DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-108, September 6, 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 1373 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 8/25/07] 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 9/3/07] 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 ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, 15476, 3/9 from 1917 UT, best audio and signal at 1942, program with Spanish music and female talks about local news. SINPO 33333 for 15 min. Best on longwire 25 meter. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, BDX via DXLD) LRA 36, Antarctica on 15476 starting program at 1852 4/9 and today 5/9 with female talks in Spanish about local news. Verry poor signal but audible, longwire 25 meter, RX NRD545, Gr (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, HCDX via DXLD) Hi all, LRA36 on 15475.9, Sep 4 from tune-in at 1850 UT with accordion music (Beer Barrel Polka, etc.), YL ID at 1900 "de Esperanza al Mundo, un concierto...", followed by presumed Argentine pop artist, and another ID at 1935. The signal was best around 1900 (SINPO 25433) but dropped below threshold around 2005. Can't really explain why, but listening to LRA36 always brightens me up. 73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, AOR AR7030, 30 m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Dear OM, I confirm that Radio Australia 5995 kHz reopen DRM at 1244 UT on Sept 4. de A. Ishida (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per DRM schedule, is daily 12-14, 10 degrees, 8 kW on 5995; also daily 11-12, 80 degrees, 8 kW on 12080 (gh, DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 6010.0, R. Bahrain, Abu Hayan, 2340-0040, Aug 23/24, British romantic songs non-stop, no announcement heard, 33443. Heterodyne Colombia on 6009.5, so heard best in USB (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. 15665.03, Voice of Biafra International, via WHRA, Greenbush, ME, *1959-2100*, Friday Aug 24 and 31, English opening announcement with four ID's like: "This is the Voice of Biafra International broadcasting to you from Washington, D.C. on 15.67 MHz frequency in the 19 meterband", African song, 2004 news about Biafra, political comments against Nigeria, Igbo talk, 34333. This new schedule is mentioned at http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm It replaces the Saturday broadcast on 7380 which was not heard Sep 01 (Glenn Hauser and Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) You may notice that in DXLD I never merge reports from two or more DXers, and here is a good reason why: it is impossible to tell who said what. But I can tell you that I did not say it was WHRA, because I heard it ID as WHRI; nor did I measure the frequency beyond 15665. I did not even monitor it on Aug 31, just Aug 24, and the details and SINPO reading are not mine either. I did not monitor for the Saturday broadcast on Sept 1, but I did cite the website earlier. So most of this, including the incorrect ID as WHRA, should not be attributed to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. NEW FREQUENCY. 4699.4, RADIO SAN MIGUEL, Riberalta, Depto. Beni, 05 Sept., 1028 UT, Spanish, Avisos y Comunicados, ID (Rogildo F. Aragão, Quillacollo - Bolivia, Sony 2001D - LW 25m, UT Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Rogildo, ¿Se escucha más a Estambul en 4875?? ¿O solo una vez? 73, (Glenn to Rogildo, via DXLD) Hola Glenn, Realmente estas emisoras aparecen pero sin ningún compromiso. No tengo escuchado R. Estambul estos dias; escuché unas 2 vezes en la mañana con programa religioso en portugués (1045 UT). Apenas tenga nueva escucha, avisaré. 73 (Rogildo Aragão, Bolivia, ibid.) Rogildo, Tengo una señal en 4875.86 en GMT 1010. Radio Estambul? (Robert Wilkner, Pompano, FL, via Aragão, Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Glenn, Acabo de recibir este mail de Robert y confirmo que es R. Estambul, 4875.9 kHz, 1050 UT mx´s, publicidad Azúcar Guabira y ID, 1100 UT programa religioso brasileiro. 73 (Rogildo Aragão, Bolivia, Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So don`t be fooled as this station broadcasts partly in Portuguese (gh, DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. BOTSWANA COUNCILLORS OBJECT TO PRESENCE OF VOA RELAY STATION | Text of report by Gaborone-based newspaper Mmegi on 3 September Francistown City councillors have expressed concern at the presence of the Voice of America (VoA) relay station in Botswana. The councillors quizzed the Botswana Telecommunication Authority (BTA) representatives about the issue during a full council meeting last week. The civic leaders said that they did not understand the purpose of the country (America) and needed clarification from BTA, the licensing authority. Councillor James Kgalajwe who wanted to know the links between BTA and VoA initiated the discussion. “What is your relationship with Voice of America? How much do you monitor their content to protect other countries surrounding us or do you monitor their content?” he asked. Also worried about VoA was councillor Motlatsi Molapisi who said that he felt that VoA was just here to monitor African countries. “It was pushed to Botswana from Monrovia to monitor us. They are as good as spies and they are not even closely monitored. No other country in the world would allow this except Botswana,” said Molapisi. Councillor Kealebetse Ntseane said he did not understand why VoA was used as a jingle on some landlines when one was on hold. “When you call landlines to Maun and other towns, and you are put on hold, a Voice of America broadcast will come on the line. Is that allowed, can they just interfere like that?” he wondered. Responding to the councillors’ questions, Senior Manager at National Broadcasting Board (NBB), Boipuso Kobedi said that “VoA is more of a government thing” and they did not have any control over it. “It is an agreement between Botswana government and American government,” she said. Kobedi admitted that there is “a lot of politics” behind the issue. “We have tried to regulate but we were stopped and told that it was a government issue. There is so much politics behind it,” she added. Kobedi stated that VoA has been allowed another 10 years since they began operating some time after they were given the go-ahead. (Source: Mmegi, Gaborone, in English 3 Sep 07 via BBC Monitoring via September 4th, 2007 - 8:37 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) How ignorant these people are. It`s a transmitting station, and thus unsuitable to be a monitoring or `spy` station. Local overload could get it on the phone lines by accident, like any other strong local signal (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC Radio 1 is in its confusing transition from summer shows to new season. I`ve yet to see a completely updated overall CBC Radio 1 schedule grid for the new season now underway, with all the summer shows gone after running for about 10 weeks. One block of particular interest is 11:30 am-noon local. At least for that we have put together what`s on, from daily Hotsheet info. First airing is at 1432 UT on the Atlantic feeds (note they are taking more time for the break on the half hour, ex-1431), +1/2/3/4 hours. Mon, And Sometimes Y, about language [says online sked for Sept 10] Tue, C`est la Vie, new eps of series, French Canada for Anglophones Wed, Spark, new, on technology, latest stuff Thu, Search Engine, new, about the internet Fri, Afghanada, new episodes now It appears the strip of feature shows at 7:30 pm local weekdays has gone with As It Happens back to full length, except on Mondays? With Dispatches for an Hour and The Debaters an hour later still showing, tho this may be outdated info. Labor Day could be atypical. The Hotsheet for Wednesday Sept 5 showed something different in the 11 pm - midnight local block: Afghanada (also Fri 11:30 am), and Wiretap, that quirky stream-of-consciousness show at 11:30 pm, but we failed to confirm it; this and the online skeds show neither, just Writers & Company as before. We wonder if CBC is just making up the new season schedule day by day as it goes along (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Re 7-107: Digital radio in Canada http://www.cab-acr.ca/drri/index.shtm Check out the news page in the above link. That, more than anything, will tell the state of DAB in Canada (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ABDX via DXLD) Nothing since 2004. DAB seems to be doing fine in the UK (Kevin Redding, ibid.) AM STATIONS MAY BE AFFECTED BY USA HD RADIO--CAB http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=73219&issue=09042007 As of September 14, US AM radio broadcasters that have implemented HD Radio will be allowed to transmit their digital signals at night as well as in the daytime. Canadian AM stations operating on frequencies that are first and second-adjacent to powerful US stations may experience increased levels of skywave interference after dark as a result of this recent FCC decision. On conventional AM receivers, this digital interference may be heard as a "rushing" or "hissing" sound, superimposed on the desired analog station's audio. Stations that experience any such interference within their protected night-time service areas should report it to the district Industry Canada office http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/en/sf01742e.html Copies of complaints should also be sent to the CAB's engineering advisor, Wayne Stacey (Broadcaster, 9/4/2007 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** CAYMAN ISLANDS. CARIBBEAN TRIP REPORT PART 2 OF 2, CAYMAN FM [part 1 : see CUBA] I did a fairly involved survey of FM in the Grand Cayman area, when outbound, mid-afternoon. I was able to identify TWELVE!!! FM signals coming from Grand Cayman. Not having a WRTH, I don't know how much of this is known to DXers. I know that Powell heard one of them, so perhaps someone's unID from the Es season will match my notes? I know this is FM, if you feel it is 'Off Topic', just kindly delete your copy. Just trying to reach as many as I can. Maybe one of you had one of these on Es this summer. I was listening with the DX398 1430-1530 localtime EDT 29 Aug while westbound from George Town, Grand Cayman (on EST time there) after our 1400 departure***. FM signals were held until reaching 19d 26.2m N; 81 deg 55.4m W when the louder ones started dropping out. I was in the cabin on 5th deck (of 12), window facing south. Heading 291 deg, speed 21.4 mi/hr. (note: on the older ships such as the Inspiration, the window glass will pass GPS signals. Newer ships e.g. Triumph, the cabin windows are an absolute block to GPS and you need to be topside. This is probably metallization to block UV light). ***ship always stays on time of the home port, here, EDT, though both visit ports were 1 hour earlier. I heard the following, all believed from Caymans. Incidentally I heard both "CAY-mun" and "kay-MANN" used in speech. There is of course no guarantee that these formats apply at any particular time. For instance I heard BBC satellite feed news audio on one of these, in a cab, around noon; I think it was the 104.1 but that's just a guess. And, most everything with music seemed automated, often segued. 88.7 Gospel, weak signal, very little talking 89.9 Local telephone talk, local issues, religious context 94.9 "Spin ninety-four nine", rap music 96.5 "kay-rock ninety six five"; rock music "heaven ninety seven" gospel, religious news items, Call 945- 2707 to FAX in items, 939-0350 prayer help. "The Vibe", "ninety eight nine" Carib, hip-hop, had at least one ad in Spanish 99.9 rock. RDS: "TODAYS / Z99FM" 101.9 country, CNN news. RDS: "ROOSTER / 101 / CAYMAN / COUNTRY " 104.1 rock. RDS: "HOT 104 / YOUR / MUSIC" (or) "YOUR / STATION" alternating with song title/artist display rock, local radio, spoken: "keep it locked on The Breeze", "Happy Radio Breeze F-M" 106.1 rock. RDS: "KISS FM" alternating with title/artist display 107.1 rock. RDS: "X 107--1" alternating with titles display. Total of 12 identifiable signals, 5 with RDS. As for AM (which long ago used to be on 1205 and 1555) - ha, ha. I would have no idea where to look for old AM towers - everything from George Town up the 7-mile beach, up to Hell, turtle farms etc., is pretty well developed, properties are very expensive. SO any old AM sites are likely long razed, or were way out East. We bought a book on Cayman geology. Much of the area is karstic limestone that shows evidence of multiple long-term inundations long ago, and the area is an elevated risk of earthquakes, due to being on the border between two tectonic plates, on a fault zone running E-W and on towards Eastern Cuba (recall the 1694 tsunami at Port Royal, Jamaica). Feel free to republish this in any other DX club medium, e.g. WTFDA (to which I cannot post) etc. 73 (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, k2euh, info as of end of August 2007, ABDX via DXLD) Radio Cayman (of which I'm wearing a tshirt from), owned and operated by the government pronounces it "kay-MANN". I also have a tshirt from Breeze 105.3 fm (Paul Walker, Cool Country 1590, SC, NRC-AM via DXLD) Bob, I lived in Georgetown in 85. I went into Radio Cayman once a week to cut some spots. The British production console took some getting used to. At that time the FM was used basically as an STL to get the programming to the AM sites. 1205 was a kW on a 150 foot stick near the Cayman Utilities generator house south of downtown. The 1555 site was on the far western point of the island at Gun Bluff, also a 150 footer. At that time the only other FM was a non comm ICCI at the community college on the way to Boddentown (Jerry Kiefer, Roswell, NM, ibid.) ** CHINA. Re 7-107: Dear OM, CNR-1 Zhong guo zhi sheng (i.e. Voice of China) 4750 kHz. It is thought that I consider an antenna beam (320 degrees) and time of fade/in (approx. 0730 UT) with the transmitter site from the northeastern district in China. Probably Qiqihar, not Xi`an (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Japan, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re 7-107, Fu Hsing, Taiwan: 9410, CNR-5, 1114-1144, Sept 4, OM & YL in Chinese, Chinese ballad, signal improving the whole time, fair. Broadcasting to Taiwan, scheduled for 0955-0005, no other station noted here, clearly // 5925 (weak) and 7620 (fair), all via Beijing. Audio streaming also noted parallel at: http://radiotime.com/station/s_2012/China_National_Radio_5_549.aspx As a general rule I find that, if possible, parallels often help ID these Chinese stations (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So poor Fu Hsing gets blown away, not to mention Indonesia, Bangladesh; and apparently it was CNR-5 heard instead. Might FH try other frequencies? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Re: my 9410, 9/1/07 NASWA Flashsheet log: After seeing Ron Howard's log of Sept. 4 for CNR 5 and looking at EiBi and my more detailed log, it could well have been either CNR 5 or Fu Hsing. I just plain missed CNR 5 in the list. Even if I caught it, there was little chance to check // since I was in a park and nowhere near a computer, and armed only with a printed frequency version of EiBi (so it would have been hard to figure out the //). It was an exceptional morning for North East Asia, and there were several other transmissions from Taiwan (and the Beijing transmitting station) coming in at about the same level, so Taiwan seemed reasonable. However, CNR 5 has the greater power (and most likely the direction). Given all that, I suppose the balance should go to CNR 5 being more likely than Fu Hsing. Thanks to Ron (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also on 7620 in parallel. Here both are powerhouse signals all evening long and 7620 is there also in local morning (2030 UT). (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania, Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC, 13680, out of whack again Sept 4 at 1320, putting out several spurs, consisting of whine of medium pitch and slightly varying with modulation also audible; somewhat distorted on fundamental, and extremely distorted on spurs, which extended almost 5 kHz plus and minus from: 13771, 13728, 13634, 13589, 13540, which are respectively these offsets: +91, +48, -46, -91, -140 kHz. Pinning them down is difficult, so rounding off the closer ones to 47 would make a nice match, but double of that would be 94, not 91. Plus 140 was probably there too but, guess what, buried in jamming against R. Martí --- could this problem be involved with the 13820 jamming transmitter, anyway? I did not hear the roaring jamming sounds on the RHC spurs, however (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. CUBAN RADIO CELEBRATES ITS 85TH ANNIVERSARY --- 85th Anniversary celebrations also included launch of the Portal of the Cuban Radio (a service in English Language) at http://www.cubanradio.cu Full story at : http://www.cubanradio.cu/news/august_07/the_cuban_radio_in_its_85th_anniversary.asp Also read this: Thanks to the radio http://www.cubanradio.cu/documentals/thanks_to_the_radio.asp The history of the radio broadcasting in Cuba http://www.cubanradio.cu/history_of_cuban_radio.asp (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking the first site, I must say that translator Gualveris Rosales needs to improve from literal to idiomatic English (gh, DXLD) As happens with history books written by the victors, some features are magnified and others neglected. In this online survey, 37 years of Cuban radio is summed up in two or three sentences. Also, as everyone can see, the local Cuban AM stations are listed without mention of frequency. I recently asked Arnie Coro of Radio Habana Cuba to supply some frequency info for domestic Cubans on AM on his show. The answer was negative. Such info would not be of interest to his audience, he said. He referred me to the list which appears on this site. It had been produced by one of his students, he added. Should I be surprised? I guess not. For almost 50 years, the only frequency info readily offered by the Cubans to the World Radio TV Handbook has been that of Radio Habana Cuba. For AM /medium wave/ frequency listings the WRTH has had to rely on DXers. Anyone believe the upcoming 2008 edition will be an exception? (Henrik Klemetz, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Paranoid Commies consider the full picture of Cuban broadcasting with all the technical details, even an accurate frequency list, a sensitive state secret (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. ANOTHER CARIBBEAN TRIP REPORT Some time ago I had thoughts of trying to make the NRC/WTFDA convention in Idaho. Well, Pat said she had another idea, and could I listen? To make a long story shorter it involved my sister coming down to visit, and a "dinner cruise", all to help celebrate a birthday (mine) that was coming up. Well, in Tampa, my idea of a "dinner cruise" is the little boat maybe 75 feet long that goes out down the ship channel, circles in Tampa Bay near Peter O Knight airport, while you all have dinner and comes back maybe 3 hours later. Pat's idea of a dinner cruise was a 5 day trip on a somewhat larger vessel that would have squashed the starship dinner yacht if a large wave had come up the ship channel. As it turns out the three of us spent 5 enjoyable days on the big ship, and the yacht trip will have to wait another day. We visited Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I brought the DX398 and did some radio research, looking at Cuba and of course George Town. But this is "vacation radio" and far from exhaustive, and probably not much news here. The vessel is known to true Radio Men in parts of the world everywhere simply as C6FM5, no further detail required. It is only to the illiterate masses of non-Radio Men that the added description "M/V Inspiration" must be added. On this trip, the name Perspiration might have worked as well. Must say, the weather was outstanding, if quite toasty. They were having a real sale, the three of us travelled for less than two would normally spend. I don't know if they made a profit but the ship (2480-ish pax) was full. Our Cuba track southbound passed maybe 15 km west of Cape San Antonio, the tip of Pinar, about 1530 local, second day out. What appeared to be a Cuban navy picket boat, or perhaps a fixed platform, was visible a few km east with binoculars. Treetops and a few coastal buildings were dimly visible, but too far to discern any possible tower structures. The Good News - no one fired on us! I was somewhat more productive with the radio on the return trip, noon local time on 31 August, at 24 N, 85 W but by then far enough north that Habana proper was being heard. (Unfortunately I lost my notes from the southbound pass, 21d30m N, but I recall 550, 790, 820 being loud while Habana, as measured by 950 level, was weak due to land attenuation). I noted 550 // 530, the 530 lagged by 1.5 second, equal level. I think there used to be a 650, but here 650 and 660 were vacant. On 710, 2 Sp. signals, equal, with 5 Hz SAH. Noted 730 fairly strong with Progreso (maybe Isla Juventud?) Noted Reloj 790 loud, 2 Hz SAH with presumed Miami. The 820 was very strong and was // 550. Noted 880 at s-7, 890 at s-2 and 900 unheard. 950 by then was s-9. Heard Guamá on 990 very loud, // on 1020 a lot weaker. 1030 and 1050 vacant. On 1080 was a seeming 1 kc het, similar to the 1180 situation? 1140 fairly loud and // a somewhat weaker 1120, and same 1120 level as 1100. The het on 1180 was between ear-splitting and just piercing. Massive. Audios just a jumble between Reb and Martí, nothing discernible thru the massive het from 1181. My receiver is too broad IF to be useful for DF'ing here. In addition a pronounced 8 Hz SAH was chopping up 1180. I can report that, just south of Cabo San Antonio, 21 30N on Tue 28 Aug, Martí was very loud and absolutely alone, around 1500 local, so the cordillera in northern Pinar must be blocking everything from more easterly Habana-ish area. Perhaps the het was absent that day, I just don't know. I wonder if they get any field reports from Cubans in that area? I heard a local on 1200, couldn't match to any of the other Red's. I haven't attempted to ID the networks except when absolutely known by me, or by sound (Reloj, etc). Also, I did not hear anything Cuban above 1200 so the effort I saw reported elsewhere, to get Cuban AM'ers over 1200 off the air, must be working. I once thought I had a hot one on 1450 with Latin mx, turned out to be just Sarasota (at minimal s-1 level // to a s-2 1320) Aside from the (two?) hets, frequency stability of the ones I heard from western Cuba seemed as good as we have in the US. I have to report that I made no real effort to see what I could identify on FM, mainly due to lack of time, when passing near Cuba, also due to not having brought any logs, and hearing out of area signals that would take too long to ID. The classical cruise dilemma - how to allocate your limited time resources? Especially when at 15:30 it's classical Piano in the lounge with tea and salmon being served. Have all you want, etc. Also, no night DX, almost no beacon DX, nothing of note. I did not consciously seek out distant US stations, except to note WWL very well heard while headed N. I did a fairly involved survey of FM in the Grand Cayman area, when outbound, mid-afternoon. I was able to identify TWELVE!!! FM signals coming from Grand Cayman [q.v.. Not having a WRTH, I don't know how much of this is known to DXers but I'll write up my notes on them and send separately, perhaps tomorrow. I know that Powell heard one of them, so perhaps someone's unID from the Es season will match my notes? Stay tuned. 73 (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, Sept 3, IRCA via DXLD) This is where the new software defined radios will shine. They record a section of spectrum for later perusal. The SDR-IQ will pull in a 190 kHz wide section at a time. Do an hour on 520-710, the second hour 700-890, etc. The whole band could be covered in a day for later searching. Just takes a laptop and an antenna. Depending on location, a small whip or loop would work. Subject: [IRCA] Where are radios going? The new software defined radios are an interesting breed, but being tied to a computer limits their use. How about a little "what if"? What if they could work with an iPhone? Storage and a control surface is available, plus a way to export the recordings. What if a box with storage, display and control area was available? And antenna? All in a size like the 2010 or E1? Maybe when the next generation of solid state hard drive replacements comes along we will see that. Seagate is supposed to have a 160 Gb solid state almost ready to release. That will boost the portable market noticeably. Less space, less battery use, less heat. All good (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Almost nightly I tune around 49m in the 0500- 0600 period, but Sept 6 is the first time I find 6025 active at that hour: after lite gospel music, 0600 full ID as ``La emisora predilecta de la República Dominicana, Radio Amanecer Internacional``. Also slogan in Spanish along the lines of ``we love everyone, even those who don`t share our views``. Fair signal; before 0600 it was tightly squeezed between CRI 6020 and Martí 6030, so better after CRI off and one could side-tune down a bit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Nova frequencia para a HCJB --- Estimados colegas e colaboradores: A partir de Hoje 6 de setembro estaremos transmitindo em 49 metros (6160 kHz) no horário das 06h00 até as 07h30 horário de Brasília [0900-1030 UT, but in Braz summer DST, 0800-0930; however, I don`t think HCJB shifts UT to compensate, so which? --- gh]. Continuaremos transmitindo em 31 metros (9745 kHz) até o mês de outubro quando estaremos fazendo a mudança oficial da freqüência. Isto vai dar oportunidade aos ouvintes de se familiarizar com a nova freqüência. Segundo os programas de propagação esta freqüência deve chegar muito melhor que a de 9745 kHz. Esperamos que os ouvintes nos enviem seus informes de sintonia para avaliar os resultados da nova freqüência. Abraços, Eunice Esse foi o e - mail que recebi de Eunice Carbajal (Leonaldo Ferreira da Silva, Sept 6, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Tough luck, CKZN/CKZU ** ERITREA. 7174.98, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, heard 1600-1700, Sep 01, Vernaculars news, talks and songs from Horn of Africa, probably change of language at 1630, Eritrea mentioned three times, 1645 a native song mentioning Somali twice, 32433. All the time covered by a possible Ethiopian music jammer playing non-stop Middle East songs (QSA 4). From *1655 also other QRM (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) The 7174.98 measurement came from the previous log by Brandon Jordan, already published here, so it is not clear if AP also had it on that exact frequency, since a separate frequency citation for his log was not given (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. FRANCIA: RFI dispone ya del dossier de prensa 2007 en formato pdf: http://www.rfi.fr/actues/images/083/web_esp.pdf 26 páginas en formato pdf, donde explican todas las redacciones de esta emisora así como la historia de la emisora (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Includes a program schedule grid. Have looked for an equivalent document in English but cannot find one (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non] Some changes of Deutsche Welle in English in DRM mode: 0400-0500 NF 9435 MSK 040 kW / 261 deg to WeEu, ex 04-06 on 9780 0500-0600 on 12005 TRM 090 kW / 345 deg to SoAs, additional txion 0800-0900 on 12070 TRM 090 kW / 345 deg to SoAs, additional txion Frequency changes of Deutsche Welle [analog]: 0900-1000 NF 17705 TRM 250 kW / 045 deg to EaAs English, ex 17770 1000-1200 NF 15595 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to SoAm German, ex 17770 ASC 1500-1600 NF 9540 TRM 250 kW / 345 deg to SoAs Hindi/Bengali, ex 7225 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6005 Berlin Britz OFF for EVER 6005: After 56 years in steady 24 hour service, Berlin Britz site SW installation of DeutschlandRadio (former US RIAS Berlin site til Dec 1993) 6005 kHz ceased FOR EVER. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmitter_Berlin-Britz http://wikimapia.org/1818631/de/ (google map) http://www.wikimapia.org/1833270/ http://www.wikimapia.org/1833286/ click at Berlin Britz: http://en.structurae.de/structures/stype/index.cfm?ID=4058 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sendeanlage_Berlin-Britz http://www.waniewski.de/id200.htm http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/archive/index.php/t-98279.html http://www.waniewski.de/id198.htm http://www.asamnet.de/~bienerhj/6005.html http://www.asamnet.de/~bienerhj/6190.html http://www.economy-point.org/r/rias.html http://www.riasberlin.de/rias-hist/riad-hist-1.html http://www.riasberlin.de/rias-hist/rius-hist-unintend.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundfunk_im_amerikanischen_Sektor http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAS http://www.goethe.de/wis/med/thm/rad/en1221092.htm http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/04/multimedia/rias/ http://www.odyssei.com/travel-tips/1727.html http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld6038.txt http://www.t-systems-mediabroadcast.com/tsi/en/167232/Home/Television/References/DeutschlandRadio-st 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 4, WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. R. Verdad, 4052.5, usually audible here; noted Sept 4 at 0545, playing choral hymn with considerable distortion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. As I reported, TDF DRM 17870-17875-17880 was back on Mon Sept 3 after a 3+ week absence, but it was gone again on Tue Sept 4 at several chex, 1405, 1428, 1630, 1730. If I were a fan of these transmissions I would be getting pretty exasperated. But the more misses, the more chances for analog stations such as Libya to be heard. DRM back on again already at 1358 check Sept 6 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Tuning 60m a bit earlier than I usually do, around 1230 UT Sept 6, pleased to find several RRI outlets audible. Best without any interference was 4605; also 4790 with CODAR QRM; 4870 with bonker QRM; 4750 and 4920 both with co-channel broadcast QRM, probably China. Each had different programming, some music, some talk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3266.42, RRI Gorontalo, 1250-1310, Aug 28, 29 and 30, speech, Arab-style vocal music. On late all days - usually signs off around 1230 or so. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 1227-1300, Aug 21, talk and vocal music, deteriorating signal. 3344.84, RRI Ternate silent again since Aug 21 in the +/- 1200 UT range. They were silent in late July and early August, then came back on only for about a week (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 11785, Voz de Indonesia, 1710-1720, captada el 6 de septiembre en español, locutor con reportaje, cuña de identificación, locutora presentando el espacio “Música de Indonesia”, SINPO 45444. Me sorprende la excelente señal de La Voz de Indonesia; reconozco que en la últimas semanas no llegaba tan fuerte, también me ha sorprendido escuchar la voz de una joven locutora con una bonita voz presentando el espacio musical. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS: see CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. This website is a great tool during the Atlantic hurricane season http://www.hurricanecity.com/ On the left are links to radar, webcams and radio stations in the affected areas. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. I usually check this one out any time a hurricane is active. I just tried the links for radio stations. one in Honduras and another in Belize. Love FM in Belize is playing music (Exile - Kiss You All Over, Tina Turner). Couldn't find an audio button for the Honduran. Both websites have text reports about Felix (Fred Waterer, Ont, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A ** IRAN. RADIO FARDA BROADCASTER ALLOWED TO LEAVE IRAN Radio Farda broadcaster Parnaz Azima, who had been banned from leaving Iran for the past seven months, has been given permission to leave the country. Azima told Radio Farda today that intelligence officials have told her to collect her passport from the authorities. Azima said she will pick up her passport today and leave Iran in the near future. Iranian officials have charged Azima with spreading propaganda against the Iranian state. (Source: RFE/RL) (September 4th, 2007 - 9:50 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Update: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/09/b5a70cde-de81-41e0-8056-34abf7617b28.html For further updates: http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=2237 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel (relays of domestic networks). Since the posting of Doni Rosenzweig's schedule on DXLD 7-104, I have been monitoring Kol Israel. Here are a few corrections and changes to frequency as of Sept. 3/4. Times are UT. Hungarian 1845-1900 11590 (delete 13675 as it is used for Hebrew 1800-1900), 9345 was not heard here. Russian - ID: Kol Israel, Radiostantsiya REKA 1900-2000 15640, 11590, 9400 (not 2000-2100 on 9345, or at least it was not heard here). Ladino and/or Spanish ? 1645-1700 15760, 11590 (not apparently at 1500-1525 on 15640 and 11605). Frequency changes observed Sept. 3/4. Hebrew 2000-2100 15615, 9400 (ex 11585-time off varied). 2100-0330 9400 (ex 11585 or 11590- time for frequency change varied). 0400-0500 9345 (ex 11590) English 0330-0345 9400, 7530 (ex 9345 and 11590). French 0345-0400 9345, 7530 (ex 11590). Not sure if all languages are broadcast during the weekend. Some appeared to be missing on Sept. 1 and 2; maybe not heard due to poor reception conditions (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Sept 4, WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Kol Israel. Hebrew back on 9345 from 2300 UT to 0330 on Sept. 4/5 (ex 9400 on Sept. 3/4). Also English at 0330 to 0345 on Sept. 5 (ex 9400 on Sept. 4). Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But will this stick or they just don`t know what to do from one day to the next? (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY. 26000. Two weeks ago I heard R Maria in Andrate with a broadcast in AM. I suppose the reception was possible by means of Sporadic E reception. The station uses only 25 Watts of power. A QSL card was received after two weeks. V/s: Claudio Re. Address: Radio Maria, Via Mazzini 15, 21020 Casciago (VA), Italy. More information on http://www.mediasuk.org/archive/radio_maria.html (Max Van Arnhem, Hoenderloo, The Netherlands, Aug 27, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. Deleted transmissions of RAI International, all in Italian: 0130-0230 on 6110 ASC 250 kW / 235 deg to SoAm 0130-0230 on 11765 ASC 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAm 1000-1100 on 11920 SNG 250 kW / 140 deg to AUS 1600-1700 on 17790 ASC 250 kW / 102 deg to SoAf (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. For the first time in the Japanese fiscal year 2007 which started in April, R. Japan will air the DX program. It will be on either the Sep 15 or 22 weekend in the World Interactive program. The scheduled air time will be on Saturday at 0510-0530, 1010-1030, 1410- 1430, 1710-1730 and on Sunday 0010-0030, 0110-0130, 0540-0549, 1030- 1039, 1430-1439, 1730-1749 and on Monday at 0030-0049, and 0130-0149. Please check the frequencies at NHK homepage at http://www.NHK.or.jp/english After October 2007, NHK plans to reduce its English short wave transmission, so this can be a rare chance to get NHK DX information program. Please do not miss this program and send your report to JSWC, CPO Box 29, Sendai 980-8691 together with 1 IRC or $1.00 US bill for return postage (Toshimichi Ohtake/JSWC, Kamakura, Japan, Sep 01, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Re 1053 kHz: Dear OM, On Dec. 20 1978, Voice of the Revolutionary Party for Reunification QSY to 1053v kHz from 1135 kHz. Renamed to Voice of National Salvation in summer, 1985. In 2003, agree by a stop of the broadcast by north and south ministerial talks. Voice of National Salvation QRT on Aug. 1 2003. Pyongyang Branch of The AINDF starts on Aug. 15 2003. As for all program is relayed KCBS. Now Sked: 2200-0400 and 0800-1400 UT // KCBS 819, 2850 kHz, etc. 1053 kHz Haeju 1500 kW (now reduced power?), Jammer from [S] Korea (bubble jammer) 3480 kHz Wonsan 5 kW (inactive) 4450 kHz Pyongyang 15 kW 4557 kHz Haeju 15 kW, Jammer from [S] Korea (bubble jammer) (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National R, Vientiane, 1145-1300, Aug 21, talk with 2 breaks for Lao vocal music, 1159 "IS" of music on regional instruments, followed by 7 chimes tolling the hour (7 PM in Laos), 1200 theme music, then probable ID ("Thini...") and apparent news. Fairly good signal, and not often heard this well here (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, in DXplorer, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.9. Klasik-FM via RTM Kuala Lumpur. 1340-1345 3 Sept. Call-in program similar to unID-4750 with "hello" by W in studio mentioning K.L., nusantara and "Klasik". Always fair-good most AMs, but first time with actual "Klasik" ID. 7295. Traxx-FM via RTM Kuala Lumpur. 1302-1312 3 Sept. World, Malaysian news in English. Music bridge at 1310, bright DJ chatter/ laughter- "good (morning?) & welcome to . . . you are now tuned to Traxx-FM", into English hip-hop. Recheck 1410 had much better signal with end of sports news and "you're listening to the sports leader, 50,000 watts of power in your home, in your car" (Dan Sheedy, Cardiff, CA R75/Kiwa & 120' N/S random WOR, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.29, XEYU, R UNAM, Ticomán, heard in Sri Lanka, 0030, Sep 03, Spanish talks and the usual styling. Bad splatter from AIR 9595 and hefty China from Kasgar on 9610 (Victor Goonetilleke in DXplorer, via DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) Frequency measurement was probably by Ron Howard in a previous log not repeated here (gh, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. Re 7-105, I am now convinced it is Myanmar I can hear there. 7185, Myanma R, Yangon, 0031, Sept 03, Bamar, brief female announcement after distinctive intro, 0033 Buddhist prayer /recitation (?) to 0041 then gong. Carrier had already appeared as early as 2354. One of their better days, Bhutan 6035 surprisingly strong too. No ID as such but can't be anything else (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 4770. NBC-Kaduna (tentative) *0430-0440 tune-out 4 Sept. Carrier noted at 0425, then log drum/percussion IS, presumed NA, then M in English with pledge with drum backing. "Good Morning from NBC . . . station" into vernacular/English news to tune-out. Also heard 0439- 0511 3 Sept. with English yak, music audio practically non-existent, but talking drums at 0458 into WAf news had much better audio. Dunno if it's characteristic of Nigerian broadcasters but signal is "bubbly" (heard years ago on 41M Nigerian, too) (Dan Sheedy, Cardiff, CA, R75/Kiwa & 120' N/S random WOR, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 7255, FRCN Abuja, 0537-0550, Aug 28, music, English announcement: “This is the National Service of Radio Nigeria, The Voice of Unity”, talks in English and time check 0550¸difficult to understand due to modulation not 100% (Max Van Arnhem, Hoenderloo, The Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) This used to be a regular here during that hour, but not heard for ages; has been on 15120 instead? Hope they keep the lower frequency, altho it`s squeezed between Vatican and Algeria via UK (gh, OK, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3235, R West New Britain, Kimbe, heard 1257- 11 1314, Aug 30, mix of island and pop music with female announcer in Pidgin after each song, fair and fading (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) It has not been reported heard since Apr 2006 (DSWCI Ed., ibid.) 3260, R Madang, Madang, 1125-1200*, Sep 02, Island vocals with Pidgin male announcer hosting; a short religious segment from 1152 to 1157 was followed by closedown routine: drumming, sign-off announcement, then anthem; carrier went off at 1202. One of many good signals from Papua New Guinea this morning - 3205, 3235, 3275, 3315, 3335 and 3365 were all in at good to very good levels. Weaker signals also heard on 3220 and 3325 but do not know if these were Papua New Guinea or other stations (Wilkins, ibid.) ** PERU. 4790.15, R Visión, Chiclayo, has the slight hum to the transmitter as "in days of olde". Strongest Peruvian heard in Denmark for months! In addition to favourable ionospheric conditions, it should be noted that the three hop signal path from Chiclayo to Denmark passed exactly over the position of Hurricane Felix that night between St. Lucia and Bonaire. The first ground reflection on the path is near Antigua! Does this have a reinforcing effect on the signal? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDAVIA, 5965, R. DMR (PRIDNESTROVYE), 1622-1640, captada el 4 de septiembre en francés, locutora con comentarios, noticias con referencias a La Unión Europea y el terrorismo, música de sintonía, dirección de correo. SINPO 54444. 73 (José Miguel Romero. Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Radio PMR has not been heard here in Madrid on 5965 at either 1600 or 1700 UT for over a month now. You may recall that I reported earlier this year that Pridnestrovie came in loud and clear on its winter frequency of 6235 at 1600 UT [you mean 1700?]. The 49 mb freq is plagued with noise and interference in the summer months, so they are barely audible. (By the way, the summer frequency they used last year was actually around 5962 kHz). By chance I checked again this afternoon Sept. 3 and found nothing. Throughout the summer, after they switched to their summer frequency, the announcer kept stating they were on 6235 -- made no effort to correct that! As I reported here once before, earlier this year, I uploaded on YouTube a video recording of my ICF-77 tuning into Pridnestrovie on Jan. 22, 2007. It can still be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6fn3rMB9VY Afterwards, I was contacted by the editor of Pridnestrovie.net who told me she threw link to it on her page (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Sept 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 4870, Voice of Russia spurious signal, 1700-1800, Sep 02, very weak talks and music, 1800 a clear IS followed by news in Arabic. So, I suppose this is harmonic frequency (Max Van Arnhem, Hoenderloo, The Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) Not likely, as they do not transmit on any frequency divisible into 4870 --- 2435, etc. Maybe a B minus A mix, or a leapfrog, if anyone want to try to figure it out, from the VOR Arabic transmission schedule, but which may not be up-to-date, post Sept 2 changes, and obviously has some typos in it: http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=arb&w=49&p= I also see VOR is on 9740 at that time which is 2 x 4870, but to Europe so not likely in Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Frequency change of South African DX Amateur League: 0800-0900 NF 17590 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg to EaAf English Sun only, ex 17695 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Current SW operations by SLBC: Middle East Sinhala Service (some Tamil and English too): 11750 (via NHK 200 kW transmitter) 1600-1845 daily, every other Thursday (Middle East weekend holiday) till 1945. [why not every Thursday? gh] Indian language Service: 11910 (35 kW) and 7190 (10 kW) to India 0020- 0400 and 0800-1530. All Asia English: 6005 (10 kW) 0100-0400, 9770 0100-0130, 0200-0430 (10 kW), 0130-0200 (200 kW), 0100-0430 15745 (35 kW). 200 kW are NHK transmitters, 10 kW Kokkosai [sic] Japanese transmitters, 35 kW Ex VOA Colombo Collins (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, Sep 03 in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** SUDAN. 4749.98, R. Peace, Nuba Mountains, 1718-1730, Aug 30, several ID's: "This is Radio Peace on 4750 kHz in the 60 meter band", weak signal (Max Van Arnhem, Hoenderloo, The Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) ** TIBET. Xizang PBS, Lhasa. Their new QSL card bears a text in Chinese which a friend of mine kindly translated as: China Tibet Broadcasting Station started on January 10, 1959, as “Lhasa Broadcasting Station”. Later, in May, it changed to “Tibet Broadcasting Station”. On November 01, 1989, the Tibetan language programme was also carried by satellite, followed by the Chinese language programme on January 01, 1993. In 2002 the News Channel was started, Tibetan News, Chinese News and the Citylife Channel. Now there are four programmes totalling 78 hours and 38 minutes daily and all of them are digitalized. Coverage of the target area is 84.3%. The English language programme “Holy Tibet” reaches many Asian and African countries, as well as the US, Canada, Australia, Finland and Germany. (Note: they are happy to receive a few dozen reception reports a month. Their address is definitely 41 Beijing Middle Road in Lhasa, not no. 180 as has been reported before by some sources). (Maarten Van Delft, Netherlands, Aug 28, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** TURKEY. I've been scanning 41m for the past two nights. I did not note the Voice of Turkey on 3 Sept on 7270.00. On 4 September at 0310 I noted them back with news read by a woman, then music with a poor to fair signal. Checked theoretically // 5975 only to find out it had a totally different program --- news read by a man. The frequency was 5975.02. Poor reception tonight from Europe and the Middle East tonight. 73/Liz (Cameron, 0327 UT Sept 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very interesting. We had always assumed the Asian service at 0300 was // the NAm service at 0300, but maybe in keeping with local days, the NAm broadcast is a repeat of the previous UT day programs, and the Asian is the first airing of the new day`s shows?? Otherwise those listening in Afro-Asian mornings would be hearing programs on the ``wrong`` local day. Target on 7270 is officially Egypt to Afghanistan (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DXLD) It was // a week or so ago last check, so this is apparently a new development. 73/Liz (Cameron, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tried to check this, but not enough audio on 7270 to tell (gh, DXLD) Ancora "cose turche" --- Continua la latitanza del programma in italiano della Voce della Turchia, anche oggi solo musica e identificazioni multilingue dalle 1630z alle 1700z su 9610 kHz. Questa la (sicuramente esatta) versione pubblicata dal Portale Italradio, una situazione che ha davvero del ridicolo! --- ``E' una temporanea assenza di collaboratori ad avere determinato la sostituzione del programma italiano della Voce della Turchia con una colonna musicale. Lo conferma l'emittente che è all'opera per la ricostituzione della redazione. Dei tre precedenti redattori, due si trovano all'estero e uno - studente all'università - non può dedicarsi a tempo pieno. La contemporanea indisponibilità ha costretto la Voce della Turchia a fermare il programma dall'inizio di agosto.`` ...soprattutto se pensiamo che anche il servizio spagnolo è fermo, anche in questo caso collaboratori all'estero e studenti universitari? (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Sept 4, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International from September 23 to October 27, 2007 0000-0500 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUS 0500-0800 on 7420 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 0800-1300 on 9950 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 1300-1700 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUS 1700-2400 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2300-0400 on 5820 LV 600 kW / 303 deg to NoAm English 0000-0100 on 5820 LV 600 kW / 303 deg to NoAm *** 0300-0400 on 5820 LV 600 kW / 303 deg to NoAm *** 0500-0600 on 7420 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 0700-0800 on 7420 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 1100-1200 on 9950 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 1400-1500 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUS 1900-2000 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2100-2200 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu German 1700-1800 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2000-2100 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2300-2400 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Frequency changes for BBC with kW / degrees: 0630-0700 NF 11610*RMP 500 / 160, ex 9440 ASC 250 kW / 055 deg Hausa 1300-1330 on 17525 CYP 250 / 050, \\ 11915NAK;13855CYP;15330RMP Uzbek 1930-2000 NF 7165 WOF 300 / 158, ex 11855 ASC 250 kW / 055 deg Hausa * co-ch Voice of Croatia in Croatian via DTK T-Systems Media&Broadcast (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** U K. Radio 1 - Established 1967 --- 5 September 2007 http://www.easier.com:80/view/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Staying_In/article-137988.html BBC Radio 1 will celebrate 40 years of championing the best new music for its young audience with a series of amazing guest presenters. Radio 1 - Established 1967 kicks off on Monday 17 September 2007 with the station inviting some of the biggest names in music to host their own show each evening, playing the tunes that inspired them and in some way led them to make music themselves. Radio 1 Legends Monday 17: Paul McCartney Tuesday 18: Dave Grohl Wednesday 19: Gwen Stefani Thursday 20: Paul Weller Friday 21: Paul Oakenfold Monday 24: Noel Gallagher Tuesday 25: Debbie Harry Wednesday 26: Arctic Monkeys Thursday 27: Ozzy Osbourne Friday 28: Norman Cook a.k.a. Fatboy Slim On Sunday 30 September, the day Radio 1 first broadcast in 1967, current DJs will co host shows with iconic Radio 1 DJs from the past. The full line up is: 7- 10am: Chris Moyles and Tony Blackburn 10am-1pm: Vernon Kay featuring former breakfast show hosts 1-4pm: Sara Cox & Zoe Ball 4-7pm: The Chart Show with JK & Joel featuring Mark Goodier and Bruno Brookes 7-9pm: Annie Mac and Annie Nightingale Request Show 9-10pm: The A-Z of Radio - Radio 1 documentary 10pm-12: Keeping It Peel. A musical tribute to John Peel, hosted by Peel fan Elijah Wood. Along the way, the station will be talking to the artists that helped shape its history and to the audience who discovered music through Radio 1, plus there will be a chance to hear classic Radio 1 sessions. Find out more at http://BBC.co.uk/radio1 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) I must say, I don`t see what the fuss is about. My radio would rarely be tuned to 97-100 MHz, with Radios 4, 3, and 2 being far more stimulating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Big launch for Radio Scilly The world's smallest radio station [sic] has launched in Scilly, from studios opposite Porthmellon Beach on St Mary's. Radio Scilly went live at 2 pm during a ceremony attended by around 100 invited guests. 67 islanders have signed up as presenters, serving a maximum audience of 2100 people on the five islands, 28 miles off Lands End. An evening event featuring the islands' bands The Steam Band and Touching Cloth will be held at the Scillonian Club tonight and will see the launch of a commemorative beer brewed by the Ales Of Scilly Brewery, Megahertz. . . http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.2403 (via Mike Terry, Sept 3, BDXC-UK via DXLD) WTFK?? ** U S A. Hurricane Felix logs: 4469 USB, CAP (Civil Air Patrol)-Gulf Coast Hurricane Net, 0040, Sept 3, Information about Hurricane Felix. Reporting winds of 165 mph. Working Southeast CAP 43, Florida CAP 41 & others. 14300 USB, ham Maritime Mobile Net, Sept 3, 1635, Hurricane Felix information. 14325 USB, ham Hurricane Watch Net, 1920, Sept 3, Hurricane Felix advisory report (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see I.W. ** U S A [non]. Another semihour we can forget about hearing XEXQ, 6045, even if it is on: 0500-0530. VOA São Tomé noted signing off after Hausa, Sept 5 at 0530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI's "World Cricket Today" program from England Hello, Attached find this week's edition of Radio Miami International's "World Cricket Today" program, the only show dedicated to cricket on American shortwave radio. This week's program is the first of a two-part series of reports from England. WCT visited the recent Colchester Cricket Week match between Essex and Leicestershire, which is where today's show originated from. Next week, the program will originate from an MSC (UK) League match in Suffolk between Second XI sides from the Kesgrave and Castle clubs. "World Cricket Today" began in March of this year as a daily one- minute update on WRMI of action from the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. Since then, it has been a weekly 15-minute program aired every Sunday morning at 1530 UT on 7385 kHz to North America. It is rebroadcast later in the day on 9955 kHz to both Central and South America. Both broadcasts can be heard throughout much of the world. Also, "World Cricket Today" is seeking sponsors for future broadcasts. For $25US per week, American-born host Bruce Baskin (a native of Seattle) will be able to continue to bring cricket to the world band airwaves from the American continent. While the two-week series is focusing on English cricket, WCT continues to deliver the latest news from international cricket to listeners, with a special emphasis on American cricket. If a sponsor cannot be found by the end of September, "World Cricket Today" will be forced to cease production. "It's a difficult position to be in," Baskin says, "But these broadcasts do cost money and our money on hand is running out. We believe $25US is a minimal investment to keep cricket on shortwave radio in the USA, especially since sponsors will receive four mentions per program plus a thirty-second commercial. Baskin adds, "Cricket is a great sport and deserves more attention in America. We have been doing the program on WRMI faithfully for six months, but time is running out. We need some financial help now, and I'm hoping that someone out there cares enough about cricket to keep this program going. I think it's worth it." CONTACT: Bruce Baskin, Centralia, Washington USA Phone (360) 748-4175 Email wrmi.radio @ hotmail.com [NOT to be taken as for WRMI itself!] (via Mukesh Kumar, Cosmos Club, Muzaffarpur, INDIA, dxldyg via DXLD) An impossible dream? He doesn`t even know when his own program is on. The summer timing is Sunday 1430 UT on 7385; and the repeat, as in 7- 080, moved a couple months ago to UT Mon 0515 on 9955. In 7-083, Mukesh reported an incredible QSL for hearing it in Bihar, India on 7385 at 1430. I doubt either can be heard on SW in Seattle. The real audience should be in the cricket-mad British Caribbean --- those who are awake at 1:15 am, anyway --- but then, cricket fans will stay up all hours to watch/hear live matches from other worldparts (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cricket on shortwave radio, aimed at an American audience --- that, my friends, is a rare business opportunity (Harry Helms W5HLH Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) An army of one, if that. A co-worker of mine once tried to figure out cricket. She spent two days searching and reading online and came away with only the vaguest clue. I'm sure it's a fascinating game, though (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. Additional transmissions and frequency changes of WYFR Family Radio: 1100-1300 on 13810*VLD 200 kW / 220 deg SEAs Tagalog/Indonesian, add. 1100-1400 on 11725 KHB 250 kW / 244 deg EaAs Chinese, addit. 1200-1300 NF 5970 K/A 250 kW / 213 deg EaAs Korean, ex 6005 1300-1500 on 13810*A-A 500 kW / 121 deg SEAs English/Indonesian, add. 1400-1500 NF 9595 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SoAs Marathi, ex 9705 1400-1500 on 11725 KHB 250 kW / 244 deg EaAs English, addit. 1400-1500 on 12075 SAM 250 kW / 140 deg SoAs Kannada, ex Marathi 1400-1500 on 15715 WER 500 kW / 090 deg SoAs Kannada, ex Marathi 1500-1800 on 12020 WER 500 kW / 075 deg SoAs Urdu, ex Urdu/Gujarati/Nepali 1600-1700 on 6000 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg SoAf Portuguese, addit. 1600-1700 on 9440 MEY 250 kW / 328 deg SoAf Portuguese, addit. 1600-1700 on 9735 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs Punjabi, addit. 1600-1700 on 12100 ARM 250 kW / 110 deg SoAs Urdu, ex Pashto/Dari 1800-1900 on 7320 ARM 300 kW / 290 deg WeEu German, addit. * co-ch DW in DRM mode till 1400 and Brother Stair in English from 1400 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** U S A. WWRB / LYQ NDB beacon --- Hi Glenn: Got the green light from FCC today to turn on NDB beacon ' LYQ ', 529 KHZ located at the ROSEANNE airport, FAA ID : 43TN which is co-located with the WWRB transmitter facility. We will QSL the ROSEANNE Beacon : LYQ with reception reports sent via the instructions in the WWRB web site FAQ section under 'other questions' The Beacon is not commissioned for regular service just yet --- we are still installing the ground radials 120 at 600 feet long!!!! The Localizer, Glideslope VASI and Runway lighting / feedline wires are being installed at the same time. Soon as that's done (Radials) then we will flight inspect to check tracking performance, then down the road, apply to the FAA for an NDB instrument approach to our new Runway. By the way, have you seen our aerial and ground photos of WWRB??? Let me know; we will be adding photos of the NDB beacon soon. The photos are located on the wwrb web page: http://www.wwrb.org Click photo gallery. Regards, (Dave Frantz, TN, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ‘MR. WOWO' BOB SIEVERS DIES --- COLLEAGUES RECALL WAY HE CARED FOR OTHERS By Megan Hubartt, The Journal Gazette Published: September 4, 2007 6:00 a.m. [sidebar:] Sievers’ career 1932 – Began working at WOWO while a freshman at South Side High School as an unpaid announcer for a morning gospel show 1936 – Officially hired by Westinghouse, which owned WOWO, for $5 a week 1958 – Made his first trip with Grueninger Travel Service for WOWO travelogues 1981 – Inducted into the Indiana Broadcasting Hall of Fame 1987 – Retired from WOWO after 51 “official” years on the air 2007 – Nominated for the National Radio Hall of Fame Legendary morning radio personality Bob Sievers, known as “Mr. WOWO,” died Monday. Sievers, 90, retired from his morning show on WOWO 1190 AM radio in 1987 after more than 50 years at the station. During his five decades with WOWO, he earned the title of “Mr. WOWO” as host on the popular morning show “Little Red Barn Show” that aired from 5 to 7 a.m., and the Bob Sievers show that aired from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturdays. “I can’t think of anyone more influential in this town, and I’ve been here 35 years,” said Ron Gregory, a close friend and former WOWO radio announcer. “I can’t think of anybody who comes close to the impact that Bob Sievers had. It’s definitely the end of an era.” In the days when the station’s 50,000-watt signal was not competing with the number of stations it does today, Sievers’ voice – and popularity – stretched across the country and around the world. . . http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/JG/20070904/LOCAL/709040325&SearchID=73292543104188 (Ft Wayne Journal Gazette via gh, DXLD) And there have been several follow-up stories about tributes to him, etc. Wow - truly the end of an era. I grew up about an hour's drive south of Ft. Wayne. I'd say nearly 90 percent of people within at least a 100 mile radius listened to WOWO and Bob Sievers every morning ... EVERY morning. Even many more in the pre-dawn hours when the signal propagated over the pole and south into the Caribbean with ease. Especially in the winter, he either brought us the good news of school closings or the bad news of "get out to the bus because the snow wasn't deep enough." In addition to the weather, we heard the farm markets, corny but always good-natured humor, world and local news, basketball scores and the latest from the Ft. Wayne Komets. It was guys like him who gave AM stations their unique personalities, and made it worth listening to back then (Jim Pogue, KH2AR/WPE9HLJ/KG6DX1A, Memphis, Tennessee USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) OBIT ** U S A. WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA BANDSCAN Stations that stop the scan on my car radio at the West Yellowstone Town Park: 920 KWYS soft adcon/mor 91.9 K220GV classical // KBYI-100.5 That's it. KEZQ is off - neither 92.9 nor 96.5. K266AU-101.1 also not heard. The scan on the car radio does not stop at Old Faithful! NO station puts in a "regular public would listen" signal there. A 94.3 station (Red Lodge, MT?) and a 91.9 signal (still K220GV?) are intelligible, and KWYS might be listenable if not for QRN. One would think with the huge number of tourists Yellowstone could support at least one radio station... Yellowstone is a good place for meteor scatter! (Doug Smith, Sept 3, WTFDA via DXLD) Garrett Wollman and I were through West Yellowstone about a week ago, just after IRCA. 920 and 91.9 were the only ones on then, too. No KEZQ, no KWYS-FM on 102.9. And the sign on the KWYS studios listed only AM 920, too. Most odd. s (Scott Fybush, tonight in Twin Falls, Idaho, ibid.) How about all the TIS that used to be on 1610? (gh) If memory serves 94.3 is a repeater out of Cowley, Wyoming. The drive from Idaho into W. Yellowstone crosses a huge volcanic caldera up there at Henry's Fork, Idaho. You can look around up top and really see the rim of the ancient volcano (Tom Kraft, Billings, MT, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. KHHO-850 NIGHT IBOC HEAD START --- KHHO-850 Tacoma is on with IBOC as I write this at 11:25 PDT Monday night. Can't tell if they are on day power. I got up because of a real rarity - thunder and lightning. I haven't seen a show like this in the 11 years we've been here. Too much in the way of rain and clouds to see the non-stop bolts but plenty of diffused light; we could only hear them about 10% of the time so someone to the NW of us is really getting the brunt of this. Bremerton? Port Townsend? I actually got up to see if there were any tower hits but everyone is on the air. A little KKOB under KTTH but nothing else of consequence. As you might expect, 840 is all white noise; KPAM is there on 860 but is unintelligible (Pete Taylor Tacoma, WA 12225w 4719n ICF2010 + Kiwa air core loop DX398; Palomar loop, UT Sept 4, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks for the notice, Pete. KHHO is still on IBOC at 2340 [PDT? = 0640 UT], but I'm sure it's night power, since I can hear stations on 840 and 860, and even partially phase them on 850 (with a portable), as usual for their night pattern. The hiss on 840 and 860 is nasty though, when the portable (Sony S5W) is pointed at them. 73, (Gary [full name and location unknown], ibid.) ** VATICAN CITY. Frequency changes of Vatican Radio in DRM mode: 1100-1200 NF 11630 SMG 060 kW / 300 deg to NoAm, ex 13770 2300-2345 NF 9755 SMG 060 kW / 300 deg to NoAm, ex 9750 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 5 via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ARGELIA, 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 1701- 1705, captada el 4 de septiembre en árabe, inicio de emisión con el himno nacional, locutor con identificación y presentación, canto del Cor`án, SINPO 44333. Parece confirmarse la cancelación del servicio en español a las 1700 (José Miguel Romero. Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915. ZNBC. Lusaka. (tentative) 0517-0530 fade-out 3 Sept. Ads/jingle in vernacular/English mix, cockcrow at 0525, quick yak by W & fade. 0250-0456 (occasional checks) 4 Sept., ballad, group hymn, kid's chorus with drums, "our program is...'jump-jam' on Radio 1" at 0449, vernacular/English soca-sounding song and pennywhistle/vocal to 0456 tune-out. Splatter from 5920 English religion [WBOH] after 0400 (Dan Sheedy, Cardiff, CA R75/Kiwa & 120' N/S random WOR, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4965. CVC/V Africa. Lusaka. (tentative), 0511-0525 fade 3 Sept. English hip-hop and vernacular/English yak dying into the noise. 0410-0455 f/out 4 Sept., vernacular & English hymns, with altar call, English sermon "that's right, my friends, the Bible.." to 0455 fade into my local giganto-awful noise (Dan Sheedy, Cardiff, CA R75/Kiwa & 120' N/S random WOR, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9505 NO ID, francés. Emisora religiosa. Family Radio ??? Saludos cordiales. 9505 NO ID, 2030-2050, captada el 4 de septiembre en francés, locutor con comentarios, constantes referencias a Internet, también referencias a Israel; se intuye de fondo otra emisora, probablemente Radio Farda, locutora con comentarios y música de fondo. La emisora parece religiosa, referencias a la Biblia y la palabra de Dios, SINPO 54554. Family Radio?? 73 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ MEDIUMWAVE CHANGES PROPOSED IN AFROEURASIA http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/publications/brific-ter/files/ge75/2007/GE75_116.pdf (via Ben Dawson, DXLD) The bulk of them are in Russia, but also some interesting stuff especially from the Mideast, South Asia (gh, DXLD) Re: FROM RIO TO THE RIO GRANDE, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN LATIN AMERICA Glenn, It was nice to see the mention of my new book, on DXLD. Thanks for giving it some space. You approached it very nicely and raised some interesting questions. When I first started writing the book in 2004, I intended it to motivate a Christian audience to be more alert to and concerned about issues in Latin America . After all, evangelical Christians have led much of the attention concerning Darfur and other world issues, so why not Latin America ? However, as the work progressed, I found that 95 percent of what I was writing was equally applicable to a general audience. So, I dropped the idea of a more narrowly-focused book and expanded the topics and approach. Does being a Christian, a pastor and a missionary affect what I wrote? To a certain degree, yes --- our world-view affects what each of us writes. I tried to be careful, however, not to overplay that at all so that it would be usable by a wider audience. I tried to be very cautious politically not to let my particular partisan views be too obvious. The issue isn’t Bush or Clinton, it’s long-standing neglect by the U.S. of issues in Latin America to our detriment. So, I hope that folks on all sides of the theological and political fences can find this book enlightening and helpful as they struggle with issues such as changing politics, poverty, immigration, the environment, drug trafficking and so forth in the region. The book is available at http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01969.htm as well as at http://www.amazon.com The title does indeed refer to Rio de Janeiro and the Rio Grande River, but the book covers the whole spectrum of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Latin America. The title was designed to catch the book store browser’s attention. I have done more writing in the past year than what appears on the web site http://www.kennethdmacharg.com or http://www.missionaryjournalist.org Someone developed the site for me, but still hasn’t instructed me on how to update it. I write about an article a month. I also do non- published writing for various groups such as a major paper that I wrote by request for an upcoming international assembly of Christian Camping International/Latin America. And, yes, there is a section on the web site with many of the article that I have written about radio. Eventually I hope to recreate my articles that appeared in Monitoring Times, but it’s a matter of time and technical ability. Polly and I are semi-retired, living in Carrollton , Georgia near our daughter and her family which includes our three grandchildren. Our son and his wife live in St. Petersburg, FL where he is on the faculty of Eckerd College. We travel a lot --- in January and February we drove round-trip from here to San José, Costa Rica (8,269 miles) visiting a number of mission project along the way and also seeing friends in several countries. The stops have resulted in a number of articles. This coming December and January we will spend in Honduras while I serve as the interim pastor of an English-language, international, interdenominational protestant church in San Pedro Sula. It is similar to the church that I served in Costa Rica while also teaching Communications and Mass Media at the Evangelical University of the Americas from 2004-2006. I trust you are doing well. Take care. (Ken MacHarg, 102 Comly Rich Dr., Carrollton, GA 30117, 678-796-1601 kdmacharg @ gmail.com http://www.missionaryjournalist.org http://www.kennethdmacharg.com From Rio to the Rio Grande , Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America --- Available soon via http://www.atlasbooks.com as well as in bookstores and on other bookselling websites, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ INVITATION TO A DX-LOCATION IN FINNISH LAPPLAND My name is Jari Ruohomäki and I am an experienced Finnish DX-er. I have been dx-ing since 1973 and I have concentrated on North-, Central- and South-American DX-ing since the beginning of 1980´s. I have a collection of 1040 NA-QSL´s and 1030 LA-QSL´s. During the last few years I have listened to American radio in Lemmenjoki in Lapland which is situated in the most northern part of Finland. Probably you have heard about expeditions to Lemmenjoki. However, I have also been dx-ing in my freetime cottage in Muhos about 40 kilometres southeast of my hometown Oulu, 500 kilometres north of Helsinki on the far end of the Baltic Sea. I bought this cottage 5 years ago and I have erected several beverage antennas towards North- and Latin-America: 235, 247, 258, 271, 282, 293, 305 and 319 degrees. All of them are 800-1000 metres of length. I have also a shorter antenna towards Asia (400 meters). Also a beverage can be erected towards Alaska (350 degrees). It has taken a lot of time and patience to set up this QTH. I have also had some plans to take off all the antennas from the forests. However, if I can find some fellow DX-ers anywhere in Europe to use this QTH, I am going to maintain it also in the future. I have had several Finnish dx-ers there and also a couple of Italians in 2004 and 2005. The cottage can be used also during winter time. The cottage is like a small home (60 m2): warm water, shower, sauna, fridge, microwave owen etc. I offer this QTH for those DX-ers who I can trust on. If some members could be interested in listening in Arctic conditions, please contact me. The price is 32 euros / day / person. It contains transportation from the international airport of Oulu to the cottage and back. My equipment can be used, too (2 NRD-535D receivers, 1 SDR-IQ). If you have any questions, I am pleased to answer at jpr @ ope.ouka.fi Also photos are available (Jari Ruohomäki, Oulu, Finland, Aug 26, DSWCI DX Window Sept 5 via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NRC / WTFDA CONVENTION 2007, BOISE Some shots on http://www.nrcdxas.org/convention/07nrccon/2007photos.html (Doug Smith, WTFDA via DXLD) CELEBRATION OF OFFSHORE RADIO The Radio Academy hosted a Celebration of Offshore Radio at the Sugar Reef restaurant/club just off Piccadilly Circus on August 4th. I went with 6 fellow Reading International Radio Group attendees and offshore radio enthusiasts including World DX Club member Paul Walton. Nearly a hundred 1960's DJ's, engineers, crew and onshore staff were at the event, some flying in from Australia and Canada, along with many more ex listeners and current Radio Academy members to pay tribute to the pioneering work of the offshore stations in challenging the governments broadcasting monopoly and paving the way for a greater range of BBC networks and the introduction of commercial radio in the UK. Arriving just after noon and registering I made my way downstairs looking at much offshore radio memorabilia adorning the walls. The downstairs bar, where a buffet was available, was packed. The ex offshore staff were wearing name badges and all were happy to chat to their former listeners during the event. A press call was then made and the offshore staff gathered for a group photograph, at one point Emperor Rosko, Johnnie Walker and Robbie Dale were at the front holding a black pirate flag with skull and crossbones aloft. We then went upstairs for a series of panel discussions. The first one was The Sound of the Nation, a look back at Radio Atlanta and Radio Caroline up to the Marine Offences Bill. Panellists were Bryan Vaughan (Radio Atlanta and Caroline South), Graham Webb (Caroline South and North, as news director his was the voice on the Radio Caroline Newbeat - fast and factual jingle), Keith Skues (Caroline South, later Radio London), Nick Bailey (newsreader on both Caroline ships, now a familiar voice on Classic FM) and Roger Twiggy Day (Caroline South). Roger described those days as the best he had had in radio and lamented the fact that, in his opinion, commercial radio was now being influenced more and more by accountants and shareholders rather than people who loved music and radio. The second panel was The Stations on Sticks looking at the fort based stations chaired by Ralph Bernard of GCAP. Panellists were David Allan (Radio 390), Brian Cullingford (KING Radio and Radio 390), Guy Hamilton (Radio Essex and BBMS) and Mark Wesley (Radio Essex). David commented that on 390 the programming was targeted at housewives and they were instructed to "treat a woman as a lady". Brian Cullingford said that they had been told to speak like Home Service announcers ten years previously, before he joined the station he had been working for the BBC as an interviewer for Today and other programmes. Conditions on the forts were somewhat primitive; Guy Hamilton told of going to the loo which was a hole in the floor with a 90 foot drop. Mark Wesley applied to join Radio City when 17, he was told to finish his A levels. He showed a graphics virtual tour of one of the gun tower forts. Tom Edwards, who was to represent Radio City on the panel, was unable to attend but we did hear a few words from Bob le Roi, who joined the station at just 15 years old, and from station owner Reg Calvert's daughter Candy. Then the microphone was given to royalty, Prince Michael of Sealand, Roy Bates' son, was sitting just in front of me, and said a few words. The Jocks Who Rocked The Ocean spotlighted the Northern stations and was chaired by Tony Currie. Panellists were from Radio Scotland Jack McLaughlin, a great character who did a Ceilidh programme of traditional music on Radio Scotland as well as the usual Top 40 fare, and Ben Healey, Mike Ahern from Radio Caroline North and Noel Miller from Radio 270. Mike spoke about how as a child he had attended the same school as Maurice Cole, aka Kenny Everett and how comfortable the conditions were on the North ship compared with the other vessels, all the staff had their own cabins. Noel Miller on the other hand spoke about conditions on the much smaller Oceaan 7, all the DJ's slept in bunks around the mess room and the vessel was not very stable and the DJ's were often seasick, Paul Burnett used to always do his programmes with a bucket between his legs. One night the ship had drifted for 70 miles in bad weather and the Captain, previously used to Hudson River barges rather than the stormy North Sea, sat under the Mess Table and burst into tears, the Chief Engineer taking over the ship. Alone among the offshore stations the ship used to sail into Bridlington early morning and sail back out again to begin broadcasting. Conditions on Radio Scotland were also primitive; the vessel had no engines and when they first came on board there was no heating, much different to what they had been promised by station owner Tommy Shields. After a half hour tea break the next session was It's Smooth Sailing from the Highly Successful Sound of Wonderful Radio London chaired by Radio Academy director Trevor Dann and featured what many believe to be the most successful 60's offshore station Radio London. Panellists were Tony Blackburn, Duncan Johnson, Norman St. John, Pete Brady and Ed Stewart. They spoke of three great Radio London broadcasters no longer with us Tony Windsor, Kenny Everett and John Peel. Tony described how when on Caroline he had marvelled at the sheer professionalism of Radio London's format, jingles and presentation and hadn't hesitated when they offered him a job, he still feels it's the best music station the UK has ever had. Ed Stewart told of the tremendous spirit and camaraderie on the ship and how he had received a world exclusive, the first copy of the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album which he played two tracks from and passed on to John Peel. Duncan Johnson mentioned that, contrary to what would be acceptable in today's safety conscious world, he had asked about lifejackets and been taken to the only one they had on board. Pete Brady and Norman St John both spoke about how, being 3 miles offshore away from management, they were able to work more independently and be creative in their development of the station which showed, most particularly in Kenny Everett's work. Tony Blackburn said that he left the station early so he would be well placed for a job with the BBC and described how the station`s closedown had been piped around the internal system at Broadcasting House, which showed how well thought of it was and how it influenced the BBC's planning for Radio One. The final session was No Man Will Ever Forget August 14th 1967 chaired by Phil Martin who had worked on Britain Radio and Radio 355, panellists were Johnnie Walker and Robbie Dale from Radio Caroline South and Mark Sloane from Radio Caroline North. Robbie and Johnnie had gone on leave and rejoined the Mi Amigo on August 14 to find all their fellow presenters leaving just them and newsreader Ross Brown on board, two more presenters joined shortly afterwards. Johnnie had discussed with Ronan what to say at midnight beforehand and Ronan had suggested turning the situation round and thanking the Wilson Government for recognising their right to be there. They had gone from tenders arriving every day with mail, newspapers and supplies to being tendered from Holland, a 24 hour plus journey. The day after the act an indignant holidaymaker came out in a dinghy to see them and kept them supplied with essentials for the week of his holiday, he said he knew he was now breaking the law but did not care. When Johnnie travelled back to England once with his passport showing his real name of Peter Dingley a Customs official had said to him "You're Johnnie Walker from Caroline aren't you", he at first neither confirmed nor denied it but eventually owned up thinking that he would now be arrested under the Marine Offences Act, in fact the Customs man asked for his autograph as his son was a regular Caroline listener. Robbie described how he, as senior DJ, had to ensure that all the Major Minor plug records were played, as it was the stations only source of income, despite this some were thrown over the deck. Both stations continued to run many adverts, none were paid for. The legislation affecting the North Ship did not come into force till August 31st due to a dispute between the Isle of Man and UK governments. Mark Sloane remembers joining the North ship on August 14 cheered on by a large crowd in Ramsey. After the Act applied to the North ship they had a similar long tender journey from Dundalk, the Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey, no friend of the British, having assured Ronan O'Rahilly that he had no intention of passing any legislation against Radio Caroline and that tendering from the Republic could be done without any interference. Johnnie described 3 March 1968 when the Wijsmuller tugs arrived to tow the Mi Amigo away at 5 a.m. due to a financial dispute over tender fees, he knew it was the end and knew that millions of radios would be tuned to the frequency and hearing silence. They would continue to keep their radios on the Caroline frequency hoping that there were technical problems and that they would return to the air During this session Ronan O'Rahilly appeared on the sidelines, he did not wish to join the panel but was given a great round of applause by the audience and punched the air defiantly, he chatted to many listeners and former DJ's after the event, many got a picture of him, Johnnie Walker and Tony Blackburn chatting and posing for photographs afterwards. Johnnie Walker did a book signing and I bought a copy of his autobiography and had a few words with him. There are many photographs of the event online, there are 144 at http://www.offshore-radio.de with links to other sets (Mike Barraclough, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NATO RELEASES MAJOR REPORT ON EFFECTS OF BPL NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has issued a report of the expected effects that widespread BPL application would have on the HF spectrum. Particular emphasis is placed on ambient noise in "quite rural" zones and the "Absolute Protection Requirement". The calculations assume ubiquitous installation of BPL. The report concludes: a) High probability that BPL would cause increased noise levels at sensitive receiver sites given the projected market penetration; and b) The percentages are highly influenced by assumptions on transmitter EIRP, BPL market penetration, and duty cycle." The entire report (9Mb) can be downloaded at: http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/TR/RTO-TR-IST-050/$$TR-IST-050-ALL.pdf (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org:80/news/september2007/nato_bpl_report.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: AUSTRALIA; GERMANY; GUIANA FRENCH; USA [non] ++++++++++++++++++++ VATICAN. HD/IBOC: CANADA; USA KHHO RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIOS: see CUBA [and non] AUXILIARY SITE ANOMALIES I see WWL has it licensed for 50 kW Day, but I also notice a CP for 10 kW Day/5 kW night. Is the CP for an auxiliary location? And if so, why are there two different power levels, day/night? Why not 10/10 kW or even 50/50 kW? -- Sincerely, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., Sept 1, BC list via DXLD) Yes. Different radiator height at the auxiliary site, and the requirement to protect Class Bs. And, possibly new foreign Class As Recall when 660/880 in NYC installed an auxiliary it was licensed at that power which produced less radiation towards other co-channels at the critical angles towards those co-channels. Something around 30 kW, as I recall. In the instant case, WWL's auxiliary will be at co-owned WWWL [1350]. WWL's licensed facility is two 182 degree towers spaced 138 degrees on a 0 degree bearing. WWWL's facility, when operated on 870 has one 118 degree tower and one 95 degree tower on a 3.5 degree bearing. Alas, the taller tower is pointed towards the service area, and that is not ideal. Ideally, you want the taller tower to be pointed away from the service area, towards the nulls. Operating ND2 with WWWL's taller tower appears to be the best option for a true auxiliary site. Sure, WWWL's array could be used but there would be a not insignificant investment in allocation studies and in phasor design and installation. And, in ongoing maintenance of same. Now, it just may be that the issue is not domestic allocations at all, but foreign allocations, in which case 10 kW days and 5 kW nights might be all that could be accommodated. I see FOUR foreign Class As to the south of WWL, with powers between 2 kW and 100 kW, full-time, so that must be the reason for the limitation, if operated ND2. Now, there is one other array in N.O. which has a 0 degree bearing, and towers that are equal in height, but that facility is not owned by the WWL/WWWL licensee. (PeterH5322, ibid.) Yes, the CP is for an auxiliary site. The different power levels are to afford the same protection as the main 50 kW directional array (2 tower DA1 - same power, etc. day and night.) the AUX location is a ND2 - non-directional, but different power day and night. Without doing the numbers, but looking at the shape of the 50 kW pattern, (and without plotting the LATLON of either site), I`d make the educated guess that the power and site were chosen to afford as close to the identical coverage as possible over New Orleans as possible, without diminishing the protection afforded whichever other stations need protecting. And the different power day / night is because AM signals travel farther at night for various reasons, so, less power means - usually - better protection for the station(s) being protected, not a desire to reduce the light bill... Further examples - W I B C, Indianapolis: 50 kW day, 10 kW night, DA2 (four towers day, six night). In Indianapolis, hard to tell in most locales whether they're day or night, but dramatic differences out away from the city. I forget just how many stations they're protecting on 1070 - at least one is Canadian, IIRC - but a look at the patterns tells the story. WLW, [700] Cincinnati. Been there long enough to not be required to protect ANYbody - everybody else has to protect THEM; hence 50 kW Unlimited, ND. Ditto WSM, [650] Nashville, TN. The reasons have to do with how AM propagates, and the amount of acceptable interference allowed. Until the last shakeup in the band, a lot of stations had similar listings - what used to be called Class IV locals, on 1400, forex, had 1 kw D, 0.25 kw N, ND, for example (Tom S., ibid.) The Class As on 1070 are located so far apart ... Los Angeles and Moncton ... that both can operate 50 kW ND-U. 1070 has too many Class Bs to count on four hands. Especially in the Midwest, there are 1070s every hundred miles or so. After WIBC protects KNX and CBA, it protects Memphis, Birmingham, Madison, Hannibal and likely several others. The front side is limited by Greenville and Charlottesville. There are no 1070s anywhere in the West or Northeast. Everyone protects L.A. and Moncton as if they are the de-facto Class I-As they once were. I believe there is room to drop-in another Class B on 1070 at the point where KY, IN and IL meet. Probably 1 kW days and 0.25 kW nights (PeterH5322, ibid.) Actually, a 1070 at Evansville, IN or Paducah, KY, would more likely be 0.25 kw U or DA1; take another look at WIBC's day pattern. Nice lobe aimed roughly AT Evansville/Paducah (Tom S., ibid.) The 'protection' to Hannibal is incidental KHMO has a null at 85 degrees, to protect WIBC (Gary Glaenzer, ibid.) In any m x n array with few towers, say, six or less, with a widely spaced sub-array, say, equal to or greater than 180 degrees, and with a narrowly spaced sub-array, say, equal to or less than 90 degrees, there will likely be incidental nulls as so few true nulls may be produced with complete control by the designer. Obviously, the more towers, the more control which is possible. The widely spaced sub-array will usually give pairs of nulls on-axis, with symmetrical radiation maxima "normal" to that axis. The narrowly spaced sub-array, such as that employed at KHMO, will often, but not always, give several pairs of nulls on- or off-axis. The resulting array is often, but not always, a simple multiplication of the two sub-arrays. At least before the days of computer-designed patterns ... and I developed my unpublished mainframe-based directional array analysis and design software system in 1965, and the first-published system with similar capabilities was published in a circa 1969 IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting issue ... the resulting pattern _was_ simple multiplication of the two sub-arrays. In KHMO's case, the major axis of the two-tower sub-array of 74-254 degrees appears to be for protection of CBA and KNX, whereas the additional nulls provided by minor axis of the three-tower sub-array of 164 degrees appear to be for protection of Lookout Mountain, Birmingham and Memphis. And, of course, Indianapolis, with a complementary null on the opposite side of the array which may have facilitated Wichita. The nulls in KHMO's widely spaced sub-array, which would otherwise be on-axis, are "rotated" by the action of the narrowly spaced sub-array. The bearing and distance from Hannibal to Moncton is about 63.1 degrees and about 1418 miles. The bearing and distance from Hannibal to Los Angeles is about 264.0 degrees and about 1539 miles. The amount of "rotation" necessary to protect CBA is 10.9 degrees, counter-clockwise. The amount of "rotation" necessary to protect KNX is 10.0 degrees, clockwise. From the FCC pattern data ... http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&hpat=2&facid=5205 ... both of those requirements, 10 degrees more-or-less, counter- clockwise and clockwise, are being achieved. The very good protection provided to CBA certainly protects WIBC on an incidental basis, just as the very good protection provided to KNX certainly protects Wichita on an incidental basis. KHMO's night pattern has numerous augmentations, and what would otherwise be true nulls are being filled by the addition of the required q-factor. The desired pattern was to better serve the emerging suburbs of Indianapolis, plus West Lafayette. But, it seems that the lobe to the SW was intended to serve Bloomington. This is the second iteration of WIBC, after a forced move on account of a freeway (peterh5322, ibid.) W I B C DA-2 is a 4-tower day, six tower night array. I once tried tracing out the array to see which tower did what, and got a headache. Basically, though, the day towers end-fire in the general direction of Cincinnati - less a few degrees; IIRC, the orientation is 110 deg. Not sure just what causes the minor lobe southwest, almost 90 degrees off axis; if I had to hazard a guess, it's the interaction of the paired two-tower sets that generate the main lobe. Adding the fifth and sixth towers eliminates that minor lobe, apparently - while the overall size is reduced by the power reduction to 10 kW. W I B C has one of the LONGEST pattern change off-air periods I've ever heard, though - not surprising when you consider everything going on. I bet you need hearing protectors in the transmitter house at pattern change, though - that's a LOT of RF contactors firing off, NTM the finals' power switching off-change-on. (IIRC, they used to have a separate transmitter for nights, which made it even MORE interesting!) (Remember the olden days of EBS? 5 seconds off, five on, five off, 1kHz tone? W I B C is / was the NDEA primary, and the alarm receivers would always trigger at sunrise and sunset...) (Tom S., ibid.) CAR RADIO CELEBRATES 75TH BIRTHDAY From 'Earth Times' Author: 'DPA' Berlin - Almost every new car today is equipped with a radio and CD player, a far cry from the car radio unveiled at a Berlin exhibition on August 19, 1932. Developed by Blaupunkt, the AS 5, even had remote control fitted to the steering wheel. But this was a necessity at the time as it was so large that it didn?t fit into the dashboard, according to Blaupunkt spokesman Joachim Siedler. The 15-kilogramme gadget had to be stored in the car where it could not be seen and the remote control was mounted near the steering wheel. It took some time for the car radio to become a mass product. "Philips for the first time offered a radio for the mass market in 1947," according to Eva Appold of the Siemens-VDO car parts supplier. Some 1,000 units of these early D 78 A radios were manufactured every month. But the real technological step forward came two years later. "It was a real milestone in the history of the car radio in 1949 when the units were reduced in size so that they could fit into the dashboard," says Roland Stehle of the German Association of Entertainment and Communication Electronics (gfu) based in Frankfurt. Since then, the car radio has become just one part of the infotainment system in a modern car, sharing its place with navigation and other systems. Full story at: http://www.earthtimes.org:80/articles/show/102292.Html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Solar activity is very, very low, and geomagnetic activity is also at extremely quiet levels, certainly what scientists have expected for this downward phase of the solar cycle. The very low solar activity now lasting for several weeks has led to what could best be described as about the worst HF propagation conditions seen during the present solar cycle, but things may take a turn for the better as we approach the autumn equinox. ARNIE CORO’S EXCLUSIVE HF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar activity is now at extremely low levels, with the solar flux reaching almost the 65 minimum units ever recorded during a solar cycle minimum. So amigos, propagation conditions are going to be really poor or simply non existent at frequencies above 20 megaHertz for many more days. Best DX band for radio amateurs is going to be 20 meters up, but don’t expect fantastic openings of any kind. 6 meter to the South may happen during your local afternoon and early evening hours as we enter into the Trans Equatorial Propagation season. For short wave listeners, best daytime bands for near FM quality listening will be 19 and 16 meters, with later in the day 25 meters running a close third place. Keep those receivers tuning from the highest possible frequency they tune to DOWN, and when you detect the first DX signals, mark that frequency, as there are good chances that this would be very near the F2 layer maximum useable frequency for a given path (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 4, HCDX via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2007 Sep 04 2124 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/weekly.html # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 27 August - 02 September 2007 Solar activity was very low. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels during 28 - 31 August and again on 02 September. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to active levels during 27 - 28 August with brief minor to major storm periods detected at middle and high latitudes, respectively, on 28 August. Activity declined to quiet levels at all latitudes during 29 - 30 August. Activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels during 31 August - 01 September with active to minor storm periods detected at high latitudes on 01 September. A further increase to quiet to minor storm levels occurred on the last day of the period with major storm periods detected at high latitudes. ACE solar wind data indicated two recurrent high speed streams affected the field during the summary period. The first stream commenced late on 26 August and eventually reached a peak velocity of 695 km/sec at 27/1848 UTC. The proton density increase in advance of this stream reached a peak of 71 p/cc at 26/1627 UTC. IMF variance associated with the stream included a peak IMF Bt of 21 nT at 26/1711 UTC and a minimum IMF Bz reading of -12 nT at 26/1952 UTC. The second stream commenced late on 31 August and eventually reached a peak velocity of 682 km/sec at 02/2141 UTC. The proton density increase in advance of this stream was negligible. IMF variance associated with the stream included a peak IMF Bt of 11 nT at 01/2354 UTC and a minimum IMF Bz reading of -09 nT at 02/00001 UTC. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 SEPT - 01 OCT 2007 Solar activity is expected to be very low. 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 05 - 10 September and 24 September - 01 October. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels on 05 September. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels on 06 September due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 07 - 28 September. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to minor storm levels during 29 - 30 September as another recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream affects the field. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels on 01 October as coronal hole effects subside. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2007 Sep 04 2124 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 Sep 04 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2007 Sep 05 68 5 2 2007 Sep 06 68 15 4 2007 Sep 07 68 10 3 2007 Sep 08 68 5 2 2007 Sep 09 68 5 2 2007 Sep 10 68 5 2 2007 Sep 11 68 8 3 2007 Sep 12 68 8 3 2007 Sep 13 68 5 2 2007 Sep 14 68 5 2 2007 Sep 15 68 5 2 2007 Sep 16 68 5 2 2007 Sep 17 70 5 2 2007 Sep 18 70 5 2 2007 Sep 19 70 5 2 2007 Sep 20 70 5 2 2007 Sep 21 70 8 3 2007 Sep 22 70 10 3 2007 Sep 23 70 10 3 2007 Sep 24 70 10 3 2007 Sep 25 70 8 3 2007 Sep 26 70 5 2 2007 Sep 27 70 5 2 2007 Sep 28 70 10 3 2007 Sep 29 70 20 5 2007 Sep 30 70 15 4 2007 Oct 01 70 8 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1373, DXLD) ###