DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-100, September 9, 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 1425 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 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 Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [NEW] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [temporary, heard Sept 1, but Sept 8, 15?] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 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 ** ABKHAZIA. This morning 8.9. I have been listening to a Russian speaking station on 9494.75 kHz around 0600Z. Too much static noise for positive ID. However, this must be Abkhazian radio. This time nothing noted on 9495.5 (Jorma Mantyla, Kangasala, Finland, Sept 8, HCDX via DXLD) Yes, I check Abkhazia Radio this morning also. But on Sept 8th on 9494.75 also mornings at 0600 UT and also weak now still at 0738 UT. Sept 6th mornings 9495.55, afternoon 9494.75 Sept 8th mornings 9494.75, afternoon 9494.75 Nothing heard on 9535 kHz at all here in Germany (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9495.55, second transmitter unit faulty. Abkhazia Radio today again used the 2nd tx unit, which has always a modulator problem, like a WOBBLING audio signal, which measured today with a 2.3 kHz filter on about 9492 to 9499 kHz frequency range. Same fault logged also often by Erich Bergmann in late August. Checked the signal from 0530 UT onwards today with S=6-7 peak in 0530- 0630 UT range. Seems like Abkhazian talks at 0545 UT, then into Russian again, sport and weather around 0548 UT, from 0550-0557 music break. Time signal pips at 0600 UT were 4 seconds too late, when compared with DCF77 time signal station. SIGNING-OFF time was exact 08.06:00 UT today. SIGN-ON again around 1358 ... 1400 UT ? Sept 6th mornings 9495.55, afternoon 9494.75 Sept 8th mornings 9494.75, afternoon 9494.75 Sept 9th mornings 9495.55 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Today 9.9.2008 Abkhaz Radio was audible with so good reception that positive ID in Russian was heard at 1500Z. Program mainly native music, no relay of R Rossii news at 15 as most GTRK stations do in the European part of Russia. Fq 9494.75 (Jorma Mantyla, Kangasala, Finland, HCDX via DXLD) ** ABKHAZIA. E-mail reply from Apsua Radio which, translated from Russian, reads, in part: "Good evening, Don Jensen. We have received your letter. Thank you for the fact that responded to our radio broadcasting. We are very pleased to hear from you that information. Yes, indeed, you listened Abkhaz radio. We get lots of (mail) from different countries as Canada, Italy, Greece, Holland and other countries. Our editorial staff will write more to you on the radio program Abkhazia Apsua Radio." As best I can transliterate from the Cyrillic to Roman alphabets, the sender seems to be Susana Sadzba, who seems to be one of the broadcasters, since she adds, "I now hasten to the broadcasts." Since receiving this I have had several more email interchanges with the sender with information that they hope to have an English service, but, unfortunately, not any time soon. The report was sent via registered mail to the several mail drops in Russia which I found in on-line searches and which I recently reported on here. I don't know which one of them actually got through to the station in Sukhumi. Email reply came from apsuaradio1 @ mail.ru Dan: Glad to hear that this address also worked for you. Tnks for your earlier tips on hearing the station. –don (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, Sept 8, NASWA yg via DXLD) Presumably 9495v c. 0500 (gh) Was your report in English or Russian? I sent a report in early 2007 in English but it was returned as "RETOUR" mentioning no mail exchange with Georgia. I then sent the report to another address I found in Passport, (may have been a Russian address, have to look it up). So far no response, but I suppose I could send an English report to the email address you've given. At the time of reception they were on 9494.8 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) Steve, The reports, reply and several further exchanges of emails all have been in Russian. I think it is clear that no one at the station speaks or writes English. It took a thorough web search to find a couple of possible mailing addresses. One web hit was a blog from an English speaking European, maybe it was a Scandinavian or Irishman, I forget. He mentioned how he, an adventurous traveler, had spent three weeks in Abkhazia. He told how to get a visa, and gave a forwarding address, a supposed Abkhazia press office in Moscow. I also found, elsewhere, the mailing address of what supposedly was the Abkhazian "national library" in Sochi, just across the border from Abkhazia in Russia. I sent my report to the station in care of each of those addresses. One of them got through, it seems, though I do not know which worked. That prompted the email reply and several later exchanges of emails this past week. I believe English reports would be a waste of time. Maybe I am telling you something you already know, but these days, translation to and from many languages, including Russian, Arabic, Chinese etc. is a snap. Use Google Translate. Type your report in English in a "box", set the translation English to Russian and press "translate." That is. Then just cut and past it into your email. Voila! Works in reverse too, cut the Cyrillic text from your emaill reply, past it into the Google Translate box. Translate from Russian to English and that it! Using the address from which my first reply came, Dan Henderson since has received a verie too, via email, in 4 days. If I were you I would quickly send a follow up translated into Russian. I suspect soon the respondent, her name seems to be Susana, will soon tire of responding to others using the email address. Good luck. –don (Don Jensen, ibid.) Thanks Don. I'll try the Russian report route. That national library address is one I tried as well, albeit with an English report. (Steve Lare, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. Reception of Radio Tirana --- Hello Glenn, Last evening I was tuning the 31 meter band and listened to Radio Tirana from 0145 to 0156 sign-off on 9390 kHz. The signal was in the clear, but suffered from a combination of noise, fading and a high level of "signal absorption." My S-meter registered at S8 dB, which was a decent signal for Radio Tirana, but it didn't sound like that level. The propagation level sounded more like an S5 signal. I don't know if this was atmospheric related or transmitter related. Since I know you tune in on them regularly, perhaps you can shed some light on conditions as I experienced. Thanks, (Ed Insinger, NJ, Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ed, Sorry for the long delay. That was the week I was on vacation. I`m afraid that R. Tirana often has undermodulation problems, which would account for what you heard -- good signal but weak-sounding. I couldn`t comment now on whether there were any unusual propagation conditions, and they probably wouldn`t have applied to NJ and OK (or NM) anyway. 73, (Glenn to Ed, Sept 6, via DXLD) Thanks for the feedback, Glenn. I am going to log them for a week, with reception observations, and send the results to their Engineering Department, for their consideration. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. COMMENTARY COMPARES ALBANIAN PREMIER'S STAND ON MEDIA TO MUGABE'S | Text of report by Albanian leading national independent newspaper Shekulli, on 3 September [Commentary by Genc Kodheli: "Quasi-Dictatorial Morass"] In April, Russian daily Moskovskiy Korrespondent cited some sources in the Kremlin to the effect that, on the sly, President Putin had divorced his wife and that he was planning to marry a Russian Olympic champion, Alina Kabayeva. Russian public opinion was deeply shocked, while the more important Western papers did not hesitate to report the Kremlin love story. The day after the news was published, the staff of Moskovskiy Korrespondent and of another daily belonging to the same owner was "laid off" by the state security forces and agents of the Russian tax administration. Their offices were closed without much ado. It was an incident that would be unimaginable in a Western democracy, but that was normal enough in Russia, where state control of the media is very aggressive and all-pervasive. Prime Minister Berisha's Albania, too, looks like it has fallen into this quasi-dictatorial morass, in which the freedom of the media and expression is openly violated by the government and its bodies, which are mere tools in the hands of the party state. Over the past few days, the Albanians had to watch on their national TV stations a long spot sponsored and financed by the government, in which, for a full seven minutes, they saw "the achievements and successes" of the government with regard to paving roads and the struggle against corruption. In order to sidestep the legal provisions on electoral campaigns, which provide for them to be waged only within a certain period of time ahead of elections, the 420-second spot was broadcast as an "announcement." That does not impede the prime minister from giving the Albanians a phone number he allegedly has put at their disposal to denounces corruption cases. It is a ludicrous abuse by the government to use Albanian taxpayers' money to "demonstrate" the government's so-called achievements which, if they were real and visible, would not need to be advertised through extensive TV spots. Any intelligent Albanian can easily draw certain conclusions from government's attempt to manipulate public opinion. For its part, to ridicule this government's propaganda ploy, the G99 Movement issued a spot in which it reminded Berisha that corruption cannot be fought with phone calls and that he cannot use the Albanians' money according to his whims. In the tradition of Berisha's relations with the media, no sooner did some TV stations broadcast that spot than stiff illegal fines were imposed on them. The case is not new. For the past three years, the Berisha-led government has imposed fines on and resorted to other means of pressure against the media that dared to come out against him. This behaviour toward the media may be acceptable, if not entirely normal, for someone like Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's dictator, who threatens journalists and has them beaten up in order to prolong the life of his already 22-year rule. Similarly, the Venezuelan neo-dictator Hugo Chávez closed down Venezuela's biggest and most important TV station (RCTV) after 53 years of its existence, and his police fired and threw tear gas at hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets of Caracas. At the same time, in Russia journalists who write against the government are being arrested, jailed, and even murdered. All of those things are normal occurrences in a dictatorship. Regardless of hollow rhetoric about respect for the media and the free word, just as in Russia, Venezuela, or Zimbabwe, the facts show that Berisha has not changed in the least his extremely aggressive approach to the free word, which, like all dictators, he fears more than anything. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are the two pillars on which democracy rests, because they allow people to monitor the government and criticize it without having to fear its retaliation. If the government instructs us about what we must say and how or when we must say it, at this precise moment democracy dies and dictatorship starts breathing freely. Quite rightly, one of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, wrote: "Every individual should be ready to lay down his life to preserve the freedom of the human mind and then the freedom of the press. As long as we think as we like and speak as we think, the condition of mankind will improve." Even after 200 years, Jefferson is still respected for those words as a standard-bearer of democracy, whereas people like Mugabe, Putin, Chávez, or Berisha will be remembered as dictators and violators of freedom! The time has come for us to rise against this nightmarish government that is deceiving us, manipulating us, and violating our rights with each passing day. We must not lose courage and surrender. We tell the men of the media and all of the Albanians who are victims of the government's media, economic, and administrative repression: Do not lose heart! Source: Shekulli, Tirana, in Albanian 3 Sep 08, p17 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36 met sterk signaal op 15476.04 om 1910. LSB klinkt best. Groet, (Alexander, Netherlands, Sept 9, bdx list via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 2540, 07/09 0607, R. Província de Buenos Aires, La Plata, 2 x 1270 kHz, YL with agenda cultural de Buenos Aires, "...en Buenos Aires...y en Corrientes...", YL ID "...la rádio de la província..." 35443. Receptor Icom IC R70 + Audio Filter Datong FL2, antena T2FD para 49 metros (Márcio Martins Pontes, Registro - SP, Membro DXCB, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Hello all, I bought a Sangean WFR-20 Internet Radio last week on ebay and really enjoy it, it does have some bugs, but overall it's quite interesting and the choice of channels is really amazing. It receives its station list from http://www.reciva.com web site. Sound quality is quite good with high quality streams. I was listening to the Radio Argentina Al Exterior stream in English at 0200 UT and they mentioned that they were not on shortwave today due to technical problems with the transmitter. Don`t know if it's only tonight, but might be worth monitoring (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal, Canada, UT Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, they`ve been off SW since late August, per previous reports in DXLD. Frequencies to monitor for revival are 15345v daytime, 11710v evenings, and maybe 9690 or 6060. There were however, some reports of them, or RNA domestic service on 5940/5945, which would be completely new frequencies; anything further on that? 73, (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 810, ZNS[3], 1115 "...ZNS Morning Report.." news on Hurricane Ike moving across Cuba, discussion of importance of life jackets. 8 September. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, U S, NRD 535D, 746 Pro, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar 4750, 1616 UT. Met locale typische muziek van Bangladesh (lijkt veel op India!!). Zeker geen China of de Afrikaanse landen die ook uitzenden om dit uur. En het is ook op 4750 kHz, 1629 Bangladesh Betar, Hoor inbijlage opname met op 1 min. en 38 sec. Momenteel, Bangladesh tot S = 8 1656, sinpo 34443, van tijd tot tijd ID in Bengali. Hier hoort u nog eens, Bangladesh Betar op 4750, 1659. Met ID op één min. U hoort zeker dat dit een sterk signaal is!! Gr. (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Met LW 100meter en Perseus, sept 9, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4555, R Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza. September 7. Spanish, 2250 religious talks, YL talks on music, 2256 pop music, 2259 ID by OM, OM talks "...transmitimos la misa que se transmite de la iglesia de la Candelaria...", 2300 bells ringing. 23433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2910, 07/09 0600, R. Alvorada, Londrina/PR, 3 x 970 kHz, tx em rede Milícia da Imaculada, "...salve Maria Imaculada...", programa "A igreja no rádio" 35443. Receptor Icom IC R70 + Audio Filter Datong FL2, antena T2FD para 49 metros (Márcio Martins Pontes, Registro - SP, Membro DXCB, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Programa Brasil em Todos os Tempos (Transmitido agora em OC) --- Prezado Glenn Hauser, Se for possivel, agradeço se puder divulgar. As transmissões serão em em OM e OC e poderão ser ouvidas por todo o mundo. Muito obrigado. Ulysses Galletti Radio Eldorado de São Paulo PROGRAMA BRASIL EM TODOS OS TEMPOS A partir do próximo final de semana, dias 13 e 14 de setembro, o jornalista Geraldo Nunes inicia a apresentação de um novo programa. Trata-se do Brasil em Todos os Tempos, para dar nova roupagem ao já consagrado São Paulo de Todos os Tempos que assim poderá ser veiculado em nível nacional pela Rede Eldorado. A diferença entre o novo programa e o antigo, é que os temas serão mais abrangentes para despertar interesse em nível nacional, sem é claro deixar de abordar temas também ligados à cidade de São Paulo. Além das emissoras que compõem a Rede Eldorado, o novo programa também será transmitido na internet pelo site http://www.territorioeldorado.com Em função dos compromissos da Rede Eldorado com seus patrocinadores o Brasil em Todos os tempos terá uma hora de duração e será transmitido nos seguintes horários: Sábados às 23 hs do Brasil, 2h UT do Domingo Domingos às 7 hs e às 13 hs do Brasil, 10 hs e 16 hs UT As Segundas-Feiras, Quartas-Feiras e Sextas-Feiras as 2 hs do Brasil, 5 hs UT. Pelas seguintes emissoras da Rede Eldorado e freqüências: - Rádio Eldorado (São Paulo/SP) - AM 700 kHz - Rádio Clube (Curitiba/PR) - AM 1430 kHz e O.C. 6040khz e 9725khz - Rádio Guarujá (Florianópolis/SC) - AM 1420 kHz e O.C. 5980khz - http://www.territorioeldorado.com.br / AM [sic] QRV (Ulysses Galletti, Brasil, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - O horário de verão começará à zero hora do dia 15 de outubro. Durante esse período, os relógios das regiões Sul, Sudeste e Centro-Oeste deverão permanecer adiantados em uma hora. A dica é do Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, de Barbacena (MG). BRASIL – Acompanhamos, aqui em Porto Alegre (RS), em 30 de agosto, parte da programação da Rádio Educadora, de Limeira (SP), pela freqüência de 2380 kHz, na faixa de 120 metros. Por volta de 01h57min, na hora de Brasília, a estação levava ao ar uma mensagem de alguém que se identificava como um professor ensinando ações religiosas aos alunos. A Educadora, de Limeira (SP), é a única emissora brasileira que ainda transmite na faixa de 120 metros. BRASIL – Conforme monitoria de Édison Bocorny Júnior, de Novo Hamburgo (RS), o sinal da Rádio Guarujá, de Florianópolis (SC), não está mais indo ao ar de forma distorcida em 5980 kHz. BRASIL – Os sinais das emissoras de Belo Horizonte (MG), Itatiaia, em 5970 kHz, e Inconfidência, em 6010 kHz, não têm alcançado o Sul do Brasil nos últimos dias. Os transmissores estariam desligados? (Célio Romais, Panorama via @tividade DX Sept 7 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Emissoras Inativas?? 5940 KHZ- Guarujá Paulista 9565 KHZ- Tupi 9615 KHZ- Cultura 9665 KHZ- Marumby 11725 KHZ- Novas de Paz 11750 KHZ- Marumby 11765 KHZ- Tupi 15325 KHZ- Gazeta 17815 KHZ- Cultura --- Emissoras em OC que não tem sido captadas aqui em Novo Hamburgo-RS, há cerca de 2 meses. QRA: (Édison Bocorny Jr., Sept 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Enviei um e-mail à Rádio Pioneira de Teresina de que sempre tive boas recepções no Ceará em 5015 khz e eis a resposta recente: "Sr. George, Houve uma pane no nosso transmissor. Estamos aguardando um transformador de modulação, que foi pedido e vem de fora. assim que o problema for regularizado, a transmissão por ondas tropicais voltará ao normal. Obrigado pelo contato, Equipe Rádio Pioneira" De (George Sampaio, ZZ7MSG, Iguatú-Ce, Sept 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) They are temporarily off the air awaiting a replacement modulation transformer (gh, DXLD) ** CAMBODIA. Has not been on SW for several years; anyone who can remember at least three of the former SW frequencies without research wins a free year`s subscription to DXLD. But you can still QSL National Radio of Cambodia by going to SE Asia, and monitoring it on 918 kHz. A verie-letter obtained by Sergey Kolesov appears in Sept World DX Club Contact. The letterhead and foot, and even the date(?) are all in Khmer script, but the info says it was verified after one attempt without IRC or $, for 25 April 2007 at 2156-2255 local time. The reply is in English: Radio The Voice of Cambodia Monivong Boulevard Rd: 106 Phnom Penh The Kingdom of Cambodia Tel: (885-23) 722 869; (885-23) 725 522; Fax/phone: (885-23) 427 319 Dear Friend, We acknowledge that your reception report . . . fully corresponds with our local AM station log book. Your further reception reports with remarks or suggestions to our programs would be highly appreciated. With all our best wishes, Yours truly, RADIO THE VOICE OF CAMBODIA, Deputy Director, Nget Saborak, [address as above plus:] Tel.: (855) 012 869 178. E-mail nget_saborak @ yahoo.com (retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. PRESSING THE PAUSE BUTTON ON THE BLOG --- note a new direction is indicated in today's posting http://www.insidethecbc.com/ (Eric Flodén, BC, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, Seems that CFRX has moved back to 6070, or close enough. My zero beating at 1551 UT on 9 September would suggest it's just a hair low, but much, much better than before (Bill Mead, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, NRD-525/Wellbrook Loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was c. 6069.85. Believe I was still barely hearing a het around 1230 UT Sept 9, but did not try to measure it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Have found this link which explains how Firedrake is distributed within China, also included are links to a studio quality CD. http://www.satdirectory.com/firedrake.html (Paul, New Zealand, Sept 6, HCDX via DXLD) This was also found many months ago and linked in DXLD, and thus not news, but should I republish items like this for those who missed them? DXLD could fill up with` `old news``. But the Socialist-realism posters are a hoot worth another look (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Hello Glenn. While doing some research for a ham radio friend of mine to try and determine what shortwave broadcaster was being heard at 0300 UT, at the same time that a U.S. nationwide ham radio net that he participates in, operates on 3985 kHz. I traced it down to: Hrvatske Radio 'Voice of Croatia', apparently transmitting from Deanovec, Croatia. I heard their transmissions from my home near Pittsburgh PA USA, where I use a ham radio transceiver of recent vintage and a Butternut HF6V ground mounted vertical. I heard their transmissions at:. 0300 UTC weakly - SINPO 23332 0400 UTC moderately strong - SINPO 33333 0455 UTC loss of signal Programming was mostly talking-possibly in Croatian, with occasional musical selections. I also tried to hear them on 9925 kHz at that hour, but did not hear their transmissions. It appears that it is somewhat difficult to obtain a current operating schedule for this station. I found the 3985 kHz listing in the current HFCC A08 list. After doing some digging I found their web site at: http://www.hrt.hr/hr/glashrvatske [see correxion below] It does not list this frequency in its schedule. I have noted in some of your DX listings that this frequency was not being heard. Well, was heard by me and causing some operating problems for this ham radio net that has been operating on 3985 kHz for many many years. I have suggested that they move frequency. They are considering this alternative. Take care. 73 de (Chuck KC3ET Gessner, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As long as they aren`t broadcasting to NAm on 3985, we can`t complain about the spillover. Targets for 3985 are CIRAF 18 and 27-29, i.e. almost all of Europe, from non-direxional 100 kW. Not that that keeps them from broadcasting to NAm (oops, `Iceland`) on 40m via Germany. What net, I wonder? The final edition of John Norfolk`s lamented Nets to You a sesquiyear ago showed this, in winter and summer Z: 0400 0300 3985 11 O`CLOCK (Eastern, Central US) Daily [Alternate name WD8OAA MEMORIAL, after its founder] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GA Glenn, Many thanks for the quick response. I passed your information on to my buddy late this afternoon. He told me that he thought the net name had been changed from the 'WD8OAA Memorial Net' to the 'Eleven O'clock Net.' He said that it had been registered in the 'ARRL Net Directory'. Well, I checked that, and could only find the 'WD8OAA Memorial Net' listed. Typical. He said, she said mis- understandings. He said that he was going to mention it this evening during the 11 pm net, as he is the net control. I bet WB9JUV,who is one of the main supporters of that net, will have all sorts of comments on that issue now that I have stirred up the 'hornets nest'. Hi Hi. I may actually listen in to that net this evening to heard what is said. I have not checked into that net in about a year, as I usually am in bed at that hour. By the way, I had the wrong internet url for 'Voice of Croatia'. It should be http://www4.hrt.hr/hr/glashrvatske/gh_eng.php Take care, 73 de (Chuck KC3ET, ibid.) ** CUBA. Radio Rebelde-1180 --- Right now I am listening to Radio Rebelde on 1180 with special coverage of Hurricane Ike, but some very strange audio --- it appears as if there are three or more stations carrying the programming, each about a half-second apart from each other and making for some tough listening. I'll have a longer report tomorrow, but all Cuban stations seem to have broken from normal programming with the exception of Radio Reloj. I hear it under KLIF on 570 with time pips and its "RR" ID in Morse, but too much QRM to tell if they are airing hurricane info (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, 0317 UT Sept 8, ABDX via DXLD) This situation has existed for many months, presumably to make Martí reception more difficult in Cuba. From reports I have seen over the recent past, Reloj never deviates from format for any reason (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ibid.) Hurricane coverage also on Rebelde outlet on the 5025 kHz, very strong here in south TEXAS! (Steven Wiseblood, SPI, 0715 UT Sept 8, ibid.) Thanks for the explanation, Bob. Usually I have noted only one Rebelde outlet, or the Warbler/Het, on 1180. But why couldn't Fidel/Raul drop the BS for just one night, when a category 4 hurricane is approaching and lives are at stake?? (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) Radio Martí tries to cover such emergencies, and people do manage to phone from inside the prison, er country. Can`t have that (gh, DXLD) I'm still hearing Rebelde-5025 barely above the noise level as I write this. I noted the major Cuban networks --- Rebelde, Progreso, etc.--- all seemed to be carrying their own hurricane programming last night (complete with cheesy "howling wind" sound effects in the background of some announcements) instead of carrying a common program. It will be interesting to see which outlets are still on the air this evening. You have to feel for the people of Cuba; they are taking a real pounding right now. And the latest path projections for the Galveston/ Beaumont/ Port Arthur areas of Texas aren't looking favorable (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, 1438 UT Sept 8, ABDX via DXLD) ** CUBA. As Hurricane Ike traverses the island, RHC is of course required listening for news of its impact. Sept 8 at 1303 on 12000 it was mentioned that Ike would be subject of Mesa Redonda, Monday evening, this time starting at 2200 instead of 2230, on 6000 and 9820. Despertar con Cuba was airing reports from various cities in central and eastern Cuba about coping with Ike (well-pronounced as in English, despite temptations to Spanishize it), including large evacuations from low-lying areas subject to flooding. Without missing a beat, however, RHC goes from Ike news to Cinco Presos stuff, which is required to be mentioned at least every 5 minutes. It seems the tenth anniversary of their incarceration is imminent, so expect even more of that, if humanly possible, hurricanes or no hurricanes. At 1308, strong 15370 was splashing over weak 15360, a risk you take by putting two of your own transmitters only 10 kHz apart. Perhaps in SAm the situation is reversed. How are the jammers doing? Still obliterating WRMI 9955 at 1347 check; mixing with Martí on 13820, and a bit earlier also dominating 7405. Both the DCJC and RHC appear unhindered so far, but that could change as Ike goes closest to Habana. However, the SW jammer sites are probably not all concentrated near Habana like the RHC sites. Where are they, exactly, Arnie? Since you assert Cuba is perfectly justified in jamming unfriendly broadcasts, even citing ITU regulations against cross-border broadcasting, why aren`t these in the ITU database? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. With H. Ike crossing western Cuba Sept 9, time for another check of SW transmitters. First at 0524, RHC English inaudible on 11760, 9550, but really poor propagation may be the reason; OK on 6140, 6000, and 6060, in descending order of strength, obsessed with the Cinco Presos and giving their first names (do they rotate the order, just to be fair?). Radio Martí, 7405 without jamming at 0524 during music show. Propagation not the cause here as WYFR was OK on 7730, 7520. RM 6030 also in the clear at 0525 with no jamming audible! Radio Rebelde, 5025: normal at 0540, mentioned that Rebelde on 1180 was the only frequency on the air for central Cuba [just happens to try to block R. Martí]. Next check in the 1230-1400+ UT period. News from somewhere at 1300 said Ike was about to hit the mainland for the second time at Pinar del Río. RHC operations were normal, except for 6000 missing. Jammers were OFF, allowing R. Martí to be in the clear, and WRMI. Relays of China and Venezuela were also OFF. The details: Radio Rebelde: At 1230, 5025 was still on as usual, with Ike coverage more focused than RHC which was wandering away to other topix. 1335 still audible talking about massive evax. RHC: at 1230, the first frequency I checked, 6000 was absent; normally runs until 1400. Could be that its antenna, larger than the higher frequencies, was more subject to wind damage. Following RHC channels were confirmed on with normal operations: at 1239, 6180; at 1245, 9600, with programming about cultural relations with Mexico`s regiomontana region (Nuevo León). 1249, 12000; 1251, 11760; 1256, 15360 and 15120; 1302, 15370, 13680. RHC news leads with Raúl telephoning support to the head of the Party in hard-hit Holguín, ho hum. How about some real news, rather than doings of the dictators? Jammers: no sign of them on R. Martí frequencies, loud and clear for a change: 1232 on 7405, talking about the totally disastrous situation in Cuba; 1235 on 9805; 1255 on 13820, but RM still weak. 1303 on 11845 very good. 1336, still good on 7405. Also no jamming on WRMI with R. Cuba Libre, 9955, at 1248, but WRMI quite weak. CRI relays: at 1246, 9570 missing; at 1402 past 1600, 13740 missing. RNV relay: at 1254, 11705 missing. The missing transmissions could be due to: 1) voluntary closedown to minimize damage, perhaps lowering antennas in advance if possible; 2) power outages but only in some areas; 3) real hurricane damage to antennas and/or other equipment at sites; 4) studio-transmitter link outages for any of same reasons; 5) in the case of jammers, relenting to allow useful info from outside in --- naah, of course not {Could be they deliberately turned the jammers off but not RHC, just to contradict my previous assertions that jammers have higher priority. But that`s everything else being equal, an assumption that cannot be made in a disastrous situation with so many variables. Only insiders know exactly what`s happening} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. I try not to overdo my parody counter-revolutionary slogans, ``Cuba, último territorio esclavo en América --- patria o suerte, ¡pensaremos!``. (Still waiting for evidence it has been scrawled on a wall anywhere in Cuba or even Little Habana.) Searching on pensaremos in the DXLD archive, it appears only three times so far this year in 8-031, 8-061 and 8-085, in March, May and July, so it must be time for another. But I am trying to think of alternatives. An old one comes to mind, which I believe was heard on early exile broadcasts, but not for a long time, as the catch-phrase, slogan at closing: ``Sin libertad, la vida nada vale.`` (Without freedom, life is worth nothing.) Not exactly a new idea, but has a nice cadence. But I can`t remember what program or individual used it. Googling on the phrase, there are about 75 hits, almost all leading to a Mexican government/Fox administration blog where someone quoted it, or to HIJOS, an Argentine source, but not Cuba. Does anyone know where the slogan originated? And/or who used it on SW broadcasts? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 3220, HCJB Pifo continues to be 555 here 1000 with local music and om. 5 September. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, U S, NRD 535D, 746 Pro, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NVIS? Yeah, sure (gh) 4814.9, Radio El Buen Pastor with OM religious program good at 1014 5 September. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, U S, NRD 535D, 746 Pro, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wasn`t this one closed by the feds? (gh, DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. ERITHIOPIA --- Good evening (or so), here's my little HOA log from 1655 to 1705 today September 8: 5940/5950, clearly in // with HOA music, presumed Voice of Tigray Revolution, after 1700 news, most likely also // to 6170, but the latter very weak. Unlikely to be R. Fana as Rumen Pankov reported. 6110, R. Fana ID at 1700, no // found, very strong. 7175, unID HOA at 1655+, uncertain if ERI or R. Ethiopia as also reported: 5990 and 7110 no R. Ethiopia heard at all, the same yesterday at that time, and 9704 had low modulation and strong QRM, no chance to compare, 7110 severely QRMed at 1700. No ERI heard at 7220 either. 7999.4, the usual het and in the clear for a short moment around 1700. 8000, possibly kind of ID as heard by others also: "Thiny Ertran" (or similar) spoken over HOA music at 1703, strong. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 8000.15, ERITREA, presumed VOBME Asmara, *0358-0407, Sept 7, vernacular. Announcer with sign-on announcement; HoA music with M & W talk; announcer from 0400, possibly joined by another, still going at tune-out; tnx B. Alexander tip; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Scott: I’ve seen on other posts that the station on 8.000 is likely not VOBME, but instead an Ethiopian clandestine aimed at Eritrea – would hope that it is VOBME because I have a good log of that from a little over a week ago (Bruce Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Re 8-099: (1) The old transmitter, put in service in 1990, was an Asea Brown Boveri. Later the transmitter businesses of ABB and Thomson-CSF merged to Thomcast. Then Thomcast became part of Thales, now it belongs to Thomson Grass Valley. In publications like the one quoted in DXLD 8-098 they make no difference for the pre- Thomcast days and count both ABB and Thomson-CSF transmitters as ones delivered by their company. (2) and (3): I don't know, but this is related to the old transmitter being "in the local headlines for a number of years": Føroya Tele, the telcom company owning and operating the facility (it does not belong to Kringvarp Føroya), declared itself unable to purchase new tubes (in the sense of paying money, so it would be no surprise if they experimented with cheap trash as the Radio World article suggests), resulting in the transmitter falling dark for months. Now they get new equipment, with the complete investment being subsidized it seems. And all other reports specified the regular power for 531 as 100 kW. Earlier this year the planned new installation had been described as an active reserve configuration of two 50 kW units, but apparently this has later been changed into a passive reserve concept with a 100 kW main and a 50 kW aux. This is the best view of the site I found: http://picasaweb.google.com/SHSeerup/FRErne2007#5090001947861271106 And a collection of nice Akraberg photos, with the antenna appearing in some of them as well: http://www.pbase.com/njh/akraberg (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. DRM on 15310-15315-15320, Sept 9 at 1259 and continuing past 1301, steady S9+18 and likely from one of the W. Hemisphere sites, Bonaire which has used frequency before at other times, or HCJB? No, Guiana French reactivated as in this case the DRM DX schedule has it for three days only: 1200-1400 09/08-09/10 15315 292 Mexico 150 TDF GUF various Montsinéry And details here: http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2004 also showing 11825, 17875 and 21620 at other times of day. But why? Not stated. Some meeting must be going on in Mexico, with this as a demo. In fact, it is La Séptima Bienal Internacional de Radio, at the Centro Nacional de las Artes, 8-12 September, info about which Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez has sent us, including DRM and IBOC demonstrations. More monitoring reports of these are at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drmna/messages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Montsinéry back on air Montsinéry/ TDF French Guiana is back on the air for special DRM transmissions to México. Power will be 150 kW RMS from G3 transmitter and antenna Toucan1 (Fully rotable 4 / 4) at 292 . *Sunday 7-Sept-2008* (Sorry too late...) 03.00-05.00 UTC (22h00-24h00 loc. Mexico) Fq = 11825 kHz *Monday 8-Sept09-2008* 11.00-12.00 UTC (06h00-07h00 loc. Mex.) Fq=11825 kHz 12.00-14.00 UTC (07h00-09h00 loc. Mex.) Fq=15315 kHz 14.00-23.00 UTC (09h00-18h00 loc. Mex.) Fq=21620 kHz 23.00-24.00 UTC (18h00-19h00 loc. Mex.) Fq=17875 kHz 02.00-05.00 UTC (21h00-24h00 loc. Mex.) Fq=11825 kHz *Tuesday 9-Sept-2008* Same as Monday *Wednesday 10-Sept-2008* 11.00-12.00 UTC Fq=11825 kHz 12.00-14.00 UTC Fq=15315 kHz 14.00-17.00 UTC Fq=21620 kHz Please post results here. Thanks to Jacques for the info (Simone, Bad Salzschlirf, Hessen, Germany, Sept 8, DRM DX forum via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3250.3, R. Luz y Vida, 0215, 9/2/08. fair with soft vocals in Spanish with guitar accompaniment (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, Equipment: NRD-545, R-75, E-1 + RF Systems Mini Windom, GMDSS-2 vertical, several homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) That`s strange; Bob Wilkner in FL had it on exactly 3250.00 as of 28 August in DXLD 8-098. O, it varies (gh, DXLD) 3249.9, R. Luz y Vida, San Luis, 0223-0234, Sept 8, Spanish/English. Spanish music at tune-in followed by English ID/frequency announcement followed by English radio drama of sorts; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. RRI Pontianak --- Beste mensen, Het Indonesie seizoen kondigt zich aan. Vanmiddag 1630 UT, 3976 kHz. RRI Pontianak, met Islam gezang, en talk. 1655 Love Ambon & off (O=2). Signaal zwak, maar frequentie vrij, want Boedapest is (nog ?) afwezig. Tot nu toe wel het enige RRI station dat te ontvangen is, maar misschien komen er deze maand in de Ramadan nog meer. Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Bühl, Duitsland, AR7030 + ALA1530, Sept 7, bdx via DXLD) Aart, hier nu ook tehoren, exacte frequentie is 3976.050, tijd 1633 met locale songs. Maar wel qrm, best met LW 100meter. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Sept 8, ibid.) Vandaag om 1655 ook op 3976.05 zonder problemen maar aan de zwakke kant met een ALA100. Groet (Alexander, ibid.) Pontianak 3976.050, kwam ook tamelijk goed binnen. Maar weer de qrm zoals gisteren (Van Driessche, Sept 9, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. Qur`an on 4790, Sept 9 at 1233, so must be RRI Fak2, making it thru again, but none of the other 60m Indos audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Hola Antonio: Sobre la no identificada de tus escuchas de ayer: En la web de :http://www.reflectionseurope.com/ Tienen como listada esa frecuencia de 12255 según dicen todos los domingos hacia Europa, además de 3910 y 6295. También hay un programa con una dirección en Alaska Aoki no tiene listada ninguna de las tres frecuencias, Eibi tampoco así que voy a ver si encuentro algún dato más. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, QTH: El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, Sept 8, logsderadio yg via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. Re: RTE Hurling / and Football live coverage in DRM mode --- ``Checked the online DRM skeds, and nothing anywhere near 11715 at any time! O yes, this is the day Irish hurling goes hi-tech with special one-day-only DRM transmission via Woofferton UK at 102 degrees on 11710-11715-11720. A considerable oversight by the DRM schedule maintainer.`` Explained here: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,451822,618837,sv=1#msg-618837 >> I just can't understand why some stations are unable to provide informations in a reasonable way. Nobody can use phrases like "11715 kHz until 3.30pm". And "11715 1300-1600 WOF 102degr DRM" would be a partial overlap with 9850. In any case it is impossible to put it into a schedule this way. [angry smiley] << (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. At the end of NHKWNRJ news, 1410 Sept 8 on 11705 via Canada, I was able to copy the name of their deep-voiced news announcer, I hope correctly: Hirokazu Sanamaki. He is apparently too modest for it to appear on the website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Re 8-099, XEUACH 1610: ¡exactamente! I suspect they are running more like 2.5 kW. They, no doubt, do have an effective antenna system! 