DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-052, April 26, 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 NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1405 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular, time varies] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 Wed 2300 WBCQ 17495-CUSB 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 ** ALGERIA [non]. FRANCE: Most probably additional Radio Algerienne programmes via Issoudun from Apr 28. 5925 0500-0600 7305 0400-0600 9845 1900-2100 13570 1600-1900 5960 0500-0600 7305 0500-0600 11615 0500-0700 13670 1700-1800 7175 2000-2300 9390 1900-2200 11615 0700-0800 13830 0700-0900 7210 2100-2200 9400 1900-2100 11615 1700-1900 15165 1600-1900 7220 2200-2300 9425 0600-0700 11845 1800-1900 15230 0800-1100 7295 0600-0700 9430 0600-0700 11875 1900-2000 15360 0800-1100 7295 2100-2300 9440 0500-0600 11890 1800-2000 15610 1700-1800 13570 0700-0800 till Sept 7th only (Gordon Brown, UK, NWDXC Apr 25 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Surely this includes some alternatives, like both 9425 and 9430 at 0600? (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Google Earth: There is now a new high res image of Base Esperanza at 63 23 55s, 56 59 48w. Does anybody in the group want to attempt to locate the transmitting antenna? I think I'd need a flood-light! It's about the darkest image I've seen on GE so far, but obviously not unexpected, given the location. Regards (Ian Baxter, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) The tower is here: 63 23'51.01"S 56 59'53.59"W Look at this map: http://www.nuevaalejandria.com/antartida/plano.gif [in above see near center, ``Mastil``, next to Emisora de Radio – gh] http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/lra36.htm Regards, (Marcelo Filipo, ibid.) ** CHINA [and non]. Re 8-048, Continental and Thomson in China A look at http://www.tdp.info/chn.html brought another interesting circumstance to my attention: Apparently all Continental deliveries, the mentioned 10 pieces of 420C transmitters and another 20 pieces of 418 series 100 kW transmitters, took place in the first half of the nineties. After 2000 another round of even bigger investments in shortwave transmission facilities started, and this time what belongs now to Thomson Grass Valley made the deal. The TDP page shows not less than 35 pieces of TSW2500 transmitters, I think more than delivered to all other customers. And this list may well be incomplete, since it omits the Kashi site. Were all the TSW2500 transmitters (if the ones delivered for the Kashi project are not included here their number should exceed 40) installed in ALLISS antenna units? If so Reporters Without Borders should not be too wrong when associating ALLISS with Chinese jamming, as they did repeatedly. At least I recently did not hesitate from explaining that the Chinese jamming is done with ordinary broadcasting transmitters, including rotatable antenna units like the ones at Nauen. (No "Firedrake", no "ALLISS" mentioned in this case [but actual samples of Firedrake played]; it was about media politics and not about DXing.) Concerning the SW150A transmitters see also DXLD 8-039 in regard to the RCI schedule providing evidence for such transmitters being installed at Kunming. And isn't it quite likely that it is either one or both model of the modern Chinese shortwave transmitters what is in use by Cuba now? All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI English via Albania, 6020, April 26 at 0122 check with strong het varying slightly, no doubt from PERU on low side; and also subaudible het much closer to 6020 which is probably REE Costa Rica at 110 degrees, which is also scheduled daily 0000-0400. These discourage listening to CRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. No, REE is still off-frequency on 5964, as the transmitter was back on April 26 at 0517 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 5954.131, unidentified ELCOR transmitter, Guápiles; 2127-2158* 25 April, 2008. The usual live Spanish male vocals, Shakira and Madonna. Abruptly off after final song, as always. Excellent, near local level (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 3984.86, Croatian Radio, 2345-0005+, April 25-26, Euro- pop/ballads. Croatian news at 0000. Weak. Not heard earlier at 2230 check. Much stronger on // 7285, 9925 - via Germany. Not usually heard on 3 frequencies at once. 3984.85, Croatian Radio-Voice of Croatia, 0200-0214, April 26, English "Croatia Today" program with news, sports & weather. IDs. Weak. Very good on // 7285-via Germany. Spanish at 0230. [non]. via Germany, 9925, Croatian Radio-Voice of Croatia, 2215-2229, April 25, English "Croatia Today" with news sports, & weather. IDs. Very good. Heard on // 6165 with a weak signal for 1 minute at 2215- 2216* before pulling plug. Noticed // 7285 at 2216-2229 with a good signal strength but co-channel QRM from WYFR-Albania. 3985 not heard. Spanish at 2230 on 9925 & 7285 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ah, so they are using both 7285 and 9925 via Germany! Or did they just move back to 7285, viz.: (gh, DXLD) From their Website: 24.04.2008 - 15.05.2008 Empfangszone Frequenz Weltzeit (GMT) [sic] Südamerika 7285 kHz 2200-0300 UTC Nordamerika - Ost 7285 kHz 2300-0300 UTC Nordamerika - West 7285 kHz 0100-0500 UTC Englisch 0200-0215, Spanisch 0215-0230 (via Peter Kruse, dxldyg via DXLD) The dates here make it look like they have gone back from 9925 to 7285 until May 15 only, but Brian just reported them on both, so what is going on with the Germany relays? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Scheduled was 9925 only. 3 transmitters in parallel at 0100-0300. But now on 7285 and 9925 kHz --- Up to five transmitters in parallel at 0100-0300 UT - I guess. sic 7285 Wertachtal 2300-0300 UT zones 55,59,60 but target vailed? [is a container to reach S America in 40 mband] 55 Australia: N Territory, Queensland 59 Australia: S Australia, N.S. Wales, Victoria, Tasmania 60 New Zealand 9925 Wertachtal 100 kW 2200-0300 UT zones 11-16 9925 Wertachtal 100 kW 2300-0300 UT zones 6-10 But on 7285, the target is zone 17 Iceland ! 2300-0300 ENAm Wertachtal 125 kW; 0100-0500 WNAm Nauen 125 kW (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOC via GERMANY is now scheduled on two frequencies at once, and confirmed here April 27 at 0111 during Catholic chanting, much stronger on 7285 but // on 9925, then Croatian announcement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. After missing a few days, RHC 15370 back on April 26 at 1306 and 1456 chex. Not as strong as before, but maybe just propagation. RHC 6300 mixing product, April 27 at 0123 quite weak but // 6060 in Spanish, not // 6180 in English, over which 6060 leaps to land on 6300. At this time 5965 also in Spanish, 6000 also in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 790, Radio Reloj, unknown location; 0120-0124 25 April, 2008. A previously untraced second Reloj on this channel, weak and with the "RR" minute sounders delayed under much stronger and presumed Pinar del Río Reloj, with occasional WAXY, Miami co-channel, carrying the Marlins vs. the Braves baseball and local ads. [11 minutes later: Ha! Updating my own Cuba scribbled lists, I see I did in fact already note the second 790 Reloj outlet back in February.] 990, Radio Guamá, San Luís, Pinar del Río; 0124-0135 25 April, 2008. Excellent with a bachata vocal, live female announcer, canned ID at 0130, promo for other programs and into Spanish ballad. 1020, Radio Reloj, unknown location; 0143-0144 25 April, 2008. Good in passing. 1120, Radio Cadena Habana, Artemisa, La Habana; 2125-2127 25 April, 2008. Live male "Béisbol de la Habana, Radio Cadena Habana" and into play-by-play coverage. Good. 1310, Radio Enciclopedia, Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud; 0158-0220 25 April, 2008. Surprised to tune across this with a female "Radio Enciclopedia" ID, into instrumental jazz. Sure enough, parallel 530 (which was poor under Radio Visión Cristiana), fair to at times very good. My records show this was first documented in January, 1998 by Jay Novello while on a Caribbean vacation. Possibly my first log of it, as I don't seem to find any entries from Florida Keys trips at least since 2003 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9300 NO ID, 2040-2050, escuchada el 26 de abril en francés a locutor con comentarios, emisión de música árabe, SINPO 44343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cairo ex 9280? (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Sí, se trata de Radio Cairo, escuchada la música de sintonía a las 2110 después del boletín de noticias, sin emisión en 9280, probable cambio para evitar colisión con Family Radio en su servicio en Chino. [vía Taiuán]. SINPO 44343. 73 (José Miguel Romero2, ibid.) This is French to W Africa at 2030-2230. They had already moved the preceding English broadcast to 9300, from 9380 as in DXLD 8-038 (gh) ** GERMANY. Radio Gloria Internation [sic] this Sunday Date: 27th of April 2008 Time: 1200 to 1300 UT Channel: 6140 kHz The transmissions of Radio Gloria will be broadcast over the transmitting station Wertachtal in Germany. The transmitter power will be 100 000 Watts, and we will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. CVC in Arabic via Juelich new from May: 9565 2000-2100, 9840 1900-2000 UT. Russian 9410 1800-2200 UT, 11765 1400-1600 UT, 13670 1400-1700 UT, 13780 1400-1800 UT. Ukrainian 9750 1700-1900 UT, 11855 1400-1700 UT (Gordon Brown, UK, NWDXC Apr 25 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Re: ``DW, 11865, tune-in at 2159 April 21 to hear a strange Dylanesque song in English about the Metropolitan Museum. Faded down just before 2200 and heard two words, ``in Deutschland`` So this satellite circuit had been switched to German a bit too late, otherwise you would have heard "null Uhr in Deutschland". And perhaps you will not hear that for too long anymore. At present DW sends out a message about their "reorientation" to listeners of the German service. It states that "of course" the programmes can still be heard "on the usual frequencies" BUT that it is "more convenient" to rely on the audio offerings at the DW website. Obviously they have an agenda to finally eliminate the German radio program (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re: ``... an item about the future of the Christian Democratic Party --- apparently the one in Moravia. Which makes me wonder, what`s this awful mixture of politix and religion in western Europe? I think there are CD parties in several countries, notably Germany. Is it just a meaningless name now, or do you really have to be a Christian to belong? What if the party`s platform matches your views, yet you are one of the burgeoning number of Moslems (let alone Jews) in Europe?`` The German Christlich-Demokratische Union (and maybe also the Christlich-Soziale Union in Bavaria) indeed has Moslems as members, and quite a great number of their members are Atheists. One of the reasons behind the "Christliche" in their name was to emphasize that they are neither Catholic nor Protestant, since the Zentrum, kind of a predecessor, was decidedly Catholic. It is perhaps not so widely known, but a Christlich-Demokratische Union existed also in the GDR. Some of their Volkskammer members voted in 1972 against the legalization of abortion, but this remained a one-off. Some people found it worth to point out how in 1989 the CDU members were looking at the floor after voting for a Volkskammer resolution in full support of China after the events on the Tiananmen square. This brought them sneering comments that it is interesting to learn that Volkskammer votes were signalled this way. ``Even in America, the momentum of Separation of Church and State, so far has insured there is no ``Christian Republican Party``, at least not by that name.`` I find it especially interesting how the conservatives separate themselves from the Democrats (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY EAST. Radio Berlin International Blog There is now a Radio Berlin International blog online including many memories and links to YouTube videos of the East German national anthem, and a version of it by a punk rock band. The entry of April 11 has a recording of the 47 minute final English language broadcast of Radio Berlin International on 2 October 1990. As of deadline there are 25 blog posts and many comments on them. Roger Tidy from the UK mentions that in the 1960's RBI was broadcasting to Europe and the UK three times every evening on shortwave and medium wave and continues: "RBI had some excellent programmes and some very good announcers with interesting voices. I especially remember Mark Harrison, Charles Drake, Hans Hertzburg (the head of the English Section), Irene Shirer and Marjorie Milner. Later there were many other voices, including Jean Jones. Hertzburg (also called Hans Helt) was an interesting man as, according to a write-up about him in GDR Review, he had been a refugee in England during the war and served in the British Army. He presented many of RBI's political commentaries in which he nearly always used the phrase "We here in the GDR" (I can still hear this phrase articulated in Hertzburg's perfect but German-accented diction in my head). I have a shrewd idea that "Mark Harrison", who had a very unusual but compelling voice, was actually Mark Hamburger, a well-know GDR intellectual and son of the famous Soviet agent, Sonja, from the Second World War era. I say this because in 1989 I heard Hamburger being interviewed on BBC TV and, a few years ago, he presented a programme on BBC Radio 4. In my opinion the voice was completely identical with Harrison's, and also, of course, the initials of their names are the same. It's also interesting that another of the presenters (who sounded like he came from Wales) called himself Charles Drake, a strange pseudonym to chose because not only was there a famous English comedian at this time called Charlie Drake but "Charles Drake" was also, I think, a character in a Len Deighton spy novel!" Roger mentions in particular the programmes Thank You For Writing, Answers to Listeners Questions, Newsreel of the Socialist World as well as a 1965 series Twenty Years Ago Today which focused on the end of the war and that a number of former Nazis were in leading positions in West Germany; indeed, I can recall this being regularly mentioned on RBI broadcasts. The writer of the blog remembers Irma Schmergal who presented Thank You For Writing in the early 70's: "Irma had a very sexy sounding voice - at least this teenager thought so. I have to admit my disappointment upon meeting her in Berlin, to find that she wasn't a blonde bombshell, but a petite older lady with grey hair." There is also an entry on OPS Berlin which was a half hour programme on mediumwave; one target audience was US soldiers in West Berlin, particularly Afro-Americans. It was broadcast at 2300 and also put out on shortwave. It began on August 25 1961 on 1430, picked up clearly in the UK. Roger Tidy comments that the show was laid back and played a lot of soulful music. It was hosted by two presenters, one male and one female, the male announcer was Professor Lobo who used a lot of American slang and spoke in a deep Afro-American voice. He also occasionally appeared on the RBI English service as Martin Dies, which must have been a joke by the RBI staff since Dies was a well known anti communist politician. The programmes opening announcement was "This is OPS Berlin, the programme which entertains and informs. Nightly we broadcast to Americans in West Germany and Europe." Roger recalls that Vietnam and American racism would feature prominently in the news bulletins, the items often being read back to back to create a psychological link in the listeners minds. Like RBI there were many items claiming that the West German Government was riddled with Nazi sympathizers and on Sunday there was a mini play "Conspiracy of Silence" focusing on a former Nazi who was in a prominent position in West German society. Roger concludes: "Another interesting point: When I first started listening the programme's signature tune was "Don't Fence Me In" but this was changed at some point, perhaps because it encouraged listeners to think about the Berlin Wall!" The blog can be found at http://www.radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA [and non]. 4799.77, Guatemala, Radio Buenas Nuevas, 1020 with children's chorus under CODAR with fair signal, with Mexico off. 27 April 4800, Mexico, XERTA; carrier only at 0430 and again 0930, 27 April 73s, (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, U S, 746 Pro, 535D, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. All India Radio A08 Frequency Change: Russian to East Europe 1615-1715 UT on 9595 (ex 9585) // 11620, 15140 (To avoid Vatican Radio) (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, April 25, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Delhi, 6165, again audible trans-polar, not too grayline, April 26 at 1237 check with S Asian music, and co-channel QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. In reply to Grant Skinner's letter where he asks "How do the programmes get to England? Well, here are a few examples. For the VoA/IBB/RFE and RL services we run from Woofferton, they come from Washington (RFE/RL arrives by satellite in Washington after being uplinked from Prague where the studios are situated) via Intelsat 605 over the Atlantic. We pick up the satellite feeds and get the analogue audio to the senders at Woofferton. We also send certain programmes as required by fibre to our centre in London for onward transmission by fibre or satellite to overseas sites for example Meyerton or Ascension. For BBC services the programme comes again from satellite over the BBC's SMDS system from Bush House. We, like many other [re] broadcasters throughout the world, get analogue feeds and then transmit on HF from Woofferton. For RNW and DW the feeds are again from digital satellite [Hotbird, even Astra] and are downlinked at this site. Other broadcasters prefer to send mp3 files over the internet on a regular daily basis and these can also be placed on file servers and then on to digital play-out machines for later or repeated transmission. Again these machines are at Woofferton. The Voice of Vietnam is received at Wofferton by satellite after being uplinked from Israel. The link to Israel is in Thailand and then they get it directly fron Hanoi. We send the audio directly to Skelton by fibre for UK output and also to Moosbrun, Austria and Sackville, Canada for them to transmit on HF. I hope these examples answer your questions, Grant (David Porter, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7105, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Zahedan; 0135- 0143 25 April, 2008. Presume the one (listed 0130-0230 in Urdu) with definite Farsi male solo vocals, language male announcer from 0141. Clear and fair. Voice of Justice in English in at the same time on 7235 (very good) and 9495 (fair). Everybody on frequency, wow (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. RTE Shortwave Service The RTE Medium Wave Goodbye programme, aired on the last day of transmissions on 567, included mention of the short-lived RTE shortwave service. The RTE Archives site provides this history: In the 1920s, the early days of radio broadcasting in Ireland, private broadcasting operators including Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company had proposed to provide a short wave broadcasting service for commercial reasons, to break the monopoly in transatlantic communications which were controlled by the British Post Office and cable operators. In 1932, the Broadcast Advisory Committee of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs proposed the introduction of short wave broadcasting for the benefit of "the 4.54 million Irish people living abroad". However, the proposal was rejected due to lack of available funding, nevertheless, an inter-departmental committee was set up in 1937 to study the viability of such a service. In February 1937, the installation of short wave transmission equipment was completed near the medium-wave transmitter at Athlone and, from St Patrick's Day 1939, trial transmissions took place. The transmission had poor signal strength: the 1.5 kilowatt transmitter was too weak and a well-placed wavelength was not secured- moreover, as the war developed, the airwaves became over-populated. A committee was set up by the Department of Post and Telegraphs in 1940 to improve the quality of the transmission. By 1944, the project was abandoned due the unavailability of equipment during the war but it was revived shortly afterwards. Short-wave transmission was put into use for the re-broadcast, in a French translation, of de Valera's response to Churchill in 1945. A substantial increase in funding for broadcasting in the estimates of 1947 was intended, in particular, to further the cause of short wave broadcasting. In addition to funding for short wave equipment, investment was made available to improve the general standard of radio content to prepare for broadcast on an international platform: the orchestra was expanded, a second orchestra was formed, Radio Éireann Players was founded, several new positions were created to strengthen news, features and outside broadcasting. Although significant representation on the airwaves would require multiple transmitters and several wavelengths, the government remained committed to this project for its political ambition in creating direct communication lines abroad, to the U.S.A. in particular. The political imperative that drove the project was to "bring the attention of the world to the question of Partition". However, the new coalition government elected in 1948 chose to suspend investment in the short wave project. Although Fianna Fáil revived the project when they came back to power in 1951, the practical difficulties could not be overcome and a short wave service never came into being. The website also says: Broadcasts to Irish Missionaries in Africa: Autumn 1953 Irish missionaries in Africa were able to hear Radio Éireann relayed from Brazzaville, a short wave station in French Congo from autumn 1953. These broadcasts, Gaelic Games reports and a selection of programmes, were sent to Paris from where RTF, the French national broadcaster, transmitted and re-broadcast them from Brazzaville. This initiative was proposed by Gus Ingoldsby, Staff Administration Officer who unofficially managed sports broadcasts. Alongside this feature it has a letter from an unnamed National Radio Club member reporting reception of the RTE shortwave service on 17840 "at a distance of some 3100 air miles from this QTH. On 2 June 1950 at 1430 E.D.S.T News of the World (sic). I was tuning around the above mentioned frequency for FZI Brazzaville when I heard this station which I believe to be yours override the other for a short period of time." Note the discrepancy in dates, if the Brazzaville broadcasts did not start till autumn 1953 the report should be from June 1954 or later (via Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) See also MUSEA ** JAMAICA. 700, Nationwide Radio, Hague; 0115-0120 25 April, 2008. Commercials, then Jamaican-accented male announcer, "Welcome back to sports..." and discussion of local football (soccer) player signings. Fair on peaks, mixing with several unidentified non-Cuban Latin Americans and WLW (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is this named for the Netherlands` Hague? Pronounced how? (gh) ** JORDAN. R. Jordan, presumed the Arabic music on 9830 at 1825 April 26, mixing with the perpetual RTTY. If spurring on 10000 and 9660, inaudible here. Turkey was also in with IS on 9785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Although I have not sent a reception report to North Korea for over a year I too received a letter asking me to write about the Great Leader, etc. I thought the last P.S. was very good asking for a photo of one listening to North Korea. That would be wonderful propaganda for them; needless to say, I did not comply with this request." Richard encloses the letter which says the contents of your writing should be (edited, quoting last sentence of 1, 2, and 4): 1. Your feelings of reverence for the great leader Kim Il Sung. 2. The greatness of leader Kim Jong Il. 3. Listening to the Voice of Korea you would have thought a lot about the superiority and invincible vitality of our socialist system centred on the popular masses in the light of your life. Please write your opinions about our socialist system. 4. Writings reflecting your desire for Korean reunificiation. They say poems, songs and the like can be recorded on cassette, videotape or CD. Deadline is May 31 if any members would like to take part! Souvenirs will be sent "to those listeners who present excellent writings. And the writings will be broadcast." (Richard Read, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) How thick could one lay it on without VOK realizing they are being parodied? Preferably pseudonymously (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Re 8-051, 11640 unID at 1300: Dear Wolfy, I heard a sent Audio file from you. This station is Voice of Wilderness (Sei- ichi Hasegawa, NDXC, Japan, via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) As in revised sked below --- ** KOREA NORTH [non]. I received VOF-Voice of Free Radio (Religious), new station for North Korea on 15755 kHz at *1100-1130* on Apr. 26. Audio File: http://www.ric.hi-ho.ne.jp/in_hiroshi/k/vof-20080426-1100_15755.mp3 The details of this station are unknown. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ID includes V-O-F pronounced in English. But via ARMENIA as below Now sked for North Korea; – Furusato no Kaze 1430-1500 11775 (Japanese) via DRW 1600-1630 9780 (Japanese) via TWN – Nippon no Kaze 1500-1530 11690 (Korean) via DRW 1700-1730 9820 (Korean) via TWN – JSR Shiokaze 1400-1430 6005 or 6020 (Japanese/Korean/English/Chinese) via YAM 2030-2100 5965 or 6045 (Japanese/Korean/English/Chinese) via YAM – Free North Korea Radio 1000-1100 9490 via TWN 1400-1600 11560 via DB 1900-2100 7530 via DB – Open Radio for North Korea 2100-2200 9950 via ERV – Radio Free Chosun 1200-1300 15755 via ERV 1200-1300 11540 via IRK – CMI: Voice of Wilderness 1300-1400 15710 via ERV 1300-1400 11640 via IRK – North Korea Reform Radio 1300-1330 9940 via TWN – VOF-Voice of Free Radio 1100-1130 15755 via ERV de Hiroshi (member of NDXC) (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, April 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Despite a certain antipathy between the US and Iranian governments, the Sitkunai site has been relaying not only IRIB, but also IBB. However the latter ended April 15-16, perhaps having been temporary backup for German sites which then took over the transmissions; with info from Aoki listings: 9490 at 0100-0200, 79 degrees, then moved to Biblis at 88 degrees, R. Free Asia in Uighur, jammed; 9635 at 0300-0400, 79 degrees, then to Lampertheim at 55 degrees; 9635 at 0500-0600, 79 degrees, then moved to Biblis at 63 degrees, both R. Liberty in Tatar-Bashkir (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Most probably IRIB Tehran via Sitkunai will replace 7260 kHz by 6000 kHz from May. French 1830, English 1930-2027 UT (Gordon Brown, UK, NWDXC Apr 25 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. MADAGASCAR HAS 253 RADIO STATIONS Wednesday February 20, 2008 by Felana Radio listening is an entertainment medium which remains the first source of information in Madagascar. More than 75% of Malagasy homes have radios and find it essential, especially during cyclone season. In addition to households, drivers of private cars, taxis, and bush taxis choose radio to satisfy themselves and their customers; not to mention countless public restaurants, offices and other places. Madagascar is the leader in number of radio stations per capita, both in the Indian Ocean and on the African continent. Most stations are concentrated in the capital. There are some 70 radio stations in Tana, then comes Tulear with 47, Diego and Fianarantsoa, with respectively 40 and 38; and finally Tamatave 34 and Majunga 24. Programs include serials [soap operas], dedications, discussions and other entertainments, as well as news and commentary. An investigation of ratings carried out last July by the students in Media Communication of the University of Antananarivo concluded that RNM (Radio National Malagasy) is the most listened-to for news and information, while the remaining stations are preferred for entertainment. The survey also counted 11 illegal private radio stations. Translated from the French article at: http://www.madagascar-tribune.com/253-stations-de-radio-a-Madagascar,4899.html (via May NASWA Listeners Notebook, via DXLD) Several independent or pirate stations used to transmit on shortwave too, although I haven't seen one reported in a good ten years (Al Quaglieri, ed., ibid.) ** MEXICO. I was awake around 0830 UT last night, so I tuned around last night and found Radio Mil, 6010, México, DF, with a fantastic signal. Lots of beautiful Spanish vocals and several "Música de México" mentions (slogan or program name?); I listened on and off until around 0930. Not DX, but it was the strongest signal on 49 meters at that time and the songs were a real treat to listen to (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, April 26, ABDX via DXLD) Full slogan is ``Vive la música de México`` as I have explained before, and not ``Viva`` (gh, DXLD) XERTA 4800: see GUATEMALA ** NETHERLANDS. EDDY STARTZ LISTENERS CHRISTMAS SALUTE JANUARY 1961 ONLINE The Radio Netherlands Historical Audio Archive has added another Eddy Startz Happy Station programme. One thing that made Happy Station extra popular was the way Eddy Startz involved his listeners. The programme is from January 5 1961 and is the worldwide listeners Christmas salute. Listeners from all over the world sent in audio contributions which is followed by music appropriate to their location. Between the reports and the music is sometimes a gap of one or two seconds probably meant for better broadcast on short wave. The listeners featured are Steven Love, Alaska; Peter Schoon, New Zealand; Gerald Mourianne(?) from the Lebanon, Tom Dailey, Ireland: Fons and Wil Visser or Fisher, Rhodesia: Dorothy VanderSteur, Pakistan: Arthur Fritzy, Utah; John T.Pool, Australia; Arne Holgerson, Norway; Toyo Maheda, Japan; Gerard Casey, France; Peter Fenema, Dutch New Guinea, Alan Werel, Devon; Chris Uitzinger, South Africa; Habib Hasi, Syria; Elmer Birkemeijer from Austria in Nyasaland; Arthur Penny, Canada; Harald Anfison, Jan Mayen Island. The 74 minute recording concludes with 4 minutes from an older programme of Surinam greetings. The show can be downloaded and/or listened to at http://tinyurl.com/62uq8o (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Routine daytime bandscan April 26 at 1940 UT found KOKB 1580 Blackwell absent, tho twin, or rather triplet station KOKP 1020 Perry was going as usual. KOKB still missing at 2200 and 0111 April 27 rechex (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4789.6, Radio Nueva Atlantida noted with weak signal 1020 to 1030. 