DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-130, December 21, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1439 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed December 8] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1440] Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 [or new 1440] WBCQ is also airing recent archive editions of WOR M-F 2000 on 7415; except on Wednesday or Thursday this should be the latest edition. 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 ** ANGUILLA [non]. 13845, University Network via WWCR, Nashville TN (presumed); 1935-1941+, 13-Dec; Dead Dr. Gene pontificating; phone # break at 1936 with knee slappin' bumper tune; Rev Barbi at 1938 reading letters. One from a KY pastor that said no other ministry has opened his eyes like hers. He must have seen a picture of Barbi from her previous occupation! Barb says she needs more reservations for the Cathedral Sunday. I still think she'd get a packed house if she dressed like her previous occupation. SIO=454 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA [and non]. Para los amantes del DX utilitario, frecuencias e información variada de las bases argentinas en la Antártida. Quizás algunas estén desactualizadas [outdated]. JMR http://www.dna.gov.ar/INTINFO/ARGPERES.HTM 3.2.5. FACILIDADES Y FRECUENCIAS DE COMUNICACION. A. BASE JUBANY A.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 156.025, 156.8 y 162.025 MHz. HF: 4490 y 4705 KHz. HF: AYQ743/AZD36/LTA 284 A.3 Telefónos y fax Telefónos: + 871 682 623054 (F-1); + 874762018794; + 87476218796 (DATOS); +584 492 621311 Fax: + 87476218795 A.4 Correo electrónico jubanyradio @ yahoo.com.ar B. BASE BELGRANO II B.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 16 (156.800 MHz); 156.375 MHz; Land Mobiles; Marine Band; 118.1 MHz (Aircraft Land); HF: 4490 KHz; 7980 KHz; 11440 KHz; 14402,5 KHz. HF: LTA 115; UHF 860 MHz. B.3 Telefónos y fax Teléfono: 0810-333-0110 Fax: + 43734756 C. BASE ESPERANZA C.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 16 (156.800 MHz); 156.375 MHz; Land Mobiles; Marine Band; 118.1 MHz (Aircraft Land); HF: 4490 KHz; 7980 KHz; 11440 KHz; 14402,5 KHz. HF: LTA 116; UHF 860 MHz. C.3 Telefónos y fax Teléfono: + 08102220770 Fax: + 02974445304; 02974445309; 02974445314; 02974445319 C.4 Correo electrónico radioesperanza @ infovia.com.ar esperanza @ infovia.com D. BASE SAN MARTIN D.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 156.800 MHz; 156.375 MHz (Land Mobiles); 156.375 MHF; (Marine Band); 118.1 MHz; (Aircraft Band); HF 11440 - 14402,5 Khz y VHF 16 HF: 4490 - 7980 KHz HF: LTA 126 E. BASE MARAMBIO E.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 118.1 MHz; 118.5 MHz. HF: 4490 KHz; 8980 KHz; 2455 KHz; 4705 KHz. E.3 Telefónos y fax Teléfonos: + 02974-4-72583; + 02974-4-72580; + 02974-4-72578; + 02974- 4-72569; *0810-222-0330. Fax: + 02974-4-72583; + 0810-333-0660 E.4 Correo electrónico marambio@satlink.com.ar F. BASE ORCADAS [South Orkney Islands] F.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: 156.8 MHz (16) HF: 4, 5 y 6; 4490-8980 KHz G. ROMPEHIELOS A.R.A. ALMIRANTE IRIZAR G.2 Frecuencias de comunicación VHF: CH 16 CH 70 (DSC) HF: 2182 KHZ; 2187,5 KHZ DSC; 8414,5 KHZ DSC; 12577 KHZ DCS MMSI 701807000 HF/MF: 2182 KHz G.3 Telefónos y fax Teléfonos: + 5411-4314-6225; + 5411-4314-7776; + 5411-4311-0916. Fax: + 5411-4314-6225; + 5411-4314-7776. Globar Star: 06701010039; 06701010059. Inmarsat: 008711540117; 008741540117; 00874761917275; 00874761917276 Telex); 0087447100535 Celular: 0054291156422904; 0054297155092967; 0054111544205608. G.4 Correo electrónico almiranteirizar @ arnet.com.ar drdellarodolfa @ ara.mil.ar (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Also had info on brands of transceivers on hand, deleted here (gh) ** ARGENTINA. 1700 kHz, R. Príncipe Cristiana, Principe con Dios, new station in Buenos Aires (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, ARC SOUTH AMERICAN NEWS DESK Dec 2008, Tore B. Vik, Norway, editor, via Tore Larsson, Sweden, DXLD) Príncipe should be a masculine word (gh) ** ASIA [non]. RFA AUTOMATED RECEPTION REPORT SYSTEM DOWN Hello friends: just a short note to let you know that the server used for our automated reception report system is currently undergoing maintenance and should return to service within a week. In the meantime, please feel free to email your reception reports to us at qsl @ rfa.org or send them by regular postage to: Reception Reports Radio Free Asia 2025 M. Street NW Washington DC 20036 United States of America Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best wishes to one and all for the holidays. 73s. AJ (AJ Janitschek of Radio Free Asia via Rich D`Angelo, Dec 18, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, Bangladesh Betar, *1228-1240, Dec 20, sign on with distinctive IS at 1228. Talk at 1230. Flute music at 1240. Poor. Weak under a stronger China Radio Int in English. No sign of China yesterday, but today China was the dominate station on this frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Wacky preacher in españuguês on 9565, Dec 21 at 0610, mentioning Voz de Liberación. He really puts on a show with his screaming and declaiming as if he is possessed. I think he`s just nuts, and he can`t even keep the two languages straight. This of course is David Miranda of the Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor. Here`s one website I quickly found, based in Perú with audio. http://www.ipda.com.pe/audioenlinea.htm The 9565 station is the 24- hour Radio Tupi, ZYE727, Curitiba PR; this nonsense infests many more Brazilian and other Latin American SW stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGET) Hi Glenn, Aqui no Brasil chamamos esse "idioma" de PORTUNHOL, e realmente nossas emissoras de OM e OC estão infestadas com a programação da IPDA e o Pastor David Miranda, infelizmente. Here in Brazil we call this language portunhol, and really our broadcast of MW and SW are infested with the programming of IPDA and Pastor David Miranda, unfortunately. http://www.radiotupicuritiba.com.br/Default.aspx http://www.radiotupicuritiba.com.br/Play.aspx 73 (Marcelo Bedene, Curitiba-PR, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Radio Observatório Nacional (Time Signal Rio de Janeiro) is now transmitting on 10000 kHz, moving from 9999 (Anderson Colla - PY1VHF, via UDXF Dec. 20, 2008 via Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Re 8-129: 11700 today 12-14 UT, I never noted a motorboot sound on this channel. Is that only a NoAM occurrence? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 19, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) It seemed OK here too sometime around 1430 today. I suspect it is a sporadic occurrence, so you might keep checking this and other Bulgarian frequencies. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CANADA. New Toronto area radio station --- For the mediumwave DXers out there: CINA 1650, Mississauga, Ontario, is now on the air. I heard them this afternoon playing South Asian music and making periodic IDs with the station telephone number. The NRC station log has them located in Mississauga, but the telephone number is a Toronto one (416 area code). This station is supposedly 1 kW but it sounded pretty weak to me. Maybe they're not on full power yet? I think they must have just recently come on the air - I haven't heard them before. The station is IDing as "CINA Radio", with CINA being pronounced like "seena". All the talk I heard was in English, but all the music was South Asian. So, another DX target for you folks, and yet another frequency now blocked for me by a local or semi-local station (Greg Shoom, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2209 UT Dec 21, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 3330/rcusb, CHU in well with English/French announcement re frequency change of 41 metre outlet, English on even minutes, French in odd minutes both from seconds :15 to :29 with the rest of the minute format unchanged, including the doubled pips for UT1 correction factor. 0355-0338 18/Dec, SIO 444, (14670 & 7335 not heard). ASCII still says the leap second will be subtracted, but this is apparently a bug in Mac MultiMode -- mis-programmed the meaning of the data bits? Have to email Chris S to see if he knows/has a fix! [later:] I contacted CHU and Chris S re the fact that Mac Multimode thinks CHU is telling the world that there will be a leap second SUBTRACTED, and CHU confims that indeed it is the software that is interpreting the data incorrectly. No word from Chris yet if a "bug fix is in the works or not. (See last week's TipSheet for details.) (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6070, CFRX with local ads, IDs as NewsTalk 1010 CFRB and into weather and traffic reports for Toronto, and into "We need to Talk" call in show with participation from Santa Clause who took time out of his busy season to bop down to TO to chat on the radio! :) Thanks to tips from Niel W and Harold F. SIO 444 0028-0038 18/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) So at this hour hardly any QRM from Chile, which starts at 0000 (gh, DXLD) I didn't know that CFRX was an engineer`s plaything. At one time it & several others were used as fill stations for reception further north. Now I suppose CFRX is just kept for a DX target & perhaps an engineers hobby transmitter since all the others have gone off the air. Where is the CFRX transmitter kept anyway? At the main CFRB transmitter site? (Robert M. Bratcher, Jr., TX, Dec 21, ABDX via DXLD) Yes CFRX, 6070 at 2006 on 21 Dec. with mattress ad. Excellent signal. Off air at 2134 recheck. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Hi Glenn, I read with interest Gunter Jacob’s lament regarding no QSLs from Radio Canada in DXLD 8-129. A couple of months ago I received 2 cards, v/s Bill Westenhaver, for a report regarding 11675 (Kunming, China). The program reported on was Maple Leaf Mailbag, and both f/d QSLs are Maple Leaf Mailbag QSLs with the RCI logo on them. The report was submitted over their website. So did I hit the lottery here or what? RCI and CBC Northern Service used to have great cards. I hope Gunter can have the same luck. Maybe they only take reports for Maple Leaf Mailbag? Best 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Al, I was thinking there have been RCI QSLs coming from Bill all along. I suspect Gunter wore out his welcome long ago with his demands for multiple QSLs. 73, (Glenn to Al, via DXLD) ** CANADA. The decrepit Sackville transmitter reserved for its lowest- priority service, CBC Northern Quebec 9625, went way out of whack again Dec 21 when heard just before sign-off. At 0555 Sunday Dec 21, found extremely overmodulated and distorted signal covering approximately 9635-9650, nothing on 9625. Sounded like a CBC music/DJ program, perhaps Saturday Night Blues, tho I thought that was supposed to end an hour earlier, as on the ET Zone feed until local midnight. Could only make out occasional words using slope detexion, but the transmission was not frequency-stable, and had to keep tuning back and forth hoping for the best. Also collided with WYFR mixing product on 9645, 9715 leapfrog over 9680. My suspicions were confirmed at 0600 with CBC news re bad weather, which was more readable. Gone a few minutes later after normal sign-off time. Not the first time it has happened to this transmitter, which in the best of circumstances is somewhat distorted and under-modulated. I was going to notify Sackville the next morning, but at 1409 recheck, it was back in whack on 9625, with fast BBC SAH, closing news, 1410:30 CBCNQ 9625 ID, 1411 opening Sunday Edition (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Right now at 2000 on 21 December I'm hearing CBC N Quebec right on frequency, 9625.00 with good modulation.73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. 11895 good and clear Dec 20 at 1505, disgusting sermon in slow English about bringing a female (animal?) without defect as a sin offering, slaughtering and pouring out the blood on the altar, removing the fat and burning it, avoiding unclean stuff; Leviticus V mentioned. What does PWBR `2009` say this is? AWR Guam is the only bar, but summer-only and language-other, so that would be a bum rap. EiBi and Aoki have the answer as usual: Bible Voice Broadcasting, 90 degrees to South Asia at 1500-1530 when English is only on Saturdays; EiBi says Nauen, Aoki says Wertachtal. The Franco-Germans are always jumping the sites around, presumably for logistical reasons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Greetings, Snap Crackle Pop fans, I'm very happy to announce that the tradition continues. Once again, Paul Grant and I will hit the airwaves with a New Years Morning edition of Snap Crackle Pop. Tune in to CBC Radio One on Thursday, January 1, 2009, from six to eight-thirty AM for two-and-a-half-hours of vinyl and shellac shufflin' radio. We'll be spinning all three speeds - 33, 45 and 78 rpm - digging down deep to the roots of roots and popular music. Because it'll be six in the morning, we'll start mellow with Canadian sax giant PJ Perry accompanied by Senator Tommy Banks on piano, moving into more jazz, some blues, a bit of folk and beyond. The second hour perks up with a bit more blues, a dose of Calypso, some Fado, a few scarce, mid-50s Canadian rockabilly 78s, a touch of early Canadian C&W etc. The last hour is actually only twenty-one minutes. Paul Grant and I call it the SCP trailer - a quick snapshot of the eclectic nature of this unique 'all records' radio show, featuring discs you may well not hear anywhere else (except on my CKUA radio show). From the stunning jazz vocals of Terri Thornton to some mean Merle Travis guitar pickin', we cover a lot of bases in the last twenty-one minutes of SCP. All in all, it's gonna be a heckuva fun show as Paul and I celebrate the coming of a brand new year. And, folks- thanks, always, for your excellent and entertaining e- mails, both to me and to the CBC. Your solid support is a big part of why Paul and I have continued to do this occasional Snap Crackle Poppin' thing since September 1996. I'm including the link to CBC's 'Contact' page just in case the NY Morning show moves you to write again! http://www.cbc.ca/contact/ Cheers and a big loud HAPPY NEW YEAR from Paul Grant and from me, Roy Forbes PS. If you'd like a weekly fix of tunes from my 'slightly cluttered basement' you can tune in every Monday evening (six PM, Mountain Time) to Roy's Record Room on the CKUA radio network - via your AM or FM radio if you're in Alberta, via your computer at www.CKUA.com if you're anywhere else in the world. I've put together a special Christmas RRR for Monday, Dec 22. It'd be nice to have you tune in. Here's a link to the RRR section of the CKUA website for more info. And, feel free to let me know if you'd like to be on the RRR e-mail list. http://www.ckua.com/programs/roysrecordroom/index.html PPS. If you're at all partial to Mince Meat Tarts, click here http://www.royforbes.ca/tart.html PPPS. If you want to keep in touch with what I'm up to, check http://www.royforbes.ca/dates.html "Never play anything that ain't right. You may not make any money, but you'll never get hostile with yourself." === Advice from black pianist Reginald DuValle in 1916 to a young Hoosier with a passion for music - Hoagy Carmichael. http://www.royforbes.ca Roy Forbes, Box 38724, Metro RPO, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 3N1 CANADA (via Fred Waterer, Dec 21, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 7220, R. Centrafique (tentative), Bangui. December-21 French 0720-0758 OM talks, 0728 African music returning male talks, 0743 xylophone sounded-like music as bridge to OM, male choir music alternating OM, 0751 music, female talks. Poor but some enhance from 0741 to 0750, at tune-in 14322 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. Radio Nationale: 4905, 12/19, 2121-2200+ Upbeat show of upbeat dance music. I thot most sounded more Caribbean than African. Many announcements with tons of reverb. A few minutes of drums at the top of the hour and several clear “Radio Nationale” IDs. Nice sig (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. 5050, V of Strait, heard at 2311 on 20 Dec with Mandarin chat between male and female announcer, one solid ID (confirmed with live stream from their website) and occasional intro/outro music. Weak signal but no QRM and mixing with Guangxi FBS co-channel. Guangxi much weaker, but needed. So returned at 0001 and: 5050, Guangxi FBS, heard clearly at 0001 on 21 Dec with Vietnamese news by YL and occasional chanting-like music. In the clear once V of Strait signs off at 2400 with weak sigs and somewhat annoying QRM from PBS Xinjiang on 5060. This was not noticeable with V of Strait. They also have live streaming but it doesn't work and neither does their feedback form. No email addies on the website, so I will wing it and try "info" and "webmaster," unless one of you kind souls can help me out with the correct email for this station (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) service@gxradio.com per PWBR `2009`, which is generally more helpful with E-mail addresses than WRTH (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Strait, 1500-1525, Dec 21 (Sun.), pips (5+1), briefly in Chinese, into English, "This is the Voice of Strait, Fuzhou, China", program "Focus on China" with news about China, musical bridge between items, brief promo for China, "Join us for Focus on China", moderate QRM from AIR Guwahati making it hard to understand what was being said, at 1525 back to Chinese. 4950, Voice of Pujiang, Shanghai, 1510 + 1543 on Dec 18; 1522 on Dec 19; this transmitter seems to have a problem here, in the past this was the strongest signal of their three frequencies, now it is very faint, // 5075 (good) // 3280 (fair). 5050, Guangxi FBS, 1551-1601*, Dec 18, in Vietnamese, ToH pips, Vietnamese instrumental music till off, fair with Voice of Strait QRM, after sign-off only heard VOS. 9530, Firedrake, 1502, Dec 18, strong signal, plus a strong CNR-1 was here also for the purpose of jamming (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Some of the remaining Radio Reloj stations seem to have changed control, now to Sistema Vida Internacional. This was apparent from an announcement I heard in the Internet transmission of Radio Manantial: 1380 Valledupar, 1420 Manizales and 1550 Armenia (actually Calarcá). It was not mentioned what the stations are calling themselves or what program they carry, but it is maybe the Radio Vida program, which can be downloaded from a satellite. The Tunja station on 1120, for a year or so known as JB Radio and with its home page still up on the Internet, now seems to have changed ownership. An unID station heard by Pekka Kostiainen turned out to announce La Voz de Boyacá and this can hardly be anything but this very station (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ARC SOUTH AMERICAN NEWS DESK Dec 2008, Tore B. Vik, Norway, editor, via Tore Larsson, Sweden, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA [non]. LA REPETIDORA DE UNA RADIO DE LAS FARC SE HALLÓ EN LA FRONTERA http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=244414&id_seccion=4 (via Yimber Gaviria, DXLD) Just-vacated relay station for FARC found in northern Ecuador. WTFK? Never stated, not even the band, but probably FM, as not heard on SW for sesquiyears (gh, DXLD) More: ** COLOMBIA [and non]. A site presumably used as a "relay facility" of Colombian guerrilla clandestine Voz de la Resistencia has been found by an Ecuadorian army patrol in the Sucumbíos area of Ecuador. Ecuadorian El Comercio newspaper tells the story at http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=244414&id_seccion=4 Hoy newspaper carried the story already on November 27. See http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/ecuador-descubre-supuesta-base-de-las-farc-abandonada-en-sucumbios-320935.html For more on the border spillover of the Colombian guerrilla broadcasters see also final paras of page 16 in Passport to World Band Radio 2009. Footnote 14, dealing with Ecuador, refers to an article from July 4, 2007. The url of this detailed story has been changed to http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/glifosato-en-ondas-radioelectricas-271337-271337.html Unfortunately, the announced audio files are no longer available (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, I have been intending to mention Henrik`s excellent article, ``Colombia: Bandits, Ballads and Broadcasts``, leading off PWBR 2009. Find a comfortable easy-chair at Barnes & Noble and read it! Furthermore, for the first time in sesquiages, tnx to Henrik, yours truly is mentioned in that book, and there are footnoted references to DXLD (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [non]. SOUTH AFRICA: R Okapi 11690 at 0430 on 21 Dec in French with music. Fair. Heard nightly. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Big thank you to all amigos that wrote, called on the phone, send e-mail messages and even came to visit me at home when the very bad flu bug hit me during the past three weeks. You may still hear that my voice is not back to normal, due to the effects of this really bad case of the 2008 winter flu. This was the reason why we had to put on the air several re-runs of Dxers Unlimited, something I did agree about, because each of my programs usually carries at least two or three technical topics items that are always useful to you listeners around the world (Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition for 13-14 December 2008 By Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, via DXUL blogspot via DXLD) One item in this edition was about DXing meteor scatter (gh) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC 6000 still on the air past 0700, Dec 19 at 0704 with news in English, as 2-hour program had started automatic replay and transmitter engineer was dozing? However, 6060 was off and 6140 had just gone off after open carrier. Recheck at 0706, 6000 was also off, no doubt frustrating those listeners legitimately expecting to hear a full newscast from Habana. SNAFU. Maybe the webcast keeps running at least until 0900? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC La Habana in Spanish, played Brazilian music ! At 1215-1230 UT fair on 15360 kHz S=5-6, but much stronger on 12000 kHz S=9+10dB, and \\ 15120 kHz S=7-8. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC, 9550, Dec 19 at 2306 news in English, with clear echo during brief fades. Suspect this was long-path, quite a haul from here at some 38 megameters. SE Asian signals were inbooming such as VOA on 9490, which is Tinang at 200 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. VOTO POR RADIO MARTÍ --- Juan Carlos González Leiva LA HABANA, Cuba, diciembre (www.cubanet.org) - En los últimos días la Seguridad del Estado ha puesto en marcha otra campaña contra la emisora Radio Martí. No es casual ni espontáneo. Se trata de aprovechar el momento histórico. Obama acaba de ser electo presidente de los Estados Unidos y se espera que cambie la con relación al régimen de La Habana: dialogo, supresión de restricciones, etc. El boicot contra Radio Martí, incluso por parte de algunos opositores pacíficos, no es más que la esperanza del gobierno de que la destrucción de esta emisora se enganche al carro de los supuestos cambios de Obama hacia Cuba. Se afirma: "La emisora ya no responde a nuestra oposición pacífica interna, no es seria, no verifica las noticias, y cuando los disidentes estamos en apuro no las sacan; mutilan las informaciones y repiten lo que no es importante". Esto no es nuevo; lo que la policía política está haciendo con Radio Martí lo ha hecho ya con lo más relevantes defensores de derechos humanos en Cuba desde el comienzo mismo del civilismo pacífico. El descrédito primero y la destrucción total después fueron armas contra Ricardo Bofill, Gustavo Arcos Bergnes, Jesús Llanes Pelletier y muchos más. Los verdaderos patriotas y pacíficos defensores de los derechos humanos dentro y fuera de Cuba, interesados en la democracia, tenemos que mantener los ojos abiertos. Sería catastrófico para la disidencia pacífica interna perder el vehículo de expresión que es Radio Martí. No sólo sería terrible para nosotros, sino, sobre todo para los prisioneros políticos. ¿Por qué el gobierno cubano se gasta hasta lo que no tiene para levantar torres e interferir Radio y Televisión Martí? ¿Por qué se resiste a reconocer a los cubanos nuestro derecho a Internet? Porque mantenernos como a ranitas en el fondo de un pozo oscuro es la garantía de su permanencia en el poder. No me refiero, por supuesto, a la posición crítica de algunos genuinos luchadores por la democracia. La crítica puede ser saludable y comparto algunos criterios. Ninguna obra humana es perfecta y todas son sensibles de ser mejoradas. Mi más profundo agradecimiento a Radio Martí por todo lo que representa como medio de comunicación al servicio de la democracia y la libertad de expresión. (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, Dec 18, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** CZECHIA. Hi!! DXers!! Radio Prague has posted details of its 2009 QSL Card Series of 8 cards in its website. The theme of 2009 series is Czech Locomotives. We find details of it including photos of the QSL Series for 2009 via their website. http://www.radio.cz So, rush your reception reports in 2009 for their QSL card Series of eight cards. 73 & 55, Yours Faithfully (Gautam Kumar Sharma, My Address: Gautam Kumar Sharma, Abhayapuri (Near Police Station), PO. Abhayapuri (Assam), PIN.783384 (India), Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DEUTSCHES REICH. GERMAN SWING BAND SHORTWAVE PROPAGANDA OF WWII "Although the Nazis banished jazz and swing from German soil when they came to power, branding it 'degenerate music,' propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was not above using popular music to spread the word abroad about the joys of dictatorship and ethnic cleansing. From 1940 to 1945, Charlie and His Orchestra recorded nearly 100 covers of pop hits, substituting Nazi propaganda – including virulent anti-Semitism – for the real lyrics. German shortwave radio broadcasts of this music were heard in all the Allied countries. Like the members of the Reichs-orchester, the members of Charlie and His Orchestra were exempt from military service and had access to money, food and shelter even when other Germans had nothing left." John Terauds, Toronto Star, 20 December 2008 (via kimiandrewelliott.com via DXLD) For more about this subject, I recommend Horst J.P. Bergmeier and Rainer E. Lotz, ``Hitler's Airwaves: The Inside Story of Nazi Radio Broadcasting and Propaganda Swing``, Yale University Press, 1997. It covers the swing band aspect, and even includes a CD of its tunes, replete with hateful lyrics. More importantly, the book is a thorough account of German shortwave broadcasting before and during World War II. Posted: 21 Dec 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 1580, HIAJ, R. Amanecer Internacional, Santo Domingo - An unID station heard on a Parkalompolo DXpedition by Mats Andersson has turned out to be R. Amanecer Internacional, ex 1570 (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ARC CENTRAL AMERICAN NEWS DESK Dec 2008, via editor Tore Larsson, DXLD) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo: 6255, 12/18, 2129-2140+ Time pips, then possible NA & news: Hamas ends ceasefire with Israel, Russia and breakaway republics, etc. “Ladies and Gentlemen, that was the news coming to you from the world service of Radio Cairo” S9+5 sig, but weak, muddy audio and some light ute QRM (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I believe that is the R. Cairo news theme, which dates back sesquidecades, not the NA. English transmission is 2115-2245v (gh) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Radio Nac-Malabo, 0553-0615, Dec 21, Afro- pop music. Spanish announcements. Possible news at 0609. Radio Malabo IDs. Back on this frequency. Not heard for several weeks. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. VOMBE is currently on 7220 - possibly ex 7100 (Chris Greenway, Kenya observations 17-18 December via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Chris Greenway reports from Kenya hearing an UNID Ethiopian station not parallel other channels testing on 6090 kHz at ??-0600, 0900-1100 and 1400-?? UT (Chris Greenway, Kenya observations 17-18 December via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Possible Horn of Africa music was audible at 1610 UTC check today on 6090 under strong co-channel interference. A very difficult channel in Europe with DRM and other QRM (Dave Kenny 19 Dec, ibid.) The HOA station on 6090 has been audible here in Finland for some time already. Thanks to audio clips I got from Ilpo Parviainen and Mauno in Finland, the station is most probably operated by Amhara Mass Media Agency in Ethiopia, as they announce the AMMA e-mail address. There seems to be announcements of more than one frequency, yet to be solved. The signal strength suggests it's coming from Geja transmitter centre. Waiting for more info from Ethiopia (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Dec 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia: 7110, 12/16, 2012-2030+ Barely any talk. Almost exclusively light instrumental guitar music. Nice sig (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Radio Ethiopia heard with regularity in the evenings with their scheduled broadcast in Amharic commencing at 0300 UT on 7110 kHz. The interesting thing is, starting several weeks ago, little or nothing has been heard at sign on, but then, almost like clock work, at about 0345, the signal comes up rapidly to S9+ and stays there. Seems strange to me. Must be the sunrise is all I can figure, although it's dark all the rest of the way here. 9704 kHz can be heard occasionally although usually very weak. 7110 kHz is also heard with regularity coming up around 2000 UTC, often to a decent signal level, until 2100 S/Off. In the BTW category, in September I sent CD recordings of receptions to both Radio Ethiopia and the Voice of the Tigray Revolution (using the published addresses) via registered mail. Both have recently been returned as unclaimed. Clearly they made it to Ethiopia and obviously they were not pilfered or stolen. I wonder if anybody has any insight into a solution here (Ed Tilbury, AOR-7030/Alpha-Delta DX-SWL, 19 December 2008, Sanibel Island, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7110, Radio Ethiopia, 2020-2100*, Dec 20, Afro-pops. Local Horn of Africa pop music. Amharic talk. Sign off with National Anthem at 2059. Fair but weak co-channel QRM. Poor to fair on // 9704.18. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, 2034-2100 Dec 20. Noted African type music at tune in. Lyrics of the music was Swahili. Off and on a person in Swahili comments. At 2055 a male and female present the news. This is followed by the NA and then off the air. Signal was fair to good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Swahili is not a major language in Ethiopia, nor is it mentioned as one of the languages used by R. Ethiopia domestic service, in WRTH. I would expect it to be mainly in Amharic, as in previous log (gh, DXLD) 9556.04v, Radio Ethiopia, 0703-0711, Dec 21, slightly off nom. 9560. On 9556.04 at tune-in. Drifting up to 9556.32 by 0710. Vernacular talk. Local tribal music. Fair. Very weak on // 7165 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. EMR / Internet repeat times: All programmes are repeated via the EMR internet stream at: http://www.emr.org.uk Click on the "EMR internet radio" button which you will find throughout the website (see the menu on left). All EMR programmes will be repeated at following times: 1700-2000 UT. Transmission Times - 21st December 2008 6140 kHz - 1300 to 1400 UT [Germany] 9290 kHz - 1400 to 1500 UT [Latvia] The Radio Jackie book can be bought from http://www.jackiebooks.com The price in the UK is £10 + postage & packing. Good Listening and all the best for 2009 73s (Tom Taylor) Station website at http://www.taylorm.myby.co.uk/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2105-2214* 16+17.12, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB only) Greenlandic/ Danish Greenlandic ann, songs, 2200 jingle, news in Danish (presumed), song at close - back on ordinary schedule! 14232 - 12231 deep fades and CWQRM. The latest news in Danish can also be heard at http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=1855 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Had been running one hour earlier at 2000-2115 apx based on DST, well past the supposed end of DST (gh, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. True to his word, Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, manager of R. Verdad, Chiquimula, 4052.5, followed up his e-mail reply with P- mail, including another 2008 anniversary QSL card, sticker, rubberized pennant with an ostentatious golden fringe on bottom; faux-cheque from the Bank of Life Eternal, cartoon slip showing `evolution` from a man with a beverage to a pig with a keg; locally-printed 2009 calendar with small color photo of the Directiva Junta Anual consisting of 7 ladies modestly-dressed with mostly ankle-length dresses, backed by 5 gentlemen, 2nd from our left probably Dr. Madrid. Also legal-length sheet titled Radiation Area of ``Radio Truth``, listing all continents, 53 countries, 18 departments of Guatemala, 4 `states` of Canada, 10 of México, 34 of USA from which reception reports have been received from 2-25-00 inauguration to 12-4-08, totalling 487 places. And a customized and updated form letter dated Dec 5; excerpts: Dear Glenn: Thank you for your concern. We are off the air due to the destruction from a lighting, but we are trying to get on the air again, even with one module. You can also tune our signal over Internet, at http://www.radioverdad.org On short wave, we have been transmitting with only 720 watts now. Our transmitter is at Long. 89-32-15, Lat. 14-48-10. Lightning have destroyed a part of our main short wave transmitter several times, and we have made many vain efforts to convince our Government to provide us with an FM frequency, besides the SW. GOOD NEWS: we discovered that our listeners have put into Internet very much information about our Station ``Radio Truth``, ever since we are on the air. Now, you can see our Web Site at http://www.radioveredad.org with very much information about ``Radio Truth``, photographs and beautiful hymns. And, we are broadcasting our signal on the Internet. DXers from Finland have named our Station as ``The God Mother Station`` and, a few years ago, DXers form Sweden nominated our Station ``The Station of the Year`` . . . (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The new QSL, and the previous pennant and sticker are visible via http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html ** GUIANA FRENCH. From V. of Russia schedule by relay site: Montsinéry (Französisch Guyana) 0000-0100 Uhr: 13575 kHz; Portugiesisch 0100-0300 Uhr: 13630 kHz; Spanisch 0300-0600 Uhr: 7335 kHz; Russisch und Englisch (AKTUELL 6 - 2008, Editor : Dietrich Hallmann, R M R C e. V., Rhein- Main-Radio-Club, Germany, via RusDX Dec 21 via DXLD) ? Another report we had via Kai from M&B/DTK`s 28 November sked http://www.media-broadcast.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Downloads/B08_operational_281108.pdf said 7335 at 0200-0400 was Germany until English starts. Should be fairly easy to tell if the switchover is made at 0300 or 0400. Dec 21 I was monitoring at 0358-0401 and there was no change in signal strength or break in transmission as VOR went from Russian to English at 0400 sharp. HFCC shows GUF only at 02-04. But maybe I should have intuned before 0357; also should check c. 0300 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Conakry, 0625-0705+, Dec 21, Afro-pop music. Local tribal music. Some French talk. Sounded like a speech or sermon. Fair to good signal strength but weak modulation. Presumed (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII [non]. 11565, KWHR, World Harvest Radio with WHR ID and interval music, then into DXing with Cumbre #609 with items re Nigel Chapman stepping down as BBC WS Director, and HCJB transmitter installed at Swaziland TWR site. BBC Thailand back on after flooding, and Pirating with Cumbre with Chris Lobdell. :29 bumper music, and PSA re childhood hunger, and into religious music. 0459-0530 SIO 454 7/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) Apparently Ken hasn`t heard that KWHR closed down several weeks ago and now the WHR transmissions on Pacific frequencies are from Palau, T8WH, ex-T8BZ, ex-KHBN. Surely the ID he heard was not for KWHR. Anyhow, this confirms one DWC broadcast, 0500 UT Sunday on 11565; see DXLD 8-117 and 8-122 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I missed that and it didn't make my notebook to warn me about the change either! It sure came in well for Palau! In fact, a quick check of the WHRI website shows this frequency is actually from WHRI rather than Palau. Too bad -- I would have preferred Hawaii (or Palau)! This is the danger of 'non' IDs like "World Harvest Radio" ... why can't these stations ID with actual sites or calls? Grrrr. (Ken Zichi, MI, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4840, AIR-Mumbai, 0205-0220, Dec 20, talk. Hindi vocals. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1606-1618, Dec 21, their usual excellent program of non-stop western classical music, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SIKKIM ** IRAN. VOIRI: 6010, 12/16, 1947-2005 News about government of IL [Illinois?], OPEC to slow down oil production to balance dropping prices, a telephone interview, and then into woman with Qur`an lesson and warnings about cholesterol and gluttony. Good sig (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Kamalabad, 500 kW, 304 degrees, English 1930-2030 (gh) ** IRAN [non]. SRI LANKA: 7580, Radio Farda; 1945-2002+, 13-Dec; Pop music to ID at 1954; all in LL [unknown language: I bet it`s Persian - -- gh]. Copyable, but strong wing-howling QRM -- jammer? (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheeet via DXLD) Wind-howling? That would be notable, as Iran apparently has not bothered to jam Radio Farda (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. Re 8-129: R. Nikkei-1, Hokkaido Transmitter station-Nemuro (ex Sapporo) (The skip zone countermeasure station of the Nagara)3925 JOZ4 10 ND 43-17'43"N 145-33'07"E Higashi-Wada, Nemuro City, Hokkaido: All R. Nikkei-1 Tokyo relay, no local ID (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Dec 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. NHKWNRJ, Dec 19 at 0658 not only very strong on 6145 usward, but also on much weaker // 6165 mixing with Croatia, and then in Japanese bothering VOC`s brief English news at 0700. Had not noticed them on 6165 before; 300 kW, 330 degrees from Yamata (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. CLANDESTINE - 3912, V. of the People, 1412-1500+ Dec 21. Presumed with assorted talks by male & female announcers; occasional selection of vocal music. Good signal and // to 6517.98 and 6599.98, both good as well. All frequencies still good at 1503 re- check (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze, 1415-1430*, Dec 19 (Fri.), usual Fri. English program with "Today's News on North Korean Issues" and "Today's Editorial", fair, no jamming (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, LNR, 1430-1432, Dec 19 (Fri.), in English ("New Dynamic English"), ends with ID in Laotian and mention of Voice of America, who produces this English lesson, 1433 into Laotian music and songs, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat December 20th Latvia Today 1000-1100 UT Sun December 21st EMR 1400-1500 UT [see also GERMANY] Latvia Today 1500-1600 UT New Time. Good Listening 73s Tom Taylor (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I said 1300 too early (gh) ** LITHUANIA. KBC special Christmas broadcasts December 20 2008 --- Media Network reports ""Old Dutch Rocker" Eric van Willegen, who runs The Mighty KBC Radio, has hired a 100 kW shortwave transmitter in Lithuania to blast 1960s rock'n'roll all over Europe this Christmas. "Let the kids listen to their I-Pods" Eric insists "We're running a real radio station playing real 60s Rock'n'Roll for those of us used to twiddling with the knobs, and if there's a bit of hiss and whistle included, well that's all part of the experience!"" http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/special-christmas-shortwave-broadcasts-from-the-mighty-kbc-radio This from the station website: Christmas 2009. Rocking over the Ocean! KBC is on the air between 1000 and 1530 UT on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day. The frequency is 9770 kHz shortwave. KBC Christmas Day Schedule: 1000-1200 The Mighty KBC Christmas Day with Santa 1200-1300 KBC & Britain Radio 48 - Roger Davis 1300-1400 KBC & Free Radio Service Holland - Peter Verbruggen 1400-1500 The Mighty KBC - Herbie the Fish! 1500-1530 The Mighty KBC - Eric van Willegen 2130-2230 Wolfman Jack Show (6055 kHz) KBC Boxing Day (December 26) Schedule: 1000-1200 The Mighty KBC - Gary King celebrating the best of the 80's 1200-1300 KBC & Britain Radio 48 - Roger Davis 1300-1400 KBC & Free Radio Service Holland - Peter Verbruggen 1400-1500 The Mighty KBC - Herbie the Fish! 1500-1530 The Mighty KBC - Eric van Willegen 2130-2230 Wolfman Jack Show (6055 kHz) http://www.kbcradio.eu/ (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, RTV Malagasy, 2030-2210+, Dec 20, local pop music. Afro-pop music. Malagasy talk. Weak but readable. On late tonight. Reduced carrier USB (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6185 often noted with audible hum, estimated 30 Hz or so, such as Dec 19 at 0702. RNA BRAZIL in Portuguese could be heard, but no other audio. I suspect it`s caused by off-frequency XEPPM, Radio Educación, on the air but not modulating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At other times same hum when modulating (gh) ** MEXICO. A partir de las 2030 [19 diciembre] pude escuchar en los 6105 kHz una señal con música tipo tropical. La señal fué mejorando llegando a las 2200 UT con un SINPO de 4; las identificaciones y comentarios eran en lengua maya y algunas palabras y anuncios en castellano. Definitivamente se trata de "Yoól Íik" 810 kHz XEMQ tomando la señal para los 6105 kHz XEQM. Es la mejor escucha desde que XEQM está en paralelo con la señal de XEMQ; hasta hoy por la mañana se escuchaba un fuerte ruido de fondo que al menos por el momento ha desaparecido. Escucha realizada en el centro-sur de la Ciudad de México, Grundig Satellit 750, antena "V" invertida. [luego:] Por vez primera escucho la señal de XENK la "6-20" de la Ciudad de México en onda corta, esto vía la XEQM 6105 kHz de Mérida Yucatán. Tal y como se nos informó, XEQM de RASA Yucatán transmitiría de las 1100 a las 0100 UT la señal de 810 kHz de Mérida, Yucatán, Radio "Yoól Íik" en lengua maya y de 0100 a las 0500 UT la programación de XENK "Radio 6-20" de la Ciudad de México estación insignia de la "Gran Cadena RASA". De 0300 a 0410 UT excelente señal con un SINPO de 4; primero programa de análisis conducido por Francisco Fortuño y posteriormente programa religioso. Nunca antes escuchada con tan buena presencia en este horario. Escucha realizada en el centro-sur de la Ciudad de México. 73´s (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, 0436 UT Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still only traces here; in fact before 1400 Dec 21 I was not even hearing the het against FE stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Was awake this morning from 5:30-6:30 am Central (1130-1230 UT) and did some bandscanning during that period. It was interesting to parallel Mexico's Radio Mil outlets on 1000 and 6010 kHz; the 1000 kHz outlet was loud and dominant on the channel while 6010 was barely in there --- I wonder why they even bother with SW, since I imagine 1000 kHz is probably loud throughout most of Mexico (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, Dec 21, ABDX via DXLD) Not really. 1000 is no longer a clear channel for XEOY. WRTH 2009 shows nine other Mexicans on 1000, and of course in the daytime 50 kW doesn`t go that far over Mexican terrain. 6010 may fill in some coverage in the daytime when it also has less QRM to contend with. Or it could be an ``engineer`s plaything`` like CFRX. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** MEXICO. Hola a todos, Reciban un cordial saludo, y sirva para notificarles que ya está operando la señal en Internet de Radio México Internacional, con mejor calidad y sin necesidad de ver publicidad para poder escuchar el audio, les invito a escucharla y enviar sus comentarios, asi como revisar la página y su contenido, http://rmi.es.mn Saludos Fraternos (Ing. José Antonio Martínez Sánchez, XE1A, captacionesondacorta [non] Dec 20 via José Bueno, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Radio Medi Un: 171 kHz, 12/20, 0157. Saw Harold Frodge's LW logs, so I thought I'd check if any carriers were audible here. I was very surprised to hear Medi Un here with lite Mideastern pop music and YL DJ // 9575. The latter was better here because of grinding S4 or so local noise on the LW band. Still, it was great to hear this; and several other carriers were audible on LW (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. (Canada) CKZN, 6160, 12/18, 2109-2119+ Irish Xmas novelty song, then stats about Lobster harvesting and how the economy has driven lobster prices down. Good, but co-channel QRM and I think audio was a bit weak (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Something different: A pirate on 3433 kHz --- WTCR ("Twentieth Century Radio") is on right now at 0245 UT (or 10:45 p.m. AST in PEI) on the unusual frequency (for a pirate) of 3433. 73 (Niel Wolfish, Toronto, UT Dec 21, ABDX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Conditions here have been remarkably good around 2200- 0000 over the past couple of evenings. WOWO was coming in at 2200 last night. I have only just started listening to the overnight recordings but had a pleasant surprise with 950 KJR Seattle at 0900. 0800, 0900 loggings this morning 12/19 include, at the moment: 1520 KOKC Oklahoma City 0800 (Paul Crankshaw, UK, MWC via DXLD) Some interesting logs, Paul! KOKC continues to elude me, 73s, (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland, ibid.) I have noticed a long silence at toth with WWKB [Buffalo NY 1520] in recent days - this morning it lasted a full minute up to 0800. If you have a recording there is a weak "AM 15-20 K-OKC Oklahoma City" just before the loud tone from WWKB at toth (Paul Crankshaw, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. POOR RATINGS DOOMED LOCAL SPORTS-TALK RADIO STATION By Mel Bracht Published: December 19, 2008 http://www.newsok.com/poor-ratings-doomed-local-sports-talk-radio-station/article/3331278?custom_click=pod_headline_ou-sports Citadel pulls plug on Jox 930 --- It turns out Oklahoma wasn’t big enough for two sports stations — at least owned by Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel pulled the plug on Jox 930 on Monday and is temporarily airing ESPN Radio. Citadel plans to launch another undisclosed format on AM 930, Citadel spokesman Chris Baker said. Baker said Citadel launched Jox 930 in June 2007 with the idea of making it the home for Oklahoma City’s "sure bet” NBA team. In the end, he said WWLS, the Sports Animal, made more sense as the home for the Thunder. Baker said the death of Jack Mildren, who had teamed with Ron Thulin on the afternoon show, and the Sports Animal’s power upgrade also contributed to Jox 930’s demise. Ratings were disappointing as Jox 930 failed to show up in the summer Arbitron ratings for listeners 12 and older. Thulin, who covers college football for Versus and ACC basketball for Fox, was disappointed by Citadel’s decision. He noted his 3 to 6 p.m. afternoon show was averaging 20 to 30 calls and 10 to 15 e-mails a day and his national approach provided an alternative to the Sports Animal (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Surprised to hear ESPN radio on 5560, good signal at 0710 UT Dec 19. That`s the fourth harmonic of local KCRC-1390. They are always audible weakly on x2 = 2780 and x3 = 4170 but not on 5560. Perhaps the prolonged heavy fog layer we had accounts for it, shorting out something at the transmitter site a sesquimile away or maybe it`s my rickety longwire. No sign of 5560 at recheck 1736 UT Dec 19 or at various times subsequently. Earlier in the daytime on Dec 18, I could hear the 1610 TIS at Great Salt Plains OK relaying NOAA weather on the caradio in parts of Enid where it is normally not audible, so I suspected the fog accounted for that too; yes, I know, MW propagation is not supposed to be affected by tropo conditions. Could be it enhanced ground conductivity just enough to make a difference? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Notice that KOPX-TV, analog 62, is missing Dec 20 at 1600 UT, but their -DT channel 50 is perfect as usual. Wonder if the Ion station in OKC has permanently closed analog already. Have not heard anything about it officially, and does not seem to have an own website. No matter, we can still see the thousandth rerun on Ion Life ``62-3`` of girls in bikinis teasing crox. No: 62 OTA back on at 1930. KTUZ-30 did not have much of an analog signal here, and I suspected they turned that off even earlier than announced at Novend, still perfect on DT 29 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. Many days now I've been noting VOA 9345 from Tinang, their best signal here from 1200 UT, shows a kind of buzz that can be null only going to LSB. This noise always end anytime after 1245. Doesn't seem a het (but could be) from Radio Pakistan in Bengali using the same frequency from 1200-1245. 73. & Happy Holidays (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. R Romania Int'l, 6115 at 0438 on 21 Dec with program about wineries. Good signal. // 9515 poor. //s 9690 and 11895 not audible. At 2131 on 6030 with news. Good signal. // 6115 excellent and clear. // 7145 moderate. // 9755 fair and noisy. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Does the St. Petersburg Regional Center still directly verify reception reports? I sent an email to the one listed on someone else's QSL and have gotten no response yet. Also, their web site appears to be down or the software is not working properly (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, Dec 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Bill, yes, we verify all correct reception reports - but, of course, for our transmitters only (that located in St. Petersburg and Leningradskaya oblast). Regarding RTRN regional web sites: many of them (including St. Petersburg's one) will be out of use approx. till Dec 31st because of the technical works with new servers in Moscow (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, HCDX via DXLD) see GUIANA FRENCH ** RWANDA. Radio Rwanda: 6055, 12/18, 2042-2058* Afro pop with DJ talking over music and taking calls. I think one girl said “I wrecked my bike.” Radio Rwanda ID with echo at 2056. Off mid-song at 2058. VG S9 sig (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SIKKIM. 4835, AIR Gangtok, 1548-1600*, Dec 21, in English, commentary about issues regarding agricultural workers, weak, not often I hear this above threshold level, // 4760 and 9425 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. R. Slovakia International IS and ID in English at 1427 Dec 20 on 6055, weak with flutter, 1430 into German as scheduled. Europe on 49m at this time of day is quite a treat, but surely possible at solstice, and just a band away from regular Pridnestrovye at same hour on 7370. Beam of 305 degrees from RSO helps too, exactly the same azimuth used for English to NAm at 0100, still intruding in the 40m hamband on 7230. This being a Saturday instead of a Friday, the usual dominant on 6055, R. Nikkei was already off at 1415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541, 21/12 0559, ILHAS SALOMÃO, Solomon Islands BC, English, desde Honiara, com 10 kW, música cantada por coro de crianças, OM Talk às 0603, depois música pop, a partir das 0630 melhora significativa do sinal e pode ser percebido na gravação, 24232, 35333 após 0630, as 0659 ID e notícias por YL e OM, gravado (Jorge Freitas - Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12º 15' 1.57" S 38º 58' 40.30" W, Degen 1103, Antena encurtada para OT com 12 metros, Antena fio longo com 20 metros e balum 9:1 HCDX via DXLD) 9541.5? His credibility damaged a bit by referring to 7125 Guinea, twice, as ``Anguilla`` (gh) Weak signal on 9541.5, Dec 20 at 0730 with talk, seems English intonation; a bit better at 0735, mostly YL talking and occasional bits of music. Just not enough against noise level, but BFO helped and proved it was not drifting. What else could it be on this frequency? Next check at 1407, no trace of a carrier, just something on 9540.0 masked by QRDRM from 9540-9550, BBC/DW Woofferton 100 kW, 114 degrees. I really wonder if SIBC is running 31m 24 hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. Re HAWAII [non]: Another misunderstanding, about the HCJB/Swaziland story as at least implied elsewhere: HCJB made the transmitter as they have for many other fellow gospel-huxters, but this is not going to be an HCJB transmission site, just TWR as usual. Not that it makes much difference, as their programming is indistinguishable except for the language lineups. Furthermore, since it is merely replacing an old transmitter, there should not be any additional broadcasts from Swaziland, nor frequency changes as a result (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. 9400, weak with umlauty language Dec 20 at 1511. As a -00 frequency, first suspect naturally Bulgaria, but not this time: Radio Sweden in Swedish scheduled from Hörby. An hour earlier I was getting it much better on 11540 as I was confirming Solomon Islands was not being heard on 9541.5, but instead a carrier from something matching 2.000 MHz below on 9540.0. Anyhow, seems Radio Sweden/Teracom facilities survived the earthquake a few days ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Re 8-129: Hello Glenn, Radio Damascus is definitely on the air right now with the German language transmission between 1800 and 1900 UT on 9330 kHz. but unfortunately, the carrier is there but no modulation. Once again my advice is to tune in on satellite : Hot Bird at 13.0 E : 12380 MHz Nilesat at 7.0 W : 11823 MHz Badr / Arabsat at 26.0 E : 12054 MHz The times and frequencies are : 9330 kHz Shortwave 1600-1700 UTC/GMT Turkish 1700-1800 UTC/GMT Russian 1800-1900 UTC/GMT German 1900-2000 UTC/GMT French 2000-2100 UTC/GMT English (this hour only on satellite - no shortwave) 2100-2200 UTC/GMT English 2200-2300 UTC/GMT Spanish 783 kHz Mediumwave : 1500 - 1730 UTC/GMT Hebrew 1730 - 1800 UTC/GMT Russian Or you can download the program on the internet at the following direct link : http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?m=541 The daily program is posted after the live transmission so you can always download on the above mentioned page the program of the former day. According to my friends at Radio Damascus they are working on a real foreign language website which will be online (hopefully) soon. The Radio Damascus staff does highly value when you write to them with your commentaries about the programs or reception reports. Their address is: Radio Damascus P.O. Box 4702 Damascus Syrian Arab Republic http://www.radio-damascus-listeners-club.tk/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radio_damascus/ [later:] update : 5 minutes ago, at 1940 UT, the transmitter on 9330 went back off air --- so very irregular. Satellite is crystal clear. Kind greetings from Belgium! (Kris Janssen, Belgium, Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [and non]. 783 kHz --- Seems that propagation is improving. I've just heard a moment ago presumed Syria (first time) with Arabic comments and traditional Arabic music. I've heard it stronger with the 35 beverage. Normally I get better results with the 55 beverage for Northern Africa up to Saudi Arabia. This is the main reason why my bet goes to Syria (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, CAN http://www.quebecdx.com 0223 UT Dec 21, MWDX yg via DXLD) Was this right on 783.0 ? Syria is often reported as drifting. However, that doesn't mean that they haven't corrected or it wasn't drifted back on freq. Anyhowl, Mauritania 783 is // 4845 and usually goes off a bit after 0100. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) But Mauritania MIGHT BE on late for the Eid festival. When is it, anyway? (Bill Harms, MD, ibid.) Syria is strong and easy here in Bahia state (Brazil) these days at local sunset. Seems as drifting has been corrected, now 783.0. (Rocco Cotroneo, Brazil, ibid.) I just checked the recording. It was at 783.003. As I mentioned, being caught with the 35 beverage instead of the usual 55 for Northern Africa makes me think that it could have been Syria. Even the 88 beverage aimed to Central Africa didn't match the 35 wire. There's a bit of audio in the recording but unfortunately, nothing significant to pull an ID. I'll do more testings tonight (Sylvain Naud, ibid.) ** TURKEY. 11810, weak signal in Arabic, Dec 20 at 1501, pronouncing a website with English letters including .net. I assumed it was Jordan but EiBi and Aoki agree Jordan is off by then, and V. of Turkey is opening Arabic at 1500, until 1700, 252 degrees from Emirler, so that is how I will list-log it, presumably, the .net also a positive clew (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Hi Glenn, Received QSL card from Radio Ukraine International on 08th December for reception report of their broadcast at 1002 UT on 9950 kHz for 14th November. Nice rural scene of a cornfield, blue sky and some poppies. Then this week, on 17th December, I received a Christmas card from Radio Ukraine International. English message on the back while the front of the card shows a wreath, baubles, a candle and other things Christmas-related. Very unexpected but very welcome. They also sent a listener survey form. I filled this in and sent it back to them, with a Christmas card, on 18th December. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and 73's (Dave Harries, Bristol, England, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Speaking of baubles: Nice to hear Bow Bells preceding BBCWS transmission on 12095, Dec 20 at 1459, but only until 1459:30 opening, and 1500 into stupid ballgames, this being a Saturday when BBC wastes its vast resources on such Sportsworld nonsense. Good signal from Rampisham, 250 kW at 95 degrees for this bihour. Originally, out-of- band 12095 could be used only from UK sites, but now you never know. At other dayparts, it`s Cyprus or Ascension. Also noticed timesignal on the hour was about 1 second late compared to WWV; so why bother, misleading countless listeners about the correct time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. THAILAND: 5065 BBC WS // 15400 SIO 343+ *2100 6/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) 5065? Surely not. Could be a typo OR image for 5975 which opens at 2100, but it`s via OMAN (gh, DXLD) Yes, this was a typo, but for 5965 not 5975. Per the BBC website, this is from Thailand. Oman was sort of there on 5975, but with an SIO of xx1 – I could SORT of hear something, but nothing that I would even call obviously parallel to the other BBC frequencies. So not even a Tent or Presumed – just something that sounded like British static (if you catch my drift)! :) (Ken Zichi, MI, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. HAS BBC ALREADY DECIDED WHO IT WANTS AS NEW BBCWS DIRECTOR? "The decision to exclude outsiders for the director of the World Service, which is funded by the Foreign Office, will put the corporation on a collision course with the government. On Tuesday Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister, was challenged by the Tory MP Greg Hands, in a Commons debate about then world service, about the next director. ... The closing date for applications, January 4, has given only 11 days for candidates to apply creating the suspicion that the BBC has already decided who it wants to run the World Service which broadcasts in 32 languages to different parts of the world. Mr Hands said: 'This does sound like a jobs for the boy stitch-up.' ... When Nigel Chapman, the outgoing director, announced he was resigning from the World Service, a group of historians issued a statement urging the BBC to take care with the appointment. It said: 'We hope that the BBC will now appoint to the post of World Service director someone with a genuine respect for the intelligence of listeners, a good knowledge of international affairs and a determination to defend the World Service against attempts by any government to interfere with its independence.'" The Telegraph, 19 December 2008. Posted: 21 Dec 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. RE-EXAMINING SMITH-MUNDT. BUT TO WHAT END? "The United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, commonly called the Smith-Mundt Act, ... was and is the foundation of America's arsenal of persuasion. The Act's principles are timeless and are echoed in modern recommendations on reforming America's public diplomacy: tell the truth; explain the motives of the United States; bolster morale and extend hope; give a true and convincing picture of American life, methods and ideals; combat misrepresentation and distortion; and aggressively interpret and support American foreign policy. The purpose of the Act was to 'promote the better understanding of the United States among the peoples of the world and to strengthen cooperative international relations.' But today, nearly everything about the Act has been forgotten. What had been a relatively minor clause intended to prevent the State Department from undermining the government - a fear held by both Congress and the FBI - and to protect the commercial interests of private media is now believed to be the sole purpose of the Act." Matt Armstrong, "Washington Times, 19 December 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) At Matt's symposium on public diplomacy, to be held 13 January (see previous post), I'll be interested to know what parts of Smith-Mundt need to be resurrected. The Smith-Mundt Act has largely been superseded by subsequent legislation, most recently the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 and the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. The latter act eliminated the United States Information Agency and folded its public diplomacy functions back into the State Department, which is where they were when Smith-Mundt was signed into law in 1948. Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) was the prime mover of the 1998 legislation. Always keen to reduce the size of government, he saw that the USIA worked so closely with State that it might as well be part of State. Both acts brought about the separation of U.S. international broadcasting from U.S. public diplomacy. This independence was necessary to achieve the credibility that is required for success in international broadcasting. For all the wisdom contained in Smith- Mundt, its authors thought that international broadcasting could be employed as just another form of propaganda. (Yes, the act says "tell the truth," but in the persuasive arts, that means accentuating some truths and downplaying other truths.) Any re-absorption of international broadcasting into U.S. public diplomacy, now advocated by many public diplomacy experts, would result in the failure of U.S. international broadcasting. It would bring about a model of international broadcasting that is centrally planned rather than market based. The market for international broadcasting does not seek propaganda. Instead, they tune in for the reliable, credible news that is the antidote to propaganda. Posted: 20 Dec 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) MYTHS OF DOMESTIC DISSEMINATION "The State Department is prohibited from actively publicizing the work it does in land mine removal. Without the efforts of non-governmental groups like Roots of Peace, the public would go largely unaware of the positive impact and the role individual citizens can play in removing land mines." Marin (CA) Independent Journal, 18 December 2008 (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Really? At http://www.state.gov there is plenty of information about State Department efforts in landmine removal, including SAFE PASSAGE: A Newsletter for the Humanitarian Mine Action and Small Arms/Light Weapons Communities, October 2008. On more controversial topics, State Department officials don't hesitate to defend U.S. policies domestically. See, for example, Secretary of State Rice defending U.S. actions in Iraq, during an interview with the Council on Foreign Relation's Robert McMahon, Washington Post, 19 December 2008. Now, if the State Department or White House, sometime before 20 January, purchases full page ads in the New York Times and Washington Post defending Bush Administration policies in the Middle East, that might actually rouse the ghosts of Smith and Mundt. Posted: 20 Dec 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.; for linx see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=5492 via DXLD) ** U S A. The WWCR program schedules have finally been updated, for the first time since early October, upload date Dec 15, but date on the skeds Dec 5. Both text and pdf versions at: http://wwcr.com/program-guides/WWCR_Program_Guide.html http://wwcr.com/program-guides/WWCR_Program_Guide.pdf Here we extract from html what were once called the `specialty programs`, UT days and times strictly: DX and Media: WORLD OF RADIO: Fri 2130-2200 15825 Sat 1730-1800 12160 Sun 0330-0400 5070 Sun 0730-0800 3215 ASK WWCR: Sun 0245-0300 5070 Sun 1045-1100 5070 Mon 1345-1400 15825 (first and fifth) DX PARTYLINE: Sun 0315-0330 5070 FRECUENCIA AL DIA: [But really is 30 minutes starting at 2200] Mon 2215-2230 7465 Fri 2215-2230 7465 INTO TOMORROW: Sat 0705-0800 5070 Sun 0605-0800 5070 GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO THEATRE: Sat 2200-2300 12160 Sat 2305-2400 7465 Mon 0405-0500 3215 Mon 0600-0700 5070 [perhaps all airings start at :05 after news?] Music: ROCK THE UNIVERSE: Sat 1300-1400 7490 Sun 0905-1000 3215 Mon 0800-0900 3215 Thu 2100-2200 15825 [perhaps all airings start at :05 after news?] MUSICAL MEMORIES: Sun 1100-1130 7490 Mon 2100-2130 15825 LATIN CATHOLIC MASS: Sun 1700-1730 15825 INTO THE BLUE: Wed 2100-2200 12160 WORLDWIDE COUNTRY RADIO: Sat 1205-1300 7490 Sat 1900-2000 12160 A notable absence is A VIEW FROM EUROPE, the 5-minute commentary. However, the separate transmitter schedules are still showing outdated A-08 info as of 0100 UT Dec 21. The frequency usage can be extracted from the program schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. If your Radio was off you missed it, Yepper. FUN AND FARMILIAR FRIENDS" 2008 --- I turned on the Shortwave last night Saturday 20 December, 21:00 GMT [sic: should be 2200 --- gh]. Marion`s Attic aired starting about 3 minutes late with Marion laughing all over the opening music. Laughing, "Special Christmas show, Fun And Farmiliar Friends, Baron Von Knight at attic studio 1, Bill and Judy in Fritztown, Pennsylvania in studio 2." Kristina laughed about records that played better than their 100 year old labels could be read. Bill in studio 2 related that old Christmas records are rare. Bill and Judy were about to play music boxes and pump organs and did. Kristina read Listener Mail (my favorite part of the program) and readied the next organ with 288 turns of the crank while Judy Claus invited in a visit from Edison. Kristina`s own music box sounded OK but Bill`s next organ would sound better. "Yepper." (Bill). Signal strength on my Radio was pounding nearly all the hour although with strong signal dips every now and then early in the show. Probably show number 357 or 358. Today, a friend brought over an .mp3 computer file he had made of the show. I played it on his computer by tossing his machine on the link of "The Humble Farmer" which has a free .mp3 player on his web/mail news but the .mp3 recording on the computer sounded spurty and dry compared to the "liquid and live" quality I heard on my Radio last night on 7415 Kc. This was a WHOLE HOUR OF SHORTWAVE CRAFTED BY OUR HOSTS AT THEIR OWN STUDIOS AND AT WBCQ of which you`d not hear a second of on the air if you hadn`t had a Radio. No substitutes (Frederic Jodry, KA2PYQ, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Another unexpected appearance of QSO with Ted Randall on WRMI, for UT Sunday Dec 21 at 0608 his voice was advertising a TW antenna on 9955; no jamming audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. As I tuned to 7165, Dec 21 at 1404, heard strong and well-modulated ID as ``Sound of the New Life`` and immediately into Messiah music. Since KNLS Alaska is the New Life Station, not making it on 6150, I was wondering if they have arranged another FE Russian relay, but instead this is WYFR via Pet/Kam, 200 kW at 253 degrees. Gotta keep our ``New Lives`` separate; one should trademark it. Looked for Okeechobee // on 11 MHz but none found; finally at 1422 there was a match on 13695 which was a good two sesquiseconds ahead of 7165. The music had continued without interruption which is something KNLS could never have managed for 18 minutes. An SSB ham was riding along on 7165 with Pet/Kam as BFO, apparently oblivious of the musically modulated QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7165, RUSSIA. Family Radio via Pertopavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, 1435, 12/21/08. "Hallelujah Chorus" and other similar vocal music. Good declining to fair by 1455. English service beamed west (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, AOR AR7030 Plus, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. 9369.9, WTJC, Newport NC (presumed); Fire & brimstone biblical drama in English. S30 sig splashing +/- 15 kHz, QRMing Chinese on 9355, but covered by Bro. Smear on 9385 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) 9370, WTJC with English bible thumpage and USA Radio News at ToH and the Star Spangled Banner at 1704 .... bit they didn't sign off! VERY muddy modulation, and splattering all over the place. SIO 4+53 signal was splattering from beyond 9300-9400 kHz and was difficult to understand despite the fact the signal was strong and there was no interference. Additionally, there was a very evident hum in the transmission besides the distortion. Really unpleasant to listen to and QRMing with lots of 31 metres. WBOH not heard, is that transmitter also having issues? 1645-1710 ([no credit, MARE Tipsheet Dec 19, surely Harold Frodge or Ken Zichi], via DXLD) Yes, was having issues since resolved for the moment as previously reported here. This was published as 9730, but I hope that was a transposition typo (gh) ** U S A. Re WOON 1240 DX test from Woonsocket RI, scheduled for 0700- 0800 UT Dec 21: I fell asleep listening to the jumble on 1240, didn't hear anything identifiable all night. Weak CW heard early on may or may not have been WOON, sometimes music on a crowded channel will sound like that under the right circumstances. The frequency is wide open here, nearest station is over 80 miles away, so I probably had the best shot at it for anyone in the region (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, Dec 21, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Many other reports of not hearing it; one guy in RI did not even check for it since he can hear it any time (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Let me add Maryland to the list of places where WOON was not heard. I just finished listening to my recording from 0200 to 0300 EST 12/21 and did not hear even a trace from them. They have been heard here on regular schedule before, so they were either a no show, or conditions were terrible. I am leaning to the former over the latter (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, dxldyg via DXLD) As per the test here is what I *think* I heard. At 0207 [EST] there was very defiantly [sic!] CW. The QRM on channel was bad, and the CW weak. At 0211 heard CW again. Again the signal was unreadable and very weak. At 0020 [sic], heard CW, but this time not sure if it was CW. Could have been some noise from an ESPN station. No audio, no voice announcements copied. I do have a station from North Carolina that keeps fading just as they are ready to give the call letters. DXer: (Willis Monk, QTH: Old Fort, TN, ANTENNA: 149' long wire, RCVR: DRAKE R-4C, IRCA via DXLD) I listened here in East Providence, R.I. from 1:57 to 2:25 and 1240 was just a jumble for me and normally WOON is there 50-60%. I am going to check with Dave. My boss at WSAR wants to do our DX test a week from now so I've got to get moving tomorrow to get all of the production done & the test material into the computer. I'll post a definite later on this week. But for now, WSAR's test is likely to be 02-03 E.S.T./07-08 G.M.T. on next Sunday 12/28. But, I will confirm either way later this week (Jay [WOON arranger], ABDX via DXLD) WTFK? 1480 in Fall River MA (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Re 8-128: NEW STATIONS for Des Moines, NM Glenn, Hodson Broadcasting has a construction permit to build a new commercial station at Sierra Grande Mountain at 105.3 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 82 kW. This construction permit was issued in 2006 - the station should not have any impact on our FM translator K291AD service at 106.1 MHz with 116 watts ERP. It is not unusual for construction permit applications to specify existing locations for new facilities. Existing locations are usually developed communications sites with improved road access, electric power, etc. At this particular location and time, however, only single phase electrical power is available on the mountain top, and it may be cost- prohibitive to construct an 82 kW facility. They could easily construct at a lower power - this does not mean that they will use the same tower or building. (Actually, the present towers have more equipment than they are designed to handle). You may be interested to know that the FCC has issued a new construction permit to ENMU for building a new, full service FM transmitter for Des Moines on Sierra Grande at 88.5 MHz with a power of 3,000 watts. We are presently requesting financial assistance build this station. If we are successful with this grant, we could be on the air within the next two years. Stay tuned and... Happy holidays, (Jeffrey P. Burmeister, Director of Engineering, KMTH KENW FM TV DTV, 52 Broadcast Center, Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, NM 88130, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Des Moines NM has a population of 177, per 2008y AAA Atlas; every station needs a city of license and this is the closest `city` to Sierra Grande, but from this `largest mountain` (in mass), a huge but sparsely-populated area of NE NM is covered, reaching even into adjacent states with low power on 106.1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MPBN CUTS STAFF, SHUTTERS RADIO STATIONS By the mainebiz news staff 12/18/08 http://www.mainebiz.biz/news43893.html Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. will issue pink slips and close television and radio stations in Aroostook and Washington counties to meet its budget in the wake of diminishing resources. MPBN President Jim Dowe today said the Lewiston-based corporation will cut six positions; reduce staff wages by five to 20% through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009; temporarily suspend the company's contributions to employees' retirement plans and shut down one of its five television stations, WMED-DTV Channel 13 in Calais, and two of its seven radio stations, WMEF-FM 106.5 in Fort Kent and WMED-FM 89.7 in Calais, according to a press release from the company. Dowe said the measures were necessary given a reduction in state funding and the loss of various federal grants. Since 1992, when the Maine Legislature created MPBN, the company's operating expenses have increased 50%, while its state appropriation has decreased by eight percent, according to CFO John Isacke. The nonprofit corporation last year reported total expenses of $12 million and total revenue of $11 million, according to its 2007 tax filing. (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) See also DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ** UZBEKISTAN. Re 8-129, lack of respect for marine band 6200+: Water resources, which are unevenly distributed, are in short supply in most of Uzbekistan. The vast plains that occupy two-thirds of Uzbekistan's territory have little water, and there are few lakes. The two largest rivers feeding Uzbekistan are the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, which originate in the mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, respectively. These rivers form the two main river basins of Central Asia; they are used primarily for irrigation, and several artificial canals have been built to expand the supply of arable land in the Fergana Valley and elsewhere (Wikipedia via DXLD) So now the question is whether the canals and rivers are at all navigable, or is boat traffic unknown? CIA World Factbook http://www.travlang.com/factbook/geos/uz.html says there are 1100 km of waterways, but Uzbekistan is ``doubly landlocked``, with the shrinking Aral Sea on one side (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** VATICAN [non]. Have noted Vatican Radio to North America at 0250 to 0320 UT on 6040 kHz, with a combination of problems. Some evenings, I have noted a heterodyne-type whistle and for the last two weeks generally poor propagation conditions. The fading appears to be a case of sporadic E layer, (similar to that of WRNO) since this is a relay transmission via Canada. I have reported this to the Technical Department of Vatican Radio. Hope all is well, Glenn. Regards, (Ed Insinger, NJ, Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The 6040 het is probably Curitiba, Brasil. I know I mentioned sporadic E in connexion with WRNO, but I would not be positive that is the cause for other problems like this. The night MUF is just not holding up even to 6 MHz for a relatively short path like NB to NJ. 73, (Glenn to Ed, via DXLD) The night MUF may be why I am also hearing very few pirates, despite tries two to three times a week on 6925 kHz. Today we had a quick three inches of snow, followed by freezing rain and sleet. It is not over yet, but no matter; I'm indoors for the evening. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, ibid.) ** ZAMBIA. The Voice: 9420, 12/18, 1915-1928+ Nice sig, but rapid fading and some light co-channel QRM. Promos about getting into the world of radio production and leaving messages for broadcast. Physical and e-mail addresses. Mostly a mix of Afro pop and a little US CCM [?] with a fast-paced YL DJ (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) The QRM would be Greece which used to own this frequency (gh) ** ZIMBABWE. Is active on 6045 kHz (Chris Greenway, Kenya observations 17-18 December via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Death of Carol Gombakomba, VOA Studio 7 broadcaster "The Association of Zimbabwe Journalists would like to convey its deepest sympathies to the Gombakomba family following her passing away late Thursday afternoon after a long and brave fight with cancer. ... After a decade with the ZBC, [Carol Gombakomba] left to go to Canada in 2001 and was recruited by the Voice of America to become one of the pioneers on Studio 7, a radio station that broadcasts from Washington D.C. to Zimbabwe on a daily basis. She was still with Studio 7 at the time of her death." Association of Zimbabwe Journalists, 19 December 2008. Posted: 21 Dec 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Europirates: 6305, 12/13, 2145 Heard carrier and some pop music. I tuned a bit, trying to center on the carrier and found the next one on 6307. It was an announcement of “This is Radio ----, broadcasting on...” Just as I was getting the computer program up to record it, it went off the air. Man! I think the two stations were QSOing. The 2nd sounded like a Dutch DJ; maybe Boomerang? (Andrew Yoder, PA, Drake R8, 100' random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 10000, very weak singing and talk underneath WWVH, Dec 20 at 1418. Maybe another instance of mixing product between 31m transmitters, Jordan? No trace of WWV. WWCR 9980 had not yet built up to overpowering strength desensitizing and blocking WWV/H most of the day, and there did not seem to be other super-power signals on 31m which could cause receiver cross-modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11870 duck gabble jammer at 1610? At 1610 UT, noted on three receivers. Till 1500 UT Catholic Radio Veritas from Manila in Urdu ... any connectivity? Dec 21. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to Gerald Pollard, for a generous solsticial check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702. PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ INTERVAL SIGNALS Glenn, In the late 70’s I got the idea of taping the many interval signals that used to be on the air when shortwave was really active These tapes got lost a couple of years ago and I was wondering if you knew anyone who had a collection of them on tape or cd that I could purchase (Bill Hiebler, Brockport, NY, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Bill, Such a CD is for sale here on the left margin: http://www.dxer.ca There is also an excellent online site where you may listen to a lot more than would fit on any CD: http://www.intervalsignals.net/ And if you hunt around, many other such archives online, such as this one in German, http://www.intervalsignals.org/db/d_abfrage.php which also has an English version dependent on the British flag. Regards, (Glenn Hauser to Bill, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSL COLLEXION SITES PATRICK MARTIN QSLs posted Hi everyone, I would like to thank Craig Healy for offering space on his website and his work in posting jpegs of my QSL's. Several people have asked about my QSLs though the years. Check out: http://www.am-dx.com/qsls.htm I hope you enjoy seeing some of them. Again, much appreciated Craig. 73, (Patrick Martin, KGED QSL Manager, IRCA via DXLD) ERNEST COOPER QSL COLLECTION [mediumwave] Some of ERC's veries can be viewed on the NRC website: http://nrcdxas.org/ERC_Veries/index.html (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks to everyone who have shared their QSLs. They are great fun to view. I hope to see more of them posted. Just a reminder that I too have scans of many QSLs from my collection dating back to 1925 posted on my web pages (see links below) for all to enjoy. Happy holidays and seasons greetings to all! http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ (Patrick Griffith, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster CO, IRCA via DXLD) Another source of classic shortwave QSLs can be seen at http://www.cumbredx.org/content/qsls-old-andor-exotic (Joe Miller, NRC-AM via DXLD) Since we`re on the subject, for those who may not be aware, a few QSLs from the gh collexion are at http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING QRDRM: ETHIOPIA; SOLOMON ISLANDS ++++++++++++++++++++ NEW WEBPAGE ABOUT "HD RADIO" / "IBOC" POWER INCREASE Glenn, The Prometheus Radio Project just put up a new page on their website about "HD Radio / IBOC", particularly the proposed tenfold power increase for the digital sidebands that will likely have a severe impact on lower-powered community stations, particularly those in the tightly-packed non-commercial portion of the FM band. The FCC is currently taking reply comments on the tenfold IBOC power increase backed by NAB and all the large, corporate players, and even some NPR stations. Deadline for reply comments is Monday, January 12, 2009. The docket number is 99-325. The page is: http://prometheusradio.org/content/view/707/1/ The page is currently prominently featured on the Prometheus Radio Project's homepage: http://prometheusradio.org The page features links to important pages about IBOC, and also a link to a brilliant, illustrated Prometheus .pdf page that clearly explains the IBOC situation in terms most people can understand: http://prometheusradio.org/images//hdradio_powerincrease12.9.pdf (Leigh Robartes, Moscow ID, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ANOTHER ANALOG BITES THE DUST EARLY Add another one to the list: WMED-TV 13 Calais, Maine. Maine Public Broadcasting is suspending the operation of their radio and TV stations in Calais (WMED-TV 13 and WMED-FM 89.7, and presumably WMED-DT 10 as well) and their radio station in Fort Kent (WMEF-106.5). The economic downturn is putting a hole in their budget. They say operation will only be suspended for six months. Of course, the DTV transition will require WMED to close their analog signal in February, so the analog signal on channel 13 won't be returning. The press release also says the remaining MPBN stations will be signing off for five hours a night (it doesn't say which five hours. I might educated-guess midnight-5 am or 1-6 am). (Doug Smith W9WI. Pleasant View, TN EM66, Dec 19, WTFDA via DXLD) [see also U S A] I imagine many of your educational and PBS outlets will eventually end up doing sign off and sign ons again. WMVS-10 and WMVT-36 have been on 24/7 for 5 or so years now. If the economy gets real bad, it`s possible we could see our CW, MYTV, and independents go from 24/7 to sign-on/off. As for major network stations, well, the economy has to be REAL BAD before they break 24/7. It`s not likely to affect them at this point. An interesting point here is I think all your TV stations across USA are looking forward to turning off the analog transmitter for the sake it will be a big relief on the electric bill. By April, most US Domestic TV stations should find a big decrease on their monthly electric bills! (John L., Muskego, WI, ibid.) Which is a large part of why the bill to allow continued analog operation after 2/17 for emergency/transition information only is going to have little or no effect on what you see. Nobody has budgeted to leave their analog rig on after that date, and nobody is going to have any discretionary extra $$ in their budget to spend on that! -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) That assumes they even have budgets. I was chatting with a friend of mine who is an executive within a large broadcast company (which shall remain nameless). He tells me they have yet to even draw FY2009 budgets; they simply can't make reliable assumptions that allow them to plug in meaningful numbers. We have been saying for the past few years that the broadcast industry is changing. If half of what he opines is true, the next year or two will totally change how we think about local broadcast outlets. Let's hope he's wrong (but, he rarely is). (Peter, N4LI, Baskind, TN, ibid.) Depends on the station, actually. For an analog UHF that becomes a digital UHF (like my WXXI-TV 21/WXXI-DT 16), the power bill certainly will decrease when we get to turn off the old Harris tube transmitter in February. Same deal for high-band Vs that stay on high-band V, like channels 10 and 13 here in Rochester. But for WROC-TV, which trades a fairly efficient Larcan solid-state channel 8 transmitter for the higher power of UHF on WROC-DT 45, the power-bill picture is a little less clear. I think they'll end up spending more to power the UHF digital transmitter than the analog V. (Doug can no doubt speak better than I to the relative power consumptions of analog vs. digital transmitters; the power cycles are certainly different.) As for sign-offs --- the savings are fairly minimal, really. For a tube-type transmitter, the common wisdom is that you put much more strain on it by turning it on and off daily than by letting it just run, and since stations are no longer required to have a live operator on duty 24/7, it costs nothing more to leave automation running all night than to shut it down at 1 and turn it back on at 5 or 6. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Yep, though either way there is *some* savings given that an analog transmitter, be it VHF or UHF, will be shut off. Being newer, digital transmitters are generally more efficient. (fewer watts from the electric utility for each watt that goes to the antenna) Generally digital stations are also sending fewer watts to the antenna *for a given band* (that is, if a station is going from analog UHF to digital UHF the digital transmitter will probably output less power) (but the difference won't be as great as it looks, because "analog watts are bigger than digital watts" -- a 50 kW analog transmitter is only running 50 kW on peaks while a 50 kW digital transmitter is running an *average* of 50 kW, the peaks are quite a bit higher.) Of course if a station is moving from VHF analog to UHF digital it's going to take more power -- although even there the difference isn't as big as it looks. UHF transmitting antennas do a better job of concentrating the transmitter power along the horizon, so it takes fewer watts from the transmitter per watt of effective radiated power. Indeed, many stations find it helpful to have a live operator present all night anyway -- because he can use the studio equipment to dub programs, check satellite feeds, load commercials into the playback server, etc... at times when that work won't get in the way of news or production. If that operator is going to be there anyway to take care of studio tasks, (s)he might as well be signed on the transmitter log. And if you leave the rig on all the time, if it's going to fail (less likely if you just let it run!) it will fail at a random time that is just as likely to be 2 pm or 2 am as 6 pm or 6 am. If you turn it off at 1 and turn it back on at 5, it is FAR more likely to fail at turnon -- at 5 am -- and now you have to call an engineer in on overtime & hope he can fix it before the paid spots start (not)rolling around 6:30 or so.... At channel 3 in Madison, for the above reasons we decided to go 24/7 in the early 1980s. Didn't have any programming -- for a few weeks we ran color bars until one of the engineers managed to interface the AP wire to a character generator. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) A poster to the Pittsburgh OTA board at AVSForum mentioned that KDKA- 2/25 will be going off the air after Letterman and returning, presumably, at 5 or 6 for the morning news beginning starting New Year's Day. It seems unlikely for a networked O&O to be forced into that situation, so I'm taking a "wait and see" approach (Jeff Kitsko, Latrobe, PA, ibid.) I am not in the business or even close to the business, but I know from financial news that CBS has a lot of financial problems. Here in Boston they have been laying off TV and radio on-air people, and I believe in New York and west coast it is even worse (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) A TELEVISION CAN'T SAVE YOUR LIFE...A 406 MHZ EPIRB OR ELT CAN! Salem-News.com As long as the new 406 MHz beacon has been registered (which is required by law), search and rescue authorities can quickly confirm that the distress is real, who they are looking for, and a description of the vessel or aircraft. An EPIRB at sea Courtesy: gcaptain.com [caption] (SEATTLE) - For the past year the television broadcasters have blanketed the airwaves advising the public that starting in February 2009 over-the-air television broadcasts will be going digital in the United States. This means that if you want to continue to receive free television reception, you must have a newer TV that has a digital tuner or you need to get a digital-to-analog converter box. Not as well known but of substantial importance is that a critical piece of life-saving equipment will also be affected with a change from analog to digital transmissions - an Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon or "EPIRB." Starting in February 2009 the older beacons that transmit only an analog signal (121.5 or 243 MHz) will no longer be "heard" by search and rescue satellites. Just like checking a TV, boaters need to ensure that their distress beacon is capable of transmitting a digital signal (406 MHz) in order for it to be recognized. . . http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december192008/epirb_safety_12-19-08.php I fail to see why this should have any connexion whatsoever with the DTV transition. Is it just a coincidence of dates? Is it Feb 17 too? Why does this need to go digital? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RUSSIAN WOODPECKER ANTENNA FROM DAYS GONE BY For those of us who were around back then many of us will remember the annoying Russian Woodpecker over-the-horizon radar signals that polluted the short wave bands years ago. Here's a web site that has pix of the antenna system. http://www.artificialowl.net/2008/12/abandoned-giant-duga-3-system-antenna.html (John VE3CXB, Dec 19, ODXA yg via DXLD) GOOD REASONS Why you should not buy any ETON radio Why you should not buy any ETON radio --- Read the following text and you will realize why it would not be wise to buy anything from a company that refuses to provide buyers of their radios with the circuit diagram so that it can be repaired. Also notice the tacit admission that ETON considers " an attribute" of an analog receiver to be " that it drifts ". Also "unfortunately" he is is not permitted to send the schematic diagram and service manual "for security reasons". I wonder how long that ETONCORP is going to survive in today's competitive world!!! If anyone on this list has access to the schematic diagram of this very poor quality radio, please contact me for the possibility of obtaining a copy. Yours truly (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, Host of Dxers Unlimited, Radio hobby program, Dec 18, ODXA yg via DXLD) Do the ``security reasons`` have something to do with not sending it to Cuba, or not availablizing it anywhere? (gh, DXLD) ETONCORP REPLY - RE: Badly drifting on short wave ETON S350 Received from: whess@etoncorp.com Today 18 Dec 2008 Thank you for the email. The S350 is an analog receiver with a digital display. It therefore has the attributes that all analog receivers have, one of them being drift. The S350DL is somewhat improved, as it has a frequency-lock feature, which minimizes drift, but cannot completely eliminite [sic] it. Unfortunately I am not permitted to provide the schematic diagram and service manual for the S350 or any other product, for security reasons. To remove the cover, you must remove all screws on the back of the radio, the two inside the battery compartment and remove all 7 black knobs and control switches on the front. Walter Hess Technical Support Manager Etón Corporation 1015 Corporation Way Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA U.S. 800-872-2228; CANADA 800-637-1648; t: + 1 650 903 3866; f: + 1 650 903 3867; m: + 1 650 283 4187 http://www.etoncorp.com -----Original Message----- From: Prof. Arnaldo Coro Antich [mailto:coro@enet.cu] Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 7:07 AM To: Public Relation; Customer Service Subject: RE: Badly drifting on short wave ETON S350 receivers Importance: High To the attention of the ETON Public Relations Manager Message from Arnie Coro, Host of Dxers Unlimited radio hobby program Radio Havana Cuba. Several Dxers Unlimited's listeners have complained in the past about a very bad drift problem with their ETON S350 and similar Grundig brand receivers. I never thought it was so bad until some time ago a friend gave me an ETON S350 because he said it was absolutely useless for listening to the short wave bands. It is absolutely true... the radio works OK on the FM broadcast band, but its local oscillator frequency drifts terribly, as can be seen on the receiver's digital frequency display. Could you please provide me with the circuit diagrams and workshop manual of that receiver? Maybe I can find out where the problem is and replace the defective component or components, or even redesign the local oscillator circuit so that it won't drift. My other ETON-Grundig receiver an old FR200 works very well, and stays right on frequency even at the high end of the 13 meters international short wave broadcast band !!! Also, it would be nice to know how to open the case of the S350, as when I needed to open the FR200 case to change a damaged telescopic whip antenna, there was a hidden screw behind piece of plastic glued to the case !!! Thanks for your help. Yours truly, Arnie Coro, Host of Dxers Unlimited radio hobby program Radio Havana Cuba Radio Amateur CO2KK Emergency Coordinator for the International Amateur Radio Union Region II Area C < from Mexico to Barbados > (ODXA yg via DXLD) Hello Guys, It is regrettable that Eton does not provide technical documentation on their receiver designs. However, at least in the Ultralight radio enthusiast group, we have a few dedicated technicians who have managed to unlock most of the important technical secrets of the Eton E100, which has become the modified receiver of choice for transoceanic DXers in our group. In situations where the manufacturer refuses to provide technical documentation (such as in the Eton receivers, or within the Sony CXA1129N IC chip in the SRF-59 series) there is no substitute for a determined, exhaustive investigation by a team of technically experienced DXers, who eventually will obtain all the information desired. In the case of the Eton E100, we have developed an AM alignment procedure, an IF filter replacement project, and a "slider" loopstick transplant procedure -- all of which in combination are making the tiny E100 embarrass even the stock E1 and ICF-2010 in transoceanic DX capability. To ignore all the Eton products because of a lack of technical documentation would be a colossal mistake, in my opinion. Just gather a team of technically experienced DXers, and find the solutions you desire. 73, (Gary DeBock (Durham Radio's best Eton customer), ODXA yg via DXLD) Arnie: The S350 is the same radio as the Tecsun BCL-2000. Tecsun is a Chinese company (as you probably know.) Perhaps contacting someone there would yield the schematic? http://www.radiointel.com/review-GrundigS350.htm A collector in Hong Kong has opened a number of radios (including this one, I believe) and posted the pictures on his web site. The BCL2000 is among them. http://hkradioer.googlepages.com/ (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SNOW AND RECEPTION, SPACE AND EARTH Reception is really nice, today. Heard weaker stations this morning on both AM radio, and on lower shortwave. On the middle shortwave bands, signals have been moderately good, today. With the solar wind at very low velocity (292 km/s), even though it is oriented southward, the ionosphere is pretty stable. Nice. I also do not hear a lot of man-made noise, as I sometimes do. For those in the snow storm regions, perhaps man-made noise is lower because there's less activity going on out and about... By the way, did you read about the recent discovery that the boundary between space and Earth is nearer than scientists expected, during this solar cycle minimum? That is causing radio wave to refract over shorter-than usual hops. That might be why some have been reporting that 40 and 80 meters acts differently than expected during this season and period. -- 73 de (NW7US Tomas Hood, http://prop.hfradio.org Dec 19, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ###