DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-087, July 31, 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 1419 Wed 2100 WBCQ 15420-CUSB Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 1930 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 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 0415 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, RN [Arcángel] San Gabriel, Base Esperanza. July 29, Spanish, 1910 folk music selections, 1916 YL talks about the base and Antarctic environment, 1921 short talks between short music, 1924 return to folk music selections, 1934 short talks between short music till 1937. No significant changes during this listening, partially readable, fady, 23422. Checked later at 1955, could be heard a signal deterioration, 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LRA36, Antarctica op 15476.03 kHz. Ligt tebespeuren, met vrouw die spreekt in het Spaans. Best rond 1930 UT ....met ruis. Best met LW 25m. [Later:] Opmerking: Best met Lowe 225europe! Beter verstaanbaar, dan met de Perseus. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, July 30, BDX via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA, A08 Daily Broadcast Frequencies As of July 28, 2008, All times UT Burmese (6 hours daily) 0030-0130 13820, 13865, 17835 0300-0400 11605, 17830 1230-1330 7390, 9320, 13675 1330-1400 7390, 9320, 11540 1400-1430 7320, 9320 1630-1730 7505, 9305 1730-1830 7505, 9300 Cantonese (2 hours daily) 1400-1500 7280, 11595 2200-2300 9355, 11715, 11785 Khmer (2 hours daily) 1130-1230 9455, 12140 (Ends August 2) 1230-1330 12140, 15525 2230-2330 7580, 13740 Korean (5 hours daily) 1500-1700 1350, 5870, 7210, 7490 1700-1800 1350, 5870, 7465, 9370 1800-1900 1350, 5870, 7210, 7465 2100-2200 1350, 7460, 9385, 9770, 12075 Lao (2 hours daily) 0000-0100 15545, 15690 1100-1200 9355, 15560 Mandarin (12 hours daily) 0300-0600 13760, 15130, 15635, 15680, 17615, 17880, 21550, 21690 0600-0700 13760, 15165, 15635, 15680, 17615, 17880, 21550 1500-1600 9455, 9905, 11540, 12005, 12025, 13675, 15495 1600-1700 9455, 9905, 11540, 11795, 12025, 13675, 15530 1700-1800 7260, 7280, 9355, 9455, 9540, 9905, 11540, 11795, 13625 1800-1900 7280, 7355, 9355, 9455, 9540, 9865, 11540, 11700, 13625 1900-2000 1098, 7260, 7355, 9355, 9455, 9850, 9865, 9905, 11700, 11785, 13625, 15510 2000-2100 1098, 7260, 7355, 9355, 9455, 9850, 9905, 11700, 11740, 11785, 13625 2100-2200 1098, 7105, 7355, 9850, 9905, 11740, 11935, 13625 2300-0000 7540, 11760, 11785, 15430, 15485, 15585 Tibetan (10 hours daily) 0100-0300 9365, 11695, 11975, 15225, 17730 0600-0700 17510, 17780, 21500, 21690 1000-1100 15460, 17750, 21510 1100-1200 7470, 13830, 15375, 17750 1200-1400 7470, 11590, 11605, 13830, 15375 1500-1600 9370, 11550, 11585, 11795 2200-2300 5865, 7500, 9880 2300-0000 7470, 7500, 9805, 9875 Uyghur (2 hours daily) 0100-0200 9350, 9490, 11895, 11945, 17640 1600-1700 9350, 9370, 9555, 11750 Vietnamese (2 hours daily) 1400-1430 1503, 9455, 9715, 11605, 11680, 12140 1430-1500 9455, 9715, 11605, 11680, 12140 2330-0030 7520, 11580, 11605, 13740, 15535, 15560 (A. J. Janitschek, RFA, via Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, DXLD) or: A-08 RFA Daily Broadcast Frequencies. All times in UTC. # new transmissions. $ changes Burmese (6 hours daily) 0030-0130 13820IRA, 13865TIN, 17835SAI 0300-0400#11605IRA, 17830TIN 1230-1330$ 7390IRA, 9320IRA, 13675TIN 1330-1400$ 7390IRA, 9320TIN, 11540TIN 1400-1430$ 7390IRA, 9320TIN 1630-1730# 7505TIN, 9305IRA 1730-1830# 7505IRA, 9300TIN Cantonese (2 hours daily) 1400-1500 7280TIN, 11595SAI 2200-2300 9355SAI, 11715TIN, 11785TIN Khmer (2 hours daily) 1230-1330$12140TIN, 15525IRA 2230-2330 7580IRA, 13740TIN 1130-1230# 9455TIN, 12140TIN = in summer season only, til August 2nd only, after national elections. Korean (5 hours daily) 1500-1600 1350MNG, 5870IRA, 7210IRK, 7490TIN 1600-1630 7490IRA 1600-1700 1350MNG, 5870IRA, 7210IRK 1630-1700 7490TIN 1700-1800 1350MNG, 5870TIN, 7465TIN, 9370IRA 1800-1900 1350MNG, 5870TIN, 7210TIN, 7465TIN 2100-2200 1350MNG, 7460MNG, 9385TIN, 9770TIN, 12075SAI Lao (2 hours daily) 0000-0100 15545TIN, 15690IRA 1100-1200 9355SAI, 15560IRA Mandarin (12 hours daily) 0300-0600 13760SAI, 15130TIN, 15635IRK, 15680TIN, 17615TIN, 17880SAI, 21550TIN, 21690TIN 0600-0700 13760SAI, 15165TIN, 15635IRK, 15680TIN, 17615TIN, 17880SAI, 21550TIN 1500-1600 9455SAI, 9905PAL, 11540TIN, 12005TIN, 12025SAI, 13675TIN, 15495TIN 1600-1700 9455SAI, 9905PAL, 11540TIN, 11795MNG, 12025SAI, 13675TIN, 15530TIN 1700-1800 7260TIN, 7280TIN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9540TIN, 9905PAL, 11540TIN, 11795MNG, 13625TIN 1800-1900 7280TIN, 7355TWN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9540TIN, 9865TIN, 11540SAI, 11700MNG, 13625TIN 1900-2000 1098TWN, 7260TIN, 7355TWN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9850TIN, 9865TIN, 9905PAL, 11700MNG, 11785TIN, 13625TIN, 15510TIN 2000-2100 1098TWN, 7260TIN, 7355TWN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9850TIN, 9905PAL, 11700MNG, 11740TIN, 11785TIN, 13625TIN 2100-2200 1098TWN, 7105TIN, 7355TWN, 9850TIN, 9905PAL, 11740TIN, 11935TIN, 13625TIN 2300-0000 7540TJK, 11760TIN, 11785TIN, 15430TIN, 15485SAI, 15585TIN Tibetan (10 hours daily) 0100-0300 9365KWT, 11695UAE, 11975WER, 15225TIN, 17730MNG 0600-0700 17510TJK, 17780KWT, 21500TIN, 21690UAE 1000-1100#15460LAM, 17750KWT, 21510KWT 1100-1200 7470MNG, 13830TJK, 15375UAE, 17750KWT 1200-1400 7470MNG, 11590KWT, 11605TIN, 13830TJK, 15375UAE 1500-1600 9370TJK, 11550KWT, 11585TIN, 11795UAE 2200-2300# 5865TIN, 7500TIN, 9880LAM 2300-0000 7470MNG, 7500KWT, 9805UAE, 9875TIN Uyghur (2 hours daily) 0100-0200 9350TJK, 9490BIB, 11895UAE, 11945UAE, 17640TIN 1600-1700 9350IRA, 9370TJK, 9555UAE, 11750IRA Vietnamese (2 hours daily) 1400-1500 9455SAI, 9715TIN, 11605TWN, 11680TIN, 12140IRA 1400-1430$ 1503TWN 2330-0030$ 7520IRA, 11580MNG, 11605TWN, 13740SAI, 15535VLD, 15560TIN 2330-0030 7525IRA, 11580MNG, 11605TWN, 13740SAI, 15535VLD, 15560TIN (Radio Free Asia website, via Gordon Brown-UK, NWDXC April 4; updated July 27, BC-DX July 31 via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, *0000-0010 26.07, Bhutan Broadcasting Service, Sangaygang. Dzongkha talk, Buddhist monks intoning 33343. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) 6035, BBS (tentative), 1253-1301 & 1404-1425, July 28, first reception was in vernacular (not Chinese), chanting (dare I say Buddhist?), after 1300 very poor due to Firedrake QRM from 6030; second reception clearly in English, seemed to be the news but due to adjacent Firedrake hard to understanding, into talk mentioning the United Nations, indigenous singing, lost about 1425 to assume QRM from Yunnan. I have often checked this frequency and in the past only found PBS Yunnan. Think BBS is only possible on a day like today, with exceptional Asian reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Educadora de Limeira em 2380 kHz em OT --- Vez por outras à tarde e à noite sintonizo esta rádio em OT; axo que deve ser a única do Brasil na faixa de 120 m. Transmite com baixissima potência 0.25 kW, mas como a freqüência é totalmente livre sintoniza + facil qua as emissoras de OM com seu milhares de W e freqüências congestionadas!!!! (Wesley, location unknown, July 30, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5870, BRASIL, R. Voz Missionária, Florianópolis - SC, 1253, 26/07, OM falando da campanha para a construção de um pavilhão da Voz Missionária, relg 43343 (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, Receptor: Sony ICF SW 7600GR. Antenas: De carretel Sony AN71 e LW improvisada de 6,22 metros, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Olá Rubens, Eu estranho que no site da Anatel, sempre tão atualizado, não conste esta freqüencia 5870 para a Voz Missionária, em Florianópolis. As únicas freqüências que a Anatel registra de OC para Santa Catarina são 5980 (Rádio Guarujá - Florianópolis) e 9665 e 11750 (Sistema Missionário de Comunicações - Camboriú). Abraços (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Nacional da Amazônia muda de QRG para 6185 kHz --- Foi o que constatei agora no início da tarde. Como de costume, tanto em 6180 como agora retornando em 6185, o sinal é fraquíssimo durante o dia. Já em 11780, continua apenas regular e estrangulando a Guaíba daqui no canal adjascente de 11785 na região Sudeste e Central do Brasil. Porquê não mudam o QRG da Guaíba? E porquê nenhuma das emissoras do Governo Federal foi planejada para abranger a região Sul, especialmente nós aqui no Rio Grande do Sul? 73´s QRA: (Édison Bocorny JR, QTH: Novo Hamburgo-RS Brasil, July 29, radioescutas yg via DXLD) A Rádio Nacional da Amazônia tem apresentado áudio um tanto perturbado por falha no seu TX de 49 metros, frequência de 6180 kHz e já vem ocorrendo há alguns dias. Este TX de 49 m - 6180 kHz é o mais sintonizado pelos ouvintes das ondas curtas, em virtude da facilidade de propagação, principalmente nestes meses em que as manchas solares são reduzidíssimas, com pouca ionização das camadas da ionosfera. Em 25 m 11780 kHz já é mais difícil sua sintonia mesmo a grandes distâncias. E quando o é, tem boa qualidade de áudio. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, July 30, ibid.) Já retornaram para 6180 KHZ. Quanto tempo será que faz que este QRG e os 11780 KHZ não operam com 250 KW? E a Nacional de Brasília 980 kHz, quantos anos que sequer opera com 300 kW à noite. Lembro quando era 600, depois foi baixando pra 500, 350 e 300. Agora deve ficar com 50 KW dia e noite. que lástima! (Edison Bocorny, ibid.) 6180, 30/7 1430, R Nacional da Amazonia, Brasilia 5555, Musica sertaneja (py5aap, Aparecido Francisco Morato, gg46qp, Cornélio Procópio PR, radio kenwood ts 570D antena dipolu 40 metros, ibid.) RNA has jumped from 6180 to 6185 before, tho it`s been quite a while, and for reasons unclear --- to escape CubaRM on 6180? But always bad news for XEPPM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMEROON. Re McDonell in DXLD 8-086: Please try 3970 also! (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Which I believe is another former Buea channel, maybe used at night (gh) ** CANADA. My unID on 9950 is another mixing product from two transmitters at Sackville. This time KBS World Radio, using 9560 via Sackville, 0200z-0300z in Spanish & English mixing with RCI Spanish on 9755 0200z-0300z. 9560 + 195 = 9755 + 195 = 9950. I noted a similar situation a few weeks ago with CBC Northern Service on 9625 mixing with 9755 to create an image at 9885. I wonder how much power is actually radiated on these product channels? The images were very weak, only occasionally above the noise level (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 8-086, VFF Iqaluit: ``And MCTS means? (gh)`` Marine Communications and Traffic Services. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And now, what does ``NBDP`` mean? (gh) Nothing found in my several QSL letters from Canadian Coast Guard stations, but I found something on the Web: http://www.tc.gc.ca/acts-regulations/GENERAL/c/csa/regulations/060/csa063/csa63.html "NBDP" means the process of message transmission known as narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy that uses the International Telegraph Alphabet Number 2 Code in such a way that receiving equipment automatically produces a printed version of the transmitted message. http://www.weather.gov/os/marine/hfsitor.htm U.S. Coast Guard SITOR (SImplex Teletype Over Radio) text broadcasts are performed in mode B, FEC. SITOR is also known as Narrow Band Direct Printing (NBDP). SITOR/NBDP is an automated direct printing service similar to NAVTEX http://www.weather.gov/os/marine/navtex.htm but does not offer all of the same functionality such as avoiding repeated messages. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** CANADA. Super low power FM --- I picked up CHIM-FM Timmins on 104.9 today on the way to work. I heard a local ID that sounded like "your inspiration station for Hamilton". Turns out the call letters are " VFN859 ". Power is listed as 0.0012 watts!!! Antenna height 39 feet - but it's up on the escarpment overlooking the City of Hamilton. Range is about 7 miles. I can't pick it up at home 15 miles away. I'm glad because 104.9 is my best MS and AU frequency. Web Site: http://www.dxinfocentre.com (William R. Hepburn, Grimsby, ON, CANADA, July 29, WTFDA via DXLD) In the USA something that low-powered would not need to be licensed or lettered. Or, could not? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHAD. RNT, reactivated on 4905, July 30 at 0545 with talk clearly in French; signal roughly equal to Mauritania 4845, but Chad is better modulated. Still no match for nearby T-storm and local line noise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. IOC ADMITS INTERNET CENSORSHIP DEAL WITH CHINA With just over a week to go before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been forced to admit that some of its own officials cut a deal to let China continue to block sensitive websites at the International Press Centre. This is despite earlier promises by China of unrestricted access for the duration of the Games. Journalists arriving in Beijing this week found that some sites, including the Chinese language websites of major international broadcasters such as the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Deutsche Welle, were blocked. A clearly embarrassed Kevan Gosper, the IOC’s press chief, told journalists: “I regret that it now appears BOCOG [the Beijing Organising Committee] has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time. I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related.” The list of websites that are inaccessible at the Press Centre is considerable: Apart from the international broadcasters, others include Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honour its Olympic human rights pledges, Reporters Without Borders, and a number of websites related to the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, as well as sites dealing with Tibet. Selected material on the YouTube and Wikipedia sites dealing with sensitive Chinese issues is also blocked. Beijing organisers have insisted that censorship would not stop journalists doing their jobs in reporting the Games. BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide told a news conference: “We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work through the Internet. I would remind you that Falun Gong is an evil, fake religion which has been banned by the Chinese government.” However, journalists from Western countries have already begun to express their anger at the Chinese position. Some of that anger is now likely to turn towards the IOC. In an interview only two weeks ago, IOC president Jacques Rogge insisted that reporters would have full Internet access: “For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. There will be no censorship on the Internet.” There are sure to be demands to know exactly which IOC officials negotiated the deal with the Beijing Organising Committee, and why. Another question is whether Jacques Rogge and press chief Kevan Gosper knew of the deal with the organising committee, and if not why not. The Chinese government could yet decide that unblocking the sites is a less harmful option than allowing negative publicity to overshadow the Games. For the IOC, the debate about its apparent willingness to bow to the political demands of host nations is likely to continue until long after Beijing 2008 is over (July 30th, 2008 - 11:28 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) This whole deal stinx to high heaven. I suggest the non-Chinese media should boycott the games entirely. Really. Let the athletes compete in that horrible environment, if they wish, and we`ll read about their achievements later, hoping they were undoped (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) DEUTSCHE WELLE WILL NOT PROTEST CHINA'S INTERNET CENSORSHIP http://www.dernewsticker.de/news.php?id=31813 Quotes DW spokesman Berthold Stevens with following statements: Deutsche Welle will not protest the blocking of its website in the Olympic press centre at Beijing. Already for a couple of years they work on getting a broadcasting licence in China. Thus it is in the interest of the house to get in the long term its feet on the Chinese TV market by way of further licences and cooperations. The website blocking is no new situation and apparently just temporary, this happens time and again. DW offers internet and radio services for China, radio on shortwave because it is more difficult to block. Individual TV productions are rebroadcast by Chinese stations in Guangdong, Hongkong and Taiwan [as in original], DW-TV as program in its entirety is not available in China. Comment from my side: Here in Germany yesterday a big press buzz broke out about correspondents in this press centre facility discovering that a number of websites are inaccessible there. It appears to be widely believed that the filtering takes place especially for this facility, but I think this is quite unlikely since the concerned websites are blocked already on the backbone level in China, as widely known. What makes me feel uncomfortable is the impression that the crowd would be satisfied if this press centre would get a real internet connection (something that could be rather expensive, since for this purpose most of the regular infrastructure is useless) and not care about the Chinese people not being able (without special tricks) to access these websites. If so the outcry now would be quite hypocritical (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also NETHERLANDS ** CHINA. 8794 USB, Changjiang Maritime Security Information Center (presumed), 1348-1427*, July 30, in Chinese, repetitive IS (EZL orchestra music) till ToH, pips, series of assume IDs by man & woman over background music (same IS orchestra music and also pop instrumental music), 1405 begins reading some type of lists (assume it's the water traffic information for the Changjian River, also called the Yangtze River, the longest river in China, third longest in the world), short musical bridges between lists, read by different women announcers, fair. Am grateful to Dan Sheedy for his guidance (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hey Dan, let`s hear from you directly again (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. BBCWS, in English, 9740 via Singapore at 238 July 31 with co-channel QRM at about equal level in Chinese. Aoki reminds us that PBS Sichuan 1 began using this frequency May 15 after the quake, 24 hours a day. Are they still, or is this something else now? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. New 6010.00, 0000-0045 24+26.07, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda. Spanish religious talk, hymns 24232. Rafael Rodríguez (station QSL manager) confirmed to me, that despite other information [from the station itself], they are still on the air irregularly, but only with 50% of radiated power due to bad tubes, and problems with electricity supply. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) What`s new about it? Do you classify it as `new` whenever it comes back on after an outage? Or when the last time you heard it, was slightly off this frequency? (gh, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Central America: 5954, Jul 30, 0224-0243, Costa Rica: Radio Casino. 34222 (Cleiber Andrade, Brasil, HCDX Online log via DXLD) I don`t think so. R. Casino left SW years ago. Or did he get an ID? As a newcomer, he may be unaware of the ELCOR, CR music tests which were on this frequency earlier this year, but not reported in some weeks, and not at this late hour. If it was really on 5954, not 5955. Please check tonight! (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [later:] Nothing at all, no carrier detectable here on 5954 or 5955, at 0242 UT July 31, between the big signals on 5950 and 5960 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Also at 0045 July 31 on 5910 I heard only Marfil Estéreo with music and ID as soon as I tuned in, no sign of R. Republica as was reported. May have had some residual DentroCuban jamming; also utility tones intermittently as well as ``running water``. Earlier at 2359 July 30 I reconfirmed that RR was making a quick switch from 9515 to 9640, taking only a few seconds, but interrupting programming in progress; both over jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. R. Prague relay in English via WRMI, 9955, audible over/under lite jamming at 0607 July 31 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, R. Djibouti. July 31, Arabic, 0341-0355 Arabic type music, 0346 maybe a local pop music returning to a Arabic type, 0353 abrupt OM and YL talks on music, another local pop music. Some CODAR, 33433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Afar is the main language there, not Arabic (gh, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Glenn: I had lunch with Rudy Espinal in Santo Domingo last Friday. He is doing well, managing a cable TV tourism network, publishing a glossy bimonthly tourism newspaper and doing the voice announcements (multilingual music titles) on an FM station in Santo Domingo called Raíces. You can hear it online at http://www.radioraices.org.do We had a good time recalling the Radio Earth/Radio Clarín days. By the way, I passed by the old Radio Clarín building, and it's now occupied by a photocopier company. Santo Domingo has grown incredibly since my last visit there 16 years ago (Jeff White, FL, July 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1419, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Previous Rudy sighting was in DXLD 7-033 (gh, DXLD) He never replied to my e-mail, maybe because I wrote in English? (Clara Listensprechen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB DRM 15355-15360-15365 gets QRM from Bonaire 15355: see NETHERLANDS ANTILLES ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. NEXT CHAPTER IN ERITHIOPIAN RADIO WAR --- today, July 29th, things seemed to be as follows between 1640 and 1715 UT: - Radio Fana: 6110 // to new 7215, the latter very strong. - Unid HOA programming as heard on 8000: 1640-1645, than blank carrier until 1650-1700* on unusual 7100. - R. Ethiopia: 5990/7110/9704 as scheduled - V of Tigre Revolution: 5950 only, but quite weak. - presumed ERI 1: 7090, ERI 2 not on 7175/7220, nothing around 8000. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. ERITHIOPIA: July 30th in contrast to July 29th: No ERI on 7090 (nor 7100) in the evening, no unID on 7100 at 1600- 1700, no Fana on 7215 (nor 7210), but VoTR again on 5950//6170. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7100, VOBME, Asmara-Selae Daro. July 31, Tigrinya (scheduled), 0356 sporadic talks on music, 0400-0410 OM talks with seconds of silent pieces. After these silent, which seems to be an audio fail, returned with Arabic type music, then OM talks. 24432 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. After a number of successless checks, I found Africa No.1 back on 15475 July 30th; had been missing last week. RTV Gabon 4777 still seems to be off air, as most days last week (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. New 6005, 1205-1415, 23+27.07, R. 700, Kall-Krekel, Euskirchen. German announcement, German and British pop songs, ID: "Radio Sieben Hundert" 35333. A colourful QSL card and station info was received on their broadcast via Wertachtal (100 kW) Jul 12 within 11 days. Postal address: Funkhaus Euskirchen, Radio 700, Kuchenheimer Str. 155, D-53881 Euskirchen. My enclosed IRC was used. The 1 kW transmitter is located at the Kall-Krekel hills SW of Euskirchen which is a city west of Bonn. I have passed it many times by car. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) Your IRC may not have been returned, but how do you know it was used? And what`s new about it? Reported months ago on this frequency (gh, DXLD) ** GUAM [non]. GERMANY. Among all aired programs of "DX Wavescan" [sic] program in English of KSDA and others of AWR on Sundays, the most well heard here is at 1200-1230 on 15435 kHz, observed June-July (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 30 via DXLD) Via Wertachtal 15435 1200-1300 41NE WER 250 kW, 90 degrees, AWR (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** GUATEMALA. Re 8-086: Deben existir algunas excepciones a la regla, en cuanto a mayor presencia de emisoras religiosas chapinas en la banda tropical. Una de ellas se acostumbra escuchar en Tiquicia desde las 0200 UT en adelante, Radio VEA 1570, Voz Evángelica de América, con muy buena señal. Ahora bien, ¿de qué se quejan los radiodifusores seculares guatemaltecos en cuanto a que estas emisoras religiosas las hacen perder ingresos, porque se vuelven más y más populares. ¿Será que hay ahora menos mundanos? Entonces señores, "compongan" algo y dejen trabajar en paz a los demás. Eso me recuerda un antiguo dicho "Cerdos en carreta y todavía van chillando" (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quoting DXLD 8-086, Glenn Hauser is saying that "Most Christian stations in Guatemala forced off the air" and as a personal comment: "I had the impression this is why Guatemala`s SW stations are exclusively religious, banned to the band no one listens to". This is nonsense and purely speculations and obviously wrong. It is a fact that one of the leading religious stations in Guatemala, Radio Buenas Nuevas (4800 kHz), is first and foremost an FM station. They are certainly not "banned" from operating on the band that people listen to. Everyone can do this – if they pay. Radio Buenas Nuevas is serving a large area in Northern Guatemala and Chiapas (Southern Mexico). They still broadcast on SW in order to reach locals from the Huehuetenango region now living elsewhere in Guatemala. They are considering switching off their SW outlet because it may be easier and cheaper to reach these (sort of) expatriates by other means (= the internet). It is true that Radio Buenas Nuevas and other radio stations in Guatemala (be they commercial or religious stations) pay a huge fee to operate an FM station. A license for a SW station on the other hand is rather cheap. But I find it very hard to believe your story "MOST CHRISTIAN STATIONS IN GUATEMALA FORCED OFF THE AIR". I was in Guatemala three months ago and unless everything has changed since then, it is a fact that the Christian fundamentalists from the US (mostly extreme rightwing evangelistics) are very, very strong --- and on the threshold of taking over the entire country. Thus it makes no sense at all to claim that "Most Christian radio stations in Guatemala have been forced off the air because of the pressure secular radio stations are exerting on the government." Please understand that the authorities in Guatemala have been trying to track down and close down numerous illegal pirate stations (community frequencies) broadcasting without a license over the past couple of years. A good deal of these stations are of indigenous origin – but apparently some of them are Christian. It is completely absurd to talk about "secular radio stations" unless you are a religious fundamentalist. These are "ordinary" commercial radio stations. Besides: As far as I can see this has absolutely nothing to do with any "pressure" from anyone and from any anti-Christian action. The authorities want to close down illegal stations. Besides, my feeling is that close to 100 percent of the population of Guatemala is very, very religious (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Denmark, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx for your comments. At the outset you seem to confuse my brief remark appended to the item, with the source of the original story, not MY story, which was clearly attributed, as OneNewsNow, Religion Today, via HCJB. So it`s not surprising those evangelists have a skewed view of things. Just because I copied the story does not mean I endorse what it says! As for my own comment, I was certainly under the impression that in Guatemala, you may NOT operate a commercial station on SW; only religious stations are allowed, whatever the price. Is this not so? Here is a reference from Don Moore`s patepluma site, http://www.pateplumaradio.com/central/guatemala/guatfreq.html no doubt written several years ago now: ``By law, there is no commercial shortwave broadcasting in Guatemala. For this reason, all of Guatemala's shortwave stations are religious - Roman Catholic, Protestant Evangelical, or Seventh Day Adventist. Most of the stations are located in the interior of the country and primarily serve various groups of Mayan Indians, with programming in both Spanish and local languages. Of course, the stations play a lot of marimba and other types of typical Guatemalan music, which anyone can enjoy!`` There are certainly no non-religious SW stations now, and except for the government`s TGW and clandestines, I can`t recall any in the past few sesquidecades, tho there may have been some before this rule went into effect. This is of course not the same as religious stations being permitted on SW only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4869.92, RRI Wamena (presumed), 1342-1402, July 28, non- stop EZL songs, weak. Recently have noticed a carrier here, but always below threshold level until today. RRI Fak Fak on 4790.03 also doing very well at 1340 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. VOI presumed the het source just off 11785 way under Firedrake and VOA Chinese via Thailand, July 31 around 1315, and nothing audible on 9526. VOI sure knows how to ruin its chances of being heard anywhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. I'm more than a little apprehensive on how the merged XM/Sirius programming will play out. I have both Sirius and XM, and generally prefer XM's music programming and college sports channels to those on Sirius; my main interest in Sirius was Howard Stern and the NFL. The a la carte programming model sounds good in theory, but things usually don't work out as well in the reality as they do in theory. Ah, screw the whole world; I'm buying a DRM receiver, moving to Alaska, starting a new career as a certified miner, and will be a character witness for Senator Ted Stevens (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ July 31, ABDX via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. WORLD OF RADIO DX PROGRAM Ciao! IRRS ripete WORLD of Radio DX Program in EE il venerdi alle ore 1930-2000 UT. 7290 25/7 1930-2000 IRRS Slovakia relay - World of Radio DX programme, GOOD, SVA con Sangean ATS 909. Ciao, Stefano Valianti (Bologna) (via Dario Monferini, Milano, July 30, playdx yg via dXLD) E anche DX Party Line; è un investimento di un'ora [sic] di programmazione alla settimana fatta da Alfredo Cotroneo "per tentare di rilanciare un po' l'hobby del radioascolto." Prosegue dicendo che "La scelta è stata quella di utilizzare una lingua (inglese) che è compresa dalla maggior parte degli ascoltatori." (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** KUWAIT. BBG SEEKING CONTRACTOR FOR KUWAIT SHORTWAVE PHASE II EXPANSION PROJECT The US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), has a requirement for a contractor to design and construct a new building addition and associated facilities for Government-furnished shortwave transmitters and related equipment at an IBB transmitting site in Kuwait. The solicitation is expected to be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website on or about 14 August, 2008. Further details: http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2008/07-July/31-Jul-2008/FBO-01625392.htm (July 30, 2008 - 1353 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) I think the wording "Government-furnished shortwave transmitters" clearly indicates more Continental 419 transmitters from closed sites like Holzkirchen, Glória and Kavála. A number of them should still be in storage somewhere. But especially interesting is the question if this second phase also involves the construction of new antennas. Quite likely it should, or would it be possible to multiplex more transmitters into the existing antennas? They all aim at Afghanistan, and apparently their slewing and frequency range capabilities get meanwhile stretched to the limits to use the facility to serve other areas than Afghanistan and its surroundings as well (some years ago they planned to use Kuwait even on 60 metres if feasible; no such transmissions ever appeared, so apparently it did not work). Making the antennas reversible, i.e. mounting dipole curtains also on the other side of the reflecting grids, would it make possible to use Kuwait also for transmissions to Africa. Perhaps the complete documentation will answer this, but it could also be that only the infrastructure for the transmitters and their installation are included in this invitation of tenders (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASDCAR. RETURNED MAIL --- Hello all, back in Feb '08 I sent some reception reports to Radio Madagasikara. They were addressed to the BP 442 address as per PPWBR and Radio Madagasikara's website. I sent the regular 6 x 9 inch envelope with a reception report, CD and one US $ and some post cards in each. I also put one of the green "customs forms" and checked "GIFT" so there would be no taxes on their receipt in Madagascar. TO MY SURPRISE, many of my envelopes with the goods described above were returned to me today in my mailbox. the envelopes were not opened or tampered with in any way. They did look as if they were "around" awhile. They did make it to Antananarivo because there are stickers with the capital letters of R N 121 and then it says Antananarivo. There is rubber stamp ink that says "NON RECLAME"; "RETOUR L'ENVOYEUR"; hand written "Pc=40" or "Pe=40" in red marker, 2e avis, 26-04-08. Also, the address that I have written just as PPWBR and RM's website address has inkpen X's all over it like the address is no good. Here is the address that is crossed out: Radio Nasionaly Malagasy Radio Madagasikara B. P. 442 - Anosy Antananarivo 101 Madagascar. I do know from surfing the internet that folks have had letters returned that were sent to the once good 4422 and 1202 boite postals. There are many other numbers, dates, and illegible ink stamps over the envelope too. Once again, it was unopened and completely not tampered with, and, it definitely made it to Antananarivo. So, does anyone have any idea what the problem is? Could there be a "tax" even though I have the "gift" customs form checked? If there was a tax, then they did not want it and sent it back? Is the above address (that is on their website) no good? I do have the easy QSL from Nederland Relay from back in the early 80's but would like to have RM's in my collection too. If anyone has any idea, I would very much appreciate any thoughts on what may have happened. I am going to send the embassy an email to get their thoughts. Thanks for any ideas, posts, or thoughts (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, July 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Steve, A not completely serious reply --- If you wrote ``gift`` on the customs sticker, they may have thought it was poison (German). If you had written poison, they may have thought you meant poisson, (fish in French), which would have been rather spoiled by then. You should have written ``cadeau`` which really is gift in French... I have no idea what any of these words are in Malagasy. BTW, hold on to that cover which should be quite a philatelic gem. You might scan and post it. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) How many did he send, anyway? Interesting on the way this one has been in transit. Here in Canada -- First I do use the 'declaration stickers' on the brown envelopes BUT I do not indicate it as a 'gift' but as a 'sample'. Second if (and this might be a a bit devise [?]), I indicate that the envelope has only documents so declaration sticker is not needed and sending it airmail reduces the interest in that envelope within the postal System. Sending CD to any 'third' world country always runs a high risk of interest with your envelope. Sending it registered might help but then could have the opposite effect. I would try a 'written' report and make your envelope the least amount of attention. Do not use stamps but a meter stamp. Trying the embassy might be useful but I have found trying this route has its delays and they (the embassy) might be a bit inconvenience to them, but then again you are using a US Embassy so their staff might be receptive to US residents. Again try another report, but try a written one and avoid using a CD (if you do use the MP3 format) Hope this helps (Edward Kusalik ODXA QSL Editor, ODXA yg via DXLD) Thank for your help. I will try regular letters (Steve, ibid.) Hi! Why do you recommend MP3 format over, let's save .wav that can be played in most PCs? (Mick Delmage, ibid.) OK, I should have said in whatever format you want to use. I use Mp3 for ease, compression of space of the recording and if the person has a CD Player, may wish to use that. I've had no problem sending CD recordings to any number of stations using the Mp3 format (Edward Kusalik, ibid.) ** MEXICO. Radio Huayacocotla 2390 kHz Anexo transcrito -copiado y pegado- mensaje que me envía hoy el Sr. Cristóbal López en respuesta a mi pregunta sobre los equipos de ondas cortas de la emisora. Ayer esta misma persona me habló por teléfono para darme una explicación breve sobre este mismo asunto. [sic:] ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -\ Hola profe: Miguel Angel, hace unos minutos resibie una carta firmada por usted. en bace