73's de Steve/AB5GP (Steve Wiseblood, SPI, ABDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XERTA Radio Transcontinental de América, QSL y CARTA El día de hoy recibí una QSL y una carta personalizada de parte de Radio Transcontinental de América, México, D.F. y firma el Lic. Rubén Castañeda Espíndola, Director General. Una muy bien diseñada e impresa Tarjeta QSL, no improvisada como la que nos dieron durante el XIII Encuentro Nacional de Diexismo 2007. Excelente Trabajo. Según información externas, XERTA desde Julio 2008 ya no transmite en internet, sólo en Onda Corta por los 4800 KHz, con señal bastante buena en Morelos, y ya tarde "peleándose" la frecuencia con estación de Guatemala en la misma frecuencia. Su nuevo domicilio, cabinas y oficinas están en: XERTA RADIO TRANSCONTINENTAL DE AMÉRICACalle Gabriel Guerra # 13Col. Zona EscolarC.P. 07230 México, D.F.México E- mail: info_xerta@yahoo.com.mx Tels. (+52) 55 30 64 668 Muy buenos dx's y hay que animarles a que sigan activos en la Onda Corta (MAGDIEL CRUZ RODRÍGUEZ, Apdo. Postal 22, CIVAC, Morelos 62571, México http://entre-ondas..blogspot.com Preparándonos para el XV Encuentro Nacional e Internacional de la Radioescucha y el Diexismo 2009, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 7a. BIENAL INTERNACIONAL DE RADIO transimisiones vía Radio Educación Onda Corta México Saludos, Amigos de la Radio: En éstos momento cuando estoy escribiendo éstas líneas, estoy sintonizando a Radio Educación Onda Corta, 6185 KHz, y la nota importante es que el día de hoy se inaugura la 7a. Bienal Internacional de Radio, edición 2008, habrá segmentos dedicados a transmisiones de exposiciones durante los días 8 al 12 de Septiembre 2008, a través de las onda de Radio Educación Onda Corta. Se aborda el temario de LA RADIO DE CARA AL FUTURO. Página oficial del evento: http://www.bienalderadio.gob.mx/ La Bienal Internacional de Radio es el acontecimiento radiofónico más importante de Latinoamérica, organizado por la Secretaría de Educación Pública, a través del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes y Radio Educación. En este año, la séptima edición de la Bienal Internacional de Radio tendrá como marco la celebración del cuarenta aniversario de transmisiones ininterrumpidas de Radio Educación, como XEEP en el 1060 de amplitud modulada. Desde 1996, año de su fundación, la Bienal ha sido un espacio único en su género, en el que se propicia la reflexión y el intercambio de experiencias sobre la radio, y se reconoce la creatividad de sus realizadores. En sus más de diez años de existencia, la Bienal Internacional de Radio ha contado con la participación de destacados especialistas de todo el mundo; así como de profesionales de las más importantes cadenas de radiodifusión y académicos de reconocidas instituciones de educación superior. En el ámbito de la Bienal han nacido ideas frescas, proyectos innovadores y estrategias de trabajo conjunto que han influido la manera de hacer y entender la radio; a través de las conferencias, los encuentros, los cursos y talleres que se realizan de manera paralela y, que este año tienen como concepto rector, la radio de cara al futuro: el impacto de la convergencia tecnológica en la radiodifusión. Para Radio Educación, primera radiodifusora educativa y cultural, fundada en 1924 con el distintivo CyE, la Bienal adquieren un significado especial, al realizarse en un contexto decisivo para la radiodifusión en México: la definición del estándar de transmisión digital para la radio y la probable conclusión de un nuevo marco jurídico en materia de radio y televisión (via Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More about the BIENAL itself under CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES. Bienal is supposedly an adjective just like English biennial meaning every two years, but somehow it has become a noun needing no further explication; rather like MUNDIAL, meaning worldwide but which everyone in Latin America assumes refers to silly ballgames. However, since Bienal is treated as feminine, perhaps there is always some understood feminine noun it modifies. O yeah, exactly when are these special programs on XEPPM? (Guillermo Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MOROCCO. MOROCCO FRENCH [non]. Wikipedia says that France relinquished its protectorate on April 7, 1956, and so the Briech site (1993-) would count as Morocco, not French Morocco. The original transmitter site of the VOA was within the boundaries of Tangier. While certain broadcasters were given a period of grace of approx. 3 years, the VOA did not pull out but remained on its original Tangier site until replaced by the Briech installation three decades later (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but, Briech still lies within what used to be French Morocco, so it`s still a separate radio country per NASWA CLC rules; isn`t that the way it worx? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Henrik, of course, is at liberty to use (or not use) whatever list or definition he chooses to use (or not use). Those who follow the NASWA Country List, and that would include the NASWA Scoreboard or Awards participants, and any others who choose to do so, would follow its established rules. Under those, Glenn and Dan F. are entirely correct. Arguments that those rules a "wrong," are not really relevant (Don Jensen, NASWA Country List Committee Chair, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Neen zeker geen piraat. Maar daadwerkelijk. ZLXA, Reading Service, Levin. Op 3935.050 kHz. Vanaf 1727 UT. Weak English dialekt by male and female, local news. Good for 3 minutes (Grey Zone). Sorry, too noisy for recording, O=2. P.S.: Nog altijd lichte carrier 1813 (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Sept 9, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Nigerian pirate 917 --- It`s at audio levels now. I got a recording of a woman rambling away but no ID; it faded at toth. Man talking now very deep bassy audio, hard to make out. Here is my Radio Gotel, Yola recording http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COhBuVaa7RQ Cheers (David Hamilton, aor 7030 + nw/se homebrew loop, n/s homebrew loop, goldwave recording software, UK, Sept 8, MWC via DXLD) Altho it has arisen in an unusual way, not so sure it is pirate (gh) ** PAKISTAN. Hi Glenn, September 04, 2008. Dari service of Radio Pakistan was monitored today at 1300-1400 UT at 6060 kHz. The programme commenced with recitation of Holy Kor'an followed by talk in Dari regarding the month of Ramazan, recital of religious poetry, News in Dari, Dari song, current affairs discussion, programme about Kashmir, songs on Kashmir in Urdu. The transmission closed at 1400 UT. The SINPO rating was 34333. The timings of the service are odd. It commences at 5.30 pm as per Afghanistan local time which is quite inappropriate, keeping in view the fact that most potential listeners are busy at that time. But when it comes to Radio Pakistan external services, they are least bothered whether anybody is listening or not. They feel that their job is just to switch on and switch off the transmitters and nothing else. To hell with the audience research (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Aslam, after reading your latest item about this in DXLD I checked 4835 kHz today and can't hear the buzzing signal any more on 4835 kHz. 73, Mauno Ritola, Finland, Sept 9, ibid.) ** PERU. 3329.62, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco 1030 to 1040 clear signal with yl and music, CHU notched. 8 Sept. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, U S, NRD 535D, 746 Pro, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO [and non]. QSL from AFRTS, Anacostia, dated July 03, 2003 to Rich D`Angelo, reproduced in Sept NASWA Journal, says 5446.5 was from the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Station, Roosevelt Roads, PR. As I recall that base was closed, and now this frequency is listed for ``Key West`` at http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/ShortWave.aspx The question is, exactly when the transition was made, so people may properly count Puerto Rico, whether QSLed or not (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA for log of same ** SAINT HELENA. Received in the mail today an envelope containing QSLs ("2006 Revival Transmission" and "10th Shortwave Transmission Anniversary") for my 2006 and 2007 reports to Radio St. Helena, both signed by Laura Lawrence, Station Manager. The envelope was postmarked in Jamestown on Aug. 27, so it only took 11 days to get from St. Helena to Missouri - impressive. I was one of those who never heard back from my original report in 2006, so many thanks to Rich D'Angelo and others who helped to organize replacement QSLs. I also never heard from RSH the one previous time I had QSLed them in 1994, so I was beginning to wonder if I was cursed! Received in 10 months/22 months for English reports and $5 (plus some extra $ in 2006). (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Pete Miller and Katerina were missing from the R. Slovakia International "Listener Tribune" program on Sunday September 7, 2008/ Monday September 8, 2008. Listeners were introduced to the new team. Possible to download and listen to program at http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?lang=2 Pete and Katerina were both on the program last week as usual. No mention of their replacement or it being their final program. I hope this change is NOT a permanent change --- although, based on the introduction of the "new team" appears so. I miss Pete's and Katerina's delivery and interaction with the listeners. Shame if they are gone :( 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, VA, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Got this reply today from Dragu Anca. So we'll have to wait until Sunday to have more details. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Dear Erik, Thank you for your email. Tune into Listeners Tribune this Sunday and you will get the answers to your questions related to Pete Miller, Katarina Korcek and the new structure of our programmes. (We keep on sending the QSL cards, don't worry. As for stamps that was Pete's personal hobby and was not connected in any way with Radio Slovakia International). Our colleague's name is Maria Bulkova and she will have her contact details posted on our website shortly. Will Martin is our contributor. All we can do is hope that you will stay our faithful listener and keep on being interested in learning more about Slovakia. Regards, RSI team (via Køie, ibid.) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Música clássica em 90 metros --- Ola' amigos Adalberto, Jorge e os demais amigos que gostam das Ondas Tropicais. Neste Sábado para Domingo, com uma pequena melhora no nivel de ruido e com uma maozinha dada pelo conjunto receptor/antena pude acompanhar um agradável programa, digno de uma boa escuta em OT. Trata-se de um programa que se iniciou às 0300 UT (zero hora Brasília) na Radio Sondergrense (Africa do Sul) sòmente com excelentes músicas clássicas (erudito), a maioria com base em piano e bem conhecidas. O receptor que utilizei é equipado com antena de ferrite para OT e com isso pude usar uma antena loop de quadro para OT que opera de maneira semelhante a antena loop para OM (por indução, com a aproximação do receptor). Após algumas manobras de orientação, consegui reduzir o ruido de maneira satisfatória, e como a emissora apresentava um bom sinal, pude acompanhar o programa com boa qualidade de escuta. Não tenho certeza, mas creio se tratar de um programa que deve ir ao ar semanalmente neste horário; desta maneira deixo o aviso para quem gosta do género ficar atento no próximo fim de semana às 0300 UT do Domingo e dar uma conferida na freqüência de 3320 kHz. 3320 07/09 0335 AFS, R. Sondergrense, Meyerton, px mx classica/ erudita/ piano, 45343 MV --- RX: National Panasonic RF-5000, Antena Loop de Quadro OT. Um abraço a todos e boas escutas! (Michel Viani - Osasco - SP - BRASIL, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. Re: [HCDX] Brother Stair comforts New Orleans --- R.G. Stair should be sitting in a prison cell instead of puking out his dogma on shortwave radio. Didn't he have some alleged legal issues with underaged girls a while back? Sorry for the strong opinion but I have no use for such folk that use God as a beard for their vile acts (Fritze, KC5KBV, Prentice, Jr., Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw, Sept 7, HCDX via DXLD) Fritze, you would be correct. He is a convicted child molester. His gospel he preaches is the gospel of 'Me first'. The little girl was a member of his compound there in SC. BUT, he is no different, nor any better, than the rest of the so-called preachers on Trinty Broadcasting, TV or radio or short-wave. What I cannot understand is how people are so fooled by these crooks? (Willis, K4APE Monk, Old Fort, TN, ibid.) ** SPAIN [and non]. REE`s Clásicos Populares show, originally from RNE R3, Mon-Tue-Wed 1305-1400, seems to be gone again, for Sept 8 at 1330, 1350 chex they were apparently reading something from Cervantes, with only some incidental music in background, on 17595 and via Costa Rica 15170. The latter signed off at 1400, and before 1401* I could hear it mixing with something else, which per EiBi must be R. Liberty via Rampisham in Turkmen, just starting. Sept 9 in same hour, more readings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. The badly distorted spurious signal that has been plaguing 1395 kHz for weeks has, today, turned into a signal with clear audio. Just noted at 2316 UT in Spanish with phone-in & and studio talk. I'm not yet sure whether this is COPE or not. 73s (Steve Whitt, UK, Sept 7, MWC via DXLD) Steve, I have been observing this signal since August 13th when I heard it for the first time. At that time the frequency seemed to be 1393 kHz; I could not detect any carrier, it was more FM than AM. At the end of August the frequency seemed to drift closer to 1395 kHz but it was still impossible to determine an exact frequency due to missing carrier. Can you detect the carrier now when the signal is clearer? BTW - I heard many COPE IDs... (Karel Honzík, Czechia, Sept 8, ibid.) You both seem to have missed this item: "SPAIN 1393, COPE Valencia, 2256-..., 07 Aug, Castilian, f/ball news, adverts., ID; 45443, distorted tx spur (Carlos Goncalves-POR, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 11)" 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) ** SUDAN [non]. Southern Sudan Interactive Radio, 15215 on 9 July from 0607 to 0629 with SINPO 55544. 15750 is strong and almost as good. A class in elementary English. Very tight direxions to a teacher who uses the local language. 11905 from 0630 to 0641 with SINPO 55544. English lessons, more advanced. 15330 0644-0659 SINPO 55534. A very different English lesson, much more advanced. USAID mentioned. Sudan Radio Service broadcasts in English M-F 0530-0559 on 13720. I received them with SINPO 55544. 1730-1759 on 9590.10 kHz, SINPO 54534, and USB helped. I listened to them a few times during July 2008. The 0530-0559 is a lesson. The 1730-1758 is news, and they announce phone numbers in Kenya. These are not those given in our annuals. Almost always, no answer. Should there be an answer, ask for Jeremy Groce. To phone Kenya is very expensive. I have not tried to hear them on Saturday or Sunday. Their administrator lady in Washington told me about Jeremy Groce and assured me they do broadcast a special project on weekends. She did not know their schedule. It is easy to reach Washington but the people who should know about SRS are never there (David Crystal, Israel, Clandestine column, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) And not exactly clandestine either (gh) ** SWAZILAND. Salve a tutti --- Qualcuno mi saprebbe dire in che lingua parlano in questa trasmissione di TWR Swaziland: http://www.hb9gce.ch/TWR_20080908_035753_5995.mp3 Grazie dei suggerimenti, Saluti, Andrea (Stumpf Carl Andreas, Switzerland, Sept 8, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) I wouldn`t recognize Chichewa if I heard it, but Aoki says: 5995 TRANS WORLD RADIO 0400-0415 .23456. Chewa 100 5 Manzini 5995 TRANS WORLD RADIO 0400-0430 ......7 Chewa 100 5 Manzini 5995 TRANS WORLD RADIO 0400-0430 1...... English 100 5 Manzini 5995 TRANS WORLD RADIO 0430-0445 1.....7 Chewa 100 5 Manzini SWZ 3136E, 2620S TWR a08 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. HEB Bern Radio e HBG 75 kHz --- Ciao a tutti, durante uno delle prime peregrinazioni svizzere a caccia di antenne ho scoperto il sito di Prangins dove vengono irradiati i segnali VLF di tempo e frequenza sui 75 kHz e i segnali HF di HEB Bern Radio, qui: http://www.mediasuk .org/archive/ hbg.htm http://www.mediasuk.org/archive/heb.htm Trovate le foto e le informazioni su queste tue stazioni utility svizzere. 73 de (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK, Sept 8, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) They even named a US grocery chain for HEB (gh, DXLD) ** SYRIA. Siria, R. Damasco Adra , 9330 arroba 2235, 'Correspondencia con los Oyentes', Español, 44333 (Antonio Madrid, QTH: Moraleda, Granada (España), CG: 37 8'43''N - 03 56'39''O / 712Mts Altitud, Rx: Sony ICF2001D+Kenwood R5000+Degen, Ant.: Dipolo 100 mts+Yaesu FRT7700, Web: http://radioescucha.spaces.live.com logsderadio yg via DXLD) Was the modulation OK? (gh, DXLD) ** TURKEY. Re 8-099: Hi Glenn, I read your recent digest and yet again felt that I had to reply. See the problem we were ranting about was exactly what has taken place again. People writing on your website (like with the case of David Crystal last year) don’t thoroughly look into our broadcasts before posting on the web unfair criticisms. It is quite possibly the most frustrating thing to go on the web and read these messages regarding the broadcast that have obviously not been written by someone who has paid attention. The first example to this came last week when you wrote that we should’ve posted on the website or somewhere when each program airs. Well it is on our website as well as in every mailing we send out. Moreover, we announce regularly what programs are about to air and when. Another listener said in his message on your site that we forget to air the DX corner every now and then. Well that is because the DX Corner Program is bi-weekly. As we mention at the beginning of each program and in our brochures. There’s also the example that someone called August 30th “some attack” (which is the word “attack” another person mentioned incorrectly in the latest digest). That was so insulting I can’t even describe. A huge program on why August 30th is so important for Turkey was aired on the day. Anyone who carefully listened to this program would know that this was not “some attack” but rather the struggle that we now owe our country to. We were mentioned to be “holding our tongue” at the DX Corner last week, which is again not true. It was pre-recorded so there was no reason to hold the tongue. That’s the way it probably sounded on air. And yet again, we had people criticizing and writing about that on a public domain like the internet – all the while clearly stating “I wasn’t paying attention but..” The fact of the matter is, if people are not paying attention, they have no right to then go and criticize or comment on any broadcast. The fact that we don’t have many listeners call in during the “Live from Turkey ” on Tuesday and Thursday was mentioned on this website with the phrase “yet again, no callers.” Well, in order to write that the person must have listened to the program. If he/she didn’t call, he/she doesn’t have the right to then humiliate the staff here. I believe the word “humiliating” is the right word, when I see on your website “yet again no callers” or “the VOT has made a blunder AGAIN.” Mistakes will be made. Believe or not, we are also human. What I’m trying to say is that we come here 6 days a week, and spend a great deal of effort in trying to provide the best programming and news for our listeners. But then to have people on a public domain like the internet, bash our programming, incorrectly make assumptions about programs don’t air every week, incorrectly make assumptions that we planned to put all our programs on podcast but couldn’t get around to it (we picked the best programs to go on podcast, so that’s all that’s on offer) and use language that is bordering on being rude, is downright insulting. The simple solution to programming that you don’t like is to turn the dial. What we ask in return for our efforts is respect. You don’t like it? Don’t listen to it. But to listen to a few seconds of it and then go on the internet to write an elaborate criticism on things that don’t even take place on-air is out of order. Even more out of order when I think that we spend so much time for our listeners. We prepare 15 broadcasts a day, 2 of them over shortwave and 1 hour in length. We translate and prepare booklets. We answer reception reports, write the QSL cards, record programs, research for programs, and the list goes on. As for what was mentioned in the program on Saturday, your name was mentioned in the context that we saw the messages on this website. We don’t have the time to attack anyone nor the will. We answer criticism we receive. I actually have a back-order recommendation for those who love criticizing us so much. Last year and this year the Voice of Turkey ran the essay writing contests where the topic was “What could make VOT better.” The award was a 2 week holiday. So instead of going on this website and trying to humiliate us, they could’ve written to us directly and win a 2 week holiday to Turkey. With that being said, I wish you a great day. And should you tune in to us, we will be honoured to have you with us (Signed only by English Desk, VOT, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for explaining, especially since I missed hearing the program and cannot retrieve it now. There are some misunderstandings here and clarifications needed. Some of the objexionable comments are from me and some from others. The source was specified in the original material. We are well aware that DX Corner is 2-weekly. The problem has been that, occasionally it skips another week, throwing off the anticipated dates it will appear, as I try to forecast them in my DX programs calendar. Times of VOT programs are NOT specified in the printed schedule, just sometime within the 50+ minute transmissions. One can only guess about the exact time based on where they appear in order among other programs. And this varies, depending on the length of each program. I have never been able to find any program schedule on your website, like there is on the printed schedule, which is eagerly anticipated twice a year. If there is one, please send me the exact link. By that I mean the titles of individual programs and the days and times they air, not merely times and frequencies of broadcasts in all languages. The website is disorganized. For English listeners, there ought to be a direct link and all pages interlinked. If you find http://www.trt.net.tr/voiceofturkey/vot.htm there are no links from there except to listen live. There are three links to VOT at the lower right corner of http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/tsr.aspx but they lead no further. To find podcasts in English you have to go thru the Turkish podcast page first to find the link to English, there being no direct link to English podcasts from the English pages. Remark about the ``attack`` was not meant to humiliating! Despite all VOT does, many people abroad are not familiar with important anniversaries in Turkey, and I am one of them. I did not get to listen to the entire program. I think that VOT often assumes incorrectly that listeners are intimately familiar with Turkey already, e.g. by not spelling out or clearly pronouncing names. I seriously considered putting together my criticisms into an essay contest entry, but suspected they would not be well-received. Your response appears to confirm this. Media criticism is common for domestic media, except where there is a controlled press, but still seems rather exceptional concerning international shortwave broadcasting. So stations are not used to seeing critiques published. As for lack of participants calling in to Live from Turkey, this is more a criticism of the audience than of VOT. I just don`t understand it. There have been many occasions, however, when no calls were invited, sometimes explained as for technical or logistical reasons. We do appreciate all your hard work to produce the programs, and only wish with a few improvements to the website, they would be more accessible. VOT continues to be one of my favorite stations, and listen frequently. The webcast is down from time to time, and if the SW is not propagating either, we are out of luck, so many more programs on podcast would be very welcome, including Live from Turkey and DX Corner. To make it easy, like many other stations, you could also just put up the entire English broadcast each day (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks a lot for your email and I will personally take into account your criticism. I will make sure that the pertinent authorities look into your suggestions. Thanks a lot for your time and effort in listening to us (Seref Isler, TRT English Desk, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard him doing LFT on webcast, Tue Sept 9 1850 (gh, DXLD) Wow, I don't think I've ever received such a detailed and personal email from any station! Ironically, many Russian listeners complain that it's almost impossible to get a reply from VoT's Russian Service. As a result, many prefer writing to VoT English if they want a QSL. I know that my father participated in two of VoT's competitions, incl. this last one. He didn't win anything which is fair enough. But VoT's Russian never even acknowledged receipt of his entries which I think wasn't so nice. I guess the Russian service just doesn't have enough people. I visited Turkey three times and enjoyed it a lot. As far as I'm concerned, Turks and Iranians are the friendliest people in the world. It's great that both nations have sizable external radio services (Sergei S., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. Turkmequistan [sic], Turkmen Radio, Asgabat, 4930 arroba 2250, Musica Populares, 33333 (Antonio Madrid, QTH: Moraleda, Granada (España), CG: 37 8'43''N - 03 56'39''O / 712Mts Altitud, Rx: Sony ICF2001D+Kenwood R5000+Degen, Ant.: Dipolo 100 mts+Yaesu FRT7700, Web: http://radioescucha.spaces.live.com logsderadio yg via DXLD) ** TURKS & CAICOS. Glenn, I saw the info about the Turks and Caicos towers in the last DXLD. I have a question to put in DXLD. I was there two years ago and on Grand Turk we went to Lighthouse Park. There was a huge tower there that looked like FM and another smaller one that looked like MW. The only station I could get on my boom box as we relaxed on the beach was Radio Turks and Caicos on 101.9, a really great station. I even stopped at the radio station on the way back to the ship. Could not get in, though. Does anyone reading this know whose broadcast towers are at Lighthouse Park on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands? I have some really good pictures. I never heard from the station in email or postal letter. Thanks (Steve Price, Sept 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bob Cooper, Jerry Kiefer should know (gh) Re 8-099: ``here's an FM bandscan using the Sony DX-398:`` Steve Branch's documentation is greatly appreciated for my records, but I have to ask what on earth is a Sony DX-398?! (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely a slip, meant Sangean DX-398, which is really an ATS-909, but rebranded by Shadio Rack as DX-398; I have one of each (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS [and non]. As expected after Hurricane Ike, the 530 station seems off the air. Only noise heard so far (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, 0103 UT Sept 8, IRCA via DXLD) Craig, As far as I and others here in Florida have been able to tell, 530 RVCI Turks & Caicos, has been off for some time, preceding the most recent round of tropical storms and hurricanes. For the last several weeks what has most likely been heard on 530 has been R. Enciclopedia, Havana. However, since Fay and Gustav, it has been intermittent. Since sometime early Sunday, R. Enci. has been with only an open carrier, no audio, as it is now at 0450Z 8/8/8. The carrier appears to be at its usual level (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Flórida, USA, IRCA via DXLD) ** U K. BBC LAUNCHES US08 ELECTION BUS TOUR WITH LIVE DEBATE FROM LA Tomorrow, Wednesday 10 September at 3.00am GMT, BBC World Service will broadcast a live debate from LA centering around the theme: “What does the world want from America?” The debate will be co-hosted by BBC World Service’s World Have Your Say presenter Ros Atkins and KPCC radio station’s Larry Mantle. Panellists are Tom Campbell (Dean of Haas Business School, UCLA, and former Republican Congressman), Kantathi Supamongkhon (Senior Fellow of International Relations, UCLA, and former Foreign Minister of Thailand), Martha de la Torre (CEO of Latin American newspaper El Clasificado and former Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year), Richard Schiff (Toby in ‘The West Wing’ and campaigner for Barack Obama) and Steve Grove (Political Editor of YouTube). The BBC World Service debate will also include questions from a studio audience. Likely topics include foreign policy, the economy, immigration, the environment, the link between the entertainment industry and politics and how new media has transformed campaigning. Video voxpops, filmed around the world, will feature within the debate. Members of the public from countries including Germany, China, Brazil, Pakistan, Kenya, Mexico, Iraq and Afghanistan will voice their opinions on what they want from America and its next President. Notes to Editors: The BBC's US08 Election bus tour will feature BBC journalists travelling from LA to New York, across 16 states. The tour will report to the world what Americans really want from the coming election, and what the rest of the world wants from America. Programming from the tour will be broadcast on BBC World Service English and 12 BBC World Service language services (Persian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Arabic, Kyrgyz, Hindi, Urdu, Pashtu; Albanian, Russian, French and Swahili), BBC World News, BBC News TV, BBC Arabic TV, Radio 1, Radio 5 Live, http://www.bbc.com/uselection and http://www.bbcworldservice.com/talkingamerica Further information: Patricia Lodge, International PR Manager, BBC Global News patricia.lodge @ bbc.co.uk 001 646 256 1484 or +44 7825 996 597 (BBCWS press release Sept 9 via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. VIRGIN RADIO REBRAND --- Re 8-099, Re: ``?? Why mess with an admittedly world-famous `brand`? Change for change`s sake (gh, DXLD)`` No, it isn't. It's a legal requirement. This is the explanation we published in the Media Network Weblog on 2 September: UK national commercial station Virgin Radio, which has a reach of 5 million listeners, is to change its name to Absolute Radio. This follows the purchase of the station in June by TIML, part of the Times of India Group. TIML did not buy the Virgin Radio brand licence and is legally obliged to change the radio station's name within 90 days of purchase. The new name will be phased in gradually during September, and used exclusively from 1 October. The Virgin Radio brand licence came with the restriction that the radio station had to remain a UK radio business. TIML says it has "international aspirations" focused on the North American and European markets, and is looking to diversify the brand into live music, ticketing, TV, mobiles and gaming. The Times of India Group already owns 30 radio stations in India (Andy Sennitt, Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If I understand it correctly, they new owner has only bought the station, but not the name. http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/about/questions.html 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, TIML, part of the Times of India Media Group bought the Virgin radio licence from Scottish Media Group for £53.2 million. However they did not buy the Virgin Radio brand licence. A TIML spokesman said "when TIML bought the radio station a decision was taken not to buy the brand licence. The Virgin Radio brand licence came with the restriction that the radio station had to remain a UK radio business. In the changing digital media landscape that was not a viable business option for us." It would have also cost them more money. So Virgin Radio could relaunch as a UK business if someone gets the rights to the brand licence. On August 25 a Toronto radio station became Virgin Radio's first North American commercial FM station. Toronto's MIX FM 99.9 became Virgin Radio 999, owner Astral Media announced. "Virgin Radio International is experiencing phenomenal growth around the world and recently we have expanded to Italy, France, Dubai and India. We are thrilled to add Canada to the list," Branson, Virgin Group chair, said in a statement. (Source CBC news) (Mike Barraclough, England, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UK Virgin/Absolute --- Hm, has this story been not sufficiently reported yet? Three months ago the previous owners of Virgin Radio sold it for comparatively little money to an Indian media company: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7429193.stm The new Indian owners could get the station only without the Virgin brand, but they bought it nevertheless: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article4019446.ece http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article4036887.ece http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aRH5C7sOkoBI&refer=india They got a three months reprieve after which they have to rename the station. And by the end of this month this period will be over. Some jokes are obviously irresistible: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7593871.stm And the story seen from the angle of business administration: http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/channel/MarketingSales/news/843254/brand-thats-virgin-tarnished/ Btw, two years ago a Virgin Radio executive made a strong-worded statement against terrible mediumwave, explaining that their goal is to get rid of it by 2010: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/?p=6610 She apparently referred to a song with a particularly soft intro. Of course it's just nonsense that one "can't hear" it on mediumwave, the audio processing takes care of that. And I was told that Virgin Radio uses quite a lot of dynamics compression on other distribution paths as well, so one gets "the wrong impression of radio" there, too. Be that as it may, it remains to be seen if the statements made back then are still relevant now at all (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Virgin name has reverted back to Richard Branson as part of the deal (maybe he will put up an all Mike Oldfield station !) . I don't understand the interest in taking the Absolute brand "international". There is nothing new in their format, it is simply less repetitive than Virgin's but nothing different than the usual tightly controlled "pop" format familiar to people all over the world (Andy K3UK O`Brien, NY, Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, I get it (gh) 1215, UNITED KINGDOM, Absolute Radio, synchros SEP 7 0015 - Good; Blondie "Atomic." At 0458 telephone talk and new Absolute Radio promo/ ID by a woman in a soft sexy voice (Bruce Conti, Nashua NH (42 43'N 71 31'W); SDR IQ, WR-CMC-30, MWDX-5, 15 x 23-m SuperLoop antennas east with remote variable termination and south 1150-Ohm terminated. http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm mwdx yg via DXLD) ** U S A. I was listening to WBCQ last evening at 2200 and heard "The Last Roundup" with Al Parker http://www.radionational.org He spoke about the VOA Delano site scheduled for destruction and the merits of mothballing the facility for future use. Recommended writing Congressmen as well, which I plan on doing. Interesting discussion about the value of shortwave in an emergency terrorist attack and the phenomenal outreach VOA had for America. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Yesterday I sent the following letter to several elected officials here in New Jersey , as well as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator John McCain. I know that I’m preaching to the choir when I send this to fellow hobbyists, but I hope it has the potential to inspire them to write as well…WBCQ carried a program this past Sunday evening called Radio National, hosted by Al Parker, mentioning plans to destroy this national treasure. 73’s, Ed Insinger, NJ, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) September 8, 2008 The Honorable John McCain United States Senate 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-0303 Dear Sir, I began shortwave listening in 1968, amidst the Cold War. It was a pleasure to hear so many stations from the far corners of the earth. But nothing gave me more pride and pleasure than listening to the Voice of America (VoA) on shortwave. Radio Moscow and its many tentacles throughout the Eastern Europe block were broadcasting on powerful transmitters inside the massive geographical area of the Soviet Union, incessantly attacking the policies and leadership of the USA. My shortwave radio picked up their message from East Germany, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. However, there was always great pride and a counter balancing force, coming from the shortwave programming of the VoA, including those in Special English for all those freedom loving people outside this great country wanting to listen in English and someday migrate to this land. How powerful is that, I ask of you? Today, we face the same threat as 40 years ago, when I began listening to shortwave radio. Not a Cold War, but a war on terrorism from radical fundamentalists hell-bent on destroying this country. However, this threat comes to our land, as it did on September 11, 2001. The question now is when will the next strike occur? Will it be via a "dirty bomb" detonated in a large city or financial district, capable of wiping out all modern forms of communication, including the Internet and cellular communications? Do you realize that shortwave radio would survive such an attack and provide a means of communication nationwide and worldwide? Isn’t that a form of national security? So I ask this question: Why do you plan on destroying the VoA Delano, California shortwave facility? Don’t you realize that this is as important to our country as petroleum reserves? Shortwave is ready when needed and can reach our citizens nationwide, as well as peoples worldwide? Do you comprehend this? It is obvious to me that we need to keep the VoA Delano facility safely mothballed for the coming years. Do not destroy this valuable and irreplaceable strategic American resource! As I write this today, I can honestly say that such a shortsighted move will most certainly come back to haunt us all. Find other ways to budget-cut or reduce government operating costs. This should be off limits and the equivalent of burning the United States flag. Such a move is unacceptable and un-American. This is an important Presidential election time for our country. Can I count on your support for this cause? Sincerely, Edward J Insinger 28 Madison Avenue Summit, NJ 07901 (cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) original in red, mostly underlined, and partly in italix ** U S A. 2008-0905 Allan Weiner Worldwide - WBCQ 10th Anniversary.mp3 Hi, Mr Weiner, I want to let you know that I especially loved your ten years anniversary show. I listened to that show several times on the web. Sorry, I don't own a SW receiver at this time. BUT, I'm one of your biggest fans. I was listening in Louisville, Ky. when your broadcast your very first AWWW show. I remember that date very well. I was taking a site seeing tour of of downtown Louisville with my pocket Sony Shortwave radio in hand. The WBCQ signal was booming in loud and clear at the time. I was thinking to myself, How so very nice of Allan Weiner for doing a live a live show on the air at WBCQ Shortwave. I'm STILL in Ohio. Thanks, (Artie Bigley, Columbus, Sept 9, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) GLENN, I think you will find this AWWW show of interest: 2008-0905 Allan Weiner Worldwide - WBCQ 10th Anniversary.mp3 http://johnlightning.com/aww/2008-0905%20Allan%20Weiner%20Worldwide%20-%20WBCQ%2010th%20Anniversary.mp3 (Artie Bigley, OH, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. After a few weeks, the Sunday 2030 UT time of WORLD OF RADIO on WRMI, 9955, is gone again; checking webcast Sept 7 heard exile program instead, which Jeff White says is Foro Revolucionario Democrático Cubano which had to be rescheduled since it wanted to expand from half an hour to half a sesquihour. Jammed, anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-099, ``5446.5-USB, FLORIDA, Armed Forces Network (via NAR [Naval Air Reserve?] facilities)`` NAR = the call sign for this USN facility that mostly generates RTTY transmissions on all non-AFN transmitters in use. Many of the vintage Navy sites use(d) "N" designations. http://www.nctsjax.navy.mil/key_west_page.htm (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also PUERTO RICO ** U S A [non]. WYFR 6240 report was returned by the station indicating that the QSL was rejected because I didn`t list the time and frequency, which I did. The station sent a ``sample`` letter from a DXer in the Netherlands showing what a proper report should look like. The ``sample`` indicated a total of three minutes of program details and was the classic ``I heard you --- gimme a QSL`` report. I sent a follow-up and expressed the hope that WYFR will take the time to check reports and doesn`t automatically QSL all reports. I still haven`t heard from them (Scott Barbour, NH, QSL Report, Sept NASWA Journal via DXLD) The station may have put your name on the big one`s ``S`` list (Sam Barto, ed., ibid.) 6240 is currently via Taiwan at 11- 16 in Chinese, sez Aoki (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I don't believe that in the almost four decades I've been an Amateur Radio operator, have I ever heard so much discussion, debate, excitement and quarreling on the bands as I have this election. Last night on 14272 kHz, I heard two people doing battle with speeches. Completely illegal, of course. Someone on the west coast would play Obama's convention speech for five minutes, and then someone over on the east coast would counter with five minutes of Sarah Palin's speech from the Republican convention. This went on for about an hour until propagation finally subsided for the night and I could hear nothing further. Secondly, The History Channel has been replaying the 9/11 Conspiracy special which features shortwave scare-master, Alex Jones. Mr. Jones and his colleagues were beat down with expert and scientific data from every angle. Sad to say that some poor woman in rural Pennsylvania keeps receiving death threats for her first photo of Flight 93's crash. Some have gone so far as to suggest she is part of this huge government plot to claim Flight 93 was shot down by our own U.S. Air Force. I recommend this special History Channel broadcast for anyone who believes in what many of these kooks on domestic shortwave broadcast stations are claiming. 73, (Bill Lauterbach - WA8MEA, Sept 9, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS US. Drift net DX update from northern Delaware --- Still working up my recordings from about a week ago. A nice, clear ID from WDHP (relog). 31-Aug-08 // 2202 local // 1620 kHz // WDHP // 1 kw night // Frederiksted, USVI // Female with "You are listening to WDHP 1620 AM in the United States Virgin Islands. Our transmitter's at No. 1 Mahogony Road, Frederiksted, and our studio's at No. 79 A Castle Coakley, Christiansted. We are in St. Croix." Followed by singing then male with "The Caribbean Powerhouse, 1620 AM on your radio." // Relog. A 1650 mile catch. MP3 clip available here: http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1620-khz_2202-local_8-31-08_WDHP_Frederiksted_VI.mp3 (Peter Jernakoff, K3KMS, Wilmington, DE http://www.21centimeter.com Sept 8, ABDX via DXLD Peter, Just in case you'd like to hear a bit of a clearer WDHP ID I have it here: http://www.realradiousa.com/wdhp.mp3 I airchecked it off their webstream! I remember how clearly they'd come in when I lived in Florida! (Paul B. Walker, Jr., NE, NRC-AM via DXLD) 1620, St. Croix, Frederiksted, 0435 BBC news, news regarding Virgin Islands and St. Croix. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, U S, NRD 535D, 746 Pro, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NEW DX LINKS PAGE - 79 LINKS It's essentially a cut and paste from my full links page, and the links haven't been checked since March. Links with "[moved]" beside them mean since they were first posted, the site has changed location. The original link is kept because sometimes the new URL reverts back to the old. Click on "moved" for the most recent URL. I'm not adding or removing any links from the page - it's just sort of a personal archive - so if you have any other links that YOU use that are helpful and you wanna share, please just post them to the list. Here they are: http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/dx_links.htm Hope there are a few links that you will find helpful in the future (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., AMFMTVDX mailing list via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ correo: bienalderadio @ radioeducacion.edu.mx LA BIENAL INTERNACIONAL DE RADIO --- EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO La Bienal de Radio se ha realizado desde hace doce años con los auspicios de la Secretaría de Educación Pública y del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes de México, a través de Radio Educación y con el apoyo de embajadas, fundaciones, universidades y numerosas instituciones nacionales e internacionales. Las tres primeras ediciones se orientaron al ámbito latinoamericano, y a partir de la cuarta se extendieron a todo el orbe. Por ello, a lo largo de su historia ha congregado, en la ciudad sede a especialistas, docentes, políticos, funcionarios y radioastas de renombre de 25 países de América, Asia, Europa y Oceanía. Sus objetivos fundamentales consisten en estimular la creatividad de los productores radiofónicos; impulsar la reflexión y el intercambio de experiencias sobre la radio en el mundo, y abrir espacios para la capacitación de quienes desarrollan todo tipo de actividades en este importante medio de comunicación. La Séptima Bienal Internacional de Radio, que se efectuará en el Centro Nacional de las Artes, del 8 al 12 de septiembre de 2008, con el tema La radio de cara al futuro: el impacto de la convergencia tecnológica, se enmarca en la celebración del cuadragésimo aniversario de la historia reciente de Radio Educación, por lo cual, esta vez adquiere un significado especial y festivo. Esta edición contará con la participación de personalidades de la radio procedentes de Alemania, Argentina, Bolivia, España, Estados Unidos, Francia, Italia, México, Países Bajos, Perú y Reino Unido. Entre las actividades de la séptima edición de la Bienal destacan: El Concurso de Programas Radiofónicos, con 700 mil pesos en premios, dividido en nueva categorías: radiorreportaje, radiodrama, programa musical, radiorrevista, programa infantil, mensaje promocional, campaña institucional, radioarte y programa indigenista. El Ciclo de Conferencias, conformado por cinco mesas redondas donde especialistas de probada capacidad y perfiles diferentes, nacionales y extranjeros, abordarán temas de gran interés: “Perspectivas de la radio en México. ¿Hacia la construcción de un nuevo modelo?”; “Radiomorfosis, la era de la convergencia tecnológica en la radio”; “Audiencias y nuevos hábitos de consumo de la radio en la era digital”; “Tendencias de la programación radiofónica ante el cambio tecnológico”, y “Las nuevas interactividades y recursos tecnológicos de la radio”. Además, habrá una mesa especial sobre “Estándares digitales”, con representantes de Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) e In Band On Channel (IBOC), así como una conferencia con el tema “La deontología del periodista frente a los nuevos desafíos tecnológicos”. Todas éstas de acceso libre al público. [see GUIANA FRENCH for DRM sked] Once cursos talleres que impartirán calificados docentes y especialistas en radio originarios de Argentina, España, Francia, México, Países Bajos y Reino Unido. Presentaciones de libros y actividades artísticas. Para conocer la información de la Séptima Bienal Internacional de Radio a detalle, se pueden consultar los siguientes sitios web: http://www.bienalderadio.gob.mx http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx http://www.myspace.com/radioeducacion (via Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More under MEXICO DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see GUIANA FRENCH; IRELAND; C&C above ++++++++++++++++++++ WOI-FM HAS HD NOW Hello from Des Moines, Iowa. I noticed on Friday that my Sangean receiver was showing the HD icon for the first time on WOI-FM that identifies as Ames/Des Moines. They are operated by Iowa State University and are a NPR affiliate on both AM and FM. I understand that AM will also be adding HD. The negativity regarding HD is a curiosity to me. It is the same general line as regarded FM 50 years ago. I posted a description of that a few months ago. I also have heard - have heard - that HD is pretty big in other parts of the world. For myself, I am enjoying a new technology! And I appreciate the broadcasters that are making it available to us! Doc (Tom Gruis, Sept 7, ABDX via DXLD) One difference between the current technology change (IBOC) and FM is that FM when it came on the air did not interfere with AM. However, IBOC interferes with other stations in the same bands, both AM and FM, but to a lesser extent on FM (Bill Harms, Radio Station Historian, Elkridge, Maryland http://radiotowers.info http://spokaneradio.philcobill.com ibid.) You'll have to excuse my forthrightness, but what you heard is total bunk. "HD-Radio", the thing being pushed by Ibiquity in the USA, is NOT "HD", as in High Definition, or Hybrid Digital, or anything else. They quite obviously chose the name so that people would think it stands for high definition, but they deny that it stands for anything. It's just two random letters they chose, and any similarity to any other service using those letters is purely coincidental. Total BS, obviously, but that's their story and they're sticking to it. HD-Radio, otherwise known as IBOC, is not available anywhere else in the world. Well, I guess there are one or two stations in Brazil that are experimenting with it and Mexico has OK'ed some tests, but that's it as far as HD-Radio as it is known in the USA. DAB is used in a number of European countries, though it has more than its share of critics. In the UK, which is the system I've read about the most, they allocated nowhere near enough space for the number of stations they're trying to cram onto DAB. The available bandwidth can't handle the load at anything near even normal FM broadcast standards. They're compressing the hell out of the signals to make them fit in the available space. There has been talk of switching to a different compression scheme that would work better, but that will obsolete all the existing radios, none of which were by any means cheap. There has been some talk about using DRM on SW and possibly even MW for European broadcasts, but that's just talk as far as I know. I don't think any of us would be opposed to new, improved radio services, as long as those services don't infringe on the existing services. It's one thing for existing services to die off due to attrition and movement to new, improved services. It's something completely different for the new service to simply step all over the existing service. I spent some time this afternoon and evening scanning the FM band here in Orlando with my fairly new Sony XDR-F1HD. It's the first time I've spent much time at all with FM in these parts. Between my location -- central part of the state with three large metro areas at 70, 120, and 200 miles, all on at least slightly different compass points, and many smaller communities within 100 miles -- and the amazing reception of the F1HD, I logged something on all but a couple frequencies, except for those frequencies adjacent to a local HD-Radio station. Most of those were filled with little but hiss. IBOC is destructive. That is the basis for essentially all of the complaints about it (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) Bob here now. I'd just like to add to Jay's excellent reply, with two more points. (1) On FM you'll find that the NPR stations are major supporters of HD. The NPR operators get major help in subsidizing the (often considerable) cost of adding HD equipment. Commercial operations do not. So it is normal to see the NPR's heavy boosterism. I agree that the NPR stations are among the only ones that show any real creativity in how they program their secondaries. I _do_ have an HD receiver, an Accurian, so I do get to find out what the HD stations are offering. So far it is not very compelling. I have argued several times that an HD station in Tampa should program Arabic language on one of their secondaries, to serve that considerable Temple Terrace audience, with a truly worthwhile offering, but I'd bet major money that this will never happen. Even WSJT 94.1 which has an obnoxiously frequent rate of HD promo airing, has opted to put a totally forgettable "classic" service on their one secondary. I have to confess, the HD offering here in Tampa is so weak, I haven't used the Accurian in some time, so I owe it to myself to check again (2) on AM the majority of stations promoting HD are the big 50 kW with typically easily tuned non-DA antennas that will pass HD sidebands relatively easily. IMO these station operators like HD because it is easy to set up their antennas to handle HD, they can better afford the installation and high licensing costs of HD, and they see it as an ultimately favorable way to gain audience at the expense of OTHER BROADCASTERS whom they hope will fall by the wayside as, when HD becomes the (mandated?) standard, the competition will go dark because they can't afford it, or can't make it work technically. (And yes, this has nothing to do with DXers.) If an AM station had a technical fault in which they broadcast a raspy 12 kHz audio tone along with their programming, and interfered with another station on an adjacent channel, they would be issued a NOV (Notice of Violation) and fined. But in the Kafkaesque world of HD, where HD means, if anything at all, Highly Deceitful, the offending station carries on with the blessing of the FCC for technically the identical violation. How Can This BE ?? (Answer: reference "lawyer") (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) My LOCAL FM running IBOC indeed says now broadcasting in high definition. The HD does stand for high definition according to my local. and I have heard more then one station refer to it as such (Norbert, ibid.) I believe you, but your local station is lying --- HD stands for nothing (except maybe "highly disingenuous"). I'd guess the "HD" tag is just an attempt to link it to HDTV in the public's mind. Hey, it's an election year; don't be eager to believe everything you hear! ;-) (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ibid.) I never meant to imply that many people don't make the obvious assumption about the "HD" in "HD-Radio". The irony is that with many of the stations it isn't even "higher" definition. The analog FM signal often sounds better than the digital counterpart. Not in all cases, but in quite a few. With the local stations that I've heard, most sound better in analog. With the best of them, it's pretty much a toss-up. The HD has better separation, but apparently dampened highs and lows. As soon as you bring a second or third HD channel into the picture, forget it. And CD-like quality? Keep dreaming. Perhaps the system is capable of it, but I've certainly not heard it. Not even close. I'm referring in all this to the FM IBOC. On AM there's little argument that the HD signal doesn't sound better. Perhaps not better than what analog AM is capable of, but certainly better than the de facto signal sent by almost all AM stations these days. Sadly, the only AM stations I've heard on IBOC that play music are the Radio Disney outlets. I can just see all those 8 year olds lining up to buy $150 tabletop radios at Walmart. Most of the stations I've heard on AM IBOC are talk stations where the added fidelity is nice to have, but hardly anything that's going to make people rush out and buy expensive radios. As long as it sounds as good as the phone system did before it all went digital, the vast majority of people are happy with the signal quality for talk. This band-destroying IBOC thing is hardly necessary (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) Jay and all, In the context of my conversation the concept of digital radio was what we were talking about and not the technical specifics. The adjacent channel interference problem is annoying but really only of a lot or importance to those of us who pursue the DX hobby. Normally there is channel spacing built in to assignments although the spectrum does seem to be eroding. More annoying to me are the low power stations that try to make up for that by overmodulating. Any progress comes with some pain. There are a lot of reasons to have this radio hobby. One of the lists, for example, DXers were not happy about the programming of stations they heard. Having been in broadcasting for about 40-years I can find a lot of things to be interested in. One of my pet peeves is when limiters are grossly out of adjustment. BUT it is still interesting and enjoyable. In the first days of FM it was in the 40 "megacycle" range and then moved. TV channel 1 is no more. Adjustments will be made with IBOC as it progresses too. Thanks for the response, no matter how curt it started out, it was informative. And that's what it's all about - HEY! 73, (Doc Gruis, IA, ibid.) Not correct. Adjacent channels happen in many suburban locations, especially in the East. All that is required for adjacent channel reception is for the two stations to be relatively equal in strength at the receiver, and then the capture ratio effect will take over and one will predominate. A large number, probably the vast majority of people listening to first adjacents don't even know what the letters DX mean, and probably don't care or know that they are doing unusual. I hear stories all the time about suburban listeners, usually to NPR stations, that suddenly find their favorite station jammed when a neighbor starts IBOC transmission. First adjacent situations NEVER occur near the towers or in downtown areas, but you only need to go 20 miles or less in the Eastern seaboard and the situation changes completely. Even in the sparsely populated area around the DFW metroplex, first adjacents abound - KEOM and KTCU are first adjacents that actually cover portions of the metroplex. A large swath of population in the middle can receive both, even on very inexpensive clock radios, without being "DX'ers". So I stand by my statement that first adjacent interference is unacceptable, and limits listening choices for large numbers of people, who don't even have a clue what happened to their favorite stations (Bruce Carter, ibid.) I'm not sure I at all buy the "only of concern to DX hobbyists" line. There are situations throughout the country where for pretty much the history of the medium people from one "market" have been able to hear stations from a different "market". And there are certainly many people who have for years listened at night to stations from very far away. I realize they have been enjoying reception to which they have no "right", but these people don't know about protected contours and such. They just know they can no longer get their favorite station. Admittedly, these people are fewer and fewer due to the proliferation of syndication and the reality of there being little compelling radio anymore. But how many Cub fans in Ashland, WI will be perturbed when WDSM in Duluth goes IBOC and starts hissing all over WGN? (Jay Heil, FL, ibid.) Case in point. WBT used to be one of my best nighttime stations, 150 miles from Charlotte. KMOX's IBOC is now trashing it. I guess I have no "right" to receive WBT (Bob Smoak, Bamberg, S. C., ibid.) Any interest in talking about what the rules actually say, not just playing into the anti- (or pro-) IBOC hyperbole? If so, read on... (and if not, go read whatever Jerry Del Colliano or pocketradio put up on their blogs today!) From the FCC's point of view, there is no "guaranteed right" to receive anything in particular. What there is, depending on the service and the class of station, is a certain radius or threshold of predicted signal level within which that station is protected from incoming interference. In the case of WBT, as a class A license, it's supposed to be protected from co-channel interference within its 0.5 mV/m, 50% skywave signal - in other words, the area within which the FCC's formulas predict that listeners will be able to receive a signal of 0.5 mV/m (weak, but listenable) 50% of the time. This contour extends from most of New England across upstate New York, all of PA, most of WV, takes a tuck in across western NC, SC and GA because of WBT's nighttime DA, then widens out to include most of AL and all of FL. There's no "guarantee" or "right" that anyone can actually hear WBT in that area, but there certainly is a legal protection of WBT's signal from (domestic) interference, which is why my semi-local 1110, WSFW in Seneca Falls NY, has to sign off at sunset, as do a dozen or so other 1110s within that contour. In theory, KMOX's (or WTAM's) night IBOC should fall under the same rules. In practice, of course, the physics have been trumped by regulatory fiat. I'm not sure why WBT doesn't make a bigger stink about this; it's not constrained by co-ownership, the way KDKA is when it comes to the blasting interference it's receiving from WBZ and WINS. Perhaps WBT believes the (questionable) benefits it gets from running IBOC within its local coverage area outweigh whatever coverage loss it experiences in outlying areas from other stations also running IBOC. It is, sadly, very true that even the AM big guns - with a handful of exceptions out west such as KRVN and KTNN - really don't care very much anymore about whether they can be heard outside their local coverage areas. Their sales departments tend to be so thoroughly driven by ratings, which of course are based on metro area listenership, that any coverage outside the metro is irrelevant, or nearly so. I'll throw the question back to Bob - sure, you like listening to WBT (so do I), but at a 150-mile remove from Charlotte, how often, if ever, do you patronize WBT's local advertisers, who provide the money that keeps WBT on the air? (And no, contrary to popular DX'er belief, there's not a shred of credible evidence I've ever seen to suggest that stations are deliberately using IBOC to cut down on out-of-market listenership; today, such listening represents a vanishingly tiny fraction of the audience, too small to be a competitive factor for in-market stations. That's not a knock on DXers, just an acknowledgment of the reality that we are few in number these days.) The answer to the problem, incidentally, is NOT the suggestion sometimes made to "cut 50 kW stations down to 5 kW if all they care about is the local audience." With all the QRM and QRN out there these days, most AMs need the signal strength 50 kW produces just to cover their local audience. Look at all the class B signals (former regional channels) that have increased to 50 kW to get more "oomph" over their communities - stations like 970 and 1280 in NYC, 1290 in Omaha, 1430 in LA, etc. The answer, instead, might involve a tradeoff: if a station chooses to run with IBOC, perhaps it should be compelled to surrender its class A skywave interference protection. That would certainly make our lives more interesting as DXers - absent the skywave protection WBT now receives, a whole bunch of stations on 1110 in the east would be able to run significant night power all of a sudden. This, of course, is a "be careful what you wish for" situation. We as DXers know it would have the effect of boosting the noise floor dramatically, further reducing the in-market coverage a station like WBT now enjoys. And just maybe that would be all the incentive a station like WBT would need to see the light, appreciate the status quo, and leave well enough alone :-) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) That's a bit of a chicken and egg situation there, isn't it, Scott? Or perhaps negative feedback loop is more accurate. The ratings people and sales folks become fixated on nothing but "local" numbers. They stop courting businesses from more distant locations. The geographic interest of the programming contracts because the sales people keep telling programming that it's only "local" that matters. Fewer people from more distant locations listen because there's less of interest to them. The "distant" numbers shrink, making the sales people even more confident that only "local" matters. Rinse and repeat until the only people listening really are the locals and a few crazies with giant loop antennas and all kinds of esoteric radio gear. Then some distant neighboring station's IBOC buzz makes it almost impossible for the remaining distant listeners to hear the station. But nobody cares that the protected signal is being infringed upon because there are so few distant listeners left they can't be found to be counted. Self-fulfilling prophecy (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) "The HD Radio Alliance's blame game" --- Nasty, mean-spirited, filled with ad hominem attacks --- in other words, it's a real hoot to read and takes no prisoners: http://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/2008/09/radio-hd-radio-alliances-blame-game.html (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) And be sure to read the comments below in the blog (gh, DXLD) Frankly - I am a little scared of these folks. When they look at names to attack, mine will be high on their list! I gave it a shot. I actually own an HD radio, and have documented some of the ways the technology works, and some of the ways it DOESN'T. When I am 9.6 miles from a 10,000 Watt AM HD station, and it takes a loop 8 feet on a side (64 square feet) to get a reliable lock - and that is with all interference producing devices in the house turned off - something stinks with the system! FM seems to work well enough, I've done 70 mile reception with a dipole, so something stinks about the need for a ten fold power increase. I suspect adjacent jamming is somewhere on their radar. Even at the present power level, jamming of first adjacents is not worth it. I never did like stomping on my neighbor to get my way. I still don't. If the system had stayed in the allotted bandwidth, I'd have been all for it. But stomping on the little guy - NO (Bruce Carter, ibid.) WNBW-DT 9 ON THE AIR A post on AVSForum is reporting WNBW-DT 9 Gainesville, Florida on the air. Only an ID slide for now. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14590401&postcount=1752 (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Sept 8, WTFDA via DXLD) WILMINGTON NC SHUTS OFF ANALOG... ...in about 15 minutes There's a webcast stream up from WECT of the special they're doing to mark the end of analog at WECT.com, and the city of Wilmington is streaming the ceremony at City Hall, too, at http://wilmington.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=2 Lots of PR puffery, of course, but a significant moment in the transition, too. And in the off chance we get another round of Es before the end, it's worth noting that WECT 6 and WWAY 3 (and WILM-LP 10, too) will keep a slide up on their analog signals until February, telling viewers where to go for information on the transition. (The analog transmitters are being kept powered in case of another hurricane.) s (Scott Fybush, NY, 1549 UT Sept 8, WTFDA via DXLD) That`s an idea! After February 17th FCC should demand that all analogs stay on the air until September 2009 with nothing but a display of the station's Call Letters dark and large size on a bright background and broadcast that slide 24 hours daily like that. Of course mainly all VHF stations. 73s, (John L., ibid.) I LOVE IT! :-) And if every market were like Wilmington, it might even be practical. Wilmington was chosen for the test, I understand, because it's one of only a few markets in the country where: a) nobody in the market is going back to their analog channel for DTV b) all the interim DTV facilities are built out at full power Left unspoken is the reality that those circumstances are most likely to be met in markets that have analogs low-band V and U, but no analogs on high-band V. (The high-band Vs are most likely, in my experience so far, to want to revert to those channels for their permanent DTV operations.) The nearest such market to me that I can find is Buffalo, where just about everyone stays on their interim DTV channels for permanent use. But there are two stations there that never built interim DTV operations: WPXJ (analog 51) will go to 23 for DTV, using the channel now occupied by WNLO analog, and WNGS (analog 67) goes to WKBW-TV's channel 7 (Scott Fybush, Rochester, ibid.) Well, I didn't know that, and it's kinda silly. The point of the exercise was to see what would happen when the analogs shut down in February. Fair enough. But, come February, when my local channel 3 shuts down, it WON'T have such a slide informing the clueless what has happened. Today, in Wilmington, the few idiots left who missed the countdown and countless PSAs will find SOME information when they flip on VHF looking for Days of Our Lives. That presumably won't be the case in the rest of the country. Now, I differ from many in the Club. I think we took TOO LONG getting the analogs off, and moving forward with a more spectrally-efficient scheme. But, the results of this "experiment" will be meaningless. Real world conditions were not duplicated. I'm just sayin'.... Peter, N4LI (Peter Baskind, J.D., LL.M., Germantown, TN, ibid.) Many DXers during Es openings could ID like 10 or 20 TV stations on one channel within a hour. heh! I'm just thinking about us DXers. Course that would create new DXers as well and cause a sudden membership increase in WTFDA! (-John L., ibid.) Would that work in all areas? I know in the Boston/Providence market the DT station currently on Channel 52 will be moving to Channel 10 which currently is the analog of a Providence station. And the Boston Channel 7 plans to move their DT from Channel 42 to Channel 7. Sounds like this could create a big can of worms in some markets. (Allan Dunn, ibid.) Also noted today ch 6-WECT stopped analog TV programming and have a loop announcement as follows: "At noon on Sept 8, 2008 commercial TV stations in Wilmington NC began to broadcast programs exclusively in digital format. If you are hearing this message, your TV set is not upgraded to digital. To receive your TV signals, upgrade to digital now with a converter box, a new TV set with a digital ATSC tuner, or by subscribing to a pay service like cable or satellite. For more info call 1-877-DTV-0908 or TTY 1-866-644-0908 or visit http://www.dtv.wilmington.com " Well, it's starting to happen. Here's hoping the Wilmington ATVs will occasionally turn off their transmitters to allow for TV DX in a northerly direction (Fred Nordquist, Moncks Corner, SC, ibid.) But couldn't granny be watching an analogue station on her new digital ATSC TV? Not exactly 100% correct advice (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ONDES MARTENOT Intermission feature from BBCR3 Prom 64, Sept 2 and presumably about to be deleted Sept 9, instrument inspired by radio sounds: Martin Handley talks to Tristan Murail about the ondes martenot, and this intriguing electronic instrument's role in Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony. Listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/console/audio/1/?mp=2008/pp20080902 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION ++++++++++++ Aurora at Haapavesi Coordinate 64 8 ' 15 " North , 25 22 ' 0 " East Hi All; Check http://www.kotinet.com/jari.ylioja/images/northern%20lights/album/slides/lights_5_9_2008_4_2.html The guy who took photos lives very near our place at Haapavesi on Sept. 5 - we saw the same Aurora, but this guy took nice photos. I think his QTH is about 3 kms to the south, on the other side of a lake South of the Haapavesi QTH. 73,Tarmo Kontro, FINLAND, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Very nice. This goes to the last of 22 images, so back them up (gh, DXLD) ###