DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-022, March 8, 2009 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 1450 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed March 2] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1451] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1451] WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 1900 on 7415 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 or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org 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://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ABKHAZIA. GEORGIA [ABKHAZIA] 9494.76 Abkhaz State Radio, Sukhumi at 0300-0915 UT, noted switch OFF at 09.16:10 UT today March 4th. Tiny weak S=1-2 signal in western Europe though (Wolfgang Büschel, March 4, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Dear Drita, I have been tuning in to Radio Tirana several times a week, but the very bad audio quality meant that I did not stay listening for long. I have noticed an improvement recently with clearer sound and music reproduction. But I am still not happy with the sound quality, which is clipped and tinny, rather like on a telephone. There needs to be rather more bass to give a rich and more full audio quality. (The broadcasts from China Radio via the Albania relay, by comparison, have excellent audio quality.) I wish some adjustments could be made by your engineers so Radio Tirana can have an improved sound. Thank you for sending me the new A-09 schedule. I will let you know if there are any interference problems. By the way, since last December I am enjoying TVSH and Radio Tirana 1st programme as broadcast on Eutelsat W2 satellite. It is great to see what is going on in Albania, to see the rugged mountainous countryside and to watch the latest news on Lajme at 9.30 pm my local time most evenings. I have also enjoyed several of the serious and popular music concerts. I still will not give up my shortwave radio listening though! Best regards, (Alan Holder, United Kingdom, via Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15343.9v, 1520-, R. Nacional (tentative.), 01/03, Spanish, OM talks - weak, also het. with MRC on 15345.0. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 4810, Voice of Armenia, Yerevan, Gavar. Not heard Mar 02 at 1840. But at 1859-1930* back with ordinary FS programme in Arabic, IS, national anthem, ID, ann, jingle, news about Israel and Iraq, comments, 1925 folksong, closing ann, 45333. From *1907 QRM utility station (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** BENIN. Re Question in DX-Window no. 371: TWR Benin [MW 1566] has no licence yet for shortwave in Benin. They are hoping it will be granted during 2009. After the licence is secured, it will take a year or more for fund raising and constructing (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 19, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. Changes in B-08 schedule of WHRI Angel 1: Voice of Biafra International in Ibo [SIC; really mostly English -gh] 2100-2200 on 15665 HRI 250 kW / 087 deg to WCAf, Fri only, ex 2000- 2100 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) As already in DXLD; we`ll believe it once confirmed by monitoring (gh) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.36, R. San Miguel. Nice canned ID with QTH and frequency by M at tune/in (missed recording the full announcement) and immediately into canned promo or ad by M and W. Good but a bit noisy. (7 March) (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, NRD-535D, T2FD and Windom, HCDX via DXLD) Time?? Apparently well before 1055 UT when he started his other logs at another location, Paint Creek (gh) ** BRAZIL. 4845.3, 0137-0200*, R. Cultura Ondas Tropicals, Manaus, 06/03, Portuguese, religious talk, then some local songs and final choral anthem - poor-fair with CW on 4843 and periodical RTTY-like signal near 4845. Hope for a QSL. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. TRANSMITIR A VOZ DO BRASIL É OBRIGAÇÃO DAS EMISSORAS DE RÁDIO Quanto ao horário de transmissão, flexibilização tem amparo na jurisprudência da corte. A Corte Especial do Tribunal Regional Federal da 4ª Região (TRF4) negou, na última semana, recurso da Associação Catarinense de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão (ACAERT) e afirmou a constitucionalidade da obrigação imposta aos veículos de comunicação de retransmitirem o programa "A Voz do Brasil". A ACAERT sustentou que o art. 220 da Constituição Federal prevê a liberdade de expressão, proibindo qualquer restrição à manifestação de pensamento, à criação, à expressão ou à informação. Para a associação, a imposição do programa seria inconstitucional. Conforme o relator do processo, desembargador federal Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz, "a obrigatoriedade de retransmissão diária do programa 'A Voz do Brasil' não fere a liberdade de informação prevista na Constituição na medida em que não interfere no conteúdo das transmissões radiofônicas" . Em seu voto, o magistrado lembra ainda que a exploração dos serviços de telecomunicaçõ es compete à União, que pode fazê-la diretamente ou mediante autorização, concessão ou permissão, frisando que é direito da população ter acesso à informação sobre a atuação governamental. Quanto ao horário de transmissão, conforme Lenz, a flexibilização tem amparo na jurisprudência da corte, podendo o programa ser transmitido em qualquer horário dentro da programação diária. Fonte: Redação Bem Paraná, com informações do TRF (via Marcelo Bedene, dxclubpr yg via DXLD) So a judge ruled that at least in Santa Catarina state, it is not unconstitutional or a limitation on freedom of expression for radio stations to be required to broadcast the daily federal government program A Voz do Brasil. However, they may do so at any hour they please, not just the traditional feed time of 2200 UT / 2100 DST (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. E-mailed PFC (in word format) of Radiodiffusion du Burkina, sent by Mr. Pascal Goba, Chef des Programmes, is shown on my homepage http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0903.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 2, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 9-021, CFRX: Thanks Glenn for the news on CFRX. I have them on right now, and their signal is very strong and clear. It is armchair quality. Amazing what 1 kW of SW can do. But then, as Canadian SW other than RCI goes, 1 kW is a lot of power, remembering back to CHNX which for many years, although listed as 1 kW, actually ran 50 watts (Phil Rafuse, Stratford, PEI, March 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. 9625, CBC NQS, 2225-2243, 8 Mar. Male announcer closing Cree program with mention of "9625 kilohertz" then into English CBC program "Dispatches" with an interesting feature on Chávez of Venezuela's promotion of book reading: Is it literacy or propaganda? Good signal but modulation has intermittent distortion. I find it interesting that the Cree announcer actually mentioned 9625. Is it possible that program goes out only (or mainly) on the shortwave service? Looking at CBC's webpages, good luck finding anything to do with their domestic shortwave! There is one page: http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/shortwave.html but you can't get to it by navigating from their homepage and then to http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/ which has links to lots of other CBC radio frequency lists (FM, satellite, etc.) A link to the shortwave page is not even scripted on the frequency page! I only found it by searching on "9625" within the CBC site. The shortwave page also notes the 6160 SW services in BC and Newfoundland (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CRI relay on 15230, March 8 at 1355, English audio cutting off and on continually, more off than on, and unlistenable. OK during the repeat at 1409 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHECHNYA [and non]. Re 9-021: Re: Radio Free Chechnya/Caucasus Programme ``The service still uses the "Free Chechnya" identification at various times, though now referring to it as a programme rather than a radio station: "Radiokompanii Golos Rossii, Programma Chechnya Svobodnaya". When this ID was observed yesterday, it was immediately followed by a programme in Chechen.`` Was this a live announcement or a recorded opener? In the latter case it could be that simply nobody bothered to replace it so far. Studio time, all the trouble, savtra budet (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've heard both live and recorded "Free Chechnya" ID's, and the Russian section of their website http://chechnyafree.ru refers to both the Caucasus Programme and Radio Free Chechnya. I've also seen references to RFC in the website's programme guide. I've since observed the sign-on and sign-offs, and both ID only as the Voice of Russia Caucasus Programme, so I'm convinced that Radio Free Chechnya is now just the name of a programme within the VoR "Caucasus Programme". [later:] New MW frequency! The Russian section of the VoR Caucasus Programme website http://chechnyafree.ru now states their mediumwave frequency is 657 kHz (the English section still refers to the old frequency of 594 kHz), which tallies with Herman Boel's excellent MW Guide http://www.emwg.info 657 kHz was formerly used for the Groznyy relay of Radio Russia and local programming from GTRK "Vaynakh". [later2:] Actually, now that I've looked again at the entry in Herman's MW Guide, it lists the times for Radio Free Chechnya on that frequency as 1500-1600 & 1800-1900, so possibly it's still used for local (GTRK "Vaynakh") programming and RR relays outside those times (David Kernick, England, ibid.) 657 kHz is a transmitter in a train: http://chechnia.rtrn.ru/data/img_complexmetel_1.jpg It's a system called Metel, capable of running 100 kW but used at 50 kW. It went on air in Chechnya in April 2000 after the Grosny mediumwave station has been destroyed. This mobile transmitter will be replaced by a new mediumwave site with two Transradio TRAM 50 transmitters for 657 and 1287 kHz, respectively, scheduled to be completed in June. 594 kHz is Vladikavkas, running 25 kW with a Tesla SRV 20 transmitter, installed in 1974. Probably it now carries Vesti FM. http://stredni.vlny.sweb.cz/Tesla/SRV_20_cz.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) That's interesting, transmitter on a train, I've never heard of such a thing! Incidentally, I saw a report somewhere (can't remember where) that all MW relays of Vesti FM on Russian transmitters have ceased. (David Kernick, UK, ibid.) I believe MW relays of Vesti FM mostly ceased throughout Russia in October of 2008. It was a gradual process. But I don't know about Vladikavkaz. The railroads are perhaps the most important means of transportation and cargo in Russia. They are much cheaper to build and maintain than highways. There are many Russian locations accessible only by railroad or helicopter. The train mounted transmitters were common in the USSR during the WWII. I remember reading a "train radio" operator's memoirs. Three railroad cars were parked discreetly somewhere near the front line, on a dead-end railroad. They housed a transmitter, generator, studio and living quarters. According to that book, all the broadcasts were in Russian, targeting the Soviet troops. The author claimed to have received tons of fun mail after the V-day. I am somewhat doubtful about that, as Soviet citizens didn't have an easy access to radios during the war (Sergei S., Moscow, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That reminds me about a TV-serie shown in the Finnish TV decades ago. It was about a Romanian WW2 clandestine station called Radio Muntenia or similar. At one point it operated from a railroad car. The Nazis were all the time chasing the station. Any old-timer remember seeing this series? It was sometime 1960's or 1970's shown in Finland. The RIZ transmitter Co in Croatia had earlier for sale mobile transmitters installed on heavy trucks. Maybe still available nowadays (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) At victorcity.dxing.ru I see various dates between Nov 11 and Nov 18 for the switch back to Radio Rossii. Have really the local broadcasts been put back on mediumwave, too, or is it perhaps a plain Radio Rossii feed now? And why this change of mind within just ten weeks? If they have no real plans what to do with these mediumwave outlets I could imagine what will be the next step... Places that could be reached almost by train only existed also in Central Europe. In the GDR some railway lines with very little traffic like this one http://www.bahn-in-pommern.de/strecken/klbv6_b1.htm were around until the mid-nineties because the roads to some villages did not allow bus traffic. Still railway transportation is a matter of course, a town like Enid would see a regular passenger service with trains every hour here. And here an East German mobile mediumwave transmitter, although I think it is incomplete and a transmission chain consisted of two or three such trailers: http://www.funkerberg.de/welle370/technik.htm It should be a 20 kW system. At least a mobile 20 kW transmitter was in use at the Burg station until 1998 (531 kHz was the last frequency, earlier it was on 783, 1089 and 1044 kHz if I recall correct), just not with the transportable antenna but connected to a permanent one (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** CHILE. Some changes of B-08 for CVC Voz Christiana [sic]: Portuguese to Mexico and Central America [sic! Was really to Brazil] 0900-1100 on 9655 SGO 100 kW / 060 deg, cancelled Spanish to Central America 0100-0400 on 11970 SGO 100 kW / 340 deg, cancelled Spanish to Northern South America 0000-0800 on 11805 SGO 100 kW / non-dir, cancelled 1100-1200 on 9780 SGO 100 kW / non-dir, ex 0800-1200 1200-0100 on 17680 SGO 100 kW / non-dir, ex 1200-2400 Spanish to Southern South America 0000-0100 on 6070 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg, ex 0000-1200 1100-1200 on 6070 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg, ex 0000-1200 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) As already in DXLD (gh) ** CHINA. 5050, Voice of the Strait, Fuzhou, 2230-2232, Feb 23, interval signal and program start at 2232 giving Haixia zhi Sheng ID twice. Enjoyable music program and surprisingly good with 35544. The two other channels 4900 and 4940 are in the clear as well but much weaker with a max of S2 only. Might result from different antenna pattern. 5050, Guangxi FBS, Nanning, *2258-2400, interval signal, but remained underneath Voice of the Strait, difficult to copy until 2357* when Voice of the Strait signed off, then 25533 (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** CHINA. 9780, CNR, 1221-1300, Feb 18, Mandarin report on 24th Universiade in Harbin; marching teams from San Marino, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, and People’s Republic of China. Welcome speech from Organizing Committee, speech of International University Sport Federation in English (translated into Mandarin by announcer), and flags parade with "Gau de amus igitur" [sic]. I certainly heard "Chungyang den [sic] min guangbo diantai" announcement by man and woman in turn at 1251, followed by speech of participant representative translated into English. On tune out, report still went on (Tony Ashar, Depok, Java, Indonesia, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) Special broadcast (Anker Petersen, ed., ibid.) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake appearing on some additional frequencies, probably ramped-up jamming to celebrate the big Commie congress getting underway in Beijing: March 8 at 1325 very good not only on usual 8400 and 9000, but also on 7525 where I could hear no other station even during pauses, and // on 9530 where it was atop something in Chinese. Per Aoki the victims are: V. of Tibet in Chinese via Tajikistan at 1300-1345, 100 kW, 131 degrees, on 7527, but I heard no het, either; and on 9530 VOA Chinese via Tinang at 349 degrees. CNR1 transmissions were all over the bands too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CANADA ** CONGO DR. DEM. REP. OF THE CONGO, 6210, R. Kahuzi. Got another short e-mail from Richard McDonald. Mentions "Radio Candip is still on the air in BUNIA 5-600 miles North of Bukavu -- a government University radio. I remember others list them here, but that was a TYPO! We have continued to be on each Monday & Friday, though we will change schedule for 13 March to 15 April 09, as we will be on only during the day for our team's security, while we are travelling." So, maybe Monday will be the best chance to log R. Kahuzi for a long time. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, 7 March, NRD-535D, T2FD and Windom, HCDX via DXLD) On the air in Bunia, I fear, means FM, not SW (gh) ** CONGO DR [non]. TDP changes: Radio Kimpwanza in Lingala, new station: 1700-1800 on 15260 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to CeAf Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) It's now 1710 and there is no signal audible to me on 15260. My guess is lack of propagation, as most of what I can hear on 15 MHz is coming from Africa and Arabia (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sunday March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or these new TDP clients maybe start a week later than it would seem (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Web de Radio Kimpwanza: http://www.radiotvkimpwanza.net/ 73 JMR (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Beware: loud audio launches automatically; how rude! (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. This morning at 0700 I clearly heard the Radio Rebelde interval signal on 1620 kHz. Does anyone have information about Rebelde on this frequency? (Paul Crankshaw, Scotland, March 7, mwdxyg via DXLD) Paul, Checking my recording for 0657-0707 I only have WTAW with weak/fair fluttery signals, fair for ID at 0700. Will be interested to see if your log turns out to be a new transmitter. Also noted on the channel at 0702:40 was a beacon with MAR in Morse code. Although it's not happened for a long time, in the past I've had a "folding" about the centre recording frequency, with Perseus producing spurious signals, so suggest it might be worth checking that it's not happening with your recording. For example if the centre frequency of your recording was 1200 kHz, then 1620 kHz (1200+420 kHz) might be a spurious from 1200-420 = 780 kHz. Just a thought and I guess prudent to rule it out as a possibility? 73s (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland, MWC via DXLD) Yes, I have weak WTAW ID and the Rebelde jingle then follows: Clip: http://www.geocities.com/paulcrankshaw/1620rebelde.wav I record with 1000 kHz as the central frequency which would mean checking from a spurious from 380 (if I have my calculations correct). That seems unlikely :) (Paul Crankshaw, ibid.) Hi, also got the Rebelde signal, toth on 1620 at 0700; also an unID Cuban on 1190 also at 0700 and again Rebelde very strong on 1550 at 0700. Cheers (David Hamilton, Sorn, Ayrshire, Scotland, Perseus sdr, indoor flag antenna, ibid.) I guess that this is reconciliation in action plus money in the bank at WDHP USVI. I think this is brokered air time for Radio Rebelde. Was it in // to Radio Rebelde Cuba which would be something, uncensored, hi! What do our American members have to say on the topic? (Barry Davies, ibid.) Precisely in // with other Rebelde channels (Paul Crankshaw, ibid.) Very interesting that Rebelde has been heard on 1620. I haven`t seen any logs of it over here yet. It`s inconceivable that WDHP would be relaying them. Surely the DentroCubans have finally gotten around to putting one or more of their transmitters on 1620 to block WDHP when it carries the detested opposition Radio Martí and Radio República. (And if the usual pattern holds, it will be on all the time whether during RM and RR hours or not.) 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Radio Rebelde on 1620 --- At 0700 UT I heard the Radio Rebelde jingle on 1620 kHz. Is the an attempt to block WDHP/República/Martí and does anyone know anything about the transmitter location? (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, March 7, IRCA via DXLD) Hello IRCA'ers, Do you have members in the USVI who can also clear this matter up for us on this side of "The Pond?" I have written to WDHP for clarification of the situation. If they reply I'll pass it on (Barry Davies, UK, ibid.) This is the Cuban way of jamming unwanted signals for the homeland audience. Remember 1550?? Remember 1180?? Etc. (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, MWC via Davies, IRCA via DXLD) Now that makes political sense but is there a Cuban audience for Calypso/reggae? Music, Henrik? (Barry Davies, ibid.) And, in the past, perhaps even now, at non-DXable hours, Radio Martí. Both stations might play some calypso and reggae at times; but it`s not the music that counts, it`s the lyrics (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) ** CUBA. RHC check UT Sunday March 8 at 0317: English still on 6140, instead of 6180 where it was one night last week, and no RRI Spanish audible, tho I assume it is still colliding on 6140. Everything seemed `normal`, until another check at 0535 for DXers Unlimited: guess what? 6140 and stronger // 6060 are now in Portuguese! Yes, Portuguese, which is supposed to be broadcast only at various times between 22 and 24 UT on other frequencies. News headlines were 1) world economic situation, and 2) what else? cinco héroes. Meanwhile, 6000 was open carrier, as the transmitter operator there must have realized he wasn`t getting the correct program feed. At 0538:30, Portuguese cut off, and at 0539 the other frequencies joined DXUL in progress, in English. Arnie may have noticed this too and phoned them. But that`s not all, SNAFU city. RHC didn`t manage to stay in English until 0700 like it is supposed to. At 0622, I found 6000 again in open carrier, 6060 and 6140 synchronized with no echo between them, in Spanish! And 6060 was splattering enough, even during talk, to bother CFRX 6070, which doesn`t usually happen. What a mickey-mouse operation: they can`t even broadcast in the correct languages according to their own schedule. Listening to En Contacto, RHC`s Spanish DX program Sundays at 1335- 1350, on March 8 via 11760 and 12000, one might have thought R. Nederland`s Radio Enlace had revived as Jaime Báguena and Alfonso Montealegre were talking about `marconistas` and the vital rôle ship radio operators played in the last century; no doubt something out of the archives. See also VENEZUELA [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. R. Prague English relays have shifted one UT hour earlier on WRMI 9955, such as Sunday March 8 at 1404, still mixed with totally uncalled-for DentroCuban jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DESECHEO. K5D POSTLOGUE ---> "The K5D DXpedition (12-26 February 2009) netted 115,783 QSOs, including one QSO with the International Space Station. The DXpedition ranks #7th for all-time number of QSOs, and the #1 DXpedition with the most 30m contacts. More importantly, we are confident that thousands of radio amateurs worldwide now have a QSO with Desecheo for an all-time new one - our overall #1 goal! Desecheo was #2 Most Wanted in Asia and #3 Most Wanted in Europe. We are happy to report that 40% of our contacts were with Asia and Europe - another important goal achieved! The QSL card is in the final stages of design and will be available in the next few weeks. You may QSL directly to N2OO, but online QSL requests are available and highly recommended --- details at http://www.kp5.us/qsls.htm Logs will be uploaded to LoTW early next year. The Desecheo 2009 team wants to thank everyone for working us and helping to make this DXpedition such a success!" [TNX K4UEE and W0GJ] (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3279.91, LV del Napo. Carrier as early as 0929. Finally *1002 with flutes (and W opening voice-over ID "Ecuatoriana. Transmite radio ?? cultural Católica La Voz del Napo (huge static crashes), banda tropical las 90 metros. amplitude modulada la banda ??", then same W with short presumed opening Quechua, ID. Into music. Good but a lot of static noise. (8 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 7535, R. Cairo, 0145-0225, 8 Mar. Spanish program portion with music, then on into English with news after 0200. Very good, and modulation was also good (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5100, Radio Bana signed, stamped my prepared card in 45 days from an illegible verie signer. My card went to Reijo Alapiha in Joennu Finland who contacted me via e-mail before forwarding the card asking me if I received his card. I hadn't but three days letter a Radio Bana envelope arrived with his full data station card. He sent me my prepared card as I sent him his card. Although I was glad to get the prepared card back, I would have liked the modest station card too, hi! (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer Mar 8 via BC-DX Mar 9 via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7175, VOBME, program 2, *0355-0410, March 8, IS/ID sequence. Talk at 0400. Covered by noise jammer at 0400. VOBME moved down to 7165 at 0401 & was followed by jammer down to 7165. Still audible under the jammer with talk and Horn of Africa music. 7209.98, VOBME, program 1, *0355-0410, March 8, IS/ID sequence. Talk at 0400. Some instrumental music. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. via Nauen, Germany, 11835, Voice of Democratic Eritrea-Ethiopians For Democracy, *1700-1715+, March 8, sign on with Horn of Africa music & ID followed by a weak noise jammer. Talk in Amharic. Wed, Sun only. Good signal strength but a fair overall signal due to a weak noise jammer (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, 2035-2100*, March 8, local rustic vocals. Horn of Africa music. Amharic talk. Sign off with National Anthem. Fair. No //s heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. via Julich, Germany, 11810, Voice of Oromo Liberation, *1700-1715+, March 8, sign on with Horn of Africa music and ID followed by weak noise jammer. Talk in Oromo language. Some Horn of Africa music. Sun, Wed only. Good signal strength but fair overall signal due to a weak noise jammer (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 6850.0 NF, Radio Playback International, 2120-2230, March 7, ex-6880. Oldies pop music. ABBA music. Pop ballads. Announcements. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions. Only heard a very strong Egypt on this frequency at 2315 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Laser Hot Hits --- This is now back on 4025 kHz in the 75 meter band (Gary Drew, UK, 2144 UT March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Must be a low power pirate - definitely not the ship!!! - no sign in Manchester - just static - and this is ten minutes after (Keith C. Bradbury, Droylsden, Manchester, U.K., ibid.) Voor degene die al wakker is "Laser is back, go tell a friend" Bij deze dus. Op 4024 kHz om 0720 (Bert van Rij, Netherlands, March 8, bdx mailing list via DXLD) Snoeihard hier om 0825 (Ary Boender, ibid.) Posters on a couple of anorak forums had noticed that Laser Hots Hits had been absent from 4025 for some time, Dave Kenny in the Alternative Airwaves column, BDXC-UK Communication, which I received yesterday said that the station said that this was due to technical problems and that repairs had been delayed by the bad weather. He'd assumed that there was a problem with the aerial. 4025 is a fair to good signal here in Letchworth Garden City at 1136. The station started on 23rd May 1993 on FM in London, started on shortwave on 13 February 1994. FM was discontinued on 7 December 1996. They have broadcast very regularly on shortwave ever since, until their recent absence every evening and all weekend. Website: http://www.laserhothits.co.uk/ (Mike Barraclough, England, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There was also a land based pirate in London throughout the spring and summer of 1989 called Laser FM. It was a very good station run by some former Solar radio jocks at the time. I also heard of a Laser in Merseyside in 1993. What with the offshore versions it makes me wonder how many Lasers there are or have been. I can't get 4025 where I am, too much QRM from wirless networks (Gary Drew, ibid.) LHH on approximately 4024.6 here at 1800 on 8 March. OK signal but ute QRM at times (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) ** EUROPE. PIRATE, 6220, Mystery R. After getting Chris Ise Yahoo SW Pirates post that CWR was on, checked the frequency at 1849, not expecting to hear anything as it seemed much too early. To my surprise, the carrier tone was barely audible in sideband but definitely there!! That's 4 hours and 24 minutes before sunset here!!! In fact the sun had just set in the UK!!! Mystery R. just shouldn't have been propagating at that time. Its entirely possible in December or January, but not March!!! Amazing!! It gradually got stronger of course until audio started poking through by 1950. 2108 unrec[ognized?] rock music, jingle and Mystery R. ID jingle, "Jean Jeanie" by David Bowie, 2113 song announcement in English, Mystery R., hello to Europe, and report acknowledgement, frequency, then jingle with frequency by W, and into "Rush Hour" by Jane Wiedlin. 2118 more live announcements with ID and frequency, ID, song announcements and more music. Good. (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. Re 9-021: ``17630, RFI via Guiana French, March 5 at *2058:50 and into prélude music vamp, not the expected Marseillaise - like IS which I guess is long-abandoned --- no, WRTH 2009 says they still use it`` Really? I have not heard it anymore for years, instead always this trailer loop or whatever one calls it (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: RFI Quits 738 kHz in Paris? I just took a closer look at this article and think it clearly announces that the 738 kHz transmitter*) has been switched off on March 4 at 2300 UT: "RFI removes one of its frequencies in Paris. FM 89.0 remains with programmes in French. Like longwave, also mediumwave fell into disuse, nobody listens to this kind of frequencies anymore." The remainder of this article explains how to pick up webstreams (no mention of satellite/WRN here). And French is, as they correctly mention, in Paris on FM anyway. *) http://pagesperso-orange.fr/tvignaud/galerie/am/75romainville.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 9580, Africa No. 1, 2245-2300*, 8 Mar. Lite jazz and funk. Woman announcer In French with closing announcement giving their complete sked. Good (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not, I hope, still mentioning defunct 15475, 17630 ** GERMANY [and non]. 6085 in DRM, bothering VOA 6080 and less so, stronger DGS Anguilla 6090, March 8 at 0626. This has to be from the 10 kW Ismaning transmitter carrying Bayerischer Rundfunk, scheduled 0400-2200 nondirexionally in the current DRM schedules. A rare way to hear a German SW broadcast direct from Germany (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 3902/4007 HCJB in Deutsch via Kyrgyz Radio - QSL? Two spurs of HCJB Juelich relay on 3902 and 4007 kHz noted on Febr 1st and later. - But was not HCJB via Kyrgyz Radio ... Nils, zumindest Deinem Perseus moechte ich beistehen. Wenn auch nur auf dem Eton E1 heute am 2. Febr. um 1800-1900 UT aus Juelich gehoert: zwei verbrummte Nebenaussendungen / Spurs bei 3899.60 bis 3903.88 und 4006.80 bis 4010.40 kHz. Muss man mal die CVC Techniker in Juelich draufstossen. Bisher waren nur immer die Techniker in Samara, Moskau Lesnoy oder St.P. Popovka bei 'spuriousen' Nebensignalen gefordert... Die vertikale Antenne 976 VM12.5/12.5/120/3 westlich vom Senderhaus mitten im Weizenfeld ist sichtbar bei ps. Kontakt zu media-broadcast.com - jetzt schwierig - die DTK/M&B Mitarbeiter sind diese Woche aushaeusig auf der A09 Konferenz in Tunesien zugange ... Versuch fuer eine 3901 oder 4009 kHz QSL bei (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 2) Sehr geehrter Herr Bueschel, Nochmals vielen Dank fuer Ihre Email, die ich damals nach Juelich weitergeleitet habe. Zu Ihrer Information: Der Fehler konnte eingegrenzt und anschliessend am 10.02.2009 behoben werden; es handelte sich um einen technisches Problem an einem der Juelicher KW-Sender im PDM-Teil. Die Suche danach gestaltete sich etwas schwieriger; konnte dann aber letztendlich doch erfolgreich abgeschlossen werden. Nochmals vielen Dank fuer Ihre Muehe, ohne Ihre Hinweise waere die Fehlereingrenzung vermutlich noch schwieriger geworden. Best regards, Walter Brodowsky MEDIA BROADCAST GmbH Business Unit Broadcasting Cologne TDF Group Shortwave Project Leader Account & Product Manager short-wave broadcasting Address: Josef Lamerting Allee 8-10, 50933 Cologne, Germany Internet: http://www.media-broadcast.com (via Wolfgang Büschel, March 5, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Winter B-08 of Media Broadcast (ex DTK T-Systems) 4 of 4: Bible Voice Broadcasting Network (BVBN) [by target area, then freq]: 0845-0900 5945 NAU 100 kW / 280 deg Fri WeEu English 0800-0915 5945 NAU 100 kW / 280 deg Sat WeEu English 0800-0830 5945 NAU 100 kW / 280 deg Daily WeEu English 1900-1930 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Tue/Fri EaEu Russian 1915-1930 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg M EaEu English 1915-1930 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Wed EaEu Russian 1900-1915 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Thu EaEu Ukrainian 1915-1945 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Thu EaEu Russian 1900-1945 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Sat EaEu English 1900-2000 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Sun EaEu English 1800-1830 7205 WER 100 kW / 240 deg Sun SoEu Spanish 1830-2000 7260 JUL 100 kW / 155 deg Sun CeAf English 1930-2000 7260 WER 125 kW / 180 deg Sat WeAf French/Adja 1945-2015 7260 WER 125 kW / 210 deg Mon-Fri WeAf English 0430-0530 9615 WER 125 kW / 135 deg Sat EaAf Amharic, x11635 0430-0500 9615 WER 125 kW / 135 deg Sun EaAf Amharic, x11635 1600-1700 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Mon/Fri EaAf Oromo/Amharic 1700-1800 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Mon/Fri EaAf Tigrina/Amharic 1600-1700 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Tue EaAf Amharic 1700-1800 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Tue EaAf Tigrina/Amharic 1600-1800 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Wed EaAf Amharic 1600-1630 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Thu/Sun EaAf Oromo 1630-1800 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Thu/Sat/Sun EaAf Amharic 1800-1900 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Fri/Sun EaAf Somali/Amharic 1800-1830 9730 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Sat EaAf Somali 1630-1730 11875 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg Daily EaAf Nuer/Dinka 1730-1745 11875 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg Fri EaAf Fur 0900-1000 17545 NAU 125 kW / 135 deg Fri EaAf Arabic 1530-1600 17650 WER 125 kW / 135 deg Wed EaAf Tigrina 1800-1900 6110 WER 125 kW / 120 deg Sat ME English 1830-1900 6110 WER 125 kW / 120 deg Sun ME English 1645-1800 6195 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Mon/Wed ME Arabic 1715-1730 6195 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Fri ME Arabic 1800-1830 7210 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Mon/Wed/Fri ME Persian 1800-1900 7210 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Tue/Thu ME Persian 1800-1815 7210 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Sat ME Persian 1830-1900 7210 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Sun ME Persian 1645-1700 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg M ME English 1645-1720 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Tue ME English 1800-1815 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Tue ME English 1815-1900 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Tue ME Hebrew 1645-1715 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Wed-Fri ME English 1800-1900 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Wed ME English 1715-1730 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Thu ME Hindi 1730-1745 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Thu ME English 1830-1900 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Fri ME English 1645-1830 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Sat ME English 1830-1845 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Sat ME Bahausa 1845-1930 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Sat ME English 1630-1915 9460 NAU 100 kW / 130 deg Sun ME English 1900-1930 9470 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Sat ME English 1915-1945 9470 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Sun ME English 1930-2000 9470 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Fri ME English 0430-0500 9615 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Mon-Thu ME Arabic 0430-0545 9615 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Fri ME Arabic 1530-1730 9925 WER 100 kW / 105 deg Daily ME Persian 1625-1715 11970 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Mo/Tu/Th/Fr ME Arabic 1625-1730 11970 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Wed ME Arabic 1200-1230 15565 NAU 250 kW / 070 deg Mon-Fri CeAs Uyghur 0030-0045 5935 WER 250 kW / 075 deg Sat/Sun SoAs Bengali 0030-0100 6030 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Mon-Thu SoAs Hindi 0030-0100 6030 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Fri-Sun SoAs English 1400-1500 11695 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sat/Sun SoAs English 1500-1600 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg M SoAs Hindi 1530-1600 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Tue/Thu SoAs Hindi 1515-1600 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Wed SoAs Hindi 1500-1530 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Thu SoAs Tamil/Telugu 1500-1600 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Fri SoAs Bengali/Hindi 1500-1530 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sat SoAs English 1500-1530 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sun SoAs Bengali 1500-1530 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Tue SoAs English 1530-1600 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Tue/Fri/Sun SoAs Urdu 1515-1600 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Wed SoAs Urdu 1515-1530 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Thu SoAs Urdu 1530-1600 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Thu/Sat SoAs English 1515-1530 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Fri SoAs Punjabi (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Here is the new report from Deutsche Welle to Germany's federal parliament: http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/16/118/1611836.pdf Basically it is a plead for more money, specifically a budget increase against 2009 of 20.6 millions Euro for 2010, 41.4 for 2011, 59.1 for 2012 and 78.2 for 2013. Some points from this report, beyond what is already known from other papers: Program contents about Germany itself are considered as convenient only if they are relevant for the target audience. A "limited amount" of other stuff about Germany could be added as "additional service" for those in the target audience who happen to be interested in Germany. Radio programs in English, Arabic and Russian will be broadcast in different regional versions. The English language service will have to be ready to provide immediate coverage in breaking news situations. Weekly reach of DW radio in 2007: 39 millions for foreign language services, 9 millions for English, 7 millions for German which is a "considerable" decline (= another reason to cut it back). Audience numbers for all media (radio plus TV plus online): 43 millions in Africa, 14 in Latin America, 12 in Europe, 10 in Asia, 4 in North America. For years now DW tries to get an own FM frequency in Moscow, so far without success. The special radio broadcasts for Belarus continue also after the contract with the European Union run out at yearend 2007. Funds for this have now been taken away elsewhere, DW gave up some other project instead. Amount of radio listeners using shortwave day by day: In Serbia and Montenegro 14 percent in 1999, 2.5 percent in 2006. For the whole of the Balkans between 1.2 and 4 percent in 2006. (Really? I would say that's not bad, by no means! Contrary in Central Europe the figure must be zero-point-whatever.) Ukrainian: The weekly reach was 0.5 percent in 2006 and 2.5 percent in 2008, 1.4 of them via Radio Promin -> it was the right decision to eliminate shortwave for it. (However, at this point Promin had not lost most of its frequencies yet.) China: The mentions of "a licence we have applied for already in 2004 and did not get it until today" referred to cable nets in residual areas of foreigners and big hotels. It is planned to provide different websites, a "constantly available core service with basic informations about Germany and Europe" (= will not offend the censorship command) alongside with "a service offering informations about current affairs" (that must be expected to be blocked). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGST) Earlier: ** GERMANY [non]. Re DW A09: Some notes: The reduction of shortwave airtime for German is quite obvious, although the sacred cow 6075 remains untouched for now, but only from one site at once, no synchro operations anymore, away from a 27 minutes overlap. Remaining schedule, noteworthy in particular the use of four frequencies from Woofferton between 1800 and 2000: 0000-0200: 6165-TRM, 9505-RMP, 9845-RMP 0200-0400: 7310-RMP, 9825-SIN 0400-0600: 9480-KIG, 9620-KIG, 15605-TRM 0600-0800: 12045-KIG, 17860-KIG 0600-0900: 9480-WOF, 15605-WOF 0600-1000: 6075-WOF, 13780-WOF 0800-0900: 9855-BON 0800-1000: 15605-TRM 0900-1200: 5905-BON 1000-1200: 9425-HRI, 17635-TRM 1000-1300: 21780-KIG 1000-1600: 6075-RMP 1200-1400: 9565-TRM, 17845-SNG 1400-1600: 15275-KIG, 17840-SIN 1400-1800: 13780-WOF 1600-1800: 6150-KIG, 15275-WOF 1600-2000: 6075-WOF 1800-2000: 9545-WOF, 9735-WOF, 13780-SIN, 15275-KIG, 17610-WOF, 21840-WOF 2000-2200: 6075-RMP, 7330-TRM, 9545-SIN, 9875-KIG 2200-2400: 9775-KIG, 9465-RMP, 11865-SIN 2300-2400: 5955-TRM 2200-0200: 9430-KIG 2200-0627: 6075-SIN Also Russian is remarkable, since the announced reduction in the use of VTC transmitters in the UK is especially obvious here: 0000-0100: 6180-DHA, 11865-TRM, 17865-SNG 0100-0200: 6115-RMP, 9685-TRM 0200-0400: 15450-TRM 0300-0400: 11780-KIG 0400-0530: 5915-RMP, 9545-WOF, 13780-KIG 1400-1500: 11915-WOF, 15700-WOF 1400-1600: 15265-RMP, 15620-SIN 1500-1600: 15690-DHA 1600-1700: 9715-DHA, 11915-SIN 1700-1800: 11915-TRM, 15620-SIN 1700-2000: 9715-RMP 1800-1900: 11885-WOF 1800-2000: 9885-TRM 1900-2000: 11885-TRM Belorussian becomes Mon-Fri only and moves from the morning to the evening; 1900-1930 on 9535 via Woofferton. Btw, could it be that this site is closed (i.e. as a rule completely off air) at night, between 9 PM and 5 AM local time? For Ukrainian note the + symbols: These frequencies are off air at present. And "relays", i.e. transmissions that do not originate from DW's own transmitters (Sines, Kigali, Trincomalee) or VTC's homeland facilities: Grigoriopol: 1730-1800: Persian on 7510 Tbilisskaya ("Krasnodar", "Armavir"): 0230-0300: Persian on 5990 1330-1400: Dari, Pashtu and Urdu on 15595 1700-1730: Urdu on 5915 1730-1800: Persian on 9545 Samara: 0230-0300: Persian on 9845 Oyash ("Novosibirsk"): 2300-2400: Chinese on 9900 Komsomolsk na Amurye: 0000-0100: English on 17525 Ussuriysk ("Vladivostok"): 0000-0100: English on 15595 1030-1150: Chinese on 7205 1300-1330: Chinese on 5980 Yelizovo ("Petropavlovsk"): 2300-2400: Chinese on 11830 Ascension: 1600-1700: French on 21840 Talata Volonondry: 2200-2300: Indonesian on 7380 Meyerton: 0500-0530: English on 9825 1700-1800: French on 9735 Al Dhabbaya: 0000-0100: Russian on 6180 0300-0400: Kisuaheli on 9790, English on 15595 0400-0500: English on 12045 0530-0600: Portuguese on 17800 1500-1600: Russian on 15690, Kisuaheli on 21840 1600-1700: Russian on 9715 Kranji: 0000-0100: Russian on 17865 0100-0230: Bengali, Hindi, Urdu on 15345 0900-1000: English on 15340 1030-1150: Chinese on 15360 1200-1400: German on 17845 2300-2400: Chinese on 9865 Furman / Cypress Creek: 1000-1200: German on 9425 Bonaire: 0800-0900: German on 9855 0900-1300: German on 5905 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Deutsche Welle, in A09 season 29 March to 24 Oct 2009 * updated, late entries. (FM transmissions excluded, except for English) Amharic 1400-1500 11645tr 15650ki Arabic 1700-1800 12045tr 13650wo 17860ki 1800-1900 12045si 13650wo 17860ki 1900-2000 11670si 11690ra 13810si{rather 13810sk*} 15420ki{rather 15445ki*} 2000-2100 1350ye(2001-) 9495ra 9495sk 11670si 15420ki{rather 15445ki*} Belarusian 1900-1930 9535wo (mo-fr) Bengali 0100-0130 9855tr 15345kr 1530-1600 1548tr 6180tr 9540tr 9655tr Chinese 1030-1150 7205vl 15360kr 15640tr 17820tr 1300-1330 5980vl 13735tr 15360tr 2300-0000 9865kr 9900no 11830pe Dari 0830-0900 15360tr 17705ra 1330-1400 13840tr 15595ks English 0000-0100 seAS 9885tr 15595vl 17525ko 0000-0100 Afg 90500ka 0300-0400 sAS 1458tr 11975tr 13770no* 15595dh 0300-0400 Afg 90500ka 0400-0500 c+eAF 7245ki 7430si 12045dh 15445tr 96000ki 0400-0500 EU 3995si/DRM* 0430-0500 Afg 90500ka 0500-0530 c+sAF 7430si 9700ki 9440sk 9825me 0500-0600 Rwa/Afg 96000ki 90500ka 0500-0600 AS 17525tr/DRM 0600-0605 EU 88600pr 106000ta 0600-0630 wAF 7310si 15275ki 0600-0700 Rwa 96000ki 0600-0700 EU 3995sk/DRM 6130si/DRM 0700-0705 EU 88600pr 106000ta 0700-0800 Rwa 96000ki 0700-0800 EU 5790wo/DRM 0700-1000 EU 9545si/DRM 0800-0805 EU 88600pr 106000ta 0800-0900 AS 12095tr/DRM 0800-1400 EU 13810si/DRM* 0900-0905 EU 88600pr 106000ta 0900-1000 eAs 15340kr 17705tr 0900-1000 Afg/Rwa 90500ka 96000ki 1000-1005 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1000-1300 EU 9545mb/DRM 1100-1105 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1100-1200 Afg/Rwa 90500ka 96000ki 1200-1205 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1300-1305 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1400-1500 EU 15780si/DRM* 1400-1405 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1500-1505 EU 88600pr 106000ta 1500-1600 EU 15780si/DRM* 1530-1600 Afg 90500ka 1600-1700 EU 11810si/DRM* 1600-1700 sAS 1548tr 6170tr 9485tr 9540tr 15640ra 1600-1700 Afg 90500ka 1700-1900 EU 5790sk/DRM 9960ky/DRM 1900-1930 eAF 6150ki 11795ra 15620tr 17860si 1900-2000 Rwa/Afg 96000ki 90500ka 1900-2000 EU 3995sk/DRM 5875ky/DRM 2000-2100 c+sAF 6150ki 11795ra 11865si 15205tr 96000ki 2100-2200 wAF 9735si 11865ki 15205ki 96000ki 2100-2200 EU 3995si/DRM* 2200-2400 Afg 90500ka 2300-2400 Rwa 96000ki Farsi 0230-0300 5990ks 7400sm* 9845sm til Sept 5, 9845no from Sept 6*, 13800sm* 1730-1800 9545ks{rather 5945ks*} 7510gr French (to Africa) 1200-1300 11795ki 13860si 15265wo 15410ki 21780ki 1600-1700 9440ki 11625ki 15620ra 21840as 1700-1800 9735me 11890wo 17610ki 21840si German 0600-0627 6075si 0600-0800 6075wo 9480wo 12045ki 13780wo 15605wo 17860ki 0700-0800 693mo 1188sp 0800-0900 1188sp 9855bo 0800-1000 693mo 6075wo 13780wo 15650tr 0900-1000 5905bo 1000-1200 693mo 5905bo 6075ra 9425cc 17635tr 21780ki 1100-1200 1188sp 1200-1300 1188sp 1200-1400 693mo 1548tr 6075ra 9565tr 17845kr 1300-1400 96000 ki 1400-1430 1548tr 1400-1500 6075ra 13780wo 15275ki 17840si 1500-1600 6075ra 2x13780wo* 15275ki 17840si 1600-1800 6075wo 6150ki 13780wo 15275wo 1700-1800 1548tr 1800-1900 6150ki 1800-1900 6075wo 9545wo 9735wo 13780si 15275ki 17610wo 21840wo 1900-2000 6075wo 2x9545wo* 9735wo 13780si 15275ki 17610wo 21840wo 2000-2200 693mo 1188sp 6075ra 7330tr 9545si 9875ki 2200-2400 693mo 1188sp 6075si 9430ki 9465ra 9775ki 11865si 2300-2400 5955tr 0000-0130 1548tr 0000-0200 6075si 6165tr 9430ki 9505ra 9845ra 12050ki 0200-0400 6075si 7310ra 9825si 0400-0600 6075si 9480ki 9620ki 15605tr 0500-0600 693mo 1188sp Hindi 0130-0200 1548tr 9855tr 15345kr 0230-0300 1548tr/DRM 1500-1530 1548tr 6180tr 9540tr 9655tr Hausa 0630-0700 9885si 15275ki 1300-1400 15410ki 17610si 17800ki 1800-1900 11965ki 13860ra 15620si Indonesian 1200-1258 11770tr 15105tr 1206-1300 603ja 2200-2300 5955tr 7380tv 2200-2258 603ja Pashto 0800-0830 15360tr 17705ra 1400-1430 9655tr 13840tr 15595ks Portuguese (to Africa) 0530-0600 9700ki 17800dh 1930-2000 6150ki 11795ra 15620tr 17860si Russian 0000-0100 6180dh 11865tr 17865kr 693mo 1188sp 0100-0200 6115ra 9685tr 693mo 1188sp 0200-0300 693mo 1188sp 15450tr 0300-0330 1188sp 0300-0400 693mo 11780ki 15450tr 0400-0500 693mo 1188sp 0400-0530 5915ra 9545wo 13780ki 0500-0530 999gr 0600-0700 693mo 1188sp 1400-1500 693mo 1188sp 11915wo 15265ra 15620ki 15700wo 1500-1600 693mo 999gr 1188sp 15265ra 15620ki 15690dh 1600-1700 693mo 1188sp 9715dh 11915ki 1700-1800 693mo 1188sp 9715ra 11915tr 15620si 1800-1900 693mo 999gr 9715ra 9885tr 11885wo 1900-2000 693mo 1188sp 9715ra 9885tr 11885tr Swahili 0300-0400 6180ki 9790dh 15400tr 1000-1100 9565ki 15410ki 1500-1600 9485ki 9770ki 21840dh Ukrainian 0600-0615 549kv 1430-1445 549kv Urdu 0200-0230 1548tr/DRM 12095tr 15345kr 1430-1500 1548tr 9655tr 13840tr 15595ks 1700-1730 5915ks 9655tr Relays: as: Ascension Is. bo: Bonaire cc: Cypress Cr. dh: Dhabayya gr: Grigoriopol ja: jakarta ka: Kabul ki: Kigali ko: Komsomolsk kr: Kranji ks: krasnodar kv: Kiev ky: Kvitsoy mb: Moosbrunn me: meyerton mo: Moscow no: Novosibirsk pe: Petropavlovsk pr: Pristina ra: Rampisham si: Sines sk: Skelton sm: Samara sp: St. Petersburg ta: Tirana tr: Trincomalee tv: Talata Vol vl: Vladivostok wo: Woofferton ye: Yerevan (DW via Alokesh Gupta in dxldyg, re-arranged by Alan Roe-UK, WDXC-UK; updated wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 8 via DXLD) ** GREECE. Re: Meanwhile, John Babbis heard from Demetri Vafeas at ERT that one of the Avlis transmitters has been ``severely damaged``, so only two frequencies can be on the air at once (the Makedonias station unaffected --- does that mean VOG itself gets only ONE frequency at a time now, or two?). gh`` The first one: Just one frequency at a time between 1100 and 2300. The Avlis site has altogether three transmitters, the two original ones from the early seventies which are 100 kW Marconi models, and a 250 kW Continental donated by the IBB (the only one of a greater bunch from their closed Portugal operations that was ever installed). One of the Marconi's is now in use for Radiofonikos Stathmos Makedonias between 1100 and 2250 since the old VOA shortwave transmitters at Perea near Thessaloniki have been shut down. And the RSM relay is indeed still on air, just heard on 9935. I already noted on earlier occasions that the RSM relay has priority over Voice of Greece transmissions. At a glance it seems that RSM is an organization of its own and ERA provides transmission facilities to it. This would explain why they sacrifice Voice of Greece frequencies to keep RSM on air. Now which transmitter is damaged, one of the Marconi's or the Continental? In the first one case it could be the first time that the Continental is routinely in use on other frequencies than 9420. If I recall correct a dedicated antenna had been built for it and the whole arrangement run at 170 kW or so. On other frequencies through other antennas it is of course likely that the output has to be limited to 100 kW. Btw, around 1130 I noted a very faint carrier on 15650. At present no signal should go out on this frequency from Avlis, so what's this? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Never mind the reduced VOG schedule they sent John Babbis, showing 9420 instead of other frequencies most of the time: March 7 at 1347 there was no signal at all on 9420, but at 1409 I was hearing Greek on 15650. However, that was gone by 1500 so I could hear Miraya FM unimpeded; see SUDAN [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And after 1700 I noted them on 9420, broadcasting the same SBG commentary than Radiofonikos Stathmos Makedonias on 7450 but with an additional hum in the audio. At 2000 they switched from 9420 to 7475 which is here in eastern Germany noticeably weaker than nearby 7450 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Marconi gear is older version, how is spare parts service these days? http://www.tdp.info/grc.html shows 2 x Marconi units from 1972 year !!!! Regards de Wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The question about spare parts supply is an interesting one in as far as Marconi has left the broadcast equipment business long ago. But it does not appear to be a problem also for their elder transmitters, VTC still maintains ancient Marconi gear from the sixties (BD 272 transmitters). Do not take by mention of 170 kW seriously. This was just my recollection on some explanations about improvements, including a power increase, on the Continental set-up and its dedicated antenna. And the other, original antennas and/or the antenna switching gear are probably not suitable for more than 100 kW. I see also no real indication for whether it is the ex-Glória transmitter or one of the Marconi's that failed. I listened closely to find out by way of the audio/modulation characteristics, but without a // frequency I do not dare to come to any conclusions. The original message from yesterday basically says "all 9420", but that's apparently not correct. Indeed they switch from 9420 to 7475 at 2000, but consider also Glenn's observation that 15650 was in use this afternoon instead of 9420. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing noted on 15650 and 15630 kHz today March 8th (Wolfgang Büschel, 1837 UT, ibid.) Nor here around 1330-1430 (gh) But isn't that exactly according to the temporary schedule: "1400-1600 UT instead of 15650 you get 9420, and 1600-2000 UT instead of 15630 you get 9420 KHz." Good signal here in Finland on 9420 kHz now at 1820. 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) Dear Mauno: All I got was 7450 Thessaloniki and 9420 Zambia at 1945 UTC. If Greece is on 9420, I can't tell because of Zambia. 15650 does not propagate in this area at 1100-1350 UTC. (John Babbis, MD, March 8, ibid.) Dear John, here Zambia was much weaker than Greece. Now at 2030 Greece has signed off and only Zambia heard. 73, (Mauno, ibid.) ** GREECE. MONITORAGGIO ONDE MEDIE ZONA COSTIERA TARANTO by F. PATRONO Ciao! This is a list of all the radio stations that can be received in medium and long waves (mw-lw) in Lama (Taranto) in "La Battaglia" zone and in Marina di Lizzano (Taranto) in "le Conche" zone, in the Apulia region, southern Italy, made by Francesco Patrono from Lama (Taranto). (Coordinate) 40 23' 31" North , 17 26' 54" East The frequencies values are expressed in kilohertz as receiving equipments there were owned an analogical old walkman fenner and a portable digital world receiver Konig serie HAV-PR20. http://www.donberg.ie/descript/h/hav-pr20.htm http://www.nedis.com/Articles/Konig/HAV-PR20.php The radio stations listed here probably can also be received in the whole coast line of Ionian Sea in Italy, in the regions of Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria. PLEASE READ WITH ATTENTION: this list is NOT COPIED from any other site, it's created by me and is free for use to all the dx-ers that want to get it and put it into their websites or dx-ing groups. many special thanks to the friend Dario Monferini from Milan (Italy) that owns the http://www.playdx.com website for his sympathy and the collaboration for some technical explanations. [gh excerpted here only logs re Greece/pirates] 1620 Radio Ouranio Toxo (Greek pirate from Larisa) 1626 Radiofonikos Stathmos Delta (unidentified Greek pirate) 1630 Radio Asteras (Greek pirate from Kilkis) favorite stations by me 981 ERA Spor (Greece) 1008 ERA Corfu (Greece) 1620 Radio Ouranio Toxo (Greece) 1626 Radiofonikos Stathmos Delta (Greece) Some other considerations with the participation of Dario Monferini: Jere were received also, periodically, on a frequency included besides 1800 and 1825 kilohertz, in the amount of time between 0430 and 0500 a.m. Italian time [0330-0400 UT], some Morse signals very fast and looped (probably other beacons?) and sometimes, besides a frequency of circa 1720 kilohertz, at 0315 a.m. local Italian time, some short communications in Greek language; probably these are fishermans. The stations reported in the list from 1620 kilohertz and beyond are three pirate Greek radio stations that cover without obstacles all the Mediterranean area and the northern Europe. In this list we have mentioned only three of them but there are a lot of stations similar like these and is quite impossible to identify them one by one. It depends on the fact that these are not the "radio stations" in the classical sense of the word, but are some radioamateurs equipped with high power and high watt transmitters. Moreover, very often these radioamateurs use the QSO technique; it consists in broadcasting on a determinate frequency (for example 1630 kilohertz) for determinate hours (for example from 0100 to 0400) and then they turn off to allow other radioamateur friends of them to activate their transmitters and to start broadcasting with their station on the same frequency. Some stations broadcast only music and are "no name" stations, some others use a name and some others still give a mobile phone number so that listeners can request their songs or communicate their QSL reports. Usually, the music proposed by these station is common Greek music (e.g. rembetika, sirtaki, laika and so on) but sometimes there are also amazing disco dance mixes and European 80's rock and pop music. It is possible to receive these stations only with a receiver suitable for x-band scanning (range from 1620 to 1750 kilohertz approx.) from dusk until early dawn. (F. Patrono, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9445, All India Radio (Bangalore), 2150-2200, 3/7/2009, English. Upbeat pop music. Announcements by woman at 2159. ID and news by man at 2200. Moderate signal with some fading. No parallels heard. AIR's afternoon transmissions (my local time) have been difficult to hear over the last couple of weeks. Usually only one frequency is audible at a time. Log made using Sony ICF-SW7600G and whip antenna (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. RUNNING COMMENTARY OF CRICKET TEST MATCHES OF INDIA-NEW ZEALAND CRICKET SERIES-2009 IN NEW ZEALAND All India Radio will broadcast ball by ball commentary of three test matches of India-New Zealand Cricket Series-2009 in New Zealand on some of the SW, MW & FM-Gold Channels as per following schedule. There will be hourly updates on FM-Rainbow Channels: DATE TIME (UTC) EVENT VENUE 18-22 Mar, 2150-0510* 1st Cricket Test Match Seddon Park, Hamilton 26-30 Mar, 2120-0440* 2nd Cricket Test Match Mc Lean Park, Napier 3-7 April, 2120-0440* 3rd Cricket Test Match Basin Reserve, Wellington --- *or till the end of the match (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india yg via DXLD) i.e., some SW transmitters will be on the air 2-3 hours earlier than usual, for those who may find that helpful (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3976.059, 7.3 1540, RRI Pontianak, ganska svag med mx TN 3995.023, 7.3 1535, RRI Kendari ganska svagt i bruset även denna (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4790, 1440-1454*, RRI Fakfak, 07/03, Indonesian, YL talk, pop song at 1448, short final YL announcement with Love Ambon music in the background at 1453, transmitter was off in a minute - fair-poor with deep fading (it seems their modulation is not OK). 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9524.96, V of Indonesia, either extremely low modulation or none at all. (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, JRC NRD-535D, 394' at 310 Beverage (BOG), Paint Creek PA, HCDX via DXLD) Time? Sometime between 1055 and 1215 UT. Later that morning we could not detect it (gh, OK) [and non]. Gone again: no sign of VOI on 9525, March 7 at 1347 and 1455 chex. I could detect a very weak carrier on 9525, but probably something else. If VOI switched to 11785 this date, they were totally blown away by WHRI/Hmong Lao Radio. Meanwhile, India was inbooming on 9425, 9870. Could not detect VOI on 9525 March 8 before or after 1400, nor on 11785 when freed from WHRI after 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.96, VOI Jakarta in Arabic, with tremendous power level today at 1710 UT at S=9 +30...40dB. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And at that hour for the last few months it had usually been on 11785v (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL. Some ham DX contest must be underway, which is what it takes to find out if a band is really open for propagation. March 7 at 1413 I found good signals from Ascension on 21630 and 21470 so tuned below 21450. Several hams were heard with the briefest possible contacts, concluding with ``5-9-K`` or -kilo, apparently meaning they were running 1000 watts of power and the contactee was heard with max strength and readability. Saying ``one thousand`` rather than ``K`` would eat up too much time which could be applied to racking up more meaningless contax. All on USB, of course, with locations looked up on their qrz.com pages, as they aren`t about to waste time mentioning that on the air either: 1413 on 21325, VP2E with various VEs and Ws [a long entry all about QSL managing and IRCs finally mentions Anguilla at the very bottom] 1415 on 21286, HI3TEJ, who was only 5-9-100 [Puerto Plata, D. R.] 1417 on 21273, ZX5J [Rancho Queimado, Santa Catarina, Brasil] 1418 on 21332, HI3K [also Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic] 1419 on 21305, 6Y1V [Hopewell, Jamaica] I then tried the 24 and 28 MHz bands, but nothing at all heard; and on the 18 MHz band no contesting heard, just ragchews; is that off-limits for contesting? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, 18 MHz is off limits to contesting (Tim N8YI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, You're right, there isn't any contesting on any of the WARC bands (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Why not? ``WARC bands`` being the hams` peculiar way of referring to the recently added 12, 17, 30 and 60 meter bands, altho the traditional bands also resulted from earlier World Administrative Radio Conference agreements. Ah, here`s what`s going on: (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST (SSB) ---> Object of the contest is for W/VE amateurs to work as many stations in as many DXCC countries as possible on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 metre bands, while foreign amateurs (also including KH6, KL7, CY9 and CY0) work as many W/VE stations in as many of the 48 contiguous states and provinces as possible (full rules can be found at http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/intldx.html This year's event will run from 0000 UT on 7 March through 2400 UT on the 8th. Do not forget to give a look at the Announced Operations listing maintained by Bill, NG3K at http://www.ng3k.com/Misc/adxs2009.html - good contest to you all! (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) See also DESECHEO ** INTERNATIONAL. International Women's Day --- Dear Ladies of Radio: To my dear correspondents in Albania and Belarus I send my kind regards on the occasion of International Women's Day. Kate Cross gave me examples of the importance of this day in Belarus, Larisa Suarez started her weekend "Letters to Editor" with a tribute to women. Drita Cico has mentioned the day too. But indeed, this day is not much celebrated in Sweden. There are some activities related to the day, but not so much. I checked in vain for something in the weekly "Arbetaren" (The Worker) which I receive on free subscription (due to article contributions). This Syndicalist weekly is feminist, always full of material picturing women's questions, but strangely they do not write on the International Women's Day. My favourite medium - radio - here in Sweden this morning talked about a matter of discrimination against Swedish women. Then we got a very depressing report about the situation in the Ukraine, which is especially difficult for the women. That's all. But on a Women's blog I found something nice - A salute to the sisters of the 1920'ies. This will be my gift to you, dear friends. I know you will appreciate it. The 3-minute display, a tribute to these women of those days, is accompanied by the melancholic and beautiful Swedish song of the time "Regntunga skyar" - Heavy skies of rain (it's a sad love song). You will find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBzXtDQHto Dear Ladies of Radio, I am proud to announce that at the end of last year I published in "Eter-Aktuellt" (Sweden's DX Federation) and in "QTC" (Swedish Radio Amateur Federation) an article with pictures about "Female Pioneers in Amateur Radio" in which I presented two young women from USA and one from England who were in radio (one of them also in broadcasting) in the early 1920'ies. This article has resulted in three additions of magazine articles! I received e-mails, phone-calls and letters --- dozens of them, all but two from men!! The interest in this matter is fantastic. From Finland I even got especially for our needs the translation from Finnish of an article about Marjatta, first Finnish Female radio amateur in 1931, when she was 20 years old. So in Finland they were so enthusiastic about my article in a Swedish magazine that they supplied us with material! It was a case of collaboration between Anne (modern female radio amateur in Finland) and two other Finnish (male) radio amateurs. Well, this will be all, I am writing while my two dear ones are still asleep. We were up very late last night. So now I will go to attend to them. Goodbye for now, and all the compliments of the day! (Ullmar in Sweden Qvick, March 8, via Drita Çiço, Albania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. WHEN POP PIRATES RULED BRITANNIA'S AIRWAVES Another long and interesting article in today's Observer by Simon Garfield: The mid 1960s saw an extraordinary explosion of British pop music but the only radio stations broadcasting it were based on 'pirate' ships, like Radio Caroline, anchored off the coast. In his new film The Boat That Rocked, Richard Curtis replays those heady days when music, fashion and youth were redefining British culture. Here, the original pirate DJs revisit their vivid lives of sex, drugs... and music. Long interview with Johnnie Walker, as well as some quotes from Tom Lodge, Tony Prince and Ronan O'Rahilly: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/08/pirate-radio-johnnie-walker (via Mike Barraclough, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. ISRAEL RADIO CUTTING AM BROADCASTS, POSSIBLY HARMING ENGLISH NEWS --- Mar. 7, 2009 Greer Fay Cashman , THE JERUSALEM POST http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236269366914&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull The Israel Broadcasting Authority is gradually eliminating AM (medium- wave) broadcasts, a cost-cutting measure that will seriously harm Israel Radio's news in English and a dozen other foreign languages, The Jerusalem Post has learned. A date for closing the AM service completely has not been announced, but insiders indicated that the move was imminent. Until recently, anyone wishing to ascertain the frequencies used by the IBA for its radio news could find details of both AM and FM transmitters on its Web site. The AM listings have, however, disappeared without any explanation. Asked about the development, the IBA spokesperson confirmed that AM broadcasts were being cut. The spokesperson said the annual cost of maintaining an AM transmitter is NIS 20 million, a sum the IBA, in its current financial situation, can no longer afford. Informed sources voiced particular concern about the future of REKA, the foreign-language network that serves immigrants, the diplomatic community and anyone else whose Hebrew is insufficient to follow regular broadcasts. They said that FM reception for REKA is poor or non-existent in many parts of the country due to the location and limited power of IBA transmitters. This includes many areas of Jerusalem. Besides its three daily English news broadcasts, REKA features around- the-clock news and programming in a dozen languages, including Russian, Amharic, French, Spanish, Hungarian, Ladino and Yiddish. REKA will continue to be broadcast over FM transmitters and the Internet, but industry sources claim that both suffer from technical limitations that will result in a severe drop in listenership. The IBA's response was that REKA had been given five FM transmitters to ensure that its broadcasts could be received throughout the country. The decision to phase out AM transmissions was made by the IBA's board of directors, with a caveat that FM transmitters first had to be installed and tested for all geographical areas to be affected, the IBA spokesperson said. The IBA said that existing AM transmitters were becoming obsolete, but recognizing that such transmitters should be available for emergencies meant they would not be done away with altogether. Therefore, it has asked the Prime Minister's Office to allocate a special budget for this purpose and has notified the Defense Ministry and Home Front Command that AM transmissions are being phased out. In addition, it will maintain AM transmitters where there is no FM alternative. Meanwhile, according to the spokesperson, the IBA is doing all it can to improve FM reception and strongly believes that efforts to this effect throughout 2009 will help increase rather than decrease listenership. Because they are broadcast on AM - which is more powerful than FM - Israel Radio's news programs in English and French are heard in neighboring Arab countries. "As they will no longer be available, this will deny Israel a voice in places where it is much needed," one source said. "Removing the medium-wave transmitters will just further diminish the ability of listeners to hear an already decimated news service, damaged by salami-style [piece-meal] cuts over many years. There are now growing demands for an inquiry into the way the IBA management has treated its radio services in general and its hitherto much-valued and respected English News," the source said. A source familiar with the situation said that by reducing listenership, the gradual replacement of AM transmitters could provide a pretext for the layoff of some of the 800 IBA employees slated for dismissal within the framework of broadcasting authority reforms. When the IBA switched off its shortwave transmitters two years ago, it promised that its Web site, iba.org.il, would provide better service. But during Israel's recent assault on Hamas in Gaza, high listener demand - especially for English news broadcasts - often made it impossible to log on. Those responsible for the Web site evidently budgeted for a very limited number of listeners; one estimate is that only 350 people could access the live service at any given time - which an industry source called "woefully inadequate." Should the AM service be cut completely, there are fears that domestic listeners unable to receive FM transmissions will turn to the Internet, which would place even greater pressure on the already- limited service. The IBA said in response that it was upgrading its Web site to facilitate greater access. Areas in which FM transmitters have already? taken over from AM include Menda and Eitanim (FM 88.5), Safed (FM 94.4), Kochav Hayarden (FM 104.8), Acre, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (FM 101.3), Netanya (93.7) and Beersheba (FM 107.3). Broadcast reception from these transmitters covers an appreciable expanse, from Kiryat Shmona through the Golan Heights and the Galilee down to the Beit She'an Valley, and farther south to Ashkelon, part of Modi'in, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi and Sderot. Reception was also fairly good to excellent in the central areas of Nahariya, Nazareth, Haifa, Karmiel, Acre, Netanya, Tel Aviv, part of Hadera, Ashdod, part of Ashkelon and Jerusalem, the IBA asserted (via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD; Zacharias Liangas, Kim Elliott DXLD) This could also have implications for the remaining shortwave transmissions to the Iran. In last year, when they took anything else off shortwave, it had been reported that the IBA gets dedicated funds of 3.6 millions NIS per year for the Persian shortwave broadcasts. So far the Yavne transmitter site has still been maintained anyway, because the last remaining high power mediumwave outlets (531 kHz / 100 kW and 657 kHz / 200 kW) are located there. A shut-down of these mediumwave facilities would mean that the operating telcom company (Bezeq) has to keep the complete site for the Persian shortwave broadcasts only. I just can not imagine them doing this for the same rate. And attracting other customers from abroad for shortwave transmission, thus keeping the facilities busy, appears to be no option Bezeq even seriously considers for whatever reason (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. 11705 via Sackville, March 7 at 1428: once again the monthly haiku segment on NHKWNRJ`s World Interactive show is in limbo, as Shokan mentioned at conclusion, ``I hope we have a next time``. That would be on the first Saturday in April, in a new fiscal year after Radio Japan has made more programming changes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. B-08 of Media Broadcast (ex DTK T-Systems): 2000-2100 on 5955 NAU 250 kW / 048 deg Sun Korean to EaAs V. of Wilderness (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze, 1425, March 8. Now totally covered by N. Korean jamming (pulsating noise) and moderate Myanmar QRM (5985.0). They will probably switch frequency soon, but to where? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7530, R Free North Korea, via Gavar, Armenia, verified an electronic report to Mini6915 @ hanmail.net with a no data electronic reply in 48 days from v/s Min Jae Oh from mjoh6701 @ naver.com (Rich D’Angelo, PA, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** LAOS. 4412.70, Lao National Radio - Sam Neua (presumed site), 1224-1233*, March 8. Talk in vernacular (tentatively // 6130, which was weak), 1232 assume the sign-off announcement, followed by choral Anthem (Pheng Xat Lao, which can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubj0r1HNEEg&feature=related weak; 6130 continued on (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio via WHRI 11785, confirmed to have made the DST shift, Sunday March 8 at 1335 check, i.e. 13-14 UT instead of 14-15; and off the air at 1403 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. TDP changes: Suab Xaa Moo Zoo/Voice of Hope in Hmong: 2330-2400 NF 11860 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to Asia, ex 5890 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290 relay news! Dear Listeners, The Latvian 9290 kHz (low powered 10 kW) relay project that was due to return to the air in February 2009 is now on hold until later this year as the financial crisis has affected the station. Let us hope the 9290 relay returns later this year. 73s Tom Taylor emrsw @ blueyonder.co.uk (via Edward Kusalik-CANADA, March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA [non]. SIERRA LEONE/ ASCENSION, 11875.00, Cotton Tree News, Freetown, Sierra Leone, via Ascension, *0730-0800*, Feb 26 and 27, English news, a statement, conversation about living costs in Sierra Leone, "CTN"-jingle, talk and abrupt sign off, 45434. But the transmitter was switched off during scheduled relays of STAR R from Monrovia *0700-0730* (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) A recent VTC sked update lacked Star R (gh) ** LIBERIA [non]. U.K. (non) Some VTCommunications changes: Star Radio in English/Local: 0700-0730 on 11875 ASC 250 kW / 027 deg to CeAf, cancelled (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) still to SIERRA LEONE, q.v. ** MADAGASCAR. Google Earth imagery. Some high resolution place. RNW Talata-Volonondry Shortwave TX site NOW viewable with Google Earth. 18 45 10.16 S, 47 36 56.82 E (Ian Baxter, Australia, SW Txsite yg Mar 7 via BCDX March 9 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7270.42, Limbang FM/Wai FM 1348-1420+ March 5. Regional music, YL announcer; 2 pips to ToH, then a "Limbang FM" jingle and possible news by OM; a definite "Wai FM" was heard at 1403, so this must have been the switchover time (concurs approximately with 1315-1400 sked for Limbang); music followed, with plenty of "Wai FM" jingles. Noted next day (March 6) on 7270.44 at same time but with OM/YL talks (presume Limbang) to 1403, then YL with possible news; "Wai FM" ID's and mostly talk followed. On March 7 did not check until 1450, but no carrier noted at that time on 7270.4v. Either was not on or moved back down closer to nominal frequency, which was a mess (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 7270.0, Limbang FM and Wai FM via RTM, 1245-1414, March 8. Unfortunately for me they have adjusted their transmitter back to being on exact frequency again. Poor to fair with QRM from PBS Nei Menggu, surprisingly both about equal strength. Was very enjoyable listening to them while they were off-frequency! In vernacular; mostly DJ playing pop songs; from 1245-1315 several Wai FM IDs; 1400 news (clear “Limbang FM” IDs at start and finish); after 1405 more pop songs and numerous “Wai FM” IDs and a nice singing “Wai FM” jingle (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 0755-0801*, March 8, vernacular talk. Flute IS at sign off. Weak. Co-channel QRM from Radio Australia at their 0758 sign on. 9635, RTVM, *0803-0835, March 8, sign on with local tribal music. Vernacular talk. Some rustic tribal vocals. Fair. Poor-weak on // 7284.88 - on the air at 0805 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5995, R. Mali Bamako at 2248 UT on Mar 2 poor with high-pitched string and flute music; rapid fire talk in French by woman; Afro-pop vocals at 2251 UT; gradually improving to fair by 2255 UT; program information and ID in French at 2300 UT (Jim Ronda, OK, DXplorer Mar 8 via BC-DX March 9 via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces Station (tentative), Wasn't audible after 1100, but did show up at 1142 check sounding like talk by M, then 1144 definite music. I'm assuming this is carrier plus USB. Audio not noted in LSB (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, JRC NRD-535D, 394' at 310 Beverage (BOG), Paint Creek PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. I really enjoyed in my young days to listen to the Happy Station from R Netherlands each Sunday for many years, first with Eddie Startz and later with Tom Meijer. I had the pleasure personally to meet Eddie Startz at the EDXC Conference in Oslo in 1973 and participate in the audience of a live transmission of the Happy Station produced by Tom Meijer in connection with the EDXC Conference in Hilversum in 1976! Unfortunately, my experience after many, many listening checks over the years, the first new shortwave channel via WRMI on 9955 CANNOT be heard in Europe at all! At the Lugano Conference, I told this to Jeff White, and he said to me that the antennas of WRMI are very directional towards Cuba and South America, so he was not surprised about that (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) Keith said he was looking for another SW outlet to add, but no word yet on that. Be alert for last minute info. Is this going to be on every week, fortnight, or irregularly?? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. CAMBIOS EN RADIO NEDERLAND Estimados amigos y colegas: A partir de esta próxima temporada Radio Nederland Wereldomroep concentra sus emisiones de onda corta en la zona comprendida entre el SUR de los Estados Unidos, el Caribe y la región Amazónica. Todas las demás regiones son cubiertas a través de la web y satélite (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay). También se reduce el horario de emisión hacia Europa vía satélite. Este es el próximo esquema de emisiones en español de Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, temporada A09 (del 29 de marzo 00.00 UTC hasta el 24 de octubre 2009). Todas las horas UTC (Tiempo Universal), frecuencias en kHz. ONDA CORTA 1100-1130 Caribe y Norteamérica (OESTE) BON 6165 1130-1157 Sudamérica (NORTE) BON 6165 1200-1227 Centroamérica, México y Caribe BON 9715 Sudamérica (NOROESTE) BON 9895 2300-2357 Sudamérica (NOROESTE y CENTRAL) y Caribe GRV 9450 0000-0157 Sudamérica (NOROESTE y CENTRAL) BON 6165 Caribe, Centroamérica, Sudamérica (NORTE) SIN 7325 Sudamérica (NORESTE) y Caribe SIN 9450 0200-0357 México, Centroamérica y Caribe BON 6165 ESTACIONES BON = Bonaire, Antillas Neerlandesas. GRV = Greenville, Carolina del Norte, EE.UU. SIN = Sines, Portugal SATÉLITES ASTRA 1G (Europa) 00.00-11.00 y 13.00-15.00 UTC 12.574 GHz, polarización H, symbol rate 22.000, FEC 5/6, Canal RNW MIX INTELSAT 3R (Centro y Sudamérica) 24 horas 3.942 GHz, polarización V, symbol rate 1.200, FEC 1/2, Canal RNW3 AMC-4 (Norte y Centroamérica) 24 horas en español, excepto lunes a viernes 14.00-15.00 UTC en portugués. 12.120 GHz, polarización V, symbol rate 30.000, FEC 3/4, Canal RNW3 AMC-4 (Sudamérica) 24 horas en español, excepto lunes a viernes 14.00- 15.00 UTC en portugués. 11.655 GHz, polarización V, symbol rate 30.000, FEC 3/4, Canal RNW3 THAICOM 5 (Asia, África, Oriente Medio) 00.00-11.00 y 13.00-15.00 UTC 3.640 GHz, polarización V, symbol rate 28.066, FEC 3/4, Canal RNW3 OPTUS D2 (Australia, Nueva Zelanda) 00.00-11.00 y 13.00-15.00 UTC 12.644 GHz, polarización V, symbol rate 22.500, FEC 3/4, Canal RNW3 Cordiales 73 Jaime Báguena García Director Artístico Departamento Español RADIO NEDERLAND WERELDOMROEP http://www.informarn.nl (via Arnaldo Slaen, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. The NETHERLANDS/VATICAN: Vatican R and R Netherlands Worldwide are exchanging air time between Italy and Madagascar facilities. After three months, listening conditions for both audiences are reported good. Vatican transmitter in Santa Maria di Galeria relays R Netherlands Arabic program to the Middle East at 1959-2057 on 7385. R Netherlands does relay from Madagascar English and Swahili broadcasts from Vatican R at 0300-0400 on 9660 (Luigi Cobisi, Firenze, Italy, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3935, ZLXA, R Reading Service, Levín (0.5 kW), has decided to make a last broadcast for its international listeners, strongly invited by the DSWCI through its QSL-manager Kelvin Brayshaw. The broadcaster closed down on SW on Dec 01, 2008, as mentioned in DX- Windows no. 369 and 371! But the small SW-transmitter will be reactivated during the weekend Mar 20 from 0400 till Mar 22 at 1900 UTC at equinox when propagation uses to be best, all depending of transmitter functioning. On March 20, sunset in Levín is 0632 UT and sunrise at 1823. This low frequency propagates best when the whole path is in full darkness. Thus the best possibility to hear it in Copenhagen is from local sunset at 1722 till 1823 UT. In Stockholm 1659-1823, Milano 1735-1823, London 1811-1823, Washington DC 0632-1113, Los Angeles 0632-1358, Buenos Aires 0632-0958, Tokyo 0853-1823 and New Delhi 1303-1823. Postal address is Radio Reading Service, P. O. Box 360, Levín 5500, New Zealand. Return postage is appreciated. Good luck! (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Frequency change of R. New Zealand International from March 6: 1551-1850 on 6170 RAN 050 kW / 035 deg AM Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 1551-1850 NF 7285 RAN 025 kW / 035 deg DRM Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, ex 7145 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) There is still no widely available standalone DRM receiver. However, I have been listening to DRM shortwave the past few days using an RFSpace SDRIQ software-defined black box receiver, attached to an old laptop computer with an extra soundcard. Although few DRM transmissions are audible in North America, I did enjoy 100% audio copy from Radio New Zealand International, all the way from New Zealand (i.e. no relay), on 4 March, 1100-1200 UTC, 9870 kHz. Pacific news headlines on the text display, too. We'll be displaying the US- made RFSpace SDRIQ at the Winter SWL Fest, 13 and 14 March. Posted: 06 Mar 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Have been having excellent reception of Voice of Nigeria all week on 15120, at 1700 UT. Signal excellent, with average SINPO 55444. Signal has been present till around 1945, when it gets too weak. Did last till 2100 on Wednesday 3/4. Audio has been excellent with some good feature programs, such as 60 Minutes and Africa Hour. Tuned in today 3/7 at 1700 UT on 15120, signal on air for 1 hour, then transmitter went off air at 1755 and never returned. Also heard interesting article during Africa Hour regarding the digitization of terrestrial broadcasting in Nigeria, setting 2012 as a deadline (Chris Lewis, England, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120, Voice of Nigeria, 2042-2058* March 7. Assorted talks in English by M&W, ending with sports around 2051. Couldn't make out much due to 15115/15125 splatter. Close-down announcement at 2056 and off at 2058 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. BELGIUM. Some TDP changes: Aso Radio in Hausa, new morning transmission: 0530-0600 on 7385 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to CeAf Mon-Fri (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** NORFOLK ISLAND. VK9NS ---> Bruce Smith, G3HSR, son of the late Jim Smith, recalls his father's life on the Documentary Archive Radio Communication' s website http://www.dokufunk.org/vk9ns The interview was given to Wolf Harranth, OE1WHC on 5 March (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3345, R. Northern Stayed on past 1200 today. 1149 Pidgin talk by M with ID and mention of islands, then native music. Continuous talk by M, then more native drums and choral vocals to 1200. Pop music after 1200. 1203 brief announcement by W mentioning NBC, back to music. 1206 W song announcement, TC, PSAs. "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger at 1212. Couldn't really detect the presumed Ternate signal. (7 March) 3290, R. Central has audio level problems often. Modulation defect, DJ not turning up the mixer level, or something else?? (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, JRC NRD-535D, 394' at 310 Beverage (BOG), Paint Creek PA, HCDX via DXLD) Time? Sometime between 1055 and 1215 UT (gh) ** PORTUGAL. Brasil on 9455 kHz suddenly dropped out at 2100 UT in the middle of a soccer game. Weird! Was it an international service relaying a domestic outlet that has switched frequency? (Bogdan Chiochiu, Québec, March 7, HCDX via DXLD) Not Brasil, but Portugal. 2100 is the scheduled closing of this frequency to Europe. On weekends they have an extended transmission on 9795, where the game probably continued, tho I have not checked it. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) It is quite weird for an engineer to switch a transmitter off without any formal announcement, when Portuguese-speaker aboard anxiously waited the results of the abovementioned game. But, of course, 31 meters propagation is poor either late at night or at noon. At noon: D Layer absorption; at night: not enough F layer reflection and when the solar activity is low, then the F layer is weaker (and so is the D one). Is that right? May the good DX be with you! (Bogdan Chiochiu, ibid.) That`s about it, altho 31m from SW Europe usually holds up here until sunset. Such abrupt cutoffs are more and more common at many SW stations, where there is lack of coordination between studio and transmitter, each guy (or computer) doing its job on the clock and not caring about the other, or the poor would-be listener (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Re 9-021: The programme list is probably direct from RRI as there is not a list like that on the web site. The nearest similar thing I could find was THE WEEK AHEAD 06-12/03/2009 http://www.rri.ro/art.shtml?lang=1&sec=24&art=19577 Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) Hello everyone! RRI announce on their website that they will have an additional English broadcast, beamed to Central Africa, as of March 29th: 1100-1200 UT: 11790 and 15430 kHz. 73-s, (Cristian Mocanu, March 6, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) But it also says: ``SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR RRI'S LISTENERS IN WESTERN EUROPE -- As of March the 29th 2009, the English language program of RRI, aired at 1200 UT, will be broadcast an hour earlier, at 1100 UT, on the following frequencies: 11775 and 15210 kHz.`` Not exactly; it has been at 1300 UT, was at 1200 in A-08 with usual DST shift, but this year will really be another hour earlier, and inconvenient for NAm listeners should they still be able to get it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA [and non]. Operatic singing in a Romance language on 15170, Saturday March 7 at 1438, first bringing to mind REE, of course, via Costa Rica --- except there was no CCI from RRI, it was not // Noblejas 17595, and was in fact // RRI on 11940, the Romanian service at 1300-1500 to Europe and thence North America. For reasons best known to REE, 15170 at 1200-1500 is Sunday-Friday only, so Saturday`s the only day to hear RRI unimpeded. In A-09 this RRI Romanian transmission to Europe shifts to 15195 and 11920 at 1200-1400. RRI not making it in Romanian on 11940 or English on 11970 March 8 at 1354, but 15105 was audible closing English hour, only fair. In A-09 this transmission moves two hours earlier, not one, and on all-new frequencies, so we may forget about hearing it in our mornings. UKOGBANIans may find it convenient during their noon hour starting at 1100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9 comments so far: 1 SRG March 7th, 2009 - 16:02 UTC It’s about time. Daily, RRI English carries 5 hours to W. Europe, 3.5 hours to N. America and 1.5 hours to Asia. And nothing to Africa! RRI French Service is also devoted almost exclusively to broadcasting to W. Europe/Canada. It has only one hour towards Maghreb countries and nothing to C. Africa. It’s as if RRI is still stuck in the Cold War mentality. Considering where the SW audiences are today, RRI should devote most hours to serving Africa with a few more targeting Asia. I’m sure those of us who live in Europe/N. America will be able to pick up those broadcasts with no problem. RRI should be complimented on fixing its faulty transmitters. Now they need a few good antennas targeting the right areas. 2 Daniel Ortega March 7th, 2009 - 19:17 UTC Who needs Radio Romania in Africa? Better take all the money spent for those transmissions and improve the life of those poor orphans seen on TV. Since when does Romania has any important interests or community of immigrants in Africa?!!?! 3 Mark March 7th, 2009 - 20:35 UTC “I’m sure those of us who live in Europe/N. America will be able to pick up those broadcasts with no problem.” I’m not so sure. I’ve been trying to pick up Radio Japan’s French service for Africa but I haven’t succeeded yet (I only have consumer radio equipment though.) 4 Kai Ludwig March 8th, 2009 - 1:35 UTC They have brand-new shortwave transmitters and refurbished antennas, as a result of an extensive modernization project carried out in last year, like the previous refitting of their complete mediumwave network by American contractors. Stuck in Cold War mentality? Yes, this is about the only explanation for such big investments in shortwave facilities these days. 5 SRG March 8th, 2009 - 7:36 UTC Yes, Kai, RRI-SW never sounded as clear in the past as it does today. I do enjoy their lively folk-music. But now, after completing such an extensive and expensive modernization project Romania is broke and needs a bailout. In its broadcasts RRI is pleading daily with old Europe to move quick with its aid package, for European solidarity’s sake. Do you copy in Germany? 6 Kai Ludwig March 8th, 2009 - 14:04 UTC You have to ask that the >>> opinion formers and decision makers <<< (or were it the opinion makers and decision formers?). Personally I have some doubts that they listen to shortwave radio. 7 Mark March 8th, 2009 - 17:25 UTC They wouldn’t watch Romania International TV either, if such a thing existed. So shortwave is the better deal 8 Raymond Woodward March 8th, 2009 - 17:45 UTC The external service of TVR (TVR I) has existed for some years now. It can be viewed at 13 degrees east on 11.623 GHz Vertical! ?!?!?! 9 Mark March 8th, 2009 - 20:22 UTC Haven’t heard about it, never watched it, so it kind of proves my point. On a serious note, it looks like TVR I is in all Romanian, which means it’s not of much interest to a non-Romanian audience (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI'S 2009 QSL CARD SERIES ON VINTAGE RECEIVERS Radio Romania International is issuing a series of QSL cards on vintage receivers for the year 2009. Jan 2009 QSL PIONIER S 503 A, RADIO POPULAR, ROMANIA, 1950 Pionier S 503 A is a receiver made by Radio Popular, the name given after nationalization to the Romanian Anonymous Society Philips. Pionier is made after a Russian model, being the second type of receiver made in Romania. At first, the receiver was electrically powered but later Radio Popular had to produce a different type of receiver running on batteries. http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl01.jpg Feb 2009 QSL BLAUPUNKT 5W641, GERMANY, 1941 5W641 is a Blaupunkt radio receiver. Its design is simple and it was produced during WWII between 1940 and 1942. A small amount of metal was used to make this type of receiver. It was famous for the quality of its sound. The box of the receiver is double the size of the mechanism inside. It is operated on 6 waves, with extended short waves dial. http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl02.jpg Mar 2009 QSL 'RADIO POPULAR' GALENA, ROMANIA, 1949 'RADIO PROGRES' GALENA RADIO, ROMANIA, 1948 http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl03.jpg (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You can see ALL 12 RRI's QSLs for 2009: http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl01.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl02.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl03.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl04.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl05.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl06.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl07.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl08.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl09.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl10.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl11.jpg http://www.rri.ro/images/2009qsl12.jpg (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. 6075, R. Rossii, another check to 1400* March 7 with 5- second-late timesignal on motorboating carrier, and no 8GAL CW marker to be heard on 6074. I promise soon to stop reporting its non- reception (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 6005.00, GTRK Adygeya, via Tbiliskaya, 1805-1850, Monday Feb 23, Adyghian (presumed) talks, 1830 Arabic talk, 1845 Turkish talk 43443, QRM R 700, Kall-Krekel, Germany 6005. 6005.00, GTRK Kabbalk Teleradio, via Tbiliskaya, *1830-1900*, Wednesday Feb 25, Kabardino announcement, native music, talks and interview - heard after BBC WS signed off in Somail 1830*, 43433 QRM R 700, Germany on 6005 and R Bulgaria in Turkish on 6000 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia with DRM transmission on 9670-9675-9680, very good signal in English at 1500 UT, and into German at 16 (Chris Lewis, England, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. 6055, 2051-2100*, R. Rwanda, 07/03, vernacular, song by W. Houston, then OM talk with mention of "Radio Rwanda" and some song in the background - almost good with slight fading, weak IRIB signal on the same channel and splashes from 6050 (TRT). 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** SAO TOME. 11975, VOA relay, 2053-2059*, 7 Mar. Afro pop music, male announcer with quite a lot of detail about the music, artists, their CD's, etc. Transmitter cutoff in mid-song at 2359. Not so professional sounding! Fair (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be the erstwhile show Music Time in Africa (gh) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Hum of broadcast transmitters --- Hallo - dynamic range and his pure oscillator do make Perseus a serious tool to analyze how the mains hum (50 Hz or 60 Hz, plus their harmonics) is attenuated by international broadcasters. I summed up my findings in a short and richly illustrated paper (that's important, because it is written in German): http://web.mac.com/nils.schiffhauer/Website/H%C3%B6ren/H%C3%B6ren.html There you can also find a short video for listening and viewing the world champion in chainsawing its own transmission... [BSKSA 17805] http://web.mac.com/nils.schiffhauer/Website/H%C3%B6ren/Eintr%C3%A4ge/2009/3/7_Netzbrummen_-_der_schlechte_Ton_files/BKSA-iPhone.m4v (Nils, DK8OK via Perseus YahooGroup via SW Bulletin March 8 via DXLD) Grosser Brummpreis ... heute fuer BKSA, 17805 kHz, fuer einen herrlichen Lattenzaun, der die 1. Oberwelle des 60-Hz-Netzstromes dort mitsamt seiner vielen, vielen Oberwellen in alle Welt verteilt. Die erste Oberwelle liegt gerade 20 dB unterm Traeger (Nils Schiffhauer-D DK8OK, A-DX Mar 6 via BC-DX via DXLD) Now at 1220 UT Mar 6th buzz is on noon siesta til 1500 UT, then on 15435 kHz. Remaining 8 x 500 kW beasts, all buzz free: 13775 Urdu 15250 English til 1230, western modern pop music, S=6-7 17820 Bengali 21505 + 21640 1st progr 15380 17895 21600 HQ (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 4/5/6) Now at 1600 UT Mar 8th buzzy unit is on 15435 kHz 1500-1800 UT. Remaining 6 x 500 kW beasts, all buzz free 7240 Persian 9525 Pashtu 9640 Turkmen 13710 HQ 15225 1st px 17660 French (Wolfgang Büschel, March 8, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. U.K. (non) Some VTCommunications changes: Cotton Tree News in English/Local: 0730-0800 on 11875 RMP 250 kW / 169 deg to CeAf, ex ASC 250 kW / 027 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) and see LIBERIA [non] ** SOLOMON ISLANDS [and non]. Re 9-021: The recorded loop is what the BBC WS plays continuously between programmes on its satellite broadcasts. See http://www.lyngsat.com/freeradio/United-Kingdom.html This shows all the satellites BBC WS is on.For South East Asia it would be Palapa C2, Intelsat 10, but probably Telstar 18 or 10 would be favourite for the link to Singapore (Harry Brooks, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9541.5 SIBC at 2030 UT, Mar 6. Have been hearing bits and pieces of this one during local midafternoons for the past several weeks, peaking (if you can call it that) around 2015-2045 and fading out shortly after 2100. Usually sounds like conversation among one or two men and a woman in accented English; country-and-Western vocal audible on a couple of occasions. Extremely weak, but ID confirmed on Mar. 6 by comparing audio against the signal picked up by GlobalTuners' Queensland receiver. Slightly wobbly BFO note suggests that the xmtr may not be completely healthy (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer via BC-DX March 9 via DXLD) 9541.5, SIBC, 0940-1011, Most of the time I wasn't sure if I heard the station or didn't? It was one of those times when the noise on the band was so great, any signal heard or thought to be heard, was doubtful. Anyway, at tune in, I heard a female talking for a minute, then she presented music. This continued for awhile. By 1011, I could still hear the carrier, but the audio was under the noise so it could have been the ringing in my ears that I heard? The signal was threshold to put it mildly, throughout the period (Chuck Bolland, March 7, 2009, CLEWISTON, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9541.53, SIBC/R. Happy Isles, 1108, apparent end of news with possible mention of the Solomon Islands. Brief fanfare, then M and W hosting program feature. Really tough copy due to QRM from DRM on 9545 and presumed China R. International on 9540. Much stronger at 1200 with definite instrumental NA, then BBC news read by W already in progress. Distorted audio too. Tnx Ron Howard log!! (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, JRC NRD-535D, 394' at 310 Beverage (BOG), Paint Creek PA, HCDX via DXLD) So the DW DRM via UK is still on 9545 and vicinity? We had word the transmission was canceled (gh) 9541.53, SIBC/R. Happy Isles. Still going when back at home with apparent BBC programs on 1300 and 1410 check but DRM just too much for it. Since it`s 1:10 AM there, they must leave the transmitter on all night with BBC programs. Have the receiver and recorder running on it at the moment to see if it goes off or if it fades. (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, NRD-535D, T2FD and Windom, HCDX via DXLD) 9541.53, SIBC/R. Happy Isles. Heard here when I awoke 0617. Just a bit of audio and nothing to copy. Still here though. (8 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. 7120.2, R Hargeisa, Puntland (tentative), 1724-1728, Feb 24, on a day with *very* good propagation towards south-east on 150 degrees aerial, then blocked from CRI 7120 signing on, so: unconfirmed (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Re Brother Scare as heard on 3215: Hi Glenn, The 930, 1430 and 1530 refer to metro NYC stations. I will look them up and get their call letters. I believe he mentioned at least one was Spanish or Portuguese speaking station. [later:] Two of the stations mentioned by Brother Stair on AM are as follows: WPAT - 930 Paterson, NJ (Spanish); WNSW - 1430 Newark, NJ (Portuguese) (Ed Insinger, NJ, March 7-8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) so they are adding Gospelhuxterese? ** SRI LANKA. 6004.8, 0100-0112, Sri Lanka BC, 04/03, English, YL talks with two IDs, orchestral music, western pop songs - poor-fair, het., not any signal on 9770 due to the propagation as I think (only weak carrier). 9770.2, 0114-0120, Sri Lanka BC, 06/03, English, western pop songs - strong carrier, but weak audio, //6004.8. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. V. of Greece has had a transmitter failure, resulting in some frequencies off the air, altho the true schedule is confusing and contradictory. Anyhow, this benefits Miraya FM, the service from Sudan, transmitted back to the country via IRRS, via Slovakia at 1500- 1800 on 15650. Until now the first 50 minutes has been colliding with Greece, but now March 7 I heard Miraya in the clear: 1500 tune-in to some ghetto music which I thought unseemed Greek, 1501:16, a very late 5-pip timesignal, and news in English about Darfur, etc. Still poor reception with flutter and could not copy most of it, but at 1506 upfaded momentarily for a clear ``You are listening to the news from Miraya FM``. 1512 went out of English. I had been apprehensive, since I was indeed hearing Greece an hour earlier on 15650 instead of 9420 where they had supposedly retracted. I was even more apprehensive that Miraya might have been banned in the indicted president`s retaliation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Slovakia, 15650, Miraya FM, *1459-1515, March 7, sign on with Afro-pop music. Time pips and English news at 1501. IDs. Mentioned website. Into Arabic at 1512. In the clear with Greece temporarily off the air but poor overall signal due to noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SLOVAK REP, 15650, Miraya FM via Rimavska Sobota, at *1500-1525 UT on Mar 8, group singing opening followed by time pips at 1501 (!), woman announcer with ID, opening announcements and news in English. Arabic programming commenced at 1512 UT. Poor to fair with no Voice of Greece but plenty of noise (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer via BC-DX March 9 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Winter B-08 of Media Broadcast (ex DTK T-Systems): Additional frequency of Radio Dabanga from March 3: 0430-0525 on 9830 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Arabic \\ 7315 WER, 13800 MDC (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) as ya in DXLD Radio Dabanga on 5 March at 0506: 13820 S8 35334 [not 13800?? gh] 7315 S9 43544 9830 S3 25233 but later was S9 43534 Program consisted of news and reports. At 0510 with musical IS (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is broadcasting a full programme of independent news and relevant information for all Darfuri: city folk, villagers and herdsman, IDP's, Refugees, Darfuri abroad and in Sudan. Radio Dabanga is broadcasting in vernacular languages, so that everyone in Darfur can understand the latest news about Darfur and its population. Programming is currently in three local languages and will soon expand to four. The programme is also available on the website in Windows Media format, MP3 (high or low quality) and as a podcast. http://www.radiodabanga.org/ http://www.radiodabanga.org/?page_id=52 (RNW MN; wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 5 via DXLD) ** SYRIA. 12085, Radio Damascus, 2108-2200+, March 6, strong carrier with slight hum but no modulation. 9330 not heard. 12085, Radio Damascus, 1900-1915+, March 7, French talk. Local music. Fairly good modulation for a change. Weak hum. Gone at 1940 check. 9330 not heard. 12085, Radio Damascus, *2057-2120, March 7, carrier on at 2057 but only occasional bits & pieces of very weak modulation during this time period. 9330 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6010, CNR-11 (new Tibetan service), 1430-1500, March 8. Per DXLD 9-021: “The Tibetan service of CNR-8 (Voice of Minorities) was divided and became the CNR-11 Tibetan service”, per Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC). Program heard in English; started with clear ID: “China National Radio. Welcome to our English program from Tibet”; presented a Sun. program of Tibetan music and songs; “Coming to you from Tibet”; seemed to acknowledge a listeners letter; mostly poor; // 7350 (poor with QRM) and 9480 (very poor). Thanks to Sei-ichi Hasegawa (NDXC) for keeping us up-to-date with the current situation with these Asian stations (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey at 1950 UT on [Sat] 3/7 with DX program, quoting letters from listeners, good on 6050, with slight QRM. Best Wishes (Chris Lewis, England, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOT, 12035, Saturday March 7 at 1350 tune-in, DX Corner already underway with Seref reading nothing but reception reports, one from Mukesh Kumar at the moment, complete with his geo coordinates, SINPOs and SIOs. BORING --- except to the individuals quoted, but this avoids stealing DX info without credit from DXLD. Ended at 1354:30. Went back and listened to the audio which started at :18 into the program, to be sure there was no DX news. Correct. Is fortnightly. I have also just received in the p-mail VOT`s program schedule for the first half of 2009, from which you would conclude that DX Corner is sevnightly, i.e. weekly, if it were not for the unexplained / after the preceding entry, Turkey`s Pleasant Destinations, which must be its alternator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. Does Sackville take "Voice of Turkey World" from the RRsat mux on Galaxy 19 (11.966 GHz)? It's perhaps worth to check out what this channel carries between 0400 and 0500, if not from North America from elsewhere; this program stream is also on Hotbird 8 and further satellites. There does not appear to be another satellite source for VOT English in North America, so if my assumption is correct TRT can restore English on 7325 only by either putting it back on "Voice of Turkey World" or arranging other things like a feed via ISDN codec (i.e. dial-up) with the CBC (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not exactly. I was told it is Galaxy 25, horizontal, 11.966 GHz, channel 6. VOT via Sackville, STILL in wrong language, Turkish instead of English at 0407 UT check March 8 on 7325; sounds like the cabaret show I have heard before, but a few minutes later failed to find a match on any of their webstreams, while the English one on VOT World was running normally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4750.0, R Dunamis, Mukono, checked for this one every day and came to the conclusion that they are on irregular schedule. First heard after one week at 1758-1902*, Feb 25, even conditions been good. They aired a pre-recorded religious program from one of the U.S. churches first, and later went into Gospel music and African songs. Very few announcements in Luganda (Language confirmed, as it is my wife’s "mother tongue"). Abrupt sign off in the middle of the program presentation at 1902:30. Very weak at 1758, 15532 but later improving to a "good 2" with 25533. No sign from Sudan [Radio Peace]; they seem to be silent anyway (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** UGANDA. 4976, 2108-2123, R. Uganda, 07/03, English, YL/OM with mention of "Red channel", pop songs including ABBA's "Mamma Mia" - almost good with slight fading. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) 4975.97, UBC, 2200 M with ID over drums "Broadcasting on ?? station Kampala. service. This channel can also be. Kampala.UBC ??". The signal stayed on at least for a minute or two and music could be heard very weakly. Strong signal. (7 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Whole World on the Radio Dial is still airing on RUI, altho its host Olex Yegorov has reported elsewhere that it is the final edition and he is no longer with RUI as the powers that be would rather hire someone to do political programming; on webcast started at 0417 UT Sunday March 8, after having found 7440 just barely audible. We`ll miss his well-researched info on broadcasting to and from Ukraine, and his unique accent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Frequency changes of BBC: 0100-0200 9800 NAK 250 kW / 300 deg WeAs, x 11760 Pashto/Dari 0500-0600 11925 MEY 250 kW / 007 deg WCAf, x 17885 Krwanda/Krundi Sat 0530-0600 11925 MEY 250 kW / 007 deg WCAf, x 17885 Krwanda/Krundi Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** U K. SAVED: RADIO BIRDSONG WILL KEEP WARBLING ON Daily Mail By Liz Thomas 6 March 2009 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160061/Saved-Radio-Birdsong-warbling-on.html So fans of the Birdsong Radio station are overjoyed that it will be staying on air. The digital station, which plays a looped 20-minute recording of bird chorus, was only meant to be a temporary filler when it began transmitting in January last year. Warble on: Radio Birdsong will continue to play the chirps of sparrows But it proved a smash hit and attracted half a million listeners - even more than the speech-only channel it replaced, OneWord. Fans who adored the soothing calls of the blackbirds, swallows, pigeons and robins, launched several online petitions to make it a permanent fixture. Now station bosses have told the Daily Mail that they will keep Birdsong Radio alive for the foreseeable future. Glyn Jones, operations director at DigitalOne, has said there are no immediate plans to close it down. The recording quality has been upgraded, and a CD or download of the 20-minute clip is now available. News of the reprieve comes after author Terry Pratchett said he is a fan of the station. He said: 'Just recently, I've discovered Birdsong on DAB [a digital station that plays nothing but birdsong]. 'There's something about the sound of the outdoors that adds texture to a room. It cools the room down, makes you feel relaxed.' One listener, Dean Pook from Bristol, said: 'I tune into Birdsong and I'm usually asleep within ten minutes. Sometimes I like to have it on in the evenings as a relaxing background sound.' Dee Parker, from London, said: 'It's a safe haven in a cruel world. How I love the Birdsong station.' It is understood that the station will remain on air while a permanent commercial broadcaster is sought for the frequency. In the current downturn this could take some time, as the radio sector has taken a heavy hit. Insiders say that Birdsong Radio is simply not economically viable because broadcasting adverts on it would ruin the relaxing effect. The recording was made by Digital One chief executive Quentin Howard, who taped birds in his garden to provide sound effects for an amateur dramatics play. Those wanting to listen to the station, which transmits from 6am to midnight, need a digital radio or they can access it online at http://www.birdsongradio.com (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) That`s nice, but hardly an efficient use of the spectrum, playing a single 20-minute loop over and over. Those who like to listen to it should download or record it once and play it over and over, themselves. The Radio Sohl concept lives! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) This birdsong recording was first used in 1992 when the first national commercial radio network Classic FM came on air in Britain. Mainly used for testing transmitter relays as they were switched on. Waste of a DAB channel here with only half a million listeners but better than a pilot tone or dead air I suppose. If money is the deciding factor why not shut down these dead air or test services and save transmission costs. On analogue fair enough having it to keep the frequency being occupied by others but on DAB surely it doesn't matter. I say test the multiplexes or channels when needed about a month before a new station comes on it but until then don't waste money and air space (Gary Drew, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA Border Crossings --- As announced on today's programme, from Monday, March 9th, VOA Border Crossings will be broadcast to Europe on 12005 and 15530 kHz. Bye for now, (Stefano Valianti, Italy, March 6, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) At what time? I see that IBB is using both frequencies at 1300-1400, but not for Europe and not sure for what. Currently Border Crossings is apparently aired only at 1500-1600 M-F, for other targets: http://www.voanews.com/english/Entertainment/border_crossings.cfm 73, (Glenn Hauser, USA, ibid.) Larry London announced the time VoA Borders Crossings is aired is "always 1500 Universal" despite Daylight Savings time being introduced in USA at 2 am Sunday morning [8th March]. But frequencies for Border Crossings change as a result of the change to Daylight Savings [sic] time [why?]. Full list of shortwave frequencies he announced from Monday (with Europe included within the Middle East and North Africa target) are: Africa: 4.95, 6.08, 13.57, 15.58, and 17.895 MHz Far East, Asia, South Asia and Oceania: 7.43, 7.575, 9.7, and 12.15 Europe, Middle East and North Africa: 12.005 and 15.53 MHz http://www.voanews.com/english/Entertainment/musicmix-bordercrossings.cfm also mentions Europe as a target - you can listen to the latest show and previous shows via this page also] (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SAO TOME ** U S A. Re WORLD OF RADIO audibility: WBCQ on 7415 at 0030 here is inaudible, though there is a carrier present and now and then some audio breaks through. Must be above the MUF for my area from his transmitter in Maine. Perhaps EDT will help conditions a bit? (Ed Insinger, NJ, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) M-F 1900, and Monday 2200 UT should work better close-in. 0030 was fine here (gh, OK) Tuned in 5110 at 0000 7 March hoping to hear World of Radio. Reception has been good from WBCQ here for a while at this time and it is also at a convenient time. I was very disappointed to hear massive interference from an unknown source. A very strong signal at maybe 5110.5 (very hard to tell exactly) with a loud continuous tone. World of Radio was all but totally obliterated apart from a few times a minute, for a few seconds, when WBCQ became a stronger signal and World of Radio was audible. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ, Area 51, March 8 - March 14, 2009 - New weekday time, SWL Winterfest Sunday, March 8, 2009 5:26 PM Area 51 is heard Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 8 PM eastern United States time and Monday through Friday from 7 to 9 PM eastern time on WBCQ The Planet at 5110 kHz worldwide international shortwave. Effective Monday, March 9, we will be moving our regular schedule one hour later on weekdays. Our new schedule is 7 to 9 PM eastern time [2300-0100 UT]. Saturday and Sunday will remain 6 to 8 PM [2200-2400 UT] This week we will be presenting special programming from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, from Thursday through Saturday. On Thursday we'll be live from 6PM to 1AM on WBCQ 5110. On Friday and Saturday we will broadcast live from 9AM to 6PM on WBCQ 9330, and from 6PM to 1AM on WBCQ 5110. Look for lots of impromptu, live broadcasts from our remote studios at the Winterfest, and perhaps some relays of locally originating free radio broadcasts. [add 4 hours for UT, and after 8 PM add one day:] * Sunday, March 8: 6PM: Pirates Week with Ragnar Daneskjold; 6:30PM: Idio-Audio; 7:30PM: Radio Jamba International (live) * Monday, March 9, 7PM: Hour of Slack 1194; 8PM: WBNY Radio Bunny * Tuesday, March 9, 7PM: Radio Free Euphoria; 8PM: Sycko Radio 2.10.2009 - Stubby Story * Wednesday, March 11, 7PM: Off The Hook (live); 8PM: The Michael Ketter Show * Thursday, March 11, 6PM-1AM (5.110 MHz): Live from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania * Friday, March 13, 9AM-6PM (9.330 MHz): Live from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania * Friday, March 13, 6PM-1AM (5.110 MHz): Live from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania (Confirmed Friday Line-up: The Jean Shepherd Show; 7PM: Glenn Hauser's World of Radio 1451; 7:30PM: International Radio Report; 8PM: Allan Weiner Worldwide) * Saturday, March 14, 9AM-6PM (9.330 MHz): Live from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania * Saturday, March 14, 6PM-1AM (5.110 MHz): Live from the 22nd Annual SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania (Confirmed Line-up: 7PM: The Lumpy Gravy Radio Show (live); 8PM: Radio Timtron Worldwide (lIve)) Regards, (Larry Will, March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 9-021. KVOH: ``The transmitter is surely a piece of crap, which ought to be overhauled or dumped. Now which other gospel huxter did the original owner, High Adventure, get it from? Was it an HCJB discard?`` Yes. It's a meanwhile forty-year-old rig, thrown out by HCJB more than 15 years ago and replaced by their own HC100 model. The same happened with two identical transmitters which went to Palau and are still in use at what is now WHR's T8WH plant, run at 80 kW if I recall correctly (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 9-021: Walt, WRNO is a radio station in New Orleans all right, but you didn't find anything about shortwave [at http://wrno.com website] because that station is not affiliated with WRNO Worldwide on shortwave. To reach the shortwave station's web site go to http://wrnoworldwide.org Hope you find what you want on site. It is mostly religious stuff. WRNOWorldwide's studios are in Fort Worth while the station transmits from New Orleans (Bruce Barker, Cumbre DX via DXLD) They used to have an older one up as well starting at http://www.wrnoworldwide.org/index.html but that`s gone now (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KJES, 11715, barely audible with child intoning catechisms, March 8 at 1406. On the meter S9+10, about as strong as WYFR 11725, but incomparably weaker modulation, and also much weaker signal than NHKWNRJ via Canada on 11705 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. CVC reduced schedule: see CHILE ** U S A. World Harvest Radio in English, Angel 1 changes: 2000-2100 on 9495 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg to CSAm, Daily, ex Sat-Thu 2100-2200 on 7315 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg to CSAm, Sat-Thu, ex Daily (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD) ** U S A. ABC RADIO'S WEEK-LONG TRIBUTE TO PAUL HARVEY Gil Gross of ABC Radio Networks has been hosting a week-long tribute to Paul Harvey in Paul's usual 5 and 15 minute time slots daily. The tribute broadcasts may be heard in their entirety over the Internet by visiting http://www.paulharvey.com and selecting the Week-Long Tribute link below Paul's picture. I, for one, have enjoyed it greatly. 73, de (Nate >> Bargmann, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I got to hear the clips and Gil did a swell job with the clips of the legend telling his side of the news and stuff. It was a good Tribute to a fallen legend (Noble West, TN, ibid.) obit ** U S A [and non]. VOICE-OVER BRIAN JAMES DIES Radio Today March 6, 2009 http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?item.4478.2 Brian James, the station voice of many UK and American radio stations has died at the age of 48. He suffered from a heart attack early on Friday morning at his home in Arizona. Brian was extensively used on UK radio stations during the 1990s, and was famous for his powerful imaging voice on stations including Capital FM, Key 103, Red Dragon, BRMB, Power FM and the Pepsi Network Chart (via Mike terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) obit Suppose I would recognise his voice if I heard it; but the same ``powerful imaging voices`` being heard on station after station leave me cold with a certain feeling of insincerity, however well he may have been able to fake it. Speaking of which, did he fake British accents (if he was presumably American), or were Brit stations all too eager to have a `cool` American voice? Like RNZI`s Mailbox, where they still don`t make if easy for Americans to listen, cf. 17675. Just remember, in commercial broadcasting, it`s all an act (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard this news last night. I had no idea what his name was, but he had a very distinctive voice. He's done the "imaging" for WBEN 930 in Buffalo for years. They did a nice tribute to him on that station (Fred Waterer, Ont., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. POLICE BUST ALLEGED GANG-PROMOTING RADIO STATION Men Worked Station Out Of Bedroom Off OBT WESH.com updated 9:16 p.m. ET March 8, 2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29562184/ ORLANDO, Fla. - Gang units with the Orange County Sheriff's Office arrested two men they said were illegally broadcasting a gang- promoting radio show. The sheriff's deputies said they took down an illegal, vulgar gang- promoting radio station and arrested the man behind the microphone on Friday. Police said 20-year-old Balthazard Senat's pirate radio station had illegally tapped into 91.3 FM. DJs behind the microphone had their own rules and regulations as they broadcasted from a bedroom at a home on 30th Street off South Orange Blossom Trail. The radio station's "Street Heat" broadcast could be heard anywhere in Orange County. Police said Senat had been cursing and using derogatory language on the air for about three months. "There are no sentences in this stuff that they're putting out that didn't have vulgar language, didn't have some demeaning language towards women, towards people," said Sgt. Mike Gibson. Gibson said the radio show covered "where to buy drugs, where to buy prostitutes and what gang to be a member of." One listener wasn't a fan and helped shut the station down by calling authorities. Detectives worked with the Federal Communications Commission to track down the home. "Violence toward women, just a very violent form of entertainment that we don't need in this area and these kids don't need to hear it," Gibson said. The FCC monitored the airwaves and spotted a cable and antenna in a tree leading right into the home. Inside, investigators found Senat smoking marijuana while on the air. He and DJ Christopher Robert Roth were both arrested and charged with unauthorized transmission and possession with the intent to deliver marijuana. "They're promoting violence," Gibson said. "When you promote violence, the robberies go up, the homicides go up, people become victims of crimes." (via Norman Wald, IL, DXLD) Similar: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-loc-pirateradio-030809,0,4929114.story (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Remember when pirate radio used to actually mean something and stand for something? Apparently this guy in Florida USA decided to make a stand as well: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-bk-underground-radio-station-shut-down-030709,0,1447449.story ROFL at the astute detective work by the FCC and Orange County Sheriff! Still in Kandahar, but I should be returning to Kabul in about a week before I depart for annual leave. Then I can do some more DXing. There was not enough notice to be granted permission by COMKAF to bring my gear with me. Hope everyone is well (Al Muick, Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, March 9, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A. In the Medium Wave Circle, UK, a thread about terms used in US sporting events has been running, to help UKOGBANIans and any other Europeans write reception reports with correct terminology. I asked Clara Listensprechen, an authority on basketball, to elucidate, so here is possibly more than you ever wanted to know about American basketball, which is currently in March Madness, i.e., quarter- and semi-finals of NCAA (collegiate) championships, and most likely to be heard on radio broadcasts at the moment: MEN'S DIVISION I NCAA: America East Conference Atlantic 10 Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Sun Conference Big 12 Conference Big East Conference Big South Conference Big Sky Conference Big Ten Conference Big West Conference Colonial Athletic Association Conference USA Great West Conference Horizon League Ivy League Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Mid-American Conference Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Missouri Valley Conference Mountain West Conference Northeast Conference Ohio Valley Conference Pacific 10 Conference Patriot League Southeastern Conference Southern Conference Southland Conference Southwestern Athletic Conference Sun Belt Conference The Summit League West Coast Conference Western Athletic Conference [Divisions II and III are further groupings about which maybe more later, maybe not] =========================================== Rules for NCAA (college) games are different than NBA (professional) games. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_basketball middle of page. Recognizing Conference title recognizes a specific geographic region. Recognizing terms without understanding the game itself isn't easy because specific terms describe specific gambits, team condition in terms of fouls, stage of advancement of a contest etc. Downtown The paint (key) --- terms referring to the shot zone painted directly beneath and in front of the basket (free throw lane) dunk lay-up post up low post jump shot free throw (line) charity throw (charity line) trey three point (line) --- relating to types of shots near the basket, or positions to take such shots. jump ball (tip-off, at beginning of game) possession (possession arrow) inbound possession turnover --- refers to which team controls the ball; in the case of the jump ball, neither team. They have to jump for the ball to determine possession. Team which takes a ball from out of bounds back into the game has inbound possession. Dominating the boards boards --- rebound mastery, rebound stats double double triple double etc --- refers to an individual player's performance stats which have achieved double digits. --- double double = double digits in 2 performance areas; triple double = double digits in 3 performance areas, and so on. assists blocks boards (rebounds) steals --- performance actions that stats keep track of for individual players technical foul --- a foul resulting in a penalty but has nothing to do with the playing of the game. Usually given for unseemly outbursts and such. Consult an online basketball glossary for details on other fouls. penalty phase (penalty foul) (over the limit) --- the point at which a team racks up 5 team fouls. shot clock --- the timer clock which limits the opportunity to make a shot. 35 seconds for NCAA Men's (Clara Listensprechen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló, Presidente service again active via Cuba on Sunday March 8: 1407, 11875 on the air with programming separate from RHC 11760, // VG 13750, and an echo apart on weaker 13680. Open carrier over HCJB on 11690, presumably also thence. Nothing yet on 17750 except VOA English via South Africa, but at 1452 recheck nothing audible but A,P // synchronized 13750. At 1410 mentioned Venezolana de Televisión (whatever became of TVes, the expropriated channel?), and CANTV, so seems to be direct relay of Venezuelan TV already rather than RHC-produced prélude programming. 1450 with news headlines on 11875 not // 11760, so apparently still waiting for Hugo to get started, which last week was around 1530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, 2147-2205* (transmitter was on the air with tone signal till 2214), Radio One, Lusaka, 07/03, Vernacular, OM talks, African pop songs and music, final choral national anthem at 2203 - fair-poor, QRM from CRI (*2200-) and splashes from 5920 (VOR). 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Sangean 909, 15 meters outdoor long wire, HCDX via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. VTCommunications changes: Zimbabwe Community Radio in Ndebele/English/Shona, new station from March 1: 2000-2100 on 5935*DHA 250 kW / 210 deg to ZWE, >>>>> from March 29 on 5995 *till 2030 co-channel Polish Radio External Service in Ukrainian via Media Broadcast (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Mar 8 via DXLD) ya in DXLD 5935, Zimbabwe Community R, via Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, heard Mar 02 fading in 2020-2100* under much stronger Wertachtal relaying Polish R in Ukrainian until 2030*. After that a long interview in English, 2043 a native folksong, 2050 Shona ID, mentioning "shortwave" and talk mentioning Zimbabwe, local music and song, 2059 ID again, 32332 strong splashes from Voice of Russia in Russian on 5980 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window March 4 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa: 11745 1700-1900 52E, 53NW Woofferton 250kW 152 degrees [B08] to be replaced tentatively again from March 29th [A09]: 12035 kHz via Rampisham 500 kW 140 degrees (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX March 9 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. WOWO INTERFERENCE --- Hi Glen[n], I have seen your DX sites on the internet for years and I enjoy scanning through them. I am an old broadcast engineer, and I find AM and shortwave far more interesting than FM radio most of the time, although I worked at a great 100 kW FM station for almost 30 years. I have been trying to see if any of your DX'ers have mentioned a heterodyne that has been on 1190 for at least 6 months. I believe that some station is about 130+Hz off frequency. In January the heterodyne note started every morning at 6:51 EST, and went off at exactly 7:11 PM EST every evening. I haven't checked to hear the start and stop times since then. A month or two back I emailed Jack Didier, CE at WOWO, but of course he could not hear the heterodyne note there in Ft. Wayne. I was hoping someone else had mentioned it (F. L. Pierce, Chattanooga, TN, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I haven`t noticed any reports of that, altho I don`t always read thoroughly all the domestic log reports in the MW bulletins. But will try to be on lookout now. Maybe you could get a bearing/null on it; that would help a lot. It certainly looks like daytimer whose clock is a bit off. Or with very different or inferior night signal. Via FCC AM query you can reach the nominal power up/down times for each station on 1190. That could also narrow it down a lot, assuming it`s within a quarter-hour of the correct times. Here`s an excellent reference, but of course cannot be complete and does not have anything which fits around 1190: http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: ``New mystery broadcasts to monitor Friday --- Two tiny 5-minute Mon-Fri transmissions have been added by VTC, attributed to MNO, i.e. probably opposition broadcasts. What are these? 0800-0805 on 5875 to zones 37 and 38, 250 kW, 150 degrees from Skelton 0810-0815 on 12095 to same zones, 250 kW, 165 degrees from Skelton 37 and 38 are North Africa. (gh)`` Reaching North Africa from Skelton at 9 AM CET on 49 metres? 3000 km distance, two hours after sunrise? I don't think so and strongly suspect that the target zones are a mistake, at least for the 5875 transmission but maybe for 12095, too. 27 and 28 would be much more plausible, especially since both frequencies had been used for BBC transmissions to Europe in the past. Will check it out if I will find a moment in the new week (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could be close connection with "Sahara tourists kidnapped by "al-Qaida on islamic Maghreb" Mali in February." (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 7 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 9610, 7 March, 0732, digital stream, but NOT DRM. S9, back on 0747 with true DRM (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only DRM scheduled on 9610 is DW via Portugal at 0800-1000 daily, 45 degrees, 90 kW (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 13460-13480, OTH radar pulses, presumed at 1350 March 8, and mixing with CODAR. I wonder if each is robust enough not to be spoilt by the other, as their ranges often overlap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17450, that ear-splitting screech/whine was back, March 7 at 1515; depending on fades it spread out to 10 or at least 20 kHz either side. The pitch sounds the same on AM, but with BFO on, and with the slightest touch of the tuning knob, you hear multiple carriers going past; there must be dozens of them per each kHz. Still waiting for someone in the know to identify this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE OFFSET FREQUENCIES I was looking up something on the MW Offsets listing, and to my surprise, given its very name, found quite a few SW offsets at the bottom of the file, so you may want to bookmark this as I have: http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt There`s also useful but incomplete info about hours of operation, callsigns, slogans, and range of frequency variation (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO NOTIZIE Informacion sovre nueva disposicion de revista DX en Italiano --- Estimados amigos, se ruega de divulgar a travez vuestros programa Dx o publicaciones este siguiente mensaje que puede ser util par cada radio escucha. Muchas Gracias, Dàrio Gabrielli (Italia) Ya está disponible el número 221, correspondiente al mes de marzo de 2009 (año 29), de la revista Radio Notizie. Cada número es una pequeña joya. ¡Verlo para creerlo! Destaca, entre los demás artículos, la primera parte del dedicado a los 30 años del club editor, del GARS (Gruppo Ascolto Radio dello Stretto). Con tal motivo se ha organizado un concurso al que todos están invitados a participar. También se publica la segunda parte del artículo dedicado a la gran expedición DX, realizada en septiembre de 2008, a bordo de crucero de la MSC Lirica por el Norte de Europa, con la confirmaciones de las emisoras sintonizadas. También debemos reseñar el artículo sobre Radio Colonia que fue escuchada en italiano por el emisor de onda media de Norddeutscher Rundfunk. En total, el boletín tiene 28 páginas en formato A4, con la portada y la contraportada a todo color. Se puede solicitar una copia de la revista Radio Notizie escribiendo a: GARS presso Giovanni Sergi Via Sibari 40 IT - 98149 Camaro Inferiore Messina Italia. También se puede echar un vistazo al sitio web http://www.polistenaweb.it/gars para obtener más información. Buena lectura y mejores escuchas a todos y recuerda bien que Radio Notizie firma la cultura radiofonica, ¡siempre! (Dario Gabrielli, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bottom line is that it`s a quarterly, available only by p-mail at a cost of 5 Euro by priority mail --- is that domestic or worldwide airmail rate too? There is also a separate QSL publication for 4 Euro by printed matter rate (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see GERMANY +non, NEW ZEALAND, RUSSIA, ++++++++++++++++++++ SOLOMON ISLANDS, UNIDENTIFIED 9610 RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ WOODEN SHORTWAVE RADIO Hi Glenn, Have you seen this yet -- an Indonesian-made wooden SW radio? Would be fun to review, but it's more expensive than I thought. This maker also has a 3-tube radio (for warm, rich sound), but think it's only AM/FM. Apparently, this maker's known for good-performing radios (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume certain components have to be metallic. I think I have seen it somewhere before. If you have any more info such as a website about it, or reviews of it already, please provide. 73, (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Here are some links: http://www.designpublic.com/shop/singgih-kartono/10638 http://www.areaware.com/proddetail.asp?prod=sskmr&CatID=8&subCatID=32 http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/16/singgih-kartonos-mag.html http://www.designpublic.com/shop/singgih-kartono (There's a bigger one here, too.) I don't see any reviews yet. Wish I could get a knock-off and review it. Best regards, (Eric Bryan, ibid.) VINTAGE RECEIVERS ON QSL CARDS: see ROMANIA TRAIN-BOURNE MEDIUMWAVE TRANSMITTERS: see CHECHNYA [and non] WHY GLOBAL IS THE NEW 'LOCAL' --- THE REAL REASON NEWSPAPERS AND RADIO STATIONS ARE HURTING -- AND HOW THEY CAN THRIVE --- By Mike Elgan March 7, 2009 (Computerworld) If you have an iPhone, tap the App Store button, and search for "radio." Choose "iHeart radio" and then click on the Clear Channel Broadcasting app called "iHeart radio." Install it. There you go! Now you can listen to local radio stations based in cities across the country. There are many similar apps (for example, Public Radio Tuner gives you nearly all local public radio stations) and comparable software for other phones. Cars now have a jack for you to plug in your phone to listen over the car radio. It's a vastly superior way to listen to radio. You can sort by city, genre, or radio "personalities." The iHeart radio app even includes a "Shake It" feature that spins two wheels -- genre and city -- like a slot machine and then lets you click for a random result. It's a great way to discover new stations. The majority of radio listeners still do it the old fashioned way: They turn on the radio in the car, for example, and just listen to whatever is playing locally. But over time, more people will discover and use cell-phone-streamed radio. And the cars themselves will grow that capability. All of this raises a serious question: When Joe in Nashville is listening to New York City's Z100, when Carla in New York is listening to Miami's MEGA 94.9, and when Paul in Miami is listening to Nashville's Big 98 WSIX, what does the "local" in "local radio" mean? "Local" radio stations are going national, and even international. That sounds like an opportunity for the stations -- they can now reach a larger potential audience for advertisers. But in reality, it's a problem. The whole radio business model is built around pandering to local community groups, small businesses, area schools and, above all, local listeners. So how do you pander to the old audience without alienating the new one? The "death of local" problem is even more immediate with newspapers . . . http://tinyurl.com/d8uelc (via Rob de Santos, dxldyg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ From http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2009.html we check adjacent areas influenced or not by silly DST in the USA ::: From: To: Bahamas Sunday, March 8 Sunday, November 1 Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands Sunday, March 8 Sunday, November 1 Canada Most locations Sunday, March 8 Sunday, November 1 much of Saskatchewan, small region of British Columbia, small region of Nunavut Territory, small region of Quebec No DST in 2009 Cuba Sunday, March 8 Sunday, October 25 Greenland Qaanaaq [= USA/Canada] Sunday, March 8 Sunday, November 1 BUT: Greenland Nuuk [= Europe] Sat, Mar 28 Sat, October 24 Haiti No DST in 2009 [but tell that to VOA!] Mexico Most locations Sunday, April 5 Sunday, October 25 Sonora No DST in 2009 Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sunday, March 8 Sunday, November 1 (extracted by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO SCHEDULES http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html have been updated for DST, and updating is in progress for MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR http://www.worldofradio.com/calendar.html See if you can spot the errors in these paragraphs from Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ``Thanks to this weekend's time change, you'll get an extra hour of daylight Sunday to enjoy the late-winter warmth.`` and ``It's time to spring forward. Set your clocks an hour ahead when you go to bed tonight and look forward to extra daylight hours until fall.`` I sent a letter to the editor of the AJC on Saturday morning pointing out that there was 11 hours and 42 minutes between the official sunrise and sunset on Saturday -- and 11 hours and 43 minutes between the official sunrise and sunset times on Sunday. Where is the extra hour, I asked? (Mike Cooper, GA, March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE ACTUAL TIME THE PROGRAM CAME ON, IF YOU KNOW IT On the front page of the print edition of the March 8 Honolulu Star- Bulletin To our readers: The start of Daylight Savings (sic) Time on the mainland played havoc with the television schedules in the TV Week section of today’s Star-Bulletin. All the listings are off by an hour. In other words, a program listed on the grid as airing at 7 p.m. will actually air at 8 p.m. If you come across an error beyond the one-hour Daylight Savings (sic) shift, please report it to our message line. Leave the time, date, channel, the name of the program you were trying to watch, and the actual time the program came on, if you know it. (Hmm, when I call, do I mention the virtual channel (2), the actual HD channel (7) or the cable channel (3)? Do I correct Daylight Saving(s)? Speaking of which, I always thought each time zone switched to DST when it hit 2:00 AM local. Then it becomes 3:00 AM, but only in that time zone. And yet, when Eastern standard time became Eastern daylight time, the “Time bug” on both Fox news and CNN news advanced all the other time zones! According to the fonts, and a not so bright Fox anchor, When it was 4:00 AM EDT, it was 1:00 AM Pacific time. Wouldn’t it still be 12 Midnight Pacific Standard time? Knit [sic] picking, I know, but we have reached a point to where both the printed and broadcast press can’t deal with a simple time shift. I should mention that a quick check of KOA Denver (MST) and KNX (PST) had the correct time despite the display and inaccurate time checks given on the cable networks (Brock Whaley, HI, [always UT -10], March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Possibly unrelated, but a few days before the shift, as I was navigating zap2it local TV listings, cookieset on my local Central Time, I found that sometimes they were off one hour and dubbed Pacific Time! (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, where the meridian says it is UT -7, but nevertheless observes UT -6 except now it`s UT -5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe the first and longstanding DST is in law in Soviet Union starting in 1918y and in the use now in Russia - for all these years they are on UT+3 (Summer +4) instead of the meridian UT+2 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March 3, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 10 ARLP010 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA March 6, 2009 To all radio amateurs No new sunspots since the recent brief three-day appearance of quickly fading sunspot 1013 on February 24-26. It was another Cycle 24 sunspot, but not too encouraging, considering how brief and weak it appeared. There are no predictions for new sunspots, but these events tend to occur suddenly. In this bulletin we have been tracking our own flavor of smoothed sunspot number, one based on a shorter period of data (three months instead of one year that the official smoothed sunspot graphs are based upon), perhaps revealing trends earlier. But the trend goes down again. Now that February has passed, we can take sunspot data from December 1 through February 28 to calculate a three month average, centered on January. The total daily sunspot numbers for that period was 208, divide that by 90 days, and the result is 2.3. Here are the numbers for the recent past, updated through last month: Jan 07 22.7 Feb 07 18.5 Mar 07 11.2 Apr 07 12.2 May 07 15.8 Jun 07 18.7 Jul 07 15.4 Aug 07 10.2 Sep 07 5.4 Oct 07 3.0 Nov 07 6.9 Dec 07 8.1 Jan 08 8.5 Feb 08 8.4 Mar 08 8.4 Apr 08 8.9 May 08 5.0 Jun 08 3.7 Jul 08 2.0 Aug 08 1.1 Sep 08 2.5 Oct 08 4.5 Nov 08 4.4 Dec 08 3.7 Jan 09 2.3 Just as Cycle 23 had a double-peak, we are perhaps observing a double bottom, centered on August 2008 and early 2009, or with the second minimum perhaps some time in the near future. We won't know it until it has passed, but it sure feels like a minimum at the moment. The lack of sunspots has been gaining attention outside of the usual scientific, amateur astronomer and amateur radio circles, and with so many people commenting on it who have no familiarity whatsoever with solar cycles and sunspots, we are bound to see poor judgment passed on as settled fact. For years, non-scientists (I am one too) have occasionally attempted to correlate sunspot trends with everything from social unrest, cardboard box production, and stock market averages, to climate and hem lengths, with no success. Or, at least the conclusions were not reproducible. A year ago, some of us witnessed up close the resulting flap when a daily financial news organ grossly misquoted an astrophysicist, claiming he had predicted decades of few if any sunspots, accompanied by endless winter. Even though the scientist denied ever saying those things, the story seemed to develop a life of its own, a sort of social virus that spread widely very quickly, nearly impossible to correct. As a long time fan of contemporary folklore, I thought it might be interesting to track this particular meme, so I used a popular search engine feature in which I registered a particular string (the word sunspot, in this case), and every day it sent me a summary of every new use of this word found on web sites, in blogs, Usenet newsgroups, and newspapers, along with links to these articles. One of the common mistakes I found involved the difference between number of sunspots and sunspot numbers. For instance, the sunspot number is 11 if there is a single sunspot, and 23 if there are three sunspots in two groups. So someone looks at old sunspot records, sees a sunspot number of 150 for a certain day, and assumes that the appearance of 150 simultaneous sunspots in a single day is a common occurrence. Or they might take a look at a graph of smoothed sunspot numbers, such as the one at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/ and complain because the graph had recently changed without notice, or that the graph at the current date was incorrect, because it showed the cycle turning up, when that has not happened. What they don't know is that every point on the graph is based on the average of a year of sunspot data, and is placed in the middle of that year. So for any points within the past six months, up to half are based on predicted data. So if NOAA predicts sunspot numbers to rise in the future, it is normal to see the graph rising when in fact the sunspot numbers have not yet increased. Some of the erroneous accounts have pushed some sort of conspiracy theory, claiming that "the government" doesn't want us to know how rare recent sunspots have become. Sometimes a letter to the editor of a newspaper, or a blog remark, will state without attribution to any source, that the sunspot number for a certain month was only 3. They probably heard somewhere that there were only three sunspots making an appearance one month, when the actual average daily sunspot number for the month was several times that (ARRL via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ###