DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-057, May 7, 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 1407 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 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 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 [or 15420 by then?] Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. Wanted: Chief of Radio Project Last Date: May 17, 2008 Email: (Reference: DevNetJobs.org) OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS INTEGRATED REGIONAL INFORMATION NETWORKS http://www.irinnews.org JOB DESCRIPTION POSITION TITLE: Chief of Project, IRIN Afghanistan Radio GRADE: L-3 DUTY STATION: Kabul, Afghanistan DURATION: 12 months SUPERVISOR: IRIN Radio Coordinator, Nairobi, Kenya I. Background --- Part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is an editorially independent humanitarian news and analysis service reporting on more than 70 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East. IRIN aims to provide comprehensive and impartial coverage of humanitarian and related issues in the regions where it operates. Intended for the benefit of a global readership, an emphasis is made on assisting governments and aid organizations to implement their humanitarian and post-disaster recovery work in developing countries. . . http://216.197.119.113/jobman/publish/article_45542.shtml (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai-600106, India, May 7, dxldyg via DXLD) What do they need Arabic for in Afghanistan? I think other Persian languages such as Farsi or Tajik would be more helpful for this job description (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) Well, isn`t speaking Dari close enough? A lot of Al-Qaida folx are Arabs, after all (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. [Re 8-054, -055] DRM HF DOMESTIC SERVICE MAY TEST IN ALASKA http://radiomagonline.com/digital_radio_update/digital-radio-update-050708/#drm Digital Aurora Radio Technologies of Delta Junction, AK, has applied for FCC authorization to operate high power digital signals in the 5, 7 and 9 MHz HF bands with power levels that could approach 100 kW, according to a Web article recently published on 26MHz.us. The article claims that the FCC has already assigned a call sign, WE2XRH, but had yet to issue an authorization at the time of the article's publication. The proposed transmission facility is sited at Delta Junction, located in east central Alaska. The application is intriguing for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Digital Aurora is proposing to propagate signals using a DRM implementation and operating spectrum typically reserved for international broadcasters, but with the stated goal of establishing a reliable domestic digital radio service throughout the entire state of Alaska. Also of interest are reports that Digital Aurora intends to utilize U.S. military surplus OTH backscatter radar transmitters built by Continental Electronics during the waning days of the Cold War. Older amateur radio and shortwave radio enthusiast may remember the unique pulsed signals that filled the HF band while large-scale military networks were still operating, and some HF scatter-based Doppler weather is still in use today. Although specific system parameters are not yet available, it appears that the proposed system might employ specialized, high radiation angle antennas designed to take advantage of HF scatter propagation characteristics that are most pronounced in the earth's polar regions. Continental Electronics engineers have reportedly tested one of the transmitters in question using DRM emission with excellent RF performance results. Digital Aurora intends to carry out testing on propagation and audio quality measurements using standard 10kHz channel widths over a two- year period, but the company may also pursue wider bandwidth testing later in the test regimen. The company also says it will work with the High Frequency Coordination Conference, an international broadcast service organization, to determine appropriate test frequencies. -- (via Rob de Santos, Swprograms mailing list, May 7 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. 13640, Radio Tirana in English with letterbox reading program noted til 1458 UT with superb S=9+20 dB signal today May 6th. At 1459 UT CRI Kashi in English came on air and did overlap RT ID signature signal. CRI is scheduled 1500-1557 in English. Wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Neue QSL Serie bei Radio Tirana deutsches Programm. Der deutschsprachige Radio Tirana Hoererklub hat eine neue QSL-Kartenserie mit 4 Abbildungen von Monumenten aus Tirana produziert, die fuer Empfangsbestaetigungen von Radio Tirana, deutsches Programm, zum Einsatz kommen: QSL Serie C: Tirana 1) Skanderbegplatz 2) Flughafen "Mutter Teresa" 3) Nationalhistorisches Museum 4) Kulturministerium Die Karten sind zu sehen auf der Web Site http://www.agdx.de/rthk/ Viel Spass! (Dr. Anton Kuchelmeister-D, A-DX May 7 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) The new one: http://www.agdx.de/rthk/html/sonderqsl_15_jahre.html (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, 1903-1920, 05-05. Canciones en español, locutora, comentarios. Señal muy débil, apenas audible hoy. 14221 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 2310, VL8A, Alice Springs NT, 2114-2130* (abrupt transmitter switch off), 03 May, English, program as per \\ 2325 VL8T; 35333. 2325, VL8T, Tennant Creek NT, 2112-2130* (ditto), 03 May, English, chatter, phone-ins, music; 35333. 2485, VL8K, Katherine NT, 211-2130* (ditto), 03 May, program as per \\ 2325 VL8T; 25321 which makes me wonder whether the radiating systems of these 3 outlets are exactly equal because Katherine's signal is always worse than those of Alice or Tennant Creek. 4835, VL8A, *2130-2214, 03 May, English, announcements, ABC newscast, phone-ins, talks, sports news; 55343. 4910, VL8T, *2130-2215, 03 May, cf. \\ 4835 VL8A; 34332, adjacent QRM de Chad at full steam on 4905. 5025, VL8K, *2130-2210, 03 May, cf. \\ 4835 VL8A; 54333 (!!!), QRM de Benin (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal, May 5 wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar Domestic Service in Morning on 4750 Dear Friends, I'm now getting Bangladesh Betar Domestic Service on 4750 kHz during morning hours. At first, on Sunday May 4th I found loud & clear signal of Bangladesh Betar around 0231UT onwards. There was news in Bengali from 0300. At first I thought due to possible Cyclonic Storm Nargis in parts of Bangladesh, the morning transmission was there as this particular storm was frequently changing its directions finally hitting some parts of Burma. But I found no special info on it during my monitoring periods. This was not the case with CEDAR another cyclonic Storm in Bay of Bengal during November 2007. There was frequent warning, etc., announcements about the storm during their special morning to all day long special transmission. Anyway, I found this morning transmission of Bangladesh Betar on 4750 also on May 5 (morning prayers, etc., at early morning ) and May 6 (at 0100 UT News in Bangla with time signal, etc.) also. Perhaps they have begun their regular morning transmission again after a long break. Thanking you. 73 & 55, Gautam Kumar Sharma, Abhyapuri, Assam, India (via Alokesh Gupta, May 8, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Re 8-056 from Kai: ``but are the transmitters still in use for domestic coverage? WRTH 2008 shows 5990 Mon-Fri 1000-2400, 6180 or 6190 (maybe about 1000-2400 as well?), 11780 (0900-0200) and also 11950 without a mark for "inactive". I tuned 5990 at around 2115 on May 5 and found Radio Senado well audible with a mainly musical programme. A break for announcements at 2123 included several ID's, including one particularly announcing short wave. On 11780 at the same time was Radio Nacional da Amazonia - so announced - with talk and popular music. This signal was less strong at my location than 5990. So at least two of the transmitters are still in use domestically. Both frequencies were clear and should be easily heard at this time. There was no audible signal on 11950, but there was something on 6180, although much too weak to identify. At 0700+ today May 6 I cannot positively hear any signal on 6180 (after RHC and VOA left the air). ``And I understand that the modulation of the transmissions on 5990 and 6180, as heard by Noel, is OK? Well, as long as China pays for the relay anyway ...`` Yes, both 5990 and 11780 sounded to have good quality modulation with no distortion that I could detect, as did 6180 the last time I heard it (Noel R. Green (NW England) (May 6 '08), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Caros Amigos, Hoje estive conversando com o pessoal da Radio Roraima (4875), e me informaram que o transmissor em onda tropicais ainda está em manutenção devido a falta de peças. Por este motivo as transmissões não são realizadas (George Cunha, May 7, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re: RCI registers three new frequencies --- ``Of course, RCI has already been using 7310 and 7325, so sure hope they get approved! Maybe this had to be done because they are out of band? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ODXA yg via DXLD)`` I think you are probably correct, Glenn. Making it `official`, I guess (Harold Sellers, ibid.) Tnx also to Ricky Leong, AB, who also forwarded the CRTC notice about this (gh) ** CANADA. 9624.93, Canadian Northern Service CBC Montreal, deep fadings, S=5-6 at 2238 UT May 1 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) That means it`s liable to make a 70 Hz het with 9625.00 co-channel stations (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. CFVP, 6030, full-data letter in 2 weeks for $1. V/s Richard Luddick, Broadcast Engineer, who noted that ``we do not know of any plans to shut down the station`` (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, QSL Report, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) The crunch will come, like some other private Canadian SW stations, when the transmitter fails and they have to decide whether it`s worth replacing (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. PHIL STONE - A RADIO PIONEER DIES [CHUM] [OBIT] Canada.com By Jay Stone May 06, 2008 Phil Stone was born in Glasgow and raised in Liverpool, two tough towns, especially at the beginning of the 20th Century. He came to Toronto in 1927 when he was 14 years old with his widowed mother and his younger sister. He was a good student but he had to quit school to support the family at a series of odd jobs: bellhop, drug store delivery boy (for Murray Koffler, who later founded Shoppers Drug Mart), clerk in a paint and wallpaper store. . . http://communities.canada.com/shareit/blogs/stonereport/archive/2008/05/06/a-radio-pioneer-dies.aspx (via Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 8-056: ANOTHER CANADIAN AM TRANSMITTER GOES SILENT CKPT-AM 1420 kHz in Peterborough, Ontario, is the latest Canadian AM station to sign off for good. The station became 99.3 Energy FM last August, and has been simulcasting on AM since then. Last year, Peterborough’s remaining AM station, 980 CKRU, applied to also move to FM. Nearly a dozen other applicants are also seeking Peterborough’s available FM frequency. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is expected to choose an applicant soon. . . Read the full story in the Peterborough Examiner http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1016474 (May 7th, 2008 - 11:00 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CANADA. What's the reasoning behind Canadian AM stations moving to FM and shutting down the AM? FM can't have the coverage of some of the big AM stations. It's not like the frequencies will be used for something else. Please excuse if I'm asking something that's already been discussed ad nauseam (Ed Barboni, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) AM signals to the north are more frequently affected by auroral absorption of night-time signals, thus Canadian stations have been shifting to FM to avoid it. This is my understanding of your observation (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, ibid.) I think Canadian station owners have simply realized that FM yields better listening potential than AM, sounds better, doesn't have nearly as much noise as AM. In Toronto, 740 gets hammered if you're driving in parts of the downtown, where there are electric streetcars, and so it made sense for the CBC here to move to 99.1. AM 740 carries well with night skywave, but remember that the station cares mostly about its local and near-regional audience. Computer birdies add to the noise pollution on the band. And, more recently, there's IBOC from (some) U.S. stations. The FM band is also less crowded here, or at least was before the general shift (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Many more stations than certain CBC outlets, should be allowed and encouraged to duplicate AM and FM in this sparsely-populated, long- distance country, for the best of both worlds. And then there is untapped resource of domestic high-power SW broadcasting (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hello Glenn; On May 20, CHQT Edmonton will change from an oldies to an all news format. I checked the http://www.cool880.com site but couldn't find any info about this format change. I happened to overhear the info on the station itself. Respectfully, (Bruce Atchison, AB, author of Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) and When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies)). http://www.bookadz.com/whenaman.htm http://www.bookstream.biz/cgi-bin/bookstream/bookstore.cgi?overlord=Details&store_id=132 May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5900, Firedrake/music jamming, 1037, May 6, fair, against ? (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. May 7 before 1300 I noticed Firedrake making it thru somewhere around 15450, but did not pin it down; rechecked after 1300 it was gone. But this prompted me to do a full bandscan to find as many FDs as possible, between 1306 and 1320. Here I`ll put them in reverse order, not the order found, nor am I going to try to research all their targets, but most of them are regulars, against VOA, RFA, BBC, Taiwan or Sound of Hope: 12040 11900 11785 11665 9845 9780 9680 9605 7445 7310 7105 6110 6095 6085 6030 That`s a total of 15. At 1342 also heard on 15285. At 1433 also on 9930, 9450. Some of them were alone as far as I could tell, others mixing in various proportions with stations in Chinese. Checked several Firedrakes on two receivers, and they were always // synchronized (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. The interesting frequency a couple nights ago was 1180. There were at least 3 and possibly 4 Cuban stations carrying Rebelde and slightly out of sync. Two were very close, then nearly a second delay, then what sounded like 2 more. The multi-layered audio echo effect was striking (Rick Kenneally, Wilton, CT, May 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CUBA. This is Radio Havana Cuba, and here we are on our 47th year on the air. Radio Havana Cuba is has been on the air since 1961, and ever since that first day broadcast all our frequencies have been legally registered by the Cuban Ministry of Communications until the year 2000 and from the year 2000 to this date by the Ministry of Informatics and Communications. Cuba is a member nation of the International Telecommunications Union and registers the use of all of its broadcasting frequencies with the ITU according to the established procedures. And for those ignorant persons that are claiming that membership of the so called HFCC or High Frequency Coordinating Committee is mandatory, let me underscore that the HFCC although recognized by the ITU as a voluntary organization is NOT and I repeat this is NOT in charge of registering the frequency assignments for international broadcasting for all ITU members. A very easy to do online consultation, will show up immediately that not all ITU member nations form part of the HFCC, and that the nations that are not members, may register and do register their use of the international short wave or decametric broadcast band frequencies directly with the ITU in Geneva. As a matter of fact the ITU Geneva office runs a complete and detailed international short wave broadcasting compatibility program that is available to all member nations, so it is in fact available for those that form part of the voluntary HFCC group and to those that have chosen for one reason or the other to not become part of the so called HFCC group. My advise to those who voice out unsubstantiated and wrong opinions about international short wave broadcasting is to learn more first about the coordination procedures set up by the ITU before claiming things about the non membership of nations on the HFCC. Every broadcasting period, RHC frequencies are properly registered with all the operating parameters requested by the ITU, and that procedure is carried on with the proper advance notification by the Cuban Ministry of Informatics and Communications, that then receives from ITU Geneva the list of how our frequencies were registered and all the possible incompatibilities with other administrations frequency registrations, so that they can be worked out in such a way that better reception of international broadcast stations will result for the listeners (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited May 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There he goes again, obviously in response to my latest remark about Cuba being an ``outlaw nation``, not participating in HFCC. Or is it? I certainly did not say or imply that membership in HFCC is mandatory! Of course it is voluntary. Arnie sidesteps the real issue I raise, why doesn`t Cuba participate? It`s obviously the best way, tho far from perfect, to coördinate SW frequency usage, resolve collisions ASAP, and preferably in most cases avoid them in the first place. So Arnie, why don`t you tell us exactly why Cuba chooses not to participate in HFCC? Notifying ITU as he describes is just fine, but it obviously does not get the job done, as other broadcasters keep showing up on frequencies occupied by RHC, the latest example being Hungary on 5965; and there are several long-standing conflicts, such as Prague on 6000, as Raúl Saavedra has just brought up again. I suspect the ITU bureaucracy is considerably slower than the more specialized single-purpose group HFCC. If RHC finds the ITU compatibility program is sufficient, then they aren`t using it to its full extent, judging from all the collisions RHC is involved in. Axually, Cuba is an `outlaw` nation because it wants to be, not because anyone is preventing it from coöperating in the field of SW frequency management. It`s to everyone`s advantage to get their stuff in the HFCC database, and even to resolve inadvertently planned collisions thru first-person interaxion at the twice-yearly HFCC meetings. Alternatively, each collision could be resolved on a bilateral basis, without any travel, if frequency managers on both sides were doing their jobs. You do need a mindset which allows you to compromise. Nor do you have to give away any secrets you really don`t want to --- look at IRRS which is allowed by HFCC to pretend it broadcasts from Milan, while everyone knows it`s really Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia. Cuba`s good friend China participates, and yet engages in even more extensive jamming than Cuba does. And BTW, since Cuba obviously feels it is perfectly justified in jamming counter-revolutionary broadcasts from outside, Cuba may as well register the jamming just like any legitimate shortwave broadcasts. This would certainly help everybody in frequency planning, to avoid such frequencies. Ditto for China. {What am I saying? Countries which jam are really not morally entitled to any protexion of their own broadcasts! That is what really makes Cuba an outlaw.} Why is this any of my business? Because the whole purpose of SWBC is to reach listeners, whose interests I represent. One station per frequency at a time, please (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Praga/Habana 6000 --- No lo había notado antes, hasta este Martes 6 de Abril que caí en la cuenta de que Radio Praga está chocando con Radio Habana después de las 2330 en 6000. Predomina por aquí La Habana, pero Praga se percibe en el fondo. Imagino el colocho que se le debe hacer a los oyentes en Sudamérica hacia donde supuestamente está intecionada la radio checa en este horario, con la presencia cubana en ese mismo canal. A no ser que RHC no participe en la ITU o le valga un comino lo que determine la HFCC, una vez más aflora la inquietud, de que ciertos países como China o Cuba tienen a estas organizaciones como papel higiénico, ¿o me estaré equivocando --- o son los checos los que cargan con este choque por metiches? 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, 2347 UT May 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GH: I agree One Hundred Percent with your proposals! It might solve future collisions in frequency usage. What about World Harvest Radio Jamming CHU? Has that been resolved, too? I hope that Raul Castro is not mean like his brother was. At least VOA finally started jamming Cuba and possibly China! Payback is finally occurring. It will teach The Dentro Cubans to vacate or limit its intentional jamming of Spanish broadcasts intended to tell the real story behind Cuba's stubborn policies, etc. Thanks for sharing. 73's! (Noble West, Clinton TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We should not use the term `jamming` quite so loosely. WHRI did not set out to jam CHU, they just didn`t care that it was on the frequency. They were in no big hurry to move off, tantamount to admitting they made a mistake. But yes, so far they have avoided it after last year`s fiasco. Nor can we say that VOA is jamming Cuba. The collision on 6180, as I explained, is the result of the necessary replacement of Morocco by some other site, in this case Greenville. Whether or not the powers that be at IBB secretly delight in messing up RHC for two hours in North America is unknown, and I still wonder whether RHC messes up VOA in its target area of West Africa. Quite possibly, not enough for VOA to be motivated to QSY. And I am not aware of VOA deliberately jamming China, altho the reverse is undoubtedly true in dozens of cases (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [and non]. Glenn, Hope all is well with you. Regarding whether Radio Prague acknowledges their relays: For the first time on May 2, I heard the announcer in Spanish read off the list of their frequencies and times to LatAm with "repeaters", mentions of Sackville, Miami and Asuncion Island. No acknowledging of RMI! (Marty Delfin - Madrid, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) By that name you mean, but at least they mentioned Miami; now I wonder whether they included the `bonus` broadcasts at 2330 and 0630 M-F in the list (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Collision on 6000: see CUBA above ** CZECHIA. RADIO PRAGUE - THE ROLE OF THE RADIO IN THE MODERN AGE 6 May 2008 By Rosie Johnston This year, Ceský Rozhlas or Czech Radio is celebrating its 85th anniversary. A number of special commemorative events and broadcasts are being planned for the coming months. As an institution, Czech Radio has played its part in, and survived, two revolutions, as many major uprisings, and a world war. But could one of its biggest tests be, quite simply, a change in times and consumers' tastes? As we are bombarded with information from an ever increasing number of sources, is there still a place for good old radio in the modern world? The broadcasting from a tent in Kbely "Hello, hello. Prague, Czechoslovakia calling. Good evening ladies and gentlemen." [caption] Footage from one of Radio Prague's earliest broadcasts, dating from 1937. The Czech state broadcaster, Ceský Rozhlas, to which Radio Prague belongs, goes back even further - to 1923. Czech Radio's first station was Radiozurnál, which still exists today. Its current head, Alexandr Pícha, says the station had very humble origins: "The first radio broadcaster was called Radiozurnál - the same as my station is called today. And they were broadcasting from Prague airport, because it is very flat there, which creates very good conditions for AM broadcasting. They broadcast from a tent, and they had some very basic problems. For instance, during a symphony, when all of the musicians were gathered in this tent and playing, a hen would wander in and start clucking, and so they would have to stop the symphony and shoo the hen out." --- article continues at http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/103758 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Later on has some comments from Oldrich Cíp, illustrated. When I copied his name from the site to my MS editing file, the hooks over the r and the C vanished. Audio also available (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** DIOGO GARCIA. (and not Diego!) 4319-usb, AFN, Chagos Archipelago, BIOT, 2107- 06 May, English, (unreadable) talks; 22341, strong adjacent utility QRM as usual, and best via the K9AY, not with anything else I've got. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB`s JORGE ZAMBRANO --- by Marlin A. Field Jorge Zambrano has been recording a year`s supply of his weekly program, ``Música del Ecuador``, which will be aired on HCJB while he and his wife, Denise, are on furlough in the US. PWBR some years ago ranked the program as one of the top programs on SW when it was aired as part of HCJB`s English service to North America. I met Jorge around 25 years ago when he and Denise were on another furlough and visited our church when Jim Wilbar was the pastor. They had met in Quito before that when Jim was a summer missionary for HCJB and had stayed in the Zambrano home. More recently Jim returned to Ecuador, where he had a regular program on HCJB. While there he met his wife. When HCJB ended its English program, Jim, his wife, and daughter returned to the US. The last I heard, they lived in California. Jorge has liver cancer, which was diagnosed in Feburary, 2005. It seems to be healing. He is a program director for the Spanish language service. Denise is from Pennsylvania; they met when Jorge was in the US. When we first met, we had them in our home along with their two children, a son and a daughter, who loved to explore what they considered our big house. The Zambranos are now grandparents; both children live in the US (Shortwave Center, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) Last time I checked HCJB`s difficult to locate Spanish program schedule, could not find this show, and it`s still not on the xls SW schedule below. Is it really on SW or just webcast now, and when? I did find this webpage for the show, with audio archive: http://www.vozandes.org/Servicios-en-linea/Inicio-Servicios/Musica-del-Ecuador.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Spotlight schedule via HCJB? Glenn, re your log of "Spotlight" on the HCJB Spanish service at 2345 I see that is listed on Spotlight's own web site though on old frequencies (2345 Mo-Sa on 15140). See http://www.spotlightradio.net/tuningin.php It`s also listed there at 0015 Saturdays on 9745 11840 (presume really 12000) and 21455. And at 0645 Sat on 11840 and 21455 - but is HCJB Spanish on air at that time? I'm wondering if there might be an up to date schedule for HCJB Spanish programming somewhere on the web where it`s listed? 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Dave, HCJB SW schedule is available only in xls. It`s so big that I had to reduce it as far as it would go to 20% and that`s still not far enough for my screen. It appears to be undated, so use with caution. http://www.radiohcjb.org/images/anexos/programacionondacorta.xls Spotlight shows at 2345 Sat, and 0315 UT Tue-Sat, which are the times I have run across it. On their domestic service, such as 6050, it was at 0330 tho not confirmed lately and have not looked for that sked. 73, (Glenn to Dave, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6860, R. Cairo, 2143. Found on this odd frequency with dramatic reading in Arabic and Middle Eastern vocals till 2200 s/off; weak/fair. Summer A08 sked shows *2000-2200* UT beamed to Australia. At the same time, a different Arabic program heard weakly and with low audio on 9250 (Wadi el-Nile to E Africa) and a third one on powerhouse 6290 (General Service to Western Europe) (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer May 1-3 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, RNGE, "R. Bata", Bata, 2044-2109, 06 May, vernacular, African poops, Castilian at 2100, (unreadable) talks; 25331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Good Ethiopian reception on 49 m --- Inspired by Tony Roger's recent posting about Radio Ethiopia reception, I've checked some other Ethiopian frequencies and found that these two stations are also audible with surprisingly good reception here in the evening period: Voice of Tigre Revolution, Mekele, is heard on 5950 kHz from about 1800 to 1900 with a remarkably strong, clear signal. Sign-off was confirmed yesterday (Sunday 4th) at 1900 rather than listed 1730 UT. No parallels heard. Radio Fana, Addis Ababa is audible here from about 1800-1900 and 2000- 2100 on 6110 kHz with a good signal. Also confirmed in parallel on much weaker 7210. (There is co-channel interference from CRI between 1900 and 2000 but 6110 is clear before and after CRI transmission). Listen out for the distinctive Ethiopian music which this station plays a lot of. Sign off confirmed yesterday at 2100 (Dave Kenny, Caversham, England, UK, May 5, AOR7030+ 30m long wire, BDXC-UK via WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. DW Russian via Rampisham UK, 15420, May 7 at 1429, good signal in CNAm and still no place for WBCQ to be; this hour and more via UAE at 15-17 are still scheduled by DW to continue, unlike their Arabic after 1700, moving to 15445 from May 10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Re: MATHEMATA ELLINIKON From DXLD 8-056: ``Altho John has run across and reported these English lessons before, how come if they have been going for 6+ months, there has been absolutely no publicity about them (in English, anyway) from VOG itself? Geez! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Gee whiz Glenn: Nobody ever said that these are English lessons. They are lessons for Greeks to polish up their Greek when gadding about town. You need to get on VOG's mailing list; I got the attached file dated November 2007 along with their program schedule in Greek and I got another one several weeks ago dated April 2008. All you need to do is sprechen der Greek! Regards, (John Babbis, MD, ibid.) I meant to say Greek lessons, of course, but they are for English speakers, right? (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn: Could be; but I also think that these lessons might be for the Greek peasants, too! Otherwise, why no English at all? It is strange that the Hellenic American University is behind it, too (John Babbis, ibid.) ** GUIANA FRENCH. RFO Guyane, 15795 DRM via TDF Montsinéry, no-data letter with a glossy PR booklet about RFO, station stickers and an RFO tank top (!) in one month for an English/French report, CD recording and $1 which was returned. Addr: B. P. 7013, F-97305 Cayenne. Address on letterhead: Avenue du Grand Boulevard, ZAD Moulin à Vent, 97354 Remire-Montjoy. V/s Herve Delannon, Responsable de Communication (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** HAITI. 840 | 4VEH, Cap Haitien, APR 23, 0059 UT - 5 notes (reminiscent of a part of "Jingle Bells"), then "Vous écoutez 4VEH, la voix ...". Folk guitar followed. Over Brazil, others (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Granite Pier Mini-DXpedition, Rockport, MA, USA, (GC= 42.667 N / 70.621 W) (= 42Â 40' N / 70Â 37' W). site-related info: http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/dx_clams_2005.htm Receivers: RFSpace SDR-IQ, Drake R8A; Phasing Unit: DXP-6A; Splitter: Mini-Circuits ZSC-2-2; MP3 Recorder: Pogo Radio YourWay LX; Antennas: cardioid array on roof of car = Vertical: 3.7 m whip (MFJ-1956) to 81:1 xfmr to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp + Loop: Micro-SuperLoop, square, 2 m per side, with 16:1 xfmr (to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp) on east bottom corner and 5K potentiometer on west corner, NRC-AM via DXLD) Great report, Mark; thanks. Haiti on 840 has been quite strong here - amazing signal a few nights ago (Rick Kenneally, Wilton, CT, May 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** INDIA. All India Radio (AIR): http://allindiaradio.org or http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in All India Radio is one of the world’s largest broadcasters, serving a potential audience of well over one billion listeners, so it’s surprising to see such a slim English-language website (especially as English is a major official language in India). The AIR website is broadly divided into three sections: a graphic with text at the top of the page; a horizontal line with six headings below that; and a series of links to AIR announcements (and job ads!) further below. Following this is an advertising graphic and a simple counter to track website visits. There don’t appear to be any changes since last year, so the text that follows is largely unchanged. The top block includes the links About Us, Audio Programs, News, Information, Live Audio, Links, Important Broadcast, and Radio on Demand. While this shows great promise for the online listener, the Audio Programs, Live Audio, and Important Broadcast links all say “currently not available” (clearly the broadcast wasn’t that important!). If you’re thinking, “I’ll just use Radio on Demand”, you are in for a surprise, as it provides instructions on how to request songs via telephone to be played on domestic AIR stations in Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai – internet listeners need not apply. Foreign listeners seeking Indian news via internet audio should click News, which opens a new page, http://www.newsonair.com --- this is an excellent resource. The second section of the AIR site has three and a half useful links. First, AIR Stations provides a full list of contact information for AIR’s domestic stations, complete with postal, email, and telephone information. Frequency Schedule is split into regions, and provides times, frequencies, and languages used for AIR’s domestic and foreign broadcasts. Reception Report provides you with a comprehensive online form for reporting your listening experience, and includes a check-box to request a QSL (remember, a report and a request are two different things). Tying everything together is a Radio Guide, which is absent – still under construction (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click! May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** INDIA. The latest list of Indian private commercial FM stations is now available at: http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/pvt/commercial.htm 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, May 7, dx_india yg via DXLD) Only 30+ frequencies are involved, tho several have the same station with multiple transmitters all over the country. Is there an allocation scheme reserving certain frequency blox for AIR only? Websites are not hotlinked, leider (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia, found at http://www.voi.co.id is listed as an international broadcaster in WRTH and Passport; thus its inclusion here. The website appears to be a good source for news from Indonesia, and includes some audio and video content (but Realtime media doesn’t seem to be available). Other information, such as Broadcasting Program, has not been posted and only leads to a blank page (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI/V of Indonesia, Cimanggis, 0802-1020, 07 May, Indonesian, announcements prior to "Kang Guru" R. IDs, English, music, chatter, Bahasa Indonesia again at 0900; 25432 and deteriorating all the way till end of observation period by which time the signal was completely useless. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIB): http://www.irib.ir/worldservice or http://english.irib.ir The first link given above leads to a very clean, modern page which provides links to IRIB in 27 different languages, as well as several live audio streams in different languages. The live audio streams appear to be offered in both Real Media and Windows Media format. Clicking on English opens the second URL given above, “IRIB World Service – English Radio”. Across the top are links to Home, About Us, and Contact Us, which now includes postal, telephone, and fax information in addition to an email address (and online form). The left side of the page has wide variety of headings and featurettes, primarily focused on a Main Menu (including a comprehensive Sitemap – good work!) and World Service area (language selector). Most important for us is a link marked Frequency & Timetable, which also includes target areas and internet-/satellite-only broadcasts. On the right side of the page are more featurettes, while the centre consists of five primary news stories, around twenty supplementary news items, and Commentaries. IRIB’s content is not typical western fare, so it will appeal to some users more than others. For a less politically charged approach, take the time to discover the excellent musical and cultural offerings – IRIB provides numerous audio streams over the internet. The site has benefited from several small changes since last year, and is an interesting spot to visit (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** IRELAND. http://www.rte.ie/radio RTE may no longer broadcast to North America, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss the Dublin traffic updates (I really do miss hearing that!). Wander over to the RTE website and you can enjoy live streaming audio from one of four RTE internet streams. Not enough? Click on Live TV to watch --- nothing, unless you’re in Ireland (or handy at pretending that you are). RTE streams video on the web, then blocks it to most of the planet. Clever (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel (The Voice of Israel): http://www.intkolisrael.com or http://www.iba.org.il In what has become a growing trend this month, IBA (parent of Kol Israel) announced that all shortwave broadcasts have been eliminated as of 31 March 2008, except for a one-hour-per-day transmission to Iran (in Persian). Kol Israel broadcasts are now available exclusively on the internet. The first address given above is for the Kol Israel International website, which is elegantly laid out and features icons for streaming audio in 14 different languages (at various times, as listed on each button). Below these icons are numerous links in Hebrew. At the top of the page is an IBA Live Now area, followed by links to IBA Media Center (in Hebrew) and Kol Israel Foreign Languages – Reka (the news presented in English or Russian, apparently). Audio is now handled through a Flash interface at the top of the page (the IBA Live Now area), but didn’t work for me under various web browsers on various computers. So really, Kol is absent from shortwave and dysfunctional on the internet. For a more detailed look at the Israeli scene, check out the second URL given, which is the home page for broadcaster IBA (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ITALY. R.A.I. International: http://www.international.rai.it Yet another SW broadcaster that has abandoned its listeners, RAI still has a website that you can visit. From the URL given, select English near the top-left. The English-language page provides a relatively clean, uncluttered look when compared to the main RAI (Italian- language) version. On the left of the page are buttons for the various broadcast regions: Americas, Australia and Oceania, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The main body of the webpage has headings for TV, Radio, RAI International Productions, and Web. Under Radio you’ll find a button marked Live Radio, which opens up the RAI Mediacenter page. The content (archived audio, video, and some streaming content) is all in Italian, as are the labels; I had issues getting the material to play. Going back to the main Radio page, we find links to the Medium Wave schedule (covering Europe and parts of the Mediterranean), as well as that of RAI Satelradio, which broadcasts several streams globally via satellite. The Web section of the main page has information on how to subscribe to satellite or cable broadcasts (not web broadcasts, however), a link to Italica, the “website of Italian language and culture of Rai International”, Contact Us information, and an FAQ section (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Re: Is that KRE outlet down on 11677.03 at 2000-2100 UT? 11680 KCBS Pyongyang 2000-1800 Korean 50 ND Kanggye KRE (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 5) Yes, 11680 has shifted to 11677 kHz. Parallel with 9665 and 6100. The reception and audio quality is better than on 9665 and 6100 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, May 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6003.00, Echo of Hope, 1854, May 04, Korean talk & Arirang to 1902 carrier off. Unusually clear, hetted BBC & Radio 700 on 6005, // 6348 was also audible under jamming. Seems additional frequency, not listed in Aoki or EiBi for this time period (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re: Puzzle 7530 Korean?, Japanese? UNID 7530 from Dushanbe, tentatively Japanese? noted at 2020 UT May 3. 7530 1900-2100 to zone 300 kW, 70 degrees. Please help to check this puzzle (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 5) 7530, 1900-2100 UT in Korean. This station is Free North Korea Radio- Jayu Bukhan Bangsong from April 18th (Sei-ichi Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC HQ May 6 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) I also confirm this early morning (1900-2100 UT is 0400-0600 JST=KST) that the language was in Korean! Early morning hours may be convenient to listen secretly from the eyes of authorities (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, May 7 wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 1413-1428, May 5, "New Dynamic English" language lesson, Kathy interviews Maria Álvarez, Laotian translations throughout program, the English portion was created by DynEd International for the VOA. Suspect that with the longer days coming, I will not be able to hear this one, as the fading has started after 1430 (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0545-0557, 07-05, comentarios en español y canciones religiosas. Señal muy débil y sólo audible en LSB. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. May 4, 2008, 1951 [presumably CDT = UT -5] XEUACH, 1610, Chapingo, Estado de MEXICO, traditional Mexican mariachi, ranchera and classical Spanish guitar. signal good-very good at times. M announcer "escucha Radio Chapingo", full ID at 2024 (Steven Wiseblood, South Padre Island TX, SRF-59 (loosely coupled with a SONY-ICF-S19), ABDX via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. Re 8-056, 9665 vs Brasil: Glenn, [VOR] audio is rather good here but it has multiple ±50 Hz phantom carriers causing noticeable buzz, especially during silent audio moments. Please see attached the spectrum screen from an SDR-recording made in the beginning of April. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mauno, Shortly after reply last night I checked 9665 again, and this seemed to be in the mix with Brazil. Nothing readable. 73, (Glenn Hauser, May 6, ibid.) OK, then 02-03 still needs to be confirmed (Mauno, ibid.) Nothing audible UT May 7 (gh, OK, ibid.) ** MOLDOVA. Interested in participating in a contests of a former SW broadcaster? R. Moldova International offers this: ``Dear friend! We announce you that in the second half of May, RMI launches the 3rd edition of the traditional contest ``Discover the Republic of Moldova``. We invite you to participate, to test your knowledge, to find new things and discover an unknown Moldova. Invite your friends to participate in the contest, gain a new experience and get to know in such a way a beautiful country full of charm. Your interests and attempts will be rewarded. As usually, there will be offered the Grand Prix --- a trip to Moldova in October at the traditional Wine Festival and a rest to the picturesque agropension. ``The water meadow house`` that is waiting for you with many surprises. Other presents are waiting for you, as well. Take your chance! Participate in the contest. ``Discover the Republic of Moldova`` (via Rich D`Angelo, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) WTUR? http://www.trm.md/index.php?add=8 is the English page, but I don`t see anything about a contest nor on several other pages (gh) ** MYANMAR. Re 8-056: Dear Glenn, Today afternoon I am back at my normal Hyderabad location after 2 weeks trip to my native place in Kerala. I also visited the active DXer Mr. T. R. Rajeesh in his house during my travel. Right now at 1235 UT 6 May 2008, I am unable to hear Myanmar on 5915 & 5985. Maybe they are off due to the recent cyclone that hit the area. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, India, WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My latest monitoring observation show that the Myanmar Station is not heard on 5915, 5985, 7185 & 9730 now. This may due to the effect of cylcone that hit the area some days back. I must check 5770. -- (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, 0336 UT May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Defence Forces Broadcasting Network, Myanmar is also not heard on 5770 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, India, ibid.) Myanmar R. 5985: was able to receive night service until May 3, DFBN- 5770 kHz until May 5. Is it electricity disorder, not the direct damage to transmitters and antennas by the cyclone? (S. Hasegawa, Japan, May 7, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Auf 5815 war die letzten Naechte hier nichts zu hoeren, 5915 ist ab 2300 UT mit CRI belegt und auf 5985.78 - also nicht auf der "geraden" Frequenz - ist ab 2300 UT Myanmar leise aber gar nicht schlecht zu hoeren, beste Signalstaerke so gegen 2320-2340 UT. Ab 0000 UT ist 5915 wieder frei, somit ist dann Myanmar auch dort zu hoeren, schwach allerdings (Christoph Ratzer, Austria, OE2CRM, May 1, BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) For some reason all three Yangon based TXers are off the air at 1245, viz. 5040, 5915, 5985 kHz. However Defense Forces Station on 5770 kHz is going on as usual (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer May 3, ibid.) Post Script: Cyclone hit Yangon and power is down and vast destruction reported. So obviously Myanmar is running on emergency power, so SW transmitters are off the air. I can't hear any MW stations here (Victor Goonetilleke, May 4, ibid.) Wolfy, All SW service from Burma are now off the air. Morning 7185 and evening 5985 kHz are off the air and surely 9730 during our midday is also off the air. And since Friday last the unID [sic] Burmese station in the morning 5915 & 5985 and in the evening 5915 & 5040 kHz are also off the air. I'm trying to monitor 576 kHz which is also used by Surkhet (R. Nepal) coming clearly here in Calcutta. Will check 594 khz also soon (Alok Dasgupta, India, May 7, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) Hi Glenn, the CIA World Factbook shows Rangoon (Yangon) as the capital of Myanmar, however, the administrative capital is Nay Pyi Taw. I think this may have been the case for some time now. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world- factbook/geos/bm.html (last updated, 15 April 2008) (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, May 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I should have noted with the previous VATICAN item that their QSY from 5915 to 9650 would eliminate the collision with BURMA/MYANMAR at 0025/0200. This started 4 May, per K. Raja, Chennai, DXindia (gh) SMG 500 kW ex-98 degrees, now 86 degrees (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Re 8-055: I find the whole Dody Cowan / Deborah Rey "discovery" to be untrue and a fraud. Someone even at Radio Nederland wrote me that she has since passed away. Don't you think they would know the truth? Anyone can create a website and say they are someone else (Michele Rich, May 1, happystation yg via DXLD) Well, how about it, Andy? (gh) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Time and frequency change for RNW Dutch to AUS/NZ === As of 3 May, the RNW Dutch transmission to Australia & New Zealand from Bonaire at 0659-0757 on 9625 kHz has been discontinued. It is replaced by a transmission at 0900-0957 from Saipan on 9795 kHz, 100 kW, beamed 195 degrees (May 6th, 2008 - 8:39 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** POLAND. WHO DOESN’T WANT POLISH RADIO FOR THINKING PEOPLE? Wieslawa Lewandowska talks to Krzysztof Czabanski, Board Chairman of Polish Radio. Wieslawa Lewandowska: – Polish Radio, the respected media, has the mission and service to the common good in its genes. Krzysztof Czabanski: – When Polish Radio was founded it fulfilled the state-creative role although it was a commercial company. – Today this sounds almost like a heresy! – 80 years ago it was obvious in Poland that work for the good of the state, i.e. the common good, was something very noble. Polish Radio was not founded to bring money but to open souls and minds. However, that tradition of service and mission was disturbed and today one cannot speak about a single tradition of Poland’s public service broadcasting and one cannot compare the pre-war radio with the post- war one. I always stress that the Polish Radio sections abroad in Free Europe Radio, in the service of the Voice of America and in the BBC defended the honour of Polish Radio. And the post-war Polish Radio was first of all a propaganda tube of one party. . . [much more] http://sunday.niedziela.pl/artykul.php?nr=200409&dz=spoleczenstwo&id_art=00088 (Sunday, Catholic Weekly, 7 May via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Interesting long interview, including why longwave is no longer viable. Skimming thru, did not see anything about external service (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. ON THE DAY OF RADIO THE VOICE OF RUSSIA CONGRATULATES ITS WAR VETERANS May 7 is the Day of Radio. In keeping with a long-standing tradition on this day and in the run up to Victory of the anti-Hitler coalition over Nazi Germany marked on May 9 the Voice of Russia radio station congratulates its employees —- veterans of World War II. It is no exaggeration to say that the Voice of Russia radio station made its contribution in Victory over Nazism since the impact of radio broadcasts was often no less than that of heavy guns and tanks. The Voice of Russia broadcast news from fronts and reports about heroic deeds of guerrillas and Resistance fighters. People made attempts to listen to the Voice from Moscow even in concentration camps using self-made radio sets. Addressing war veterans the company's First Deputy Chairman Andrei Davydenko said the following: Great merit should go to our veterans who displayed heroism not only in the war years but have also made tangible contribution into our common cause--the development of radio broadcasting. Our company has prepared a unique project for Victory Day --- international action titled "Live Book of Memory" whose keynote is "to say hurrah to Victory". What is important is that young people from over 20 countries take part in the project. Our listeners write e-mail letters and send SMS messages. They express their gratitude to veterans of World War II in short but moving lines. Our listeners emphasize that the heroic deed of war veterans will never be forgotten. Messages of congratulation say that voices of our announcers became familiar and dear to our listeners and instill in them confidence and hope. The Voice of Russia radio station has always been aspiring to broadcast reliable and unbiased information about events taking place in the world (RUVR.ru, 07.05.2008 via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. What`s new at Voice of Russia? http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&e=105&p= The music program looks promising. In Soviet times, Radio Moscow always had some great music programs, but their pop/rock music programs were rather tepid, usually featuring officially approved artists such as Alla Pugachova. I won an Alla Pugachova LP in one of their contests all those years ago. Today, in über-Capitalist Russia the music scene is literally exploding. Some fantastic music and artists are coming out of the Former Soviet Union. Check out some of the websites from Russia such as http://www.101.ru or in the Toronto area check out Mix TV on Sunday mornings on CITY-TV. This Russian language television program often includes several of the latest Russian music videos. Definitely gone are the days (if they ever existed) when Spencer and Spencer’s (a.k.a. Dickie Goodman and Mickey Schorr) Russian Bandstand parody might have any shred of truth. You can read about it at http://www.atomicplatters.com/more.php?id=87_0_1_0_M or just google Russian Bandstand. A very humorous 1950s look at what a Russian music show might sound like. “Spoken: Welcome to Russian Bandstand This is your host, Nikita Clarkchev In Russia almost everybody watches Russian Bandstand (Machine gun fire) Now everybody watches Russian Bandstand Ha, ha, ha” (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 12070, Voice of Russia, 1900-1940 (-2100) May 7. With a program of World News, features and commentary presented by male and female in English. Some fading noted, but still readable. Alternate frequencies on 15 and 11 MHz were nil heard. IDs noted periodically. "... Voice of Russia World Service, we present ..." Some instrumental music at 1932 such as Moldova and others. Signal was still holding up at 1940 (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 240 degrees from a Moscow site for W Europe (gh) ** RUSSIA. Armavir mixture 4831 kHz (5920 minus 1089). Auf 4831 kHz sind zur Zeit (2110 UT) Radiokanal Sodruzhestvo (1089 kHz) und schwaecher im Hintergrund VoR in Portugiesisch (5920 kHz) zu hoeren (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX May 3 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. Hi Michael, Here are some changes in the current sked of VoR: All broadcasting on 603 kHz from Berlin transmitter in Germany was cancelled in April. RMR frequency 1548 kHz for Europe, Moldova and Ukraine at 0700-0800 UT was cancelled from the 1st of May (Vadim Alexeyev, Russia, VoR Russian world service, DX programme editor; via Michael Bethge, May 4, wwdxc BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) 603 included Castilian but they couldn`t hear it in Castile (gh) ** RUSSIA [and non]. ESTONIA/MONGOLIA/RUSSIA, Evangeliums Rundfunk - partner of TWR in Germany requests donations for new activities. Retransmissions via Russian networks "Mayak" and "Yunost" ceased recently after 16 years service. 28.7 million Russians have internet online access now. ERF/TWR will start an Internetradio in St. Petersburg soon. ERF/TWR Russian broadcast at present via Estonian relay at Tartu and reaches half of European Russia area. TIME/UTC DAYS LANGUAGE FREQ PWR AZI ZONES 0300-0330 1234567 RUSSIAN 1035 50 0 28,29 1700-1730 1234567 RUSSIAN 1035 50 0 28,29 In July 2008 Tartu site power will be increase to 100 kW and plans later to 200 kW of power then. ERF/TWR needs urgently 260.000 Euros donation budget. Additionally 6 local FM stations in Siberia will carry ERF/TWR broadcasts in future. There are also negotiations on its way in Mongolia to re-transmit TWR Russian service to whole Siberia via powerful Mongolian site. Donations most welcome to Evangeliums Rundfunk Wetzlar (ERF Deutschland, Freundesbrief / newsletter Apr 29 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** SAINT KITTS & NEVIS. 555 kHz, R. ZIZ, Basseterre, APR 23, 0027 UT - reggae music, Caribbean male announcer "This is National Showcase, family station in your house. We continue with the super-bad music on a beautiful Tuesday night." To good peak despite adjacent WGAN slopper. [Portland ME] 895 kHz, | V. of Nevis, Bath Village, APR 23, 0011 UT - Caribbean accent advert about ready-made kitchen appliances, prices in dollars; fair (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Granite Pier Mini-DXpedition, Rockport, MA, USA, (GC= 42.667 N / 70.621 W) (= 42Â 40' N / 70Â 37' W) site-related info: http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/dx_clams_2005.htm Receivers: RFSpace SDR-IQ, Drake R8A; Phasing Unit: DXP-6A; Splitter: Mini-Circuits ZSC-2-2; MP3 Recorder: Pogo Radio YourWay LX; Antennas: cardioid array on roof of car = Vertical: 3.7 m whip (MFJ-1956) to 81:1 xfmr to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp + Loop: Micro-SuperLoop, square, 2 m per side, with 16:1 xfmr (to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp) on east bottom corner and 5K potentiometer on west corner, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** SERBIA. Re 8-056, ``RUSSIA: 7199.94v, Yakutsk Radio (Presumed), 1030-1118, 4/20, in Russian. Frequency varies to 7199.95, W talk, classic music, announcements, light music, M & W talk with classical music, folk songs, no clear ID heard, QRN, slow QSB, fair-good (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy, JRC NRD 525, AD Sloper-S, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Daytime path? (gh)`` v7199.94: typical Serbian R International, Stubline midday outlet instead. Never, Giovanni; Serbo-Croatian sounds different (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. 9735 has been replaced by 7290 now? wolfy Re: SOUTH AFRICA: Frequency change of IRIN Radio in Somali via VT Communications: 1730-1745 NF9735 MEY 100 kW 020 deg, x9665 to avoid REE in Spanish (R BULGARIA DX MIX News, Ivo Ivanov, via wwdxc BC-DX Apr 30) The change to the 41 meter band should help their interference issues. I guess we'll have to monitor this closely until they choose a final frequency (Dan Henderson, May 6, West Coast North America, via Jerry Berg, DXplorer, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Viz.: From: Louise Tunbridge Louise @ irinnews.org Date: 2008/05/06 Tue AM 08:35:49 CDT Subject: IRIN radio Somalia feedback Dear Dan Henderson, Thank you for your feedback on our short wave service for Somalia. Your report does appear to match what we broadcast that day! From Monday 5 May 2008, we switched frequency to 7290 kHz on the 41m band - as we have had zero feedback from Somali listeners (our target audience) on the previous frequency. We will test for a further three days and hope this one gets us where we want to be. The service aims to provide humanitarian information and news to Somalis, and to get more of their voices and views on air and into circulation. Thanks and best wishes, Louise Tunbridge, IRIN Radio Coordinator, Nairobi, Kenya (all via Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DXLD) SOUTH AFRICA, [7290 to Somalia], IRIN on 7290 [ex-9735 ex-9665] at 1730-1745 UT via Meyerton-AFS. S=7-8 signal armchair listening on May 7th. Slight QRM adjacent IRIB Kamalabad in Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian). Somalia mentioned often. From 1744:30 UT two different tone signal from Meyerton site (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 15325, Wed May 7 at 1341-1341:30* alternating hi and lo tones every 6 seconds, which is the SENTECH Meyerton test/fill feed, with the transmitter apparently left on an extra 11 minutes after the conclusion of SSIRI scheduled at 1300-1330 M/W/F (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. This is actually "chisme" but you can publish this, and attribute it to me, if you want: Ran into Justin Coe of REE at the "Democrats Abroad" primary party on Feb. 5 here in Madrid. Says the English service has really been scaled back and perhaps won't last much longer. (I personally don't think his heart is in it anymore, from my conversation with him. In fact, he was amazed that I even listen in on occasion and asked me how I picked it up!!!! [?]) Says that Deanelle Baker is now the oldest employee at RNE, with more than 40 years of service, and will be recognized in the near future as such on their web site. Personal note: I hope the Zapatero government sees fit to keep the English service, even though RTVE as an organization has reportedly been a money-losing operation. With the large British community on the south coast and the Americans who live here -- according to the US embassy estimates given at the DA meeting, more than 100,000 -- there is really a need for more foreign and domestic English-language outlets (Marty Delfin - Madrid, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. Re 8-057, REE Co-official languages: Have you actually ever confirmed the new timing in use? I checked the announcement yesterday at 1239 and they said: "Informativos en catalan, gallego y vasco en Radio Exterior de España". Then, for the Catalan segment 1240-1245 they had an instrumental music fill-in. Galician was there OK between 1245-1250 and then the supposed to be Basque slot followed between 1250-1255, but was in Castilian except for the opening announcement saying something sounding like "Euskadiko al distea". At 1255 the programme ended and between 1255-1300 there were various programme promos. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I vaguely recall having heard the opening announcement of the 3- language segment some time back at 1245, but am not certain, so maybe the absent Catalan is 1240 instead of 1255. We did have a report from the source that the time is now 1245-1300. Missed monitoring it again May 6, as the discussion about US/China/Australia relations on Late Night Live was too interesting. The current program grid in UT +2 is ambiguous about this, not showing the real time for the 15 minutes of LCO, but the preceding program is 40 minutes long: http://www.rtve.es/archivos/70-9383-FICHERO/ParrillaREE_2008_VERANO.pdf CRÓNICA EN LENGUAS CO-OFICIALES (Catalán, Gallego y Vasco) 15’ For some reason it won`t open for me in IE, only in Firefox REE Co-Official Language block was a bit off-timed, May 7, tho I did not tune in 15170 Costa Rica soon enough to hear how and when it started. 1249-1253 Gallego, 1253-1258 Basque but really in Castilian. There is some question whether the missing Catalan is supposed to be before these or after these, and whether the block is really supposed to air at 1240-1255 or 1245-1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. Wanted: Chief of Radio for Sudan Position: Chief of Radio (P-5) United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Location: Sudan (the) (Darfur) Closing date: 15 May 2008 Job Description . . . http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/res.nsf/db900SID/OCHA-7E7TB4 (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai-600106, India, May 7, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SWITZERLAND. Leider erst heute nach dem Termin bekannt geworden. Besichtigung MW Beromuenster 531 kHz am 3./4. Mai 2008 mit Christian Bruelhart: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?11947,559967 http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?11947,559967,page=3 http://s3.directupload.net/file/d/1419/2m7t9lqa_jpg.htm http://www.frequenzenfaenger.com/diverses/bruenig_essen.jpg http://s3.directupload.net/file/d/1420/rqg5e5v2_jpg.htm http://s2.directupload.net/file/d/1420/orev9upl_jpg.htm http://s7.directupload.net/file/d/1420/kr5hgoof_jpg.htm http://s7.directupload.net/file/d/1420/l6aqdy24_jpg.htm http://s6.directupload.net/file/d/1420/od58igez_jpg.htm http://s1.directupload.net/file/d/1420/d6eo39q9_jpg.htm http://s5.directupload.net/file/d/1420/um3syi35_jpg.htm http://s3.directupload.net/file/d/1420/b9ljj8mm_jpg.htm (RMRC Aktuell, and forum.mysnip.de May 5 via BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) ** U S A. United Patriot Militia Bingo, a blast from the past, was noted on 6925 AM at 2355-0049* on April 7 [meaning April 7-8?]. Bingo games being called amid parody sketches and clips from what I assume was the real (and defunct) United Patriot Radio. Solid signal, good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, Pirate Radio Report, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) UPMB was a parody of sorts of UPR/KSMR, a station run by a militiaman Steve Anderson of KY. He was on the run from the police for a while but was finally captured (Chris Lobdell, ed., ibid.) I was trying to remember his name when Loren Cox asked about the Somerset Psycho in 8-055. It`s been a long time since I checked the local newspaper which was covering this and now I get only one peripheral hit on ``Steve Anderson``: http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/archivesearch/local_story_103083710.html It`s been 6.5 years since he was really in the news, including DXLDs 1-160, 1-166 and 1-181 (Glenn Hauser, OK, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. From North America, May 1st: 9329.81, WBCQ hetting co-channel Syria with terrible heterodyne buzz of approx. 190 Hertz, S=6 signal, tiny Syria underneath even 9330.00. 2225 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX May 8 via DXLD) Hi Allan, It seems that Deutsche Welle Arabic is moving off 15420 after this Friday, at 1-5 pm EDT, so are you going back to 15420 then, also in the morning whether BBC is still on? 73, (Glenn to Allan Weiner, May 6, via DXLD) We are going to give it a try on the 12th [Monday]. With all the frequencies they use with their blasted government funded propaganda you would think they would have enough. Why stomp on me? (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Allan, Unless DW quits 15420 also in the mornings, 14-17 UT = 10 am - 1 pm ET, you will have the same problem as before. I was just hearing DW quite well in Russian this morning via UK 15420 at 1429, probably the best signal from Europe on the band. So what hours will you actually run 15420? 73, (Glenn to Allan, May 7, via DXLD) And I expect DW would take umbrage at being called a government-funded propaganda broadcaster. Once again this Wednesday, could not hear 17495 when WOR supposed to be on at 2300 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ: see also DIGITAL BROADCASTING, DTV discussion ** U S A. With a little help from the sporadic E layer, Defunct Gene Scott was quite strong on WWCR 13845, May 7 at 1339, and one could clearly hear in the background The Power Hour from 7465, mixing at the transmitter site. (Is it caused by antenna proximity, transmitter proximity, or even in the studio audio consoles? Or some combination?) In fact if DGS would pause for breath, one could easily understand the other program. However, when I went to 7465 itself, I could not hear any other audio mixing. As for the Es, at that time 15825 was still weak, but by 1430 recheck, it was very good as the MUF had risen. Still did not find any skip on VHF 54 MHz+ later this day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5050, WWRB McCaysville, 0100 April 18, ID in English followed by preaching; good (Ray Bauernhuber, Whitestone NY, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) Can`t we drive a stake thru McCaysville GA? That site is years gone with the demise of WGTG, which turned into WWRB in quite another location, Manchester TN (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 4430, WSRC, Fair Bluff NC, 0350-0555 April 3, strong spur in English of their 1480 signal with very enjoyable old time radio dramas; heard The Shadow, complete with original Lipton Tea spots; Johnny Dollar; ads for Story from the Story Lady; Princess & the Pea, various others. M announced WSRC 1480 ID at 0420, 0452, and 0555; Into The Blue, bluegrass music program at 0457; only traces of their fundamental were audible here as I don`t have a MW loop to reject QRM. I planned on doing a bit more DXing but couldn`t stop listening to this station. For me, it just doesn`t get any better than old time radio drams and bluegrass music! Outstanding signal, 70 dB and full quieting at times (Richard Parker, Pennsburg PA, Collins 51S-1, 51-X, R390A, SE3, antenna farm, Tropical Band Logs, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) Quite a signal for a third harmonic (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. KOOP, the community station in Austin TX, has started its summer schedule, with some new programs, retimings for old ones: http://www.koop.org/?page=schedule Among our favorites: Adventures in Sound after a few months at local noon Saturdays, is back to 1800-1900, abutting another favorite, Graveside Service at 1900-2030. On Tuesday afternoon, during the previous season, The Andean Hour was axually a sesquihour at 2000-2130 UT, but now the schedule shows it back to 2030-2130; however, when monitored May 6 at 2000, the Cono Sur program at 1900 continued, instead of Música Tropical. Anyhow, great listening for Latin American music of different genres; Cono Sur features tangos, for instance, and says it covers the arts in general, so may have talk segments (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-056, Spanish groundwave to Enid on 990: Sorry for the delay in answering, but 990 does not come in too well at home, so I waited to check on my drive to work today at DFW airport, which is 13 miles closer than home. 990 is definitely SS religious. At least what I heard. Lots of "Jesucristos" and other religious references. I even picked out "Diablo". Isn't that the Cisco Kid's horse? Hi. Anyway, after listening to about as much as I could take, I'd say they are Spanish religion. All the formats mentioned have been correct, at one time or another. Even a female-oriented talk format, which lasted 3 weeks. Check out 700. You might be able to hear our latest attempt at radio. Southwest Asian format. In English and whatever language they speak. Indian? Some of the ads are pretty funny when they try to relate (in their dialect) businesses like car washes and Sonic drive-ins. 73, (BILL Hale, The Metroplex TX, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I get 700 easily in daytime, tho I would prefer to have it open for signs of WLW (gh, OK, ibid.) KHSE ** U S A. Nothin' But Net.. Oldies 92.5 KVPI --- I'm listening to "Good Times and Great Oldies, 92.5 KVPI-FM" Ville Platte, Louisiana. The music is pretty decent and the stream is decent as well. I've already heard a few tunes that would set this apart from your regular oldies stations. They have an AM station that does a partial simulcast in the Early Morning and Afternoon. In the Mid Day and Evenings, KVPI-AM does some separate programming. Both stations air News in French twice a day and KVPI-AM 1050 does 1 1/2 hours of music in French every weekday night and some Classic Country music as well. KVPI-oldies 92.5 has a very, very laidback, very downhome approach on the air. You'll see what I mean if you listen. The website is http://www.oldies925.com The webstream is http://www.barnabasroad.com/station=kvpi-fm.html (Paul B. Walker, Jr., SC, May 7, http://www.realradiousa.com http://www.radio-talk.net ABDX via DXLD) Sounds like they haven't changed much since when I actually lived there. Ville Platte is about 20 miles from Eunice - where I was born. KVPI was basically a local for me. I can remember being a kid and the AM had a lot of French programming and the FM was mostly music although it was just kind of a variety or MOR of the time (late 70s / early to mid 80s). Last few times I been home I've listened in and it's been exactly what you described --- oldies on the FM and some simulcasting on the AM with plenty of separate times too and French programming and the like. Our local in Eunice - KEUN AM 1490 used to be the same way too. Local programming and music and news in French and English in the early mornings and on the weekends - my grandmother used to listen to it. Unfortunately KEUN-AM has become nothing more than a talk outlet and they still do some specialized stuff on the FM. Good to see KVPI is still keeping with their tradition and hasn't changed much. Brings back many memories. I'm pretty sure if I dug deep enough I could find some 8-track tapes that dad recorded from KVPI-FM 25-30 years ago. (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) So now we know how to pronounce Richar Which brings to mind our old favorite KBON. Sadly (for me anyway) I find per their web page that they are only available by subscription of either $6 or $7 a month. Too many free internet stations to fool with this anymore. Too bad, I enjoyed their programming a lot. OWG (Donald K. Kaskey, SF CA, ibid.) I feel KBON's pain. Webstreaming isn`t cheap and stations can't always get it sponsored, so it's just expense that they're losing money on; they have to cover their expenses somehow. Keep in mind, just because you have a Music License from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC for your AM or FM signal DOES NOT mean you have one of your online streaming. In fact, you don't with SESAC (Paul Walker, ibid.) ** U S A. WBBM Newsradio 780 Turns 40 --- Today is 40th anniversary of Chicago’s popular WBBM Newsradio 780. There's a special site with lots of interesting audio files, pics and videos: http://www.cbsdigitalchicago.com/wbbm-am/history/ Here's a brief schedule of anniversary events: http://www.wbbm780.com/We-re-Turning-The-Big-4-0—Help-Celebrate-40-Year/2084570 If you happened to be in Chicago today (Daley Plaza) you can get a piece of birthday cake. It's free. And if you are not, well, you can listen to WBBM online. You don't have to pay for that, either :) (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, May 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listened to the 0004 UT anniversary hour show, interrupted by news that CBS had called Indiana for Clinton, some 5 hours before the other networks. Whew, they got it right! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-056: Listening To WOR Online ``Thanks Marc for the direct link. That worked for me but it does seem to be the network stream and not the WOR 710 feed.`` That's because we're not allowed to stream either O'Reilly or Dennis Miller per our contract with Westwood One. So, we put WOR Radio Network programming on the stream during these times. Same with Michael Savage 6-9P (Thomas R. Ray, III CPBE, Vice President/Corporate Director of Engineering, Buckley Radio, WOR Radio, New York City, NRC- AM via DXLD) Isn't IBOC wonderful? It now forces us to listen to stations online that we can't receive because of IBOC hash; seems a little self- defeating, doesn't it? (Bob Young, Analog, MA, KB1OKL, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MATT LAUER, on the Today Show last week: tho superficial, it`s great armchair traveling. Each destination only gets about half an hour of airtime, which makes you wonder why they go to all that trouble and expense, and then don`t dedicate at least a full two hours of the show to each visit? On air, the segments appear during part of the first two hours, and usually only at the beginning of the third hour. I notice that the fourth hour of the T.S. is that in name only, as they turn over hosting to the B- team, and it`s really a different program. Here`s the page where you can get the video segments of this year`s destinations, Argentina, Netherlands, Laos, Turkey, Seychelles, or to be more specific, based in Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Vientiane, Istanbul, Praslin: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041544 I just watched the Seychelles segments and there were fewer of them, online anyway, than from the other places. Altho the player works well, full screen recommended, it`s annoying that once you start one segment, the others which follow jump around out of order, and don`t even stay on the subject, so you have to keep going out of full screen to directly choose each segment, if you want to see everything from one place in a row. A nice thing is that the Hyundai commercials, which you will see over and over, have a very low audio level compared to the meat of the show, so be careful in setting your volume control (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN [and non]. Re 8-056, 2.5 minute English from VR on 9600: Hi Glenn, I checked out this oddity today and this English broadcast would seem to be somewhat of an accident. At 2311 crash start into an English program already in progress (an interview with the General Secretary of The World Council of Churches) then into the IS at 2314 and into presumed Vietnamese at 2315. An afterthought: EiBi shows Radio Vatican in Vietnamese on 12035 at 2315 via Novosibirsk, Russia and perhaps myself, or others might be able to see if the brief English segment shows up there as well preceding the 2315 Vietnamese (Steve Lare, MI, May 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, of course it is an accident, but it is programmed into their automation so it has been happening for months, or at least whenever I look for it. We discussed this at some length several months ago, first noticed when trying to hear XEYU. Another odd thing about it is that there is no English scheduled at this time on any VR frequency, but it apparently is on their satellite/program feed circuit. If VR were paying any attention to what they really put on the air, they would run open carrier or IS/ID only until Vietnamese starts --- if they really need to turn on the transmitter as early as 2311 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 4900 spur, YVTO Caracas, 0606-0612 March 25. They`ve been popping up on some odd frequencies the last few months; logged on 5100 12/31/07, 1 MHz below their old 6100 frequency; good (Richard Parker, Pennsburg PA, Collins 51s-1, 51-X, R390A, SE3, antenna farm, Tropical Band Logs, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) But 4900 and 5100 are spurs from 5000 (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. WRTH 2008 Update website http://www.wrth.com ? 1800-1830 VO Vietnam Eu, ME 7280vni, 9730vni ? 2130-2200 VO Vietnam Eu 7280vni, 9730vni (Paul Gager-AUT, A-DX May 2) VTN - das ist mir bisher entgangen weil ich meist Hotbird hoere. Paul, seit wann sendet VOV nicht mehr um 1800 und 2130 UT? Danke Paul, das mit der fehlenden Deutschsendung um 1800 und 2130 UT auf Kurzwelle 7280 und 9730 ist in den letzten Monaten nirgends in der DX Press publik gemacht worden. Sonst haette es das gut informierte WRTH Team ja auch nicht in der Sendetabelle aufgefuehrt. Du bist der erste Beobachter, der dies gemeldet hat. Wo liegen die Gruende, dass Vietn., Franzoes. und English auf 7280/9730 gesendet wird, aber nicht mehr Deutsch? Ist doch alles das gleiche Empfangsgebiet in NE/EUR. Wirklich Deutsch um 1800-1830 UT sind beide 7280 und 9730 tot, heute am 2. Mai. 9730 kHz 1700-1800 in Vietnamesisch ein sehr starkes Signal heute S=9+10 dB. Und auch ab 1830 UT gleiches Signal in Franzoesisch, so um die 4 Sekunden frueher als Moosbrunn Relais auf daneben 9725 kHz hier S=3, welches 4 Sekunden hinter der Direktaussendung aus Hanoi kommt (Wolfgang Büschel, May 2, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 8 via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Austria (presumed), 9725, Voice of Vietnam, (presumed), 1856-1858 May 7. Initially noted instrumental music for a minute which was followed by a female in French comments. At 1858 to 1859 dead air. At 1859 signal drops off the air. The signal was good, what there was of it. There's a lot of "(presumed)s" with this logging due to the limited details. The PBWR says this is a relay via Austria. See below. United Kingdom, 9725, Voice of Vietnam, (presumed) 1900-1915 May 7, With a very brief IS followed by a male in Russian language comments. This transmission was poor compared to VOV's French broadcast. This could be due to an antenna beam change, but the PBWR again says VOV for this sked, is being relayed via Skelton, in the United Kingdom. Signal continued to degrade (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9725 1700-1900 27,28W MOS 100 300 AUT VOV MER 9725 1900-1930 29 SKN 300 70 G VOV MER Moosbrunn 300 degree lobe is more or less towards NY and FL. Skelton 70 degrees is far different, backlobe into VEN, CMB, EQUA, PRU, CHL etc. So only a tiny side lobe makes it into Florida. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** ZAMBIA [and non]. Re 8-056, 13590, I misspoke again: Meant to say BVB uses a lot of languages other than English. . . ``CVC uses a lot of languages other than English, but this block is mostly in English, with a bit of Hebrew and Tagalog, per WRTH update.`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tried again today (May 7) for CVC Zambia on 13590. At 1530 a decent signal with lots of pop-music, "1Africa" IDs and their phone number for listeners to call. All wiped off at 1545 when BVB signed on. Amusing, how different can programming be between these two religious stations (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. A sesquimonth ago we had reports of an unID Spanish on 2980. Now another earlier bimonth-old log has emerged, delayed until now for a print publication (gh) 2980, 0430-0500 9 March, definitely some sort of LS [sic; LA?] station; Spanish news, jingles, announcements by M&W; would think this was a 2 x 1490 harmonic were it not for its good signal strength and the presence of some rather ineffective jamming, which consisted of a carrier swinging back and forth across 2980. Best guess is this came out of Cuba; fair (Burlew, PA, Tropical Band loggings, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) Full name, location and equipment unknown since missing from Contributors` Page (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 8-056: 3390.2v, 2340, Apr 28, Spanish vocal music noted under band noise; very weak. It's been years since I've heard anything on this frequency (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3 x 1130v? (gh, DXLD) There is one LAm station listed on 3390, R. Emisoras Camargo, Bolivia, in WRTH 2008 as on air 2200-0200 and not asterisked as inactive. LA SW Logs has it in the active file: 3390.14v BOL R Emisoras Camargo, Camargo [2315-0320](0.0-2.3) Jan08 C (irr) 0115 DBS shows: B 3390.2 1 BOL R Emisoras Camargo, Camargo, MF 2300-0030v S/Aymara, irr. Quechoa, sl: ”La Voz del Norte Chuquisaca Cinteño” JAN08 --- and the May TBM update to DBS does not show any logs in Feb- Mar-Apr (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: ALASKA; GUIANA FRENCH ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: CANADA; USA DTV musings A funny thing happened on the way to the office. This past Sunday afternoon, my wife and I, along with a couple friends, stopped in at our closest Circuit City store to use our second CECB coupon on a Zenith model. Our friends (Larry & his wife) just recently received their two CECB coupons, so they used one for a Zenith model also. One of the CC sales people, a young guy, came up to us as we were picking up the dtv boxes from the shelf. He inquired if we needed any help, then, seeing what we were holding, commented, "Just keep in mind, those receivers won't work until February 17th of next year. I don't know why they're selling them already." Can you say education breakdown?? My wife started shaking her head 'NO' at the sales clerk, but didn't say anything. Larry, who has been following the dtv conversion mostly from information I have been telling him, looked at me puzzled. The clerk realized we weren't buying what he said and had an odd look on his face. I spoke up and said the digital signals are already on and that we have been using a dtv box since last summer. He asked "What are you seeing?" very curiously and with a puzzled tone in his voice. I quickly listed the various channels that we receive. His final comment was "I wonder why they haven't told us any of that?" The funny thing is, as we continued talking about the dtv conversion for a little bit, he hung around listening to us, as if he was trying to learn from US! Next --- is there negative publicity circulating about the dtv channels offering subchannels? On our satellite system, we receive various channels around the country. We receive the ABC affiliate for Casper, WY (KTWO-2 'K2'). One evening this past week, they ran a station-sponsored message about the dtv conversion. In the message, an additional comment was, "You may have heard that digital stations will have the ability to provide additional programming, called subchannels. K2 will NOT offer any subchannels now, or in the future, so that the viewer can enjoy the ultimate HD experience." I believe this is the first time I have ever heard any channel mention anything *negative* about subchannels. And then I thought, the average viewer, still trying to figure out this dtv conversion thing anyway, wouldn't even know why K2 made a comment like that. I know that dividing the bandwidth sacrifices HD capabilities, but if a channel ISN'T offering additional programming, why even say anything about it? (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, May 6, WTFDA via DXLD) Yes but only among the most serious videophiles. If you go looking around on AVSForum I don't think you'll have too much trouble finding people complaining about their local stations running subchannels and claiming that it's ruining their HD with frequent pixelization. WSMV is running a SD subchannel. I have seen pixelization but only a literal handful of times. It may have been due to the bandwidth shunted to the subchannel - it may have been due to something else. And I was looking for it. I doubt 95% of viewers would have noticed. WKRN, WNPT, and WUXP, and WZTV are also running one SD subchannel along with their HD main channels. No problems with pixelization. During last weekend's tropo opening I saw two stations (WBBJ-43 and WTOK-49) running *two* SDs along with their HD. My guess is K2's General Manager is a videophile -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Hi Jim, People who really should be informed have all kinds of mis- information about the DTV transition. I've seen TV spots that were factually inaccurate, read newspaper stories containing various DTV myths, and last weekend heard a broadcast on the Ham radio show on WBCQ that revealed the following DTV "truths"- VHF will not be used for DTV, all DTV will be UHF, plus ALL analog tv ceases next February 17th. I can understand that from someone without much technical understanding, but from a radioman who should be up to speed on it, well, I just don't get it (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, ibid.) Curtis: The biggest "fallacy" that I have heard / seen is that "by law all analog signals must cease on Feb 17." In fact, I'd say that in 100 articles, PSA's and so on, 99 percent say that. I've seen a couple that mention LPTV and Booster (Translator) stations but they normally discount them totally due to them not normally being powerful or well viewed via OTA. Local WISH-TV 8 will convert its analog Hispanic WIIH-17 and move it to RF channel 8. Wonder what they will use (if anything) in terms of a numeric identity since most people will think "Channel 8" is WISH's 8.1. Maybe 17.1 or JUST the WIIH identity? Are many LPTV's converting to Digital? Have you emailed the WBCQ radio show folks? 73, (Dave Hascall, IN, ibid.) In Indiana, by my count there are four which have already converted. (three are co-owned and in South Bend) 17 more have construction permits to convert. Two more have filed but their applications have not yet been acted on. "flash-cut" means the station will switch directly from analog to DTV on the same channel (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) THIS IS ONLY A TEST - VEGAS STATION SIMULATES ANALOG SHUTOFF Here's a recent article about the DTV transition. A Las Vegas TV station simulated the shut off to see how it would affect their viewers. Seeing as how they did this at five in the morning, I'm not surprised that only one person called. Trying the same thing here in Central Illinois would light up the station's phone lines all day. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6557252.html (Curtis Sadowski, WTFDA via DXLD) Pardon the newbie questions, but what are the "truths" about the DTV Transition? I'm concerned about it, not only from a DX'ers point of view, but also has it impacts the field of emergency management. One of our local EMA offices recently "converted" all their media monitoring to DTV Flat Panel receivers. To insure that they don't lose reception during critical events, they do not rely on cable TV or satellite, opting instead for a redundant off air reception systems. The primary signal is a large Channel Master VHF/UHF Log with a pre- amp mounted on a sidearm of one of their communications towers. The other is a "rabbit ears" type back up antenna mounted indoors under their ceiling tiles. They've used this system successfully for analog reception for years. Signals are not always perfect being in a fringe reception area, but very watchable. During a recent severe weather event, after their own internal "DTV Transition", they were very surprised to see signals cutting in and out completely during the storms. They quickly adjusted the tuners to include the analog channels as well. After the event, there was a lot of speculation about what might happen after February 17th when they would not longer have the option to watch analog TV. Not just for themselves but for the general public (Les Rayburn, Birmingham, AL, WTFDA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Re: BARTO DISPOSING OF ENTIRE COLLEXION, 8-044 -- I can`t believe the response from the offer last month when I said I was selling nearly 3,400 radio station items and memorabilia that I`ve collected over the past 50 years. Don`t worry, for everyone who contacted me, I will get back to you. Just to remind you, there are mugs, pins, badges, pennants, key chains, patches, pens, magnets, hats, EKKO stamps, FDCs, lighters, pirate stuff, posters, razors, stickers/decals, records, stamps, etc. If you are interested in anything, please drop me a line (Sam Barto, 78 Blakeman Road, Thomaston, CT 06787, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) No more silk panties? BTW, I can`t recall Sam ever contributing anything to DXLD, but I pick out items because they are interesting to me and may be to readers, not to do anyone any favors. Note: NOT including QSLs (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ESPIONAGEM E ONDAS CURTAS Espionagem nas ondas curtas, para aqueles que gostam de histórias sobre a radio, estações de numeros e espionagem, segue uma página com dados muito interessantes. http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page30.html Best regards (Manuel Jesus, Sintra, Portugal, condiglist yg via DXLD) In English; huge amount of material there (gh) NUMBERS STATION SEGMENT RELEASED Hi all, As promised my segment on Numbers Stations has finally been released. I am a cohost on an IPTV show called Amateurlogic. Episode 20 features a 10 minute segment all about numbers stations. Thanks to Simon Karoo for much of the material used. You can download the episodes at http://www.amateurlogic.com In case you are interested George and Tommy are located is Mississippi USA and I am located in Melbourne Australia. We use Skype video to communicate. It truly is an international show. Cheers (Peter Berrett VK3PB, April 30, UDXF yg via DXLD) VHF/UHF ES/TROPO MAPS, FM/TV STATION INFO RESOURCES Can someone remind me of the web addresses of the various real-time e- skip maps? I think there are two of them. I have changed computers, and I no longer have that information on hand. Thanks! (Jim Renfrew, NY, May 5, WTFDA via DXLD) Here are some links that I use; I hope these work: http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA http://www.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ham/aprs/path.cgi?map=na http://dxworld.com/tvfmlog.html http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html (Craig, ibid.) I'd imagine some of this is up on the WTFDA web site, but I think it's good for me to check my own links, make sure they're working, dust up and do any spring cleaning. Here are a few useful web sites, to follow on Jim's request for Es map links... I want VHF Tropo and I want it NOW: http://www.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ham/aprs/path.cgi?map=na Bill Hepburn's VHF-UHF tropo crystal ball: http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html Where's the #%^@ skip?: http://maps.dxers.info/gmap/ http://maps.dxers.info/ http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA&mycall=&myloc=&freq=&prop= (Saul Chernos, area code 416, ibid.) These links ought to help y'all not only solve many of your unIDs but are also handy when drawing up target lists: The ultimate TV and FM site (mostly U.S., limited Canadian): * Directory is by subscription, discount for WTFDA members I understand, and well worth it. http://www.100000watts.com Various Canadian station directories, eh!: http://www.broadcastdialogue.com/directory_simple.asp Doug Smith's TV and FM Mecca List: http://www.w9wi.com Bill doesn't just forecast tropo - all kinds of station lists and resources: http://www.dxinfocentre.com Zap 2 It (looks like a new location) [program schedules]: http://www.zap2it.com REC Networks broadcast query: http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/fmq.php?facid=61328 RDS list: http://www.rdslist.com A few additional places to solve unIDs: http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/affiliatebyshow?show=DP http://www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm_travel.htm http://www.relevantradio.com/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=204&srcid=469 There's a lot more. Can we all share our favourites before this list (hopefully) gets crazy with skip reports? (Saul (who is all set up at Burnt River but waiting in Toronto and all packed and ready to go when the skip starts up) Chernos, ibid.) Here's another one I have been watching lately. This tracks real-time 10m (28 MHz) data via PSK31. The key here -- it's automated; no live operators needed. Remember, 28 MHz opens while MUF is on the way up. I find 10m data really, really useful. http://propnet.findu.com/catch.cgi?band=hy&last=01&geo=propnet/na.geo (Peter Baskind, Germantown TN, ibid.) List of Florida low-power and pirate stations http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html A must for the DXer who is tiring of relogs from Florida FM e-skip openings. Good site for FM and AM target chasers http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Lists-of-radio-stations-in-North-America#United_States There are some eccentricities to the site, and maybe some errors or things not right up to date, but this gives good regional lists of FM and AM stations, perfect for DXers who chase targets in defined regional geographic areas. Found this during a random search on "radio station lists" (and in this case adding the word 'dakota') using Google (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Good site for FM and AM target chasers Or, rather than using a mirror site (which would account for the delays, etc.), why not go right to the horse's mouth, where you can fix any errors you might notice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_radio_stations_in_North_America P=) P=) P=) ~Kaimbridge~ ----- Wikipedia?Contributor Home Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kaimbridge (Kaimbridge M. GoldChild, ibid.) I like this one - Upper Midwest broadcasting for the Western great Lakes on West: http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html Not worth the time and effort to me anyway to try to deal with lists like that on Wiki. There are a lot of other sources out there which have a higher degree of credibility and are already done (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ VHF/UHF Es, Tropo maps: see PUBLICATIONS A SUPER SOLAR FLARE May 6, 2008: At 11:18 AM on the cloudless morning of Thursday, September 1, 1859, 33-year-old Richard Carrington --- widely acknowledged to be one of England's foremost solar astronomers --- was in his well-appointed private observatory. Just as usual on every sunny day, his telescope was projecting an 11-inch-wide image of the sun on a screen, and Carrington skillfully drew the sunspots he saw. Sunspots sketched by Richard Carrington on Sept. 1, 1859 [CAPTION] On that morning, he was capturing the likeness of an enormous group of sunspots. Suddenly, before his eyes, two brilliant beads of blinding white light appeared over the sunspots, intensified rapidly, and became kidney-shaped. Realizing that he was witnessing something unprecedented and "being somewhat flurried by the surprise," Carrington later wrote, "I hastily ran to call someone to witness the exhibition with me. On returning within 60 seconds, I was mortified to find that it was already much changed and enfeebled." He and his witness watched the white spots contract to mere pinpoints and disappear. It was 11:23 AM. Only five minutes had passed. Just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. Indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii. Even more disconcerting, telegraph systems worldwide went haywire. Spark discharges shocked telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. Even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted. "What Carrington saw was a white-light solar flare—a magnetic explosion on the sun," explains David Hathaway, solar physics team lead at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama... http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/06may_carringtonflare.htm?list69914 Wonder what the next one of these will do to propagation? (via Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM PRAGUE Solar-activity forecast for the period May 2 - 8, 2008 Activity level: very low Radio flux (10.7 cm): a fluctuation in the range 66-73 f.u. Flares: weak (0-3/day) Relative sunspot number: in the range 0-25 Astronomical Institute, Solar Dept., Ondrejov, Czech Republic e-mail: sunwatch(at)asu.cas.cz (RWC Prague) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period May 2 to May 8, 2008 quiet: May 8 quiet to unsettled: May 7 unsettled: May 4, 5 and 6 unsettled to active: May 2 active: May 3 minor storm: 0 major storm: 0 severe storm: 0 Geomagnetic activity summary: geomagnetic field was quiet on Apr 27 and 29, quiet to unsettled on Apr 25, unsettled on Apr 24, 26 and 28. RWC Prague, Geophysical Institute Prague, Geomagnetic Dept, Czech Republic e-mail: geom(at)ig.cas.cz ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period of one solar rotation unsettled to active: May 2, 6-7, 9, 13, 23 active to disturbed: May (3-5, 10, 14,) 20, (21, 25, 27) quiet: May 8, 11-12, 15-16, (17,) 18-19, (22, 24,) 26 Survey: quiet - mostly quiet on: Apr 27, 29 quiet to unsettled on: Apr 25-26 quiet to active on: Apr 28 quiet to disturbed on: Apr 30 mostly unsettled - unsettled to active on: Apr 24 unsettled to disturbed on: Apr 23 mostly active - active to disturbed - disturbed - Notice: Days in brackets refer to a lower probability of possible solar activity enhancements depending on previous developments on the sun. F. K. Janda, OK1HH, Czech Propagation Interested Group e-mail: franta.janda(at)quick.cz (via WORLD OF RADIO 1407, DXLD) ### The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels during 28 April until late in the UTC day on 30 April when activity levels increased to unsettled to active conditions. Mostly unsettled to active conditions persisted until early on 02 May as activity decreased to quiet to unsettled levels, and remained so through the end of the summary period. Solar wind speed measurements from the ACE spacecraft began the period at approximately 500 km/s with the IMF Bz ranging between +/-5 nT; speeds then slowly declined to around 370 km/s by midday on 30 April. At approximately 30 April at 1500 UTC an increase was observed in solar wind data consistent with a glancing blow from a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on 26 April. For the next several days wind speed remained elevated with a maximum of 525 km/s on 01 May at 0028 UTC and IMF Bz ranging between +/- 8 nT. Midday on 03 May a coronal hole high speed stream rotated into a geoeffective position elevating wind speeds to around 580 km/s. The period ended with wind speeds above 600 km/s. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 07 MAY - 02 JUNE 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 during 07-08 May, 21-28 May, and 01-02 June. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels 07-12 May. On 13 May, a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream is expected to increase activity levels to unsettled to active conditions. Activity levels are expected to decline to quiet to unsettled levels 14-18 May. Conditions should increase to unsettled to active, with a chance for minor storm levels at middle latitudes and major storm periods at high latitudes on 19-21 May, due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream. On 22 May, activity levels should abate to quiet to unsettled levels until 26 May. Recurrent high speed streams are expected to increase activity again to unsettled to active levels for 27 May-02 June :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 May 07 1453 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 May 06 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 May 07 70 8 3 2008 May 08 70 5 2 2008 May 09 70 8 3 2008 May 10 70 5 2 2008 May 11 70 5 2 2008 May 12 70 5 2 2008 May 13 70 12 3 2008 May 14 70 5 2 2008 May 15 70 5 2 2008 May 16 70 5 2 2008 May 17 70 5 2 2008 May 18 70 5 2 2008 May 19 70 10 3 2008 May 20 70 25 5 2008 May 21 70 15 3 2008 May 22 70 8 3 2008 May 23 70 5 2 2008 May 24 70 5 2 2008 May 25 70 5 2 2008 May 26 70 5 2 2008 May 27 70 10 3 2008 May 28 70 10 3 2008 May 29 70 12 3 2008 May 30 70 12 3 2008 May 31 70 10 3 2008 Jun 01 70 10 3 2008 Jun 02 70 10 3 (SWPC May 7 via DXLD) WHERE'S THE SKIP? Someone has to be the first to ask this year. That will be me. I'm surprised to not be reading of people getting TV skip in the south; it always seems to start in late April for you folks down there (Saul Chernos, Ont., May 7, WTFDA via DXLD) Lacking VHF openings, I keep an ear on 15825, WWCR Nashville which is one megameter from here and normally with a barely audible signal in the skip zone, and tnx to solar flux below 70. But when Es is ramping up it can boom in, as it did this morning at 1430 UT; an hour earlier their next-lower frequency 13845 was inbooming, but not yet 15825, so the MUF was somewhere between them. Unfortunately, no signs of activity later on ch 2, but 15825 can be a tipoff that something is happening. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, May 7, ibid.) ###