27 April [Wilkner-FL] 4790.10, Radio Visión, 0430 noted with no sign of Atlántida, dominant on the frequency at 1000 to 1020. 27 April 6019.5, R. Victoria, Lima 0430 with talk on Lima, news 0400 to 0500 27 April. 73s, (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, U S, 746 Pro, 535D, NASWA yg via DXLD) 6019.42, Radio Victoria, 0830-0840 April 26. With the usual religious programming of the male (weeping preacher) in religious Spanish comments. This is over mood music. Signal is fair because it's solo on the frequency at this time (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And thus a 580v Hz het against China q.v. relays on 6020 earlier (gh) ** ROMANIA [and non]. COLD WAVES, A DOCUMENTARY BY ALEXANDRU SOLOMON This film had its UK première screening April 6 at the London International Documentary Film Festival at the Barbican followed by a question and answer session with the director, a Radio Free Europe journalist and film critic Adina Bradean sponsored by the Romanian Cultural Institute, a screening I would have liked to attend but did not know about in advance. Solomon is Romania's leading documentary film maker, the press release says that: "Cold Waves (Razboi pe calea undelor) is the unique story of a part of Europe where nothing could travel freely. except subversive radio waves. That was Radio Free Europe and it changed the minds and lives of several generations. I grew up with it - says director Alexandru Solomon. Every evening, in an underground atmosphere, my father listened to Radio Free Europe as anyone else did. While Ceausescu's propaganda had less and less to do with reality, Free Europe's Romanian section provided - apart from news - some hope. In thousands of houses and blocks across the country, millions performed this daily ritual. And, the next day, the words of Free Europe were on everybody's lips. While the Romanian population was led by fear, the Romanian leaders were themselves afraid of Radio Free Europe. Dictator Ceausescu employed Carlos the Jackal, an international terrorist. They placed bombs at RFE's Munich headquarters, editors were attacked in Germany and France, three of the directors died after being X-rayed. Cold Waves uncovers this unknown episode of the final stages of the Cold War. It also brings together characters that have never met before: the listeners, RFE's personnel, the regime and its killers. Cold Waves adds pictures where one only heard voices." A film worth looking out for at film festivals. There is a one minute trailer of the film available on Youtube put "Cold Waves", remembering to use quote marks, in the search engine, which ends with a scene where the secret police come into a listeners home and smash the radio with their rifle butts. Iulia from Romania has given the film a very positive review in her online blog and has posted a photograph of the radio her father used to listen to Radio Free Europe in her entry of January 20, blog is at http://iulia-rosca.blogspot.com The film has a website at http://www.coldwaves.ro (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re Consolidated A-08 sked, DXLD 8-050: Never saw Ussurijsk site listed before (Al Quaglieri, May NASWA Listeners Notebook via DXLD) In WRTH 2008, page 445, the RTRN list of transmitter sites shows this as VLD = Vladivostok, with Ussuriysk and/or Razdolnoye more specific site(s) near Vladivostok. WRTH page 445 says, exactly: ``[VLD] Vladivostok, Ussuriysk-Razdolnoye: 2 x 100, 2 x 120, 2 x 200, 3 x 250, 2 x 1000 kW.`` Ussuriysk is perhaps better known as the megawatt MW site on 648, and 600 kW on 1251, but WRTH gives it another name, Razdolnoye. It has also carried some IBB programs, at least for nearby Korea North. The sked in 8-050 does make a distinxion between Vlad and Uss on SW, e.g. for English: 1400-1500 7330 7330 Ussurijsk 500 Asia 1400-1500 6045 6045 Vladivostok 250 Asia Note: the spelling Ussurijsk is obviously a Germanism. Those and Frenchisms are totally out of place when transliterating Russian to English, which can and should be done perfectly well directly rather than via third or fourth languages, with ambiguous letters such as j. Or, why not go thru Czech or Spanish or Bengali?? So I pulled out the -U frequencies, from the version in LN, showing only two SW transmitters in use: 7165: 10-11 VOR Korean, 11-12 VOR Chinese // 7330, 12-14 Rus-WS 7330: 11-12 VOR Chinese // 7165, 12-13 VOR Vietnamese, 13-14 VOR Chinese, 14-15 VOR English Ussuriysk nor Ussurijsk, nor anything starting Ussur- is in the Aoki listings, but instead: 7165 is attributed to Vladivostok-Tavrich, 13154E, 4320N 7330 is attributed to Vladivostok-Rasdolnoy, 13157E, 4332N So there we have two different sites which in the LN schedule are merged into ``Ussuriysk``. EiBi A-08 doesn`t mention Ussuriysk, just: v-Vladivostok (Razdolnoye) 43N32-131E57. HFCC also uses just VLD. Perhaps the SW site people can unravel, or probably already have unraveled, whether we are really talking about a two different sites known by three different names? Vladivostok is obviously the main, major city, but is Razdolnoye a subset of Ussuriysk, or vice versa, and where does Tavrich fit in? This from Wolfgang Büschel was in DXLD 8-022: ``Ussuriysk Razdolnoye Google Earth imagery at low resolution: 43 32 15.07 N, 131 55 39.44 E`` And this was in DXLD 8-018: ``** RUSSIA. Tipped by Sei-ichi Hasegawa, VOA Korean is heard with extremely weak signal at 1320 on 1899.000 kHz. Probably a sum spur of 648 and 1251 kHz from Ussuriysk- Razdolnoye (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Feb 9, harmonics yg via DXLD)`` (Glenn Hauser, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting. If you look at the satellite map, Ussuriysk and Razdolnoye are separate places. Thanks for the clarification (Al Quaglieri, ibid.) RUS Ussuriysk Razdolnoe exLW, MW & SW site ex243 1200kW; 648 1000kW 810 150kW [30 kilometers south of Ussuriysk, 23 kilometers north of Tavrichanka, 49 kilometers north of Vladivostok downtown/harbour] 43 32'44.00"N 131 55'11.00"E and 43 32'15.07"N 131 55'39.44"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=43.545556&lon=131.919722&z=13.7&r=0&src=msl RUS Vladivostok Tavrichanka LW and MW site [25 kilometers north of Vladivostok downtown/harbour 43 07'31.61"N 131 53'10.99"E] 549 500kW 738 50kW 783 30kW 1377 75kW 43 20'35.52"N 131 53'56.95"E and 43 20'08.00"N 131 53'55.00"E RUS Artem Prim 954 5kW 43 21'02.90"N 132 10'01.54"E RUS Dalnegorsk 936 5kW 44 31'48.66"N 135 33'58.81"E RUS Ussuriysk GRI 7950 Loran-C Chayka 6 kms distance to Boguslavka village, Primorskiy Kray (Russia) [87 kilometers north of Ussuriysk] 44 31'59.71"N 131 38'23.41"E http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5156791 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT KITTS & NEVIS. 555 kHz, ZIZ, Basseterre; 0105-0110 25 April, 2008. Very low modulation with traces of Caribe-accented man (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How much longer before they are forced to unsplit their frequency, if not give up on MW? See also RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM for old splits (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. 6000, Capital 95.8 FM relay via RSI, 1439-1510, April 26, in Chinese with traditional Chinese opera (sounds almost like the Firedrake/music jamming, but with singing), news, EZL music, clearly parallel with audio streaming http://www.vtuner.com/vtunerweb/static/staticSingaporeoverall1.html which was many seconds slower. Seems as if all the MediaCorp Radio websites, e.g. http://www.capital958.sg/ have the following message regarding audio: "Thank you for your interest. We regret to inform that users using US registered IP addresses will not be able to access our internet simulcasts due to unresolved copyright issues." Many thanks to Dan Sheedy for his assistance. He has been actively monitoring these Singapore FM programs (e.g. 7275 - Oli 96.8 FM, in DXLD 8-049 http://www.oli.sg/ These receptions conform to the information at Alan Davies` website http://www.asiawaves.net/singapore-radio.htm but will need much more data before a full schedule can be formulated (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. I have just received a frequency guide from Radio Slovakia International with their staff on the front; has anyone any idea who Pete and Katrina are? (Grant Skinner, UK, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA [and non]. Meyerton, RSA: VT Communications brokers all the (surplus) time on this station now and is an important site whilst the re-engineering at Ascension is being carried out. I have just managed to find it on Google maps. Quite impressive! I was concerned to read somewhere that they have to rely on valve re-builds from Econco. We have used them in the past for UK replacements but have had varying degrees of success. It seems it's best to get new ones from the OE manufacturer! "I well recall listening to Meyerton in Nottinghamshire in the late 60's on 25790 with the opening bird song and reception at near sunspot maximum was superb. I liked the opening sounds, very distinctive!" (David Porter, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SURINAME. 4989.99, Radio Apintie, Tentative, 0820-0830 April 26. Only audible periodically since there's CODAR and other noise blocking the frequency, heard just music here under all of the junk. Just reporting for continuity (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Damascus, 9330, presumably the source of the big het to off- frequency WBCQ 9329+, April 26 at 1826. Scheduled in German to Europe at 340 degrees, so onward toward us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. If R. Thailand is still on 12120 to ENAm, totally buried by RTTY which is all I could hear around 0115 April 27 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE [non]. GERMANY: 9750, R. Emmanuil via Juelich: Apr 15 *1700-1729 35433-34433 Ukrainian, 1700 sign on with ID, Opening music, News and music, ID at 1700 and 1703. Apr 16 *1700-1730 23332-24332 Ukrainian, 1700 sign on with opening music, News and music, ID at 1701 and 1728. Apr 17 *1700-1715 25332-3533 Ukrainian, 1700 sign on with ID, Opening music, News and music, ID at 1700 and 1703 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium April 26 via DXLD) ** U K. RIP Humphrey Lyttelton --- My column in the May edition of "Listening In" reports "Humph" was ill. After I submitted the column, this appeared on the BBC website (today). Lyttelton presented a number of fascinating music programs on the various BBC services (including a fascinating one about the influence of American Forces Radio on the BBC and UK Media during the war). He was also the witty host of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Perhaps the funniest show on radio, IMHO. I'm sure the BBC (Radio 4 most likely) will have a tribute program, similar to the one for Alan Cohen of the News Quiz fame, aired in the last year. Sad news indeed (Fred Waterer, April 25, ODXA yg via DXLD) OBITUARY: HUMPHREY LYTTELTON: RACONTEUR, WIT AND FATHER OF BRITISH JAZZ Humphrey Lyttelton was perhaps the UK's most influential jazz performer. Beyond this, he was a noted raconteur and wit and chairman of BBC Radio 4's long-running I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. He was the unlikeliest of jazzmen. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was schooled at Eton and commissioned in the Grenadier Guards. Yet Humphrey Lyttelton - Humph to his many friends and fans - was also a life-long socialist and a performer and composer whose commitment to his music shone through for more than half a century. And to the younger generation, he was the avuncular and razor-witted chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, who more than held his own with comedians including Tim Brooke-Taylor, the late Willie Rushton and Barry Cryer. Humphrey Lyttelton was born in 1921 and his father was a housemaster at Eton. Both of his parents were amateur musicians and he began playing the trumpet in 1936, forming a school quartet later that year. Lyttelton was a virtuoso, self-taught, trumpeter. On one occasion, when he should have been watching the school's annual cricket match against Harrow at Lord's, he was in London's Charing Cross Road, buying a trumpet. His long-running love of making music had begun, although on leaving school he worked for a time in a steelworks in South Wales. He was commissioned in the Grenadier Guards during World War II and saw action, most notably on the beach at Salerno. But it was said that he arrived at the beach-head with a revolver in one hand and a trumpet in the other. 'Swings his ass off' By 1948, he had formed a band with the clarinettist Wally Fawkes. That year he went to France's Nice Jazz Festival, where he met his idol, fellow musician Louis Armstrong. Armstrong always spoke warmly of the man he called "that cat in England who swings his ass off." Tim Brooke Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton, Graeme Garden Humphrey Lyttelton (bottom left) chaired I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue [caption] In the early '50s, he opened the Humphrey Lyttelton Club in a basement in Oxford Street in London, and during the next 35 years or so he became the elder statesman of British jazz. He composed more than 120 original works for his band, although some of his best-known numbers were When The Saints Go Marching In, Memphis Blues, High Society and the self-penned Bad Penny Blues. His band has also backed several singers, ranging from New Orleans songstress Lillian Boutte to Helen Shapiro, and more recently, Stacey Kent. In 2000 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Post Office British Jazz Awards. 'A very heavy day' The following year he joined rock band Radiohead for a seven-hour session during the recording of their new album, Amnesiac. The legendary trumpeter went into the studio with the band after they wrote to him asking for help as they were "a bit stuck". He said the session, for experimental track Living In A Glass House, left him exhausted. "When we finally got a take that sounded good to me, they said: 'Good, we'll go and have some food, then we'll come back and do some more,'" he told Q magazine. "I said: 'Not me.' It was a very heavy day." But playing was just part of Humph's life. Lyttelton helped Radiohead with their album in 2001 He also presented and performed in many jazz radio programmes - Jazz Scene, Jazz Club and The Best of Jazz, which started in 1968 and only ended last month. He was also chairman of BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue, which billed itself as the antidote to panel games. The show, which began in 1972, gained a huge and loyal following of listeners, delighted by games like One Song to the Tune of Another, Swanee Kazoo and the sublime, if unfathomable, Mornington Crescent. Its spring series was cancelled in 2008 when its presenter had to undergo an operation to repair an aortic aneurysm in his heart. Humphrey Lyttelton - who turned down a knighthood - had yet more talents, too. He worked for the Daily Mail as a cartoonist, wrote for left-wing papers and for magazines and was the author of several books about music. He excelled at each of his contributions to British life. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3477089.stm Yes, the midnight news on Radio 4 led with the story, and the Radio 4 Home Page has been replaced with a black background and a picture of Humph, a clear sign of the affection in which he was held by so many people. At the end of the news story it says: You can hear a classic edition of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 27 April at 1200 BST. [1100 UT]. There will also be a special programme in tribute to Humphrey Lyttleton on Wednesday 30 April at 0900 BST [0800 UT]. (Andy Sennitt, ex-UK, ibid.) & ondemand ** U K. Book Review: AND THE WORLD LISTENED, THE BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN LEONARD F. PLUGGE, A PIONEER OF COMMERCIAL RADIO by Keith Wallis While working as a consulting engineer in an office in Weymouth Mews, which lay behind and formed part of a large IBC-owned building in 35 Portland Place, Keith Wallis discovered a manuscript and lantern slides relating to a journey through Europe in the 1920s by Captain Leonard F. Plugge in a car equipped with radio. He rescued the material, kept it safe but forgot about it until many years later when he heard a programme about Plugge and Radio Normandy, which inspired him to start researching this biography. Through countless hours of ploughing through news cuttings and sifting through data from the BBC Written Archives Centre at Caversham and the Public Record Office, as well as numerous interviews with family, friends and former colleagues of Lenny Plugge, a story of humour and tragedy has emerged in this well written and comprehensive biography with much original material. Plugge was one of the earliest Dxer's; having been shown a Scott- Taggart two valve wireless set by a colleague of his in 1922 he asked him to make one for him. "Evening after evening found Plugge hunched over his little radio" the book recalls. He was appointed to the General Committee of the RSGB in 1923 and in 1924 he began submitting lists of overseas programmes listeners in the UK could receive to Wireless Weekly as well as writing many articles on radio listening which were published worldwide. He then made a rail trip through Europe, installing his wireless in the hotels he stayed in and inviting guests to listen. Subsequently he made 3 extensive trips to Europe with radio equipped cars, all named Aether and with frame aerials, loudspeakers in the cars and some also with transmitters. He was accompanied by several female travellers. He demonstrated radio to large crowds throughout his travels and made contacts with many European stations. By 1928 he was working towards setting up an alternative British broadcaster to the BBC. The book details how the Daily Mail had a similar idea and used the steam yacht Ceto to broadcast to holidaymakers, first unsuccessfully using transmitters and then massive amplifiers and four very powerful loudspeakers. The radio transmissions were broadcast three miles off the coast, making the Ceto Britain's first offshore broadcaster. Transmitting through loudspeakers meant the ship could anchor just a mile or two off the coast. One of the announcers was Stephen Williams, later of Radio Normandy. Plugge formed the International Broadcasting Company in 1930 and began broadcasting through a number of European stations. An appendix lists all the stations used by the IBC year by year, their broadcast hours and dates of transmissions as well as the names of the announcers. The Fecamp transmitter of Radio Normandy was found by Plugge when he stopped at a café in the fishing village en route to Deauville and the proprietor mentioned the local radio station. The book also describes Plugge's private life including his ten year career as an MP for Chatham right up until his death at the age of 91 in Los Angeles. This is a fascinating and well written book, 220 pages with no less than 165 illustrations/photos including many fascinating ones of the various Aether radio cars on tour. Hardback copies are £22.50, ISBN 978 1 903053 24 9, paperback copies £12.95, ISBN 978 1 903053 23 2. You can order direct from the publishers post free. Website is http://www.kellybooks.net or order from Kelly Books Ltd., 6 Redlands, Tiverton, Devon EX16 4DH. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to Kelly Books Ltd. Phone is 01884 256170 for enquiries/credit card orders. Kelly Books specialises in the literature of broadcasting and mass communications, catalogues are available on request. They also specialise in Radio Times back numbers and have back issues of many other mass media magazines (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. BE ALSO CAREFUL ABOUT THE ASSERTIONS OF WORLD SERVICE DIRECTORS "Arab countries should be careful about the impact of government-owned Western satellite channels preaching their perspectives of world events and they being beamed into the Arab drawing rooms, cautioned Nigel Chapman, Director of BBC World Service. ... 