a la pregunta sobre el equipo de XEJN-OC RADIO HUAYACOCOTLA 2390 kHz. debo decirle que hace como 3 años dejarmos de transmitir en esa frecuencia, ahora estamos en FM en el 105.5 con 10000 wats de potencia. tambien trasmitimos en internet. en otro momento le mando la pajina, es que en este momento se nos daño la red y necesitan revisarla. en cuanto este lista se la emvio para que siga escuchando la radio. la programacion tiene el mismo enfoque, solo que antes transmitiamos 8 horas y ahora transmitimos 12 horas. estamos de 7 am 7 pm. El equipo que teniamo de onda corta ya los tiene la universidad hiberoamericana en mexico. es que ella era la permisionaria. y la nueva frecuencia ya es de fomento cultural y educativo que es nuestra asociacion civil. saludos desde huayacocotla Veracruz ubicado en la sierra norte del estado. mi nombre es Cristobal Lopez T. Y estoy en la coordinacion de la emisora. XHFCE LA VOZ DE LOS CAMPESINOS 105.5 FM. http://www.sjsocial.org/fomento/proyectos/xhfce.html ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - informacion de: (Miguel Ángel Rocha Gámez, Direcciones de correo-e en el grupo Enlace relacionado http://mx.geocities.com/diexismo73/dx.html July 25, via Dario Monferini, July 30, playdx yg via DXLD) FINE DI UN MITO DELLE ONDE CORTE --- Gracias Miguel Angel! Lo que es CURIOSO es que hay senalaciones que la frequencia 2390 kHz fue reportada activa hasta el 2007 ...... De Radio Huayacocotla (Dario Monferini, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. V. of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. The program in English at 1030-1057 UT on 12085 kHz was repeated from 1530 UT on 12085 kHz on July 18th. Same news and items (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, July 24, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES A new Internet project from OneWorld.nl, onzeWereld and Radio Netherlands Worldwide Intimate China OneWorld.nl, onzeWereld and Radio Netherlands Worldwide are launching an international Internet project which offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the Beijing Olympics. The website http://www.rnw.nl/intimatechina contains intimate little stories, photographs and clips of events taking place in the margins of the world's greatest sporting event. The site is available in Dutch, English, Spanish and Indonesian. The site brings together all the news, background information and clips from OneWorld.nl, onzeWereld and Radio Netherlands Worldwide on one website. From a story about the working conditions in sports clothing sweatshops to a story about Chinese parents who have named their children after the Olympic Games, visitors to the site will find all kinds of facts about China, its people and political and cultural climate. Two Radio Netherlands reporters are covering the Olympic Games from inside China, reporting from the margins of international sport performances on events and news items which affect China and the Chinese themselves. Photo series A special series of photographs from onzeWereld enables visitors to look at the Asian superpower through the eyes of both the Chinese and foreigners who have lived there a long time. The series "Among the Chinese" shows work by students and former students of international photojournalism in Dalian (North-East China). Collaboration The Dutch media organisations onzeWereld, One World.nl and Radio Netherlands Worldwide share an interest in themes including globalisation and human rights, and are working closely together for the first time in this Internet project. Their aim as journalists is to focus attention on the personal and social circumstances of the Chinese. * http://www.radionetherlands.nl * http://www.onzewereld.nl * http://www.oneworld.nl (Media Network newsletter July 31 via DXLD) Based on the news item indicating that the IOC has basically given the Chinese authorities carte blanche to impose restrictions and censorship on journalists covering the olympics, I’d say your reporters will have their work cut out for them (Ben Sailor, July 30th, 2008 - 17:00 UTC, Media Network blog via DXLD) see also CHINA ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [and non]. HCJB 15360 DRM - Interference by Radio Nederland 15355 from Bonaire relay Second day of RNW punching error of Bonaire operator ? wb Viz.: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Norbert Graf" Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 11:54 PM Subject: [A-DX] HCJB 15.360 KHz DRM - Störung durch Radio Nederland? Hallo DXer, heute beoachte ich seit 2130 UT, 15360 kHz HCJB in DRM. Bei einem SNR von 20 db kann kaum vernünftig dekodiert werden. Die Ursache liegt m. E. in einer Störung durch Radio Nederland in holländischer Sprache auf 15355. Das ist die erste Beobachtung dieser Art in über 4 Monaten. Weder in den üblichen Frequenzlisten noch auf der Homepage von Radio Nederland finde ich eine Eintrag über diese Frequenz. Gibt es vergleichbare Beobachtungen bei anderen SWL´s oder könnte hier ein Phantomsignal bei mir vorliegen? TNX es vy 73! RX: Perseus, Ant: Wellbrook ALA 330S, PC: Lenovo Thinkpad T61p, Intel Core 2 Quad, T7700, 2 x 2,4 GHZ, Prog: Dream (Norbert Graf, 52078 Aachen JO30BS, A-DX via Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) Subject Interference: RNW Bonaire in Dutch language on 15355 kHz on July 29th and 30th (registered 15315 kHz) at 2059-2159 UT. RNW Dutch on 15355 kHz interferes heavily HCJB DRM outlet on 15360 kHz. Punching error of the operator on Bonaire? 15315 / 15355 kHz. Kind regards (Wolfgang Bueschel, Stuttgart Germany, July 30, A-DX via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Subject: Time To Leave The South Pacific? Hi Wolfgang, We are in the middle of a horrendous storm, very high winds and rain, a "weather bomb" it is being called. I think a cyclone/hurricane might be nearer the truth. The wind has suddenly stopped and is about to change direction apparently and go back to 130 kph hour + strength, which means we are in the "eye of the storm". Regards, (Barry Hartley, Auckland NZ, July 26, via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: Yet Another Severe Storm In N.Z. Hi Wolfgang, We are having our second severe storm in 5 days. This time it has hit the Levin in lower North Island particularly hard. As I write this, electrical power is off for the Levin area where the Radio Service is located. There have been very strong winds causing a lot of damage. I can't hear them right now on either 1602 or 3935 kHz, which means they have sustained damage to their transmitter site, or they don't have a backup power supply. Watch this space! Maybe it is time to move to Europe, where the weather is fine all the time! Regards, (Barry Hartley, July 30, ibid.) FYI, ZLXA Radio Reading Service, Levin. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** NIGERIA. BORNO RADIO TELEVISION TO BROADCAST ON SHORTWAVE Borno State Government in Nigeria has bought new equipment and facilities for its radio station, Borno Radio Television (BRTV). Also, the radio station has expressed its readiness to extend it coverage to most states in the Northeastern parts of the country and the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad. The General Manager of the station, Alhaji Babakura Abba Jato, said that the equipment, costing hundreds of millions of naira, was brought in from Italy and would be immediately installed in order to commence broadcasting on both AM and FM. Jato told journalists that the station was at 85 per cent completion stage. Jato explained that after the installation the coverage area of the AM/FM stations of the organisation will be beyond the state boundaries. He said that the station is going to transmit on the shortwave band based on the new licence it has obtained from the NBC. (Source: ThisDay online)(July 31st, 2008 - 12:59 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) That`s Maiduguri; it used to be on SW. WTFK? This 1971 QSL seems to show 4900, 6100: http://www.antique-corner.com/SWLQSL/maid.htm (gh) ** PERU. 4835.46, 2325-2335 25.07, R. Marañon [sic], Jaén, Spanish (?) talk, 15221. Not heard 24 hours later. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) It`s Marañón. This is not the only time I see the tilde without the acute, which is nonsensical, or worse, neither. Even native speakers often put in the tilde but leave off the vowel accents! (gh, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. PHILIPPINAS, PBS Radio ng Bayan in Tagalog, DZFM Quezon City-Marulas. Help, why do appear the PBS entries in HFCC table now? Only wooden entries? Operate time 5965 daily, remaining only M-F. 5965 2100-1400 50 MAR 7 320 PBS 9580 1200-1400 49 MAR 50 272 PBS 9580 1700-1900 29,30 MAR 50 46 PBS 9615 2100-1400 50 MAR 3 155 PBS 11945 1400-1700 49 MAR 50 272 PBS 11950 1000-1200 44,45 MAR 50 32 PBS 11950 1200-1400 54 MAR 50 212 PBS (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX July 31 via DXLD) Hi Wolfgang, right now at my location (1250 UT): 9580, weak carrier, probably Australia. 11950, nothing except splatter from very strong CRI Malay via Kunming on 11955 kHz. [later] July 24, 1301 UT 5965, nothing, not even RTM Malaysia audible. 9615, "Radio Keluarga" i.e. Family Radio in Indonesian, strong via Irkutsk-RUS. Regards (Alan Davies, Surabaya, Indonesia, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) Today on July 24. No PBS detected on 5965 9580 9615 and 11950 kHz until 1400 UT. Also no PBS on 11945 kHz after 1400 UT (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Again middle sound buzz noted at 0300-0700 UT on 9715 and 1000-1225 UT on 15250 kHz. In the schedule of Radio Taiwan International is given 15245 kHz for using but they are on 15250 kHz plus Firedrake of Beijing. (July 20). Before the beginning of the programs in French observed: 0750 En, 0800 Fr on 17785 and 1350 (Urdu?) \\ 13775, 1400 Fr on 17660 (but sometimes they are using 17760 kHz!) (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, July 24, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. Dear Radio Singapore International, Hello from Australia. I have only just recently heard that Radio Singapore International will cease broadcasting at the end of July. I am just so saddened to hear this news. I am a 43 year old male living in Sydney. I have enjoyed listening to many of your programs since the late 1990’s. Even before that I listened occasionally to Radio Singapore since 1982. Your programs are first class & all of the English language staff at Radio Singapore International should feel proud at what you have achieved. The presentation of your programs, the research, production, the entertainment factor & of course your interesting subject material rates amongst the very best of the International broadcasters on shortwave. In many ways I feel as though your station was an undiscovered secret. Excellent programs, but perhaps not big enough on the world stage or heard well enough outside of Asia to attract more listener’s attention. Again it is sad to hear of your station leaving the shortwave band in July. Please say hello to my fellow Aussie at your station; That is your Jason Tan. I like his presentation style & his voice really sounds so good on the radio. Oh and tell Jason that I speak Mandarin badly too , he’s not alone , I have been teaching myself this language for a couple of years now in my own time…….. I do hope you all of the English staff members settle into your new positions within the local Media Corp radio network with ease & I would like to take this opportunity to thank each & every one of you for your rich entertaining programs & servitude to RSI listeners. Do take care. With best wishes for the future to you all. Kindest regards, Ian Baxter, Sydney - Australia - 2008-07-01 09:54:13 (RSI Guestbook, http://www.rsi.sg/html/guestbookenglish.htm via DXLD) GOODBYE, SINGAPORE --- 6120, Radio Singapore International, 1050-1101 July 31, noted a male and female in Malay comments during the period. Everyone seemed happy and jolly as if they were having a party. Signal wasn't that good, however. Noted a parallel broadcast on 7235 kHz which faded out before 1100 while 6120 was poor to fair. 6080, Radio Singapore International (presumed), 1108-1130 July 31, caught a female in English language comments during the period. Signal was always at poor or worse level. Consequently, it made hearing details difficult. At 1121 music was presented. Didn't hear the joy in this transmission that was noted in the 6120 transmission above (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For the record, I tried 6080 