DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-022, February 19, 2008 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 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1396 Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Thu 2300 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0900 WRMI 9955 Fri 2130 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2330 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 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: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. 6700, R Solh (presumed), Bagram, 13.02., 2200, non stop typical Afghan music, monotone singing without any announcements; O=1-2 (DX Camp 4, Hvide Sande - Denmark, Participants: Thomas Berner, Rudi Schneeberger, Wolfgang Seyfried, Michael Schnitzer, 300m Beverage to East Asia (60 ), via Schnitzer, HCDX via DXLD) See DXPEDITIONS ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh, 15265 via UK, 1452 UT Feb 18, exactly same music as always, and rather poor signal today, but with additional problem: Spanish 2-way SSB on 15266.5, probably drug runners or poachers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. KNLS: The second transmitter seems to be operating again: heard on 7355 at 1000. But seemingly the frequency change for Chinese transmissions from 7355 to 6915 kHz hasn't taken place. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, 1352 UT Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 13640 to NAm, Tue Feb 19 at 1539 with reports about independence of Kosovo, US recognition thereof, etc. Good S9+20 signal reaching SINPO 45444 but somewhat overmodulated and distorted; better than being undermodulated. 1549 music break, 1552 mailbag reading several reception reports with their SINPOs; 1558 theme, open carrier, 1558:30 bit of IS, open carrier again until off at 1559* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. O sinal da Rádio Nacional da Angola (e não "de Angola"!) tem chegado, todos os dias, após às 2100, em Bombinhas (SC), pela tradicional freqüência de 4950 kHz. Em 11 de fevereiro, o colunista acompanhou, às 2111, o segmento "Agenda Nacional", onde foram irradiados anúncios fúnebres, perda de documentos e chamamento para assembléia em escolas. "Agenda Nacional, serviço de utilidade pública da Rádio Nacional da Angola", dizia a vinheta da estação (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, Bangladesh Betar (presumed), 1232-1300*, Feb. 15 and 16. Talk by woman in English, subcontinental songs. First noted on Jan. 26, but no definite ID yet. Beamed to S Asia, SE Asia. Carrier is usually quite strong; audio is low, especially for spoken parts of the program. Normally a hum is noted on the frequency, with occasional ute and ARO QRM (Victor C. Jaar, Quebec, Galaxy R530, longwire, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 17 via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar (via DX Tuner Hong Kong), 1110 Feb 18 with a good signal and talk by woman. This was perhaps a lesson of some sort. ID by man at 1130. Co-channel China which was well underneath this. A third station, perhaps also from China, was audible starting at 1120 or so (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) or INDONESIA (gh) This one is fairly easy to hear but *very difficult* to hear well. :-) (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) ** BHUTAN. BBS noted sign on many days at 0000 UT on 6035. On other days it`s heard fading in later, maybe due to propagation conditions (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, monitoring from my temporary location at Bhubaneswar, East coast of India, Feb 19, Icom 706 MK II, Inverted V, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. BOLÍVIA - Em Bombinhas (SC), poucas estações da América do Sul aparecem em ondas tropicais. Uma exceção é a Rádio Yura, da cidade boliviana do mesmo nome. Em 13 de fevereiro, o colunista captou a estação, em 4716. Após levar ao ar músicas românticas e folclóricas, a emissora encerrou sua transmissão às 0143, após a execução do hino nacional daquele país (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - A Rádio Congonhas, de Congonhas (MG), permanece ativa em 4775 kHz. Em Bombinhas (SC), o colunista monitorou a estação, em 12 de fevereiro, às 2206. A emissora levava ao ar uma vinheta afirmando que apóia a Campanha da Fraternidade da Igreja Católica. BRASIL - Ao que tudo indica, a Rádio Cultura, de Araraquara (SP), está inativa, nos últimos tempos, em 3365 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 8-021: And now I must say that it appears to be no good idea to send e-mail in a hurry while I'm about to leave (for a really late lunch after getting hungry), producing an embarrassing mistake: The CIRAF target of the shortwave relays of RCI plus is not 4 but instead either 7 (in its entirety) [central USA] or 7 northeast plus 8 north [i.e. NE quadrant of USA]. The latter is the same as given for DRM on 9800, by the way. But still: What's the real target, and how many listeners tune in at which places (both for RCI plus and the 9800 DRM)? Meanwhile I went by way of machine translation through the FNC-CSN release about Wojtek Gwiazda being suspended from work for three days: This discipline is in particular related to his activities in regard of a parliamentary committee, as explained at http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/RCIHeritageCttee20071127Mandate.html And, especially important: His superiors threatened with more serious punishment if he continues these activities. Must have been a really unpleasant meeting I fear (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glenn, Well, how to put it --- As you've already learned, last week I was suspended without pay for three days, for raising questions about RCI’s mandate with members of the House of Commons Canadian Heritage Committee on behalf of the RCI Action Committee. And I was warned by RCI that I could face more serious penalties if I continue to ask questions. On Valentine’s Day (the day after the three-day suspension) Alex Levasseur, the president of the union that represents most of us at RCI’s headquarters in Montreal, called a press conference and condemned the suspension, and what he called an attempt to “muzzle” our union from speaking out about how the international mandate of RCI has been changed. As you can imagine there will be more coming out over this attempt to block our inter-union committee from getting answers about changes at RCI. In the meantime, I’ve posted the English version of the press release put out by our union (Syndicat des communications de Radio- Canada) on the RCI Action Committee website at: http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/SuspensionRadioCanadaInternational2008.html (The original French version is on our site as well.) I will keep you up-to-date on developments as much as I can. Given the delicate situation I find myself in, that may not always be easy. Take care, (Wojtek Gwiazda, RCI Action Committee - Comité d'action de RCI http://www.geocities.com/rciaction rciaction @ yahoo.ca Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Vintage RCI television promo Found this on YouTube tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHAsO6Ma_94 The first of many vintage CBC bumpers in this clip has Jim Craig narrating a promo for RCI, circa 1985. 73, (Ricky Leong, AB, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CRI via Sackville, 15230, Feb 18 at 1453 in English with frequent audio dropouts, unlistenable. Is anyone paying attention? Why is it so hard to maintain a clearly modulated feed from Beijing to Sackville? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO ONE SWITCH TO FM DIAL DELAYED SYDNEY --- The CBC says it`s highly unlikely CBC Radio One in Sydney will switch over to the FM dial this fiscal year or next. The radio station hoped to make the move by sometime next fiscal year but radio regional director Susan Mitton said that isn`t likely to happen. ``What they are going to do for the next year is prioritize areas of the country that have no service, so we aren`t obviously there,`` she said. ``It`s our Maritime priority but there are other parts of the country that have no CBC Radio One service. They are ahead of us.`` Mitton said the move to FM is still on the wish list for next fiscal year. ``We`re lower on the list though so it`s highly unlikely unless something happens, say a project in another part of the country doesn`t happen, well, that would obviously free up those and we could get back on the priority list.`` When the CBC received permission from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in July to switch over to the FM dial it was given two to three years to make the move, she noted. The CBC has said the AM transmitter and antenna system off Keltic Drive will have to be replaced, along with other related broadcasting equipment, for the move from 1140 AM to 97.1 FM. The switch to FM will improve the signal, and the sound, for Radio One listeners, and will extend the broadcast into some pockets that currently aren't able to receive the AM signal. 18/02/08 (The Cape Breton Post via Daniel Riordan, Feb 18, IRCA via DXLD) Salivating to get off AM (gh, DXLD) ** CHAD. CHAD LOSES HISTORIC VOICE IN LOOTING OF STATE RADIO Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:06am EST By Stephanie Hancock and Moumine Ngarmbassa http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1945716520080219?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - From landmark speeches made at independence to recordings of beloved musicians long since dead, Chad lost historic audio archives in the looting frenzy that accompanied a rebel assault on its capital this month. Like many other state institutions in N'Djamena, the Radio Nationale du Tchad (RNT) was pillaged by civilians who ran amok during two days of chaos on February 2-3 when government forces were busy repelling the insurgents in the city. All that remains is the charred shell of its offices. Walls are blackened; windows have exploded; furniture has been reduced to rubble. Inside the gutted building, every public audio archive since Chad's independence has gone up in smoke, including recordings of the former French colony's independence day itself. "There's nothing left to be saved," said RNT director Halime Assadia Ali, covering her mouth with her headscarf to give some protection from the choking dust. Ash and twisted metal crackle underfoot as journalists try to salvage what they can from the wreckage. In the archives department, decades' worth of radio spools lie in neat rows, crumpled by the heat. "I don't know why they did this because the radio is like a national institution, it's the voice of everybody, it's for the whole country, so I don't know why it would be destroyed," Halime told Reuters. "It's existed since 1955, but with all the events we've had in Chad this is the first time the radio has been looted, burnt and trashed." The uncomfortable truth is that civilian looters did the damage as they poured into the streets, ransacking parliament buildings, ministries and foreigners' residences, many driven by resentment against President Idriss Deby's 18-year rule. Deby's forces said they beat off the rebel raiders on the city, whom they said were backed by Sudan -- a charge denied by Khartoum. The rebels said they withdrew and would strike again. BROADCASTING FROM A MOSQUE Following the destruction of the state radio station, its journalists decamped to N'Djamena's main mosque, where 'Koran FM', the mosque's in-house radio station, opened up its offices. In between calls to prayer from the mosque's twin minarets, state radio is now back on the air, broadcasting in French, Arabic and a host of other local languages. The station normally employs 350 people, but only a fraction of these can fit into Koran FM's tiny offices. "Our teams who finish working late at night are forced to sleep in the mosque because it's too late to go home, what with the curfew and security situation," said broadcast journalist Barribo Talo. "The conditions are difficult, there are no mosquito nets, and lots of us are falling ill with malaria." Talo is angry at those who pillaged the radio, which will cost more than $6 million to re-establish. Traditional music, as well as landmark speeches including those by Francois Tomalbaye, Chad's first president after independence, and Hissene Habre, a former dictator now awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, have all gone up in smoke. "Those who came to loot don't even know the value of what they took," Talo said, adding that the state would be able to buy new equipment, but not replace the destroyed archives. "Certain songs, certain political speeches, these have all been ruined. Some artists who are dead, we've lost all their songs. We've lost our cultural riches, many of the country's memories have been lost forever," Talo added. (Editing by Nick Tattersall) (via MYKE WEISKOPF > Hollywood, CA WEB > http://www.mykeweiskopf.com Feb 19, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Re 8-021: 6010 kHz, Radio La Voz de tu Conciencia y su programa DX --- which is correct UT day? Hola Santaigo, Es la primera noticia que tengo de ese programa DX en 6010/5910. Extraño que no llegaron noticias acerca del mismo desde RRR. Por favor aclarar si la hora citada se trata de esta noche del sábado local, domingo TU, o viernes local, sábado TU? 73, (Glenn to Santiago San Gil, via DXLD) Saludos Glenn. Gracias por responder mi correo. Sí, yo escuché en 6010 a esa emisora con un programa DX; eso fue la noche del sábado 16-02-08 a las 00/00 UT [previously said 0030]. Ellos mencionaron los 5910 pero yo no escuché el programa allí en paralelo. Yo me imagino que lo retransmiten en otros horarios. Lamentablemente no tengo grabador y paso todo muy rapido. Saludos (Santiago San Gil, Venezuela, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Rafael, Viene de Santiago San Gil en Venezuela un informe de haber captado a su nuevo programa DX desde LLeras en 6010, sábado por la noche alrededor de las 00 TU domingo. Por favor enterarnos de cómo se llama el programa, y a qué horas precisas se transmite en 5910 y 6010? 