'These channels have a slightly different purpose. They project their national point of view. The views aired by France 24 Arabic propagate the French point of view. Likewise, Al-Hurra funded by the US government is the voice for the American point of view of the stories of the world,' said Chapman. ... He added that what differentiates BBC from its competitors in the region is that BBC gives international and multi-layered perspectives on Middle East issues while others promote their national perspectives about the same." Mr. Chapman has said this sort of thing before. I assume he provided content analyses to back up his remarkable assertions, and I look forward to reviewing such data. If not, he might consider being more careful about what he says in the future. . . http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3867 (Kim A. Elliott, with numerous linx, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. A VOICE ACROSS THE PACIFIC: KWID & KWIX FDR Sought to Throw America’s Voice Westward by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, 4.23.2008 It was August 1941, just a few months before the tragic events now known worldwide as Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt called a meeting of prominent radio personnel at the White House to establish an international broadcasting network, which has since become the Voice of America. One of the well-known radio personnel present was Wesley Dumm, who had been successful in medium-wave broadcasting in California for the last decade or so. During the White House meetings, the president asked Dumm to build two shortwave stations in the San Francisco area for coverage into the Far East. FDR stated that both NBC and CBS had been invited to install shortwave stations in California, but both had declined due to huge financial losses at their shortwave stations already on the air with programming beamed to Latin America. Congress would not appropriate funding for this new international radio project, the president stated, so he would make payment out of discretionary funds available at the White House. (click thumbnail) Pre-war postcard shows the hotel that housed studios for KWID and KWIX for a time during World War I American voice Things began to move quite rapidly. . . http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0106/t.13094.html (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) It seems the name "Voice of America" was not used for U.S. broadcasts to East Asia, at least not until after the war. See my Communications World script, 11 December 1999, and try to find a copy of William Winter, Voice from America: a Broadcaster's Diary, 1941-1944, Anvil Publishing (Manila) 1994. Posted: 26 Apr 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. I did lose VOA Special English until thanks to our magazine I can now get 15580 kHz at 1400-1500. On April 8 I received the VOA 2008 program guide which at the bottom in small print said that this issue reflects VOA schedules and frequencies during standard time (October to March). Please see our daylight saving time supplement for changes in March-October, the English segment is on page 31. I keep looking but can't find it. Has anyone the daylight saving time changes for VOA English 2008? (Grant Skinner, UK, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. WYFR, 21670, 44 degrees to Europe, only signal audible on 13m, April 26 at 1821 in Spanish, but with het from another carrier about 0.5 kHz below. Not sure where it came from (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060, R. Nacional de Venezuela via Cuba, *1100- 1120, April 26, mostly in English: Vice President of Cuba signed a food agreement with Chávez, gives history of the April 11, 2002 failed coup d'état, many RNV IDs in Spanish, mostly fair, not much China QRM (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5100: Many Japanese DXers watch it, but cannot copy ID of R. Bana. Is this station R. Bana? http://bcl2isid2jp.cocolog-nifty.com/bcl2isid2jp/files/080425_0259_5100l.mp3 by S. Yamamori on Apr. 24 at 1759 UT on 5100 kHz (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ DXLD IN NORWEGIAN If you would prefer to read items from DXLD in Norwegian, a lot of them show up here, translated by someone named Arild: http://stasjonsnytt.wordpress.com/ Om Stasjonsnytt --- Stasjonsnytt er en blogg med nyheter om utenlandske radiostasjoner og DX-ing på kort- og mellombølge. Bloggen er en oppdatert utgave av spalta med samme navn i radiobladet “DX- News” - http://www.dxlc.com/dxn/ Stasjonsnytt is a blog bringing news about foreign radio stations and DX-ing on short- and mediumwave. This blog is an updated version of the column I am writing for the Norwegian radio magazine “DX-News” - http://www.dxlc.com/dxn/ (via DXLD) Both this and DXing the Finnish Way http://finndxer.wordpress.com/ in English have the annoying habit of anonymizing the specific credits in DXLD to ``various`` or ``diverse``. Please give credit where credit is due if you are going to quote from DXLD! (Glenn Hauser) MUSEA +++++ RADIO MUSEUM EXPERIENCE at Cork City Gaol In answer to Edwin Southwell's question the RTE Museum here in my native Cork is still in existence. I first visited it about 5 years ago. Below is a feature on the museum (Jonathan Murphy, Radio Topics, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) In 1927 Radio Éireann set up a broadcasting station, 6CK, in the former gaol. Cork Broadcasting Station was officially opened on April 25, 1927 by the the Minister for Posts & Telegraphs, J.J. Walsh TD. Walsh was originally from Bandon Co. Cork. Today the 'Radio Museum Experience' includes remarkable equipment from the R.T.E. Museum Collection. It is located in the original studio and gives us an excellent insight into the early days of Irish and international radio broadcasting. When I visited a few years ago the exhibition included shortwave receivers for visitors to try DXing. The museum also includes a look at how radio has impacted upon our lives. The Radio Broadcasting Studio was situated in the unlikely setting of the former Cork City Gaol Governor's House! The Gaol had closed as a prison in 1923 and was, more or less, forgotten about until the Civil Servants charged with responsibility for finding a suitable building, on a height, within a secure area which could cater for the building of a mast, remembered the former gaol. On opening night, a three hour concert of Irish music featuring various local artists, and a relay of the Bells of Shandon, was broadcast. During the next 3 years 6CK became responsible for weekly Sunday Night concerts broadcast nationally by 2RN The Station Director, Sean Neeson (who ironically, had formerly "served time" in the Gaol) and his wife, Geraldine (an accomplished pianist) were also responsible for broadcasting some of the earliest plays on radio - beginning in January 1928. Owing to lack of Government financial support, 6CK was closed down as a regular programme making unit in Sept. 1930, but it continued to provide programme contributions and individual series over the next 25 years. In the 1950s the Cork Station moved from the former Cork City Gaol to new studios on Union Quay. The museum is located at Cork City Gaol, Convent Avenue, Sunday's Well, Cork City, telephone 00353-21-4305022, email cork gaol @ indigo.ie It is open daily 0930-1800 March to October, 1000-1700 November to February. [was that cork_gaol ?] And now some information regarding the Gaol (prison) itself: The Gaol was constructed in 1824. In the beginning it served as a prison for both males and females of all aged. Later it became the city's women's prison. During the nineteenth century conditions within the prison were wretched. Prisoners slept on straw, were fed with a meager nation of bread and gruel and whipped for breaking prison rules. Most prisoners ended up in the City Gaol for ended up in the City Gaol for offenses, which we would now not consider serious. In most cases their major crime was rampant in the city during the nineteenth century. The cell became home to young boys caught stealing and mothers nursing babies as well as the committed criminals. There are also stories of the city's poor committing crimes in order to be put in the prison, where at least they would be fed. In 1922 the gaol was used to house republican prisoners during the Civil War. These were the last people imprisoned here. Cork Gaol closed soon after (via Jonathan Murphy, ibid.) So in Irish English, jail is spelt gaol, but offences is spelt offenses? (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV TRANSITION [discussion continued from 8-051] A check of the local VHF stations which are returning to their analog channel assignments shows the following: All of theses appear to be using the same transmitting antenna. WPVI Philadelphia CH 6 analog 74.5 KW, digital 7.56 KW (and this is the INCREASED power that they asked the FCC for, originally it was around 6.2 KW); WGAL Lancaster CH 8 analog 110 KW, digital 5.4 KW; WHYY Wilmington, DE analog 309 KW, digital 9.9 KW. There is a difference in signal levels used to determine coverage areas between analog and digital. On low band VHF the analog level is 47 dB and the digital is 28 dB. On high band VHF the analog is 56dB and the digital is 36 dB. The coverage area on WPVI is about 15 miles less than the analog coverage area. I am wondering if these transmitter powers are going to provide the same coverage area under real world reception conditions. Perhaps Doug Smith could provide some information about that since the station he works at has a VHF high digital and a VHF low analog channel. Two UHF stations in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market operating at about 3 megawatts have digitals on CH 11 WBRE-DT at 30 KW and CH 13 WYOU-DT is also 30 KW. The antenna for both of them are on the WYOU tower and are lower than the WYOU CH 22 analog transmitter. One thing interesting to note is that both WNET-DT and WPIX-DT are moving back to CH 13 and 11 for digital. There is quite a bit of overlap of the primary coverage areas of the NYC and W-B/Scranton digitals on these channels in northwestern NJ, which I found very odd (Bob Seaman, April 26, WTFDA via DXLD) To tell you the truth, Bob, I too fail to see the logic with WPIX- DT/11 and WNET-DT/13 going back to their original namesake channels, and WBRE-DT and WYOU-DT going to those same channels with abutting (or overlapping) primary coverage areas. In addition, Channel 11 will be a VERY busy place in the northeast with Springfield, MA's WWLP-DT, also on Channel 11 and WENH-DT in Durham, NH moving back to Channel 11 as well. I guarantee you that channel changes will abound nationwide, once we know what the "real world coverage" will be like, when the nation "goes digital" on 2/17/2009 . Also, out of curiosity, once the digital transition is complete, will all of the DT's revert to their "-TV" suffix on their call-letters? Just a question. 73, (Pete (K1XRB) Q. George, ibid.) It sounds like the early days of television when the FCC didn't realize how far TV signals traveled and they had to switch some VHF channels and add UHF for television use. We don't have the crowding that you have in the east, but there are already some problems out here when there are times I have trouble decoding KCWE-DT 31 when Wichita is in as there is a DTV 31 there. Of course, digital snow wipes out some of the area analogs on occasion. Unfortunately I don't think the FCC is too concerned anymore about over-the-air reception. But out here you can live quite a distance from the nearest transmitter. It isn't as bad now as it was, of course with translators. I remember when my grandfather in Dodge City got his first TV set and it was about 200 miles his "local" station which was WKY-4 in Oklahoma City. He was an early TV DXer as they watched whatever was available on a certain day. Sometimes that was San Francisco, Washington DC or even Mexico City. I sure wish he had kept a list of stations received in the early 50s (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, ibid.) Hi Dave: It's funny that you mention about TV-DX'ing and how sometimes, back in the early days of TV (late 1940's and early 50's), DX'ing was THE only way for some of the rural viewers to get some chance to watch TV, period. I've actually read several vintage articles (from the early 50's) about how the practice of TV-DX'ing was more widespread than you'd think. Most people in the day wouldn't even think twice or actually realize the fact that they were actually DX'ing. As long as they were able "to get a picture", that was all they needed to know. With a very high solar index in the early 1950's, e-skip was more plentiful with fewer stations on the air at the time. So instead of e-skip bringing in some VHF-lo channels (sometimes three to four stations at once, today), the skip would bring in one strong station somewhere between 500-1500 miles away. The skip would stick around for a while, allowing for actual TV viewing from afar. For the rural folks, they depended on e-skip to bring in "something" to watch, even if it was sporadic. Wish I had been around during that time. Maybe, once the digital transition is complete, the few VHF-lo's left in the US and those from Cuba, Mexico and Canada will be visible with a little more commonality. A year from now, anything could happen both with analog and digital. 73, (Pete (K1XRB) Q. George, ibid.) This was the case when we first got a TV in 1953-1954 in Santa Rosa NM, some 200 km from Sandia Crest, intending to see Albuquerque, KOB- 4, maybe KOAT-7 or KGGM-13 if we were lucky. When Es was in, we got much stronger signals from Green Bay, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco, etc. That`s what really got me started DXing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WOAI-1200 HD delay I was watching the San Antonio Spurs/Phoenix Suns NBA playoff game on ESPN HD last night, and decided to listen to the play-by-play via the Spurs network instead of ESPN. I tuned to WOAI-1200 and discovered their play-by-play was 21 seconds behind the ESPN coverage! This was constant throughout the game --- I verified it multiple times by comparing the announcement of the game time on Spurs radio with the game clock display on ESPN. WOAI was running IBOC during the game last night. I knew HD lagged behind analog during live broadcasts, but 21 seconds!?!? Zowie!! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ April 26, ABDX via DXLD) I`ve never quite understood the insistence on stupid ballgames being broadcast absolutely live. Since they disrupt scheduling of other programs, with variable starting times and lengths, they should all be delayed to specific later hours, say a week or two to give time for other programming to be scheduled without pre-emptions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have to tell you from first hand knowledge, (I'm sitting in the ESPN/ABC Truck in Phoenix right now) that depending on how you receive ESPN you were already watching a picture with at least 3 seconds delay. By the time the signal goes from the encoders at the truck to ESPN by Satellite, then through the equipment in Bristol and back up to the Satellite the Cable Systems and DSS Satellites get it from you were already looking at about a 6 second delay. On tomorrow's ABC game originating the same way you will have a longer video delay since ABC has a 5 second delay built in to censor bad language. As far as WOAI is concerned, I bet they left their Delay unit online for censoring talk shows. The HD didn't help it much either although that delay is usually only about 1 or 2 seconds (RCvideo in Phoenix this weekend! ABDX via DXLD) On KOSU, analog delay is about 7 seconds presumably to match their HD delay (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ COURT FINDS FCC VIOLATED ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT IN BPL ARRL Bulletin 8 ARLB008 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT April 25, 2008 The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today released its decision on the ARRL's Petition for Review of the FCC's Orders adopting rules governing broadband over power line (BPL) systems. The Court agreed with the ARRL on two major points and remanded the rules to the Commission. Writing for the three-judge panel of Circuit Judges Rogers, Tatel and Kavanaugh, Judge Rogers summarized: "The Commission failed to satisfy the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA') by redacting studies on which it relied in promulgating the rule and failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its choice of the extrapolation factor for measuring Access BPL emissions." The Court agreed with the ARRL that the FCC had failed to comply with the APA by not fully disclosing for public comment the staff studies on which it relied. The Court also agreed with the ARRL that the Commission erred in not providing a reasoned justification for its choice of an extrapolation factor of 40 dB per decade for Access BPL systems and in offering "no reasoned explanation for its dismissal of empirical data that was submitted at its invitation." The Court was not persuaded by the ARRL's arguments on two other points, on which it found that the Commission had acted within its discretion. The conclusion that the FCC violated the APA hinges on case law. "It would appear to be a fairly obvious proposition that studies upon which an agency relies in promulgating a rule must be made available during the rulemaking in order to afford interested persons meaningful notice and an opportunity for comment," the Court said, adding that "there is no APA precedent allowing an agency to cherry-pick a study on which it has chosen to rely in part." The Court continued, "The League has met its burden to demonstrate prejudice by showing that it 'has something useful to say' regarding the unredacted studies citation omitted that may allow it to 'mount a credible challenge' if given the opportunity to comment." Information withheld by the Commission included material under the headings "New Information Arguing for Caution on HF BPL" and "BPL Spectrum Tradeoffs." The Court concluded that "no precedent sanctions such a 'hide and seek' application of the APA's notice and comment requirements." With regard to the extrapolation factor, the Court ordered: "On remand, the Commission shall either provide a reasoned justification for retaining an extrapolation factor of 40 dB per decade for Access BPL systems sufficient to indicate that it has grappled with the 2005 studies, or adopt another factor and provide a reasoned explanation for it." The studies in question were conducted by the Office of Communications, the FCC's counterpart in the United Kingdom, and were submitted by the ARRL, along with the League's own analysis showing that an extrapolation factor closer to 20 dB per decade was more appropriate, as part of the record in its petition for reconsideration of the FCC's BPL Order. The Court said that the FCC "summarily dismissed" this data in a manner that "cannot substitute for a reasoned explanation." The Court also noted that the record in the FCC proceeding included a study by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that "itself casts doubt on the Commission's decision." The briefs for the ARRL were prepared by a team of attorneys at WilmerHale, a firm with extensive appellate experience, with assistance from ARRL General Counsel Christopher D. Imlay, W3KD. Oral argument for the ARRL was conducted by Jonathan J. Frankel of WilmerHale. Oral argument was heard on October 23, 2007; the Court's decision was released more than six months later. After reading the decision, General Counsel Imlay observed, "The decision of the Court of Appeals, though long in coming, was well worth the wait. It is obvious that the FCC was overzealous in its advocacy of BPL, and that resulted in a rather blatant cover-up of the technical facts surrounding its interference potential. Both BPL and Amateur Radio would be better off had the FCC dealt with the interference potential in an honest and forthright manner at the outset. Now there is an opportunity to finally establish some rules that will allow BPL to proceed, if it can in configurations that don't expose licensed radio services to preclusive interference in the HF bands." ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, added: "We are gratified that the Court decided to hold the FCC's feet to the fire on such a technical issue as the 40 dB per decade extrapolation factor. It is also gratifying to read the Court's strong support for the principles underlying the Administrative Procedure Act. Now that the Commission has been ordered to do what it should have done in the first place, we look forward to participating in the proceedings on remand, and to helping to craft rules that will provide licensed radio services with the interference protection they are entitled to under law." ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, concluded: "I am very pleased that the Court saw through the FCC's smoke screen and its withholding of valid engineering data that may contradict their position that the interference potential of BPL to Amateur Radio and public safety communications is minimal. The remand back to the FCC regarding their use of an inappropriate extrapolation factor validates the technical competence of Amateur Radio operators and especially of the ARRL Lab under the direction of Ed Hare, W1RFI. We are grateful for the work of our legal team and especially for the unflagging support of the ARRL membership as we fought the odds in pursuing this appeal." (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ INVISIBLE ENGINEERS The engineers always seem to get left out of the picture. Like anything else, it's only what's IN FRONT of the scenes that the public sees or cares about --- many don't know what goes on BEHIND the scenes to make things happen. When I think of a radio station or television stations, the person I usually want MOST to meet is the engineer! Then again, that's just my geekiness showing through I guess (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) You`d never know stations even have engineers to plough thru some of their websites, hunting in vain for contact info, e.g. the last time I tried OETA and KFOR-TV. But then some stations don`t even have a program schedule. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) I hear that, and I've only been to two web sites. A month ago in Arizona, I had the idea of contacting a few TV engineers to ask about DTV on translators. I was concerned because in Kingman, all of the OTA TV stations are translators for the Phoenix TV stations. At KPHO.com (Phoenix's CBS affiliate) I was able to find contact info for CBS5's engineering department and was able to write to the engineer there. He responded in the same day telling me that the translators in Kingman are owned by Mohave County and they probably would be converted to digital and would be viewable with a DTV or set-top converter --- although I'd need to contact the county for more info. Meanwhile I thought I would check some of the Salt Lake City stations - KUTV-2 our CBS affiliate here was the first I tried. Nowhere on their web site is there anything that mentions info or contacts for engineering questions or their engineering department. I emailed a general address hoping it'd get forwarded to the engineering department but never did get any response. I probably will email John Dehnel at KSL radio, but only because I have his company email address --- not because I was able to find it anywhere. I'm sure he can get me in touch with whomever is responsible for KSL-TV's engineering if he can't answer the question himself. I don't know that I've ever seen a radio web site that has anything like "engineering questions" or "please email us here if you have questions about our signal quality" or anything like that. Ah, the invisible engineers - making it all happen, quietly and discreetly! (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) TECHNIQUES FOR MW DXING LATIN AMERICA Here on the East Coast, many Latin American and Caribbean stations are still heard. The north coast of South America, the Caribbean, Cuba, and Mexico aren't too tough. Brazil is frequent enough right at the coast with 700, 760, 840, 1000, and 1100 showing up fairly often. I will admit that just going from the seashore to my home QTH 15 miles inland takes a lot of the strength away, especially for Brazilians and anything else below the Equator. Compared to the old days, Central America seems to be the true "black hole" here even during aurora. That area should be easier but I don't think there's much big power down there anymore. I think the big differences on getting Latin America / Caribbean stations from US sites that are NOT on the East Coast or Gulf Coast are: (1) Almost no "splits" left - I think that 555 and 895 (St. Kitts-Nevis) are about the only meaningful hold-outs. There used to be dozens of these from Central America to the Caribbean to South America. I still drool recalling superloud Surinam on 725, Belize on 834, Caymans 1205/1555, tons of split Costa Ricans and Ecuadorians, etc. They're gone now, thanks to 10-kHz-stepped digital car and home radios. (2) Vastly more US-based QRM - there's IBOC of course, plus former daytimers on at night with lower power (and some keeping their full daytime power on "high school football authorization" apparently). On the East Coast, luckily, the combination of sea gain towards the foreign stations and the use of antennas nulling almost everything domestic "off the back" makes this increased spectrum occupancy a relatively minor problem. In the middle of the country, or farther west, you're stuck. Add to the above issues all the digital squarewave trash emitted within one's residence (even from supposedly "turned off" appliances) and you get a challenging picture for DX indeed. I wonder if the "Riddex" product advertised on TV to kill bugs via swamping your home AC wiring with "powerful digital pulses" does a better job at getting rid of DX than insects ... could we call it RidDX? Not that there aren't enough things getting rid of it already. (An aside: Wonder what those bug-zapping electromagnetic pulses are doing to the PEOPLE and PETS in these houses? Gives a new meaning to "chestnuts roasting by an open fire".) The old standby antenna from the '60s through the '80s, the altazimuth box loop and its smaller ferrite successors, has largely fell into disuse. Too much RF garbage inside most houses now. For those of us having a hard time DXing at home, our hobby has come up with a few innovative solutions: (1) Interesting new outdoor antenna designs that provide directivity, reasonable noise immunity, and don't take up much space. Names like Ewe, Flag, Pennant, SuperLoop, Kaz Delta, and K9AY should be familiar to many of you by now. (2) A good commercial phasing product: the Quantum Phaser. (3) Software-defined radios like the Perseus and RFSpace SDR-IQ that you can take to a "field" site not too far away from home, attach to a quiet antenna, and spend an hour or two recording chunks of spectrum (190 kHz width or more per chunk) that you can dig through leisurely at home later, even if that home is RFI-hell. (4) Decent ultralight portables for inconspicuous take-anywhere DXing from parks, beaches, or any other place where weak DX signals are not strangled by man-made noise and local 'slopper" stations. I always take solar predictions with a grain of salt. I've had good and bad DX at all parts of the solar cycle. Low A/K numbers do help the Europeans and higher ones the Latin Americans. Any given night offers the potential to hear something interesting (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, April 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yep, remember it well. OK, memory lane time from late 70s early 80s from Cincinnati. I kept pretty good records about stations, calls, freqs, times, etc. But in those days, alas, I didn't write down what I actually heard - that was saved on tapes that are now degraded to just static: [HISTORY] 525 TICAL Costa Rica 535 Grenada 555 ZIZ St. Kitts 575 TIRN R. Nacional de Costa Rica 595 Dominica 655 YSS El Salvador 675 TICN Costa Rica 725 PZX26 Suriname TILX R. Columbia Costa Rica 765 El Salvador 775 TIW Costa Rica 825 R. Paradise St. Kitts 834 R. Belize 885 ZJB Montserrat 925 TICM Juvenil Costa Rica 944 HRYW R. Panamericana, Honduras 995 HCEW2 R. Suceso Ecuador 1005 Colombia 1015 YSC R. Internacional El Salvador 1025 TIAC Costa Rica 1035 4VEH Haiti (log says signal was 59+) 1045 HOJ2 Panama 1075 TIFC Faro del Caribe Costa Rica 1085 HROP Honduras 1125 TISRHB Costa Rica [Sistema Radiofónico H-B --- gh] 1155 YSCF Ondas Orientales El Salvador 1165 R. Lighthouse [St. Kitts --- gh] 1205 R. Cayman 1206 4VDS R. Progres Haiti 1265 R. Paradise, St. Kitts 1325 4VJCD R. Haiti Inter 1505 Anguilla 1555 R. Cayman (Rick Kenneally, ibid.) WALGREENS CHEAP SW RADIO Someone may have already beaten me to the punch on this one. I've been busy with finals in this last week before my "Senior, Senior" year begins in the autumn and haven't been current on ANY radio stuff. Walgreens seems to be ridding themselves of the LIFELONG World Band Radio that regularly sold for $19.95, and was often found on sale for $14.95. Clearance price? Only $10.49! No, this is not a DX machine. But for $10.49, buy the remaining stock (as I did....) and hand them out as gifts. I gave one to my youngest son with the hope he might be bitten by the DX bug. And please, don't buy a TinyTenna for these little rascals. A jumper wire connected to a metal window frame will give this radio some added reception performance. 73, (Bill Lauterbach - WA8MEA, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEW ETÓN E100 ARTICLE POSTED Gary DeBock and I have combined our efforts and produced an illustrated article that covers both disassembly and alignment of the Eton E100. Its replaced my recent disassembly-only article on the first page of the Ultralight files area of http://dxer.ca I should also mention that an E100 just went for $46.00 Friday night on ebay (to one of us, I hope) and there are several others available on the auction site, too. If I remember, they start at a slightly higher price, but still at a real discount from suggested retail price. This wonderful little radio has been discontinued by Eton, so if you think that you would like to have one, NOW IS THE TIME (John Bryant, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, April 26, IRCA via DXLD) SHORTWAVE MUSIC +++++++++++++++ CODAR: INDUSTRIAL I scanned the 4700-5100 kHz range around 0830-0930 UT April 26, and it was striking how the CODAR and military ute signals dominated that range. If I were a young person interested in music production, I'd record those CODAR and ute signals for use in techno/industrial music! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, April 26, ABDX via DXLD) Just as I am listening to Hidden Forums on WNUR webcast, starting 10 minutes late at 0010 UT Sunday April 27 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SPORADIC E SEASON STATS The Spring/Summer E-layer propagation season is beginning, and Art Jackson, KA5DWI, has an interesting analysis that looks quite useful. You can get it from, http://www.swotrc.net/ProbabilityEs.pdf Also check out his page on last Fall's 10 meter sporadic-E season at, http://www.swotrc.net/10MeterPropNet.htm (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 18 ARLP018 From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA April 25, 2008, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) Very good, but when will people ever learn not to put punxuation marks immediately after URLs? Both these had periods making them Not Found when onclicked. Here it is the last week of April, and this morning April 26 I found WWCR audible on 15825, a good Es indicator here. On goes my channel 2 monitor, but no such MUF yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###