rain. The presence of lightning rendered useless the temporary antenna farm constructed for receiver demonstrations. Because of the weather, activities were confined to the indoors. This was probably for the best anyway, since mosquitoes, taking advantage of a damp and warm August, had successfully breeded themselves into a large bloodthirsty horde. So how was the Madison-Milwaukee DX Get-together anyway? The answer: TERRIFFIC! This was certainly the biggest and very possibly the best of our DX Get-togethers. Conditions did not interfere with what has always been the prime mission of the Madison-Milwaukee: a gathering of DXers for conversation and camaraderie, renewing old friendships and making new ones. The three attendees who were here for the fourteenth time, the 21 who came to their very first GTG, and everyone in between will long remember this event for this reason. A good time was had by all. Many other fond memories will long live about this GTG. In attendance was Ed Dvorak, at 95 by far the most senior ever to attend the GTG, and quite a radio man in his own right (for many years his hobby was fixing radios, charging little more than the cost of parts for his efforts). The optional trip to an antique radio museum in Sun Prairie introduced goers not only to many rare radios, but also to the expertise of collector and radio historian Stan Broome. The weather forced the annual group photo indoors, necessitating that two photos be taken, half of the attendees at a time. The dinner was its usual good fare, served up by the fine staff of the Esquire Club. Following the dinner, nine attendees were given certificates for attending at least 10 Madison-Milwaukee DX Get-togethers. The annual door prize drawing ended the dinner program, with prizes provided by Universal Radio, Scott Fybush, WIBA News Talk 1310 and WQMX FM 94.9. The night session included the annual cake cutting ceremony, and then on to a radio display (in lieu of demonstrations, cancelled by the outdoor lightning display) and plenty more conversation and camaraderie. This year's attendance was a record 49 DXers, breaking the old record of 41 set two years ago (with family members and friends, total attendance was 59, also a record). Hosts Bill and Nina Dvorak would like to thank all of those who attended, and invite all of those who couldn't make it to be sure to come to a future event. They would also like to thank Ira Ebeling, Mark Taylor, Jim Green and Dave Legler for special help leading up to and on the day of the event. Next year the 15th annual Madison-Milwaukee Get-together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts will take place in the Milwaukee area with Tim Noonan hosting. For further information, and to get on the list for advanced notification, please contact Tim at dxing2 @ aol.com 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, Co-founder and Alternate Year Host Madison-Milwaukee Get-together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) DX SUMMER MEETING IN FINLAND 2007 Hello folks, hereby a report from the FDXA DX Summer Meeting- and Camp 2007, held in Ylojarvi near the town of Tampere. Just for your information. 73 Torre Ekblom, EDXC vice.secr.gral. EDXC REPORT FROM DX-SUMMER MEETING IN FINLAND 2007 Finland DX-Association/ FDXA held its Annual Summer DX-Meeting and camp 2007, at Ylöjärvi near Tampere on the 3-5th of August. This year the event was arranged by Tampere DX Club/TreDXK the local club who also was celebrating their 40th Anniversary. 91 participants(!) took part in this event and the programme which included some very interesting lectures, besides all dx-discussions in between. On Friday in the afternoon the FDXA´s flag was raised and then it all started with a traditional DX-Quiz as a warmup. After a meal also the sauna by the lake, was also warmed up, a very traditional Finnish happening even this! The Scandinavian Weekend Radio was of course present and transmitted 24 hours on both medium- and shortwave. After breakfast on Saturday a "hearing with the SDXL Board" took place. The discussion were lively and included items as; the FDXA´s DX-magazine "RadioMaailma" will published in a printed form but even their website pages will be increased in the future; a lecture about antennas followed before the lunch, as well as an inside-and outside jolly DX-Quiz promenade in the nature took place, with a smile! After lunch followed lectures "Spaceweather from the view of a radiolistener" by Mr. Heikki Nevanlinna, Research-Manager of the Finnish Meteorological Institute ; SOFTA Radio (software defined radio +computer) presented SDR-rx/DRM, WinRadio313c (easy but expensive Usd 1.000.-), Chiau (cheap USd350,-); DRB3; SDR14, SDRIQ. The Mr. Jorma Mäntylä presented his new and 7th research on "Reception Report Reply Percentage 2006". This was in my opinion one of the most interesting reports, for me anyway! I been promised to get a copy of this lecture and interesting report and when I get it I will mail it to all EDXC memberclubs (why not for insertion in you own clubmagazines? !) Then there was a talk and panel-discussion on FM-Radio reception and equipment. After dinner Saturday evening followed an exposition and review of the 40th year celebrating Tampere DX Club /TreDXK) with overhead DIAs and speeches. After that honored members received the FDXA´s flag, for long and devoted work for the benefit of dx-ing in Finland, from the hand of the Chairman Kari Kivekäs who also was assisted by Risto Vähäkainu. The evening ended officially by the traditional DX-Auction headed by Raimo Kaksonen and Jarmo Salmi. The DX-Corner with receivers and antennas was on through to whole event so anybody interested could do some dx-ing this fine weekend. Of course the sauna was on as well and grilled sausages was served during the night hours, believe it or not! On Sunday after breakfast, the official FDXA General Assembly took place. So ended this year´s DX-Summer Meeting and Camp 2007 and all the participants went home with lot of good memories and new DX-ideas after dx-talk with friends during a full weekend. Torre Ekblom, EDXC vice Secr.Gral. torre.ekblom @ pp.inet.fi P.S. we would welcome more reports on held dx-meetings and camps from our memberclubs, so would you please send them to Tibor or me, thank you in advance (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC AT NIGHT I'm compelled to point out that the sky won't come crashing down at sunset on Sept. 14. There just aren't enough AM stations out there running HD to create the "wall of noise" certain doomsayers keep predicting. Will some frequencies get clobbered? Sure they will. But at least for now, there are still channels with no HD operators on them at all, and I for one don't see a mad rush by stations to add the AM HD system, with all the questions still swirling about its viability. s (Scott Fybush, ABDX via DXLD) I was on a deserted road between Clayton and Raton, NM - and I could hear IBOC sideband pairs from stations hundreds of miles away, when their main analog was not even present. The nature of the sidebands seems to be VERY robust in the amplitude domain, much more so than analog. As far as nighttime skywave, the TIS stations at DFW airport were heard on both coasts with only 60 watts of power at the transmitter. Admittedly they were extended band where skywave is good, but you add the robustness of the digital hash to the reflection of skywave, and September 14th / 15th will be very interesting. I predict a huge noise floor permeating the entire band, getting worse with each new IBOC station signing on (Bruce Carter, ibid.) KFYI 550 DX window Ladies and Gents, ABDX presents a QSL window for 550 KFYI Phoenix HD reception! CCU`s KFYI 550 will be going HD at night on Sept 14. I will soon find out if the start time will be midnight Sept 14 or sunset of that day. I will tell you as soon as I know. If you hear KFYI between Sept 14 and Sept 28 and THE RECEPTION IS CORRECT, I will handle the requests by email ONLY. I will be working as their QSL manager for this two week period and you will sent an EMAIL ONLY QSL for the reception. Even non reception notes will be appreciated by the Phoenix CCU engineering staff. Get your HD radios ready for this historic day and look for KFYI to get your first day of HD QSL (Kevin Redding, Gilbert, AZ dc2daylight @ gmail.com ABDX via DXLD) DRM: see also KUWAIT; CONVENNTIONS & CONFERENCES Re: SANGEAN DRM40 NOT BEING RELEASED THIS YEAR Now possibly abandoned: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.radio.digital/browse_frm/thread/061cfd1fb1847ea0/ec88e78a1178bf47?hl=en (Mike Barraclough, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ EQUINOCTIAL PROPAGATION YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, and yours truly Arnie Coro tries to answer them. Here is today's question, sent in by listeners in the USA, Canada, Germany and New Zealand. They, all eleven of them wanted to know more about equinoctial propagation, as in just about two weeks from now we will be enjoying the autumn equinox propagation season. Why [do] experienced short wave listeners, tropical band enthusiasts, AM broadcast band Dxers and radio amateurs set aside as much operating time as possible during the year's two equinoctial periods? Answer: Well amigos, the fact is that starting around the first week of September and lasting until the second and sometimes the third week of October, radio propagation conditions get better at a worldwide scale. As a matter of fact they become so good, that many radio amateur contests are organized so that they take place precisely during the so called autumn equinox. Likewise, starting around the second week of March and lasting until mid April, the spring equinox boosts propagation conditions in a somewhat similar but not exactly the same way, because during September and October the height of the ionosphere's F2 layer during the daytime and the F layer during the evenings is lower, and its free electron concentration is higher, so for all practical purposes the autumn equinox DX season is always much better for Dxing than the spring season. So in order to answer listener's Ted from New Zealand question, yes amigo, it's true, the autumn equinox of the northern hemisphere, that happens during the period from more or less mid September to mid October, brings radio hobbyists above the Equator better propagation conditions than the spring equinox !!! Also, I must add that the March equinox is usually associated with recurrent solar disturbances that provide some very interesting effects too (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Aug 21, HCDX via DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels during most of the period. ACE solar wind data indicated a recurrent coronal hole wind stream occurred during 15 - 17 August, but had little effect on the geomagnetic field. A co-rotating interaction region (CIR) preceded the onset of the stream and was associated with a solar sector boundary shift (away (+) to toward (-)) as well as a short-lived density increase (peak 46.3 p/cc at 15/0046 UTC). The CIR was also associated with increased IMF Bt (peak 9.6 nT at 15/0220 UTC) and increased IMF Bz variability (minimum -6.3 nT at 15/0155 UTC). The recurrent wind stream commenced early on 15 August and eventually reached a peak of 486.4 km/sec at 15/1017 UTC, then gradually decreased during the remainder of the summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 22 AUG - 17 SEPT 2007 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels during 28 August - 10 September. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 22 - 24 August. A recurrent high-speed stream is expected to disturb the field during 25 - 28 August with unsettled to active conditions expected. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels during 29 August - 02 September. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to minor storm levels on 03 September due to a recurrent coronal hole high- speed stream. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels during 04 - 05 September. Unsettled to active conditions are expected during 06 - 07 September as another recurrent high-speed stream disturbs the field. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels for the rest of the period :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2007 Aug 21 2154 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2007 Aug 21 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2007 Aug 22 70 10 3 2007 Aug 23 70 5 2 2007 Aug 24 70 5 2 2007 Aug 25 70 15 4 2007 Aug 26 70 10 3 2007 Aug 27 70 5 2 2007 Aug 28 70 15 4 2007 Aug 29 70 5 2 2007 Aug 30 70 5 2 2007 Aug 31 70 5 2 2007 Sep 01 70 5 2 2007 Sep 02 70 10 3 2007 Sep 03 70 20 5 2007 Sep 04 70 8 3 2007 Sep 05 70 5 2 2007 Sep 06 70 15 4 2007 Sep 07 70 15 4 2007 Sep 08 70 5 2 2007 Sep 09 70 5 2 2007 Sep 10 70 5 2 2007 Sep 11 70 5 2 2007 Sep 12 65 10 3 2007 Sep 13 65 8 3 2007 Sep 14 65 5 2 2007 Sep 15 65 5 2 2007 Sep 16 70 5 2 2007 Sep 17 70 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1371, DXLD)