73, (Glenn to Rafael Rodríguez, via DXLD) Hola Don Glenn, No le puedo adelantar mucho; el programa que se está irradiando es un programa piloto; en marzo ya se inician las emisiones regulares con horarios establecidos para salir en ambas frecuencias. En principio la audiencia objetivo es local; la que dispone de los radios Galcom. El programa se llama: "La Radio a través de la radio". También otra sorpresa para enviar con las verificaciones durante el 2008 (Rafael Rodríguez, Bogotá, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. RADIO INICIA SUS EMISIONES PARA LA COMUNIDAD DE LESBIANAS Y GAYS --- La estación Radio Diversia, inició hoy en Colombia sus emisiones dirigidas a la comunidad de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Transgeneristas (LGBT), informaron sus directivos. La emisora, una de las primera en su género en Latinoamérica y la primera en Colombia, fue fundada por 'Foster', el colombiano que dirigió un programa para la comunidad gay en Argentina; y el chileno 'Fito', que vive en Colombia hace varios años. La emisora 'nace como una propuesta para una comunidad discriminada por muchos y que necesita establecer un espacio socio cultural, de expresión y entretenimiento', dijo su director, Carlos Serrano. Precisó que las labores estarán a cargo de quince periodistas y activistas voluntarios del movimiento LGBT que quieren dar a conocer 'la parte humana de la población'. La estación se puede sintonizarse en la página 'web' http://www.radiodiversia.com tomado de: http://actualidad.terra.es/sociedad/articulo/radio_colombia_inicia_emisiones_comunidad_2261675.htm (via Ing. Yandys Cervantes Rodríguez, Profesor Adjunto Sede Universitaria Municipal. Buey Arriba. Granma, Noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Enciclopedia --- While there's probably nothing new on this website http://www.radioenciclopedia.cu it is interesting that it appears they mention the address more than previously. Last Saturday, for instance, while running errands for about four hours in Clearwater and St. Petersburg, I had 530 kHz on the car radio since it's almost local level daytime, and far more enjoyable than anything terrestrial from the Tampa Bay market. Each hour included about two or three mentions of the URL. Note the "Programación" and "de la sexualidad" (VIH a/k/a HIV program discussion) links (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 15710, Feb 18 at 1450 check, NO jamming at all! Have they finally turned it off? Why was it ever here? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 17515.00, The lady from Cuba (with slight Brazilian accent) noted again reading 5 digit numbers in Spanish around 1615 UT. Today advanced propagation condition occured in afternoon from Africa and Americas. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also heard here around 1600 (gh, OK) ** CUBA. Listen to Radio Havana today if you get a chance since Fidel Castro stepped down. You will get to hear some stuff about how great he was and all that stuff. It will be a real trip down memory lane to the 1960s. Here is the frequencies to Radio Havana as I am sure it will be very interesting: http://www.radiohc.org/Distributions/freqtable.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Hey, what a pretty table, I was unaware of. Too bad it is several years out of date. I doubt there will be much change in RHC output, already devoted to extolling Castro, replaying his old speeches incessantly, etc. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) It will be interesting to see if this results in temporary power increases and pattern changes [MW]. It is amazing how many Cuban stations I can get here in PEI (Phil Rafuse, Stratford PEI Canada, ABDX via DXLD) ** DENMARK. I am regular reader of DXLD which is a very informative source for shortwave news. Here is something that might interest you. Finnish pirate RADIO SPACESHUTTLE heard today (17 Feb 2008) on 5815 from 1000 and 1400 and repeated 2000-2400 via the facilities of WORLD MUSIC RADIO. Very good signal in the UK for the morning broadcast but subject to deep fading for the evening repeat. I imagine the WMR transmitter is still in Denmark, so this would put Denmark back on the shortwave map. WMR also relayed another pirate, FRS Holland, a few weeks ago on 5815. 73s (Paul Watson, UK, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) World Music Radio will tonight relay the following stations: 2000-2400 UT Space Shuttle Radio (17th February 2008) 0000-0100 UT Kiss Radio (actually on 18th February 2008) Power will be 7 kW from a place near Karup, Jutland, Denmark. For Kiss Radio, reception reports can be send til kissradio48 @ gmail.com Programme will be the same as this morning at 0900-1000 UT, also on 5815 kHz (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark via HCDX via DXLD) But 5815 no good here after 0000 with WEWN 5810 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9250, R. Wadi el Nil (presumed), 1918-2047, Feb. 12 and 16. Although this station, reported as R. Wadi el Nil from Egypt, can be heard daily, so far no ID has been noted here. Normally carries songs and news. On Feb. 15 heard at 2220 with better signal, although not comparable to Cairo's recently introduced 6290 outlet. Usually weak to fair (Victor C. Jaar, Quebec, Galaxy R530, longwire, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 17 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. RADIO FANA TO BROADCAST FROM JIMMA PALACE http://allafrica.com/stories/200802190209.html original: http://www.addisfortune.com/Radio%20Fana%20to%20Broadcast%20from%20Jimma%20Palace.htm Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa) NEWS Posted to the web 19 February 2008 By Issayas Mekuria Jimma Palace, which was one of the resting spots of Emperor Haile Selassie I and the seat of his principals, is to be given to Radio Fana, the nation's first private multilingual national broadcaster. Constructed in the 1940's by Tsehay Enqu, close confident of the late Emperor and administrator of the region, the palace is situated on the road from the town's airport to Ferenj Arada around Bosa Arat. Currently, Wakjira Terfassa, Jimma Zone deputy administrator, lives in the Palace situated on a 1.5hct plot holding Gibe Hall, one of the largest assembly halls in the city. "The palace has so far not been put towards productive purposes," said Kefyalew. "We have decided now to grant the palace to Radio Fana to open a studio in it." A senior officer at Radio Fana confirmed to Fortune that the town administration is to provide the palace to a third party. "Our technical staff will first assess the feasibility of the palace for radio broadcasting and submit its findings to the radio station. The board of Radio Fana then decides the fate of the request." According to a radio engineer, the location of the palace is suitable for beaming signals as it lies atop a hill with access to Jimma's population. After the fall of the Emperor, Tessema Belay (Colonel), administrator of Kefa, used to reside in the palace. Derg leader Mengistu Hailemariam was also claimed to have rested at the palace. Following the ousting from power of the military regime in 1991, the defence armies controlled the compound. The 15-room palace also has a neighbouring church, which is feared to disturb the broadcast. According to a resident of the town, Junedin Sado, minister of Transport and Communications, who earlier was president of the Oromia Regional State, has consulted with residents of the town concerning the possible fate of the palace. The prudent choice in the minds of the town's officials was to make the palace a museum, library or guesthouse. "It is not a wise decision to give the palace to Radio Fana while the city is suffering from lack of proper hotels for guests," says a resident of the town. The radio station is expected to take programmes from its main office in Addis Abeba and develop in-house content on local issues broadcasting 212 hours per week. In addition to Jimma, Radio Fana this year has planned to broadcast from four other regional towns. "We have requested to be granted spaces for studios in Awassa, Gondar and Harar," said a senior official of the station. Fana has floated a tender to procure a one & two KW FM Transmitter with complete system studio equipments, on January 24, 2008. The tender closes on February 28, 2008. Although the Mayor of Jimma said that Radio Fana would provide community radio service to city residents, an executive member of the station told Fortune that they are targeting commercial radio including in the other three expected towns (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Some VTCommunications changes: Radio Mustaqbal in Somali to EaAf again on short waves: 0545-0615 on 15510 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg Mon-Wed 0545-0615 on 15510 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg Sat 0620-0650 on 15510 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg Mon/Tue/Sat 0730-0800 on 15485 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg Mon-Wed/Sat 0805-0835 on 15485 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg Mon/Tue/Sat 1130-1200 on 15485 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg Mon-Wed/Sat 1205-1235 on 15485 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg Mon/Tue/Sat (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. U S A (non). Additional transmissions for Brother Stair TOM in English from Feb. 19: 1500-1700 on 9595 POR 250 kW / 160 deg to SoEaEu/ME 1900-2100 on 6060#POR 250 kW / 220 deg to SoEu/NoAf, # co-channel VOR in Arabic till 2000 and RFA in Korean (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) 9595: Yes, usual Pori, Finland, strong S=9+10 dB signal noted here around 1515 UT, old pastor preaching. QRM co-channel a little bit BBC Kranji in Nepali underneath. Started today Feb 19th. Also more six hours service of IBB via Pori planned in A-08 season, 250 kW, towards NE/ME tinderbox (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tuned the remote receiver in Italy at http://shortwavelog.com to notice Brother Stair, heard via the Pori, Finland relay on its first day in operation: 6060 to Europe/North Africa at 1910 with his usual ramblings; fair but overriding V. of Russia in Arabic, yet lots of QRM from Sweden +5 in Swedish (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 15475.00, Likely R AF1 (tentative), noted with proper S=9+10 dB signal in 16-17 UT range. News in French at 1600-1610 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same here (gh) ** GERMANY [non]. DW CHANGES THEMES IN ENGLISH, AND OTHER LANGUAGE PROGRAMS --- Just as it was with BBC in late September, as of earlier this month Deutsche Welle changed its musical sounders that open broadcasts and programs (i.e. Newslink) in English and other languages; also they now announce as "Deutsche Welle" and not "DW- Radio". Yet I still hear the old sounders in the German programs --the ones that include part of the "Fidelio" tuning signal (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Winter B-07 DTK T-Systems Media & Broadcast. Part 2 of 4: WYFR (Family Radio): to West Europe 1800-1900 on 3955 WER 100 kW / non-dir German to East Europe 1700-1800 on 9595 WER 500 kW / 060 deg Russian 1800-1900 on 5970 WER 500 kW / 060 deg Russian 1800-1900 on 6050 WER 100 kW / 105 deg Romanian to South Europe 1800-1900 on 6120 NAU 250 kW / 230 deg Spanish 1900-2000 on 6120 NAU 250 kW / 230 deg Portuguese to South Asia 1300-1500 on 13820 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Bengali 1500-1600 on 9665 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Punjabi 1600-1800 on 11815 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Punjabi 1500-1600 on 11830 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Urdu 1600-1700 on 9485 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Urdu 1700-1800 on 9705 WER 500 kW / 075 deg Urdu 1500-1600 on 9800 NAU 500 kW / 085 deg Gujarati 1300-1400 on 11930 WER 500 kW / 090 deg English 1300-1400 on 15770 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Marathi 1400-1500 on 11830 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Kannada 1400-1500 on 15115 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Telugu 1400-1600 on 11930 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Hindi 1500-1600 on 15115 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Tamil 1600-1700 on 9405 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Hindi 1700-1800 on 9405 WER 500 kW / 090 deg Nepali 1400-1500 on 13840 WER 500 kW / 105 deg Pashto to Middle East 1600-1700 on 9650 NAU 500 kW / 105 deg Persian 1700-1800 on 6105 NAU 500 kW / 115 deg Persian 1700-1900 on 9925 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Turkish 1600-1700 on 9830 NAU 500 kW / 130 deg Arabic 1700-1800 on 9435 WER 500 kW / 125 deg Arabic 1800-1900 on 9520 WER 500 kW / 120 deg Arabic 1900-2000 on 6175 WER 500 kW / 120 deg Arabic 2000-2100 on 5925 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Arabic to East Africa 1600-1900 on 9885 WER 500 kW / 135 deg English 1800-1900 on 9770 WER 500 kW / 135 deg Amharic 1600-1700 on 11845 WER 500 kW / 135 deg English 1500-1600 on 13660 WER 500 kW / 150 deg English 1600-1700 on 11635 WER 500 kW / 150 deg Amharic 1700-1800 on 11635 WER 500 kW / 150 deg Swahili 1800-1900 on 9435 WER 500 kW / 150 deg English to North Africa 1700-1800 on 11685 WER 100 kW / 180 deg Arabic 1800-1900 on 9845 NAU 500 kW / 160 deg Arabic 1900-2000 on 9500 WER 500 kW / 150 deg Arabic 2000-2100 on 9465 WER 500 kW / 150 deg Arabic 2100-2200 on 5970 WER 500 kW / 150 deg Arabic to Central Africa 1600-1700 on 15325 WER 500 kW / 165 deg English 1800-1900 on 11665 NAU 500 kW / 165 deg English to West and Central Africa 1900-2200 on 9480 NAU 500 kW / 180 deg English 2200-2300 on 7305 WER 500 kW / 180 deg English 1900-2000 on 9770 NAU 500 kW / 180 deg French 2000-2100 on 9595 WER 500 kW / 180 deg French 2100-2200 on 7305 WER 500 kW / 180 deg French to North and West Africa 2000-2100 on 9670 WER 125 kW / 195 deg French 2200-2300 on 6010 WER 500 kW / 195 deg French to West Africa 1900-2000 on 9695 WER 500 kW / 210 deg French 2000-2200 on 9610 WER 500 kW / 210 deg Arabic 2200-2300 on 5960 WER 500 kW / 210 deg Arabic (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DRESDEN BANDSCAN – DECEMBER 2007, By Andrew Tett Having spent some time in Germany over the years, I was looking forward to having the opportunity to revisit the country for a family holiday in the city of Dresden just before Christmas. Whilst taking in the Christmas markets and imbibing the occasional festive glühwein, I also enjoyed being somewhere where I had no previous radio experience as it were, and getting to know the bands there. We stayed very much in the city, which was full of some very strong FM signals. I remember reading with interest in the FM DX column of a hi- fi magazine in the seventies that "continental" cities quite typically "enjoyed" significantly higher signal strengths for their FM reception than we do in Britain in general. While the locals might revel in the signals that their radios bring in without the need for anything more than a piece of wet string, for the DXer, this is not such a good thing. My poor little Sony S-RF 11 had a hard time receiving the weaker signals without overload interference as a result. To get around we had arranged the use of a hire car, something that we only really needed to get to some of the more remote parts of Sachsen (Saxony). In town we used the wonderfully cheap and frequent trams, which do unfortunately, as I have discovered before, cause significant interference to DXing on the AM bands. However, while stationary at our base, the car did prove useful for something else: DXing. We had a little Toyota Yaris - hardly an impressive car by "Top Gear" standards, but it was extremely suitable for us - and it had one of the best car radios for DXing that I have ever had the use of. It looks like a purpose built unit with AM and FM. I believe from memory that it covers both the LW and MW bands. The reason why I can't be totally sure is that I did not take notes whilst DXing on the unit and there was nothing that I wanted to listen to on LW anyway - BBC Radio 4, Droitwich, while being audible in Sachsen was unlistenable due to Polskie Radio 1 on the same frequency. The radio was also one of the easiest to use that I have ever had, even having a manual tuning knob - not just push button tuning - so manual tuning is surprisingly a joy. Another brilliant feature of this car radio, in addition to excellent sensitivity, was what seemed to me to be a complete absence of interference from the car! I can't remember the last time I was able to say that about a car radio. The sound quality of the radio on the car's speakers was not really that good, but the reception made up for this. The car is also economical, and I believe reliable, so I can fully recommend it as a DXer's car all round. So, to the radioscape of the city of Dresden. LW was nothing unexpected with a selection of stations familiar to us here in the UK. On MW there were only two transmissions at local strength. It was strangely comforting to this Brit to be able to listen all day on 648 kHz wherever we were to the BBC World Service from Orfordness. As I have not been in this part of Germany during the summer months I do not know if this was simply as a result of the usual winter MW propagation improvement, but as even 1296 kHz with the Dutch Truckers Radio service was easily audible I suspect that this is the case. On FM, where most listening in Germany is done, there were of course quite a few local stations to hear. The results of a brief local scan of the bands can be read below. Dresden did seem to offer a high degree of German music to listen to and not the ubiquitous English pop music or the techno music so prevalent in Germany on my previous visits. MW Bandscan (frequencies in kHz) 1044 MDR Info. I'm told this has local parliament opt outs but otherwise is a relay of the mainstream state-wide news service, also available on FM. 1431 VOR. Intriguing one for me, this one. I did not know that the Voice of Russia used this frequency in Germany. It has apparently only been theirs to use for the last couple of years. Russia seems to very much still have its fingers in the East German pie, as it were, and it has several MW frequencies for its external services in both the east and west. Broadcasts are in English, German and Russian. The sound quality of this transmitter, located at a place called Wilsdruff beside the A4 Autobahn near Dresden, is very poor, sounding highly overmodulated. This distortion is not evident on the other VOR services that I could hear. It's a powerful transmitter, too, and its 250kW was clearly audible all over the parts of Sachsen that we visited. Listening to it was also all rather reminiscent of the Cold War, even down to the insistence of announcing its transmitter frequencies in metres... [this item only: previously in DXLD] FM Bandscan (frequencies in MHz) / RDS ID 88.3 __R.SA__ 70s / 80s pop, commercial. Calls itself "RSA". Full of pointless chat and competitions in my opinion. // 89.2. 89.2 __R.SA__ // 88.3. 89.9 __CR_2__ Czech radio 2nd Programme. Not strong, but strong enough to receive on an internal poorly strung wire antenna. Not as processed as many of the other stations on the band. More intelligent chat (don't understand Czech, but the presentation suggests this) and western pop music. Interference from local transmissions. 90.1 MDR_JUMP 90s / 00s pop. Highly processed. More high energy presentation and competitions aimed it appears at the teens and twenties. 91.1 BBC-RFI_ The BBC’s feed for this service has changed since I last heard this one. It used to be a quality stereo feed with local announcements in English and even some local programming in German (although I have never heard this). Now it appears that the local announcements have gone and it sounds like a relay of the low bit-rate mono feed that we are more used to here in Britain. This station shares the transmitter rather bizarrely with Radio France International which does actually do programmes in German still. 92.2 MDR_SACH Pop / Slager / Nostalgic music for an older generation of Saxons. Highly processed. 93.2 DKULTUR_ The sibling of Deutschlandfunk. A bit like a BBC Radio 10 (Radios 4, 3, 2, and 1 all rolled into one). Not obviously processed and with good sound quality. 95.4 MDR_FIGA Similar in a way to D Kultur but with a Sachsen bias. 97.3 __DLF___ Possibly the nearest thing that Germany has to BBC Radio 4. Comes from Köln (Cologne). Unprocessed and good sound quality. 97.9 PROGLAS. More Czech radio. Not obviously processed and with Czech light pop music. 99.3 _APOLLO_ Broadcasts with the slogan "Bleiben Sie Anders" (something like “Just be / stay different”). Nice mix of jazz and classical. No adverts that I could hear. Probably local non-commercial radio. Shares its frequency with COLOURAD Colour Radio, who have it during the evening, broadcasting rock and alternative music. 100.2 _ENERGY_ Energy Sachsen. The name says it all. Guitar-based music, rocky 00s stuff. 101.4 CONTACT_ Highly processed and loud! A Czech station. Sounds like a 60s / 70s pirate, and the sound processing pumps a bit, too. Seems to broadcast mainly local music. 102.4 ? Radio PSR. “Der ‘Supermix’ für Sachsen“ (no translation necessary!) Heard it all before - boring... 103.5 DRESDEN_ R Dresden. “Hit für Hit ein Hit”. 104.5 __CR_3__ Czech R 3 Another Czech station. Can’t remember anything about it. (ed: Vltava Radio 3, culture, classics and the arts). 105.2 RTLSACHS RTL Sachsen Quite the worst sound quality on the band, which surprises me for what must be probably the most popular station. Very highly processed and sounding very horribly digital. Pop music. 106.1 MDR_INFO MDR's rolling news service. Their "Radio 5 Live". Largely parallel to 1044. [caption] Above: Deutschlandradio Kultur building http://www.messetreff.com/mg-bay/01sender/sender08d.htm (Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GOA. India. 12025, distorted audio signal and heavy BUZZ occurred on Hindi/Malayalam service via Panaji Goa on 12018.5 to 12030 kHz range. Scheduled 1600-1830 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND [non]. Hi Glenn, About Enya in DXLD 8-021: >>Enya is Icelandic, not Irish (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)>> Enya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Enya was born in Gweedore / Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland in 1961 to a musical family, the sixth of nine children. 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, she's Irish, by birth at least. Wiki snip: Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin on 17 May 1961, Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland), sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan, is an Irish singer and songwriter. She is Ireland's best-selling solo artist and is officially the country's second biggest musical export (second only to U2). Her works have earned her four Grammy Awards and an Academy Award nomination and is also famous for performing in 10 different languages during her lengthy career. Enya is an approximate transcription of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish, in the Donegal dialect. I bet You're thinking of Björk (Terry L Krueger, FL, ibid.) Oops --- that`s what I get for relying on a Google search rather than Wikipedia. I got 55,800 hits when searching on ``Enya Iceland`` showing an obvious connexion. But then she`s performed all over, and/or had recordings released there. But if I had searched on ``Enya Ireland`` I would have got 273,000 hits, 5:1 that she be Irish rather than Icy, starting with the top hit on her provenance (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Monitoring observations by me in Bhubaneswar, East Coast of India, show that the following SW stations of AIR not currently heard. Itanagar: 4990, 6150. Kohima: 4850, 6065 (They seem to broadcast on SW only during important occasions) Ranchi: 4960, 5985 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Feb 19, Icom 706 MK II, Inverted V, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also GOA ** INDIA. ÍNDIA - Em Bombinhas (SC), o colunista tem constatado que existe uma abertura de propagação excepcional, sempre entre 0100 e 0200, para a Índia. Assim, diversas estações regionais daquele país asiático são ouvidas, tais como: Lucknow, em 4880 kHz, ouvida em 13 de fevereiro, às 0114; Guwahati, em 4940 kHz, escutada em oito de fevereiro, às 0108; Shillong, em 4970 kHz, às 0104. Pela 1ª vez, o colunista captou a AIR, de Kerseong, pela freqüência de 4895 kHz. Tal ocorreu em 11 de fevereiro, às 0117, quando a emissora apresentava músicas típicas e locução em hindu (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 2960, RPD Manggarai, 02/15, 1435. Male announcer taking listeners calls then playing selections of music Whitney Houston and similar, 1458 short announcements in unID language and off the air at 1500. Actually decent signal level at local sunrise here except for deep fades. Could not pull out ID but matches log in Feb 08 Listener's Notebook /DXLD by Stig Adolfsson. Not heard 2/16 but back on 2/17. Same signal level as 3578 RSPD Maluku Tengah which also bears watching (Jim Fedor, Wells, NV, Icom R-70, Longwire cut for 90 meters, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 17 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Another morning I wish I had been tuning earlier: Feb 18 at the late hour of 1415, on 4790 island music, also CODAR and SSB QRM, best Indo signal on band, then 4605 with different music; 4750 had only a very weak carrier, maybe not Makassar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 7380, Feb 18 at 1432 Qur`an with long pauses, 1434 into M&W talk in S Asian language. Qur`an on the half-hour is a clew toward Iran, and indeed when uplooked later, it`s IRIB Kamalabad in Bengali (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) ** IRAN. IRAN LAUNCHES ISLAMIC RADIO SERVICE IN ENGLISH Tehran Times Culture Desk http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=163582 http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8611290623 TEHRAN -- The English language department of Iran's Islamic Education radio station was launched here on Sunday. Expediency Council member Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, manager of the Islamic Education radio station Mohammad-Hossein Mohammadzadeh, IRIB deputy manager Ali Darabi and several officials from the Qom Seminary attended the launching ceremony. Khatami made an opening address, in which he said, "It is no exaggeration to say that our two radio stations, one of which is dedicated exclusively to the Holy Qur`an and the other to Islamic teachings, are the pride of this country and I must acknowledge that the great scholars of the Seminary at Qom have always praised them." Ali Darabi also spoke at the ceremony, saying, "The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) airs programs in 31 languages with the assistance of a great number of professional personnel. The countries with which we have signed contracts of bilateral collaboration also draw on the experience of these people." Radio deputy manager Hassan Khojasteh, expressing his pleasure over the launching of the English department explained, "The world is in dire need of Islamic teachings to help people find the right path in life, so we must make use of this channel as a source of guidance." He continued that the department commenced its work with three hours of programs in English covering various issues, adding, "Although digital technology is not yet being used in the production of programs in our Persian section, the programs in English are all being produced digitally." Khojasteh concluded that the radio station is making use of local experts for writing and supervising the programs. RM/MA END MN (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, and Zacharias Liangas, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very interesting, but woefully lacking in detail, like WTFK, what time(s)? Is it really RADIO? Shortwave radio, or what? I am sure that ``digital`` produxion, big deal, does not imply DRM (gh, DXLD) ** IRELAND [and non]. Glenn, I have just returned from a week long stay in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. There was excellent coverage of RTÉ Radio 1 on Long Wave 252 but again the car I rented at Leeds/Bradford Airport did not have LW so I had to tune to the soon to be abolished 567 MW when in the car. Also I visited a good number of shops in the city and in nearby towns and came across only three radios for sale that had the LW band. A lot of DRB [DAB?] and internet radios but no DRM ones, nor I am afraid to report, were there any short wave radios for sale either! Interestingly there is quite a lot of MW activity still in Britain from national and local BBC and independent stations. So why is there a rush to leave MW in Ireland? One wonders what would happen if BBC Radio 4 closed down its LW transmissions (it is also on FM), would there be any LW radios for UK based RTÉ listerners to purchase? I am delighted that the Labour Party has also taken up the case for retention of MW broadcasts due to the poor FM reception of RTÉ stations in parts of Northern Ireland. Kind regards, (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTÉ medium-wave shutdown: article roundup. http://www.ean.ie/category/radio/ (Emigrant Advice Network via Edna O`Kane, via John Williams, Feb 17, MWC via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 9830, Radio Jordan (Amman). 2028-2033, Feb. 16. Arabic song by female singer; ID by female announcer, call-in program; caller named Suzanne was asked if she was calling from her car, but she did not answer that question. Program`s theme was love (too late for St. Valentine`s!). Song by famous Egyptian artist Umm-Kulthum (1904-1975), whose songs, by the way, can be regularly heard on any Middle East station, a sort of Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole. It is worth mentioning that Umm-Kulthum`s funeral attracted larger crowds than that of President Nasser. Amman broadcasts in Arabic have been missing lately on previously used 15290 and 11810. On Feb. 12 sudden off at 2058. Very good signal (Victor C. Jaar, Quebec, Galaxy R530, longwire, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 17 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. NORTH KOREA INTENSIFIES ACTIONS AGAINST FOREIGN MEDIA "Several foreign-based radio stations have increased their airtime while newspapers available online, in particular the Daily NK, have stepped up their coverage. But Pyongyang responded to the challenges by resuming jamming independent and dissident radios from broadcasting to its people. They are Free North Korea Radio, Voice of America, Open Radio for North Korea, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Chosun. The Korean Workers' Party fiercely condemned foreign news aimed at destabilizing the regime and the security forces were ordered to act to prevent foreign videos, publications, telephones and CDs from coming into the country." The Korea Times, 18 February 2008. Posted: 18 Feb 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. KBS World Radio in Arabic to N Africa: 1900-2000 NF 5935*SKN 300 kW / 180 deg, ex 7180 RMP to avoid CRI in French *strong co-channel Polish Radio External Service in Russian & Ukrainian via DTK (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** KOSOVO. Are there any international broadcasts from the newest country on Earth, Kosovo? (B. Thom, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly not on SW. WRTH 2008 shows a 1000 kW under construxion on MW 1413. How is that coming? There are some streams here, but seemingly nothing in English. http://www.rtklive.com/ RTK1 and RTK2 are linked here, still as SERBIA: http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgibin/statsearch.pl?country=Serbia Ooops, dead linx except for the homepage I also clicked on Radio Koha, but nothing happened; lo & behold, about an hour later, music suddenly started playing embeddedly. Maybe it was off the air until 0455 UT Monday. No, it claims to be 24 hours of music (Glenn Hauser, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I've updated my RTK links and moved them to http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgibin/statsearch.pl?country=Kosovo The web streams are definitely working. Would appreciate confirmation of the following possible English program if you get to tune in. RTK 2nd program (Radio Blue Sky) schedule has a listing for a UNMIK (UN administration) program marked "(eng)" which may mean English. It's Mon-Sat 1700 UT for 10-15 minutes at most. (Kevin Kelly, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, kakelly @ alum.mit.edu http://www.publicradiofan.com/ Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was trying to listen to something else (WRIR) at the time, but made a few quick chex in this time period. They did do an English ID on the hour, but all I heard was music after that, including lyrix in English. Maybe they do that elsewhen too (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTK (both radio programs and a satellite version of their TV program, which presumably means cleared of content they are not allowed to put on satellite) is supposed to be on Eutelsat W2 at 16 East, a satellite in use for many services from the Balkans. Some commercial stations from Pristina are listed here and on Intelsat 10-02 (1 West) as well. Somebody with a steerable dish would have to check this out further. 1413 kHz: Perhaps "under construction" is a paraphrase for "wish list entry"? But the actual question is: What happened to the 1000 kW / 1413 kHz facility which used to exist at or near Pristina and could be well heard also in Germany in the nineties if I recall correct? A discussion in the A-DX list suggests that the situation could well be such as given in WRTH 2008: 549 kHz on air at modest power, maybe 10 kW as listed there (at least definitely nothing close to 100 kW, as run in the past, also in Austria only DLF and Slovenia can be heard on this frequency). Anything else appears to be off, including 1377 from Prizren which came around 2000 to some fame due to a show Radio Andernach (the German forces broadcasting service) run on this station: http://www.ratzer.at/QSL_Andernach.php Technically it was indeed just a show on Radio Prizren (one of the many local stations which had been set up in the former Yugoslavia). The Radio Andernach staff went to their studio, had to deal with the local engineer there and the equipment of this studio, limited to only a single CD player and so on. This acc. a newspaper report from this time, including a photo of a Bundeswehr officer in the announcers room (a rather small one, with an MD 441 mic). Apparently not just the 10 kW transmitter on 1377 is off but Radio Prizren in its entirety no longer exists at all? At least WRTH does not mention it anymore (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTK is Kosovo’s public service broadcaster. It consists of the television service, broadcast on the terrestrial transmitter network and digital satellite, and two Radio stations, ‘Radio Kosova’ and ‘Radio Blue Sky’. RTK is editorially independent. It has no editorial opinions of its own and is impartial and unbiased. It is committed to fair, balanced and accurate news and information and to serving all the communities of Kosovo. RTK operates under UNMIK Regulation 2001/13 as a self-managing organization led by a Director General who is answerable to a non-political Board of Directors. Terrestrial network: Prishtinë: channel 37 UHF Zatriq: channel 9 VHF Maja e Gjelbërt: chan. 12 VHF Crnusha: channel 7 VHF Digital satellite: Eutelsat W2 16 degrees East Frequency: 12633 Polarity: Vertical FEC: 1/2 Symbol Rate: 4.883 PCR PID 101 Video PID: 308 Audio TVK Audio PID: 256 Audio Radio Kosova Audio PID: 257 Annual report 2006 http://www.rtklive.com/eng/2006_en.pdf Radio Koha http://www.radiokoha.com/ Pagesa per Marketing Identiteti : Sebahate Ahmeti - Zeqa 8 chemin paul valery 69120 vaulx en velin FRANCE IBAN : FR76 1780 6004 8774 3561 6000 066 BIC : AGRIFRPP878 Ju Faliminderojmë Stafi: Radio Koha E-mail : online @ rkoha.com Radio Kosova http://blueskylive.radio-kosova.com/live.php (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Of course, KOSOVO/KOSOVA is a major concern in neighboring and ethnically related ALBANIA, q.v., where there is shortwave from R. Tirana (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Moldova: 1600 in Russian, 1630 in Moldovian, 1700 Ukrainian - Radio Pridnestrovye on 7540 // MW 549 (under Voice of Mesopotamia without Iranian jammer). Radio Moldova goes on 873, 1478, 1494, 1466 at 1700 UT, Feb 17 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, via Michael Bethge via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Ludo, 7540 terrible mess. As Rumen explains, I noted ALSO here in Stuttgart Germany a mixture of two broadcasts, Kurdish program [V. of Mesopotamia, TDP client] from Nikolaiev, Ukraine and Radio Pridnestrovye in Russian and Ukrainian, from Grigoriopol, Moldova (Pridnestrovye separate mini area) today Feb 19th, 15-19 UT? regards de Wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel to Ludo Maes, TDP, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.64, Suara Islam/Voice of Islam via RTM, 1531-1549, Feb 18, in vernacular, promo for "USM" ("Universiti Sains Malaysia"), with numerous mentions of "USM", "Universiti", "Technology", "Science", etc., promo started and ended with nice singing "Malaysia" jingle, followed by talk about Islam. Well above the usual reception. 7295, Traxx FM via RTM, 1550-1615, Feb 18, in English, DJ with program "R&B Selecta" playing R&B songs, public service announcement about teens being addicted to smoking, especially in developing countries and Traxx support for the current anti-smoking campaign, ToH two pips, "Here is the midnight news update from the RTM News Center, Kuala Lumpur", with local, world and sports news, back to R&B songs (Ryan Leslie singing "Diamond Girl", etc.), fair. In the past Traxx FM had a good website http://www.traxxfm.net/ but recently most of the links within the site did not work. Now it is down and "Under Construction", so I hope it will again become an interesting site (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA [and non]. MAURITÂNIA - Nos últimos dias, a Rádio Mauritânia não tem sido captada, no Sul do Brasil, na tradicional freqüência de 4845 kHz. Em seu lugar, conforme constatação do colunista realizada em Bombinhas (SC), tem aparecido, sempre no final de tarde, a Rádio Ibitinga, da cidade paulista do mesmo nome, retransmitindo a programação da Rede Jovem Pan (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. ORTM must be back, after missing a few weeks: 4845, Feb 18 at 0633, Arabic talk and characteristic string music; QRM from ute pulsing 40 times a minute, but no CODAR on this frequency. At this hour was somewhat stronger than Chad 4905 in French. Also Feb 19 at 0719 check, French talk still audible on 4845 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR/BURMA. 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces BC (presumed) via Taunggyi, 1525-1529*, Feb 18, in vernacular, pop Asian song, brief sign-off announcement, indigenous instrumental music played for about 5 seconds at sign-off, weak (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR/BURMA. 5985.83, Myanma Radio, 1430-1523, Feb 18, heard just after Shiokaze signed-off at 1430, in English, pop songs (Bertie Higgins singing "Casablanca", etc.), marching music, news, sounded like nationalistic pep talk/slogans given over indigenous music, into segment of EZL instrumental music. Started out poor, slowly improving until sign-on at 1500 of 5980, which caused splatter (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. Defence Forces Broadcasting Network noted on 5770 at 1130- 1630 (WRTH 2008 lists as from 1330). Also at 0130-0430, 0630(?)-0930. Radio Myanma (?) noted *sign on at 2300 on 576, 594 & 5986. The SW channel 5986 is noted sign off at 0130*. 594 is unlisted in WRTH 2008 but reported by Alan Davis in DXLD at 2240-0240. 594 heard in local evening also around 1300-1330 but not in parallel to 5986. 576 is blocked by Radio Nepal from 2315 and in evenings (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, monitoring from my temporary location at Bhubaneswar, East coast of India, Feb 19, Icom 706 MK II, Inverted V, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jose, Sign-off at 1630? Several people, myself included, have consistently observed the sign-off at about 1530 UT [as above] (within a minute or two), since their return in Oct, 2007. It's good to know about the 1130 sign-on, as they seemed to be on before 1200, but I was not sure of the exact sign-on time. Thank you for your observations from an interesting location (Ron Monterey, CA, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. 1143 kHz is heard at 2315 sign on (reported as inactive in WRTH 2008). Parallel to 576, 648, 684, 792. Also on 810 which is very weak (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, monitoring from my temporary location at Bhubaneswar, East coast of India, Feb 19, Icom 706 MK II, Inverted V, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Mis queridos amigos: Les pido que por favor me ayuden a difundir la siguiente información de último momento. Muchas gracias. Debido a fuerte interferencia de Irán (QRM co-channel), nos vemos en la necesidad de cambiar la frecuencia de 9895 kHz (vía Sines) hacia Sudamérica. El cambio se realizará el miércoles 20 de febrero (UT), es decir esta misma noche. 0159-0357 UT. Nueva frecuencia vía Sines: 9430 kHz, Cordiales 73 (Jaime Báguena García, Director Artístico, Redacción Española, RADIO NEDERLAND WERELDOMROEP, http://www.informarn.nl Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9895 0230-0430 IRN IRIB Teheran A ME z 9895 1200-1300 IRN IRIB Teheran M FE k (EiBi via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Een klassieker, blijft toch nog radio Nigeria op 15120 kHz, nu nog tebeluisteren 2044 UR. Gr. (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, Feb 18, BDX via DXLD) Waiting in the car at a grocery parking lot, I tuned around on the portable DX-375 with its intermittent whip antenna connexion, and found only a few strong signals on 19m, including, going off the air just a few seconds after I tuned in, V. of Nigeria, 15120, 2058 UT Feb 18, sign-off in English with address, adequate modulation. Not the place for WBCQ to be in A-08 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. DAVE STANTON DIES « on: Today at 11:09:28 am » Long time Oklahoma City announcer and the Voice of OETA Dave Stanton died this morning. Dave was one of the earliest Top 40 DJ's in Oklahoma City on KOCY in 1957. He was a fine person (mrcnokc, Feb 17, radio-info.com Oklahoma board via DXLD) Also announcer on classical KCSC. Can`t imagine him as Top 40 DJ. His fine voice had obviously been ailing for the last year or so, and I feared he was quite ill. This still shows on KCSC`s website: (Glenn Hauser, UT Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you’ve missed Dave Stanton in the afternoon, he hasn’t left us. He is on medical leave while he gets some therapy for his voice. We expect him to return later in the spring, in the meantime you’ll hear Teresa, Kimberly and Tory filling in afternoons the next few weeks. Sincerely, Brad Ferguson, General Manager and this from the staff listings: The People Behind KCSC Dave Stanton, Production Director, dstanton@ucok.edu Dave Stanton has held different jobs in radio since high school graduation. He has been KCSC/KBCW's afternoon drive host and production director since 1988. His previous jobs included a nightly all-request program from a booth on top of a drive-in restaurant and working as an announcer/floor crew director in a commercial television station. Stanton worked for seven years at WNAD, The University of Oklahoma's AM commercial station, hosting shows from pop and jazz to classical music, and a weekly program called Lollipops and Leftovers, featuring original soundtracks, Broadway original-cast recordings, and interviews with musicians, composers and lecturers from Vance Packard to Elmer Bernstein and Dave Brubeck. He also fed reports to CBS Radio and Frank Gifford's Worldwide Sports, and OU football scores and summaries to Weekend Sports and Mike Wallace's weekend news show. Stanton also enjoyed lengthy employment in Oklahoma City at KKNG-FM, an easy-listening station that was always close to the top in ratings. He programmed and hosted the morning drive period at WRR-FM, Dallas, a classical station, and was part of the effort that changed WRR from a money-losing effort for its owner the City of Dallas, to a position of profitability that allowed the city to channel a half-million dollars to various arts groups (via Glenn Hauser, Enid, UT Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And this was posted later Feb 18 at http://www.kcscfm.com --- IN MEMORY OF DAVE STANTON OCTOBER 31, 1936 - FEBRUARY 17, 2008 Portrait by Christopher Otten [illustrated] The KCSC family is a little smaller today, as we mourn the passing of Dave Stanton after a brief illness. Dave came to KCSC as afternoon music announcer and production director in 1988, and his radio career spanned more than half a century. He started in the days of 78 rpm records and editing tape with razor blades and grease pencils, and worked through to a time when the radio production bypasses tape altogether, producing audio completely on computer. Often nicknamed “The Voice” because of his magnificent delivery, Dave was a supremely talented man. In addition to his radio work, he was a singer, guitarist, writer and photographer. He was also a voracious reader of mystery and suspense fiction. He was involved in his community and sang in the choir of First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City for many years. But for those of us who knew him, we already miss his gentle good humor, his love of language and word play, that wry chuckle of his when something amused him. We miss his compassion for others, his progressive outlook, his love of good music of all kinds, and his ability to tell a great story. Dave is survived by his loving wife Marty Richardson, his brother Jack Stanton, his extended family, and by friends and fans too numerous to mention. A memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on March 1st at the First Unitarian Church located at 600 NW 13th in Oklahoma City (via DXLD) Nothing found about him on the OETA site, even by searching on his name (gh) OBIT ** PAKISTAN. Radio Pakistan shortwave transmitters API-5 and API-6 of 250 kW each manufactured by BBC (Brown Boveri & Co) were installed at Rewat near Islamabad in 1972. These transmitters have been mostly used for the World Service (Urdu) broadcasts. The signal strength of these transmitters has been good for first two decades. I have monitored the transmissions via API-5 and API-6 within as well as outside the target areas. During my posting in Cameroon West Africa in 1984, I used to monitor signal of the transmission directed for Europe and North Africa and it used to be very strong there. Later on when I was in France in 1992 for around two years the transmission via API-5 and API-6 was heard regularly there. In those days the stray signals of broadcasts directed towards West Europe were being heard in the East Coast states of USA and listeners mail was received regularly from Maryland, New York and Florida states. While during my stay in the Middle East from 1995 onwards I monitored the broadcast frequently and the signal used to be very strong there. At times it was felt as if one is listening to some local MW station. But from 2000 onwards, the transmitters API-5 and API-6 seem to have developed technical faults. Although the signal is strong but the audio is mostly unclear and muffled. Modulation problem is being noticed frequently. Islamabad engineers have been informed of the problem a number of times but they seem to be unable to rectify the technical errors. They need to take care of the problem otherwise the signal of these two transmitters may soon get similar to that of the awful API-3 (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Re 8-021: I did some googling for these "calls" and hope these meanings are correct. Basically I think all these mean "voice of xxx" Maus bilong - Mouth belong - Mouth of - Voice of. Singaut bilong - Call of/Sound of Karai - Cry out - Call Kundu - local drum name Tavuvur - name of volcano in Rabaul Tavur - name of the conch shell Drongo - name of the local bird Chauka - name of the local bird Sankamap - Sunrise, used also as the name of the province Mambu - a bamboo pipe instrument Muruk - local bird name (3275 Karai bilong Muruk) Sandaun - Sunset, also used as the name of the province Sepik - province name Garamut - name of local drum Oro - name of the province Kula - trading communities (canoe) Not related to above, but on one English - Tok Pisin online dictionary noted couple of words that show a clever way to make a word (or a phrase) into another language: binoculars - glas bilong kapten; condom - gumi bilong kok (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 8-021, the link to sound clip of R. West Sepik http://www.geocities.jp/ha93bcl/RadioWestSepik-3205kHz.mp3 de Y.Hasebe S.Hasegawa NDXC-HQ was not exactly right and would not play. I finally found it with the necessary underscores as: http://www.geocities.jp/ha93bcl/Radio_West_Sepik-3205kHz.mp3 on a page in Japanese of many DX clips, including most or all of the PNG stations, at http://www.geocities.jp/ha93bcl/sound-1.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 11870, RRI Galbeni in Romanian 1600-1657 UT noted with heavy distorted audio today Feb 19th. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. I can receive VOR Chinese Service from 1100 UT on 648 kHz on Feb. 17th & 18th. Mistransmission or addition? Now sked Razdolnoye on 648 kHz, 500 kW; *1000-1400* 1000-1100 VOR-Korean 1100-1200 VOR-Chinese (new) 1200-1300 VOR-Korean 1300-1400 VOA-Korean (Sei-ichi Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ussuriysk Razdolnoye Google Earth imagery at low resolution 43 32 15.07 N 131 55 39.44 E Not really new, see VOR file provided by Vadim Alexeyev, Russia, VoR Russian world service, DX programme editor; via WWDXC-Germany BC-DX Nov 23, 2007: Chinese 1100-1200 1251 Ussuriysk 600 Asia 1080 Irkutsk 500 Asia 801 Chita 600 Asia 648 Ussuriysk 500 Asia 585 Blagoveschensk 1200 Asia 1200-1300 1251 Ussuriysk 600 Asia 1251 Dushanbe 500 Asia 1080 Irkutsk 500 Asia 801 Chita 600 Asia 585 Blagoveschensk 1200 Asia 1300-1400 1251 Ussuriysk 600 Asia 585 Blagoveschensk 1200 Asia 1400-1500 1251 Ussuriysk 600 Asia 1251 Dushanbe 500 Asia 1080 Irkutsk 500 Asia 801 Chita 600 Asia 585 Blagoveschensk 1200 Asia English 0300-0500 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 0400-0500 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe 0500-1000 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 0600-1000 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 0800-1000 1251 Dushanbe 500 Asia 1300-1400 558 London (UK) 100 Europe except Sats 1500-1600 1251 Dushanbe 500 Asia 630 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 500 Asia 1500-1700 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 1530-1700 972 Dushanbe 1000 Asia 1600-1700 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East 1700-1900 1251 Dushanbe 500 Asia 1700-1800 1269 Suawei (China) 600 Asia 1251 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East 1800-1900 1251 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States/NW EUR Albanian 1600-1630 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe Arabic 1700-1900 1431 Nikolaev 900 Near and Middle East 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East 1170 Krasnodar 1200 Near and Middle East/Africa 1900-2000 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East Bulgarian 1800-1900 1413 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe 2000-2100 1413 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe Czech 1845-1930 1170 Mogilev 800 Europe Dari / Pashto 1300-1500 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East Finnish 1800-1830 1494 S-Petersburg 600 Europe Mon-Fri French 2000-2200 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe German 1000-1300 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 1600-1800 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 1800-1900 1386 Kaliningrad 1200 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Europe 1900-2000 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 1386 Kaliningrad 1200 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe Greek 1900-2000 1413 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe 1431 Nikolaev 900 Near East/Cyprus Hindi 1300-1400 1269 Suawei (China) 600 Asia 1500-1530 972 Dushanbe 1000 Asia Hungarian 1800-1845 1170 Mogilev 800 Europe Italian 1800-1900 936 L'vov 1000 Europe Japanese 1200-1400 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 630 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 500 Asia Korean 1000-1100, 1200-1300 648 Ussuriysk 500 Asia 1400-1500 1323 Huadia (China) 600 Asia Mongolian 1300-1400 1080 Irkutsk 500 Asia 801 Chita 600 Asia Norwegian 1830-1900 1494 S-Petersburg 600 Europe Tue and Thu Persian 1500-1700 1377 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East Polish 1800-1900 1143 Kaliningrad 150 Europe Portuguese 0000-0100 603 Oranienburg-Alemanha 20 Europe Romanian 1700-1800 999 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe Russian WS 0200-0300 1503 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 936 L'vov 1000 Europe 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 603 Oranienburg Germany 20 Europe 0300-0400 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 936 L'vov 1000 Europe 1300-1400 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1431 Nikolaev 900 NE and ME/UKR/Moldova 999 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1300-1500 1143 Dushanbe 150 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 1400-1500 558 London (UK) 100 Europe 1600-1700 1143 Dushanbe 150 Asia/NE and ME/Caucasus 1800-1900 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 2000-2100 612 Moscow 20 Moscow and nearby region 2000-2200 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Baltic States/Europe 2100-2200 999 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova RMR 0000-0300 1026 Novosibirsk 500 Middle Asia (CIS countries) 0100-0500 1170 Mogilev 800 Belorussia/Baltic States/Europe 0200-0700 1377 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 0200-0700 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 0300-0400 1503 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East/Asia 0300-0700 1089 Krasnodar 1000 Caucasus (CIS countries) 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Baltic States 0300-0500 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 0400-0500 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 0400-0600 1170 Krasnodar 1200 Near and Middle East 0400-0700 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 0400-0900 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova 0500-0700 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States/Europe 0600-0700 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 0800-1000 612 Vilnius Baltic States 1000-1100 1170 Mogilev 800 Belorussia/Baltic States/Europe 1100-1300 1323 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East/Asia 1200-1300 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1200-1300 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1300-1600 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 1300-1800 1143 Kaliningrad 150 Belorussia/Baltic States 1400-1500 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 630 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 500 Asia 1400-1600 612 Vilnius Baltic States 1500-1600 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 1500-1830 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1600-1800 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States/Europe 1700-1800 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 630 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 500 Asia 1377 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 1800-1900 720 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1000 Asia 1900-1930 1170 Krasnodar 1200 Caucasus (CIS countries) 1900-2000 1323 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East/Asia 1143 Dushanbe 150 Near and Middle East/Asia 1900-2100 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1900-2200 1143 Kaliningrad 150 Belorussia/Baltic States 1900-2300 1143 Dushanbe 150 Near and Middle East/Asia 2000-2200 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 2000-2100 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States/NW EUR 2000-2200 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 2200-2300 1314 Yerevan 1000 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 1170 Krasnodar 1200 Near and Middle East/Caucasus 1575 Burg 100 Europe 1431 Dresden 250 Europe 1323 Wachenbrunn 1000 Europe 693 Oranienburg 250 Europe 630 Braunschweig 100 Europe 612 Moscow 20 Moscow and nearby region 603 Oranienburg 20 Europe 2200-2400 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Baltic States/Europe 999 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova "Commonwealth" (in Russian) 0700-0900 1377 Yerevan 1000 NE and ME/CeAsia/Caucasus 0700-2100 1089 Krasnodar 1000 NE and ME/CeAsia/Caucasus 0700-0800 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 0700-0900 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 0700-1300 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 0700-1530 1215 Kaliningrad 1200 Baltic States 0700-1600 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States 0800-1000 1170 Mogilev 800 Belorussia/Baltic States 0900-1000 801 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1000-1300 972 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1000-1400 612 Vilnius Baltic States 1100-1600 1170 Mogilev 800 Belorussia/Baltic States 1200-1300 1431 Nikolaev 900 NE and ME/UKR/Moldova 1300-2200 1503 Dushanbe 500 Near and Middle East/Asia 1300-2000 1026 Novosibirsk 500 Middle Asia (CIS countries) 1400-1500 1143 Dushanbe 150 Near and Middle East/Asia 1400-1600 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1400-1600 999 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1400-1700 1431 Nikolaev 900 NE and ME/UKR/Moldova 1400-1800 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 1800-2100 648 Dushanbe 1000 Near and Middle East/Asia 1900-2000 1494 St.Petersburg 600 Baltic States 2100-2200 936 L'vov 1000 Europe/UKR/Moldova 2200-2300 1089 Krasnodar 1000 NE and ME/CeAsia/Caucasus Serbo-Croatian 1630-1800 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe 2100-2230 1548 Grigoriopol/Moldova 500 Europe Slovak 1930-2000 1170 Mogilev 800 Europe Spanish 0100-0200 603 Oranienburg-Alemania 20 Europe Swedish 1830-1900 1494 S-Petersburg 600 Europe Mon, Wed, Fri Turkish 1500-1600 1170 Krasnodar 1200 Near and Middle East Vietnamese 1200-1300 603 Dunfan (China) 600 Asia (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 18, dxldyg via DXLD) I did not realize the VOR MW relay network was so extensive (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. The Pori, Finland, site, is succumbing to Brother Scare, starting Feb 19: 15-17 on 9595 at 160 degrees, 19-21 on 6060 at 220 degrees (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) more: FINLAND; see also USA: WWRB ** THAILAND. Frequency changes for Radio Thailand: 1130-1145 NF 6030 UDO 250 kW / 030 deg, ex 6040 in Lao 1145-1200 NF 6030 UDO 250 kW / 284 deg, ex 6040 in Burmese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN [and non]. Walt Salminiw reported hearing the following while listening in Hawaii around 1630-1815 UTC: "5015 fair reception on Saturday [16 Feb] with music. Presumably Turkmen Radio, in Asgabat.") [Walt`s full report appears in the dxldyg] Thanks, Walt, for this interesting post. But I wonder if it was Turkmenistan that you heard on 5015, or AIR? Listening in Tashkent last week I did not hear Turkmenistan on 5015 at all. In the evening on that frequency is AIR, which signs on at 1220 as scheduled in WRTH with strong signals. Checking the DXLD and WoR archives I don't see any mention of anyone hearing Turkmenistan on 5015 (or 4930) so far this year. Is it still on SW? (Chris Greenway, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can hear presumed Turkmenistan now at 1345 on 4930. On 5015 I hear only AIR, but some weeks ago also TKM was heard. 6260 was probably CVC via UZB and 6270 R Cairo. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) I think both Turkmen frequencies 5015 and 4930 are still active. Just a day or two ago I recall hearing them. 4930 is mostly running LSB with maybe reduced carrier and usually has two Turkmen programs mixed, a problem at the transmitter site which has been there for couple of years. 5015 is rather weak even when AIR is off. 4930 is no powerhouse either. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Hi, fellas. Being very limited in equipment, and not spending a lot of time DXing, this was simply a quick and dirty bandscan, so I can't be sure for certain who I was listening. No doubt that both India and Central Asia were propagating at the time, so either is a possibility (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) ** U K. BBC ENDS ENGLISH SHORTWAVE SERVICE IN EUROPE By DOREEN CARVAJAL Published: February 19, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/business/media/19beeb.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print PARIS — The BBC World Service, which started its scratchy shortwave transmissions to listeners cut off by “desert, snow and sea” 75 years ago, ended its last English-language shortwave services in Europe on Monday. The British public broadcaster has been reducing its shortwave transmissions over the last seven years, eliminating services to North America and Australia in 2001 and South America in 2005. Last March, the BBC started reducing European transmissions, finally cutting off a transmitter on Monday that reached parts of Southern Europe. “There comes a point where the shortwave audience in a given region becomes so small that spending money on it can no longer be justified,” the broadcaster said in a statement. The quiet ending for the service was a contrast with its celebrated arrival. Seventy-five years ago, King George V helped promote the new technology from his small study in the British royal family’s Norfolk retreat, Sandringham. In a speech written by the poet Rudyard Kipling, the king extolled radio as a way to reach out to men and women isolated by snow and sea. “Through one of the marvels of modern science, I am enabled this Christmas Day to speak to all my people throughout the empire,” the king said. The abdication speech of Edward VIII was broadcast on shortwave, as was news of the Hindenburg airship’s explosion and Hungarian Free Radio’s last anguished call for aid as Russian tanks rumbled into Budapest. But modern modes of communication have been squeezing out shortwave services in Western countries, where programming is available on FM radio, on the Internet and on iPods with wireless connections. “Europe is very developed and so is America,” said Michael Gardner, a spokesman for BBC World Service. “Shortwave is not the best way of reaching those audiences there. They all have FM, AM stations close by. Some of them have satellites, or they can pull it down on their TV screens and there are alternatives online. There are lots of ways of interacting with the BBC.” Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting in London, said that the move by the BBC “probably sounds the death knell for traditional analog shortwave broadcasting in the developed world.” Shortwave transmissions remain an important media outlet in Africa and Asia, he noted. Since 2006, the BBC World Service shortwave audience has grown by 7 million people, or 7 percent, to 107 million, about 58 percent of the BBC’s total radio audience. All of the world’s largest international broadcasters, based in the United States, France, Germany, England and the Netherlands, are cutting back on shortwave or reviewing the deployment of their resources. Andy Sennitt, a media specialist with the Dutch public broadcaster, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, said that he got his start 30 years ago working on BBC shortwave broadcasts and had mixed feelings about the end of the transmissions. “For die-hard shortwave listeners, this is negative,” he said. “What they don’t understand is the huge cost of powering transmitters. The cost of diesel fuel has doubled.” (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) O come on, Simon. You should know better than that. Canceling these transmissions will make very little difference in the overall SWBC scene, and guess what, you don`t have to be in a designated target area to hear countless SW transmissions, even from BBC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) more: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** U K [non]. BBC Urdu Special Election News, Mon, 18 Feb 2008 --- BBC Urdu service noted on 18-FEB-2008 with a special election news broadcast at 1600-1700 on 9500 and 7475 kHz - this is in addition to their regular broadcast at 1500-1600 and 1730-1800 (Alok Dasgupta via http://www.dxasia.info via Alokesh Gupta, Feb 19, DXLD) Noted today also on both frequencies at 1600 UT onwards. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Frequency change for BBC in Vietnamese Mon-Fri: 2300-2330 NF 6080 SNG 250 kW / 013 deg, ex 6100 to avoid CRI in Portuguese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** U K. GCAP "HOPING BUYERS WILL EMERGE" FOR PLANET ROCK, THEJAZZ As you may have read in the papers, two national digital radio stations have been put up for sale. GCap Media, one of the UK's big radio groups, is cutting back on its investment in digital radio and the sale of Planet Rock and theJazz is part of its new strategy. Some parts of the press prematurely suggested that the decision has been taken to close the two stations. That isn't strictly true. Although GCap says if it can't find buyers then closure would follow, the stations have nearly a million listeners and we're hoping that buyers will emerge. In the meantime, one station continues to rock (and turn the volume up to 11) and the other still invites you into the cool (From Digital One newsletter 18 Feb, via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** U S A. Sad news: It is with great sorrow that member George Maroti reported earlier this week the news of the death of long time NASWA member John Sgrulletta. We were all shocked and saddened to read the news about John's sudden passing. A long time club member and a recent addition to the club`s Country List Committee, John was well known as a superb shortwave listener/DX'er and a reliable reporter of DX news and information. He was a true expert on all matters pertaining to radio and a great friend to many. An avid QSL'er, he often opened up verification targets for the rest of us. His expertise and dedication to our hobby was unmatched. He was always there to respond to questions and share his expertise with other shortwave listeners. Truly an outstanding gentleman, many of us that the pleasure of enjoying conversations with him each year at the Winter SWL Festival. John was a giant in our hobby. He will be missed by all of us in the listening hobby. March's edition of The Journal is dedicated to John's memory and features numerous musings from around the world remembering a fine gentleman. R.I.P., John (Rich D'Angelo, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 17 via DXLD) OBIT. Also see 8-020 ** U S A. WRUL broadcaster surfaces. "I also did a radio program for a year over WRUL radio called 'Calling Shortwave Listeners' or something like that. Each week I would play the sounds of a different satellite." http://www.showmeblog.com/home/2008/02/satellite-usa-1.html (Jim Howard, Howard's Notebook, 18 February 2008 via kimandrewelliott.com 18 Feb via DXLD) Remember Jim Howard, Kansas City WRUL, later WNYW, a.k.a. Radio New York Worldwide, was a popular private shortwave station during its 1960s heyday. See also this history of WRUL/WNYW by Lou Josephs http://www.northernstar.no/wnyw3.htm Posted: 18 Feb 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes for Voice of America: Amharic 1800-1900 NF 9530 UDO 250 kW / 276 deg, ex 11575 Hausa 0700-0730 NF 11985 SAO 100 kW / non-dir, ex 11785 to avoid CRI English 0700-0730 NF 13775 BOT 100 kW / 010 deg, ex 17490 to avoid CRI English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 19 via DXLD) ** U S A. WWRB, 9385, again splattering Brother Scare down to 9330 at 1435 Feb 18, and also up to 9410 a few minutes later. On 9385 itself, distortion. Why is it so hard to get a clearly modulated signal from Walterboro to Manchester and beyond? Maybe he should start by speaking in a normal tone of voice. Yeah, sure (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tim Smith made a 15 minute show about "Improving Your Shortwave Reception". In this first show hopefully of a series, Tim spent more time talking about "sexy glass antenna insulators" and against smoking (Frankly, yay!), than about building or using receivers, but there`s nothing like warming a new topic in front of a microphone to start a new show with a slow bump. [Wed Feb 13 at 2200- 2215, WBCQ 5110] Marion`s Attic is on the entire 2200 to midnight GMT Thursday into Friday "Studio 51" 05 PM to 07 PM EST time slot, premiering daytime on 5110 Kc to new audiences, so who has the last happy laugh now? (Frederic Jodry, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BTW, I see that the last posted Area 51 sked had right days of week, wrong days of month (gh) ** U S A. DR. DEMENTO --- OFF THE NET! http://www.krellan.com/demento/ What happened to the pages and pages of stations that used to be here? Try the graveyard. The short answer is that the Doctor himself has requested that stations no longer stream his Dr. Demento show online. Please check the discussion group rec.music.dementia for the latest information. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.dementia Here are some other "demented" music shows to enjoy: The Mad Music Archive is a great site that hosts many shows The FuMP has many songs by new artists that are free to download, or if you like the song, buy it for higher quality DFSXRadio has many links to shows Podsafe Comedy Countdown is another source of songs by new artists Dementia Radio is a continuous streaming broadcast and blog of funny music Email me (address below) if you know of any more shows similar to the above, or if you find any more Dr. Demento stations that are still streaming online. It seems a few stations still pop up online from time to time. I will no longer publicize new stations on this webpage, but still enjoy hearing the show every now and then :) This page has been online for over 10 years, recently celebrating its tenth anniversary in September 2007. It's a shame that it has to end now. A big shout out and thank you to all the people who have helped me throughout this time by providing information about new stations. It's been fun (via DXLD) It`s all explained here: http://www.drdemento.com/ The show is available online by subscription for $2 each. Given the economics of the situation, and the sad state of American radio today, we can only applaud his keeping going one way or the other (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I don't recall if I sent this 1710 entry to you with the flurry of others last week. [no.] Actually this one is what prompted the 'discovery' of the others on the web: 1710, FLORIDA & GEORGIA (LPR) "Radio Summum", Orlando; discovered by R. Wilkner and D. Crawford, February, 2008 as an unidentified in Haitian Kreyol. The editor located the website, which states: ``Radio Summum is an Internet Radio Station also, a Low Power Station on 1710 am dial, in Georgia, Jacksonville & Orlando, Florida, following the FCC Rules while using the part 15 device. Our Mission is to serve the Community by providing our listeners with a combination of Local, National and International programming: Gospel, Education, News, Commercial and different types of music from around the globe.`` A sub-page lists 1710 kHz is active in Orlando and Jacksonville, FL, and Lawrenceville, GA (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VALLEY PUBLIC RADIO STATION LEADERS THREATEN TO CUT SERVICES Bruce Lee Smith February 18, 2008 - 9:52PM HARLINGEN — KMBH/KHID FM’s latest pledge drive ended early after receiving only six pledges in three days. The station’s owner, RGV Educational Broadcasting Inc., responded to the lack of listener response by pulling the plug on the rest of the pledge drive. It was scheduled to run Feb. 11-17. RGV Educational Broadcasting posted the announcement on http://www.kmbh.org as well as a notice about drastic changes to the station if donations do not increase. . . http://www.themonitor.com/news/station_9165___article.html/broadcasting_support.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 17705 kHz, RNV Canal Internacional, colorida Tarjeta QSL, V/S Freddy R. Santos. Incluyendo gran cantidad de material. Guía de frecuencias AM y FM de RNV, Edición especial Radio Adentro, Folleto Aló Presidente programa No. 291, Discurso de la Unidad, Revista y afiche de Turismo. Demoró: 100 días, informe enviado: canalinternacionalrnv @ gmail.com (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, playdx yg via DXLD) via CUBA, not specified? (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: Arabic on 4640 around 0345 UT. Hello DXers, I kept on tuning to 4640 kHz on daily basis, trying to figure out which station is that or where it's coming from. Today 19/2/08 I noticed that accent of the speaker was 100% Morocco Arabic. Mainly the speech is about religious issues taking about some verses from the holy Qur`an or prophet Mohamed -PBUH- and other religious issues. No current affairs or political issues. No ID given. around 0446 UT I was checking Radio Morocco on 5980 kHz and found the same guy talking about religious issues as well - I'm positive he's the same guy - 4640 was silent around that time. A carrier [feeder] frequency for radio Morocco? I wonder. Will keep listening and will keep you posted. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] 5980 kHz is having Radio Tangier; they sign off at 0500 UT. So what I was hearing on that frequency wasn't radio Morocco from Rabat, it was the local network from Tangier. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, ibid.) Hi dear Tarek, if this is an unwanted SPUR signal from Briech Morocco, that service will end on March 30th, when US IBB will close their operations in Tangiers after more than 50 years service. Mathematics: 7320 minus 5980 would fit, but unfortunately, IBB is NOT using that channel from Briech. 73 df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15905, DWL German audio program reported approx. 1530- 1557 UT on this OOB frequency. Seemingly some technician tested transmitting equipment real 'on air'. No spur of Kigali 15275 kHz. Audio delay fit with Trinco 13780 kHz signal, but NOT with \\ Skelton 6075, 9545, Moosbrunn 13730, Kigali 15275. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SWLING.COM Hello, Glenn, I have created a simple website for newcomers to Shortwave Listening. It's called http://SWLing.com I'm specifically aiming it to encourage families to educate their children to do a little SWLing. The site is perhaps my small way of encouraging families and individuals to listen to news sources other than Fox News. :) I tried to keep the language and techno talk to a minimum. Cheers, (Thomas Witherspoon, kf4tzk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good work, and tnx for the kind comments about us there. Thomas also plans to illustrate it with some QSLs from the gh collexion (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Regarding 8-021 TIS URL http://www.theradiosource.com/nps-stations.htm I would not put much faith in this list; it's terribly outdated, in fact it is embarrassing without a prominent disclaimer. Also, some are/were in the FCC database. Some examples of confirmed inactivity, errors, etc., are: FLORIDA Biscayne National Monument (Convoy Point) 530 - off the air for years, after the Visitors Center area was severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew if not before. Confirmed long gone last August, 2007 when visiting the facility. Canaveral National Seashore (Wilson & Turtle Mound entries) 1610 - these have been silent for well over 10 years. Everglades National Park (Pine Island & Parachute Key entries) 1610 - silent for years, due to neglect and/or hurricane damage. Reconfirmed in August, 2007 when in the Park. Gulf Islands National Seashore (Santa Rosa Island) 1610 - long inactive, again it's been years. TENNESSEE/NORTH CAROLINA Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Deep Creek) 530 - inactive, the last time I was there I located what was left of the antenna, mounted on a bath house, and it could never return without being completely replaced. Great Smoky Mountain National Park (Oconaluftee & Sugarlands entries) 1610 - silent for several years, re-confirmed in May, 2007 when in the Park. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tremont, Newfound Gap, Elkmont, Clingman's Dome, Cataloochee, Smokemont, Greenbrier, Cades Cove, Twin Creeks, Crosby entries) 1610 - maybe long ago there were transmitters at these sites, but for the past 5-10 years I've detected nothing, and these are "new" entries for me at that. I've been to Newfound Gap, Clingman's Dome, Cades Cove and Smokemont often and have never heard anything there. GEORGIA Andersonville National Historic Site 1610 - I was here in May, 2007. If the two transmitters exist and are active, I was not aware since there was no obvious signage. There is a long paved loop, around the Site that can be driven or hiked (I chose the latter -- no signage on this path). No signs in the parking lot or entrance to the Visitors Center either. Andersonville National Historic Site (Perry) 1610 - a huge error. Perry is nowhere near Andersonville! Instead, this should be listed as the Perry Area Convention & Visitors Bureau WPKW668, which is (was) active in May, 2007 when I heard it when passing through the area on I-75. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Feb 18, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since the listings come from an equipment provider, they have no interest in removing outdated items, which would diminish their standing in the market. Once and forever! Still, it may be useful in further identifying something that has really been heard (gh, DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ DX-CAMP IN DENMARK Hello everywhere, once again I spent some nice days in Denmark. We were a group of 4 radio enthusiasts from southern Germany. We rented a holiday cottage at the Danish west coast. There was place enough for Beverage antennas up to 500 m to all relevant DX directions. Here now the reception results of the recent DX-Camp: http://home.arcor.de/mschnitzer/DK%2008.htm vy 73 – (Michael Schnitzer, Homepage: http://home.arcor.de/mschnitzer/ Hassfurt, Germany, Feb 19, HCDX via DXLD) see AFGHANISTAN RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ New toy --- GRE PSR 500 HANDHELD SCANNER I got prodded into doing some investigation of scanner radios the other day and I discovered the technology has advanced quite a bit over the last couple years. I've long enjoyed being a Nosy Parker, listening to police and fire radio traffic. Over the years I've had several scanner radios, including a very good AOR handheld, but they all were eventually made mostly useless by changes in the way public safety radio is managed. Many communities now have trunking systems that use sophisticated radios to share a comparatively small number of frequencies among many, if not all, of the community's various radio users. Trying to follow the traffic on one of these systems using a conventional scanner is virtually impossible on a busy system. Due to this I haven't done any public safety monitoring in several years. My recent investigation led me to a new scanner radio being manufactured by GRE. GRE is better known for designing and manufacturing scanners for Radio Shack. They made the PRO-2006, long considered the best scanner ever made. They're now making scanners under their own flag, and the PSR-500 is their new top-of-the-line handheld scanner radio. Scanners aren't usually designed to receive normal broadcast radio, and the PSR-500 is no exception. Indeed, it isn't even capable of receiving MW or broadcast FM frequencies. So why am I writing about it here? [MUCH MORE:] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/message/27575 (Jay Heyl, FL, ABDX via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Peripheral to the focus of DXLD, but fascinating to me, and perhaps to others, the attached recent piece in The Economist about telex. This messaging system still exists. We remember when all the international broadcasters had telex addresses, duly listed in the WRTH's of years past. 73 (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: TELEX --- A FAINT PING --- AN ANCESTOR OF E-MAIL LIVES ON Jan 31st 2008 From The Economist print edition LIKE slide-rules, steam engines and carbon paper, the telex machine, once ubiquitous and indispensable, has vanished from sight. But not, quite, from existence. As younger readers may need reminding, or informing, the telex was what would nowadays be called a hard-wired, low-bandwidth, point-to-point messaging system. At speeds of around one-millionth of that of a modern broadband connection, it sent data chugging along dedicated networks to clunky terminals. In its time, telex was a huge improvement on the international telegram system, which could charge the modern equivalent of several dollars per word. It was often better than making international phone calls, which were cumbersome, crackly and costly. It was on telex systems that today's electronic data interchange developed. . . http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10609367 or via: http://edwardlucas.blogspot.com/2008/02/telex-lives-on.html 73 (via Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also CANADA; IRELAND ++++++++++++++++++++ BBC WORLD SERVICE ENDS SHORTWAVE TO EUROPE Monday, February 18, 2008 The BBC World Service website says their remaining shortwave transmissions* to Europe will close today on Monday 18th February 2008. This change is being made in line with listener trends in radio. Increasing numbers of people around the world are choosing to listen to radio on a range of other platforms including FM, satellite and online, with fewer listening on shortwave. The asterix explains that DRM (digital shortwave) transmissions are unaffected, but frankly I think today is a rather momentous day, meaning the end of analogue shortwave as we know it in the developed parts of the world. Shortwave radio is certainly the medium of last resort. DRM has been a huge disappointment - more than 12 years since its official launch as a standard, there is still nothing in the mainstream shops. So the future is wifi, DVB-H, especially with NOKIA being the largest radio manufacturer these days. DRM now stands for "Doesn't Really Matter". For me, at least, the window of opportunity has now closed. The sun has set! Posted by Jonathan Marks at 2/18/2008 11:04:00 AM (Critical Distance blog via DXLD) Re the question about BBC DRM continuing to W Europe: today (the 19th) I found a DRM signal operating on 6195 at 0730 UT, and I assume this is a replacement for 5875 - which was not heard - via Kvitsøy [NORWAY]. The signal covered the Berlin transmission on 6190, which could only be heard (within much noise) using a narrow filter and LSB. In fact, the residual hash from the 6195 transmission could be detected as low as 6175 and as high as 6210, so spoiling weak signal reception of two stations using 6180 and 6185 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Feb 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ ARNIE CORO´S EXCLUSIVE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels for the next month or so. Scientists are anxiously awaiting for yet another sunspot that can be attributed to the new solar cycle, something that will really confirm that the new cycle has really started. Solar flux should remain between 70 and 75 units for the next three to five days, and this will mean that the maximum daytime useable frequency for the best propagation paths would briefly exceed the 21 to 23 megaHertz range, with the frequency of optimum traffic curve hövering around eighteen megahertz during your local daytime hours, something that will explain the good reception achieved on the 16 meters international shortwave broadcast band. For amateur radio operators that come in from work after five or six PM local time the 20 meters band will be closing very shortly after you arrive at your home QTH, leaving those of you that are good CW operators with the nice option of operating on the 30 meters or ten point one megahertz amateur band. The rest of the evening your two choices will be 40 meters and 80 meters, with 40 meters much more attractive for DXing with low powers and not too efficient antennas. DO keep in mind that digital modes, especially the popular PSK31 are much more effective to communicate when poor propagation conditions due to very low solar activity prevail, something that is exactly what is happening now (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Feb 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###