around 1230 July 31, but as usual below the noise level by then. I wonder how long the last program audio files will remain available? I could not get ``25 Minutes`` to play the last time I tried, anyway (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FIN EMISIONES RSI-SINGAPUR 1 AGOSTO 2008 HOLA AMIGOS DX-ISTAS: OTRA EMISORA, EN SILENCIO, DICE ADIOS A LA ONDA CORTA, SE TRATA DE RADIO SINGAPUR INTERNACIONAL QUE CESA SUS TRANSMISIONES EN LOS 49 METROS, FRECUENCIAS 6080 y 6150 KHz A PARTIR DEL 1 DE AGOSTO 2008. TAMBIÉN SERÁ CERRADA SU WEB. PARA LOS QUE QUIERAN OBTENER SU ÚLTIMA E-NEWSLETTER TAL VEZ PUEDAN BAJARLA DIRECTAMENTE DESDE http://www.rsi.sg/html/connexion.htm CORDIALES SALUDOS / GOOD LUCK / (JUAN FRANCO CRESPO, STAMP JOURNALIST (AIPET), SÀLVIA 8 (MAS CLARIANA) E-43800 VALLS-TARRAGONA (ESPAÑA- SPAIN-ESPAGNE-SPANIEN), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Above link goes to the first and apparently last e-dition of Connexion --- note spelling! --- dated 1 January 2008, 18 pp pdf, mainly reports from correspondents abroad, in Malaysia, USA (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Tuned in at 1350 July 31 to catch the last few minutes of RSI. Time check for 9:55 at 1355 and into the final news in English. Reception not quite as good as I've previously heard during the last few weeks, but perfectly readable. Weak cochannel with music noted at 1357. // 6150 just audible under much stronger cochannel. Ended at 1358:20. End of transmission at 1358:30 with sign-off (nothing really special, except announcing that the SW will end as of tomorrow --- a bit disappointing. I was hoping to hear something more substantial). IS for RA came on at 1359:40 or so blocking the last few seconds of RSI. Goodbye to another SW broadcaster :-( (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, HCDX via DXLD) SINGAPORE [non] AWR Wavescan: see GUAM [non] ** SLOVAKIA. Re 8-086, "Which DX editor?": Markus Weidner, who of course delivers it from Germany to Bratislava and does not work there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. España: TVE emitirá más redifusiones y menos anuncios, (y fin de la SW) [mentions again that REE WILL ABANDON SHORTWAVE, in the graf below starting Radio -- gh] Luis Fernández pacta con el Gobierno los términos del contrato- programa --- ROSARIO G. GÓMEZ - Madrid - 31/07/2008 http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/TVE/emitira/redifusiones/anuncios/elpepusoc/20080731elpepisoc_5/Tes La corporación RTVE no ha resuelto el fleco más importante del contrato-programa que tiene que firmar con el Gobierno: la subvención que recibirá durante los tres años de vigencia (de 2008-2010). El Consejo de Administración aprobó ayer los anexos en los que se detallan los porcentajes de producción, la plantilla, el desarrollo de los medios interactivos o la reforma de algunas cadenas de radio. El texto prevé un aumento progresivo del número de horas dedicadas a la redifusión de programas, fórmula que permitirá ahorrar costes. Pero la suscripción por el consejo está pendiente del anexo fundamental: el que detallará el dinero que aportará el Ministerio de Economía. Para los próximos ejercicios está previsto que el Ejecutivo compense, además de las actividades de servicio público, el recorte publicitario. El fleco financiero es, justamente, el que marcará la evolución del resto. Para 2008, la aportación del Estado es de 500 millones de euros (con una partida extra de 50 millones para los Juegos Olímpicos de Pekín). Antes de decidir la subvención a RTVE, Economía tiene que cuadrar los Presupuestos Generales en un año de crisis económica. El texto pactado por el presidente de la corporación, Luis Fernández, con el Gobierno incluye inversiones de 330 millones de euros en infraestructuras, sistemas y medios técnicos, pero deja al margen la nueva sede. Éstas son las principales áreas: - Publicidad. TVE recortará los anuncios progresivamente. De 11 minutos de publicidad por hora para 2008 pasará a nueve en 2010 (Uteca, entidad que agrupa a las televisiones privadas, pidió ayer que el tope máximo sea de siete minutos). - Producción. Los programas informativos e institucionales deberán ser producidos por TVE, es decir, no podrán ser encargados a empresas privadas. Si se trata de espacios de actualidad, educativos y divulgativos, sólo se exigirá el 60%, mientras que en el área de entretenimiento y variedades la barrera cae al 55%. En esta partida se computa un 5% de producción interna para la edición de programas. En los canales temáticos, las exigencias de producción propia se recortan a un 20%. - Emisión. El objetivo es aumentar las horas de redifusión en sus dos principales canales. Para este ejercicio, el número de horas de primera emisión en TVE-1 es de 5.293 y de 1.860 de redifusión (repetición de espacios). En los siguientes años la relación es 5.292/2.007 y 5.286/2.159. En el caso de La 2 las redifusiones ganan peso con los años: 2.146, 2.336 y 2.531 horas, respectivamente. No obstante, las redifusiones podrán variar en función de los ajustes de continuidad y autopromoción. En los canales temáticos la tendencia es incrementar las primeras emisiones. Al tiempo, aumentarán las horas subtituladas. - Canales temáticos. Uno de los canales múltiples albergará TVE-1, La 2, Canal 24 Horas y Teledeporte. El segundo cobijará Clan TVE y Canal Cultura. Docu TVE cederá en 2010 su ancho de banda para una emisión en alta definición. - Radio. Los principales cambios afectarán a Radio 3, especializada en música contemporánea, que incluirá las radiofórmulas y fomentará la presencia de artistas españoles, y a Radio Exterior, que abandonará la onda corta y se distribuirá por satélite e Internet. - Audiencia. En televisión, el grupo aspira a ocupar el primer o segundo puesto. El mismo objetivo persigue en cuanto a los contenidos informativos, infantiles y deportivos, mientras que estima lograr la segunda o tercera plaza en la oferta de entretenimiento. Para RNE fija una audiencia acumulada no inferior a 1.300.000 oyentes. Radio 1 tuvo en la primera oleada del EGM de este año 1.002.000 seguidores. - Plantilla. Tras el ajuste laboral derivado del expediente de regulación de empleo, la plantilla será de 6.376 trabajadores, lo que significa una amortización de 78 puestos. El número de contratados temporales no podrá ser superior al 10% de la plantilla total (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, July 31, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. On July 27th on 9770 kHz at 0330-0500 (and later also on \\ 15745 kHz) only Gospel programs in English, no own programs of SLBC, but at 0400 UT ID "This Is Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation", the next program is compiled and presented by .... Ministries" (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, July 30, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. New 9590 *1700-1710, CLANDESTINE, Tue 22.07, Sudan Broadcasting [sic] Service, via Dhabbaya, UAE. Zande news, ex 9840 33333. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand on 5890, as reported from Australia? At 0050 July 31, just VOA Spanish with jamming. As usual, RT not audible if still on scheduled 12120 direct, just RTTY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. BBC DRM test from Nakhon Sawan relay site at 0300-0600 UT on 17840 kHz, and 0600-0900 UT on 21640 kHz. Scheduled only Mons and Tues (Wolfgang Büschel, July 24, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 31 via DXLD) Tentative noted a tiny DRM noise around 0810 UT July 29th (Büschel, ibid.) ** TURKEY. Live from Turkey continues to be anything but a call-in, even tho billed as VOT`s flagship show, or some such, as heard online, July 29 at 1850. Announcers just gab with each other about current events, personal happenings, play fill music, and this time even some other produced feature which presumably aired originally in its own slot, to fill out the semihour. With plug for essay contest, mentioned that they might extend the July 31 deadline, but not yet decided; I suppose this means they have not received enough good entries to justify giving winners 2-week all-expense-paid trips thru Turkey. If they ever give their phone number again soliciting live call-ins, beware: if you rarely make overseas calls, and don`t have a specific long-distance plan covering this, you could be billed at exorbitant rates of tens of dollars for that ``no cost to you`` one-minute call to get a call-back. It ought to be easy to set up a call-back a bit in advance by e-mail, but even monitoring e-mail before or during the program seems to be beyond VOT`s capabilities (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also RADIO PHILATELY below ** U K. Ofcom press release - RECORD FINE FOR BBC Ofcom has today fined the BBC a total of £400,000 for breaches of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code ("the Code") relating to unfair conduct of viewer and listener competitions. This fine is the highest financial penalty to be imposed by Ofcom against the BBC. Specifically, Ofcom has found the BBC in breach of Rule 2.11 of the Code ("Competitions should be conducted fairly...") for faking winners and misleading its audience in the following programmes: Television * Comic Relief, BBC1 on 16 March 2007 - £45,000 * Sport Relief, BBC1 on 15 July 2006 - £45,000 * Children in Need, BBC1 (Scotland) on 18 November 2005 - £35,000 * TMi, BBC2 and CBBC on 16 September 2006 - £50,000 Radio * Liz Kershaw Show, BBC 6 Music on 1 May 2005 -6 January 2006 £115,000 * The Jo Whiley Show, BBC Radio 1 on 20 April - 12 May 2006 - £75,000 * Russell Brand, BBC 6 Music on 9 April 2006 - £17,500 * The Clare McDonnell Show, BBC 6 Music from September 2006 £17,500 Ofcom considered that these breaches of the Code were very serious. In each of these cases the BBC deceived its audience by faking winners of competitions and deliberately conducting competitions unfairly. The investigations found that in some cases, the production team had taken pre-mediated decisions to broadcast competitions and encourage listeners to enter in the full knowledge that the audience stood no chance of winning. In other cases, programmes faced with technical problems, made up the names of winners. Overall, Ofcom found that the BBC failed to have adequate management oversight of its compliance and training procedures to ensure that the audience was not misled. Although viewers and listeners paid the cost of their calls to take part in these competitions the BBC did not receive any money from the entries. The full Adjudications are available on the Ofcom website at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/ocsc_adjud/bbcjuly08/ (via Dave Kenny, July 30, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) If BBC stuck to cultural non-commercialised programmming, this would never have happened (gh, DXLD) BBCWS DRM test: see THAILAND above ** U K. THE MAN WHO INVENTED STEREO --- 2 August 2008 --- On BBC Radio 4 next Saturday at 19.00 UTC - The Archive Hour Martin Shankleman profiles Alan Blumlein, an unsung but remarkable inventor. During the 1930s he devised the world's first stereo recording system and many of the key features of television. He went on to pioneer radar systems that played a major role in Allied victory in the Second World War. Yet his untimely death on a secret radar testing mission has left his name relatively unknown. Had he lived, according to a colleague, he would have been seen as the Michael Faraday of the 20th century. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00csqgt (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 8-086, Re: VOA Russian radio ceased on July 26 ``It has been hinted that RL in Russian would be put on shortwave where previously VOA Russian plus Special English could be heard, from August 1 after a gap of five days. Can anybody check that out? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` There is a link to Radio Liberty on the VOA Russian website. Maybe there always was, but I just wondered if it's something new (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KUWAIT; MUSEA below ** U S A. DEATH OF LEONARD REED, RETIRED VOA MANAGER "In 1965, Mr. Reed was placed in charge of English-language broadcasting for the VOA. Later, a dispute over the agency's reporting during the Vietnam War era led to Mr. Reed's removal by the then-head of the U.S. Information Agency. Mr. Reed was dismissed over the objections of the VOA's director at the time, John Charles Daly, a veteran journalist and television and radio personality, who resigned in protest. John Jacobs, a friend of more than 60 years who also worked with Mr. Reed, said the issue was whether the State Department would dictate the VOA's editorial policies. 'They decided we should parrot the administration line, but we were all newsmen, and there was always a big resistance to that,' Mr. Jacobs said. 'We wanted to do an honorable job, which is by far the best propaganda.'" Baltimore Sun, 28 July 2008. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) OBIT This is a reminder of why VOA employees fought for decades to separate VOA from USIA. This finally happened with legislation in the 1990s. Many of those who would like to restore USIA would also like, in the name of "coordination," to place U.S. international broadcasting back under that USIA. That would doom U.S. international broadcasting to, at best, a second rate status. Posted: 30 Jul 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. WEWN Vandiver, 7455 at 0820 UT July 28, Radionovela // 9920, Español, 33333 (Antonio Madrid, QTH: Moraleda, Granada (España), CG: 37 8'43''N - 03 56'39''O / 712 Mts Altitud, Rx: Sony ICF2001D+Kenwood R5000+Degen, Ant.: Dipolo 100 mts + Yaesu FRT7700, Web: http://radioescucha.spaces.live.com noticias DX yg via DXLD) I guess this was shortly before WEWN closed down for a fortnight of maintenance, as in 8-086. Still unheard at various chex (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 7505.05, unID, what probably is WRNO testing here at 2230 tune-in July 21 with strong carrier (S9+10) and low modulation levels, with very EZL music (all instrumental). Occasionally the modulation is better, but I would suggest they need to significantly increase their modulation depth before they start actual broadcasting (Dan Henderson, MD, DXplorer via DXLD) I guess all the following were on same date: As Dan describes it, 2258, strong signal at times, but deep fades. Irrespective of carrier strength, modulation--instrumental music -- mostly weak, but occasionally quite good. Modulation variability has no relationship to carrier fade. Modulation the other day on 15590, when heard with preacher, was excellent and consistent (Don Jensen, WI, ibid.) Heard here too, just like everybody else. Putting in a whopping AM signal on 7505 at 40 over S9, with slightly undermodulated classical music inside a powerhouse carrier. No ID at 2300 or at other times, either (George Zeller, OH, ibid.) Surprisingly good signal here at 2320 (Jim Ronda, OK, ibid.) Same here at 2320 with classical music and no announcements. Easily S9+20 (John Herkimer, NY, ibid.) ** U S A. FOUNDER OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING IN NEBRASKA DIES BY JANE PALMER, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER, Monday July 28, 2008 http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10392311 Nebraska has long been a leader in public broadcasting and distance learning programs, thanks to the leadership of John G. "Jack" McBride. He launched KUON-TV at the University of Nebraska in 1954 and soon started the statewide television network that became Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET). He was a pioneer in television, cable, satellite and interactive computer technologies. He also helped several states and 25 countries launch educational programs and public broadcasting. McBride died Monday at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, where he had been recuperating from lung surgery. He was 82. The family plans a private funeral. A celebration of life service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 17th and F Streets in Lincoln, at 1 p.m. Friday. "He was legendary in public broadcasting across the United States," said Rod Bates, the current general manager for NET. "He helped shape public broadcasting as we know it today. And he had significant international influence. People would come from all over the country to learn about designing and producing instructional material that was interactive. The word visionary is overused, but that's what he was." McBride was inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997 and received the Nebraska Builders Award from the University of Nebraska in 2006, the same year he was inducted into the Ak-Sar-Ben Court of Honor. McBride's daughter, Julie Olson of Lincoln, said she and her brother took for granted that their father traveled to such places as Nigeria, Egypt, China, Yugoslavia, India and Tibet to set up educational television networks and programming. "Now that we look back, we appreciate all the wonderful things that he did," she said. "It's gratifying to us that a lot of the things he did have a lasting legacy and will benefit people for so many years to come." Longtime friend and colleague Ron Hull of Lincoln said McBride served on numerous public broadcasting boards, including three terms on the PBS board. Because of McBride, he said, Nebraska had educational television before such places as New York City and Los Ángeles. "He could have had any national position in public broadcasting in Washington, D.C., but his heart and total dedication was to Nebraska. He truly was a giant," Hull said. McBride was born in Omaha , where he graduated from Creighton Prep and Creighton University. He earned his master's degree at Northwestern University in 1949. He was teaching at Wayne State University in Detroit when he accepted an offer from the University of Nebraska in 1953 to develop educational shows for broadcast on commercial TV stations in Omaha and Lincoln. He retired in 1996. Other survivors include his wife of 57 years, Jean, Lincoln; son Dave McBride, Lincoln; brother Tom McBride and sister Mary Heider, Omaha; and four grandchildren (via Brock Whaley, HI (DXLD) OBIT ** U S A. The Invisible Man announced on KSFR Santa Fe webcast, UT July 30 around 0400 that their switch from 90.7 to 101.1 would finally be completed on August 6. Have been simulcasting for many months, but this means 90.7, their original frequency in the noncommercial band, will be turned off and/or turned over to the gospel huxters who have coveted it, while KSFR winds up with coverage increased from the Santa Fe area, into Albuquerque and other parts of northern New Mexico via 101.1 which is axually licensed to White Rock, near Los Álamos and has been temporarily called KSFQ; will the COL change too? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KFI LA MIRADA, CA - TOWER CONSTRUCTION Another effort is getting underway to reconstruct the primary KFI(AM) [640] broadcast tower just east of Interstate 5 at La Mirada, California. The tower erection crew is back on the job (including Steve who was injured during the elevated guy anchor fall in March) and the work has begun. Our correspondent, Dino, K6RIX, plans to update the pictures on his Website regularly. This will certainly be a very visible and interesting project to follow and we wish KFI every success. ............................ Field report from La Mirada: Reconstruction of KFI's fallen tower began today (July 28, 2008) with the move-on of equipment and tower hardware. The original replacement tower fell during construction on March 18, 2008 when an elevated guy anchor gave way. Tower sections are being assembled as additional hardware arrives this week. A complete redesign of the north/east elevated guy anchor (point of failure on March 18, 2008) has been employed and stacking of tower sections should begin by the end of the week. The tower, when constructed, will be 684' tall with a 50' diameter top hat for capacitive loading (to make the tower think it is a bit taller electrically). This new tower replaces the original 750' tall tower that was destroyed in 2004 when a light aircraft crashed into it. The pictures of the new tower construction are posted on my Website (first URL) and will be updated regularly. You can read the NTSB (LAX05FA054) findings at the second URL below. KFI Tower Construction Photos: http://www.k6rix.com/kfi.html NTSB Report: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041227X02035&key=1 Best of success and safety to all parties involved! Dino, K6RIX, dino (at) k6rix.com (The CGC Communicator, CGC #849, Robert F. Gonsett, W6VR, Editor July 30, 2008 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. A benefit of receiving DTV off the air is the Ion network, formerly Pax, with 4 programming channels, which I get from KOPX-62, DT 50 in OKC, and also identically with a little help from the troposphere via channel 44 in Tulsa KTPX (axually Okmulgee, DT 28). Their -3 channel is Ion Life, which like -1 is heavy with infomercials, but mainly during primetime they do have a number of programs worth watching, at least as eye candy, three YLs in bikinis doing serious scientific research in the outdoors; there`s also a Gadget3 show from the UK at 0400 UT, i.a. All of this gets a huge amount of repetition from night to night, and even week to week. The -4 channel is ``Worship``, with a big W in the LR corner. This provides eye-candy of a different sort, beautiful scenes of nature, with nice classical music, apparently attributed to the Christian God, but too often interrupted for graphics, scriptural quotations, plugs for various Christian money-raising operations, and, -ugh-, even preaching altho briefly. I have not watched this enough to figure out how repetitious it be. I find that of the online TV program listings, Titan is most useful for showing all four Ion streams. I wonder if any cable systems carry all of this; certainly not on lower tiers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 4940.02, 0005-0015 26.07, R. Amazonas, Puerto Ayacucho (presumed), Spanish announcement, songs, very distorted 25333. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, Zambia NBC, Lusaka. July 31, vernacular. 0427 hi life music and like is common, male talks on mid or near the end of music (not rare he sings together), 0432 OM talks, another hi life music till 0437. I think it was some weak but clear, 23433. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Cut numbers in MCW, extremely strong centered on 5800, July 31 at 0602, but with continuous whine/squeal too, and bleeding all the way from 5775 to 5825, surely Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 9950: see CANADA UNIDENTIFIED. 15630 NO ID, francés, colisión con Voice of Greece --- Saludos cordiales, hoy 31 de julio a las 1635 UT se escucha una emisión en francés por 15630 en colisión con la Voz de Grecia; se escucha a un locutor y una locutora con noticias, referencias a Portugal. No encuentro listada emisión en francés por esta frecuencia, ¿nuevo servicio, emisión accidental, emisión fantasma? (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Neither audible here at 1647. There`s a wooden registration for SLBC Sri Lanka in Sinhala at 15-18 on 15630 from Ekala, 300 kW, 310 degrees, but highly unlikely (gh, DXLD) Creo que se trata de DW en francés que emite en 15620 que oscila hasta los 15630 (Romero, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ MWLIST WORLDWIDE MEDIUMWAVE & LONGWAVE DATABASE http://www.mwlist.org This is a friendly invitaion to MWLIST (Mediumwave List) --- welcome to MWLIST, this is a new easy to use free public worldwide software database of mediumwave & longwave broadcast stations. Additionaly, bandscans or logs can instantly be created or edited using the PHP online MyAM tool included in MWLIST. This makes creating bandscans much easier and handled more practicaly, export in csv spreapsheet format is possible, this can be converted to excel or other formats. The regular html format can easliy be copied and added elsewhere. Bandscans can be linked directly to other websites and logs easily copied into forums or mailing lists. This database software can be used also as a framework for exporting or presenting radio station data on other websites, if you are interested in becoming a partner website of MWLIST, please see contact details below. ---------------------------------------- For AM and MW DXers worldwide Interested in AM radio - MW DXing - LW DXing? Why not join the MWLIST project! MWLIST is a (non-commercial, hobby-made) worldwide database of MW & LW radio stations. We feature world-wide data and seek: - Data sources for MW radio from all around the world - Collaborators as country editors and news reporters from all over the world - More location or transmitter details, more technical details - MW DXers to make use of the data for logs, bandscans and further reception analysis MWLIST includes map, logs and bandscan features, data is available on- line, you can download it as PDF file or convert logs to a spreadsheet format. Direct linking of any bandscan is possible. Please let us know what you think about this project, or notify us about any missing stations and more corrections. Please have a look at http://www.mwlist.org/ or get in touch with us at: glorenz @ lorenzsoft.de 73, Uli Onken DLxxx (FMLIST Editor-in- chief) Günter Lorenz (FMLIST Database Administrator) ---------------------------------------- PS: If you like this online project, perhaps you might add a direct link to MWLIST to your website? Thanks (Björn Tryba, editor in the MWLIST project, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ Voice of Turkey is sending new schedule with stamps honoring 40 years of TRT TV. Source: http://trphilately.blogspot.com/ (via Dario Monferini & Roberto Pavanello, playdx yg via Horacio Nigro, radiostamps yg via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ VOA MUSEUM MOVES AHEAD In case you haven't seen this, the group trying to get a VOA Museum at Bethany, Ohio just got a boost. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/NEWS01/807300399/1168/NEWS (Dale Rothert, OH, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE & THE ORTHOGRAPHIC REFORM In DXLD nº 8-084, 23Jul'08. My comments in paragraphs marked *. " By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid Friday, 2 May 2008 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-pays-lip-service-to-brazils-supremacy-819728.html Portugal may have to recognise the inevitable by bowing to the economic and cultural predominance of Brazil, its former colony. * This has little or even nothing to do with bowing or comparisons: a country the size of Brazil, counting nearly so many a million, would be bound to have a much larger economy than one whose population is around ten and a half; compare for instance New Zealand's economic strength against that of neighbouring Australia. The once proud imperial power is considering reforming its language to accommodate recent linguistic developments in the South American economic powerhouse, with which it shares a language. * It's more of reforming the orthography to meet actual uses both in Europe and in Brazil albeit if allowing ridiculous variants such as "ótimo", "úmido", "ação", "fato" as used in Brazil alone vs. "óptimo", "húmido", "acção", "facto" as used in standard [European] Portuguese and elsewhere, i.e. from African to Oceania; in these 2 exs., letters –p- & -h- are indeed silent consonants, but etymology dictates it, so we kept them while disregarded by the Brazilians. Whether this silly reform will also account for "omem" instead of "homem" (man), I do not know. Intriguing… * Like the writer, poet & translator Vasco Graça Moura, I am fully against this part. Let's imagine a would-be American reform would establish "skool" instead of "school", "nite" instead of "night" – would many gladly accept it no matter how easier that might look like? Surely more shocking than "skedule" vs. the correct form "schedule." However the proposed reform of the Portuguese language in favour of Brazilian usage has sparked a heated polemic among the Portuguese, with the distinguished poet Vasco Graça Moura leading the rearguard action. "There is no need for us to take a back seat to Brazil," he protests. * In the reform, it seems it is the whole of it that generated so much angry cries, not parts of it for, after all, the Portuguese orthography has endured several reforms, like for instance the one after the fall of the monarchy, in 1910; at the time, you'd write "chronica" instead of "crónica", "pharmacia" instead of "farmácia", "paragrapho" instead of "parágrafo", so here too some etymology was disregarded, and examples abound without any protests. A more relaxed view of the proposed changes is taken by José Saramago, Portugal's only Nobel literature laureate, who recently infuriated compatriots by suggesting that Portugal become part of Spain. "We must get over this idea that we own the language," the 85-year-old said. "The language is owned by those who speak it, for better or for worse." * Like Vasco Graça Moura recently put it, his silence is now expressing his anger towards the discussed reform in the way it was approved, so I feel I should follow suit vis-à-vis Mr Saramago, a writer and communist who chose to live in the Canaries, not in his country, but who dared not to settle Cuba instead – why not then? The proposal to be put before parliament on 15 May would standardise Portuguese around the world and change the spellings of hundreds of words in favour of the Brazilian versions. The measure is largely a response to commercial interests. But for the once proud imperial power, whose language is spoken by 230 million people worldwide, it is a blow to national pride comparable to Britons adopting American spellings and writing, say, "traveler" instead of "traveller". * Another silly mistake if abstracted from the whole context – the reform includes words in the form as (incorrectly) written in Brazil but Brazil is also adopting other forms, and new (silly) forms were even adopted, so new to all speakers. The Portuguese modifications would match spellings to the way words are pronounced by removing silent consonants. Thus optimo (great) would become otimo, and accao (action) would become acao. The word humido (humid) would become umido. This might create problems when the new words already exist with a different meaning – for example facto (fact) would become fato: but in Portugal a fato is a suit. * These have already become the commonly typical examples put forward whenever this unnecessary reform is debated or commented. Of course, this is the part of the reform that should not be conceived at all, not the words that, like in British English vs. American English, acquired slightly or even completely different meanings in the course of time, a fact that is almost inevitable when a country "exports" its language to a distant colony. Advocates say benefits include easier internet searches in Portuguese, and a uniform language for international contracts. Portugal's publishing industry, especially the lucrative school textbooks sector, stands to benefit enormously. And Portuguese officials hope the measure would advance an old ambition of getting Portuguese adopted as an official language at the UN. * In my humble view, a reform, if conceived at all, should account for certain other aspects taking into consideration that it is the language spoken/written in the country where it originated that is correct, not elsewhere. The standards should be set here and applied elsewhere. Jose Socrates's Socialist government wants Portugal's politicians to ratify the spelling agreement with the world's seven other Portuguese- speaking countries: Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, East Timor, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Principe. The letters k, w and y would be included in the Portuguese alphabet for the first time, to accommodate words like kilometro (kilometre) and kwanza, the Angolan currency. * Not true!!! Letter –y- was used in Portuguese words for centuries, e.g. "etymologia", at the time when for instance "sciencia" was used instead of (modern) "ciência" (curiously though, we have "consciência", where the –s- was not dropped! It is letters –k- & -w- that are totally foreign [to any Latin language] and can only be used when writing foreign names or if applied to technical abbreviations, e.g. kg (quilograma), km (quilómetro). I feel letter –k- was adopted in Angola (Kwanza, Port. form Quanza) for the same [political, not linguistical!] reasons Mexico when started to write the country's name with an –x- instead of a –j- as in Castilian… but still pronouncing "Méjico"! The changes would affect some 2,000 words out of a Portuguese vocabulary of 110,000 words. But three quarters of the modifications would have to be adopted by Portugal, the mother country. * I doubt that this is totally true, but if is, then it is serious, serious as, for ex., writing month names without capital letter, e.g. "setembro" instead of "Setembro" – after all, those are names, and names are always written with capital. "The Portuguese don't like their language being changed any more than we would like ours," said the British writer Peter Sage, a longtime resident in Lisbon. "Portugal has lost its colonies, its power and its wealth, but at least it could pride itself on its linguistic influence in the Portuguese-speaking world." * The Portuguese language community has even gained three extra non-Portuguese speaking countries: Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, a former Portuguese colony traded with Spain, and, curiously, the Mauritius http://www.universia.pt/servicos_net/informacao/noticia.jsp?noticia=47815 ! But apart from those countries, even Galicia, Spain's NW province, is also attentive to this much talked orthographic reform of the Portuguese language for Galician is, despite its centuries' old influence of Castilian, considered a branch of Portuguese. But he said many people in Portugal were having to come to terms with the shifting of economic power in the Portuguese-speaking world. Today Brazil, which gained its independence from Portugal in 1822, is home to 190 million Portuguese speakers and is one of the world's big economic players. Portugal has a population of just 10.6 million (via DXLD) * Portugal is truly, happily, incredibly, sadly unique in many aspects. No other European country shifted its royal court to a colony and strategically established the capital of the empire overseas, or had a king's son declaring himself king, King of Brazil, later Emperor of Brazil. So despite having become republics, to my knowledge, there are no similar examples of one royal family sharing two branches, that of Portugal and that of Brazil, and that is the de facto situation till now. Will people be obliged to write as dictated by the reform planned to come into force in year 2009 or so it seems? Of course, new publications, private or otherwise will, unfortunately, but certainly not we, common mortals, whose immense majority shall keep writing the way we were thought, like yours truly who for instance even uses the grave accent mark in the cases where the use was abolished back in 1971." (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 29Jul'08, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SW INTERFERENCE FROM BT HOME HUB VISION ADAPTORS Mike Todd of the UK QRM group has put together another video on Youtube demonstrating the severe shortwave interference being caused by a BT Home Hub Vision Adaptor installed in a neighbour's home. This device is a form of Broadband over Power Lines which can radiate widespread and severe interference right across the SW bands from about 3 to 30 MHz. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S__UBDaL-aE If any members are suffering from this sort of interference, especially if it has recently appeared, I would urge you to complain to Ofcom using the form at this link: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/inter/radio/293505/?itemid=298436 Don't worry about the £50 charge as this won't apply if the interference is coming from outside your property. (You can check first by unplugging electrical devices in your own home, including things like digital TV boxes and touch lights which can also radiate interference.) From recent reports on the UK QRM group it seems that Ofcom have had a number of complaints about interference from these BT Home Hub Vision Adaptors (usually made by COMTREND, MODEL: DH-10PF) and have raised the issue with BT in an attempt to find a solution to the problem. However these devices can also be bought independently of BT from various suppliers so this could potentially become a very serious problem for our hobby in the UK. Anyone interested in the issue can join the UK QRM group at this address http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/UKQRM (as with the BDXC email list you can opt to receive individual postings, a daily digest, or read messages on the web). We will of course keep you posted on developments both in Communication and on the BDXC e-mail list (Dave Kenny, for BDXC Board, July 30, BDXC-UK via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Another Interference Source? Hi! I don't think that this article has been in DXLD or on the group; saw it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a few days ago; sort of ties in with the recent BPL discussion: NEW TECHNOLOGY COULD FILL TV'S 'WHITE SPACE' By Kim Hart, THE WASHINGTON POST, Friday, Jul. 25 2008 WASHINGTON --- The nation's top technology companies have spent millions of dollars and nearly two years building devices, poring over laptops and working in federal labs trying to come up with a new way of providing high-speed Internet to bandwidth-hungry cities as well as hard-to-reach rural regions. Last week, the companies moved from lab to field. Engineers from the technology heavyweights including Motorola and Philips lugged their laptops, antennas and other equipment to parks, houses and high-rises around the Washington area, hoping to prove to the Federal Communications Commission that the unlicensed airwaves between television stations, known as white spaces, could provide a new form of mobile Internet service. Using white spaces "will provide a way to provide broadband across long distances at much faster speeds than cell phone networks and Wi- Fi," said Jake Ward, spokesman for the Wireless Innovation Alliance, which includes Google, Microsoft, HP and Dell. The group is trying to convince regulators that using the airwaves will provide broadband to rural schools, beam high-definition online video to low-income households and let consumers stream music while sitting in highway traffic. First out of the gate was a team from Motorola. On a recent steamy day in the middle of Patapsco Valley State Park about 10 miles west of Baltimore, Dave Gurney, an engineer for the company, set up shop in a parking lot surrounded by dense forest. A large black box the size of a suitcase hooked up to a laptop sat near the base of a tree-covered hill. An antenna perched on a tripod rested a few feet away. A group of engineers stared intently at the contraption, as if it were about to spring to life. "It's done!" Gurney said. He held his breath as the men leaned in further and quickly jotted down a cryptic list of numbers. Then he ran the test again. The stakes are high for this mysterious black box. Tech giants and Silicon Valley startups are betting that using white spaces could extend the Internet's reach. They also hope it will spark a new wave of portable devices. But the idea faces big hurdles. Broadcasters use adjacent airwaves to beam TV shows to viewers, and they say the technology could interfere with over-the-air signals. Wireless microphone users, from pop stars to mega-church ministers, say using white spaces could blot out their sounds. White-space backers say their devices will be able to detect and avoid frequencies being used by broadcasters and wireless microphones. Critics say the devices are not reliable enough. The FCC is trying to settle that debate. For more than a year, the agency has been testing prototypes with mixed results. An early prototype built by Microsoft failed to operate in the FCC's lab. Microsoft later determined the device was broken. The FCC is now testing other prototypes built by Philips and Motorola as well as Silicon Valley startup Adaptrum and Singapore-based Institute for Infocomm Research. The Motorola device connects to a database of TV stations operating within 120 miles and scans the airwaves nearly every second for other signals that may pop up unexpectedly, such as a wireless microphone. If the device senses that it is within or close to a TV station's coverage area, it is supposed to avoid that station's frequency. It then ranks empty frequencies by their proximity to existing signals. If a new signal suddenly appears, the white-space device should automatically switch to another open channel. Gurney ran the scan twice and recorded the results. He then covered the machine in bubble wrap, rolled it across the parking lot and ran the test again. Signal strengths can change by location, depending on how many trees, hills and people are nearby. "We're testing multiple times to make sure the results are consistent," he said. But the results can be hard to decipher. At the first location, Motorola's device indicated that Channel 51, for example, was open and available. At the second location, the device picked up a weak signal on the channel, suggesting that it was already in use. Motorola's engineers say that means the signal changed slightly between locations, and the device would be able to avoid that channel as soon as it was detected. But Bruce Franca, vice president of policy and technology for the Association for Maximum Service Television, a broadcasting industry group, is skeptical. "The results of every single test were different," he said. "The device failed to recognize that certain channels are actually being occupied by TV signals. … Clearly this is not ready for prime time." Shure Inc., which makes microphones and other audio equipment used in Broadway shows and sports games, argues the tests have not proven that the prototypes can consistently detect TV signals, let alone wireless microphones that hop on frequencies without notice. The FCC plans to test the white-space devices at an entertainment venue in the next few months. The National Football League has offered the Baltimore Ravens' stadium or the Washington Redskins' stadium as possible venues. And the Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammy Awards, has offered up the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago next month for testing. "That's where the rubber will meet the road," said Mark Brunner, senior director of brand management at Shure. ***END*** (via Will Martin, dxldyg via DXLD) 1ST IMPRESSIONS OF MY NEW HD RADIO....SONY XDR-S3HD....WOW!!!!!! Hi Guys: This may turn out to be a little Longish...so bear with me!! First of all....thanks to everyone who offered Advice, Opinions, and General Info on HD Radios...I appreciate the help!! Armed with a "Little Knowledge".. ..and a Lot of HOPE.....my wife and I headed for Detroit, a 120 Mile trip each way, to see if we could find me an HD Radio. Although I had originally thought about getting a SANGEAN....I was alerted to the SONY HD Radios...and just how good they were reported to be. I googled the SONY STYLE store on the Internet.... and found out there was only ONE SONY STORE in the entire state of Michigan.... and that was in TROY ....a suburb of Detroit. I was even familiar with the Mall it is located in...."Somerset Collections" ...a Very Upscale Mall..with a lot of BIG NAME Stores like Nieman Marcus, Saks 5th Avenue and Nordstroms. I was hoping to go and buy a SONY XDR-F1HD Radio. When I got there, the Lady working in the store steered me to the back where she showed me the Only Model of HD Radio they had....an XDR-S3HD.... which is the Model that replaced the F1HD. I had seen this model listed online from various sources for $199.00. Anyway...the one I was staring at in the store was also Priced at $199.00...but it had been marked down several times....from $199 to $179 and Finally to $129.00. After checking it out I told her I would take one......She then informed me that the Display model I was looking at was the ONLY ONE LEFT..and that it had also been discontinued. ..they won't be getting any more. I was hoping to get a New in the Box Radio...but asked her....well. ...since this is a DISPLAY Model....will you offer any further discount if I buy it??? She went to talk to the Manager and said....."You can have it for .....77 DOLLARS!!!.. ..yup.... 77 Dollars!! I said "SOLD" and we completed the Transaction. I would have bought several of them at that price....but there were no more to be had. They didn't have the Original Box for it...but all the Accessories and Manual were there...so I took what they had and was happy to find it......not to mention the Nice Price!! We stopped at quite a few other stores like Radio Shack, Best Buy, ABC Warehouse, Walmart, KMart, Meijers and a few more...but there wasn't a single store that had ANY HD RADIOS at all!!! So...in the Cities of Detroit..... and Port Huron Michigan.... I think I found the ONLY HD Radio on the shelves. Now off for home we headed....and the only thing going thru my mind is...."I sure hope this thing is gonna work when I get it home". I had not really tried it out in the store.....except to see that it turned on and noise came out of it. The store was Buried in the center of the mall....and they had no antenna hooked up to it...so it wasn't really hearing anything at the time I bought it. Well.....when I got home I hooked it up...and attached my 14 Element APS-14 Beam to it and what I am about to describe to you is absolutely %$#@! unbelievable! !!! (Pardon my French). I have been DXing the FM Band for well over 30 Years....almost 1800 FM'ers heard here...and I presently use a $1,000 Tuner (Magnum Dynalab FT-101A). It is a very good tuner....but what I heard come out of this new Sony HD Radio completely BLOWS the High End Tuner outta the Water. I have NEVER been able to turn my beam to the west and DX as I have a PILE of HIGH POWERED FM stations very close to me to the west. One of them CFPL-FM on 95.9 is 179 KWS and completely swamps the FM Band when I point my antenna at their Tower. It is only about 1 Mile away from me. With the Sony HD....not only can I point my beam west and NOT HEAR any Intermod, Images, Crap etc.......I can even tune in stations on adjacent Freqs to this Blow Torch of a station while pointed west!! This SONY is the TIGHTEST Radio/Tuner/ Receiver I have ever listened to....PERIOD! ! The Selectivity, Sensitivity, and adjacent rejection is SUPERB!! It is very sensitive as well........ ..and I can tell, after only using the Radio for about 1 Hour....that I am going to have a BALL with it!! I am hearing lots of HD stations from Cleveland, Erie, Detroit, Buffalo etc...and this is the first FM Receiver I have ever owned with RDS Readout as well....and that is going to be very helpful when DXing. The HD sound of this Radio is Beautiful .....I know the Hash it creates on other frequencies isn't too nice...but the HD station you're listening to is absolutely beautiful. Do I like this Radio....YOU BET. I don't think very many people are aware of these things and what they can do......I know there are a few guys in WTFDA who have them....but those of us who have not tried one of these....really have no idea what they are capable of. I want to thank the guys who steered me in the Sony Direction. I would not have even half imagined the capabilities of this Radio. So....I'm gonna tune around with this thing for a few days...and see what I can dig out. I will let everyone know more about this set as I get more familiar with it. I have already been able to set the clock, put in a bunch of memories, and set the Levels to my liking. A Friend of mine has told me that they use DIGITAL FILTERING on this Radio....so maybe that's what makes it so Selective... .I have to do more research and see what I can find out about it. Is there anyone else who may be using this MODEL????? It is quite similar to the F1HD....but has a Woodgrain Case and is the Big Brother to the F1HD. I would be interested in knowing what other owners think of this Radio. More to follow...... ..I haven't even finished reading the Manual yet!! A Happy Customer in CANADA...... where by the way....you can't even buy an HD RADIO!!!! Oh yeah....I haven't even tried it on AM yet.....maybe later, I'm having too much fun on FM!! Regards...ROB. Defy Physics..... Play Table Tennis!! (Ping Pong with an Attitude) (Robert S. Ross VA3SW Box 1003, Stn. B. London, Ontario CANADA N6A5K1 Antique/Vintage Radio Enthusiast Amateur Radio Stations VA3SW/VE3JFC, July 30, ODXA yg via DXLD) Sic. I give up. I am not going to spend any more of my valuable time cleaning up dot-dots where there should be commas or semicolons (ed.) THE MAN WHO INVENTED STEREO: see U K DIGITAL BROADCASTING DTV: see U S A: Ion and RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: see REF, above; DRM: ECUADOR; INTERNATIONAL VACUUM; NETHERLANDS ANTILLES; THAILAND PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TROPO MAP ALGORITHM ADJUSTED - AGAIN I haven't been too happy with the performance of the tropo maps over the past two months. Too many large blobs coming by that were busts. Looking closer at what was going on, I determined that too much importance was being given to higher level ducts. I added these in (as well as lower levels duct - which I'm happy with) during the last algorithm update as some of these were previously being missed. I hope this cuts down on the false alarms. The realtime APRS maps have been a *fantastic* tool to help me with verification. Web Site: http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html (William R. Hepburn, Grimsby, ON, CANADA, WTFDA via DXLD) ###