DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-033, March 11, 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 1399 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Thu 2200 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2230 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 7385 Wed 1130 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 ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Hi Aslam, I didn`t realize Pushto is your mother tongue. If you have a chance, I wonder if you could monitor Radio Solh`s announcements, and translate some of what they are saying. This is on 15265 via UK at 1200-1500 on 15265, 1500-1800 UT on 9875. They play exactly the same music at the same time every day, and I really enjoy it. Can you identify any of it which could lead to tracking down some CDs or online files? I assume the announcements in between are also exactly the same every day. They mention the Taliban in some of them. Thanks, (Glenn to Aslam Javaid, Pakistan, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, I monitored Radio Solh on 08-March 2008 from 1400 to 1430 at 15626 kHz [sic, must mean 15265]. It was noted that it is a bilingual service. The announcements and music are both in Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pushto. In fact an Indian Hindi film song was also played during the transmission time when I monitored. The major part of announcements and songs were in Dari. The announcements in Pushto during the transmission are translated are as follows: "Islam is a religion of peace. Taliban are misguided people. They are indulged in misinterpretation of Islam. They are killing innocent people which include women and children. What kind of Islam is this. If you have any information about people related to Taliban, please contact your nearest police station or Army unit." The songs in Pushto and Dari were being played without announcing the name of singers which were mostly of Afghan origin and not known well in Pakistan. Though I recognize the voices and songs of prominent Pakistani Pushto singers, even if their names are not announced, which include Khayal Muhammad, Javed Akhter, Rahim Shah and female singers like Ms. Zarsanga, Ms Gulnar Begum, Ms Mahjabeen Qizilbash, Ms Mashooq Sultan, etc. I will try to locate some online resources for you and inform accordingly (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, March 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aslam, many thanks. Now we are getting somewhere! (gh, DXLD) ** ALASKA. 6501/USB, NOJ, U.S. Coast Guard, Kodiak AK, marine weather; 0233-0308:45*, 2-Mar; lotsa freezing spray -- Brrrrrr. ID at s/off (Harold Frodge, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 6501/USB, NOJ, Kodiak, Alaska, with maritime weather -- I can't say I've ever actually experienced as much freezing spray as they predicted, but it sure SOUNDED unpleasant! SIO 2+53 improving to 3+54 by 0308 when they IDd as "This is US CG station Kodiak Alaska, out" per HF I could have sworn I also heard "communication station" before "out" but I was listening to V of Russia with one ear and may have mis-heard that. 0241-0308* 2/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Summer A-08 of Radio Tirana [this is TENTATIVE, not final] ALBANIAN Daily 0630-0800 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 338 deg to WeEu 7105 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 0801-0900 on 1395 FLA 500 kW / 033 deg to WeEu 7105 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1400-1530 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to WeEu 2030-2200 on 7460 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu (alt. 6005) 9390 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to WeEu 2300-0030 on 7425 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 9390 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm ENGLISH Tue-Sun 0030-0045 on 9390 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 0145-0200 on 9390 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 0230-0300 on 7425 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 0330-0400 on 7425 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm ENGLISH Mon-Sat 1430-1500 on 13640 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 1845-1900 on 7430 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to U.K. 13640 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 2000-2030 on 7460 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to U.K. 13600 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm GERMAN Mon-Sat 1800-1830 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 338 deg to Germany 1931-2000 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to Germany GREEK Mon-Sat 1545-1600 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to Greece FRENCH Mon-Sat 1730-1800 on 7430 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to France 1901-1930 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to France ITALIAN Mon-Sat 1730-1800 on 7460 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to Italy 1901-1930 on 7430 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to Italy SERBIAN Mon-Sat 1800-1815 on 6145 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to Serbia (alt. 6005) 2015-2030 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 004 deg to Serbia TURKISH Mon-Sat 1530-1545 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to Turkey (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) ** ARMENIA [non]. R. Liberty seems to have reintroduced SW-broadcasts in Armenian. This is due to RL's loss of local FM affiliates a week earlier. Posted schedule is: UT FREQUENCY BAND BROADCAST DAYS 1500-1600 9830 SW Every day 1500-1600 11695 SW Every day http://www.rferl.org/listen/shortwave/shortwave-ar.asp (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, March 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFE/RL LISTENERS IN ARMENIA FIND NEW WAYS TO GET UNCENSORED NEWS (Prague, Czech Republic -- March 11, 2008) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has restored broadcasting on shortwave frequencies to Armenia to counter the government's blackout on independent news. RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin said today, "It is disappointing that because of restrictions imposed by the Armenian government we have to take this step backward to an outmoded frequency we stopped using in Armenia three years ago, but I'm happy to say it is working." RFE/RL's Armenian Service reinstated broadcasting on two shortwave frequencies March 8, a week after its regular broadcasts on FM frequencies were taken off the air by its two local affiliates. The affiliates were complying with an emergency decree by President Kocharian that allows only government-sanctioned news to be aired. RFE/RL is the only Armenian language foreign radio in the country. Broadcasts are now one hour daily on shortwave, instead of the previous three hours on local FM. But all programs can be heard on RFE/RL'S Armenian language website, http://armenialiberty.org RFE/RL has added more news items to the website and is updating its content every hour of every day, to supplement the loss of local FM broadcasting. Statistics suggest the strategy is working. Listenership on RFE/RL's Internet sites for Armenia tripled in March, compared to a month ago. Listeners are also finding other ways to hear uncensored RFE/RL news. The service is getting reports that Armenian bloggers are posting RFE/RL news on their sites and that RFE/RL news programs are being repackaged and posted on YouTube. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (RFE/RL Press March 11 via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) AND NEVER MENTIONING THE SW FREQUENCIES in this press release. Notice how they go out of their way to denigrate the very medium they are forced to depend on, as ``a step backward to an outmoded frequency`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The National Assembly issues a statement 02.03.2008 13:02 Upon the initiative of 60 MPs, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia convened an extraordinary sitting today and adopted a statement on the events that took place in Yerevan on March 1st. the draft decision of the National Assembly was signed by all 81 MP present at the sitting. The statement says in part: http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=off&id=12059 (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 6230/USB, VMW, Wiluna, marine weather; 1248-1257*, 2- Mar; Announced frequencies as; 2056, 4149, 6230, 8113, 12362, 16528. 6230 was VGood; only // heard was weaker 8113; other may have been off by the time I checked. 6230/USB, VMW Wiluna; 2237-2243*, 5-Mar; M in English with marine weather; closed with "End of transmission from VMW for...". Copyable but with strong roar QRM. // 8113, weaker but less QRM -- occasional rattatat. Have heard 8113 near this time, but never 6230 -- only heard 6230 near our sunrise (Harold Frodge, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 8113, VMW, 0854 Aussie maritime weather. Fair. (01 Mar) (Moore) 8176, VMC, 0848 Aussie maritime weather. Fair. (01 Mar) (Don Moore, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 8176/USB, VMC, Marine Australia with Queensland weather, 1350-1352* with ID at end of broadcast, SIO 2+53+ (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2325, VL8T Tennant Creek, 03/10/08, 1132, English. ABC News bulletin, weather report for Darwin and Alice Springs, and into a program about an activist/musician. // 2310 noted with similar signal, 2485 nearly inaudible. Fair/good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi to all, I am a new member on this list. Does anyone know what kind of language is this, after the announcement http://www.hb9gce.ch/HCJB_20080310_132926_15435.mp3 HCJB, 10th March on 15435 at 1330 UTC, Yaesu FT-840, Kelemen multiband dipole, MFJ-994 automatic tuner. Best 73, Andy (Stumpf Carl Andreas, Switzerland, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Birmano (Roberto Scaglione, ibid.) Yes, Burmese is scheduled daily at 1330-1400, per EiBi. When you hear rising intonation at the end of each sentence, that`s a tipoff it`s Burmese, tho some other languages probably do this too. Nice clip of HCJB Australia IDing as Melbourne, no mention of faraway transmitter site Kununurra! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB Australia has a new antenna from Croatia, which will be erected this year at Kununurra. Additionally, engineers at HCJB Elkhart technology Centre have just completed designing three bother [sic: brother? other?] antennas, which enables submission of plans to the local shire for building licenses. Apparently, $15,000 per week is required to continue with the fitting out of the transmitter building, construction of antenna systems, transmission lines, fencing, road works and farming. Operating expenses overall are approximately $25,000 per month (HCJB NEWS via March ADXN via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 6010, R. Bahrain. Often heard here 1905 till 1922 when Iran in English comes on. It is a part from their FM programme called some[thing] like (?)"Rhythm In The Dance" with DJs man or lady in different evenings presenting techno music (on 9745 0500-1750 the music is with Arab light and modern dance songs mainly) 1/3 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF-2001, Marconi, March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Re 8-032, the comments on Belgium quoted from the Media Network blog: Please do not add your own guesses as to the surname of people posting a message. There are tens of thousands of people called Ruud in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this case, it's Ruud Poeze, who still holds several mediumwave licences in the Netherlands (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but people who don`t sign their full names to posts invite such speculation (Glenn, DXLD) ´´(ruud [vos?]´´: Obviously Ruud Poeze who in last year lost the licences of various Dutch mediumwave frequencies due to not using them. Btw, I just can't imagine any other future use of 540 kHz than leasing the existing Waver/Wavre transmitter (it's diplexed into the same mast as RTBF's 621 kHz), unless somebody has millions of Euros he needs to burn up (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4716.7, RADIO YURA. Aillu Yura. 0120-0135* Marzo 9 Baladas de los 70's y 80's "..recordando éxitos de ayer, hoy y siempre..." A las 0128 oraciones a la Virgen María por la jornada. Luego cierre: "...Hasta este momento Radio Yura, la voz de los Aillus ha llevado sus emisiones correspondientes a esta jornada; esperamos que todos los programas que hemos emitido hayan estado del completo agrado de todos ustedes. Hemos transmitido en la frecuencia 4715 kilociclos onda corta, banda internacional de 60 metros desde el Aytun Aillu Yura, provincia Antonio Quijarro, Departamento de Potosí, República de Bolivia... agradecemos su sintonía y los esperamos en nuestra próxima emisión..." (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., BOGOTA D.C. - COLOMBIA, RX: PCWINRADIO G303I - JRC NRD-525 - SONY ICF 2010, ANTENAS HILOS DE VARIAS LONGITUDES, @tividade DX March 10 via DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. Stewart MacKenzie and Daniel Sampson: This morning I was scanning the 60 meter tropical band at 1500 UT and came across a VOA broadcast on 4930 kHz in English. It faded out or went off the air at 1630. According to Passport they show this broadcast as coming from Botswana but at 1600 until 1730. Likewise WRTH shows VOA BBG Botswana on 4930 kHz but with no times of broadcast. I have checked the PTSW postings and no updates on this broadcast. Best reception was with the 90 degree EWE antenna (EWE directions available 30, 90, 120, 240, 300 degrees) with a signal level of S8-9, with a Chinese Military CW beacon (8PNX)in the background. The Marconi T antenna gave a signal level of S4-5 with the CW beacon faintly there. Do you have any ideas on this VOA broadcast? Respectfully, (art, March 10, NRD-545, Icom R- 71A, Five direction EWE antenna, 200 ft Marconi T antenna, Quantum Phaser, MFJ-1025 Phaser, primetimeshortwave yg via DXLD) You didn`t ask me, but I can reply anyway: VOA Botswana now opens at 14 UT; see http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_e.cfm Another example of PWBR being out of date. Nice long-path catch. Only possible near west coast, I think. You are in California? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Sorry Glenn, I did not want to disturb you, as you are a man on the go with a lot on your plate. It was very kind of you to respond. That source was some good information. No, I don't live in California but live in Northern Nevada (North of Reno). DX is hard here as I'm a good distance from the seashore so must make up the difference in antennas, phasers and radios. What are your thoughts on VOA broadcasting with 2 kHz of the Chinese Navy CW station? Respectfully, (Art Hernández, ibid.) No problem. I expect the Chinese CW station is not of any concern in tropical Africa, where broadcasting is primary in this band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5034.98, Radio Aparecida, 0120-0140, March 10, Portuguese talk. Possible religious talk. // 9629.93, 11855 - all very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4865, RADIO VERDE [sic] FLORESTAS. Cruzeiro du Sul. 2310- 2325 Marzo 7, Rezo del Rosario, luego ID: "...Radio Verde Florestas, onda media ZYH204 940 kHz, onda tropical ZYF203 4865 kHz, uma emissora da Fundação Verde Florestas, Cruzeiro du Sul, Acre, Brasil..." (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., BOGOTA D.C. - COLOMBIA, RX: PCWINRADIO G303I - JRC NRD-525 - SONY ICF 2010, ANTENAS HILOS DE VARIAS LONGITUDES, @tividade DX March 10 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - Já faz vários dias que o sinal da Rádio Cultura AM, de São Paulo (SP), sumiu da freqüência de 9615 kHz, em 31 metros (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 9 via DXLD) See 8-032 for where it has been (gh) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, Radio Burkina, *0528-0545, March 10, sign on with National Anthem. Opening French announcements at 0530 and talk. Weak. Poor with a lot of splatter from Cuba 5025 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. DEMOCRATIC VOICE OF BURMA UNDER FIRE FOR INDEPENDENT STANCE As the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma matures into a seasoned news organization, serving audiences in Burma and abroad, some exiled politicians criticized its “independence” last week, calling for more advocacy views and opinions representing political opposition groups. During a panel discussion on exiled media organized by the Democratic Voice of Burma in Bangkok last week, a lively debate emerged around DVB’s independent radio and television broadcast stations. Read the report from The Irrawaddy http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=10784 (March 10th, 2008 - 13:52 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Germany, 5955, Democratic Voice of Burma, Tentative, 2320-0030 March 10-11. At tune in, noted instrumentals music until 2327 at which time the signal goes silent for 3 minutes to 2330. Between 2330 to 0059 noted a program of Oriental language news, commentary and features which featured male and female commentators. On the hour, at 0001 comments continue until 0006 when music is presented. Signal has improved from at threshold level at 2320 to a good level at 0006. The only station I can find that comes close to this schedule on 5955 is the Democratic Voice of Burma, relayed from Germany. Of course that applies if we say the schedule began at 2330 after the silent period mentioned above; to do that we need to ignore the 7 minutes from 2320 to 2327 when I heard music on this frequency. At that time, Germany may have been relaying a different station on the same frequency? The word "Burmese" heard at 0015. Minutes later, a male in Language mentioned "Burma" during his comments. At 0026 after the above commentary from 0015 to 0026, music is presented. Music stops abruptly at 0029 and is followed by dead air. and at 0030 signal drops off the air. Signal was good at the end (Chuck Bolland, R-390A & NRD545 Clewiston, Florida http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE59.HTML DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, was the music before 2330 really on 5955, or 5954.1? That`s when and where we would usually be hearing the ELCOR transmitter from Costa Rica (Glenn to Chuck, via DXLD) Glenn, It may have been, but I can't be certain? I was using the R- 390A at the time and you know that the frequency isn't digital. I did switch over to my NRD545 and the frequency was right on 5955 right after 2330. The station went to comments at 2330, so I didn't hear music again for a half hour anywhere near 5955. At the time, I thought the music was coming from the relay that I eventually identified. I never heard two signals there. Hope your situation wasn't bad with all of the storms. (Chuck Bolland, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No problem here (gh) ** CAMEROON. Find the shortwave radio: VOA FM partner in Cameroon taken off the air (updated). "Police in the capital, Yaoundé, today forced a popular radio station off the air and confiscated its equipment over commentary critical of the government during a call-in program, according to local journalists. Magic FM is the third broadcaster summarily closed by authorities within a week in response to critical coverage of public demonstrations fueled by a rise in prices and President Paul Biya’s bid to seek another term in office... ... Magic FM, a leading station in Yaoundé that partners with the U.S. government-funded Voice of America, is known for its pointed political coverage." Committee to Protect Journalists, 28 February 2008. Update: "Polycarpe Essomba, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale in Douala, was forced to go into hiding due to the threats he and his family received during the crisis." "International Federation of Journalists, 7 March 2008. Posted: 10 Mar 2008 for two linx: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3449 Also try to find a VOA shortwave transmission, which will be more difficult at the end of this month, when IBB quits its Morocco relay (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** CANADA. Radio Canada Internal is not following its own published schedule on website, nor HFCC registrations. See the ``technical schedule`` for 4 weeks: http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/PDF/RCI-TECH-TRANS-EN.pdf which is supposed to cover the first week of November after B-07 started but before DST ended, and identically the current three weeks in March after DST started, but before B-07 ends. It shows the 277 degree beam at 1105-1405 on 7325, 1405-2205 on 9515. I did not check on March 9 before 1405, but noted that 9515 was on the air after 1405, replacing 9610 which had been in use all winter. 9515 also noted March 10 at 1426 check in Russian as scheduled. However, on March 10 at 1305, I found 7310 still in use, not 7325! It was just going from Spanish to Mandarin, and BTW 7310 had some co- channel QRM, Chinese, which per Aoki must be Chicom jamming and/or Sound of Hope, on 7310 at 1300-1400 and 2300-2400 only. It had been expected that during the Two Sesquiweeks of Confusion, the first segment of morning broadcasts in odd languages toward USA, which had been on 7310 during the winter, would shift to 7325 at 1105-1405, in accordance with RCI`s own posted technical schedule as above. (However, the accompanying link at http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/en/horaires.shtml to ``short wave schedule`` just below it, for March 9-29, in fact still leads to the November 4-March 8 schedule, making cross-checking pointless.) What does HFCC say? 7310 is shown in use thru 29 March at 1205-1405 (not 1105-); nothing on 7325; nothing on 9515; 9610 at 1405-2105 thru 29 March! But as I say, monitoring shows they are really using 7310 until 1405, then 9515. On this, only the second day of the Two Sesquiweeks of Confusion, it could be that RCI has not gotten around to fully implementing the temporary schedule, but if they have switched from 9610 to 9515, they should also have switched from 7310 to 7325 if they were going to. We`ll see what happens in the next few days. In the meantime, never mind our warning that RCI would be blocking Wantok Radio Light, Papua New Guinea, on 7325. However, March 10 at 1305 we could hear nothing there. Need to check at 1230 or in the earlier window at 1030-1200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 09 March follow. Solar flux 70 and mid-latitude A-index 21. The mid-latitude K- index at 1200 UTC on 10 March was 4 (42 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SWPC via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6030, CFVP, 0512 10 March. "Weekly-fruitless-ICDI-check" [UT Monday] found usual "Classic Country AM-1060" with C&W, promo for Boys & Girls Club of Calgary, URL for station: http://www.classiccountryAM1060.com (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Something is up on 1320 --- I tuned in 1320 CKEC on its last, or second last night - signal strength is down and its being buffeted by the ether. I'm wondering if they are shifting the pattern to help DXers - remember how the last few days were supposed to be extra good for DXers. If you don't have a local or near local tearing up 1320 or 1310 or 1330, give 1320 a listen tonight. Listen for the ID East Coast FM 94.1. You will not hear 1320 being IDed, and only occasionally will CKEC be mentioned. But East Coast FM will be IDed a lot (Phil Rafuse, PEI, 0207 UT March 11, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re: ``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 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.`` You know, I don't get this sudden urge to switch Radio One to FM. Here in the Fraser Valley [BC] there are places where you can't receive Radio Two on FM! Yet the 690 frequency is nearly always usable. There is a Radio One FM relay in the Chilliwack area, but to say the sound is superior to AM is gilding the lily, to put it mildly. I wonder just who it is that is pushing for this change? (Dave Bennett, Aldergrove, BC, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Mnew mnemonic for CBC`s postal code in Toronto, heard at the very end of the Current segment on INDONESIA, q.v.: Mangle 5 Words, 1`ll Enunciate 6. Is this better than My 5 Wives, 1 Each 6th [night; and one to rest]? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 4904.97, RNT, *0430-0445, March 10, sign-on with National Anthem followed by opening French announcements. Afro-pop music. Fair. And also heard at 2115-2132* with French talk, Afro-pop. Closing with National Anthem. Fair to good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [non]. Via S. AFRICA. 11890, Radio Okapi, Meyerton, *1600- 1700*, March 10, French/vernacular talk. "Okapi" jingles. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 9600, 0130-0200, SINPO 44544, Radio Habana Cuba, Mar 10, Spanish: Man speaking -- after 0132, man speaking VERY FAST! -- Then man speaking normally. At 0140, heard an ID: "Radio Reloj" -- News was read by a man and a woman, with occasional musical breaks (sometimes Latin music) between news items. Much mention of 'Cuba'. Heard a different ID at 0200: "Esta es Radio Habana Cuba!" Is 'Radio Habana Cuba' rebroadcasting 'Radio Reloj,' which apparently has only medium-wave transmitters? Thanks! (Dave Askine, Pasadena TX, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dave, don`t think this would be the real Radio Reloj network in Cuba. They don`t play music, and ALWAYS run a time check every minute, with RR in Morse code. Did you hear any of that? RHC does however occasionally pick up audio feeds from RR or other domestic networks. (Glenn to Dave, via DXLD) No timechecks, no RR. Probably Radio Havana picking up their audio feed. My email sent to reloj@cenial.inf.cu was returned as "Unroutable", whatever THAT means! My Spanish/English dictionary says "Reloj" means "clock" or some such. Thanks! (Dave Askine, ibid.) HOWEVER: CUBA, 6060, R. Reloj, 3-10 0140 news, IDs, time ticks, commentary (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Feed mixup? ** ECUADOR. 3280, RD LA VOZ DEL NAPO. Tena, Ecuador. 0250-0315 Marzo 9 Pgm: Miscelánea del Recuerdo. Música del Ecuador. "los gratos momentos se reviven en Miscelánea del Recuerdo..." A las 0258 "...Ha sido grato compartir con ustedes y revivir las mejores épocas añoradas en Miscelánea del Recuerdo; estaremos al aire la próxima semana en este mismo horario, su amigo Padre Jorge Dávila les agradece su sintonia..." Luego vino el Himno del Ecuador para continuar con la programación especial de Radio María por el día de la Mujer (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., BOGOTA D.C. - COLOMBIA, RX: PCWINRADIO G303I - JRC NRD- 525 - SONY ICF 2010, ANTENAS HILOS DE VARIAS LONGITUDES, @tividade DX March 10 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3810, HD2IOD [sic], Ecuador Time station with pips -- ham QRM so better in USB. Moderate to strong signal 0219 2/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) That reminds me, when I was looking for Clipperton 3795v, I listened for a while to a QSO on 3810, with HD2IOA in background. One ham wondered what that was, and the other said ``it`s a beacon from Ecuador; we live with it on this frequency`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 9730-9735-9740 DRM, HCJB, 3/7, 0250. Silence. Glorious silence. Not just silence. *DIGITAL* silence. So much quieter than the analog silence we're used to. Not only that, but it's *STEREO* silence. Or at least parametric stereo, digitally recreated from actual stereo silence and encoded into high fidelity AAC+ format. Interrupted briefly by time pips at 0300, then back to their scintillating program of silence. First DRM reception I've had since buying Jerry Strawman's 7030+. I can see how this might catch on with people who didn't think that analog silence was quiet enough on shortwave. Glad they played the time pips so I could be sure my speakers weren't dead. 99.9% decode of 16.5 kbps signal at 22 dB S/N ratio (Ralph Brandi, NJ, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Another version of his report in 8-031 ** EGYPT. 6250, R. Cairo with YL mumbling in English music and features until :41 when there was a sign-off announcement with sked and anthem at :43. Why can they modulate their Arabic service programs just fine, but the voices in the English service sound like they are talking through a wall? 2225-2245* 1/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9600, R. Cairo, Abis. Service to S. America in Spanish. Fair level signal badly degraded by noise (and poor modulation?) 0050, 5/2 (Charles Jones, Dx-Pedition Ellalong, in the NSW Hunter Valley, March Australian DX News via DXLD) IIRC, R. Cairo registered four frequencies for Spanish at 0045-0200, one of which was probably wooden. Maybe this was active, but if no ID heard, it could have been Habana which is normally on 9600 from 0000, if not XEYU 9599.3. Check for Cairo // 6140, 7270, 9360. So if you hear Spanish around 0100 on 9600v, be very careful of your IDs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY. Some change of DTK T-Systems Media & Broadcast from Mar. 1: Voice of Oromo Liberation (Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo) in Oromo: 1700-1800 on 9485 NAU 500 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri, ex Tue-Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Frequency change of DW in Hindi and Bengali from Mar. 7: 1500-1600 NF 9650 TRM 250 kW / 345 deg, ex 9585 to avoid TWR Manzini (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Deutsche Welle English Programming, A-08 SUEDOSTASIEN ENGLISCH 0000-0100 9885 31 CLN TRINCOMALEE 15595 19 RUS VLADIVOSKOK 17525 16 RUS KOMSOMOLSK ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUEDASIEN ENGLISCH 0300-0400 13770 22 RUS NOVOSIBIRSK 15595 19 UAE DHABAYYA ------------------------------------------------------------------ ZENTRAL- und OSTAFRIKA ENGLISCH 0400-0500 7225 41 G RAMPISHAM 7245 41 RRW KIGALI 12045 25 UAE DHABAYYA 15445 19 CLN TRINCOMALEE ------------------------------------------------------------------ ZENTRAL- und SUEDAFRIKA ENGLISCH 0500-0530 9700 31 RRW KIGALI 9825 31 AFS MEYERTON ------------------------------------------------------------------ WESTAFRIKA ENGLISCH 0600-0630 7310 41 POR SINES 15275 19 RRW KIGALI ------------------------------------------------------------------ OSTASIEN ENGLISCH 0900-1000 15340 19 SNG KRANJI 17705 16 CLN TRINCOMALEE ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUEDASIEN ENGLISCH 1600-1700 6170 49 CLN TRINCOMALEE 9540 31 CLN TRINCOMALEE 15640 19 G RAMPISHAM ------------------------------------------------------------------ OSTAFRIKA ENGLISCH 1900-1930 9565 31 CLN TRINCOMALEE 11795 25 G RAMPISHAM 17860 16 POR SINES -------------------------------------------- ZENTRAL- und SUEDAFRIKA ENGLISCH 2000-2100 6150 49 RRW KIGALI 11795 25 CLN TRINCOMALEE 11865 25 G RAMPISHAM 15205 19 G RAMPISHAM ------------------------------------------------------------------ WESTAFRIKA ENGLISCH 2100-2200 9735 31 G RAMPISHAM 11865 25 RRW KIGALI 15205 19 RRW KIGALI (via Alokesh Gupta, March ADXN via DXLD) The entire unwieldy and poorly-formatted DW A 08 schedule including all those FM relays has been posted on the dxldyg, but the above saves us the trouble of pulling out English on SW (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Another bit of broadcasting history: Funkhaus Grünau at Berlin, Regattastraße 277. http://www.radioforen.de/showthread.php?p=384453#post384453 All Berlin programs of what became GDR radio broadcast from here from 1948 until the Nalepastraße radiohouse was ready in 1952. From 1956 the clandestine station Deutscher Freiheitssender 904 used the Funkhaus Grünau studios but soon moved on to premises at Berlin- Friedrichshagen and finally Bestensee near Königs Wusterhausen because this location was just not clandestine enough. Afterwards the ground floor of Funkhaus Grünau had been used to train audio engineers while the entertainment department of GDR TV used the upper floors. Still one incoming and one outgoing audio circuit had been maintained for Funkhaus Grünau, just in case. Since 1991 or so the building is now unused, attempts to refurbish it had been made but were obviously aborted once the current owners became fully aware of the bad shape of the building. Surprisingly a fully intact studio complex, of course with all equipment being removed, can still be found here, as prominently featured in the two referenced postings. The last two pictures are views of the neighbouring Regattastraße 267 premises. From 1960 to 1972 another clandestine operation, Deutscher Soldatensender 935, had been run from this building (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GOA. INDIA, 9820, AIR-Panaji *1530-1545* 10 March. English opening announcements/fan-fare into news (Palestine, New Delhi, official BBC response to an attack), generic AIR ID at 1537, music bridge, PSA- sounding announcement, more news with phone report, off without ceremony at 1545, leaving CNR2. Both signals fairly weak, AIR peaked 1535-1540 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Would VOG shift time of its English hour in keeping with NAm clock changes? NO: (gh) I tuned in to the Voice of Greece at 0000 UT Monday and they made the frequency announcements In Greek for their North American Service followed with the news in Greek. At 0005 UT, Greek in Style in English with Angeliki Timms hosting lasted until 0105 UT on 7475 and 9420 heard in this area. I assume that the time change [to 2305 UT Sundays] will come on March 30 with the start of the A-08 broadcasting season. Regards, (John Babbis, MD, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Re 8-032, Low power shortwave transmitters: RIZ (Radioindustry Zagreb) offers this niche product, apparently as only mainstream transmitter manufacturer. Unfortunately their website http://www.riz.hr has now turned into a fancy Flash presentation of "under construction" pages (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4800, Radio Buenas Nuevas with beautiful full ID, including call letters, over "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" instrumental background 1140 and into male talk in Spanish. More than ever, I'm convinced XERTA hasn't been active on this frequency in a while and reported loggings of it are actually this station (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, March 10, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) ** INDIA. 15050 DRM, AIR, Khampur. Special DRM test, resumed after a few months, Indian folk music 0905. SNR peaking 15.5 dB, patchy, 13.96 kbps, mono, 13/2 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Icom R75, Yaesu FRG- 7700, Horizontal Loop, Dipole, Dream® DRM software), March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Our usual morning check for VOI on 31 m found the following March 10: At 1309, nothing on 9526, but a carrier was occasionally cutting on 9535, with a burst of noise just before cutting off. This may have been unrelated, but at *1334 after some brief carrier bursts, VOI came on 9526 and stayed on, joining the Korean hour in progress. At 1400 English announcement that Korean was now changing to Indonesian. Mostly talk (informasi) until past 1425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Serui 4604.98 kHz, 2048 UT. With weak local music. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, March 11, bdx mailing list via DXLD) And he frequently reports it around this time. RRI Serui 4605 is also the most reliable, sometimes the only Indo heard here in the hour after sunrise, approx. 1230-1330 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. CBC The Current Tuesday -- radio in Indonesia --- I just caught a snippet on a promo before the hourly news -- one of tomorrow's items is the proliferation of radio stations in Indonesia, post-Suharto. Appealing to diverse interests and audiences such as . . . women. Sorry, I did not get the whole story but recall enough to think it could be of interest to some of us. It is not listed in hotsheets, nor on their website, at least as far as I can see . . . http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ (Eric Flodén, BC, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s there now: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200803/20080311thecurrent_sec2.ram Indonesia Women's Radio Ten years after the end of the Suharto regime, Indonesia is a country in transformation. That change is especially evident in the country's media. For decades, Indonesia's print and broadcast media were stifled under Suharto's strict rule. But after he stepped down, thousands of local papers, magazines and television stations opened up. As many as 1200 new radio stations hit the air waves. And a surprisingly high number of those radio stations are targeting women. The CBC's Natasha Fatah was in Indonesia earlier this year. While she was there, she visited two radio stations with very different approaches to serving their female listeners. Natasha joined us in Toronto (via gh, DXLD) Here is the stream -- temporarily on dxer.ca http://www.dxer.ca/images/stories/podcasts/radio_in_indonesia.mp3 (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. Hi Glenn, Just to let you know that NTL here in County Clare, Ireland has just added WRN to the radio stations it rebroadcasts on the microwave radio and TV multichannel franchise (MMDS) in this area. It is a station I like a lot but more importantly I can now listen to your World of Radio broadcasts at 0900 UT on Saturdays rather than having to wait until 1730 UT Saturdays to hear it on 12160! Kind regards, (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now it`s 1630 Saturdays on 12160; and from April will be 0800 UT Saturdays on WRN (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Spirit of Knoxville IV (SNOX IV) launch date has been set at 0300 UT on Tuesday 11th March. The balloon with carry a RTTY LSB/CW beacon on 10.126 MHz. This flight is designed to stay aloft for more than 24 hours, inserted into the current jet stream at normal flight altitudes of 30,000 to 40,000 ft. This will take the balloon into Europe over the UK and France if all goes well around 40 hours into the flight. Launch Time: 0300 UTC March 11 (10 PM EDT March 10) Track the mission live at: http://www.spiritofknoxville.com (the Live status page will only become active at launch) Keep an eye on the latest progress from the launch team on the front page of spiritofknoxville.com or by using twitter to follow twitter user "spiritofknox". Radio listeners: Flight radio details will be available on the DTRC status page which opens when you run the current version of DTRC. Download DTRC from http://dtrc.utarc.org Thanks, Spirit of Knoxville Crew (Via Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2008/snox4.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) SNOX IV Balloon Launched - RTTY LSB/CW Beacon 10.126 MHz Last report I saw about an hour ago was that the Amateur Radio Balloon SNOX IV ballon had travelled over 527 km on it's journey from America to Europe. I've not yet heard the 10126 kHz beacon but I don't believe that is being activated until it is outside the USA due to regulatory restrictions. Addition info: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2008/snox4.htm http://www.spiritofknoxville.com/ 73 (Trevor M5AKA, 0849 March 11, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) Their website also cites 10.1465 [10146.5 kHz] as the transmission frequency. If I get a positive ID, I'll report the frequency here, if others could do likewise it would be appreciated (Simon G0FCU Kennedy, ibid.) 11 March, 2008 It looks like this attempt could make it across the pond. Automated update from the Spirit of Knoxville balloon: The balloon has traveled 1647 km The SNOX website is quoting a frequency of ~10.146 MHz whereas an earlier email bulletin from SNOX gave 10126. Best bet is to keep a watch on both frequencies, although 10146 kHz does now look to be the correct frequency. 73 Trevor M5AKA (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Axually launched at 0240 UT. They have a neat `dashboard` display of the instruments, position, track, etc. But inaccessible most of March 11; overload? Yes; found this at 0230 UT March 12: ``SNOX IV Transatlantic Balloon Tracking Page Due to overwhelming interest, we have had to temporarily remove the GUI features from our tracking site. The most essential information is shown below.`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. US GOVERNMENT PLANNING AZERI BROADCASTS TO IRAN The US government is planning to beam Azeri-language radio broadcasts into Iran, in a bid to influence opinion among the significant ethnic Azeri population there. The new programming was proposed in the State Department budget that begins in October 2008. It must first be approved by Congress. If approved, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty would begin broadcasting two hours a day of Azerbaijani-language programming on shortwave into Iran, said Jeff Trimble, director of programming for RFE/RL. The United States already has 24 hours a day of programming, via Radio Farda, in Farsi. Persians are a plurality in Iran and Farsi is the state language. But “research indicates that people prefer to get news and information in their native language,” Trimble said. “Iran is an obvious case because the Azerbaijani population is so large, about a quarter of the population.” Much of Iran’s Azeri population lives in northern areas of the country. Read the full story from Eurasia.net http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav031008a.shtml (March 10th, 2008 - 22:03 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Story says RFE/RL already broadcasts in Azeri, but WRTH 2008 shows Azeri only under VOA, half an hour daily. VOA language schedule calls it Azerbaijani. RFE/RL does have a Radio Azadliq in Azeri, but not on MW or SW. More unneeded over-specialization in US IB services (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDAVIA, 7480, Radio Payem e-Doost, 1815-1825, escuchada el 11 de marzo en persa a locutora con entrevista telefónica a invitados, especie de tertulia, “Aló aló..”, referencias a Jordania y la “Yihad”, SINPO 45444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Hi Glenn, As the 24th March approaches when RTÉ turns off its medium wave services, there is evidence that the station has been stung from many listeners from Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The following announcement is from RTÉ's website which represents a very late attempt to improve the FM reception into a large portion of the Northern Ireland population. I remember when the Clermont Cairn TV and FM radio transmitters were opened in the 1980s and the strong negative reaction from Northern Ireland unionists who saw it as interference from a "hostile power" in the Republic of Ireland. Interestingly, in 2008, the unionists have been among the strongest objectors to the closure of the medium wave services, a sign perhaps that the new All Ireland peace agreement is working! Also there was a very interesting letter in The Irish Times yesterday (10/3/08) from a group representing the Irish communities abroad complaining about the closure of medium wave services and the effect that it will have in the UK in particular. It stressed that at night the long wave reception becomes very difficult in areas (as I found out for myself recently in Oxford). Also the RTÉ statement below points out that the LW transmitter was up graded in 2004. It doesn't tell us that this included reducing the strength from 500 kW to 300 kW (and only 100 kW at night when Algeria broadcasts on 252 with 1500 kW and only 750 kW at night!). Kind regards, (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: From 9.00 am on Friday 14 March RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast on FM 87.8 from the Clermont Cairn transmitter near Dundalk in Louth. Listeners to RTÉ Radio 1 in the Northern Ireland areas of Belfast, Armagh and Down, and in parts of the Republic of Ireland, particularly Louth and Monaghan, should retune to RTÉ Radio 1 on FM 87.8. RTÉ Radio 1 is swapping frequencies with RTÉ lyric fm on the Clermont Cairn transmitter. This will greatly improve the RTÉ Radio 1 FM signal in the densely populated Belfast metropolitan area and southwards to Louth. RTÉ has prioritised RTÉ Radio 1 versus RTÉ lyric fm for cross-border transmission to enable more Northern Irish listeners receive RTÉ's main speech service. RTÉ will shortly apply for a new frequency for RTÉ lyric fm in this part of the north-east. As an interim measure, from 14 March, RTÉ lyric fm will be available on FM 95.2. RTÉ Radio 1 will also continue to be broadcast on LW 252 and on the internet at http://www.rte.ie/radio1 The LW 252 transmitter was upgraded in 2004 and broadcasts across the island of Ireland, into Britain and beyond. RTÉ will advise listeners of the new FM frequency for RTÉ Radio 1 in the Belfast area via presenter and on air announcements from now until 14 March (via Paul Guckian, DXLD) See also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non] ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Hi Ron, Wonder if you have continued to hear the jamming on 5985 vs Shiokaze + Myanmar as reported March 3? 73, (Glenn to Ron Howard, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Heard jamming against Myanmar from about 1430-1450, on March 3, 4 & 5, with a pulsating noise, but this same jamming had almost no affect against pre-1430 Shiokaze, as their signal was much stronger than the jamming, but it did cover a much weaker Myanmar. Noted on March 9 that the jamming did stop at 1430, so assume they realized that Shiokaze consistently goes off the air right at 1430 and there was no need to continue on longer (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, March 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. UCRANIA, 7540, Dengue Mezopotamya, 1825-1830, escuchada el 11 de marzo en kurdo a locutor en conversación con invitado; se aprecia una extraña señal de fondo, quizás de jammer, aunque la señal llega fuerza, el nivel de audio es bajo, SINPO 44433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, seldom audible during English bihour, but one of the better signals on 16m, March 11 at 1414, YL with stilted exposition about African unity and Al-Fatah`s rôle in it. Can`t help but wonder if MAQ himself writes this stuff and mandates it be translated and broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Mighty KBC Radio in English 2200-2258 NF 6055 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu, ex 6055 [sic] / 6140 / 6235 / 6265 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) LITUANIA, 6055, KBC Radio, 2208-2220, escuchada el 9 de marzo en inglés a locutor con comentarios, emisión de música pop; se aprecia en 6050 a Polskie Radio, SINPO 54544 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, Radio Mauritania, *0833-0845, March 9, abrupt sign on with Arabic talk. Short breaks of Mid-East style pop music. Fair. Same type of programming heard earlier on 4845 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.3, XEYU, R. Unam with very nice classical music (Bach?) and NO interruptions or announcements during the piece. ID at 0746 with call and station name by YL. Nice signal, and good modulation -- almost sounded FM-like! SIO 454, fading to 2+43+ by :30. 1/Mar 0650-0750 (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 9599.30, Radio UNAM, Mexico City, 2215-2245, March 9, classical music. ID announcements at 2230 & 2231 followed by Spanish talk. Lite jazz music at 2240. In the clear with a nice signal. These guys usually ID at the top and bottom of each hour (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. A Date Less Certain: More on a possible DTV transition date delay (to 2014) near the Mexican border (para. 4), and a LPTV-to-DTV delay to 2012 (para. 7): http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6537181.html (CGC Communicator March 10 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DST dates: see WORLD OF HOROLOGY below ** MYANMAR. Jamming on 5986: see KOREA NORTH ** NETHERLANDS. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is planning to re-start Arabic radio transmissions in September. The plan is to broadcast one hour a day, five days a week on shortwave, mediumwave, FM, satellite and Internet. RNW's Arabic radio service, known in the Middle East as "Radio Hilversum", closed in 1994 after nearly 50 years on the air. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/middleeast/080311-bbc-arabic-tv (via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DXLD) Strange this would just be a sidebar to the BBC Arabic TV story (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. Re 8-032: Radio Netherlands Historical Audio Archive including Eddy Startz mp3's First DX Juke Box already online, according to message received from Martien Sleutjes. "B471945 DX Juke Box : [main item:] Sovjet Union & Radio Afghanistan / 1980-08-14" is waiting for your approval http://blogs.rnw.nl/haa/b471945-dx-juke-box-main-item-sovjet-union-radio-afghanistan-1980-08-14 73 (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Indeed it is. I remember Martien asking me about that some months ago, but I didn't realise it was already accessible outside the RNW building :-) Well worth a 30 Mb download. Includes the voices of the late Pete Myers, a hugely popular figure at RNW in the 1980's, and the late Richard Ginbey who was tragically killed in a car crash (Andy Sennitt, RNW, ibid.) It`s not the `first DXJB` by far, just the first one Jonathan Marks did. How about some elder DXJBs before Jonathan started messing with it to transform into Media Network? (gh, ibid.) Certainly Glenn, I remember the Harry van Gelder and Dick Speekman eras, before Marks (Horatius, ibid.) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. 2598/USB, VON, Canadian CG, St John's with marine weather by YL in English, into French weather at :17 -- very weak ID as "Coast Guard Radio" 0815-0827* abd agaub *0834-0835 when they either went off or faded into the mud. 22/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) abd agaub == and again, one key offset to left, right hand (gh, DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Notices received from The Crystal Ship: March 5: Wed pm ON AIR: The Crystal Ship --- Good evening, pirate radio fans! The Crystal Ship is taking to the air this evening, commencing around 2240 UTC, and probably running past 0000 UTC. We will be transmitting on 3430 kHz and on 6700 kHz in AM mode, with the Johnson Viking Valiants. Antennas will be a horizontal V dipole on 90 meters, and an inverted L doublet on 43 meters, both now fed with parallel line run through antenna tuners. The inverted L for 6700 has a feedpoint at nearly double the height of our previous dipole, and has more vertical polarization. We've actually been using that antenna most of the time since October, but I mention it for the antenna geeks. It may be helping to put a better signal into Texas if nothing else, which is a very long haul for us; about 1500 miles. Here's to Regime Change through Rock 'n Roll! -- > 73s and FIGHT for FREE RADIO! The Poet, The Crystal Ship TCS Thurs. Night 3/6 --- Greetings again, folks! You may realize that The Crystal Ship hasn't been on the air or Emailed very regular for the last two months; so I guess we're making up for it now. Hope you don't mind. The Crystal Ship is going on the air again tonight, just after 0100 UTC, on 3430 kHz and on 6700 kHz. Transmitters are Johnson Valiants #1 and 2 respectively. Regime change through oldies! Or Rock 'n Roll! Or whatever! 'Let's swim to the moon, uh huh, let's climb through the tide....' -- 73s and FIGHT for FREE RADIO! The Poet, The Crystal Ship TCS Sunday Night 03/09 --- Good Evening, Radio Friends! The Crystal Ship is going on the air this evening around 2300 UTC, on 3430 kHz and on 6700 kHz. More than likely, we'll run through 0100 UTC at least. We are adding a news headline segment from the Free Speech Radio News, whenever it works out. If anyone has any music requests, send 'em back on this thread -- if I have it, I'll try to work it in tonight. -- 73s and FIGHT for FREE RADIO! The Poet, The Crystal Ship (all via Will Martin, MO, March 10, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Another hifer beacon in the state, ``MO`` easily heard on 4077, 1250 UT March 11, nothing but repeated MO in A1=CW, ten times per minute. S9 plus 15 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4078 approx., "MO" hi-fer beacon sneaking through the noise 10 March at 1248 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3345, R. Northern, Poppondetta with OM announcer in English giving frequencies at ToH and then into martial anthem (and then a more tropical sounding one -- one anthem for the guns crowd, the other for tourists?) starting at 1300, and continuing until carrier off at :07 -- a LONG sign-off! ID as R Northern during the sign-off. SIO 343, 1233-1307* 2/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 3345, R Northern, 03/11/08, 1140, presumed Tok Pisin. Male DJ with easy listening tunes, rather heavy on the 80s pop, with a break for what sounded like a news update (possibly in English) at 1200 before resuming the music. Mostly poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [non]. 7325, 03/11/08, 1235. R Canada [q.v.] absent in a check around 1235, but in its place was only a very weak carrier from presumed Wantok R Light (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4747, RADIO HUANTA 2000, Huanta, Perú. 0008-0020 Marzo 8. Pgm: Radioperiódico 2000. ID: "...Transmite Radio Huanta 2000 OAZ5B 4755 kHz onda corta, OBX5O 1160 kHz onda media; OAZ5A 92.5 MHz FM estéreo..." 5039.1, RADIO LIBERTAD DE JUNIN. Junin, Perú. 1146-1210 Marzo 8. Pgm: Informativo Junín Avanza. Promo http://www.regionjunin.gov.pe/sietemaravillas "...es Radio Libertad presentando el informativo Junín Avanza..." Nota Mortuoria, Anuncio de Universidad Nacional San Ignacio. A las 1201 "...el Departamento de relaciones públicas de la municipalidad provincial de Junín presentó, el informativo Junín Avanza, gracias por su sintonía..." Al paracer, solo opera en las horas de la mañana. No reportada en otros horarios. 5486.7, RADIO REINA DE LA SELVA. Chachapoyas, Perú. 2352-2358* Marzo 7. Música tropical. Baja calidad en el audio aunque fuerte señal. "...gracias a todos los amigos que nos sintonizan día a día a través de los 101.5 FM de Reina de la Selva..." Fuera del aire sin cierre a las 2358* (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., BOGOTA D.C. - COLOMBIA, RX: PCWINRADIO G303I - JRC NRD-525 - SONY ICF 2010, ANTENAS HILOS DE VARIAS LONGITUDES, @tividade DX March 10 via DXLD) ** PERU. 4790, Radio Atlántida assumed the one with Spanish talk by man way under CODAR 1142 to 1150; signal was slowly fading away during entire listening period. No ID heard, but I prefer to "list log" anyway. Never noted during my post-1200 listening sessions in recent weeks (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, March 10, ABDX via DXLD) One must really keep up with which station to list-log. Radio Visión is the one currently active, not Atlántida. It is also on all-night; it`s high time for either of them to fade out before 1200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9570, At 1501 sign-on of religious program in Russian compiled by radio Teos (Catholic) and Radio Tserkov (orthodox), a common production aired via R. Veritas Asia facilities, 28/2 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF-2001, Marconi, March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** QUEBEC. The Galcomians were left with nothing to pray for the first week of March as their Spring Prayer Bulletin had not yet been posted. Searching thru it on shortwave and short wave we found nothing significant, and then looked thru every daily entry for anything of possible DX interest. Nada. Make that rien: so we`ll have to make do with this rather startling statistic: ``May: Sun. 25th: Pray that doors will open to provide Christian radio in Quebec, Canada where less than 1% of the people are believers.`` Wow, 99% atheist. I`m heading that way ASAP! Wait a minute, what are all those Catholic schools and institutions doing there?? Could not quickly find Québec religious stats in particular, but per World Almanac 2002, as of 2001, there were 12.5 megacatholix in Canada, by far the largest single denomination, with 5,716 houses of worship. Under CANADA, major religions, headed by RCC, 45% --- of the population, or of believers? Anyhow, per GALCOM, which BTW is HQed in Toronto, either Catholix simply don`t count as believers, or you don`t have to be a believer, by their definition, to be a card-carrying Catholic. What a window into Galcom`s mind-set (Glenn Hauser, OK, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA [non]. Additional transmissions of Radio Romania International in DRM mode 1700-1730 on 7570#KVI 035 kW / 190 deg to WeEu in German 1800-1830 NF 7465 KVI 035 kW / 220 deg to WeEu in English, ex 6160* # co-channel Voice of Korea in Korean to WeEu in AM mode * to avoid China Radio International in German to WeEu in AM mode (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. ROMÊNIA - Dando continuidade à série de imagens em cartões de confirmação que homenageia as flores e plantas romenas, no mês de março a enfocada é a violeta, http://www.rri.ro/images/2008qsl03.jpg também conhecida como Scilla Bifólia. Ela é nativa do centro meridional da Europa e também é encontrada na Ásia e África. Ela pode ser encontrada nos bosques e jardins ornamentais, principalmente na primavera. As informações são de Victoria Sepciu, apresentadora do programa Rincón Diexista nas emissões dominicais em espanhol. Para conseguir o QSL que retrata a violeta, basta escutar a emissora e enviar um informe de recepção para a redação em Bucareste. O esquema de emissões em espanhol da estação romena é o seguinte: entre 2000 e 2100, em 7140 e 9620 kHz; das 2200 às 2300, em 9575 e 11905 kHz; das 0000 às 0100, em 5960, 9525, 9665 e 11960 kHz; entre 0300 e 0400, em 6140, 9635, 9765 e 11825 kHz. A emissora aceita informes remetidos via e-mail. O endereço eletrônico é o seguinte: E-mail: span@rri.ro (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 9 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6075, GTRK Kamchatka via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 0810- 0900, March 11, started their local programming with ID for "Kamchatka Radio", several long interviews, segment of recorded reports from Kamchatka reporters, songs in English (jazz vocal and McFly's "Don't Stop Me Now"). Pre-0810 and post-0900 were the usual R. Rossii programming, // 5935 and 7320, still unable to hear 7200. Easy to ID their local program, as there are frequent mentions of "Kamchatka" and several IDs for "This is Kamchatka", fair to good reception. A nice change from the usual R. Rossii programming (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. Customer Profile: FEBA VT Communications began its partnership with Feba (formerly the Far Eastern Broadcasting Association) in 2002 and has been delivering over 100 hours of weekly radio programming around the world since 2003. With the decommissioning of Feba’s own broadcast infrastructure in the Seychelles in 2003, Feba required a long term, flexible and cost effective delivery partner to provide distribution and transmission of its programme output. Feba also required capacity to handle a dramatic increase in broadcast hours with coverage of Afghanistan, Africa, India, Iran, Pakistan, The Persian Gulf and Nepal. . . http://www.vtplc.com/oracle/march/article7.htm (VTC Oracle PR via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Not one, but two Brother Scares exhorting simultaneously, March 10 at 1427 on WWRB 9385. Our cup runneth over (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GERMANY. Some change of DTK T-Systems Media & Broadcast from Mar. 1: Brother Stair (TOM), new additional transmission in English 2000-2200 on 5995 WER 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) ** SPAIN. 9775-9780-9785 DRM, REE, Noblejas. *0800 with Spanish news, etc., SNR to 15.5 dB from sign-on, but improves slightly after that. 17.46 kbps stream, mono, 8/3 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Icom R75, Yaesu FRG-7700, Horizontal Loop, Dipole, Dream® DRM software), March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Radio Sweden's English Schedule A08 Here is the Radio Sweden English broadcast schedule for the period beginning March 30, 2008 (all times UT unless otherwise indicated): Europe and Africa/Middle East: 1430-1500 13820 (100 ) 1530-1600 11590 (120 ) 1630-1700 MW 1179 1730-1800 MW 1179 6065 (100 ) Wednesdays-Fridays 1900-1930 MW 1179 2030-2100 7395 (305 ) via Madagascar 2130-2200 6065 (140 -240 ) + MW 1179 Asia/Pacific: 0230-0300 11550 (50 ) via Madagascar 1330-1400 15735 (40 ) 1430-1500 13820 (100 ) 2030-2100 7420 (125 ) via Madagascar (to Australia ) North America: 0130-0200 6010 (240 ) via Sackville 0230-0300 6010 (268 ) via Sackville + SAT 1230-1300 15240 (290 ) 1430-1500 15240 (272 ) via Sackville 2230-2300 9800 (268 ) DRM via Sackville You can listen to our daily program in RealAudio or Windows Media at: http://www.sr.se/webbradio/index.asp?typ=events&UnitID=2054 There is also now a 30 day sound archive at http://RadioSweden.org Programming: Radio Sweden's weekday and weekend programming is a window on the diverse perspectives and issues in Sweden today. Our daily editions offer a smorgasbord of news and current affairs, science and technology, lifestyle, and culture. We explore, debate, analyse and give insight into the way Swedish society and its people are changing to meet today's challenges and opportunities. On Saturdays we review the week gone by and on Sundays we present Network Europe: The program that speaks to the hearts & minds of Europeans brought to you by Radio Sweden and a partnership of Europe's leading international broadcasters. More details at: RadioSweden.org (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. Summer A-08 of Radio Taiwan International via TDF: 0200-0300 on 9800 GUF 500 kW / 195 deg Spanish to SoAm 1400-1500 on 15225 ISS 500 kW / 060 deg Russian to RUS 1600-1700 on 11600 ISS 500 kW / 085 deg English to SoAs till May 3 / from Sep. 7 1600-1700 on 15515 ISS 500 kW / 085 deg English to SoAs May 4-Sep. 6 1700-1800 on 11705 ISS 500 kW / 055 deg Russian to RUS 1700-1800 on 15690 ISS 500 kW / 160 deg English to SoAf 1800-1900 on 3965 ISS 250 kW / 345 deg English to UK 1900-2000 on 11755 ISS 500 kW / 190 deg French to NoAf 2000-2100 on 3965 ISS 250 kW / 220 deg Spanish to SoEu 2100-2200 on 3965 ISS 250 kW / 050 deg German to WeEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) You might think that Taiwan should reach S Asia perfectly well from Taiwan, but there is a propagational advantage to hitting it from the west via distant France in the evening, such as higher frequencies usable with less interference (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. /CHINA. 4820, PBS Xizang, 03/10/08, 2358, Mandarin. Wrapup of a talk program, then dramatic music and clear canned ID in Mandarin by a male announcer, then into newscast with frequent mentions of various Chinese leaders and locations. A bit noisy, but fair overall despite pesty CODAR. [Tibetan service (presumed) on 5240 also noted around 0030 with commentary, fair/poor.] (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Re 8-032: "Are those scenes [view of St. Andrews Church and the castle of Richard the Lionheart] really in Ukraine??" See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriyivskyy_Descent (Alan Roe (Teddington, UK), DX LISTENING DIGEST) So the answer is yes! ** U K [non]. French Guiana, 9750, BBC, 1000-1200 March 10, (Relay) Typical BBC format of World news and features in English. All of my hard copy references says this schedule is from 1100 to 1300 UT. I have been listening since the 1000 hour into the 1200 hour. Not certain if the BBC will still be here during the 1200 plus hour. Until now, this was a two hour broadcast. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, R-390A, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Q & A with BBC World Service Director, Nigel Chapman 06/03/2008 By Faisal Abbas London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Working with BBC for over 20 years, Nigel Chapman, Director of BBC World Service, is responsible for the overall editorial leadership and management of the international radio broadcaster and its new media operations. With a track record of senior management positions and editorial posts in television radio and online, Chapman's emphasis is on news and current affairs. One of the BBC's latest ventures, BBC Arabic television will go live on March 11, initially broadcasting 12 hours per day and will become a 24-hour service later this year. Following is the text of the interview: Q: What are your aims, what are you hoping to achieve with BBC Arabic Television? . . . http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=5&id=12006 (via DXLD) see also NETHERLANDS for another story re (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. To our knowledge, none of VOA’s various language services has carried any of the candidate’s debates live and in full. That is likely to change once the Democrats and Republicans have made their formal candidate selections and the two finalists stage debates prior to the November election. We’re almost certain you will be able to hear those debates and we will be sure to include programming information so any one in our audience will know what time the debate will take place and how to watch or hear it. In general, when we do know a major event will be carried live, we note that at the top of news reports appearing on VOANews.com . . . http://voanewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/audiences-targeted-by-voa-and-smith.html (Alex Belida, March 5, VOA News Blog via DXLD) ** U S A. US Government planning Azeri broadcasts to Iran: see IRAN [non] --- yet another too-specialized service; we already have Azeri on the air (gh, DXLD) see also CAMEROON ** U S A [non]. Best signal above 15370, March 10 at 1312, was on 15600, M&M talk, occasional brief audio dropouts, mentioned VOA. This is the Somali service via doomed Briech, Morocco site at 1300-1400, 108 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change for Voice of America in English to SoAs: 0100-0200 NF 9740 UDO 250 kW / 292 deg, ex 9865 \\ 7205 IRA 250 kW / 340 deg 11705 UDO 250 kW / 292 deg New morning transmission for Voice of America in Amharic Mon-Fri: 0300-0330 on 7220 SAO 100 kW / 076 deg 9730 IRA 250 kW / 279 deg 13605 IRA 250 kW / 275 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 11 via DXLD) ** U S A. HAWAII: 10320, AFN Pearl Harbor // to Key West frequencies which were all coming in better, with President's weekly radio address, and the Democratic response to it, and into "Earth and Sky", SIO 1+52+, 1727-1755 1/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) 30+ minutes is a long time for those three items to last; so did the Acting Presidential Radio Address start at 1727? It`s hard to pin down on various domestic stations, tho C-SPAN (TV!) usually runs it shortly before 2230 UT Saturdays, unless preëmpted. Anyhow, DST sked on AFN would presumably put this one UT hour earlier now (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Re 8-032, WHRI scheduling of DXing with Cumbre and Hmong Lao Radio: the online schedules such as http://www.whr.org/customcf/dsp_schedule_read.cfm?Search=Angel1 have changed to show a 4-hour difference between ET and UT, in accordance with DST, BUT, claim Hmong Lao Radio is still at 14-15 UT Sat & Sun on 11785, while in fact I heard DXing with Cumbre at 1430 Sunday on 11785. HLR has always really made a 1-hour switch to 13-14 UT during DST. The sked also claims that DWC is on Sat at 1330 on 11785, another impossible contradixion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Demand for southbound shortwave. "The next big project for LeSEA Broadcasting Network will be short-wave transmissions to Caribbean and Central South America from South Carolina, said Peter Sumrall, president and CEO of the network. 'There seems to be a great demand for short-wave facilities going in that direction'" Church Executive, 10 March 2008. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) LeSEA's World Harvest Radio already has two 500-kilowatt transmitters at Cypress Creek, South Carolina (a facility previously owned by the now-defunct Christian Science shortwave service). Perhaps they are planning to add one or more transmitters there. In addition, World Harvest Radio operates shortwave transmitters in Maine and Hawaii. Posted: 11 Mar 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) A quick look at the FCC schedule B-07 shows WHRI with numerous transmissions at 152, 173, and 260 degrees to zones 10-16, i.e. all of Latin America. So Sumrall doesn`t know he is already broadcasting that way? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15384.8, KJES with the Robo kids -- some are getting older, a few had deep voices, and one was actually doing the voice cracking thing -- at least we know they don't castrate the kids! The material is getting more mature too -- they were talking about sexual sin and 'no orgies' (which brings to mind an old line from ' Get Smart' when one of the CHAOS agents is decrying the new rules that prohibit torture and he says 'What, no torture? This used to be a fun organization' ... What, no orgies? ....) SIO 554+, 1944-1949 1/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. 15590, KTBN with TV audio but break in at :58 for ID and frequency, and mention of 888 prayer line number -- they went into what the announcer called "Animated Bible Stories" -- that worked real well on radio! :) SIO 554+, 1930-2002 1/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. Yellowstone Public Radio (KEMC Billings MT), carries La Jolla Summer Music Festival, Mondays at 17-18 UT. But March 10 I found the content did not match published listings at http://www.yellowstonepublicradio.org/programs/listings/lajolla_summerfest.php I e-mailed them this: ``Your content listings of La Jolla are wrong again. Monday March 10 the second performance is Ravel`s Sonata for Violin and Piano, which does not appear on any of the listings for March. Would you please get these in synch?`` Got a quick reply that they were looking into it, and at 1723 UT with the end of the Ravel before announcement could be made, they suddenly switched into Brahms` Sextet in progress, which was the `correct` program for this week --- so instead of changing the published schedule, they changed the programming in the middle of it. I nevertheless recommend YPR for its programming and streaming quality: 80 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo 1-pass CBR. BTW, it was an excellent performance of the Brahms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 307 kHz, TEIEEI, UNID reverse beacon; 2332, 1-Mar (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) The unID reverse beacon you spotted on 307 is more than likely the reverse of Seymour Indiana Freeman Municipal Airport, EQZ on 308 kHz. I have heard this many times in 2004, 2006 and 2007 but have never heard the 'normal' version of the beacon, I usually hear it as TEITEI or even occasionally NITEI but I can see where TEIEEI could also be heard (Ken Zichi, ibid.) Does this mean negative keying, or backwards? Negative keying is where we get keying during pauses and pauses during keying, but I don`t see how TEIEEI would come out of either. Or does this means dots and dashes reversed? No, that would come out TFU (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGSET) ** U S A. 529, LYQ TN Morrison* (no AWOS) 0422 1/Mar --Zichi DXp 529, LYQ TN Morrison* (long pauses) 0009 2/Mar --Zichi DXp 529, LYQ TN Manchester* with AWOS code ID sent between AWOS announcements 0520 2/Mar --Zichi DXp (Ken Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) * this station is closer to Morrison based on the Geo Coords, however, the AWOS announced "Roseanne Airport Manchester TN". The FAA lists this airport as being at "Morrison" however, so your guess as to what to call this is as good as mine! (Bill Carney, this week`s MARE Tipsheet editor? Via DXLD) AWOS = ? Aeronautical weather observation statement??? (gh, DXLD) It's 0516 UT and on a quick check for 530 RVC, am hearing it and Cuba but also hearing 529 LYQ's CW ident, when in LSB mode on 530. Tuning to 529, am hearing their voice weather message as well. This is the first time I've heard LYQ that strong to get the voice broadcast. Either conditions are very good or they increased their power very recently (Steve, NE Oregon, R75, longwires, Ratzlaff, UT March 10, IRCA via DXLD) 529, LYQ, TN, Morristown, 03/10 0822. Poor signals with Morse Code ID's. New beacon and my first TN beacon station. COMMENTS Conditions continue to be poor but managed something new to report. I am too old and stubborn to quit and once in a while it pays off. My first grandchild a girl called Marianne is taking up my DX time but is well worth it. 73 and Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, Manitoba, amfmtdx at qth.net via DXLD) Dave Frantz keeps asking me if I have heard his beacon LYQ on 529 kHz. Now I can say yes. Driving in Enid at 0424 UT March 11, on 530 kHz had a big het against hymn and Spanish announcement from RVC. At times I could hear a bit of code but not enough to copy full ID, nor hear the voice weather info, but no doubt this is it. Of course, this was on caradio with no way to side tune, notch, or null. I was also reminded of severe noise problems at various locations, especially next to Walgreens, whose security system (?) wipes out the MW band. (And a second Walgreens is UC here now!) While LYQ may be excellently engineered to get out better than your average beacon, I`m still baffled why he would want it to be on 529 kHz, even tho so authorized, 1 kHz from several broadcast stations. Just a few kHz lower would be better for all concerned, unless there is some ulterior motive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4440, Harmonic, WSRC, Fair Bluff, NC, 0205-0420, March 10, 3rd harmonic of 1480. PSA for forest fire prevention. IDs. Local weather. "Country-Oldies Show" with country music. Poor to fair with deep fades. Good signal for short periods of time. Very weak fundamental 1480 heard under several other stations (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And NOT the same 4440 harmonic recently reported, WSPY in Geneva IL (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WJJG AM 1530 Elmhurst, Ill. sign off --- In the past week I've twice heard this station sign off for the evening. Both times it was exactly the same, and is VERY distinctive - just the thing for DX'ing! Just before 1900 CDT [0000 UT in March] they play 'We'll Meet Again' sung either by Vera Lynn (who is normally associated with the song) or Ann Shelton (a contemporary of Vera). Right after, they play 'God Bless America' sung by Kate Smith, followed by a sign off announcement by a woman with a thick Chicago accent. Then they play the 1954 U.S. Marine Corps. Band version of 'The Star Spangled Banner' followed by a final sign off announcement by a man with a thick Chicago accent. WJJG runs 760 Watts and is a daytime station in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. Received at Champaign, Illinois under a very strong WCKY (Curtis Sadowski, March 11, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Status of WOOW-1340-NC --- One of my overnight TOH recordings this morning featured an enthusiastic black preacher promoting some sort of event in Eastern NC. 100000watts.com shows this station as still active. FCC shows it as deleted and silent. Anybody know for sure? (Russ Edmunds, PA, March 9, IRCA via DXLD) The license for WOOW was deleted some time ago, but I've heard it on trips to Greenville. Charlie Taylor is closer and should be able to hear them easily, if on. However, his computer is apparently still down. I cannot hear them from my location in Jacksonville, but will try and recall to check on my next Greenville trip. In short, the station has ignored the FCC's rule about having a license to operate, for some time (Mike Hardester, NC, ibid.) It's not always that simple these days. While there are indeed some stations that don't bother to file for renewal, have their licenses cancelled, and keep operating anyway, there are others that run into paperwork glitches and receive FCC permission to resume operation under special temporary authority. WOOW appears to fall into the latter camp. Here's what they said in their license renewal application filed last September: "THE LICENSEE FAILED TO FILE A RENEWAL APPLICATION WHEN DUE ON AUGUST 1, 2003, AND AS A RESULT, THE COMMISSION CANCELLED THE LICENSE FOR WOOW. AFTER A VISIT BY THE FCC'S FIELD OFFICE, ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2007, WOOW WENT OFF THE AIR AND CURRENTLY REMAINS OFF THE AIR. THE LICENSEE HAS RECENTLY ENGAGED COUNSEL TO ASSIST WITH THIS MATTER AND HAS TAKEN STEPS TO ASSURE THAT THIS OVERSIGHT DOES NOT OCCUR AGAIN. THE INSTANT RENEWAL APPLICATION IS BEING FILED CONTEMPORANEOUSLY WITH A REQUEST FOR SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO RESUME OPERATION OF WOOW PENDING THE COMMISSION'S CONSIDERATION OF THIS APPLICATION. NOTWITHSTANDING THE LICENSEE'S FAILURE TO FILE A TIMELY RENEWAL APPLICATION, THE LICENSEE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS RENEWAL OF WOOW'S LICENSE. AS A MINORITY OWNED AND OPERATED STATION, WOOW HAS HISTORICALLY PROVIDED A UNIQUE VOICE FOR THE MINORITY COMMUNITY AND OTHER RESIDENTS OF GREENVILLE, NC. ACCORDINGLY, THE PUBLIC INTEREST WARRANTS RENEWAL OF WOOW'S LICENSE." WOOW did indeed file for special temporary authority on 9/25/07, which was granted, so while they're operating without a license, they're on the air legally under STA. (The application for STA explains that a renewal application and STA app were filed back in 2004, then dismissed for failure to pay the proper filing fees; another STA was in effect in 2005-2006, then expired.) They'll probably end up being fined, probably $7000, for failure to file a renewal application and for subsequent unauthorized operation, after which their renewal application will be granted and the WOOW calls will be restored to the database. The FCC is really, really reluctant to pull a license for good, and will usually try very hard to keep that from happening. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Hi Scott, Maybe I am naïve (not in the business). But how in the world can a station fail / not remember to renew their license?? I am guessing the license has a term and you know years in advance when it will expire. Seems incomprehensible to me. Seems like I have read about several of these in recent years (Russ Johnson, ibid.) This is what happens when you have people who aren't "radio people" running a radio station. Yes, licenses have fixed terms, and yes, the managers SHOULD know when the expiration dates are coming up, but it's easy to "let the lawyers worry about that," and the next thing you know you're in a pickle like WOOW's. This happens particularly often in cases where you have absentee owners - the license paperwork goes to the owners or their lawyers in some distant city, and the people actually running the radio station day to day don't ever see it, so they may not know anything's gone wrong until it's too late. Another factor here is the elimination of the old FCC rules that required would-be station owners to demonstrate financial viability. It used to be that you had to show that there was enough money in the bank to run the station for three full years (including paying the lawyers and all the other detail work). Those rules went by the wayside some years ago, and now there are almost no qualifications to hold a license beyond having US citizenship and a criminal record free of felony convictions. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Thanks Scott. I didn't even think of the out-of-town ownership issue. That could explain a good part of it. There also seems to be a lot of employee turnover in the business also - I could see that accounting for part of it as well (Russ Johnson, ibid.) Sorta makes you feel good about the efficiency of the FCC when a station operates without a license for four years... And you wonder why they don't have time to keep tabs on stations using day facilities at night (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, ibid.) Folks, I'm not taking sides here, but will double check on my next Greenville trip - now scheduled for 19 March (Mike Hardester, NC, ibid.) And, since my inquiry started this, my reception could as easily have been WLSG in Wilmington as there was nothing ID'able - I mostly wanted to know the status since I've never heard WOOW (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) And just for the record - I don't know for certain whether WOOW is or is not on the air. Based solely on my review of their paperwork, it appears to me that they CAN be on the air legally, under special temporary authority. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. 1680, KGED, Fresno, CA, 3/10/08 10:25 PM PDT [0525 UT March 11], I was out of town and I missed the earlier emails about the format change on KAVT. Tonight I ran across them with the Legends 16- 80 slogan and America's Best Music. Then ToH ID at 11 PM was for KGED Fresno. Call change (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo, CA, HQ-180A, March 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1399, IRCA via DXLD) 1680, KGED, CA, Fresno, now Nostalgia, ex Radio Disney with these calls. ID call letters at 0445 EDT 3/11 [0845 UT] "K-G-E-D" Into After The Lovin'. Ex KAVT. 1680, KRJO, LA, Monroe, in and out with Black Gospel, many "Rejoice" slogan heard in between musical numbers, noted at 0430 EDT 3/11 [0830] 1680, WDSS, MI, Ada, fair off and on over/under KRJO with Radio Disney, now easy to log with change of Fresno. Noted with ID at 0457 EDT 3/11 [0857 UT] "WDSS AM 1680, Ada-Grand Rapids" Back into Radio Disney as usual. First time I have caught the WDSS call. Drake R8, 1500' Eastern Beverage, terminated SW, EWE (Patrick Martin, KGED QSL Manager, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) Makes it easier for us to get a local ID of Fresno-1680. I never got it earlier, only "R Disney". And the same with Michigan-1680, only "R Disney", you couldn't be 100% sure which you heard. Thanks for the tips, (Sig, [Andersson Sigvard], Norköping, Sweden, NRC-AM via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) ** U S A. NEWS BRIEFS o The FCC has issued an MO&O in the DTV proceeding clearing up odds and ends and dismissing the idea of reallocating TV Channels 5 & 6 to the FM Service. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-72A1.doc o The Comment deadline re certain aspects of interference protection rights for LPFM stations has been set for April 7, 2008. Reply Comments are due April 21, 2008. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-531A1.doc o Media Bureau provides guidance for presunrise and postsunset AM station operations during March 2008 in areas with Daylight Saving [sic] Time. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-482A1.doc o FCC adopts digital television consumer education order. This concerns PSAs and screen crawls required to be aired nationwide regarding the transition to DTV. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280586A1.doc http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-56A1.doc o Media Bureau identifies groups of mutually exclusive applications submitted in the October 2007 filing window for noncommercial educational FM stations. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-536A1.doc http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-536A2.pdf o 2007 edition of the FCC's Rules now available: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280530A1.doc [we prefer non-doc versions of FCC notices; why not link them? --- gh] o With respect to the up-to-10 dB power increase being proposed for FM HD Radio stations, Geoff Mendenhall has prepared a clarification to his original letter on that subject. See the final posting at: http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Letters/IBOC_Power_Mendenhall.htm o Note these new items from the San Diego SBE newsletter: (a) March 19 meeting scheduled with Tandberg TV, (b) BPL is turned off, what's next? and (c) FM jammer taken down: http://www.sbe36.org/ (CGC Communicator March 10, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. FIREBRAND, the commercials-as-art show on IonTV, UT Tue-Sat 0400-0500 before DST, has suddenly vanished, replaced by a thinly disguised ``Special Report`` real infomercial, from Lend America, at 0300 UT Tuesday March 11, tho Firebrand still appears in the zap2it online listings. What about this at http://www.firebrand.com ?? All the content appears to be gone from website too, why? Just this, which I can`t copy and paste: ``we still love commercials when done right, they`re beautiful works of art but it`s never easy when art meets commerce and since that`s what we`re all about, fair enough. we thank you for your support and your love of great commercials. we`ll be back, after a non-commercial break`` I noticed last Friday that they had a brand new host, but did not catch if it was overtly a finale. For a sesquiweek or two, the one- hour block had changed to a half-hour show run twice in a row, then last week was back to a full hour --- altho there were always a lot of repeats of previously seen --- art, especially involving bikinis. What about the iontv schedule grid, http://www.ionline.tv/schedule.php It shows Firebrand still on Mon, Tue and Wed eve, thru March 12, but replaced by infomercials starting March 13! Looks like they put an end to it a few days early (Glenn Hauser, OK, Mar 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Big shakeup at MSNBC. Gleaned from various stories at Huffingtonpost.com --- Tucker Carlson is out, or rather his show at 2200 UT will be replaced by one hosted by David Gregory. Carlson will still be a floater on various remaining shows on that network, at least thru elexion day (no doubt for contraxual reasons). Dan Abrams show at 0100 UT is being reworked as `The Verdict`` and focusing more on legal matters. Countdown with Keith Olbermann remains at 0000 UT, but repeat at 0400 will be moved up to 0200, plus another repeat at 0600. All this apparently goes into effect next Monday March 17. This refers to weeknights only. They are still running life-in-prison docus at 0300-0600; geez, get rid of those and cover real news seriously (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. (follow up to DXLD 8-028 and other postings): 6020, VOV-4 (presumed), 1452-1513, March 11, very much on top of a weak WYFR (via Samara, Russia); in vernacular, with indigenous chanting/singing; noted WYFR IS and off at ToH; nice program of SE Asia ballads. Clearly not VOV-2, as listed by Aoki. This is their program in minority languages. The music and language certainly seemed right for them, but no ID heard. Thanks to Glenn for pointing me in the right direction! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ALGERIA: 6300, RASD/Radio Nacional de la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática, relayed via Rabuni-Tindouf, Algeria. Per Gayle Van Horn with what sounded for all the world like Arabic Robo kids chanting Kor`an verses; have they been taking a cue from KJES? Into OM talk in Arabic, SIO 354, 2220-2225 1/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 10 via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9780, R. Yemen. English, ID at 0615 with distorted sound followed by songs in Arabic (the sounds remind me on Pakistan, Cairo etc), 2/3 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF-2001, Marconi, March Australian DX News via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. This morning I took advantage of daylight re-allocation time (DRAT) to begin DXing one hour earlier (UTC) than in the last few weeks, with the following results: 3325, UNID, Something in the mess from 1155 to fade below the noise 1200; alternating male and female speakers in unID language and no music heard. Signal was just barely above the noise with CHU "splash" QRM. The divinely inspired and therefore inerrant 2008 Passport to World Band Radio lists an Indonesian here but the language and modulation sure didn't seem "Indo." I'll keep after this one (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, March 10, ABDX via DXLD) Could be Papua New Guinea, then, or rather BOUGAINVILLE (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3380, 0434-0502 fade 10 March. During a very good 60/90M African opening, this showed weakly in unID language yak and WAf.- sounding drum/percussion/kalimba-backed vocals. Aoki has BBC (Meyerton) here M-F *0430-0530* in Portuguese. Didn't hear enough to even ID language, tho) (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4830, 2355 UT, Marzo 8, Radio Botswana??, Música afro? o brasileira? 2-3/3/2/3/2 y repite la melodía de "Martinillo, martinillo" (Melodía: Bruder Jakob, Bruder Jakob...; Are you sleeping, are you sleeping...) Inserto el archivo "IMAG0275" con el clip de audio*** (MAGDIEL CRUZ RODRÍGUEZ, SONY SW ICF-7600, ANTENA 5 METROS COAXIAL EXTENDIDO, COXCATLÁN, SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, 21 32'26.33"N 98 54'0.23"O, MÉXICO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿Puede estar en 4828? Entonces, Voice of Zimbabwe (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL, still no sign of it March 11 at 1359-1401 check as Russia was signing off with usual late timesignal. Really need to check 6074 for it at some earlier hours. Otherwise, about time to quite reporting non-receptions! We would just like to identify and locate it, even if no longer audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 10 March follow. Solar flux 70 and mid-latitude A-index 17. The mid-latitude K- index at 1500 UTC on 11 March was 4 (51 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SWPC via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ ALTA AND BAJA CALIFORNIA OUT OF SYNCH o California and Baja California (North?), Mexico will be out-of-sync by one hour until April 6: http://tinyurl.com/25lyyp (CGC Communicator March 10 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Viz.: FOR FOUR WEEKS, U.S. TIME ISN'T ON TIJUANA'S SIDE UNION-TRIBUNE 3:25 p.m. March 9, 2008 Daylight-saving [sic] time began Sunday, but not in Mexico, which can create headaches for tens of thousands of people who cross the border daily for work or school. The time won't change in Mexico until April 6. Until then, there will be a one-hour time difference between San Diego and Tijuana. For example, when the clock says 8 a.m. in San Diego, it will be 7 a.m. in Tijuana. The situation first arose last year, after Congress ordered an earlier start in daylight-saving time in the United States as a way to save energy. Baja California officials said last year they would try to get federal permission to match California's hours this year. But when the state administration changed, officials literally ran out of time... – from Pablo Jaime Sainz (Signonsandiego.com via DXLD) Re: DST CHANGE AND "ATOMIC" CLOCKS For what it's worth, after the next night, one of the analog wall clocks had auto-switched to the new DS time. Neither of the digital ones changed. I've checked the batteries and done a "reset" on one digital and moved the unchanging other wall clock to the windowsill to see if it auto-sets overnight tonight. Must just be poor VLF reception locally. Thanks & 73, (Will Martin, St Louis MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think it is the way these clocks are designed. Mine changed fine here at home as it did last year. It use to change 1st Sunday in April but now changes 2nd Sun. in March. Some atomic clocks have the DST change burnt into the firmware. ie they still change 1st Sunday in Apr. [much like some VCR's]. Someone I know has one of these types and it does not flip to DST until April [he keeps it in his drawer until then]. WWVB sends out the signal to change to DST and back but some models seem to ignore this and go it alone (Andy Reid, Ont., ibid.) Re: MIDNIGHT MADNESS Last word: Glenn, I keep my computer on UTC. I have never seen the clock show 00:00:00 or 24:00:00. I have seen it show 00:00:01 and 23:59:59 however (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last last word: Can`t say I have ever been watching the computer clock at Tageswechsel. Will try to catch that sometime (gh, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE CAR RADIOS MADE IN BRAZIL ADVERTISED ON SHORTWAVE RADIO É interessante notar que uma empresa fabricante de receptores de rádio em ondas curtas investiu pesado em propaganda numa estação brasileira de grande porte. Trata-se da Motobrás, http://www.motobras.com.br/ que há muito tempo produz robustos receptores analógicos com praticamente todas as faixas de ondas curtas. Pois a Motobrás está patrocinando as jornadas esportivas da Rádio Record, http://www.radiorecord.com.br/ de São Paulo (SP), que emite em duas freqüências de ondas curtas: 6150 e 9505 kHz. Em nove de março, por volta de 2050, a Record tinha excelente sintonia, em Porto Alegre (RS), na freqüência de 9505 kHz, quando Dirceu Marchiori Maravilha transmitia a partida entre Corinthians e Guaratinguetá. De tempos em tempos, fazia o anúncio do receptor Motobrás. Inclusive, a Record sorteia um receptor ao final das partidas que faz a cobertura. É uma surpresa justo num momento em que as previsões dão conta do declínio e extinção das ondas curtas! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 9 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ECUADOR; INDIA; ROMANIA; SPAIN; SWEDEN ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV: see MEXICO Regional DRM, Syracuse TCI has added a page on regional domestic DRM: http://www.tcibr.com/regional-short-wave.html It depicts a hypothetical station in Syracuse NY (Benn Kobb, DC, March 10 drmna yg via DXLD) SHORTWAVE MUSIC +++++++++++++++ MUSIC FROM THE IONOSPHERE Il titolo della performance, svela già, in parte, l'intento dell'artista Pietro Riparbelli che si propone, con l'ausilio di un'antenna posizionata all'esterno della galleria, collegata a tre ricevitori, di captare le onde corte che "rimbalzano" entro la ionosfera e di organizzarle. L'artista si propone di captare segnali attraverso ricevitori radio ad onde corte, collegati ad un'antenna dipolo posta all'esterno della galleria, al fine di coinvolgere gli spettatori in un "rituale di connessione" con elementi impalpabili ma onnipresenti del nostro vivere quotidiano: le onde corte (rifratte proprio dalla ionosfera). http://www.myspace.com/pietroriparbelli http://www.pt-r.com (via Roberto Scaglione, March 9, bclnews.it via DXLD) I don`t get any connexion at myspace, but the second URL is his own site (gh, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SHOCK! Banned TV show "Underbelly" airs in Geelong http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23334288-5016559,00.html GANGLAND drama Underbelly can be seen in Geelong, despite a court ordering it not be shown in Victoria, thanks to a freak weather conditions [sic]. Warm weather has made a mockery of a suppression order banning the program's free-to-air broadcast in Victoria, with atmospheric interference allowing the $13-million production to beam into the town via Tasmania's WIN TV frequency, the Geelong Advertiser reported. Television technicians believe current weather and subsequent changes in the atmosphere are responsible for the relayed [sic] signal. One technician described the interference as fortuitous viewing, a phenomenon where outside signals can be broadcast into foreign areas under certain conditions. He said the large body of water from Tasmania to the Victorian coast had also allowed the frequency waves to travel further. WIN TV management was yesterday shocked by the discovery. . . For those unaware, the show Underbelly is s crime story based on a court case currently underway in Victoria. It was aired in all states of Australia, except in Victoria due to a court order. I`m sure by now that the government is considering a move to ban tropospheric ducting and sporadic E (March Australian DX News via DXLD) The final remark is unattributed but appears in the Amateur Radio sexion edited by Edwin Lowe (gh, DXLD) The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet levels from 03 - 08 March. Activity levels increased to quiet to minor storm levels midday on 08 March due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream that rotated into a geoeffective position. Solar wind speed measurements at the ACE spacecraft began the period at about 600 km/s and declined until late on 07 March when speed reached a minimum of approximately 300 km/s. Solar wind speed began increasing late on 07 March and reached a maximum of approximately 700 km/s at 2023 UTC on 09 March. By the end of the summary period solar wind speed was below 650 km/s FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 12 MARCH - 07 APRIL 2008 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on all days of the forecast period except 26 March and 05 April. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to active levels on 12 - 19 March as the coronal hole high speed stream continues to be geoeffective. On 20 - 24 March expect mostly quiet levels. On 25 - 29 March activity levels should increase to unsettled to major storm levels as the next coronal hole rotate into a geoeffective position. From 30 March through 07 April activity levels should decline to mostly quiet to unsettled levels as effects from the coronal hole high speed stream subsides. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Mar 11 1954 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2008 Mar 11 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Mar 12 70 15 4 2008 Mar 13 70 10 3 2008 Mar 14 70 8 3 2008 Mar 15 70 5 2 2008 Mar 16 70 10 3 2008 Mar 17 70 10 3 2008 Mar 18 70 8 3 2008 Mar 19 70 8 3 2008 Mar 20 70 5 2 2008 Mar 21 70 5 2 2008 Mar 22 70 5 2 2008 Mar 23 70 5 2 2008 Mar 24 70 5 2 2008 Mar 25 70 10 3 2008 Mar 26 70 20 5 2008 Mar 27 70 25 6 2008 Mar 28 70 20 5 2008 Mar 29 70 8 3 2008 Mar 30 70 5 2 2008 Mar 31 70 5 2 2008 Apr 01 70 5 2 2008 Apr 02 70 5 2 2008 Apr 03 70 5 2 2008 Apr 04 70 15 3 2008 Apr 05 70 15 3 2008 Apr 06 70 10 3 2008 Apr 07 70 10 3 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1399, DXLD) ###