DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-115, September 23, 2007 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO Extra 77 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular; not 9/10/07] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies to 0500] 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. Re 7-114, PUBLICATIONS: ``A detail for 15476 LRA36 is that its azimuth is 180 degrees. Really? So they are aiming at the South Pole, instead of back toward Buenos Aires and the rest of the world? No wonder it`s so hard to hear (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` This makes sense, since the primary purpose of the station is to serve the numerous Argentinian bases in Antartica which are generally located south of the Esperanza base (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aoki also shows it as 180, but from same root source? I thought its main purpose was to put that part of ``Argentina`` on the map and be heard back in the rest of Argentina. The other Argie bases along the peninsula would likely be too close for 15 MHz skip zone, especially in winter. Don`t they use a dipole? Then it could be bi-direxional. Are there any Argentines at the US South Pole base? Also, I vaguely recall that when the station started it had a 49 mb frequency, 6030? Which would have been much more suitable for reaching nearby bases (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The ILG list showed 180 degrees since at least the B02 season. As it was discussed in connection with Kurdish clandestines, also the Aoki list is originally based on the ILG list (Bernd Trutenau, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.18, RAE, 2341-2355:35*, Sept 21, LA ballads, tango music, IS, with "RAE, Argentina" ID, fair (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASCENSION ISLAND [non]. Ascencion [sic] Island. The new frequency of the stations broadcasting from Ascension Island to Sierra Leone and Liberia under the names “Star Radio” and Radio “Cotton Tree News” is 13760 kHz used from 07 to 08 hours (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program Sept 21 via DXLD) Don`t you believe it. 13760 is from Rampisham, UK, as reported sesquiweeks ago in DXLD. Some other lists are still confused about this too. Don`t read DXLD == be ill-informed (gh) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar, 1525 23 Aug in Hindi but OM mentioned Mena and Bangla. Headline news in English after ID "this is Bangladesh Betar", mentioning elections, analytical at 1532, and university quality. A commentary at 1540 (a delegation about destabilizing the country). Resume of weekly news and mention of Ramadan. About education institution. 34333 (Zacharias Liangas, Fourka, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. CLAND, 6225, Radio Racya, 1532 20.8 with news in Russian with ID, 1539 about production business economics. ID at 1545. Song at 1528. ID by YL then a theme on culture and with many mentions on BLR `Hvalev'. Mini news near TOH 1600. "Wo sluhaci Radio Racya (Zacharias Liangas, Fourka, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. CLANDESTINE (Biafra), 15665.30, Voice of Biafra International via WHRI. *2000-2040 Sept. 21 [Friday]. Sign-on at 1959 for WHRI, into tribal music, ID 'You are tuned to Voice of Biafra International broadcast, coming to you from Washington. DC. Transmitting on 15.67 MHz in the 19 meter band, bringing you matters of interest to Biafra." Opening prayer, newscast and news analysis segment featured in both English & Igbo (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) V. of Biafra International via WHRI, 15665, Friday Sept 21 at 2041 tune in with speaker denouncing atrocities of Gowan, etc. Signal VG fading deeply during which the long-path echo could be heard. 2053 played `God Bless Africa`, 2055 sign-off ID still imagining it is on ``15.67 MHz``, some hilife music and 2159 WHRI closing. Meanwhile, I was also hearing NIGERIA, q.v. It seems VOBI has some vague plan to increase from weekly to daily broadcasts, so should check this on non- Fridays too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.3, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 2334 - 2337, Sep 15, Spanish, Musical Program "La Factoria del Ritmo", ID "Exitos de Radio San Miguel estan contigo", 24332 (Nicolás Eramo, Chascomus, Argentina, Sept 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4699.41, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 0910-0930, Sept 22, local Bolivian music. Spanish announcements. Poor. Weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Amigos, Rádio Nacional OM de Brasília iniciou (ou está para iniciar) testes DRM em parceria com a UnB. Pelo que pude depreender de mensagem que recebi, os testes seriam só das 21h às 22h, pelo menos inicialmente, horário em que o analógico teria um transmissor reserva. Como sabem, a Nacional tem concessão para 300 kW, mas a potência irradiada é de 50 kW. Amanhã tento mais informações com Toshiro. Abraços (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, Sept 20, radioescutas yg via DXLD) 21-22 LT or UT?? This is a constant problem on this list; but explicitly says the power on 980 is 50 kW, not listed 300 (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Eu não sei se as ondas curtas de 6170 kHz da Rádio Cultura de SP passa por manutenção ou está um tanto abandonada, funcionando precariamente. Na faixa de 49m, mais ou menos entre as frequências 5990 e 6000 kHz, há um ruído forte acompanhado de modulação. Esse ruído, com modulação quase ininteligível é, nada mais nada menos, provocado pelos harmônicos [sic] da QRG de 6170 kHz ondas curtas da Cultura -sp-. Depois que a Fundação Rádio e TV Cultura trocou de direção, há uma certa relutância em manter as ondas curtas em ordem. Há até um pouco- caso por elas. Esta frequência retransmite a programação da FM 103.3 MHz. Forte 73 a todos, (Luiz Chaine Neto, Grid locator GG67HK, LIMEIRA -SP- 20-9-2007, radioescutas via DXLD) 5995 is also a big DRM hangout from Europe and Australia; rule that out before blaming RCSP. Is this heard in local daytime? That would do it (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. CKZU, 6160, Vancouver coming in well at 34443, Sept 22 at 1259 with ID as ``CBC Radio One in British Columbia``, plug local ``North by Northwest`` show following news, 1300 World Report (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 7-114: Moses Znaimer and AM 740 --- Don't want to rain on the parade of generally favorable reaction to Moses Znaimer's recent purchases of AM 740 and CFMX 96.3 FM, but, as all you Toronto market boys on this list will surely have long ago realized --- Znaimer has a COLOSSAL ego and tends to use his media assets in ways hat keep "himself" Mr. Hip, in the media limelight. His stunt-like "relaunch" of the classical music station and changing the call letters from CFMX to CFMZ (Guess what the 'MZ' stands for ???) are typical of his egotistical personality and need to be the whole show. I just hope that in the course of making himself the centre of everything around these two prized media assets he doesn't 'overZnaimerize' them and ruin them in the process. Notice how the recent media reports about the changes in these stations have been manipulated by the oh so media savvy owner to be more about Znaimer - who so craves publicity for himself --- and not as much about the stations themselves ???? Neither of these stations, in my humble opinion, need or needed any changing - except of course to draw media attention to Znaimer himself - which he so loves (Michael Bryan, Canada, ODXA yg via DXLD) Lets hope if there ARE any changes at AM 740, they aren't quite as abrupt as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHPt1ET8RI I hope for the best. CHWO is a special place on the radio dial. The Caine family has run it for 50 years, the last few years on this blowtorch frequency. It`s a shame to see them let it go (Fred Waterer, Ont, ibid.) What a great show that was. I've squandered 30 minutes of my work day watching the pilot again...! (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) CHWO will not be changing anything for a while. They will be moving into the same building as CFMZ in downtown Toronto after the approval. The format will not change and all staff will be kept on provided they want to move. My only concern right now will be if they wish to continue providing QSLs for reports. I will do my best to persuade them to do so. Which reminds me, I'll have some information on a very special QSL from the CHWO in the very near future. It will definitely be a little different (Brian Smith, CHWO QSL Manager, NRC-AM via DXLD) It's worth noting that CHWO is extremely lucky, in that they have one of the best clear channels that remains in the band, since it remains relatively free of IBOC contamination. On the low side, they have another Canadian clear, CKAC - no danger of IBOC ever appearing from them, methinks. On the high side, there is WSB, whose owner has wisely abandoned the use of IBOC. Of course, there is still the matter of IBOC noise from 2nd adjacents WGN and WJR, which will impact some listeners whose receivers can take advantage of CHWO's full NRSC bandwidth. It's still an unacceptable situation, but it could be a lot worse --- and it is, for many, many stations (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. John Plimmer : CFUN QSL received in South Africa Received at our Seefontein, Atlantic coast DX site, about 150 km North of the City of Cape Town. 14th September 2007: Vancouver BC, Canada, is 16,360/10,165 miles from Seefontein, quite the furthest MW catch I have ever got in my 40 years of MW DXing. The path is interesting, as after passing over the Atlantic Ocean it enters Canada near Halifax, then passes near Quebec, across the prairies and Calgary, then over the Rockies to Vancouver BC. The only other station received near that distance was XEPE, Tijuana, Mexico, but that path is more over the sea. --- John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa [Viz.:] Hi John, Yes I can confirm that was CFUN you have received and recorded. I can clearly hear our station announcer Al Murdoch read out the intro. I am pleased we were able to reach you! Thanks, Stu Ferguson, CFUN Program Manager (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CKDB-990, Watson Lake, Yukon Territory (a low power relay of CBC Radio One station CFWH Whitehorse YT) has applied to the CRTC to increase its power from 40 watts-U to 400 watts-D, 165 watts-N: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2007/pb2007-107.htm#2 To avoid confusion with CBW-990, note that YT is on Pacific time Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Application No. 2007-1269-7 Application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) relating to the licence of the radio programming undertaking CFWH Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The CBC proposes to change the authorized contours of the transmitter CBDB Watson Lake by increasing the transmitter power from 40 watts to a daytime transmitter power of 400 watts and a nighttime transmitter power of 165 watts. The CBC indicates that the increase in power will significantly improve both daytime and nighttime coverage in Watson Lake and surrounding areas. The Commission notes that the increase in power would change the status of CBDB from a low power unprotected service to a regular Class C service. The Commission also notes that the authorized contours of the transmitter will be increased significantly resulting from the proposed increase in power. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Sept 21, and Ricky Leong, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So much for DXing CBW around Watson Lake; altho there are other LPRTs on 990 in YT, BC, but none to the east until remote QC, NB (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. TUNING IN TO THE NORTH Fiction -- book involving radio in the NWT / In case anyone wants to read a story on this. Meanwhile, we poor folk in Vancouver are in day 60 of a library strike so I have no idea when I can get a copy to read -ef http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070922.BKHAYY22/TPStory/Entertainment/Books LATE NIGHTS ON AIR, By Elizabeth Hay, McClelland and Stewart, 364 pages, $32.99 The Arctic is hot, but I doubt that is why accomplished Canadian novelist Elizabeth Hay wrote a novel set in Yellowknife and the Barrens in the mid-1970s. In Late Nights on Air, Hay has returned to a city and landscape she knew in the 1970s. Returned in her imagination, that is; she has not actually been there since the 1980s. Which makes her achievement in this quiet, elegiac book even more astounding than it is simply in the reading. from the review: The book has three settings: a little radio station in Yellowknife, not unlike the CBC station where Hay worked back then; a larger, in some ways metaphorical northern world, brought into focus by the Mackenzie Pipeline Inquiry hearings conducted by Justice Thomas Berger between 1974 and 1977; and, in the final third of the book, the Barrens, the route for a canoe trip delineated by the British traveller John Hornby, from Great Slave Lake, via Pike's Portage, to Artillery Lake and then into the Thelon River. It's a 500-mile, six- week canoe trip undertaken by four of Hay's characters (via Eric Flodén, BC, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CHAD. 6165, RNT, N'Djamena, 2215-2231*, Sept 20, French talk, local tribal music. Sign off with National Anthem at 2230. Fair to poor. Co- channel QRM from a weak Croatia (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5030, CNR-1 jammer, 1125-1155+, Sept 21, Chinese talk. Local music. Very weak. Much better on the following parallel frequencies: 6110, 7280, 9680, 9780, 11665, 11710, 11785, 11825, 11990, 12110, & 12040. Some frequencies with echo effect (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Voice of Kuanghua-Voice of Han Bradcasting Network in Taiwan Dear OM, The Voice of Kuanghua (Kuanghua zhi Sheng)-VOH shortened time for SW service for mainland at 0855-0103 on 9745 kHz (ex 24 hours). But, MW service for mainland increases frequency on 711, 801, 846, 981, 1053, 1251 and 1431 kHz (ex- 711, 801, 846, 981 and 1251 kHz) http://www.voh.com.tw/?page=001&ps=2 The target of Firedrake on 1053 kHz may be this Voice of Kuanghua. I cannot yet confirm Firedrake on MW except 1053 kHz. Firedrake is not on air SW service of Voice of Kuanghua. The target of Firedrake on 1557 kHz seems to be Chinese service of WYFR via Taiwan. de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Japan, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But 1557 is also used by SOH at certain weekend times. Are the Chicom really bothering to jam FR too? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chinese service of WYFR now, that I can receive on 1557 kHz. QRMed very weak jam of Firedrake. Sep. 23 at 1851 UT (S. Hasegawa, Japan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very interesting. Now I wonder if any of the Taiwan SW relays of YFR in Chinese get jammed. Perhaps this is nothing new, but I thought that the Chicom generally did not bother to jam western religious broadcasts, altho YFR would certainly be on their blacklist if for no other reason than their long relationship with the renegade province. No jamming asterisked on Aoki list for 9280 YFR (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 15150, Firedrake, 0006-0011, Sept 22, heard under fair VOA (Thailand) in Chinese and singing VOA jingle, weak, with unidentified station under both of them (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Caught part of RHC`s Spanish DX program Sunday Sept 23 at 1343 on 11760, et al. – they were reading Iván López Alegría`s report on the Mexican DX Encuentro, about their visit to XERTA, but strangely both Malena and Manolo pronounced it like a word, ``Xerta`` = certa. I rather doubt the station itself ever does this, but then I`ve hardly ever heard a clear ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025, R. Amanecer Internacional, Santo Domingo, 0838-0908, Sept 21, on 24 hrs? Sounded like sermon in Spanish, religious music/singing, 0903 musical fanfare, "Radio Amanecer Internacional". Mostly fair, briefly good, slight QRM after strong RA sign-on at 0900 on 6020 (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. I just happened to be tuning past 11960 at 1314 UT Sept 21, and heard yet another HCJB automated ID in Spanish STILL announcing both its frequencies incorrectly. After a brief quotation from Plato (no Christian, he), claimed to be on 11760 and 9745, and I had also just tuned by its weaker // which is really 11690. Quite aside from its theology, HCJB`s credibility as a SW broadcaster has reached rock-bottom (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, English to Europe, 9990, Sept 21 at 2155, woman speaking but only bits of what she was saying could be heard at modulation peaks, and then extremely distorted; music mixed in came thru with fewer dropouts, but overall, a total loss, as it has been for sesquidecades, perhaps Egypt`s greatest embarrassment (well, after civil rights violations). Moot from *2159 WWCR 9985 opening with steel drums (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12050, Radio Cairo, 0040-0055, Sept 22, strong signal strength but very distorted, unusable audio with Arabic talk, Mid-east music (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. New 15160, 1150-1159*, CLA, Wed 19-06, R. Mustaqbal, via Dhabbaya, UAE. Somali talk and 2-note gong, songs from Horn of Africa, closed with spelling of SAIT (?) 35232. AP-DNK New 15215, 0610-0612*, CLA, Wed 19-09, R Mustaqbal, via Rampisham, UK. Somali closing and ID after song from Horn of Africa 35343 AP-DNK. New 17590, *0620-0647*, CLA, Mon 17-09, R Mustaqbal, via Dhabbaya, UAE. Somali announcement, song from Horn of Africa, talk and drums, children song, closing with ID, 35333; ex 15455. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) CLANDESTINE (Ethiopian), 15260, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 1605-1704* Sept. 17 [Monday only]. Presumed this one to be at this time frame; the entire program consisted of Horn of Africa instrumental music to local tribal dance music. No announcements or any information at sign-off which was late. The last four minutes the same song was repeated over several times. Strange that the entire broadcast was in this form? CLANDESTINE (Ethiopian), 15260, Ethiopian People Patriotic Front (EPPF) *1600-1709* Sept. 20 [Thu]. Noted at 1553 with 800 hertz tones. Horn of Africa music with singers in Amharic at 1600. Into opening announcements, partial ID for 'ye demoractica .. arbenyoch ..yea' , but a terrible warbler type of noise appeared during the entire broadcast. It remained on the whole time till sign-off. The entire program consisted of talks, with Horn of Africa instrumental dance music with singers, but a very tinny musical sound. Again on this one, this broadcast went past the schedule sign-off at 1700 to 1709 with repeat of the last song several times (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE (EURO), QSL: 15070 AM, Cupido Radio (Holland). Two full data glossy QSL cards with a three page information sheet on Cupido Radio. Reply in 6 months, after sending another postal (and e- mail inquiry to cupidradio @ hotmail.com) report (initial one never received) in 42 days. v/s: Rimus (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Transradio antenna engineer Bernd Waniewski has posted more updates to his website, revealing some changes in antenna use at Burg, also explaining an observed improvement in signal strength for 531 which had been thought to indicate a power increase (but not so, it's still a mere 10 kW). J1, the remaining 210 metres tall pipe mast from 1953, now radiates 139 (utility) and 531: http://www.waniewski.de/id494.htm K1 is now in use for the 100 kW daytime signal on 1575: http://www.waniewski.de/id509.htm "K1" because also a K2 existed at Burg, until 1998 used for a mobile 20 kW transmitter (last frequency was 531, previously 783, even earlier 1089, 1044 etc.etc.pp.) and dismantled years ago. Otherwise the vertical incidence antenna, consisting of three dipoles, is still in use for 500 kW nighttime operation of 1575 while the flare skirt antenna (324 m mast, ex. ARRT) is reserved for 261, licensed to Europe 1 for about five years now but still not on air, with no indications whatsoever that they would ever start using it for their promised nation-wide German station. Note also the press release from Westdeutscher Rundfunk, apologizing for one night mistakenly airing Radio DDR 1 via the Langenberg mediumwave transmitter (off-air from the Inselsberg site after the co- channel local FM outlet, which was meant to be relayed, had signed off) and ensuring that all necessary measures have been taken to let such a terrible incidence never happen again. It must have driven the bosses entirely nuts, judging from the reactions of a loose reference to this story which is still a sore point for those who were involved back then, three decades ago (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also MALTA ** HONDURAS. During 90m bandscan Sept 22 around 0545, besides REE Costa Rica on 3350 there was a much weaker Spanish signal on 3340, presumably HRMI active once again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3339.96, HRMI, Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0650-0900+, Sept 22, Reactivated. Had been off the air the past several weeks, but now back on the air. Spanish religious talk with English translations heard past 0715. Later heard with a variety of Spanish pops/ballads. local music. IDs as "Radio MI" and "Radio Misiones Internacionales". Still here at 1100 check. Fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, HRMI, 1019-1037, Sept 22, Spanish. Ballads with ID at 1034. Weak but clear (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB- 1, 200' Beverages, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio frequency changes wef 26th September, 2007 (0945 UT) AIR has changed frequency for its Vividh Bharati Service from 10330 to 9870 kHz and transmitter site to SPT, Bangalore 500 kW from HPT, Khampur (Delhi), 250 kW. Consequently, following changes have been made in the A07 Schedule in UT: Vividh Bharati Service 0025-0435 9870 B'lore (ex 10330 Delhi) Vividh Bharati Service 0900-1200 9870 B'lore (ex 10330 Delhi) Vividh Bharati Service 1245-1740 9870 B'lore (ex 10330 Delhi) Russian 1615-1715 10330 Delhi (ex 9875 Delhi) Chinese 1145-1315 11840 Delhi (ex 11840 B'lore) Swahili/Hindi 1515-1730 9950 D15 Delhi (ex 9950 D16 Delhi) Hindi 1615-1730 15075 Delhi (ex 15075 B'lore) GOS-I 2245-0045 11645 Delhi (ex 11645 B'lore) (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Sept 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Delhi spurious outlet, one transmitter at Delhi site is in bad condition. Two 14 kHz wide spurious signals noted today Sept 16th of nominal 9875 kHz, on 9825 and 9925 kHz. Signal s-off at 1715 UT. At present still AIR Russian service via Delhi tx at 1615-1715 UT. Spurs of 9875 kHz heard on 9819-9825 and 9921-9928 kHz again on Sept 21. Originate NOT from Samara-RUS as assumed previously. But Samara still transmit a heavy BUZZ on German sce 12010 at 1500-1700 UT on Sept 21 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. PAK RADIO'S CLAIM OF INDIA STARTING 1965 WAR FALLS FLAT http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=3706 Amritsar, Sept 21: In a blatant twist of historical facts, Pakistan Radio has been airing in 'Punjabi Darbar' programme allegation that India 'imposed' the 1965 War on Pakistan. The radio broadcast made from Lahore can be easily heard in areas of Punjab along the international border, and is aimed at misleading people. Pakistan's launching of Operation Gibraltar, in early 1965, by infiltrating its disguised soldiers into the Indian part of Kashmir in a bid to capture the rest of the State is a well known fact, which have been also confirmed by classified documents of the US, presently made available to public. The operation was launched by Pakistan in August 1965, after it got some partial success in the Rann of Kutch earlier, that led them to believe that Indian army was not prepared for a blitzkrieg- a fast and furious attack in Punjab cutting off the communication to Jammu and Kashmir. The main aim of the Operation Gibraltar was to infiltrate the Pakistan Army soldiers and guerrillas, disguised as locals, into Kashmir with the intention of fomenting an insurgency among Kashmiri. However, Pakistan's strategy failed as the locals did not respond to it and the infiltrators were soon detected. The former editor of Defence Journal of Pakistan, A H Amin writes, "Civilians at the (Pakistan's) foreign ministry assessed that the Indians could be knocked out at the strategic level." "The Pakistani offensive plan -a thrust against Indian line of communication at Akhnur in case of a limited war in Kashmir and against Indian line of communication between Indian Corps holding Ravi-Sutlej Corridor at Jandiala Guru on Amritsar-Jullundhur road in case of an all out war was brilliant in conception," he adds. But Pakistan's every effort went awry, including its final Operation codenamed Grand Slam. Brigadier M L Chadha, who fought the 1965 War and was posted in Kashmir during the war, has refuted Pakistan Radio's claims. "Pakistan infiltrated into India through Kashmir (Operation Gibraltar) and crossed 'Ichogil' canal with armaments brought from Chinese," he said. The War that began in August lasted for five weeks after a UN mandated ceasefire. --- ANI (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, if all the facts are on India`s side, why do they feel it necessary to jam this broadcast on 630 kHz from Pakistan, as in 7-114? Please understand, I am not taking sides, and really have no idea which side is in the right, if either. But the obvious solution to the Kashmir question is to grant it total independence from both Pakistan and India, and be done with it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4750, presumed RRI Makassar, with muezzin at the rather late hour of 1338 UT Sept 21; not much else was left on 60m, not even Cuba 5025. High local noise level. 4790, presumed RRI Fak2, Qur`an at 1304 Sept 22; unlike the morning before, this signal outshone 4750 which also had Qur`an but not //. 4605 weak with talk, and nothing audible on 4870 or 4920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IRIAN JAYA, 4605.04, presumed RRI Serui, 1041-1100, Sept 22, vernacular. Light vocal/instrumental music in language, audible under QRN floor. Gradually fading-out by ToH. Poor. 3976-RRI Pontianak also heard in this time frame with same signal strength/quality (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. KGRE's Ramadan schedule (0900-0920 UT) --- 9680, RRI Jakarta, 0900-0934, Sept 23 (Sun), singing KGRE jingle, ID in Bahasa Indonesian (BI) for KGRE & the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation, into English with KGRE program #5701 presented by Kevin and Maggie, talking about SMP students and the KGRE's Joeys Club, song "Blue Sky Mine", segment "Quick Fix" about using in & on for dates, mentions KGRE has new recording studios, mostly good. Suddenly off in mid-sentence about 0909, open carrier on & off, back on at 0912:40 without the KGRE program. Pop music, YL in BI, mentions K.G.R.E. (explaining why they went off the air?), more pop songs, on-air phone conversation. At 1000 noted RRI ID and into the usual Ramadan/Islam program in BI. A big thanks to Dan Sheedy for the tip! For the past two years during Ramadan I didn't hear KGRE during their usual 1000- 1020 time slot (Sun. & Wed.), so assumed they were completely preempted, but maybe if I had tuned in an hour earlier I could have heard them. They have an extensive website: http://www.kangguru.org/index.htm (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. New 3985, 2320-0125, 19/20-09, VOIRI, Kamalabad, Farsi. Extraordinary Ramadan programme of prayers, talk about Iran and Islam, Qur'an recitations 54554 with some hum. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. Sites for the RTE SW specials on Sept 2 and 16 at various times between 1300 and 1700: Meyerton, RSA on 9470, 11635, 12095, 17710, 17860. Woofferton UK on 11735; Rampisham UK in DRM on 17495 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel Russian service at Sept 20th 2000-2100 UT used 9400.00 and 11590.04, BUT MISSING on Friday [Sept 21] totally. Heard on Sept 23 on 11590.02 and shuffled 15639.97 again! (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. On 18 and 19 Sept not any broadcasts were in Turkish, Greek and Bulgarian, 1500-1600 on 9870 and 11895 kHz, but Russian was noted on 18th of Sept from 1605 only on 9705 and not on 11885 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 19 via DXLD) RAI Somali service 11890 loud and clear from 1915 to 1930 s/off. End with "Cold November Rain" but Guns-N-Roses, IDs easy to pick out. 21 Sept (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DXLD has had numerous reports that Rai was likely to close at monthend, and now here`s another (gh) RAI SHORTWAVE SERVICES EXPECTED TO CLOSE ON 30 SEPTEMBER David de Jong writes: Italian media news service Newslinet reports that the broadcasting center of Rome Prato Smeraldo has received orders to shut down as of 30 September. Currently the radio broadcasts of Rai International are available in 26 languages on shortwave, satellite and Internet. 60 editorial staff are involved on the production side, of whom half are on temporary contracts. Their future is uncertain, as is that of Rai International. The decision to shut down the shortwave broadcasts is a consequence of the new contract made between the Italian government and public broadcaster Rai and its international department Rai International. It is still unclear whether some broadcasts might continue on satellite and Internet. Most probably Italian programmes will be continued as they are used for mediumwave broadcasts during the night (Notturno Italiano) and are also relayed throughout several FM outlets, especially in the US, Canada and Australia. Italy has been active with shortwave broadcasts since 1 July 1930, and since 1934 in foreign languages under the Mussolini fascist regime. Italy - which became a democratic republic directly after World War II - has been active with its international service since 3 September 1946, when English, Spanish, French and Portuguese broadcasts restarted in a totally new setting, and were expanded to the 26 languages in which it broadcasts today. Since 1995 the broadcasts have been the responsibility of the 100% Rai-owned company Rai International, which took over from the ‘Direzione Esteri’ of Rai. Rai International is currently focusing more on its television activities. The workers’ union Libersind has sent a petition to the Italian government in order to keep the foreign broadcasts. This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 13:15 Jonathan Marks Says: September 22nd, 2007 at 17:37 e Has anyone listened to RAI in English - or many of the other languages at that matter? Its a bad-translated, poorly presented news bulletin plus some music thrown onto the wireless. They clearly gave up decades ago - and now RAI International radio will enter a new era - history. I’m just surprised it has lasted as long as it has. Richard Hunt Says: September 23rd, 2007 at 9:10 e I have to agree. I got onto their mailing list in about 1981, and their schedules arrived here regularly until the late 1990s - usually after the end date for that schedule. loujosephs Says: September 23rd, 2007 at 13:45 e It really was the worst western broadcaster, the music selection was pure junk and the newscasts, showed how not to read. The reception was always good though even though the content smelled. Sorry to lose another HF broadcaster but… (Media Network blog Sept 22, 23 via DXLD) Arrivederci Roma? Report that the international shortwave service of Italy's public broadcaster RAI will end on 30 September. Italy has been on shortwave since 1930, and RAI now transmits in 26 languages. Already one protest. http://www.rassegna.it/motore/notizie/news.asp?ID=36001 Rassegna-News, 21 September 2007. History of Italian shortwave broadcasting and link to audio stream of RAI international channel at RAI website. http://www.international.rai.it/radio/multilingue/presentazioni/inglese.shtml (kimandrewelliott.com Sept 22 via DXLD) [outdated schedule; 9675 has been gone from NAm service for a long time --- gh] Goodbye to RAI shortwave. For all its quirkiness, I will miss the RAI shortwave service. The English transmission always consisted of ten minutes of news, in past decades read by a tired-sounding older lady. That would be followed by ten minutes of music, with no announcements. Over the years, that music segment was given nonsensical placeholder names such as "Free Parking." I was on the mailing list for the RAI shortwave schedule publication, lavishly illustrated in color and as elaborate as the actual broadcast was austere. Most of the evening, RAI shortwave was in Italian, and much of that was music. This included many of the old Italian love songs from the 1950s and 1960s. The signal was usually good, owing to the southerly azimuth from Italy to the United States. RAI shortwave was therefore a nice companion to reading the newspaper, or washing the dishes, on a cold winter's evening. In North America, you can listen to what may be the last days of RAI shortwave on 11800 kHz... UTC EDT 2240-0055 6:40-8:55 pm Italian 0055-0115 8:55-9:15 pm English 0115-0130 9:15-9:30 pm French 0130-0315 9:30-11:15 pm Italian 0315-0335 11:15-11:35 pm Spanish The rest of the RAI shortwave schedule is here. http://www.international.rai.it/radio/ondecorte/index.shtml (Kim Andrew Elliott, Sept 22, ibid.) 6060, 0040-0115 20-09, Rai, Prato Smeraldo "Notturno Italiano" in Italian with nice Italian songs e.g. "Quore di Mama mia", news in English 0103, French 0106 and German 0109. 54554. Maybe it closes down 30-09 ??? Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Maybe not, since this is a domestic service relay (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. Changes to the Broadcast Areas of Radio Japan --- The following changes to the language services and broadcast areas will come into effect from 1 October 2007. There will also be related changes to air times and frequencies. Click here for the new frequency chart effective from 1 October. . . http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/info_body_e.html (ptsw yg, et al., via DXLD) I believe all this has been covered in detail already in DXLD, yet such items are showing up again as if they were news (gh, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. New 4790.04, 2328-2337*, PAK, 18+19-09, R. Pakistan, Islamabad relaying Rawalpindi III Urdu/Arabic. Extraordinary Ramadan programmes with muslim chanting, closed with Azad Kashmir song. 45333 on 18-09, 32332 on 19-09 with some transmitter hum. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) New? I thought they had used this frequency for ages as Azad Kashmir Radio; or does he mean just a new time (gh, DXLD) See also INDIA [and non]; PAKISTAN ** KOREA NORTH [non]. QSL --- CLANDESTINE (Korean). 9780, Furusato no Kaze (via Taiwan). Received 'a thank you for my report of Furusato no Kaze'. In the letter, they stated that they no not have QSL Cards (returned my PPC's not stamped or signed either). Received several booklets on abductees that have been missing. This for a postal report with an MP3 CD. Mentioned too that return postage is not needed, as a this week received back money remittance in the form of a Canadian Postal Money for $1.07 posted from Ottawa! Reply in 54 days. v/s: Toshiyuki Mizutani (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. Expecting Hmong World Christian Radio via WHRI, 11785, as has been happening the last few Sundays after Hmong Lao Radio ends at 1400, but Sept 23 at 1435 check, this frequency was in WHRI gospel- rock fill music in English, so either HWCR was only a semihour, or it`s off the 1400 timeslot. It`s still missing from the WHR online program schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays via 9290 kHz Sat September 22nd Radio Six International 0700-0800 UT parallel 945 AM, Riga 100.5 FMeXtra and http://www.radionord.lv Radio City 0800-0900 UT Sun September 23rd Latvia Today 1900-2000 UT Good listening (Tom Taylor, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In advance on the dxldyg 9290, R. SWH "Latvia Today" signal already on at 1856, 23 Sept. Program start 1859 with complete ID with program rundown, Radio SWH e- mail, and mailing address. Brief overview of Latvian history, description of the people, traits, art, etc. Break for Latvian pop music only once. Usual canned promo/ID at 1916, 1936, and 1950. 1956 complete ID again, then closing, and pop song to 2001 end. Signal off at 2102:03. Strong and best heard yet, with 100% copy!! (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 11835 at 1810+ Hausa. Moderate, occasionally good. Talk with interludes of beautiful piano music. At 1830, several mentions of Africa and Jamahiriya. Direct according to DX Mix #470, dated May 22nd. 21 Sept. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 5965, Klassik National FM 1635 18/9, 70's Malay songs then 1636 with 50's song (P ramlee). Short talks by man, then with a traditional at 1639. 22432 using narrowband. Nice to listen again to them. 7295, Traxx, 1509 19 August with 241x2, music at 1558 and clock time in KL, followed by news read by YL. QRM 7300 by VOR (at 1600), 1610+ with pp [sic] songs including Duran Duran (Zacharias Liangas, Fourka, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or both from August? Long & old report 6049.62, RT Malaysia, 1012-1020 Sept 22. At tune in, noted a male in comments until 1013 when music presented. The WRTH says this is Wai FM relay, if I am reading it correctly? Signal was threshold. 7295, RT Malaysia, 1100-1115 Sept 22. Noted a male in English Language news. The WRTH says this is Traxx FM transmitting 24 hours, General Service in English. Signal was just a bit under fair (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, The path for your Malaysian stations is essentially a trans polar grayline path crossing above the 80th parallel. Good timing (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ibid.) Hi Chuck, Sept 22 was a decent day for Malaysian reception. Traxx FM via RTM is correct for 7295. They give many IDs (both spoken and singing jingle) and is entirely in English. Usually they play pop music/songs.To find out more about their programming please see http://www.traxxfm.net/index.php What is heard on 6049.62 is actually Asyik FM via RTM (scheduled for 0500-1500, but I have observed the changing over to Suara Islam after 1400). If you ever get better reception, listen for their distinctive singing "Asyik FM" jingle, which is played a lot. For Wai FM via RTM check on 7270 (scheduled 1000-1600), but for me that is usually covered by a very dominate PBS Nei Menggu (noted // 7210 & 9750). Is very nice to see someone else listening to these stations that I regularly enjoy (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5964.95, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1111-1140, Sept 22, Islamic sunset call to prayer, reciting from the Qu'ran, ballads and pop songs, in vernacular, weak. This has been operating on a somewhat erratic schedule recently, as also noted by Dan Sheedy and John Wilkins (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6049.64, Asyik FM via RTM, 1043-1116, Sept 22, in vernacular, indigenous chanting/singing, pop songs, many singing "Asyik FM" jingles, 1111-1114 Islamic sunset call to prayer (Kuala Lumpur sunset at 1109), fair, with moderate het from 6050.0 (perhaps from RTM Sarawak Sibu, but I have never been able to hear any audio from them) (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx FM via RTM, 1100 Sept 22, briefly noted with the news in English from the "RTM news center", weak (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Malaysia’s domestic FM relay on 7295 is good at 1700 with news in English from “the RTM Kuala Lumpur news centre” (Derek Lynch, Ireland, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx FM, 1113 22 Sept, Nice signal in English about Islam. Into Pop music a few minutes later. Good signal this morning and near 100% readability. 5964.94, Klasic Nasional, Kajang. Sounded like the Kor`an at 1120 22 Sept (the Sun was setting at Kajang right at this time), then music after 1122. Couldn't get any other details as the signal was weak and was suffering from the local static QRM and adjacent channel slop QRM. Didn't think to check for // 7270. I'm sure 7270 would have been coming in as 7295 was good. 73 (Dave Valko, RX: JRC NRD-535D, Hammarlund HQ-129X, Collins R-388, and various portables including the Sony SW-77 Ant: 60 meter T2FD, 60 meter Windom QTH: Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130.0, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1318-1355, Sept 23, YL DJ with EZL pop songs, in vernacular (language and format sounded same as heard on Asyik FM), only one ID heard for "Sarawak FM" and did not note any of their usual singing station jingles, almost fair reception, QRM (Taiwan on 7129.87, CNR-1 [// 5030] in Chinese on 7130.0 and CNR-2/CBR [// 6155] with "English Evening" on 7130.0), but even with all this QRM Sarawak FM held up fairly well. 1355 covered by open carrier. Heard // 5030, under strong CNR-1. Wish to again thank Dan Sheedy for the alert that this was being heard so well. Nice surprise to be able to enjoy this station that I rarely hear (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALTA. Had it been reported at the time that the Malta station of Deutsche Welle had lost one of their mediumwave masts in an incident and continued to operate on 1557 in a two-mast configuration afterwards? I'm only aware of previously published photos showing the system still intact, but here's how the station finally looked (see also page 2 and photos of the original system on page 1): http://www.waniewski.de/id483.htm For an illustrated article about the Malta station see June 1977 edition of the German wwh magazine, available (at present as last item) at http://www.ratzer.at/wwh_77.php It features the antenna facilities in detail (no translations necessary I think) as well as the separated reception site (used both Jülich/Wertachtal transmissions as well as special SSB feeds, not- timely programming had been send to Malta on tape, complete continuation suites, identical to installations at Cologne, were available to combine off-air pickup and tape playout for own DW programming as well as to play out third party programming). Unfortunately no pictures of the actual transmitters there. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. Mauritania is making it all the way for Ramadan on its regular 4845 at 0414. But surprised me even my local Friday wee hours, when was heard at 0200, a schedule I have never heard them before (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Sept 22, Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So by `0200` in this case, do you mean 0800 UT? Could be on at 0200 UT during Ramadan (gh, DXLD) Right Glenn. UT time for that was 0800; that's why became a surprise, with propagation conditions at "street level", it's unusual to get African stations at that time easily on lower frequencies. 73s (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) ** MEXICO. 9599.29, Radio UNAM, Mexico City, 0150-0200, Sept 21, Spanish talk. ID at 0152. A regular lately, but once again fighting it out with Cuba on 9600. Fair to good signal strength but must use ECSS- LSB to avoid Cuba on 9600 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599.24, XEYU, Radio UNAM (presumed), 0012-0047, Sept 22, LA ballads, long segment of EZL piano music, poor-fair, best in LSB, QRM from strong Cuba on 9600.0. From 0328-0341 re-checked and was fair to good with Cuba absent, but tuned back again at 0355 to hear Glenn's program in Spanish, on 9600.0, with Radio Nederland ID (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At least on Sundays we can hear classical music rather than news/talk during the 1300 UT hour from XEYU: Sept 23 at 1335 on 9599+, Mendelssohn`s ``Midsummer Night`s Dream`` incidental music, imperfect for the first day of autumn. F-G reception, little QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** MEXICO. MÉXICO: El Senado mexicano inicia redacción de nueva ley de medios, informó Telesur el pasado 8 Septiembre. En efecto, tras la derogación parcial en Junio pasado de la llamada "Ley Televisa", el Senado mexicano instaló el viernes 8 un grupo de trabajo encargado de redactar una nueva Ley Federal de Radio y Televisión, el grupo parlamentario trabajará a partir de los criterios establecidos por la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación al derogar la legislación anterior, criticada por desregular el espectro digital en favor del duopolio mediático mexicano formado por Grupo Televisa y TV Azteca. Entre los aspectos más destacados que se propone aprobar el grupo parlamentario, destaca la prohibición de los monopolios, vía concesiones transitorias y plurales que eviten la concentración, así como garantizar el dominio del Estado sobre el espectro radioeléctrico, privilegiar la función social de la radiodifusión sobre el interés económico y asegurar la libertad de expresión y el derecho a la información. El fortalecimiento de los medios públicos, el apoyo a las radios comunitarias e indígenas y la garantía de un verdadero derecho de réplica, son algunos de los aspectos que desde el viernes 8 discute el Congreso de México, a pesar de la oposición de las televisoras locales Televisa y TV Azteca (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, RN Radio Enlace Sept 21 via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA REPUBLIC. 7430, Family Radio English to Europe via Chisinau. 2128-2200* Sept. 21. Open Forum with Harold Camping, to 2158 sign-off announcements, address. Off with Interval Signal. This reported to be via this site per DX Mix News via DXLD September 11 (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. Yesterday, our Programme Distribution Department made some changes to the DRM schedule, which will remain in effect until the end of the current season, which is on 28 October. If you are interested in DRM reception, the schedule is on this page. http://www.radionetherlands.nl:80/features/media/070325schedule (Media Network newsletter Sept 20 via DXLD) RNW A-07 DRM outlets from Sept 18th: 0200-0300 Montsinéry 9405 320 120 English N America 0800-1000 Flevo 11895 133 40 Dutch SE Europe 1300-1330 Flevo 7240 123 40 RNW Dutch C Europe 1330-1400 Flevo 7240 123 40 RCI English C E Europe 1700-1800 Flevo 5955 omni 40 R. Sweden Eng/German W Europe 1900-2000 Flevo 9690 191 40 Dutch SW Europe (BC-DX Sept 21 via DXLD) ** NIGER. I don´t know if someone has posted about this recently, but yesterday I put several pics of a curious radio station in Niger, Africa. The community radio of Timia, a region in Niger close to the Air Mountains. The station is known as The voice of Aroyane and also as the radio of the Tuaregs. People in the area often get together and dance in the streets listening to the music from this station (some videos in youtube). The station, by the way, runs solar powered. The pics deserve your attention http://www.fernandocasanova.com/aroyane/aroyane.htm greetings Glenn (Fernando Casanova EC1AME http://www.ea1uro.com http://www.fernandocasanova.com Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6089.84, Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, 2135-2201, Sept 21, Poor under DRM noise with vernacular talk. Covered by Anguilla-6090 at 2201 sign on (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. I heard Nigeria VON news at midday - yes, in mid-September - Sep 21, 1155-1215 UT, news at the hour on 9690 - midday on 31mb is unusual, though 15120 would propagate any time in daylight (Derek Lynch, Ireland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VON, 15120, very strong signal, even much stronger here than VOBI via WHRI 15665, as if in a radio war, Sept 21 at 2045 woman talking in English, but awful muffled modulation, so on that basis alone the choice between them was easy. Off at 2056* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Just a reminder that the new 1323 transmitter at Lahore, discussed in DXLD 7-113, is featured here: http://www.waniewski.de/id372.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 7-114: Hi Glenn, The answer to Mr Noel Green's question is that the new 100 kW SW transmitters will be used for external and World services. The transmitters will relay broadcasts of National Broadcasting House from Islamabad. Karachi has been chosen as the site because of its proximity to Gulf, Middle East and East Africa. The transmitters are expected to be completely installed and operational in 2009. Isn't it too far! As regards the 100 kW SW transmitters installed at Rewat Isalamabad, these are being used to broadcast just noise and buzz. Perhaps PBC authorities can tell the justification for keeping them on air. These transmitters suffer frequent power failures, breakdowns, disappearance of signal for days and very poor audio. Coming to the Pushto service, Mr. Green has pointed out that API-2 is no longer in use. I recommend him to please take a look at Radio Pakistan Website link related to Shortwave service (Home service from Islamabad) The effective schedule from 25-3-2007 to October 2007 indicates that API-2 is being used for transmissions from 0045 to 1700 UT at 5055, 5860 kHz. Perhaps Mr. Green can clarify the same. It may not be out of place to mention here that there is lack of coordination between the Engineering section, Program section and website administrator of PBC (Radio Pakistan). The Hindi service has discontinued transmission on 41 mb from March 24, 2007 but the Hindi program announcers still announce that the Hindi is being broadcast on both frequencies ie 41 and 31 mb. I have repeatedly informed them to rectify the announcement but to no avail. Similarly the News and Current Affairs Channel Islamabad transmission is also relayed from the Radio Pakistan Lahore Channel 3 (1332 kHz) since August 2006 but the program announcer from Islamabad is telling the listeners from last one year that the transmission of News and Current Affairs Channel is being relayed from Radio Pak Lahore Channel 2 (1080 kHz). You can imagine the lack of coordination! This is happening on medium wave which is so easy to monitor. What degree of coordination one can expect from them for short wave transmissions. Mr. Green may note that the 10 kW SW of Rawalpindi is not as weak which he presumes; it is heard in Lahore loud and clear (Lahore is 450 km away from Islamabad) when the API-8 is not being used for Rawalpindi III. At that time the API-8 is used by Radio Pakistan for the clandestine radio Voice of Freedom Jammu & Kashmir (Sadiyayay Hurriyat Jammu & Kashmir) at 5102 kHz. This is obviously not listed on Radio Pakistan website. The reply is getting too long. I will reply the questions of Mr. Wolfgang in my next mail. Bye (Aslam Javaid, 136/H Model Town, Lahore, Pakistan, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA [and non] PAKISTAN, CLANDESTINE, 5102, V. of Jammu Kashmir Freedom on Sept 12 at *1300-1310 UT, 44433, Kashmiri, 1300 UT sign on with opening music, ID, Kor`an, Opening announce, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Sep 16 via BC-DX via DXLD) Re 7-114 and the reply [above] re Pakistan from Aslam Javaid --- It's very good to know that the new transmitters being installed at Karachi will broadcast the External and World Services. But it would be nice to have them on air before 2009! The two high power transmitters (API-5 & 6) at Rewat are putting out good signals, but as is stated, audio quality could certainly be better. I can hear some of the frequencies listed for API-3, but not every day, and usually with buzz or low audio levels. All of my information comes via the Frequency Management Cell in Rawalpindi, and their Frequency Schedule for Shortwave Services. I suggest that the PBC Frequency information on the website has not been updated, as seems to be intimated. Even during the B-06 period the frequencies listed for API-1 and 2 were not being heard, and there has been no trace of such as 5055, 5860 by listeners outside of Pakistan. The domestic services formerly carried by API-2 are no longer on air according to my information. All external services formerly carried by two of the 100kW units (mainly by using former API-1 and some via former API-2) now radiate on only one frequency (via API-3) according to the current schedule. Aslam Javaid is quite correct in what he states concerning the 10 kW Rawalpindi transmitter, and it's use when API-8 is doing other broadcasts - and this situation has existed for several years since the transmitter was reactivated. But it only operates on 4790 and with a antenna azimuth of 68deg. according to my information. I would ask Aslam Javaid to monitor 6235 at 0500-0545 UT (1000-1045 PST) and also such as 5055 and 5860. His findings from his location in Lahore should verify what is on air and what isn't (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Radio Pakistan was reported from 1515 to 1545 hours on 4836 kHz with a program in Dari. News in English can be heard 9380 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program Sept 21 via DXLD) How passive, as most of the items are phrased in this program. Was it reported, by any chance, by Rumen himself? The former is Islamabad, 100 kW, nominal 4835 (gh, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Just a hand, please. If it's 2230Z and I'm receiving VOA Philippines on 7120 beaming at 285º: could this be possible through the Pacific or is it long path? Thanks in advance. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I would say long path. That`s 0630 LT in Philippines, so first reflexion should get it off to a good start, barely before sunrise. More likely than making it thru the high-noon absorption over the Pacific, and also off-the back reduced signal. I believe it is 270 degrees (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yes, longpath per Geoclock image (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** SAINT BRANDON. >>> 3B7C <<< Many thanks to John, G3WGV for forwarding the following update coming from the 3B7C team at St. Brandon. 3B7C passed the 100,000 QSO mark earlier today (20 September, Ed.). Our DXCC total is also at 187 - quite remarkable. We have been posting occasional updates on our web page, but felt this was a good moment for a more complete update. Our data link with the outside world is limited to a satellite uplink and the priority has been daily log uploads. We are very pleased with the feedback on our web page, especially the novel features on the log lookup and the band/mode listings. The team is in good spirits and all equipment and antennas are working well. We are particularly pleased at the way we have been able to run two modes simultaneously on both 80 and 20 right from the start. In the last few days we have also added a limited capability to do this on 15 and 17 to make the most of limited band openings. The disappointment has been that band openings have been somewhat more limited than we had hoped and propagation on all bands varies substantially from day to day so we ask forbearance from the DX community - we try to hit all major band openings when conditions permit. Noise levels also vary substantially from day to day on the LF bands - yesterday was good and we were able to work a number of US stations on 160 SSB. The good news is that we have some real successes, for example working the US West Coast on 160 at our sunset, and consistent West Coast openings both short and long-path on 80 and 40. We started RTTY operations last weekend and currently have about 3.5k RTTY QSOs in the log, many stations telling us that 3B7 is new for them on that mode. However, and with some reluctance, we have decided not to work PSK31 as we feel this will very much be a repeat of those stations we have already worked on RTTY (and bearing in mind that the RTTY DXCC does not differentiate between data modes), whereas there is still a huge demand on all the traditional modes. Indeed, this is perhaps the greatest surprise - that with so many QSOs made from 3B7 in recent weeks the pile-ups remain at a very high level when bands are open. Our beacon has been running continuously on six meters, but we have no reports of reception apart from VQ9. Nonetheless we will keep trying as this will be a new one for the Deserving. We will be very QRV over this coming weekend, trying to work round the SAC SSB contest where possible (e.g. by working RTTY and/or CW on those bands during the 24 hours of the contest). Station break-down will start on Monday 24th, though we will try to keep at least some stations QRV until shortly before our departure for Mauritius at first light on Wednesday 26th (i.e. around 0200 GMT). We have already been making efforts to work US General Class licencees in their limited band segments and will, as promised, be looking for QRS CW stations during the last few days of activity. Keep checking the website http://3b7c.com for the latest news, and expect more backgrounds, statistics, photos, etc., on our return to our various home countries (425 DX News Sept 22 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5018.97, SIBC, 1053 23 Sept. Talk by M and W. Came back at 1058 and caught C&W music. Difficult when Rebelde [5025] was playing music as it causes more splatter. 1100 quick SIBC ID, then world news in Englkish with actualities. One definite mention of Solomon Islands at 1103. 1106 nice fairly clear ID "This news is coming to you from the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, 'Radio Happy Isles", in Honiara". Ad at 1142 on check. Still on past 1205. An e-mail sent to the address on their Web site was bounced back (Dave Valko, JRC NRD-535D, 394' Beverage at 315 from reclaimed strip mine PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. BESIEGED RADIO STATION IN MOGADISHU CLOSES DOWN Mogadishu’s independent Shabelle radio station announced on Wednesday it was shutting down after security forces surrounded its offices and opened fire, destroying equipment over the past two days. ”We are sadly announcing that our media network has ceased all its media activity after forces from the transitional government of Somalia randomly fired at our premises,” Shabelle said in a statement posted on its website. “The damage caused by heavy gunfire directed at our premises is immense so we can’t continue operating our radio station. All the equipment, including our main studio, are destroyed,” the statement added. Shabelle chairman Abdimaalik Yusuf Mohamud said: “We are also ceasing our operations because of the increasing threat to our staff and our building.” “This is totally inhuman and a savage attack on Somalia’s struggle to freedom of speech,” he added in a statement released after the station shut. The security forces, who last weekend stormed the station and detained 17 staff, have accused one of Shabelle’s journalists of hurling a grenade at a police patrol. Global media watchdogs have assailed the government, saying its crackdown on the independent press has made Somalia the world’s second dangerous place for journalists after Iraq. At least seven journalists have been killed in Somalia this year and media watchdogs have urged all sides to ensure better protection for reporters, several of whom have also been wounded or robbed. (Source: AFP)( September 21st, 2007 - 8:38 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. Re 7-114: Nueva web de Radio Hargeisa, SW sked Saludos Glenn, en efecto el Aoki refleja a esta emisora, sin embargo en los listados del Africalist la tienen listada cómo inactiva: http://www.muenster.org/uwz/ms-alt/africalist/africalist.pdf Por otra parte en el EiBi ya no está listada. Respecto al listado Aoki, sigue teniendo una serie de emisoras ya desaparecidas, por citar algunas, Radio International en 6225, Spezialnoye Radio en 6240 o XEJN Huayacocotla en 2390. 73 JM (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. QSL: 11510, Deewa Radio via Iranawila. Full data 'IBB Sri Lanka Transmitter Antenna Sunset Card' (with Deewa Radio indicated) in 11 months, 37 days after sending a 2nd Postal report direct to transmitter site. Never got a reply from Washington on this one. v/s George O. Miller, Station Manager. Address: IBB-Sri Lanka Transmitting Station, c/o The US Embassy, 210 Galle Road, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4750, R Peace, 1630 23 Aug with talks in a African language. 1635 with children singing under a drum play. `This is Radio Peace broadcasting on 4750 on the SW bands'. 1649 with children again singing. CNR underneath (Zacharias Liangas, Fourka, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. RWANDA. 5985, Sudan Radio Service, Kigali, *0300- 0329*, Sept 21, Abrupt sign on with IDs. English news at 0302. Program about development of schools in Sudan. Some Afro-pop music. Fair level but mixing with a weaker co-channel WYFR (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 11945, Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction, 0630-0700*, Sept 21, Very tentative with English talk. A lot of door bell type sound affects. Very weak. Just to weak to catch an ID. Listed for M/W/F only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is also via Kigali, M-F 0630-0700, 250 kW, 15 degrees (gh, DXLD) ** SWAN ISLAND. HR - QRZ-DX reports that the 23-28 September operation from Swan Island [425DXN 854] has been cancelled because of a transportation problem. Javier, HR2J "is having difficulty in locating a suitable boat to make the voyage". (425 DX News 22 Sept via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 7155, V. of Thailand [not R. Thailand??? -- gh], people with very good English. R. Thailand at 1955 20.8 and with many adverts. 32442 in AM narrow filter, from very strong stations in both sidebands (Zacharias Liangas, Fourka, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4905, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, 1220-1238, Sept 21, music program (indigenous traditional music, pop songs, etc). Clearly parallel with 4920 (weak) and 6200 (fair) (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. TURKMENISTAN TO LAUNCH EXTERNAL RADIO | Text of report by Turkmen TV Altyn Asyr channel on 21 September With the aim of promoting all over the world the historic achievements made by Turkmenistan during the years of independence, big success achieved in the economic sphere and also in such spheres as science, education, art and culture, and familiarizing the world's Turkmen, English and Russian speaking audiences with Turkmenistan's news and music art, and also to raise the efficiency of [Turkmen] national media, the president [Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow] of Turkmenistan has signed a resolution. In line with the document, the Main TV Directorate of Turkmenistan has been given the task of launching Owaz [Voice] radio starting from October 2007 with the round-the-clock broadcasting of news and music programmes in Turkmen, English and Russian. Source: Turkmen TV Altyn Asyr channel, Asgabat, in Turkmen 1600 gmt 21 Sep 07 (via BBCM via DXLD) Not long ago we could have confidently assumed this would be on SW, but now we need to know that explicitly. WTFK?? (gh, DXLD) ** UGANDA. 4975.97. Radio Uganda, 0255-0325, Sept 21, tune-in to English religious messages. Local African music at 0300. Some US pop music. Quite surprised when they played "YMCA" by The Village People! I haven't heard that song in a long time. Promos for upcoming programs. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Uganda, 4976, music, ID, 0330 GMT, S-10 level. Nothing noted on 5026 or Cuba on 5025 (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, 09-22-07, 400 foot "L" longwire and buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Don`t you believe the RUI schedule in 7-108, from DX Mix News, Bulgaria, which said that frequency changes would take place Sept 23, including replacing 7440 with 5820 to NAm in English at 0000 and 0300! This was their plan of last spring, but it now seems, long since abandoned. In accordance with the below, we do confirm RUI still on 7440 around 2315 UT check Sept 21, and nothing on 5820. Furthermore, from Oct 28 they plan to go to 7530 for NAm, English one hour later. Or forget it all if they run out of financing in mid-October (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Radio Ukraine International. (Autumn schedule 20 Sept - 28. Oct.) UTC / kHz / kW / Tx / Azimut / 0000-0500 / 5830 / Kharkov / 100 / 055 / Russia 0500-0800 / 7420 / Kharkov / 100 / 290 / Europa 0800-1300 / 9950 / Kharkov / 100 / 277 / Europa 1300-1700 / 5830 / Kharkov / 100 / 055 / Russia 1700-2000 / 7490 / Kharkov / 100 / 290 / Europa 2000-2400 / 5840 / Kharkov / 100 / 290 / Europa 2300-0400 / 7440 / Lvov / 600 / 303 / North-East America German : 1700-1800, 2000-2100, 230002400 (Kharkov). English : 0000-0100 and 0300-0400 (Lvov), 0500-0600, 0700-0800, 1100-1200, 1900-2000, 2100-2200 (Kharkov) Ukrainian : ...... remaining Romanian : 1700-1730, 1930-2000, 2100-2130 657 kHz (Chernovshy 25 kW) (Alexander Egorov, Ukraine, RUSdx Sept 16 via BC-DX Sept 21 via DXLD) Dieser Vorgriff auf die Winterfrequenzen war aber zuerst fuer den Sonntag 23.9 vorgesehen! ``(2) from September 23 to October 27, 2007`` Ab 28.10. aendert sich das evtl. nochmals, so ungefaehr, die Zeiten sind dann um 1 Stunde nach hinten verschoben: 0100-0600 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUS 0600-0900 on 7440 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu (alt 7490) 0900-1400 on 9950 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 1400-1800 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUS (alt 7400) 1800-2100 on 5840 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2100-0100 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 0000-0500 on 7530 LVV 500 kW / 307 deg to NoAm (alt 7440) Uebrigens schrieb mir Alexander von RUI heute, dass der LVV__Lviv Sender im Oktober wieder vom Netz geht, weil sie kein Geld dafuer im Budget haben (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 20, BC-DX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Re: co-channel 7530 Kol Israel [0430-0500 English & French] / RUI to Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for this info. I think it is a mistake, because their frequency has been registered 7545 as in the previous winter seasons. On the other hand, RUI has changed today almost all its frequencies. But, 7530 kHz was registered as an alternative one to 7440 for RUI transmissions to North America at winter season because of impudent occupation last frequency by VOIRI's DRM power transmission. Unfortunately, Iran did not attend HFCC B07 meeting in Birmingham. But, on other hand, both these frequencies will not be used due to possible stop of Lviv's transmissions in the middle of October because of failure of the finance (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 20 via DXLD) Therefore, also do not believe this: Ukraine. Radio Ukraine International has announced schedule changes as of September 23. The one-hour programs in English will be broadcast at 14, at 19 and at 21 hours on 5830 kHz, at 00 and at 03 hours on 5820 kHz, at 05 and at 07 hours on 7420 kHz and at 11 hours on 9950 kHz. The DX Program starts at the 12th minute of the broadcasts Saturday at 14 , at 19 and at 21 hours and Sunday at 00, at 03 and at05 hours, narrating Olex Yegorov (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Sept 21 via DXLD) Furthermore, at least on the 00 and 03 broadcasts, I find the RUI WWORD DX program starting quite reliably in the 18th minute after the hour, not the 12th. There should be a Sept edition by now, but cannot find a text for it yet on the web, just the August one. But remember that they alternate playing the current month`s show with the previous month`s, and at 0318 UT Sept 23 I was hearing the August show (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Last spring, RUI announced plans to move the NAm transmitter from 7440 to 5830 on Sept 23, but this did not happen. We still heard it on 7440, Sept 21 at 2315 check in Ukrainian, so presumably continuing until 0400 including the English hours at 0000 and 0300. This sked appears to be the updated one: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=162 showing some of the other planned changes did take place on Sept 20, so presumably not Sept 23, and some did not. English to Europe at 21 has moved to 5840, and 5830 is in use at 0000 and 0300, or does that transmitter stay in Ukrainian overnight? (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Brovary photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbr/sets/72157594211977744/ Presumed shortwave transmitter looming behind the featured radio (Kazakhstan model, has certainly nothing to do with the relays of Radio Kazakhstan once done here); control desk and similarly ancient studio loudspeaker; 50 kW mediumwave transmitter = Tesla SRV 50, powered, thus the one in use for the BBC on 594, running at much reduced power (listed are 5 kW only)? This is obviously the western one of the two Brovary sites, reportedly facing demolition in favour of development: http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.515692,30.777276&spn=0.009701,0.020084&t=h&z=16&om=1 There appears to be only a single row of shortwave curtains, all aiming at azimuths around 260 degrees? One of the two mediumwave masts has already been demolished, the other one is at present still in use on 594. Eastern Brovary site (actually it's rather northern vs. southern): http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.499834,30.809698&spn=0.019409,0.040169&t=h&z=15&om=1 Two transmitter buildings, one large ARRT and another antenna mast, traces of other antenna systems (for shortwave?) as well. This would be 207 kHz and presumably the higher powered (150 kW), now closed mediumwave transmitters (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. "Mainly fair, moderate, or good" There is a fascinating and lengthy article in yesterday's Guardian covering various aspects of BBC radio over the past 40 years and new books at http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2174169,00.html The reason for the Subject - "The prospect of moving the shipping forecast by 12 minutes threatened the demise of civilisation for its devoted listeners. As Radio 4 celebrates its 40th birthday, Stefan Collini asks what this national institution tells us about our cultural climate .... The Shipping Forecast remained on air for no reason other than it is still wanted by many thousands of people who had no logical purpose in listening to it - other than the most basic purpose of all, of course, which was to make life a little bit richer in some intangible way." Saturday September 22, 2007 The Guardian (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) With weird geographical names (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. NORTH MARIANAS, 7235, VOA via Tinian (listed), 1238- 1255 Sep 16. Korean with "Talk English," an English language lesson, just beginning at 1238. Today they played Elvis' song "In the Ghetto," taking it apart phrase by phrase and translating it into Korean. Familiar phrases included "a poor little baby child is born in the ghetto," "the hungry little boy with the runny nose," and "he buys a gun and steals a car". A rather unique way to learn the English language (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Sep 16 via BC-DX Sept 21 via DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ Schedule Update, September 22, 2007 Lots of schedule changes and program moves are in the works. Some of these changes reflect new shows already on air, and others are moves to accommodate an expansion of programming by the Christian Media Network on 7415. All listed are UT. "Fred Flintstone's Music Show" moves from Thursday 2200-2300 on 7415 to Sunday 2100-2200 on 7415, replacing "Above All Things." "The Jean Shepherd Show" moves from Monday 2100-2200 on 7415 to Sunday 1800-1900, replacing "The Overcomer Ministry." "The Alternate Transportation Show" returns, is now Saturday 1900-2000 on 7415, replacing "The Last Roundup." "Think Tank North America" returns, is now Saturday 2100- 2200 on 7415, replacing "Playing with Electricity." "Glenn Hauser's World of Radio" moves from Wednesday 2200-2230 to Thursday 2330-2400 on 7415, replacing "Jesus Global Outreach." The Wednesday 2200-2230 broadcast of World of Radio on 18910 remains unchanged. [you mean Wed 2300-2330 on 18910 as before, still listed] Christian Media Network adds Monday 2100-2200, Thursday 2200-2300, and Wednesday 2200-2300, all on 7415. In addition to the shows noted above, this addition replaces "Mind Games," which was Wednesday 2230- 2300. "The All New Hank & Jim Show", was Sunday 2000-2100 on 7415, is on hiatus (at least from WBCQ, their webcasts continue). Sunday 2000-2100 is now an available time slot. The full program schedule for all WBCQ services is found at http://www.zappahead.net/wbcq (Larry Will, WBCQ, Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just how much prime- or near-prime time has CMN eaten up now on 7415? Mon 21-22, 23-24, Tue 00-01, 02-03, 21-22, 23-24, Wed 00-03, 22-23, Thu 00-03, 22-23, Fri 00-03, Sat 01-03. That`s 19 hours per week. Thus casual tuners across 7415 can more easily conclude that it`s just another gospel-huxter frequency (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tennessee, WWCR, 15825, 2118, Spanish, 433, Sept 17, OM with comments and mentioned Delano, California several times (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Guess what: that was I, in Mundo Radial for Aug-Sept, as scheduled on Mondays, and Fridays. Now the next edition is airing, not mentioning Delano (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Very weak spur on 17919, and one matching on 17621, thus from KVOH 17775, Sept 21 at 2047. I could barely match the audio on modulation peaks. This is about what I would expect as the fundamental was not at super-strong level as it sometimes can be, bringing up the spur levels with it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. News from the IRCA/NRC Joint Broadcast Test Committee KWWN 1100 kHz Las Vegas, NV Bill Croghan, WBØKSW, Chief Engineer for Lotus Broadcasting of Las Vegas tells us the new KWWN has been on the air now for about three days as of Sept. 21, running unmodulated carrier (except for ID’s) often at less than 1 kW for tuning and testing. “It has been many short tests mostly at the lower power levels, but we have run the day pattern at the full 20 KW,” he relates. “As you might imagine, a 20 KW two tower day pattern wasn’t too difficult, but the 2 KW night pattern with four towers, on the next property over from two diplexed 1 KW stations located near in frequency, has been a challenge. We expect to start running longer tests, still primarily unmodulated, next week and the week after and hopefully will ask the FCC for Program test authority in the next two weeks. After receiving that, we will probably start sending the Deportes, Hispanic ESPN programming with ID's at the top of the hour for KWWN. It’s a long drawn out process that must proceed at the FCC required rate and through the hoops they mandate. I'll let you know when we start doing more.” Once they are through the testing phase, Bill has promised a full fledged DX Test over KWWN. If you hear them testing before then, you can send your reception reports to: Lotus Broadcasting, c/o Bill Croghan, 8755 W. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89147. KCKN 1020 kHz Roswell, NM Jerry Kiefer has promised us a DX Test (maybe 2) from his station. Right now it looks like early November. “I’ll have an exact date shortly, sometime the first week or two of November on a Sunday night to get some good winter skywave,” Jerry said in a recent e-mail. Our thanks go to retired BTC Coordinator Les Rayburn for getting the wheels turning on these two tests. We’ll provide more information when the details are nailed down (Jim Pogue – KH2AR @ comcast.net http://www.dxtests.info IRCA/NRC Joint BTC Coordinator Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CNN Radio --- The following link provides details of all USA stations taking CNN Radio News. http://radiotime.com/affiliate/a_33291/station/CNN_Radio_Radio_Stations.aspx (John Williams, MWC via DXLD) Appears to be quite comprehensive, by frequency, FM first, then AM, even tho FM frequencies are two orders of magnitude greater than AM! with listen linx and linx to archived other programs, websites, etc. But is it up to date? No times shown, yet heading says all times are CST --- why in the world use a timezone which is in effect nowhere except Saskatchewan? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZOLANOS DEBERÁN ATRASAR SUS RELOJES MEDIA HORA EL 24 DE SEPTIEMBRE - Fuente: Aporrea.org Los venezolanos deberán retrasar sus relojes media hora el próximo 24 de septiembre para que se ajusten a la nueva hora legal que tendrá el país, indicó hoy el ministro de Educación, Adán Chávez. El cambio estaba previsto inicialmente para el 17 de septiembre, día en el que comienza el nuevo curso escolar, pero fue aplazado una semana por razones técnicas, explicó el ministro a la prensa. Chávez reiteró lo dicho a finales de agosto por el ministro de Ciencia y Tecnología, Héctor Navarro, y ratificó que el cambio está relacionado con el movimiento aparente del sol y persigue que la población se levante con luz natural y no de noche. Navarro explicó entonces que la medida se adoptará por razones de "salud pública" y no tendrá relación ni con ahorro de energía ni con otras causas esgrimidas en países con cuatro estaciones, más alejados que Venezuela del Ecuador. Igualmente recordó que cada país tiene la potestad de fijar la hora legal que más le conviene, no existiendo ninguna norma ni acuerdo internacional que impida que el cambio corresponda a una fracción de hora y no a la hora completa. Navarro aseguró que en Venezuela basta media hora para que una porción muy importante de la población deje de levantarse de noche y lo haga de día, ya que la fluctuación anual del amanecer y el anochecer está en el orden de ese lapso de tiempo. Con el cambio de "hora legal", Venezuela pasará a tener una diferencia de menos cuatro horas y media respecto al meridiano de Greenwich, en lugar de las cuatro actuales. Navarro indicó que el cambio ajustará mejor el ciclo vital de los venezolanos al movimiento aparente del sol, lo cual evitará que niños y adultos sufran algunas alteraciones científicamente comprobadas. La descoordinación entre la jornada laboral y el sol, según el ministro, "puede disminuir la capacidad de concentración, altera los picos de la hormona de crecimiento, provoca trastornos alimenticios y causa episodios de microsueño". Aunque una modificación de media hora es apenas perceptible, Navarro sostuvo que "puede dar a los venezolanos una pequeña cuota de felicidad". Navarro señaló que en la historia de Venezuela ha habido varios cambios de hora, el último en 1964. El ministro precisó que el cambio de horario será notificado a las instancias internacionales que regulan esta materia, entre ellas a la Oficina Internacional de Pesas y Medidas, en París. El nuevo meridiano de referencia será el que está a 66 grados al oeste de Greenwich y que, entre otras, pasa por la población de Río Chico, en la región costera central del país. La sincronización de los relojes se hará siguiendo la pauta que marque el Observatorio Naval "Juan Manuel Cagigal", operado por la Armada venezolana y depositario de la "hora legal" del país (via Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, Sept 21, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV CI via Cuba, missing from 15290, at 1955 UT check Sept 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. Re 7-114: Update: RFA "has been long notorious for distorting any stories regarding Vietnam. A Vietnamese abroad has stated that “most of RFA’s programmes are aimed at causing disorder in Vietnam. The issues which have been so far exploited by RFA included freedom, democracy and religion. They did not hesitate to create stories which never happened. They have never felt ashamed of reporting false stories. Regular guests of RFA are terrorist groups supported by Vietnamese living in exile." . . . http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/200907/life_an.htm Nhân Dân (Hanoi), 20 September 2007. Posted: 20 Sep 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) 15535, 2330 20/9, Russia-Vladivostok, Radio Free Asia sign-on with English ID, then Vietnamese programme. Mostly talk but some Vietnamese songs. Still a good signal at 0030 close. Jammer (like a siren) only weak and no problems in copy. Receiver-Sony ICF6800W with 40m Long wire E-W. 73 (Ron Killick, Christchurch, NZ, HCDX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. BTW, if it's for Ramadan too, Radio Nacional de la República Saharaui in another out of time was coming after 0200. 73s. (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica. Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You were talking about ``local wee hours`` so in this case by 0200 do you mean 0800 UT? Could be on at 0200 UT during Ramadan (gh, ibid.) Right Glenn. UT for that was 0800, that's why became a surprise, with propagation condx at "street level", it's unusual to get African stations at that time easily on lower frequencies (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828, ZBC, Gweru, 0130-0150, Sept 21, non-stop Afro-pop music, ballads. Fair. 3396 not heard tonight (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. (presumed) 3396, with continuous highlife music at 0345 GMT. Not parallel to 4828. Both very nice S-9 (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, 09-22-07, 400 foot "L" longwire and buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 12035 kHz, SW Radio Africa. 1833-1859* September 21. Very interesting talk by man in English, obviously by telephone, who trashed Robert Mugabe, saying how the 85-year-old leader employs a witch doctor full-time; wakes up at night "talking deliriously to some invisible person;" feels guilty about having an affair with his secretary while his wife was dying and now the secretary has signed a million dollar tell-all book deal abroad; donated a lot of money to the Catholic Church as a guarantee so "he won't burn in hell." Sign- off with Zimbabwe song and announcer saying that they are on the air 7 pm to 9 pm (local time) on "multiple frequencies on 25 mb." It has been quite a while since I have heard such great entertaining clandestine radio. Very clear reception. SIO 454 (Marty Delfín, Madrid, Spain, Sony-ICF-77, telescopic antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aoki says 12035 is Rampisham, UK, as does WRTH May update; HFCC and EiBi say Kvitsoy, Norway. Did we ever decide for sure which is correct now? BTW, Aoki and WRTH also show TWR via UAE in various non-daily Ethiopian services on 12035 during the 1730-1900 timeslot, but has this moved? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not picking up TWR here on 12035 even after s/off of SW Africa but there is an African-dialect transmission on 12030 during same time slot. Can this be TWR's fall frequency? (Marty Delfín, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 1670 kHz, Sept 21 at 1325, distorted talk and wavering het against residual skywave signal from broadcast station. Suspect it`s the talking house in Enid I recently reported mobile from local range, within a dekameter of it. BTW, I am still hearing the low het on 1600.0, at the same time, indicating an off-frequency broadcast station, yet to be singled out. I would guess it is around 100 Hz plus or minus, so none of the entries on http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt appear to fit, tho KCKK Colorado doesn`t have a precise entry yet; propagationally (still audible here at that hour, and reliably audible at night), it would be a good prospect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4995.9, 1042-1050, Sep 16, Chinese, comments by man and female announcer, 24442, Receiver: SONY ICF 2010 Antenna: Longwire 30 mts (Nicolás Eramo, Chascomus, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6330, 0039-presumed 0059*, Sept 23, Mandarin. Choral- like/instrumental music between brief talks by announcer. OM and YL from 0045; mostly YL. Programming had a CRI "feel" to it. Fair at tune-in, fading out by ToH to barely audible level so unsure if 0059 s/off is correct or I just lost the signal (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I ALWAYS find a reference to myself on Google, and NEVER deeper than the second page of thousands of pages. I usually get there from a remark made that gets included in Glenn Hauser's World of Radio. CATmudgeon (Charles A. Taylor, Greenville NC, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ Re 7-114: ILG Frequency Database announcement (more) Yep, the listing still shows old AIR 90 meterband frequencies with incorrect locations à la ILG style. The moderator should put the listings OK rather than voting :-))) (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ANTARCTICA SWLog Now Supports the new ILGRadio [Re: ILG Frequency Database announcement, 7-114] I have posted a new version of Shortwave Log that supports the new ILGRadio database. The format of the new ILGRadio database is slightly different from the original and required a bit of tweaking in the program. From what I gather on their web site, ILGRadio v2 is to be edited and enhanced by the user community. If you see a problem, then they ask that you fix it. If it's missing data, they ask that you add it. The new ILGRadio database is available from http://www.ioc.com and Shortwave Log can be downloaded from http://www.shortwavelog.com Thanks and 73s. (Bob Sillett, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSEA +++++ PICTURES FROM THE EXHIBITION RADIO FM 1976-2006 IN ROME The blog is updated with pictures, audioclip and brochure in italian and english language from the exhibition "Radio FM 1976-2006 - Thirty years of broadcasting freedom" at "Museo di Roma in Trastevere" until the 4th november. http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM [see also BRAZIL; IRELAND; NETHERLANDS; NIGERIA; UKRAINE] YouTube: Peter Senger at IFA2007/Himalaya DRM 2009 demonstration "Into Tomorrow" is on location from IFA 2007 in Berlin, Germany. Dave Graveline interviews Peter Senger, Chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale. DRM develops and promotes a worldwide digital standard for radio broadcasts below 120 MHz (Contradicts his own website claiming shortwave can be FM quality!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ACLc1VXrXQ&NR=1 Demonstration of Himalaya DRM2009 receiver Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0RamiHT0OM&NR=1 Demonstration of Himalaya DRM2009 receiver Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAfP3uHrB0 (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Graveline doesn`t even know that there are no DRM transmitters in the US, nor that it funxions on SW rather than satellite! And his show is on ``advanced media``?? Senger remarx that there is ``another one`` (DRM transmitter) under construxion in the Caribbean, unspecified. I guess this means Bonaire? Also pushes the line that DRM will be the standard in the future and that hardly anyone will actually tune in individual frequencies but punch up whatever is on the DRM menu (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBOCh AT NIGHT For nighttime reception, the AM standard broadcast band here in the western mid-Atlantic region of the United States is taking a severe hit from this IBOCh system. Tonight at 0155 UT [Sept 21] I scanned the band and was amazed at the amount and intensity of the IBOCh hiss. After reading Glenn's survey information I believe the IBOCh interference and reception damage is worse here in the east than in Oklahoma. My findings follow: IBOCh Hiss frequency Presumed source Severely affected or "eliminated" stations 690, 710 WLW WOR 750, 770 WJR WSB, WABC 830, 850 WHAS WCCO 880, 900 WLS WCBS 1030, 1050 WHO WBZ 1060, 1080 WIBC 1110, 1130 KMOX WBT, WBBR 1180, 1200 WOWO WHAM In this mountainous area of western North Carolina the strong "digitally enhanced" signals of WLW and WHAS are the worst offenders, followed by WJR. I'm in WBT's null to the northwest, protecting KFAB, but there was still enough of WBT's signal here to make it listenable - but no longer. In my opinion this IBOCh transmission / modulation system for AM stations to use at night is by far the worst technology ever promoted to broadcasters. Why? Because IT ADVERSELY AFFECTS EXISTING SERVICES ON ADJACENT CHANNELS. If this IBOCh system had existed and was promoted back in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s I suspect the FCC engineering people on staff at that time would have quickly and completely squelched the entire idea, probably even calling it ridiculous. In this time of so much mindless drivel being presented on the over- the-air and cable television channels, I think it's especially important that the AM standard broadcast band be kept clear of IBOCh hiss at night so that all of the 50 kW class A and B stations remain available for listening in areas far from metropolitan centers. These stations do often provide forums for exchange of ideas and opinions and as such should be protected from IBOCh interference. An excellent example of such a station is WGN and their fine evening program, Extension 720, conducted by Milt Rosenberg (Richard Howard, Burnsville NC, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The IBOC hiss is terrible. Those previously thinking AM (MW) was dead are now correct. Does anyone want bread with their hash? Awful noise and awful mess. 73, (Kraig Krist, VA, Sept 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBAL and IBOC hiss from WTAM Last night, I noticed that at times, WTAM was bothering WBAL again. So I decided to look at my Drake R8's s-meter. I realize that this is not very exact, but it gives a rough idea of what is going on. WTIC was not a factor in this test because their signal was much weaker. As a base line, I tuned WBAL to the strongest signal strength which was about s9+35/s9+40 and it was still getting hissed about 1/4 of the time. I quickly went back and forth between 1090 and 1100 to see what WTAM's signal strength was relative to WBAL when I heard hiss on 1090. WTAM's signal varied from about s9 to s9+25/s9+30. As one would expect (perhaps even axiomatically), when WTAM's signal was above S9+20, the hiss was easily noticeable on WBAL. When it was less than s9+15, the hiss was not as noticeable. For reference, WTIC never made it above s9+10 and as I noted above, did not appear to be a factor. Remember I am within WBAL's NIF contour, and should not be hearing IBOC hiss from WTAM at all (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBOC noted causing interference at times on 1000, 1040, 1070 and 1190 kHz. 73s (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland, 0440-0850 UT Sept 20. NRD-545, RPA-1 preamp, beverages: 513m at 240 degrees, terminated; 475m at 265 degrees, terminated; 506m at 290 degrees, terminated; 550m at 340 degrees, terminated. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/clashmoreradio/ MWC via DXLD) Around 0640 UT, 1040 and 1070 had IBOC QRM (Hall, Scotland, UT Sept 21, ibid.) KFYI HD test The CE at KFYI says that from tonight at sunset on KFYI will be on full time with HD. He would appreciate logs and non-logs. All KFYI logs should be sent to big_h00pla @ yahoo.com with correct reception data for a QSL. The test will run until Sept 28 (Kevin Redding, Gilbert, AZ, Sept 21, WTFDA via DXLD) & then comes and goes (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL WIPES OUT HAM COMMUNICATIONS, BROADCAST LISTENING, ON THE DON Russia. Valery, holding the call signs RA3GF and RN3GF has announced in the “Open DX” Forum on the Internet that after introducing the Internet Service through the 220V power line, BPL. by the company Spark, ham radio communications have become practically impossible in the town of Rostov-on-Don due to enormous interference. Even the local powerful broadcast stations cannot be received (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program Sept 21 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE BEST IS YET TO COME! [transpolar MW] Very rare early season opening to Far East this morning, September 20. Substantial, unmistakable Japanese carriers on 747 and 693 DFing 330 . I believe I could have pulled in audio on 747 were it not for IBOC hash from local WWCN on 770 which splatters over 50 kHz both sides. Weaker Japan carriers also noted on 594 and 873 plus weak Far East carrier on 1053 kHz. These were heard 1055 to 1113 UTC. Local sunrise 1115. Based on past experience 774 is the best bet for Japan but not in this location only 4 kHz from WWCN. I wish I had started from the low frequencies up today to see how early these came in. Over 60 years experience chasing foreign MW DX, I have found that the peak seasons for really long range exotic DX occur one to two years after sunspot minima (Ray Moore, Ft. Myers FL; homebrew receiver, 23-inch spiral loop, NRC IDXD Sept 21 via DXLD) ARNIE CORO`S NON-COPYRIGHTED ETC. PROPAGATION REPORT This edition of DXers Unlimited will provide you just now with an update about solar cycle 23, the one that has really defied all forecasts and keeps on moving along at zero sunspot count for many days. Yes, amigos, scientists will now have to face the reality that solar minimum is still very much with us, and that March and April of 2007 were not the two months of minimum solar activity for the present cycle. Sí amigos, yes my friends, oui mes amis, you are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, and here is our solar update, that for the first time in many, many years shows that during fifteen consecutive days optical observations done by the world’s most important observatories have registered absolutely no sunspots. In other words, for the past two weeks the sunspot count was ZERO, and it is expected to remain at that level for a few more days. Together with the zero sunspot count, we are receiving information about microwave radiation from the Sun, that is at the minimum possible level ever registered at the 10.7 centimeters wavelength. With zero sunspots and solar flux between 65 and 70 units, the daily maximum useable frequency curve moves up very slowly after local sunset [sic, means sunrise; does he read it that way too? --- gh], and it never reaches frequencies above 25 megaHertz, while at the same time the highest possible frequencies that do propagate for a few hours every day, rarely if ever move above 18 or 19 megaHertz. As a good friend of mine that has lived through solar cycles 19, 20, 21, 22 and now 23, has told me this week, this extremely low number of sunspots is an unprecedented event. “Arnie, - he said – ever since I started to listen to short wave stations when I was a teenager way back in 1956, never before HF propagation conditions have been so poor“, and yes amigos, I fully agree with my friend, as yours truly also started to listen to the short wave bands during the mid nineteen fifties. And now just before going QRT, to underscore, solar activity at rock bottom levels for the past two weeks, with zero sunspot count and solar flux all the time below 70 units, something that scientists expect to continue for at least one more week, when maybe, and I repeat, maybe a new sunspot active region may signal an end to this extremely long period of no activity. VHF low band propagation will improve for areas where transequatorial signals are usually heard at this time in the Northern Hemisphere (Arnie Coro A., CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 22, HCDX via DXLD) And Southern! (gh, DXLD) Bob Marston, K6TR of Fremont, California says, "If Cycle 23 continues through January 2008 it will match Cycle 20 as one of the longest in recent history. You have to go back to Cycle 9 in the Mid 1800s to find a longer one. My own estimate is Cycle 23 will end in Feb 2008 with a SSN between 6.8 and 7.2." (ARRL Propagation Bulletin Sept 21 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ###