DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-023, March 12, 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 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1451 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1530 WRMI 9955 [or pre-empted for Happy Station alt. weeks?] Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029] Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [irregular] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed March 9] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1452] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1452] 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 ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 19010, at 0952 2 Feb, R. Free Afghanistan via Kuwait, OM talking, difficult ID, Pashto? SIO 353 (Steve Calver, Herts, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Now scheduled 0430-1130, 250 kW, 70 degrees. One of only two stations in the world on this new band, the other being WYFR on 18930 and 18980. One must wonder, what qualifies Afghanistan in particular to be the target of such a service? An engineers` experiment? Is 16m too full? Hardly. Are 19-MHz radios common there? If not, even those who have SW radios would be unlikely to run across it. Mostly // two lower frequencies, mainly 12140 and 17530 per WRTH 2009, so if they push the frequency announcements, lower listeners would at least know about 19010. The ``15m`` SWBC band does really need to occupied if it is to persist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 6110, Radio Tirana; *0330-0338+, 7 Mar; On with English ID, sked & program notes to news at 0332. SIO=43-3. OC came up at 0326:50; prior to that, there was a repeating tune IS (Radio Fana?, but no //s found) (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 7425, R. Tirana, 0133-0135, 11 Mar. English news about Albania. Strong but distorted audio. Seems they haven't fixed their problems completely yet (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 1394.6, Trans World Radio, Fllakë, 28Nov08 2045 - Chime like tones, then man with presumed ID in Croatian, a short piano intro then woman singing a short simple melody sounding very much like an interval signal or program theme. - Recorded - Fair. EMWG shows TWR in Bosnian starting at this time but Mauno Ritola via RealDX received a report from TWR saying it was the start of the Croatian program. Per Kalman Dobos of TWR (email 27Jan09) this was Croatian adaptation of Through The Bible, a daily a half-hour Bible study program. I don't usually QSL MW receptions, but after some email exchanges with TWR concerning pinning down the program for the above logging from last November, I received today a nice full color card from "TWR Europe" (mailed from Austria) signed by Kalman Dobos verifying reception. I first emailed to confirm the language and program and then followed up with an audio clip, which he requested. After receiving my recording, TWR volunteered the QSL (Chris Black, Cape Cod, March 10, ABDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2485, VL8K - Katherine, 1240, 03/06/08, English. A pair of announcers doing cricket play-by-play, sounded even less interesting than most baseball radio play-by-play. VL8K was the best of the 3, VL8A/VL8T weaker and covered by some sort of new local QRN not noted on previous visits. Good (Mark Schiefelbein, near Bois D'Arc, MO, Eton E1 / ~1000' E-W beverage antenna, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Doug Tilley in Covington, WA says he has sent several reports to Radio Australia and received nothing, not even a program guide. He hasn`t seen any QSLs in the bulletin from them in several months. Anyone know if something is going on at this station? Doug can be reached at dougbt @ att.net (Sam Barto, QSL Report, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** AZORES. 8906/USB, Santa Maria Rádio, 1158, 8-Mar; ATC working Continental 65 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 6010, at 0030 13 Feb, R. Bahrain, non-stop songs, e.g. `Breakfast in Tiffany`` [sic], ``Groovy Kind of Love``, etc. YL ID at 0030, heard till 0126, English (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 7135, Radio Station Belarus; 2241-2300+, 6 Mar; W in English with pop music program; many RSB IDs; continued in unknown language at 2300. SIO=3+43 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7135, Radio Belarus, 2200-2207 6 March. Very fast-talking YL with ID and news. Style really reminds me of old days of Iron Curtain SWBC, especially Albania. Especially like the mentions of "dear listeners" (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. RTBF, March 10, 9970 at 1000z in French; Aoki lists this at 250 kW at 176 degrees, HFCC lists 100 kW at 167. RTBF, DRM, 9925 at 1000z, Aoki shows 100 kW at 167 degrees; HFCC lists 100 kW at 162. DRM Tue & Thu only. Both signals S-5 to S-7, well above noise level. If DRM were to be widely adopted, would the required adjacent channel spacing be 15 kHz or 20 kHz? (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Eton E-1 & T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. RTBF in French in A-09 on MW 621 (as in WRTH) and on 9970 kHz as follows: to S Europe 0500-2000 and to C Africa 0300-0430 and 1900-2100 UT featuring: RTBF special programs 0630-0700 and 1630-1700 UT both on Saturdays only. Others are relaying of domestic programs: Première (info and music) VivaCité (light music) Classic (oldies and rock/pop classics) - it will be only on Mondays 1900-2100, program Première: Mon-Fri 0300-1900, exc Mon 1700-1800 and Tue-Fri 1800-2100 when will be VivaCité, Sat 0300-0630 and 0700-1630, Sun 0300-1300 UT. VivaCité Sat 1700-2100, Sun 1300-2100 UT and mentioned above (March 1st, info received directly from the station which is verifying reception reports also in English). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March 3, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non!]. As mentioned before, Aoki lists V. of Biafra International via WHRI, Wednesdays only at 20-21 UT on 11785. Just as I suspected, this is nonsense, tho it probably appeared on the WHRI schedule at some point. Checked at 2003 Wed March 11, 11785 was on the air but with American gospel huxter about Armageddon, Israel and icecaps, ``Politics and Religion`` show. Now to check Friday whether the real VOBI broadcast on 15665 moves from 2000 to start at 2100 as has been reported. Yes, finally got into the WHR program schedule which shows: 2100-2200 5:00 - 6:00 PM Fri VOBI Broadcasts Oguchi Nkwocha 15.665 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.34, Radio San Miguel (presumed); 0107-0115+, 7 Mar; M&W in Spanish with religious program. Poor; 1032-11101+, 8 Mar; M&W in Spanish with Catholic religious program. SIO=333 at tune-in, but deteriorated steadily to about buried around 1100 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4781.35, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa, Iturralde noted at 1030 to 1040 with weak signal 11 March. 5580.2, Radio San José. San José de Chiquitos. No recent logs! 73s, (Robert LC Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Drake R8 NRD 535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also PERU ** BOLIVIA. 6079.9, R. San Gabriel (tentative), 3/9, 0050-0057 with weak signal but with quiet conditions on an otherwise clear channel. Man talking in presumed Aymara, nondescript music. Others have reported this one here in recent days (Don Jensen, WI, NRD-545, e1x, e5; Alpha Delta DX Ultra, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) 6085, BOLIVIA. R. San Gabriel, La Paz, Mar 6, 1003. Religious music and then into preacher in Spanish with several mentions of Jesús and San Juan (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD 535D & Alpha Delta DX Sloper, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) I hate to tell you this, but WYFR is on 6085 from 1000 and carrier may be on by 0945, per its sked (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4744.95, Radio Imaculada Conceição – Campo Grande, 0346– 0404, 3/3/09, in Portuguese. (0346) lively ballad, OM announcer, 0349 “Radio Imaculada Conceicão, Campo Grande, Brasil”, program previews, 0351, mu. br. [muon bright? musical bridge??], two vocals, 0400, ID, OM talk, 0404 fade down during talk. Fair except for CODAR QRM (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, Icom R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4895, R. Novo Tempo, Campo Grande, 3/6, 0212-0231, on an exceptional Brazilian evening, noted weakly with very mellow choral Gospel music, man in Portuguese. IDed by //ing with streamed programming (Don Jensen, WI, NRD-545, e1x, e5; Alpha Delta DX Ultra, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) Ciao! Ricevuta conferma dal Brasile! Radio Novo Tempo 4895 kHz Religious Station from Campo Grande, in Mato Grosso do Sul. QSL card + Sticker in 229 days !! SENT 1 IRC.V/s : Abraão Moraes. Address : Caixa Postal 146, CEP-79002-970 Campo Grande, MS (Roberto Pavanello, Italy, via Dario Monferini, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. In bijlage Super Rádio Deus é Amor uit Brazilie op 11764.950 kHz, 2057 UT. Met mooie IDs, het station zelf is iets overgemoduleerd in audio, zit ook trouwens nog zolang niet op deze frequentie.En jawel met karweiantenne en Perseus inactie (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, March 10, bdx mailing list with a 3-minute audio clip, painful to listen to, via DXLD) 11765, Súper Rádio Deus, 2241-2301 6 March, Portuguese religious pgm // 6060 (very poor) instead of government-mandated A Voz do Brasil program. I guess Deus gave them permission to ignore the law. Good (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No longer required to be broadcast at 2200, it seems. I assume he means reception was `good` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. OPERAR RÁDIO CLANDESTINA PODE DEIXAR DE SER CRIME Transcrevo aqui, texto extraído do portal JUSBRASIL - Noticias Jurídicas - Com informação datada de 11 de fevereiro deste ano. Vale ler com atenção, analisar com cuidado e avaliar o que está sendo feito com a radiodifusão no Brasil. J. Pimentel: O presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva apresentou um projeto de lei para acabar com o crime de operação de rádios piratas no país, desde que elas não representem perigo para o controle de tráfego aéreo, marítimo e de ambulância, e não interfiram no uso de equipamento médico-hospitalar. O projeto foi apresentado ao Congresso Nacional no mês passado. De acordo com a Associação Brasileira de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão (Abert), o país tem cerca de 15 mil emissoras clandestinas . . . [muito mais] http://www.carosouvintes.org.br/blog/?p=5548 (via Marcelo Bedene, March 11, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. 7400, R. Bulgaria, 0135-0139, 11 Mar. Rock music, woman announcer in Bulgarian. Good, but //5900 slightly better. Hope they still propagate when they move up to 31 and 25 meters at month-end (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA [and non]. 15700, at 1411 6 Feb, R. Bulgaria, full ID in unknown language! SIO 454 (Steve Calver, Herts., March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) If it were neighboring V. of Turkey, it could be 30+ languages in a row, that masterpiece of editing they play far too often as a time- filler for two minutes, once in every transmission? Or did they get all the language announcers together at once to record them in real time, one after another? However, in the case of R. Bulgaria, it would be very safe to assume this was, as scheduled, in --- Bulgarian! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. RADIO BULGARIA, Summer schedule from March 29 to October 25, 2009 [notice additional DRM, including to NAm at 0200 in English] ================================================================= BULGARIAN 0000-0100 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 0000-0100 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0430-0500 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 6000 0430-0500 Mon-Fri East Europe 6100, 7400 0430-0500 Mon-Fri West Europe 6100, 7400 0400-0500 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 6000 0400-0500 Sat/Sun East Europe 6100, 7400 0400-0500 Sat/Sun West Europe 6100, 7400 1000-1030 -daily- Balkans 7400 1000-1030 -daily- East Europe 11600, 13600 1000-1030 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1200-1400 -daily- Balkans 1224 1200-1400 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1500-1600 -daily- Balkans 1224 1500-1600 -daily- East Europe 5900, 7400 1500-1600 -daily- Middle East 13800 1500-1600 -daily- South Africa 15700 1800-1900 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 1800-2000 -daily- Middle East 6100 1800-2000 -daily- West Europe 6100 ================================================================= ENGLISH 0200-0300 -daily- North America 9500 DRM 0200-0300 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0630-0700 -daily- West Europe 9600, 11600 1130-1200 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 9400 DRM 2100-2200 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 2300-2400 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 ================================================================= FRENCH 0100-0200 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0600-0630 -daily- West Europe 9600, 11600 1100-1130 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 9400 DRM 2000-2100 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 ================================================================= GERMAN 0530-0600 -daily- West Europe 9600, 11600 1030-1100 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 9400 DRM 1900-2000 -daily- West Europe 5900, 7400 ================================================================= RUSSIAN 0300-0400 -daily- East Europe 1224, 6100, 7400 0500-0530 -daily- East Europe 6100, 7400 1030-1100 -daily- East Europe 11600, 13600 1400-1500 -daily- East Europe 1224, 5900, 7400 1400-1500 -daily- Central Asia 7400 1530-1600 -daily- East Europe 9400 DRM 1600-1630 -daily- East Europe 5900, 7400 1800-1900 -daily- East Europe 5900, 7400 2300-2400 -daily- Central Asia 6200 ================================================================= SPANISH 0100-0200 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 0100-0200 -daily- Central America 9400 0600-0630 -daily- South Europe 11800, 15800 1100-1130 -daily- South Europe 11800, 15800 1630-1700 -daily- South Europe 11800, 13800 2130-2230 -daily- South Europe 6200, 9800 2300-2400 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 ================================================================= ALBANIAN 0530-0600 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 6000 0600-0700 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 6000 1100-1130 -daily- Balkans 7400 1600-1630 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 1900-2000 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 ================================================================= GREEK 0500-0530 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 6000 0500-0600 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 6000 1030-1100 -daily- Balkans 7400 1630-1700 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 2000-2100 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 ================================================================= SERBIAN 0600-0630 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 6000 0700-0800 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 6000 1130-1200 -daily- Balkans 7400 1700-1730 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 2100-2200 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224 ================================================================= TURKISH 0500-0530 -daily- Middle East 5900, 7300 1000-1030 -daily- Middle East 5900, 7300 1730-1800 -daily- Middle East 747, 1224, 6100 ================================================================= (Via Jaisakthivel (Ardic DX Club), Chennai-600106, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Glenn, Bismarck 550 long pre-dates Watrous 540. In fact, 540 was not even in the 1937 NARBA as a broadcast frequency - but KFYR Bismarck is in the NARBA list, 5 kW unlimited time, DA-N (long with KOY, KSD, WGR, WKRC, KOAC, and KTSA and a couple of daytimers). In fact, KFYR shows up in the 1934 pre-FCC Federal Radio Commission list, although with lower power. The Broadcasting Yearbook says CBK went on the air in July, 1939, and KFYR sometime in 1925 (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re discussion of why CBK was sited in Watrous rather than Regina --- to get further from Bismarck, and/or just makes sense to be more centrally located in the province between Regina and Saskatoon (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. 1610.05, CHHA Toronto ON; 2310, 6-Mar; Panorama program with 2M in Spanish discussing various SAm topics; Toronto ad, CHHA Voces Latinas in SS & EE at 2314+. Good, cleanest in USB, well over QRM (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 2182/2749, Fundy Coast Guard Radio, 0316-0318 8 March, Announcement in French/English on 2182 about a broadcast on 2749. Retuned there and heard an announcement in French and then quick ID in English and off. Fair (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. New to the ODXA website: An article about [defunct] CJCX, 6010 kHz Nova Scotia. http://www.odxa.on.ca/broadcasting.html (Fred Waterer, Webmaster, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6160, KBS (South Korea) World Radio; 0632-0640+, 7-Mar; English Asia news; "KBS World Radio from Seoul Korea" at 0636+; suddenly better at 0639 at start of commentary on Korea-Australia econ cooperation. SIO=3+33. Per Glenn Hauser, via CKZN St. Johns NL -- Tnx (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are plenty more mystery stations to throw you off on 6160, as in current sked: http://www.cbc.ca/overnight/schedule.html Local time for the CKZN broadcasts is now = UT -3 [not UT -2:30]. The same shows are on CKZU Vancouver, also 6160, 4 hours later (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6660, CHU, 1348 7 March, Usual pips & IDs. 2 x 3330 Harmonic. Fair (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6660/AM, CHU Ottawa, Canada time station; 2115, 8-Mar; strong 2 x 3330, much stronger in USB than AM or LSB; not on 9990. Not there at 0310 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft unterminated N-Sish bev, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ? So fundamental and harmonic are on USB with carrier, not just AM (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. BIBLE VOICE BROADCASTING PROGRAMME SCHEDULES - A09 Summer MIDDLE EAST 1 --- 13590 Khz; 22 meter band; 100 Kw; Nauen Sunday 1530-1815 English Monday 1545-1600 English Tuesday 1545-1620 English 1700-1715 Hebrew/English 1715-1800 Hebrew Wednesday 1545-1600 English Thursday 1545-1615 English 1615-1630 Hindi 1630-1645 English Friday 1545-1615 English 1730-1800 English Saturday 1545-1600 English 1600-1615 English Music 1615-1730 English 1730-1745 Bahausa 1745-1830 English MIDDLE EAST 2, 9430 Khz; 31 meter band; 250 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 1800-1845 English Friday 1830-1900 English Saturday 1800-1830 English MIDDLE EAST 3, 9430 Khz; 31 meter band; 100 kw; Wertachtal Sunday 1730-1800 English Saturday 1700-1800 English MIDDLE EAST 4, 11865 Khz; 25 meter band; 250kw; Wertachtal Monday 0430-0500 Arabic Tuesday 0430-0500 Arabic Wednesday 0430-0500 Arabic Thursday 0430-0500 Arabic Friday 0430-0545 Arabic MIDDLE EAST 5, 9430 Khz; 31 meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Monday 1545-1700 Arabic Wednesday 1545-1700 Arabic Friday 1615-1630 Arabic MIDDLE EAST 6, 13580 Khz; 22 meter band; 250 Kw; Wertachtal Monday 1625-1715 Arabic Tuesday 1625-1715 Arabic Wednesday 1625-1730 Arabic Thursday 1625-1715 Arabic Friday 1625-1715 Arabic EGYPT 1, 17535 Khz; 16 meter band; 125 Kw; Wertachtal Friday 0900-1000 Arabic IRAN 1, 11970 Khz; 25 meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Sunday 1830-1900 Farsi Monday 1800-1830 Farsi Tuesday 1800-1900 Farsi Wednesday 1800-1830 Farsi Thursday 1800-1900 Farsi Friday 1800-1830 Farsi Saturday 1800-1815 English IRAN 2, 12140 Khz; 25 meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Sunday 1530-1730 Farsi Monday 1530-1730 Farsi Tuesday 1530-1730 Farsi Wednesday 1530-1730 Farsi Thursday 1530-1730 Farsi Friday 1530-1730 Farsi Saturday 1530-1730 Farsi EAST AFRICA, 11635 Khz; 25 meter band; 125Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 0430-0500 Amharic Saturday 0430-0530 Amharic EAST AFRICA 1b, 13810 Khz; 22 meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Sunday 1600-1630 Oromo 1630-1800 Amharic 1800-1830 Somali 1830-1900 Amharic Monday 1600-1630 Oromo 1630-1700 Amharic 1700-1730 Tigrinya 1730-1800 Amharic Tuesday 1630-1700 Amharic 1700-1730 Tigrinya 1730-1800 Amharic Wednesday 1600-1800 Amharic Thursday 1600-1630 Oromo 1630-1800 Amharic Friday 1600-1630 Oromo 1630-1700 Amharic 1700-1730 Tigrinya 1730-1800 Amharic 1800-1830 Somali 1830-1900 Amharic Saturday 1630-1800 Amharic 1800-1830 Somali EAST AFRICA 2, 17650 Khz; 16 meter band; 100Kw; Wertachtal Wednesday 1530-1600 Tigrinya SUDAN, 15495 Khz; 19 meter band; 100Kw; Juelich Sunday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka Monday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka Tuesday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka Wednesday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka Thursday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka Friday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka 1730-1745 Fur Saturday 1630-1700 Nuer 1700-1730 Dinka CENTRAL AFRICA 1, 11830 Khz; 25 meter band; 100 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 1830-1845 Swahili 1845-2000 English WEST AFRICA 1, 11830 Khz; 25 meter band; 125 Kw; Wertachtal Saturday 1930-1945 French 1945-2000 Adja WEST AFRICA 2, 11830 Khz; 25 meter band; 125 Kw; Wertachtal Monday 1945-2015 English Tuesday 1945-2015 English Wednesday 1945-2015 English Thursday 1945-2015 English Friday 1945-2015 English INDIA 1, 15680 Khz; 19 meter band; 250 Kw; Issoudun Sunday 1400-1515 English Saturday 1400-1500 English INDIA 2, 9815 Khz; 31 meter band; 250 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 0030-0045 Bengali Saturday 0030-0045 Bengali [NO INDIA 3 listed] INDIA 4, 9490 Khz; 31 meter band; 250 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 0030-0100 English Monday 0030-0100 Hindi Tuesday 0030-0100 Hindi Wednesday 0030-0100 Hindi Thursday 0030-0100 Hindi Friday 0030-0100 English Saturday 0030-0100 English INDIA 5, 15680 Khz; 19 meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Sunday 1530-1600 Urdu Tuesday 1500-1600 Urdu Wednesday 1515-1600 Urdu Thursday 1515-1530 Urdu 1530-1600 English Friday 1515-1530 Punjabi 1530-1600 Urdu Saturday 1530-1600 English INDIA 6, 15295 Khz; 19 meter band; 250 Kw; Nauen Sunday 1500-1530 Bengali Monday 1530-1600 Hindi Tuesday 1530-1600 Hindi Wednesday 1515-1600 Hindi Thursday 1500-1515 Tamil 1515-1530 Telegu 1530-1600 Hindi Friday 1500-1530 Bengali 1530-1600 Hindi Saturday 1500-1530 English INDIA 7, 7485 Khz; 41 meter band; 250 Kw; Tachkent Thursday 1400-1415 Bengali 1415-1430 Nepali Friday 1400-1415 Dzongkha 1415-1500 Hindi WEST EUROPE 1/UK, 5945 Khz; 49 meter band; 100 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 0700-0730 English Friday 0745-0800 English Saturday 0700-0815 English SPAIN, 9435 Khz; 31meter band; 100 Kw; Juelich Sunday 1800-1830 Spanish EAST EUROPE 1/RUSSIA, 6130 Khz; 49 meter band; 125 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 1800-1900 English Monday 1815-1830 Russian Tuesday 1800-1830 Russian Wednesday 1815-1830 Russian Thursday 1800-1815 Ukrainian 1815-1845 Russian Friday 1800-1830 Russian Saturday 1800-1845 English CHINA 1,5945 Khz; 49 meter band; 100 Kw; Khabarovsk Sunday 1115-1145 English 1145-1200 English Music 1200-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Monday 1115-1130 English 1130-1215 Mandarin 1215-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Tuesday 1115-1130 English 1130-1215 Mandarin 1215-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Wednesday 1115-1130 English 1130-1215 Mandarin 1215-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Thursday 1115-1130 English 1130-1215 Mandarin 1215-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Friday 1115-1130 English 1130-1200 Mandarin 1200-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese Saturday 1115-1200 English 1200-1230 Cantonese 1230-1245 Vietnamese CHINA 2, 15610 Khz; 19 meter band; 250 Kw; Nauen Monday 1200-1230 Uyghur Tuesday 1200-1230 Uyghur Wednesday 1200-1230 Uyghur Thursday 1200-1230 Uyghur Friday 1200-1230 Uyghur KOREA 1, 5910 Khz; 49 meter band; 200 Kw; P. Kamchatsky Sunday 1015-1045 English 1045-1100 Japanese 1100-1130 Japanese music 1130-1145 Japanese KOREA 2, 7410 Khz; 41 meter band; 250 Kw; Wertachtal Sunday 2000-2100 Korean All our Shortwave Programs are available for internet listening at http://www.biblevoice.org (Select Listen and then Language and/or the Broadcaster Name). Programmers love to hear from you directly! Send your reports to mail@biblevoice.org or mail to: BVB P O Box 425, Station E Toronto, Ontario Canada M6H 4E3 Dunamis Shortwave 4.750 mhz - 60 meter band 6 - 10 p.m. local Uganda time! Broadcasting from Mukono, Uganda [1500-1900 UT] (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. 9755, RCI, 0035-0048, 12 March. Listened briefly tonight while waiting for Happy Station on WRMI. Woman interviewing a South Asian Montreal lawyer who helps immigrants to Canada, explaining in detail how to setup a bank account and handle finances when moving to Canada. When I say in detail, I mean in LOTS of detail. Now that RCI's signal is heard well nightly, my next beef is with the programming. A program like this directed to the US must have quite a narrow audience. With cutbacks always looming, I would hope that air time might be made to appeal to a wider audience. CHINA. 9880, R. Canada Int via Kunming, 0030-0035, 12 Mar. Rock music, English talk. Very weak (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 3990, Xinjang PBS – Urumqi (Tentative), 0250–0300, 3/8/09, in Uighur. Talk by two women announcers, brief music, longer talk by male announcer, brief music (about 1 minute), 0300 off. About 30 seconds after going off, a strong digital signal started. Weak, but clear (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, Icom R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) 0300* matches HFCC and Aoki for Urumqi sign-off, but that`s pretty late. Per http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/urumqi.html sunrise there is now at 0030 UT, which due to double-DST Chicom Standard Time makes the local clox read 8:30 am. Islamabad past 0430 is also in HFCC on 3990 but may well be wooden (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4980, CHINA. PBS Xinjiang – Urumqi, 0015, 3/4/09. poor with woman speaking in Uighur [listed]; shift to male voice at 0018; then alternating between talk and short music selections; still audible at 0044 recheck (Jim Ronda Tulsa, OK, NRD-545; R-75; E-1 + RF Systems Mini-Windom, GMDSS-2 vertical, several homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake, very good signals but with flutter, March 11 at 1343 on 8400, 9000, 9300, and weaker on 9530 with VOA also audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15795, at 1205 4 Feb, Chinese music jamming AIR service to SE Asia, SIO 444 (Ian Evans, Ebbw Vale, [Wales?], UK, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) It`s AIR`s Chinese broadcast, 1145-1315, 35 degrees from Bangaluru, per Aoki, so not exactly to SE Asia (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHINA. Detailed SW/MW/FM Frequency Lists in Chinese mainland are now available on the web: "2009 List of Domestic Shortwave Stations in Chinese Mainland" -frequency (kHz), name of the station (Chinese), broadcasting hours in Peking Time, days of the week, language (Chinese), power (kW), and location (Chinese) http://www.5bcl.com/Article/Class3/200903/3126.html It is noteworthy that transmitter site numbers such as "Peking 572", "Xian 594", are also mentioned in "2009 List of Domestic Shortwave Stations in Chinese Mainland". [not including stations which are purely jammers, I assume --- gh] "2009 List of Mediumwave Stations in Chinese Mainland" -frequency (kHz), power (kW), province (Chinese), city (Chinese), name of the station (Chinese), and broadcasting hours in Peking Time http://www.5bcl.com/Article/Class3/200901/3024.html "FM List of Major Cities in Chinese Mainland" -frequency (MHz) and names of the stations (Chinese) http://www.5bcl.com/Article/Class3/200903/3142.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Marfil Estéreo, Puerto Lleras, 5910, 0641-0723, 3/7/09. Simple folk and slow vocal Spanish music. Signal strength is moderate to strong but somewhat distorted, fine for music but poor for language. Some CODAR occasionally. Nice music. Signal improving by 0715. 5910, 0519-on, 3/4/09. Lively Spanish type music. Fairly strong signal but muddy tone and splatter from adjacent channel. 5910, 0719-0726, 3/8/09. Trumpet ballad type and bouncy Latin type music. Moderate signal strength (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. Re 9-022: Radio Candip in Bunia is still active on 5066.3. Noted here just a few days ago closing down around 1630 with their usual drumming interval-signal (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oops, in skimming I thought they were talking about their own station Kahuzi being on air in Bunia. Unfortunately I have to do a lot of skimming to get thru all the material processed into DXLDs (Glenn, ibid.) ** CONGO DR [non]. There is a new entry on the TDP website: Radio Kimpwanza 1700-1800 15260 AM ......s Lingala Africa A Google search found a website at http://www.radiotvkimpwanza.net which displays the frequency of 15260 kHz and has an audio file. It also links to another website http://www.rplc-rdc.com of the "Rassemblement des Patriotes pour la Libération du Congo" (RPLC), so it seems that the weekly broadcast is to DR Congo in support of that group. The latter website gives a contact address of 106 North Denton Tap #210-362, Coppell, Texas 75019, USA and an email address contact @ rplc-rdc.com (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, March 8, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DXLD) ** CUBA. Logged today, on 1190 a relay of CMKC Radio Revolución. Tnx Henrik for IDing it. I have emailed 1190 CMHT Radio Sancti Spíritus to see if they are relaying it (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Mar 7, MWC via DXLD) Paul, if you go to Odd´s recording you may notice that no area codes were given for the CMKC phone numbers. In other words, people from other parts of Cuba (or elsewhere) are not expected to give them a buzz. If you check the WRTH, you will find that there are national, and provincial networks on the island. A number of municipal stations are tied up with the provincial nets. CMKC and Sancti Spíritus are two provincial networks. This means that they are unlikely to relay each other´s programming (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) So does this mean that the location of the 1190 transmitter is unknown? (Paul Crankshaw, ibid.) A provincial network would have relay stations in various areas of the province, not outside of the same. The WRTH gives locations such as Mayarí Arriba, Chivirico, Palma Soriano and Santiago for the CMKC network. (Radio Revolución it is called, because the Oriente province is the cradle of the Cuban revolution (and of Fidel). The frequencies of Cuban networks are volatile, liable to changes. When I was active on the bands, the easiest CMKC outlet to log was one on 1220. Now there is no CMKC outlet on that channel. I am sure Arnie Coro knows where this station moved. The problem is that he won´t tell us. And the networks won´t do it either (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) One cannot be too careful. If an enemy knows exactly where a certain radio frequency is transmitted from, it can be used as a homing beacon for bombers, à la Pearl Harbor (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Henrik for a very full and informative reply (Paul Crankshaw, MWC via DXLD) You´re welcome, Paul. I asked Odd Påg for some recent CMKC files, and he sent me this one http://www.box.net/shared/vaxymk5a7k where Doblevé in Santa Clara is giving way to CMKC in Santiago on 840 and their AN programme "Comenzando el día" which is aired between 1 and 5 am [0500- 0900 UT] per the info given on the air (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) ** CUBA: 6220, Radio Habana; 0127, 7 Mar; W in Spanish with Guatemalan music feature. SIO=343, //6060, SIO=544. 6220 QRM sounds like a Bible thumper! (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. The DentroCuban Jamming Command normally doesn`t get going on 5980 until close to 0700 when R. Martí opens that frequency, but March 10 at 0607 there was already heavy grinding, no RM audible. DCJC is either DST-confused, or assumed that RM would move its transmissions forward an hour. Programming, maybe, but not frequency usage, I think. Cuba, a running dog, conveniently follows the lead of the USA in shifting to DST on the second Sunday in March. {If pressed on this, no doubt dentroCuban officials would assert it is entirely coincidental.} Listened to R. Martí a bit at 1401 March 10 on 15330, way over jamming, when they were plugging periodismo.com so checked out http://www.periodismo.com --- is it anti-Castros, focused on Cuba? No, seems to be a good world news portal with many linx, including to R. Reloj in Cuba, and in USA to VOA instead of Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 9760, Cyprus Bc., relayed by VT Limassol, 3/8, "2218-2244. Carrier on and off several times between 2214 and 2218, then on again, joining local Greek language programming in midstream. Late s/off as is sked for 2215 s/on. Programming sounded like a Greek soap opera, animated man and woman talking with Greek bridge music between scenes. Wonder what in the world is intended with this sort of program, and for whom is it intended. I'd suggest that there is a deal between VT and Cypriot government requiring VT to provide a half hour air time on Fri, Sat and Sun, but the government has no real interest in broadcasting abroad at this time and so simply throws available local programming, whatever it may be, on the air at this time. Too bad! Seems Cyprus could program English language tourism info since it puts in a very good signal here. Off the air just as abruptly at 2244 (Don Jensen, WI, NRD-545, e1x, e5; Alpha Delta DX Ultra, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. DOM. REP. ‘AMONG THE WORLD’S RADIO, TV LEADERS’ “The Dominican Republic is one of the countries which proportionately has the most radio and television stations in the world,” said Dominican Telecomm Institute (Indotel) president Jose Rafael Vargas, including 98 cable TV companies, 44 VHF and UHF TV channels, and 391 AM and FM radio stations. The official, speaking during the launch of digital television and radio projects, said the Dominican Republic has 126 AM, 247 FM, and 20 shortwave stations. “There are 98 cable companies, for which there’s not a municipality in the country where there’s no cable; 44 VHF and UHF television channels; eight broadcasting channels and 31 extreme frequency [sic] channels,” Vargas said in the conference “From the digital gap to opportunity in Dominican Republic,” hosted by Virtual Educa Caribe 2009 (Source: DominicanToday.com) (March 9th, 2009 - 13:17 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 comment so far: 1 Colin Miller March 9th, 2009 - 20:39 UTC I disagree with his statement that there are 20 short wave stations in the Dominican Republic. As far as I know, there are only one or two stations using short wave. (ibid.) Both of which are currently inactive, or not reported for months. Actually, WRTH has three, which might possibly return to the air sometime. What a ridiculous claim; doubt DR ever had 20 active SW stations. Thus making doubtful the other figures. Anyhow, quantity does not necessarily correlate with quality (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. HCJB, Spanish on 11960 with a health program, Wed March 11 at 1434 discussing the benefits of breathing helium; not to be overdone, I assume, only in moderation, as it`s also a suicide technique. Then talking about ``genital eroticism``, best experienced between a man and a woman and even better within matrimony! 1444:30 the usual incorrect automated ID which they still haven`t fixed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Egyptian Radio, Kafr, 6290, 0541-on, 3/4/09 Mideast music. Strong muddy signal with some static and QRM. 6290, 0337-0341, 3/5/09. Mixed Arabic commentary and Mideast music. Strong muddy signal with little fading and no static. Radio Cairo, Abu Zabal, 7535, 0057-0148, 3/5/09. Mideast music with Arabic lyrics, world news at 0100. The news was given in heavily Arabic accented Spanish, then back to Mideast music at 0116. Moderate muddy signal. 7535, 0225-0304, 3/8/09. Music, then English language news at 0225- 0230, then instrumental music with low audio. Finally a program with culture and more music mixed in of various types, mostly Mideast. Strong signal, almost clear. By 0245 signal strength had dropped to moderate. Radio Cairo, Abu Zabal, 6850, 2304-2307, 3/7/09, Mideast music on a strong muddy signal. 6850, 0317-0329, 3/5/09. Blank carrier until 0320. Then flute-like and piano slow instrumental music with a woman commentator in Arabic. Strong signal with no static or interference, just muddy tone. Low to very low audio (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, R. N. de Guinea Ecuatorial - Malabo - GNE - Recebida carta QSL sem os dados do meu informe de recepção, mas que confirma de certa maneira a minha escuta (o V/S coloca na carta que o horário e a data assinalados em meu informe, coincidem com uma transmissão da emissora). Recebido também folder turístico. 387 dias (234 dias após follow up). V/S: Julián Esono Ela (presentador del programa Cartas del oyente). QTH: Apartado 749, Bata - Guinea Ecuatorial (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, March 10, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, 0356-0401 7 Mar, Musical IS // 7210; however, music continued after the announcement began on 7210. Then same YL gave a different announcement here and continued with distinct programming. Fair. 7210, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, 0356-0401 7 Mar, Musical IS // 7175 then YL announcement and into different programming stream. This is same pattern described by Rich D'Angelo in recent logs of this station on these frequencies (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia, Gedja, 7110, 0320-on, 3/4/09. Discussion, then foreign news at 0330. Sports coverage at 0348, then a discussion at 0414. Slightly weak signal with moderate fading and static but intelligible. All in foreign language. Signal dropping to weak by 0330 and fading to very weak by 0400. 7110, 0305-0317, 3/8/09, Foreign language commentary on a somewhat weak but easily readable signal with moderate fading. Some cochannel interference. 7110, 0410-0440, 3/2/09, Foreign music with women discussing something on a moderate strength signal with little static or distortion. Some great plaintive Mideast music in the background of the discussion. Radio Fana, Addis Ababa, 6110. 0314-0330, 3/4/09. Interesting slow instrumental music, some with a saxophone, moderate signal which deteriorated after 0320 with occasional woodpecker-type interference. The signal was finally blown out by Radio Tirana coming on at 0330 (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.2, Radio Ethiopia (presumed); 2046-2100:32*, 7 Mar; Arabic? EZL pop-style music; M&W in unknown language with news? 2054-2059 then anthem & off. SIO=343, need LSB to avoid splash from 9710. // 7110 covered. I was hoping to hear some of those horns of Africa I keep seeing reported (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 12 March at 1540 noted on 6670 AM rather strong station with KISS-FM IDs in Russian or Ukrainian. Also some jingles in English. Sounds like FM relay with some "Reklamas" at times. Recheck at 1740 shows they're still on the air but weaker now (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. RFI: the 0400, 0500, 0600 and 0700 broadcasts in English are on Mon-Fri only, with French carried Sat-Sun on these frequencies. Valid 1-28 March: 0400-0500 7315 9805 0500-0530 11995 13680 0600-0630 99765 13680 15160 0700-0730 15605 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) That is the way it used to be, but RFI are lax in making this clear! And in fact WRTH 2009 shows all RFI English broadcasts as ``daily``. So does EiBi. IIRC, the 0700 broadcast was once thought to be daily, whilst the earlier ones were M-F. The only way to be absolutely sure is to monitor the frequencies on weekends, which I assume Rumen has done. In Europe they can monitor them `at` weekends (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Re 9-022: Item on RFI Web site at: http://www.rfi.fr/radiofr/articles/111/article_78961.asp confirms the end of RFI on MW in Paris. The item says RFI gave up the frequency on March 5 because of a declining audience "and no one listens to this type of frequency." RFI used MW for broadcasts in other languages. RFI in French continues on 89 MHz in Paris (Mike Cooper, GA, Mar 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. Africa No. 1 says the absence of transmissions on 15475 and 17630 is temporary and the station confirms it is still operating on 9580. In reply to an e-mail I sent to the engineering address shown at the end of the Flash movie on ANO's Web site which provides details of their shortwave transmitters, I received a reply from the head of their FM transmission department which said there was a major breakdown in the IML transmitter (15475) and the station is waiting on replacement parts which are difficult to find. The situation isn't helped by the current business situation, the e-mail added. As for 17630, CEIOCM technicians are currently working to get that frequency back on. I also mentioned in my e-mail that 9580 doesn't seem to be coming in as well as before, but ANO noted that this frequency is intended for central Africa, so we do well to receive it at all in the United States. I was impressed to receive such a prompt and substantive reply to my query about their SW broadcasts (Mike Cooper, GA, Mar 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6140.00, 1345-1400* Sunday 01.03, R Mecklenburg- Vorpommern (MV) Baltic R, via Wertachtal German ann, beat music, ID, e-mail and web addresses, 55544. 6140.00, 1345-1400* Sunday 08.03, BlueStar R, Holland, via Wertachtal English/German/ Dutch announcement, ID, web and postal addresses in Holland, evergreens, closing announcement; 55544 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, loggings done on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, before I leave for a short DXpedition to Gambia and Senegal, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) EMR this Sunday with the last parts of the Radio Jackie History Time Channel Date 1300 to 1400 utc 6140 khz 15th of March 2009 The end in 1985 and a new beginning in 2003 The Radio Jackie History Parts 7/8 with Colin King EMR/ Internet repeat times - next Sunday and Monday All programmes are also repeated via the EMR internet stream at: http://www.emr.org.uk and click on the “EMR internet radio” button which you will find throughout the website (see the menu on left). The programme will be repeated on Sunday and Monday at the following times: 1600 - 1900 – 2100 UT. The Radio Jackie book can be bought from http://www.jackiebooks.com The price in the UK is £10 + postage & packing. Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, March 11, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re 9-022: I don't get DW's statement that programme content about Germany is only convenient if considered relevant to the target audience. Surely the whole point of a German international service is to project Germany to the world. If listeners are not already interested in Germany, surely it should be DW's function, by presenting attractive programming about the country, to inspire them to take an interest. Why, moreover, should the German taxpayer finance a service with any other agenda? (Roger Tidy, UK, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perhaps the powers that be at DW have lost touch with their raison d`être and instead are more interested in building a Weltreich of influence, to give BBC and VOA some competition, which really cannot be a badthing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It probably wouldn't be difficult for DW to compete with VOA in some areas, given the general mistrust of US foreign policy, but I doubt whether DW or any other international broadcaster will ever be able to overtake the BBC. The BBC World Service, for all its faults, is a UK national treasure and, for historical reasons going right back to World War 2, its stock is higher than any other international broadcasting service and is likely to stay that way. High-quality news programming which, although not entirely impartial (I don't know of any genuinely impartial stations)is the BBC's unique selling point. Selling German achievements in culture, trade and technology, as well as showcasing its language and tourist potential, ought,in my opinion, to be the unique selling point - indeed the 'raison d'être' - of DW, thereby giving the German taxpayer value for money, and the international audience something different to listen to (Roger Tidy, UK, ibid.) ** GERMANY. DEUTSCHE WELLE SET TO CUT RUSSIAN TO CENTRAL ASIA Andrew Stroehlein, Communications Director for the International Crisis Group, writes on Reuters AlertNet that Deutsche Welle, is set to announce major cuts to its Russian-language services to Central Asia. Mr Stroehlein says: “Sources tell me their plans include making cuts both in content and delivery method. Programs are being slashed, and more than 50% of programs will be broadcast only over the internet, no longer via shortwave.” Read the full report http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/02/10-105250-1.htm (March 10, 2009 1646 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 comment so far 1 SRG March 10th, 2009 - 18:43 UTC The major cuts have been rumored for some time now. But the major source of those rumors, DW’s Russian listener’s mail program was shut down last year. So now we have to depend on Reuters to find out what’s going on (Media Network blog via DXLD) Just to Central Asia? There`s a lot more to Russia than that (gh, DXLD ** GERMANY [non]. Mr. Hauser: In answer to something that you wrote about broadcasts of Deutsche Welle via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, this: 15595, Deutsche Welle, in English to the Far East --- as announced in http://eibi.de.vu --- 0029. Heard first a woman giving a website address. Then started the program "Insight Europe", announced by a woman (I think). Mentions of Austria, London, some conference and a prime minister. SINPO of 34333, with much atmospherical noises (Eduardo Peñailillo Barra, Santiago, Chile, March 7, 2009. Listened with a Brigmton BT-353, portable, with reel antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST)) BTW, I kept thinking Brigmton must be a typo for Brighton, neither hardly a Spanish name, but it is a company in Spain and that is the way they do spell it. I wonder how they pronounce it? Safe to say in an English-speaking country, no one would have come up with a name like that, cf. Japan with its strange Japenglish names: http://www.brigmton.es/id.corporativa.htm (Glenn Hauser, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. PLEASE JOIN RADIO MACHINE "ARCOPARLANTE" BY ALESSANDRO BOSETTI ON MARCH 21ST Dear Glenn Hauser, for World Poetry Day on March 21st, the Italian sound artist Alessandro Bosetti is launching his radio speech machine "arcoparlante" on the German Deutschlandradio's medium and long wave frequencies and on the internet. In preparing this international radio event, Alessandro is in close contact with David Goren from whom we got your contact. Please join us in this pleasant game and please forward Alessandro's call for participants. Thank you very much in advance! With kind regards, Marianne Allweiss In search of participants for ARCOPARLANTE, a live radio experiment ! On March 21st, together with the radio-art group of Deutschlandradio, I will organize a big STILLE POST ("telephone", telefono senza fili etc...) game. We will be using the middle/long waves and internet streams of the radio station. For four hours, between 8pm and midnight, european time (2pm and 6pm USA east coast time ), a speaker will broadcast several transcriptions from my personal collection of "incomprehensible radio broadcastings". These are recordings of broadcasted speech where neither the language spoken nor the meaning are decipherable. The only certain thing is that they will contain HUMAN SPEECH. The listeners (that's YOU!!) will be asked to transcribe what they hear and ( believe to ) understand. Then send it back to us, via email or telephone. In the best case scenario, this will happen in real time. We will be including all the new transcriptions we receive from you into the broadcasting. We will give them to the speaker right away and then feed the "arcoparlante" circle one more time. You are also welcome to send us your transcriptions LATER, by post, passenger pigeon, by hand, etc. We encourage all listeners (yes, YOU, again!) to record the moments while you listen and try to figure out what the texts are. Feel free to use any recording device (from very good to very bad quality). We'll take anything from cassettes, mini cassettes, cd's, minidisks, audiofiles etc. So, invite some friends for dinner (if you are in Europe or Africa), for a late lunch or coffee (if in the Americas) or for breakfast (if you are in Asia), turn on your radio and play with us!! Eventually, I will re-compose all the scattered recorded bits and pieces. All these materials will become the building blocks of a final composition. This is how you can tune in and receive the "arcoparlante" broadcasting on your radio or computer : Medium Wave : 855 and 990 KHz Long Wave : 153 and 177 KHz Satellite : ASTRA 1, Transponder 77, ZDF.vision Internet stream : http://www.dradio.de/streaming/dplus.m3u This is how you can reach us : Snail mail : Deutschlandradio Kultur Hörspiel / Klangkunst Hans-Rosenthal-Platz D-10825 Berlin e-mail : klangkunst @ dradio.de Phone : 00 800 800 22 11 (only during the broadcast ) Fax : +49 (0)30 8503 940 5585 We hope to hear from you and to play with you !! And don't forget to spread the word about ARCOPARLANTE ! Cheers from Berlin, Alessandro Bosetti (via Marianne Alweiss, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST; also via Kim Elliott) Shootings: INTERNATIONAL ** GREECE. Once again, VOG`s single frequency left on air was 15650, good with Greek music, March 9 at 1315, and no sign of 9420. Also March 10 at 1337 Greek music and talk, but gone at 1358 recheck, and at 1418 could not find VOG on any other likely frequency, 15630, 12105 or 9420. Maybe if still on the air they are already on 7 MHz by then? Wish we could get a definitive interim schedule from them, but may be too fluxy. March 11 I was standing by on 15650 to detect exactly when VOG turns it off: 1352:54* interrupting Greek music. Such a time is typical to allow time for retuning to another frequency by hourtop, but which? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wolfgang Büschel says it`s 9420 from 1400, not heard here (gh) Viz.: V. of Greece ERA-5. Nothing noted today March 11 at 1400 UT on 15650 kHz anymore. So seemingly only two transmitters are on air at present. 9420 noted with Greek songs at same time. 9935 carried different 'THE' ERT-3 program (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good morning Demetri: I tuned in to the Voice of Greece at 0000 UTC this morning, Wednesday, March 11, and these are the frequency announcements that were given in Greek by the Greek news announcer: To Europe, the Atlantic, Africa, North America, South America, Zone Panama: 2400-0300 on 9420 2400-0250 on 7475 to Europe and North America 2400-0250 on 7475 to the Atlantic 2300-0250 on 12105 to South America, Zone Panama, and Africa In a recent E-mail you stated: "Respective announcements are prepared and running on the air." I found excellent signals this morning at 0000 UT on 7475 and 9420; but 12105 does not propagate in this area at that time, so I do not know whether 12105 is back on the air or not. Regards, (John Babbis, to ERA, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [next day:] Dear Demetri: The Voice of Greece did not announce any frequencies in Greek at 0000 UTC on Thursday, March 12. In this area, 7475 is booming in at 55555, but 9420 is weak at 35333. Even though both seem to be at 100 kw. it must be a propagation problem that is causing the difference--even though I assume that 9420 is on the 323 azimuth antenna while 7475 is on the 285 azimuth antenna. Regards, (John Babbis to ERA, via DXLD) TUESDAY 3/10 WEDNESDAY 3/11 2000 2100 2200 2300 0000 0100 0200 kHz Az. Kw. Station 35333 55555 55555 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 7450 323 100 AVL 1 ERT 3 *00000*00000 00000 55555 55555 54555 54555 9420 323 100 AVL 1 ERA 5 35333 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 7475 285 100 AVL 2 ERA 5 *Only CVC, Zambia, 1Africa, on 9420 kHz. My reception report for Wednesday and Thursday UTC March 12, 2009: WEDNESDAY 3/11 THURSDAY 3/12 2000 2100 2200 2300 0000 0100 0200 kHz Az. Kw. Station 55455 55455 55555 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 7450 323 100 AVL 1 ERT 3 *00000*00000 00000 25332 25332 25332 25332 9420 323 100 AVL 1 ERA 5 55455 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 7475 285 100 AVL 2 ERA 5 *Only CVC, Zambia, 1Africa, on 9420 kHz. Regards, (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, to ERA via DXLD) 7475, ERT, 0125-0130, 11 Mar. Woman in Greek hosting phone-in correspondents' reports about economic issues. Very good signal (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Grecia. Una emisora musical llamada radio Miló fue captada en la capital de Bulgaria en la frecuencia de 4856 kilohercios, después de las 1500 horas, con señal fuerte y música tradicional griega (Por Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov, R. Bulgaria Espacio DX March 9 via Tomás Méndez, Spain, logsderadio yg via DXLD) Surely a third harmonic of 1619v (gh, DXLD) Radio Milo [no accent here] heard on only 4856. Other Greek MW pirates and 3 MHz harmonics observed recently: at 1630 12 Feb on 1636 and 2x = 3272; 1566.8 and x2 = 3133.6, both unidentified. Also Radio Okto heard on 1620 and x2 = 3240 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC Communication via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2135-2212* 02+06.03, KNR, via Tasiilaq (USB) Greenlandic / Danish news and interviews, KNR News jingles at 2145 and 2200, Greenlandic pop songs. 33333 to 32232, QRM digital utility station (Anker Petersen, Denmark, loggings done on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, before I leave for a short DXpedition to Gambia and Senegal, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 650, KNR Qeqertarsuaq; Greenlandic, country music, news, talk, // 3815 USB; W/F 2045 1/3 (from Results of our latest DX-camp Bjerregard - Denmark, Receivers: SDR, Perseus, ICOM R-75, NRD-535; Antennas: 300-500m Beverage to Asia, South America, North America East, North America West (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, HCDX via DXLD) ** GUAM [and non]. AWR SW Broadcast Schedule A09 (2009-03-29 to 2009-10-25) Version 02/2009-03-03/pub [if they would leave out the totally unnecessary meter bands, this would not be so crammed and the columns could line up without a lot of editing gh does not feel like spending his valuable time on] Site Start Stop Language Service Area kHz m kW Days SDA 0000 0200 Mandarin NE-China 12025 25 100 1234567 SDA 0000 0030 Burmese Myanmar 15510 19 100 1234567 SDA 0000 0200 Mandarin C/N-China 15300 19 100 1234567 SDA 0030 0100 Karen Myanmar,Thailand,China 15510 19 100 1234567 TAI 0100 0200 Vietnamese Vietnam 15445 19 100 7 SDA 0100 0200 Mandarin S-China 15615 19 100 1234567 MOS 0200 0230 Urdu Pakistan 6140 49 300 1234567 MOS 0230 0300 Panjabi Pakistan 6140 49 300 1234567 MDC 0230 0330 Malagasy Madagascar 3215 90 50 1234567 WER 0300 0330 Oromo S-Ethiopia 9845 31 250 1234567 SDA 0300 0330 Russian E-Russia 17645 16 100 1234567 WER 0300 0330 Tigrinya Eritrea 6065 49 250 1234567 MOS 0330 0430 Farsi Iran 6090 49 300 1234567 WER 0330 0400 Amharic Ethiopia 9815 31 250 1234567 WER 0400 0430 Arabic Iraq,Arab P'sula 9845 31 250 1234567 MOS 0430 0500 French Morocco,Algeria 6155 49 300 1234567 WER 0500 0600 Bulgarian Bulgaria 6145 49 100 1234567 WER 0700 0800 Arabic Morocco,Algeria 11980 25 100 1234567 WER 0800 0830 French Morocco,Algeria 12010 25 100 1234567 WER 0800 0830 Kabyle Morocco,Algeria 11980 25 100 1234567 WER 0830 0900 Tachelhit Morocco,Algeria 12010 25 100 1234567 NAU 0900 1000 Italian Italy 9790 31 100 1 SDA 1000 1100 Mandarin C/N-China 15495 19 100 1234567 SDA 1000 1100 Mandarin S-China 15510 19 100 1234567 SDA 1030 1100 Cebuano Philippines 11925 25 100 67 SDA 1030 1100 Ilocano Philippines 11925 25 100 1 SDA 1030 1100 Tagalog Philippines 11925 25 100 23 SDA 1030 1100 Mongolian N-China,Mongolia 11780 25 100 1234567 SDA 1030 1100 Ilonggo Philippines 11925 25 100 45 SDA 1100 1200 Mandarin NE-China 11775 25 100 1234567 SDA 1100 1200 Mandarin C/N-China 12105 25 100 1234567 SDA 1100 1130 Indonesian W-Indonesia 15540 19 100 1234567 SDA 1100 1200 Mandarin S-China 12080 25 100 1234567 SDA 1130 1200 Javanese Indonesia,Malaysia 15540 19 100 246 SDA 1130 1200 Sudanese Indonesia,Malaysia 15540 19 100 1357 WER 1200 1230 English NE-India,B'desh 15435 19 250 1234567 SDA 1200 1300 Korean Korea 9880 31 100 1234567 SDA 1200 1300 Mandarin S-China 9720 31 100 1234567 SDA 1200 1300 Mandarin C/N-China 12105 25 100 1234567 SDA 1200 1300 Mandarin NE-China 9800 31 100 1234567 WER 1230 1300 Bangla NE-India,B'desh 15435 19 250 1234567 MDC 1300 1400 Vietnamese Vietnam 17670 16 250 1234567 SDA 1300 1330 Bangla Bangladesh 15275 19 100 1234567 SDA 1300 1400 Mandarin C/N-China 12105 25 100 1234567 SDA 1300 1330 Japanese W-Japan 9805 31 100 1234567 NAU 1300 1330 Uighur W-China 15320 19 250 17 SDA 1300 1330 Japanese Japan 11975 25 100 1234567 NAU 1300 1330 Mandarin W-China 15320 19 250 23456 SDA 1330 1400 Assamese NE-India 15275 19 100 1 4 SDA 1330 1400 English Bangladesh 15275 19 100 23567 SDA 1330 1400 English Cambod,Viet,Thai,Laos 11880 25 100 57 SDA 1330 1400 Thai Cambod,Viet,Thai,Laos 11880 25 100 246 NAU 1330 1500 Mandarin W-China 15320 19 250 1234567 SDA 1330 1400 Russian E-Russia 11845 25 100 1234567 SDA 1330 1400 Khmer Cambod,Viet,Thai,Laos 11880 25 100 13 SDA 1400 1500 Mandarin C/N-China 12105 25 100 1234567 SDA 1400 1430 Chin Myanmar 9560 31 100 1234567 MOS 1400 1430 Urdu Pakistan 15440 19 300 1234567 SDA 1400 1500 Mandarin S-China 9700 31 100 1234567 SDA 1400 1430 Sinhalese Sri Lanka 12130 25 100 1234567 SDA 1430 1500 Karen Myanmar,Thailand,China 9560 31 100 1234567 SDA 1430 1500 Burmese Myanmar 11885 25 100 1234567 MOS 1430 1500 Afar Djibouti,NE-Ethiopia,Somalia 17610 16 300 1234567 WER 1500 1530 Nepali Nepal 15160 19 250 1234567 WER 1500 1530 Panjabi N-India 15335 19 250 1234567 SDA 1500 1530 Mizo NE-India 11895 25 100 1234567 SDA 1500 1530 Telugu S-India 9530 31 100 1234567 SDA 1500 1530 English S-India 11720 25 100 1234567 SDA 1500 1530 Tamil S-India 11870 25 100 1234567 MOS 1500 1530 Turkish Turkey 15595 19 300 1234567 WER 1530 1600 Hindi N-India 15160 19 250 1234567 WER 1530 1600 English Nepal,Tibet 15335 19 250 1234567 SDA 1530 1600 Kannada S-India 11720 25 100 1234567 SDA 1530 1600 Marathi C-India 11895 25 100 1234567 MDC 1530 1628 Malagasy Madagascar 3215 90 50 1234567 SDA 1530 1600 Hindi C-India 11905 25 100 1234567 SDA 1530 1600 Malayalam S-India 11870 25 100 1234567 SDA 1600 1630 English C-India 11805 25 100 1234567 SDA 1600 1630 English S-India 11720 25 100 1234567 SDA 1600 1630 Urdu N-India 6190 49 100 1234567 MOS 1600 1630 Urdu Pakistan 15260 19 300 1234567 MOS 1630 1730 Farsi Iran 9825 31 300 1234567 WER 1630 1700 Somali Somalia 17575 16 250 1234567 SDA 1630 1700 English N-India 6190 49 100 1234567 MEY 1700 1730 Kiswahili Tanzania,Kenya,Uganda 9600 31 250 1234567 WER 1700 1730 Arabic Iraq, Arab Peninsula 9445 31 250 1234567 WER 1730 1800 Oromo S-Ethiopia 17575 16 250 1234567 WER 1730 1800 Kabyle Morocco,Algeria 11915 25 100 1234567 MEY 1730 1800 Masai Tanzania,Kenya,Uganda 9600 31 250 1234567 MOS 1800 1830 Zande S-Sudan 9755 31 300 6 MOS 1800 1830 Moru S-Sudan 9755 31 300 1 MOS 1800 1830 Dinka S-Sudan 9755 31 300 5 MOS 1800 1830 Acholi S-Sudan 9755 31 300 7 MEY 1800 1830 English Botswana,S.Africa,Zimbabwe 3345 90 100 1234567 MOS 1800 1830 Juba Arabic S-Sudan 9755 31 300 3 MOS 1800 1830 Col English S-Sudan 9755 31 300 4 MEY 1800 1830 English E-Africa 9610 31 250 1234567 MEY 1800 1830 English SW-Africa 3215 90 100 1234567 MOS 1800 1830 Bari S-Sudan 9755 31 300 2 MOS 1830 1900 Arabic Libya 11660 25 300 1234567 NAU 1900 2000 Arabic Morocco,Algeria 15260 19 100 1234567 MOS 1900 1930 Hausa Nigeria 11955 25 300 1234567 WER 1900 1930 Arabic Morocco,Algeria 9765 31 100 1234567 NAU 1900 1930 Fulfulde Cameroon,Ghana,(Senegal) 15205 19 100 1234567 WER 1930 2000 Ibo E-Nigeria 15205 19 250 1234567 WER 1930 2000 Tachelhit Morocco,Algeria 9765 31 100 1234567 MOS 1930 2000 French C-Africa 15220 19 300 1234567 WER 2000 2030 French Morocco,Algeria 9765 31 100 1234567 MOS 2000 2030 Dyula Burk.Faso,Ivory Coast,Mali 11955 25 300 1234567 WER 2000 2030 French Cameroon,Niger 11755 25 100 1234567 WER 2030 2100 Yoruba Nigeria 11755 25 100 1234567 MOS 2030 2100 French W-Africa 11955 25 300 1234567 SDA 2100 2130 Japanese Japan 11980 25 100 1234567 MOS 2100 2130 English W-Africa 11955 25 300 1234567 SDA 2100 2200 Mandarin C/N-China 11750 25 100 1234567 SDA 2100 2200 Korean Korea 11790 25 100 1234567 SDA 2100 2130 Japanese W-Japan 11850 25 100 1234567 SDA 2130 2200 English W-Japan,S-China 11850 25 100 1234567 SDA 2200 2300 Mandarin NE-China 12120 25 100 1234567 SDA 2200 2230 Javanese W-Indonesia 11850 25 100 2 4 6 SDA 2200 2300 Mandarin C/N-China 15215 19 100 1234567 SDA 2200 2230 Indonesian W-Indonesia 15320 19 100 1234567 SDA 2200 2230 Sudanese W-Indonesia 11850 25 100 1 3 5 7 SDA 2230 2300 English W-Indonesia 15320 19 100 1234567 SDA 2300 2400 Mandarin C/N-China 15370 19 100 1234567 SDA 2300 2400 Vietnamese Vietnam 15320 19 100 1234567 SDA 2300 2400 Mandarin NE-China 12120 25 100 1234567 Sites: JUL = Jülich NAU = Nauen ISS = Issoudun MDC = Madagascar SDA = Agat MEY = Meyerton TAI = Taipei MOS = Moosbrunn WER = Wertachtal Days: 1 = Sunday 2 = Monday 3 = Tuesday 4 = Wednesday 5 = Thursday 6 = Friday 3 = Tuesday 7 = Saturday (AWR Frequency Management via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 11, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Cultural does more than broadcast. Its other activities can be illustrated by its relationship with Cuba. The church in Cuba is not underground as has been true in other communist countries. Pastors and teachers, though, lack training. TGNA has helped in this regard. It has made available to the leaders Bible Knowledge Commentaries. The New Pines Seminary in Cuba provides training. At present, thirty students are enrolled. Cubans also go to Guatemala to attend a seminary. Those who make a commitment to return to Cuba to be pastors and teachers after their training is completed receive a full scholarship in the four-year program --- $1600 each year to cover tuition, room and board and books. Radio Cultural uses 3300 and 5955, but it is not as active a broadcaster on SW as it used to be. It broadcasts regularly on 730 kHz MW (Marlin A Field, MI, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) I`ll say --- not reported at all on either SW frequency for sesquiyears. The latest entry in the LA-DX archive for 3300 is April 2006 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.78, Radio Buenas Nuevas, 1042-1051 7 Mar, Presumed with rustic Central American guitar music. Tough copy with XERTA in also (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. TDF will broadcast in DRM mode from French Guiana (Montsinery) for the SWL Fest. Distance = about 4700 km Dates = Friday 13-03-09 and Saturday 14-03-09 (UTC). Time of operation = 1300-2000 UTC Freq. = 17540-17545-17550 kHz mode B MSC=64 QAM cr = 0.5 data rate = 17 kbits/s AAC+SBR (TDF via Kim, KD9XB, March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VATICAN ** HAITI. With its 39th anniversary of radio broadcasts on 08-mar-2009 of Radio Métropole, their management has decided to start its TV service Télé Métropole TM 52, on channel 52, for the capital area of Port-au-Prince, with a transmitting power of 5 kW. The initial program offer will comprise films, documentaries, and TV series, from midday thru midnight. The studios will open very soon. General directorship for both sections, radio and TV are now in the hands of Richard Widmaier, as his father (and founder of Radio Métropole) Herby Widmaier has handed over to his son on this occasion of business extension to TV. (Dr. Anton J. Kuchelmeister, Germany) Viz. where circumflexes are out: 10 Mars 2009 --- Après la radio vient la télé Après 39 ans de service de radiodiffusion, les responsables de Radio Métropole ont mis le cap vers la télédiffusion. L'annonce a été faite par Richard Widmaïer, P.D.G. de la nouvelle chaine de télévision locale encore en phase d'essais. L'anniversaire, le 8 mars 2009, de radio Métropole a permis non seulement à Richard Widmaïer de devenir président du groupe Métropole, mais aussi d'inaugurer la Télé Métropole, chaine 52. M. Widmaïer, lors de son discours de circonstance, a annoncé que « Le projet Télé Métropole est à sa première étape qui consiste à diffuser des films, des documentaires et des feuilletons télévisés ». Il a ajouté que la diffusion des films et des documentaires se fera de midi à minuit sur Télé Métropole dont l'inauguration des studios se fera très prochainement. Quant au président-directeur général et fondateur de radio Métropole, Herby Widmaïer, il se dit fier et heureux de céder sa place à son fils, Richard Widmaïer, qui occupait jusqu'alors le poste de directeur général de la radio. « Bien que pas encore trop vieux, je pense que le moment est venu de faire place aux jeunes », a-t-il dit, promettant son soutien et sa collaboration la plus entière à la nouvelle équipe. Toutefois, les responsables de la chaîne TM 52 (Télé Métropole), promettent que les émissions de la télé refléteront le standard de qualité qui a toujours caractérisé la prestigieuse station qui fête cette année ses 39 ans d'existence. Pour le moment, seulement la couverture de la région métropolitaine de Port-au-Prince est assurée par la nouvelle chaine avec une puissance de 5 kilowatts. Elizias Joseph (via Anton J. Kuchelmeister, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3250, Radio Luz Y Vida, 0255-0332, 03/02. E-Z listening/ gospel instrumentals and Pacific garden Mission (Unshackled). Fair, with much static [same credit as below?] 3250, R Luz y Vida, 1135, 03/06/08 [sic], English/Spanish. An English- language sermon being delivered with breaks for it to be translated in Spanish, on later recheck around 1200 heard an apparent string of announcements, one with ringing phone effects, and a couple of "Radio Luz y Vida" IDs mixed in. Fair/good (Mark Schiefelbein, near Bois D'Arc, MO, Eton E1 / ~1000' E-W beverage antenna, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** INDIA. Made a point to monitor the National Channel of AIR, 9425, 168 hours later, Monday March 9 at 1435 to see whether last week`s extended English broadcast was flukish or would recur. Yes, after the news in English, YL announced not one, but two frequencies on 31m, 9425, and could not copy the second one. Per http://dxasia.info/india-frequency the other possibilities on the air at the time, tho supposedly with other programming, are 9575 and 9835, where I do not normally hear AIR. So apparently these two SW frequencies cut away from the main domestic program on countless AM, FM and regional SW frequencies. Nor could I copy name or reason for the program to follow, but played instrumental version of ``Yesterday``, 1437 more talk I could barely recognise as English, 1439 an overhaul of an old Hollies song into disco beat, ``Live for Today``; by next talk segment 1440, modulation and signal just too weak to follow further. A previous inquiry on the dx_india group about why 9425 has extra English has been answered by no one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. I confirmed that RRI-FakFak on 4790 kHz carried KGR program in English at 1000 of Monday on Mar. 9. i.e. KGR schedule http://www.kangguru.org/broadcastschedule.html Fak Fak at 1030 UT. http://n-1.at.webry.info/200903/article_7.html de A. Ishida (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite a long list of affiliates, predominantly FM, compiled by someone who has no idea what shortwave is, with nonsensical entries like the very last one, RRI Tual, SW ``329.15 kHz``. Others with SW ``frequencies`` apparently in meters; confusing AM with SW, etc., etc. I was going to extract the SW listings, but now it seems pointless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn and Sei-ichi, The former “Kang Guru Radio English” (KGRE) is now “Kang Guru Indonesia”. The name changed in late August, 2008. I have heard the “Kang Guru Indonesia” and “KGI” IDs on their program via RRI Jakarta, on 9680, from 0800 to 0820, on Wed. & Fri. Their program is usually fun to listen to, as they have so many different topics, in a lively format (Ron Howard, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI audible on 9525, March 10 at 1320 with a variety of voices from correspondents reporting in English; only poor-fair, with hum, and ACI from 9530 Chicom jamming plus IBB Philippines; after 1330 also squeezed on other side from 9520 RVA Philippines. Less QRM during the 1400 hour in Malay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.97, Voice of Indonesia, 1502-1614, March 11. Glenn, you missed an interesting day here. First they did not sign-off as usual shortly after 1502, but continued all the way through their English segment. Next they did not sign-off and switch over to broadcast on 11785.88 at 1600, but continued on with this frequency only. First time I recall hearing this sequence of events. In English with news; after BoH “Indonesian Wonders, about Indonesian arts and culture”; “How to Speak Bahasa Indonesia”; pop/rap songs on “Music Corner”; 1602 ID in English; into news in Bahasa Indonesia. 9680, Kang Guru Indonesia program via RRI Jakarta, with random checking between 0800 to 0822, March 11. ToH only heard carrier at below threshold level. Heard in English at 0820 taking about next week’s program; clear mention of Kang Guru; Kevin (who’s voice I have heard many times before) giving the usual end of program announcements; very poor and only able to catch a few words. Perhaps would be better with improved propagation conditions. Sometimes they start a little after 0800, which would be a help, as their signal was very slowly improving. No QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, only signal making it on 90m, March 12 at 1258, even CHU having outfaded by now. Chanting with string instrument, 1300 announcement in Indonesian, not Pidgin, so rules out co-channel PNG on this occasion; I think they mentioned Radio Republik Indonesia. 1302 to YL singing with rustic instrument, rather like Hmong Lao Radio. Still at 1320 with romantic music, by when another 90m was audible on 3385, no doubt PNG, q.v., as the Indo there has not been reported in a longtime. Of the 75m Indonesians, only hearing 3976 RRI Pontianak, March 12 at 1308 YL speaking Indonesian, ham QRM not only SSB but some CW too, not supposed to be on this bandpart --- possibly that was a sound effect from RRI itself? Strangely enough, 4790 RRI Fak2 NOT audible this morning, at 1311 March 12 check when compatriots were in on 75 and 90m. Off the air, or strange propagation/MUF? Then checked VOI on 9525, March 12 at 1339, in English hour, YL talking over xylophone music concluding Indonesian Wonders show; couldn`t catch title of next one, but I thought I heard her mention the ``Indonesian sub-continent``, a term usually reserved for India. Usual hum, and some flutter on the signal, plus adjacent squeezes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. SCHOOL SHOOTING IN GERMANY: WORLD MEDIA COVERAGE A tragic event in Germany --- Of the international TV channels that I receive, CNN International seemed to be the first in getting the live picture from the scene. But it took them longer to update the figures of victims. As usual with CNN, a stream of unrelated details and stupid questions to local journalists like, "How do people feel about this terrible tragedy?" BBC News got a feed five or ten minutes later than CNN. But they were somewhat better at updating and reporting the relevant details. France 24 had a rather extensive coverage - with live picture and intelligible commentary. Euronews - very basic, no interruption to regular programming. DW-TV and DW-radio provided no live coverage. Or maybe I missed it? When CNN, BBC and France 24 carried a live picture, DW-TV run a documentary on Afghanistan in German and DW-radio in English had a report on UN. DW Radio's Newslink at 13.05 UT had no mention of the tragedy. DW-TV interviewed someone on the phone line (Sergei S., Moscow, March 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tragedy happened at 0930 LT, some 40 kilometers north of my location http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/2009/03/11/amoklauf-winnenden/winnenden.html and click to the big picture on the upper left, 24 pictures visible. resumen at 1330 UT: 16 people are dead. Dead of 9 students, 3 lady teachers, 3 pedestrians and a wounded person also died now. Two police personal, and few pupils are still wounded now. The actor Tim Kretschmer in black battle dress is ex, shot down by policemen at a shopping center parking area at Wendlingen some 25 kilometers away at 12.35 hrs LT. The actor solved the junior high school a year ago, by successfully certificate. His father - a competitive shooter - had 18 guns and pistols at disposal, at home. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, March 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dreadful! The story is of course also covered here, and by incident a Danish school class from Aarhus, Denmark's 2nd largest city, (pupils around 14-15 years of age) is currently visiting a naboring school in Winneden - but at the time of the shooting this morning they visited the Benz Museum in Stuttgat. 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, 1532 ut March 11, ibid.) Over here! Over here! We have our own shooting spree massacre yesterday in Alabama, and CNN, MSNBC seem to be covering that more. CNN domestic went from Germany to Alabama around 1613 UT (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Sadly, the US shootings aren't even considered a major news story any more. Euronews says that a German shooter was possibly inspired by Alabama tragedy. Unfortunately, DW was rather slow to react. I should add that I wasn't following this news story just out of curiosity. My sister, her husband and their baby live to the south from Stuttgart. And as it happens my brother-in-law is celebrating his 30th birthday today. Today in Kiev seven people were injured. A hand grenade was thrown through a window into a building near Kiev's main railway station, from a passing by car. There was a business meeting in that room. One guy in the meeting had a very quick reaction. - He managed to threw a grenade out from the window. So it exploded outside. But one woman was still injured badly with a flying glass. It's crazy day today (Sergei S., Moscow, March 11, ibid.) I don't think so, since it got little coverage here in Germany before the Winnenden news broke. The primary model was in all likelihood the Erfurt school massacre from 2002, with about the same number of victims. In regard to media behaviour I find it interesting how everybody now creates a hero by referring to the shooter as "Tim K."; somebody already commented on the web that we now can expect some new indie band calling itself "Tim K." very soon. Complete madness, the full name (Kretschmer) is out anyway. And today everybody first reported that the massacre had been announced in advance on the web and how the prosecutor's office rejects the statement from the operators of the website in question that these alleged entries were just fakes, cf. http://krautchan.net At least now main news organizations start to seriously consider this aspect. So DW English radio had nothing about this on its current affairs magazine at 1305? Makes me wonder how old this programme was, when it had been recorded. Btw, CNN got its live feeds presumably from RTL. The German RTL TV itself sent as reporter some completely incompetent chick to the scene. About as incompetent as the chick who years ago referred to POD's "Youth of the nation" as "a youth hymn". If you don't know this song: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/p/podlyrics/youthofthenationlyrics.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 12, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. FALLING OUT OF ORBIT Report: Sirius posts $245.8M loss, slowdown in subscriber growth NAB SmartBrief | 03/11/2009 Sirius XM Radio reported a net loss of $245.8 million for Q4, and a slowdown in subscriber growth: The satcaster increased its rolls by 83,000 for the quarter. In the same period a year earlier, and before the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, the overall tally of net new subscribers for both companies was 1.1 million. Wall Street Journal (03/10) (via Ted Randall, TN, DXLD) There have been over 130 million IPods sold so far and growing. There is a reason! They CUT the “live element” to save money? I wonder if they saved $245 million dollars in Q4 in salary cuts? Once again, a shining example of corporate idiots doing their thing. Anyone with brains (or even half a brain) would stop paying Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern. Keep the live entertainers that the listener wants. The only thing they have going for them is the Grand Ole Opry and Coast to Coast, if given a chance I am sure they will mess that up. I am disconnecting my XM service today. It is boring. Just like terrestrial radio. Far more available by means of Ipod and you can listen when you wish. These people can’t be creative and generate operating capitol with new ideas, they just know how to cut a budget to create the appearance of a better cash flow. Just like the corporate terrestrial radio structure. Even when they do this, they inevitably cut the very thing they need the most. They have screwed the pooch and I doubt we will see any recovery. The idiots allowed the influence of corporate terrestrial radio thinking and methods to ruin what was a great thing (Ted Randall, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. The sound on [cable channel] 12 when carrying ARTS is awful. It`s continuous hiss in the background, bad on a little speaker and only worse on a TV with a decent sound system. It`s hard for me to believe that ARTS sends out its sound in such low-fidelity, so I suspect it is getting routed thru some analog-only equipment at Pegasys before it gets to the viewer. Some of their very old clips are of course lo-fi, but everything comes over this way. It doesn`t meet the audio quality of any other network channel. I should think it would be annoying via your own monitors as well. If the audio is being degraded somewhere between the ARTS uplink and the viewer, would you please see if you can fix it? Thanks, Glenn Hauser (to Dane Tate, Pegasys, Enid`s cable-access channel, via DXLD) Glenn, The Arts channel is an analog satellite feed, and the audio comes in the way it is (Dane Tate, ibid.) Hi Mike, I have an issue with my local public access channel which carries ARTS (Classic Arts Showcase) many hours. It constantly has an annoying hiss level on the audio (not just on some of the ancient clips). This is obvious during their lengthy pauses but also unavoidable during all music. Pegasys tells me that`s the way it comes down since it`s an analog satellite feed. If you can get it, do you find that to be the case, or is the audio of normal hi-fi quality (if not stereo?) as on any other cable channel? Is it C-band only? Tnx, (Glenn to Mike Cooper, via DXLD) Glenn: ARTS is still on C-band and I find the audio to be quite low, so the problem appears to be with the source, not your cable system. ARTS is analog on satellite Galaxy 15, transponder 5. There is audio on both 6.20 and 6.80 MHz. Both audio channels have much lower audio gain than is normal for such analog C-band transmissions. And 6.80 MHz has the added bonus of sounding "thinner" (more tinny) than the 6.20 audio subcarrier. Even in presumably loud passages, the audio is mixed with hiss and the slight hum added by my consumer-grade receiver. There is a message on the network's home page which says: CHANGE TO ANALOG SIGNAL - For Broadcasters who use our analog signal: The analog signal will continue, but because it's been narrowed a bit we recommend that you change your Bandwith Filter from 36 to 27 for best reception. However, the audio is so low that switching between the conventional "narrow" and "wide" setting on the receiver makes little difference. I don't know if they've made the audio too narrow or what, but I've never known an analog C-band channel to have such low-sounding audio. Maybe they're trying to convince folks to switch to their digital feed, also on G15. I tried to pick it up, using the parameters on their Web page, but did not succeed. Hope this helps (Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. British show on Toon Network: see U K ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. The principal ship Radio Rock is played by the Timor Challenger, which had its hull painted red and had the dummy aerials fitted at Hythe to look the part of a pirate radio station. Light Vessel 18, which already had its own transmitter mast (from Pirate BBC Essex transmissions), played the part of the rival station, Radio Sunshine (Tony Boreham, about the film The Boat That Rocked, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Yacht Network, 8104 [USB?], Caribbean Weather Net, 1230-1248 7 March. Net Control vessel "Rainy Day". Net control gives in-depth weather forecast and then opens up for questions from sponsoring vessels. Other vessels heard located in Exuma Harbor, Bahamas; Aruba; Bay Islands, Honduras; Boquerón, Puerto Rico; and Marathon Key FL. At one point in the background there was a Spanish language two way between "México Cinco" (maybe a Mexican Coast Guard vessel) and Isla Mujeres (island near Cancún) Yacht Network, 8122 [USB?], Amigo Net, 1408-1414 7 March. Lots of traffic, but wasn't able to catch any IDs/locations. Net starts at 1400, but missed the beginning (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s the one I hear off Baja California (gh) ** IRELAND. The correct email address to reply to for the Radio North 846 kHz DX test [March 15; see 9-021] is: radionorth846am@gmail.com (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, IRCA via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. IRISH IN AFRICA TO CELEBRATE ST PATRICK'S DAY NEXT TO THEIR SHORTWAVE RADIOS LISTENING TO RTÉ St Patrick's Day will see the launch of a daily shortwave radio broadcast from RTÉ to the Irish in Africa. This link with home is in response to many requests from Irish people scattered throughout the continent, and working in fields such as aid, peace-keeping, construction projects, and missionary work. According to the Irish government there are many thousands of Irish working in Africa. Although RTÉ has long been available on satellite and via the internet, those in remote regions of Africa have asked for old fashioned short-wave transmissions which will reach portable radio sets in areas which do not even have electricity supplies let alone easy access to satellites and the web. The main coverage area will be West, Central and East Africa. From March 17, every evening they will be able to hear a one hour selection of RTÉ radio programmes from the day at 1930-2030 UT/GMT on 6220 kilohertz. That will be 7.30 pm at Ryan's Bar in Accra, Ghana and 1030 pm at O'Willies Pub in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The transmission will be provided by WRN the London-headquartered international radio and TV transmission company that has been transmitting RTÉ around the world since 1994. WRN's Director of Development Jeff Cohen said "it is a privilege to continue our long association with RTÉ and broadcast this important link with home to Irish people who are doing such valuable work in Africa". Said JP Coakley, RTÉ's Head of Operations, "RTÉ ceased its worldwide shortwave service in 2004 due to the growth of technologies such as the internet for serving the diaspora. Africa obviously presents particular challenges and in 2004 we also introduced a specific service based on delivery to small satellite radios called Worldspace. However, this service has effectively ceased for the moment so we are reintroducing a shortwave service to Africa - we want Irish people there to know that RTÉ values the connection with them as much as they do." This and other RTÉ programmes will continue to be available on WRN satellite services around the world and to Africa five times daily. Details at http://www.wrn.org For further information about WRN please contact: Sophie Wilson, Business Development Manager, WRN Tel: +44 20 7896 4022 Fax: + 44 20 7896 9007 Email: sophie.wilson @ wrn.org For further information about RTÉ Radio SW broadcasts please contact: Sarah Martin, RTÉ Radio Press Office Tel: +353 1 208 2312 Email: sarah.martin @ rte.ie The weekly RTÉ Radio programme schedule on SW 6220 kHz is as follows: Monday: Drivetime Tuesday: Today with Pat Kenny Wednesday: Derek Mooney Thursday: Morning Ireland Friday: Drivetime Saturday: Playback Sunday: Marian Finucane Further information and detail on these programmes is available from http://www.rte.ie/radio About WRN WRN is a leading international television and radio transmission company offering a comprehensive portfolio of broadcast services including satellite uplink and capacity services, TV ingest and playout, Web / IPTV services, station start-up consultancy and channel management, EPG brokerage, studio facilities, DRM Digital Radio and FM / AM / SW airtime brokerage. Headquartered in London, WRN's clients include international and national public broadcasters, commercial and community stations, satellite bouquet operators and cable companies. For more information visit http://www.wrn.org About RTÉ RTÉ is Ireland's public service broadcasting organization. RTÉ operates two complementary television channels, RTÉ One and RTÉ Two and four radio stations, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. RTÉ has an extensive web site www.rte.ie that offers live and on-demand programming. RTÉ has been producing and curating broadcast materials for eight decades Jeff Cohen Director of Development WRN > TRANSMITTING SUCCESS Main Tel: +44 20 7896 9000 Direct: + 44 20 7896 4004 Fax: +44 20 7896 9007 WRN provides the broadcast industry with: digital and analogue satellite transmissions short wave and medium wave broadcasting DRM transmissions Internet broadcasting content hosting broadcast consultancy studio facilities Visit us at http://www.wrn.org (WRN press release via Jeff Cohen, March 12, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Re: Israel Radio cutting AM broadcasts, possibly harming English News --- Considering its small size, the State of Israel has maintained an overblown AM operation. Does Reshet Bet 24x7 news service really need five AM frequencies in addition to numerous FM- transmitters? I'm sure some Hebrew MW channels can be safely cut off. Both Reshet Dalet (Arabic service) and REQA (immigrants network - mostly Russian programming) should remain on AM, though. Their FM networks aren't very strong and their audiences are dispersed throughout the nation and beyond. Personally, I don't get it why Reshet Dalet doesn't have more powerful AM transmitters and SW (Sergei S., Moscow, March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes. One high-power MW transmitter for each network, and/or even one each high-power FM transmitter from a tall tower should be sufficient to cover the entire country and beyond (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Considering the mountainous terrain, I'm not sure if one FM transmitter will ever be enough to cover the whole country with a reliable signal (Sergei S., ibid.) Considering Israel's defence situation it seems prudent to plan a dispersed transmitter layout, both for MW & FM. Considering the reliability of modern transmitting equipment, reducing the number of sites surely would produce only marginal savings to the network. I should correct the spelling of "defense". JDL (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. Galei Zahal, Tel Aviv, 6971 [sic; Bill mentioned that his readout is 2 kHz low and this may not have been corrected in this item; however, G.Z. really does vary --- gh], 0311-0315, 3/5/09. Foreign language discussion on a very weak signal with moderate fading and a lot of static. There was an annoying het, probably jamming making the signal only sometimes intelligible. 6973, 0317-on, 3/2/09. Slow western-style music and foreign language commentary on a very weak signal with a little fading, moderate static and high interference. Audio is muddy but OK for the music (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. Re 9-022: ``Only DRM scheduled on 9610 is DW via Portugal at 0800-1000 daily, 45 degrees, 90 kW (gh, DXLD)`` And sometimes later, colliding on Sunday with Studio DX at 1003 UT via AWR Europe (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Studio DX, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See comment elsewhere about DRM ops ** KOREA NORTH. 3219.86, KCBS Pyongyang, 1239-1243, March 9. Thanks to a tip from Dave Valko, heard this 5 KW (per Aoki) station in Korean, playing EZL music and Korean songs; almost fair; // 9665.05 (fair, but with a transmitter hum). A good catch for Dave on the East Coast! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. After getting Indonesia on 3325 I had to see what else was incoming on even lower frequencies. Nothing on 120m from Australia or North Korea, but KCBS P`yongyang was audible on 2850 with Korean talk at 1306. Same-sounding roar of noise jamming on 3912 and 3985 against the two clandestines out of the South, March 12 at 1307 check. Much weaker than JOZ on 3925 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze Sea Breeze, 1426, March 9. Continued N. Korean jamming (pulsating noise) and moderate Myanmar QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Free North Korea Radio is no longer to be found at Room 502, Sinjeong Building, Sinjeong 7 dong 210-16,Yangcheong-gu, Seoul, Rep. of Krea (Chris Stacey, E Sussex, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) How do you know? Did you go there and find the room vacant, otherwise occupied, or get p-mail bounced? (gh, DXLD) 2009 WRTH gives this postal address: P O Box 92, Yangcheong, Yangcheong-gu, Seoul (Dave Kenny, ed., op. cit.) ** KUWAIT. Radio Kuwait, Kabd, 9855, 1949-2023, 3/7/09. Arabic language discussion with good Mideast music on a weak signal with a deep fade and some static. Still enjoyable music. Exceptionally low noise floor helped. Improved to moderate strength by 2015. Radio Kuwait, Kabd, 11990, 1852-1854, 3/8/09. Pop and rock music on a weak but very good signal. English language. Noise floor way down so little static (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11990, Radio Kuwait; 1932, 6-Mar; English Selective short stories; insights into Kuwait's sensibilities. SIO=333, splash from 11995 French (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT [and non]. 17885, R. Kuwait with Qur`an at 1405 March 20, fair signal but declining. This transmission is eastward for the FE and Pacific, so one wonders how well that high frequency holds up late into the night. It could have more of an audience off the back to the west. Beside it was more Qur`an, but alternating with plain talk in Arabic, stronger on 17895, which is BSKSA to North Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 4412.72v, Lao National Radio - Sam Neua (site per EiBi), 1206-1232*, March 9. Talk in vernacular; today clearly // 6130 till sign-off announcement at 1231, followed by choral Anthem (Pheng Xat Lao); both frequencies about equal strength; noted on higher frequency than yesterday; 6130 continued on. 6130, LNR, 1414-1425, March 9. Back to their normal scheduling. “Hi, I am Max”, “Hello my name is Kathy. Welcome to New Dynamic English”; lesson about where people are from: “Max is from San Francisco” and “Kathy is from New York”; equal amounts of English and Laotian. 6130, LNR. 1415-1430, March 11. "Hello. I am Elizabeth Moore. Welcome to Functioning in Business"; lesson: “Introductions, part 3”; interview with Mr. Charles Blake of International Robotics; repeat of a program I heard in 2008; equally in English and Laotian. Not their scheduled Wed. program of French. Almost fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.94, Radio Madigasikara (presumed); 0254-0308+, 8- Mar; peppy native music to 0302+ then into (sounds like) religious program. No sign of an ID. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. MADAGASCAR OPPOSITION HEAD IN HIDING, RADIO/TV STATIONS OFF AIR Madagascar’s opposition leader was in hiding and his television and radio stations off the air yesterday as authorities intensified their crackdown on his anti-government movement after weeks of unrest. “Security forces attacked Viva [TV] last night. It is no longer broadcasting,” said Viva journalist Soava Andrianarotafik. Opposition sources said the military destroyed equipment and took what they could. It was the initial banning of Viva TV last December, after the station aired an interview with exiled former president Didier Ratsiraka, which triggered the political crisis. (Source: Reuters) (March 9th, 2009 1008 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. NEW 5030.00, 1540-1600* 04.03, RTM, Kuching, Sarawak. Bidayuh (listed) announcement, pop songs, 1559 orchestra music. Audible with this later schedule here in Denmark! 33343 QRM Voice of China 5030 // 4460 also QSA 3 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, loggings done on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, before I leave for a short DXpedition to Gambia and Senegal, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) New sked, not frequency (gh) ** MALAYSIA. 6099.71v, Suara Malaysia/Voice of Malaysia, 1351-1459*, March 11. DJ playing pop songs; 1358 “Suara Malaysia” ID followed by distinctive choral Anthem (Negaraku - Lagu Kebangsaan Malaysia); more pop songs; 1457 ID, choral Anthem and off; assume in scheduled Thai (till 1400) and then Burmese; poor with adjacent QRM from both 6095 and 6105 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1342-1400, March 12. Mixing with CNR-2/CBR (with “English Evening”), both about the same strength; DJ in vernacular playing pop songs. Was doing well till covered at 1400 with the sign-on of CNR-1 (echo jamming), which started jamming Taiwan; // 5030 with CNR-1 QRM. Well above average reception for Sarawak. 7270.45v, Wai FM via RTM, 1406-1431, March 12. Off frequency yet again. Fair reception even with QRM from 7270.0. DJ in vernacular playing pop songs; usual numerous IDs for Wai FM, plus their short singing “Wai FM” ID. BoH went from rock & roll song into their regularly heard indigenous chanting (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7294.97, Traxx FM via RTM, 1616-1628, March 11. Shaz with his late night show of pop songs; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental, 1042-1051 7 Mar. Romantic pops. ID at 1050. Oddly, they use the theme song for the Brazilian national football (soccer) team as background for the ID. Tough copy with Radio Buenas Nuevas in also (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. Professionalism! Glenn: Couldn't pass this up --- tuning around on a remote receiver in California's High Desert, noted two usual, expected prominent adjacent signals, KFSG/1690 and XEPE/1700, both with blazing Dead Air, Mon 3/9 at 0515 UT. Heard Radio Disney crap from Aurora/Denver on 1690 under KFSG's beefy carrier, and Linda Ronstadt's "It's So Easy", followed by the inexplicable 1972 hit "Dancin' In The Moonlight" low and clear, then BeeGeez then a definite ID from KVNS/1700, under the vacant XEPE. I presume XEPE is scheduled to carry La Hora Nacional at this time, as is required of all XE's on Sunday evenings, and something clogged the D.F-pot on the station board, thus leading to an overhead-reducing hour of Silence. Or perhaps, KVNS purchased an hour of silent-time for and from XEPE, in order to better serve their Southern California audience. Stranger things happen every day in the Radio Biz. :^)> (GREG HARDISON, still in El Lay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or there was DST confusion, with XEPE going by PDT, and DF still going by CST, so the show did not come over the line at the expected time (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MEXICO. TIJUANA TELEVISION STATIONS - A COMPREHENSIVE (DRAFT) LIST Following is a draft list of television stations located in or near Tijuana, Baja California North, Mexico. The list was compiled from a variety of sources with special thanks to David Tanny. Please let us know if there are any corrections: Tijuana Area Analog Stations (channel, call): 03 - XHTJB 06 - XETV 12 - XEWT 21 - XHTIT 27 - XHJK 33 - XHAS 45 - XHBJ 49 - XHDTV 57 - XHUAA Tijuana Area Digital Stations (channel, call, notes): 22 - XHUAA 23 - XETV 28 - XHJK 29 - XHTIT 32 - XEWT 34 - XHAS (weak) 38 - XHTJB (inoperative) 44 - XHBJ (inoperative) 47 - XHDTV (inoperative) (CGC Communicator March 9 via Kevin Redding, TN, ABDX via DXLD) It would be much more useful to know which networks are on all these channels (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces BS via Taunggyi, 1449-1528*, March 12. In vernacular with pop songs, indigenous songs and music; usual indigenous instrumental music at sign-off; fair; better than normal reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985, Myanmar Radio (presumed), 1323, 03/06/08. Pop-type music to an announcement and a bit of music at 1330 that sounded approximately similar to the IS recording online, followed by what seemed like a newscast by a female presenter. I see that Ron Howard has been recently noting Myanmar around 5985.77 but this seemed much closer to 5985.0. Weak, often near the noise floor. Poor (Mark Schiefelbein, near Bois D'Arc, MO, Eton E1 / ~1000' E-W beverage antenna, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) They keep jumping back and forth, believed to correlate with jumping transmitters back and forth between the two capitals (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RN has now posted its Dutch transmissions for A09 at http://www.wereldomroep.nl/gids/ (Harry van Vugt, Canada, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am glad to see that ``downloaden`` is a true Dutch verb. Andy Sennitt says the English version will be up shortly (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Hello Everyone, Well it's all done. At this very moment the first new Happy Station is being converted to a file for transmission. I didn't have cold feet, but rather cold hands. LOL As messages keep coming in even now that the show is in the can. You can understand that I am not able to use every single message for the first show. Don't worry the second show is already in the works and each new show after the first one will have a Listeners Corner. So keep them coming. The email to send your messages (upto 2mins) is pcj.happystation@... [truncated by yg]. More more contact information you can log onto http://www.wrmi.net and click on Happy Station. Also come check out the facebook page under The New Happy Station (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 8, happystation yg via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Just saw your listing on your site for Happy Station with (not weekly?). At the start it will be bi-weekly, then when the Spanish edition starts, both English and Spanish will rotate weekly. I will know more in the next two weeks for transmissions to East Africa via transmitters in South Africa which belong to Sentech a commercial company of the SABC. Regs (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just wanted to inform you of a second relay. This morning in my email was a message from the director of programming at Radio Sonora Surabaya in Jakarta, Indonesia who wrote me asking if I would be interested in having Happy Station broadcast to all of Indonesia. Well of course I said yes. He told me he read about the revival of the show on Glenn Hauser's World Of Radio site and they he remembered listening to Tom in the 80s. The starting where he is program manager has 1 hour on Sunday which we could use which is part of a broadcast block of other international broadcasters. Station Name: Radio Sonora Surabaya Frequencies: 98.0FM Surabaya, 92.0FM Jakarta Day: Sundays Date: As of March 22nd, 2009 Time: 9:05 PM (local time) [1405 UT] He sent me a copy of the schedule and it will make you laugh to see when it will air: 7:05 - BBC World Service (English) - VIA World Radio Network 8:05 - BBC World Service (Indonesian) - VIA World Radio Network 9:05 - HAPPY STATION (English) 10:05 - Radio Netherlands (English) - VIA World Radio Network 11:05 - Deutsche Welle (English) - VIA World Radio Network The show I am feeding them will be the same, except for a few small changes I will make. I.e no interval signal and Stereo version will be used. Here is there website: http://www.sonorasurabaya.co.id/ They do have audio link on there site, but it's not that good (Keith Perron, March 10, happystation yg via DXLD) SW for Europe/Africa/Asia/Pacific is planned for later this year. If you were able to hear Radio Singapore International in Europe, then Keith would like to know what reception was like for the Singapore transmitters, in order to enable him to plan the broadcasts to Europe and Asia (March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) By axually reactivating the Singapore transmitters?? Are they in standby, ready for hire? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) HAPPY STATION JAMMED --- Surprise, surprise, the DentroCuban Jamming Command has not relented for this momentous occasion. WRMI just barely audible on 9955 at 0101:40 UT March 12, when a very late timesignal could be heard, apparently as part of the program, but the jamming pulses were too much. Hey Keith, why didn`t you get your old pals at RHC to turn it off? The webcast server was also full, silly me, not having tried to connect a good many minutes early. I can`t recall ever having had this problem with WRMI before. What is its capacity? Shux, will have to try tomorrow morning at 1500 UT, or podcast, etc., etc. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Yes, the time signal was part of the program -- not a real live time signal. I honestly don't know what the capacity of the Internet audio server is, but as you said we've never had this problem before. I guess that says something about how many people must be tuning in (or trying to tune in) to this first new Happy Station show. I was connected to the stream well before the show, and during the show it's cutting out frequently for several seconds, no doubt due to the saturation. Hopefully you'll have decent reception at 1500 (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes I'm listening to WRMI and yes there is a jamming from Havana, it barely bothers me due to my proximity with Radio Miami. I don't understand why they are scared and jamming us. Regards (Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yeah, Dino, Keith and I aren`t even Cubans (gh) Listened to the whole Happy Station program on WRMI this evening, 0100-0156, on 9955. It actually started a bit late. Signal was quite good at first, but gradually suffered decreasing strength and ever longer and deeper fades, but was still listenable to the end. There was jamming (from Cuba) from before 0100 when Jeff White had a travel segment, but it seemed to end around 0130. WRMI was over the jamming most of the time, though not always. I thought that Keith Perron did a very good job of capturing the spirit of the Happy Station, as I remember it. The presentation style was quite similar to the original. It was very nostalgic to hear the greetings (pre-recorded) from various SW program hosts of days past, like The Two Bobs, Allen Graham, and of course Tom Meyer. Only thing lacking was that rock solid Bonaire signal, but you can't have everything. We should be happy this is on SW at all. I give a lot of credit to WRMI for providing this outlet for so many broadcasters. I'm looking forward to the next show in two weeks' time (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, UT March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Keith even sounds rather like Tom Meijer in voice and accent; perhaps no coincidence, as a mentor (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes I hear from a few people in the US about that but I think it may depend on where you live because so far 3 listeners in the US send MP3's of what they recorded off air and it was ok, but 2 others send I heard the jamming. This is why I wanted to have it at 2 times at the beginning to see which one is better. Jeff White told me that it is the first time ever that he got people writing saying the webcast server was over loaded. I asked him to check out what the capacity is. Regs, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, 0311 UT March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tried also and no luck; someone doesn't want us to resume our Happy Station fix. Too bad. I was hoping to get that new QSL card. I have plenty of original Happy Station QSL cards to add to (Donn KE7LOQ, thehappystation yg via DXLD) Jeff at WRMI wrote me to say that for the first time ever in the history of WRMI the web server crashed. As for the Cuban jamming, the second transmission at 1500 UT is only directed to North America so there should not be a problem. The people who wrote me about picking up the jamming from their emails seems to be in parts of North America. Listeners in South America said the signal was fine. So let's see at 1500 (Keith Perron, ibid.) Got it online this AM, and I guess streaming doesn't qualify one for a QSL card. Still fine by me tho -- it was a DELIGHT to hear not just Tom again but the Two Bobs et al. I just hate to wait two weeks for the next one is all! (Clara Listensprechen, ibid.) The stream does qualify for the new QSL Card and to be entered into the lucky draw. :):):) (Keith Perron, ibid.) Fantastic show, very much the feel of the old and lots of cool new and nostalgic stuff. I could barely hear 9955 on my tiny shortwave portable so I added to the WRMI server load, missed a few parts when the stream halted and I restarted. At one point I almost tried to reorient my little laptop to fix the 'fading'! It is cool to see the media spreading the news, I have seen Swedish and German language articles as well, and it sounds like several of us are tweeting (Twitter) remarks and info, perhaps we should have a #keyword? #happystation I guess... Thanks a million, Keith, what a treat. From your background and talent, it seems like you won't replace Tom (yes, never two of him!) but I have a good feeling about the possibilities. Like others, I can't wait for the next show. Tom was a sorely missed voice as well, though. Glad he can take time out of 'retirement' to join the fun! ;-) (Dave Maddox, ibid.) Here in Tucson, Arizona, there was *no* signal audible on 9955 kHz, RMI *or* jamming of any sort :-( --- even though I *did* do a piece on the HS revival for the Tucson Observer; the blog entry is at http://tucsonobserver.blogspot.com/2009/03/go-ahead-n-ask-happy-station-returns.html and the print edition version can be seen at http://tucsonobserver.com/index.php?page=7 ;-) ... kdm (Daevid MacKenzie, ibid.) Dear Glenn, I was listening to WRMI's webstream at 1404z today (March 12). The program in progress was the news from Radio Prague in English. I checked the server status 03/12/2009 1404z: http://68.142.10.147:8000/listen.pls Stream Status: Stream is up at 24 kbps with 4 of 10 listeners (4 unique) Listener Peak: 10 Average Listen Time: 2m 32s Stream Title: WRMI - Radio Miami International: WRMI RADIO MIAMI INT'L INC. Content Type: audio/mpeg Stream Genre: Latin THEY HAVE AVAILABILITY OF ONLY 10 (ten) LISTENERS! Regards! (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI 9955 reception was OK at 15-16 UT March 12, but I needed to have the computer on, which puts additional noise on SW reception, so fortunately the WRMI webcast was coming thru, tho hiccuping/buffering repeatedly for more than the final half hour. Sadly, Dick Speekman has just died in South Australia; I participated in DX Juke Box when he was hosting it on Radio Netherlands. Keith Perron made a last-minute change to the 1500 airing to include a greeting from Dick he had standing by for a later broadcast, but that excludes whoever occupied those minutes in the 0100 airing. Keith said the next Happy Station would be in two weeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Estimado Glenn: Alfonso y yo estamos muy tristes por el fallecimiento de nuestro recordado querido amigo, ex-colega y diexista, Dick Speekman. Queremos compartir contigo el dolor que nos causa la noticia. It was Diedrick's (Dick Speekman's) wish that I inform everyone in his address book when he died, so it is my sad duty to tell you that he died yesterday 11th. March 2009 at 2:30 p.m. in the Hawker Hospital South Australia. It was a peaceful death and we will miss him. His funeral will be held at the Hawker cemetery Thursday next 19th. March 2009 at 11:00a.m. Forgive me for not getting this email out to you yesterday I did try but have only just worked out how to achieve this now. If you wish to contact me my details are as follows - Reverend John Dihm 73 de Jaime y Alfonso (Jaime Báguena García, Director Artístico, Departamento Español, RADIO NEDERLAND WERELDOMROEP, http://www.informarn.nl via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Guys, Here is the message sent to Tom a few hours ago. He asked me to forward it to all of you. [same message plus:] If you wish to contact me my details are as follows - Reverend John Dihm email parkinpatrol @ bigpond.com phone 08 8648 4455 (via Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I just got word that Dick Speekman died -- yesterday, I believe. Keith Perron is making a slight change to Happy Station to include a message from Dick on the 1500 UT transmission (Jeff White, WRMI, ibid.) For the newcomers, Dick Speekman was host of DX Juke Box on Radio Netherlands before it became Media Network. Dick went on to work for Radio Australia, hosting their media show Spectrum, and continued to live in Australia. We have missed him and even more so now (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBIT With the passing of Dick Speekman I am updating the 1500 UT transmission to include a message he recorded for me which I was planning to use March 26. It’s his last ever radio work; in his piece he talks about getting ready to interview Eddy Startz and a few hours before Eddy was to show up at Radio Netherlands. He got a call from Eddy’s secretary to say that Eddy has just pass a few hours before (Keith Perron, Taiwan, 1410 UT March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tuned in WELL AHEAD of 15 UT to the WRMI web stream, and it was OK, but when the Happy Station started, I was thrown off! And couldn't re- load, 'Server Full'!! Now, here around 17 UT, I have fine audio of WRN/Polish Radio. 9955 is a no-go here in Copenhagen. 73, (Erik Koie, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had the same experience. I guess we have to thank Dragan for that... Did you have to post that WRMI's audio link?! :) Just kidding!!! On a serious note, it's unfortunate that WRMI allows only 10 simultaneous listeners (Sergei S., Russia, ibid.) Now hearing the live stream! Not Jammed! Thankfully! Keith is so funny! He makes a very good host for this new version of HS! Yes the show has email! It starts with the call letters of the original station in Holland!(PCJ). Keith mentioned Philips Radio. This brand is now owned by Funai in South Korea! The Dutch company sold it and Magnavox at the same time. Philips had national HQ In Knoxville (Noble West, TN, 1511 UT March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WoW, listening to the re-broadcast of the Happy Station on 9955 WRMI 1500 UT. The Two Bobs were on as well as Tom Meyer. What memories! Makes me want to get out my tapes of 30 years ago. I started listening in the 60's. Welcome back, Happy Station Show (Tim McGraw, N8YI, WPE8KHZ Cincinnati,Oh, 1537 UT March 12, ibid.) The podcast version will be the 1500 UT transmission. I still can't believe that he only sent me that message two weeks ago. Also the content of his message with him passing away yesterday seems a little eerie. Bob Zanotti said it was almost as if he knew the end was near (Keith Perron, 1612 UT March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Here is the direct link to the 1500 UT transmission: http://www.radio4all.net:8080/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_dick_speekman_1500utc.mp3 The other way is by going to http://www.radio4all.net --- search for The Happy Station, click and then right click to download the file which will play on any MP3 player. The 0100 UT version is uploading now as I type this. Same instructions as I mentioned above. Regards, (Keith Perron, 1727 UT March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The show is also available as an online stream at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48638249355 Scroll down to links, the 1500 transmission had an insert added as Keith had learnt about the death of Dick Speekman (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DICK SPEEKMAN, FORMER HOST OF DX JUKEBOX, R.I.P. Via Andy Sennitt, Media Network: The news has just reached me that Dick Speekman, a former host of DX Jukebox on Radio Nederland in the 1970s, and of Radio Australia's programme Spectrum in the 1980s, died peacefully yesterday, 11 March 2009 in the Hawker Hospital, South Australia. He had been suffering form colon cancer. His funeral will be held at the Hawker cemetery Thursday next, 19th March 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Full item and link to recording of his last DX Jukebox programme: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dick-speekman-former-host-of-dx-jukebox-rip (via Mike Barraclough, March 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NIGER. 8895, Niamey ATC, 0137-0143 8 March, traffic with Springbok 234 and then with a Speedbird. Also heard several other times later in evening. Always fair-good (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Many more ATC and broadcast logs by Don appear in full via the dxldyg ** NIGERIA [non]. Tuned in 7385 just in time to hear the tail end of what must be the new morning broadcast of Aso Radio, back to Nigeria, as per TDP via DX Mix News, via Samara, Russia, M-F 0530-0600, 250 kW, 188 degrees. Tue March 10 at 0557 African choir, poor with flutter, and splatter de 7375 Croatia-via-Germany; 0559 brief announcement in presumed Hausa, no ID heard, then open carrier, and both 7385 and 7375 off at 0600, the latter following a few tones (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KOCB-DT-33 OKC has only had one DTV channel, the now defunct KOCB-34 with CW network, since I started DTV reception last summer; altho TitanTV listings hint it may have once had a second channel, ``off air``. Now it does again, first noted March 8, Nothing on 34.2, 34.3, 34.4, 34.5 or 34.6, but labeled ``34.7``, KOKH-SD! Yes, they are duplicating their co-owned Fox affil, KOKH-DT-24 where it is HD, except 34.7 (really RF 33) runs about 2 seconds ahead of KOKH-DT- 25.1 on RF 24. What`s the point of that, why not synchronized or the other way around, and why skip 5 virtual channels? Anyhow, my up button on the STB found it with no problem (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe the TV Engineer isn't too sharp and setting up multiple channels in the program. Is there anything, like a TP on any of those channels? I know a lot of veteran engineers who have been working at some TV stations for over 35 years are not too crazy with Digital. They are far more experienced with analog. Some may, if any, not have the proper schooling for this new technology (John L., Muskego, WI, ibid.) This is almost certainly a feed being provided as a courtesy to cable companies in outlying areas, giving them a 4:3 SD feed they can use directly, rather than having to downconvert the HD signal. There are a lot of these out there at the moment, as the transition chugs forward. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Altho KFOR-DT-27 provides the strongest DTV signal out of OKC, Suddenlink Cable in Enid isn`t using it, but instead a slightly snowy analog pixure since KFOR kept its channel 4 transmitter going. Visibly inferior to its OKC competitors which are no longer available on analog (Glenn Hauser, Enid, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Hi Glenn, Can you help me? This morning I got on 1520 kHz under WWKB a weak audio with at :02 [in the clip] "Midnight Radio Network" that at :10 is followed by a chime. I am pretty sure it is KOKC but have no real proof. Do you recognize that chime (or short melody)? Or is it just part of a commercial? Perhaps there's no other station on 1520 that carries "Midnight Radio Network" http://dx.3sdesign.de/unid/1520-KOKCunid2-090311.mp3 (Jurgen Bartels, Suellwarden, N. Germany, Winradio G305 & Perseus, Dual-feed 30x4m EWE pointing 320 , 300m Beverage 320 Iceland - Central Canada - California, 300m Beverage 280 UK - US east coast - Cuba, http://dx.3sdesign.de/station_list.htm http://fewo.3sdesign.de - Vacation home: DX right at the Northsea coast March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, don`t recognize it but I am not usually listening to KOKC at 0630 UT. KOKC does carry the Midnight Radio Network starting at 0500 UT per: http://www.kokcradio.com/programming.aspx (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, No need to look further. This morning at 0700 UT I got the KOKC ID very very faint in the noise, while WWKB had a pause (Jurgen Bartels, March 12, ibid.) ** PAKISTAN. 17835, at 1104 19 Feb, R. Pakistan, News in English, terrible modulation, SIO 433, // 15100 (David Morris, Dorset, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 1100-1105 only, right? (gh) ** PALESTINE [non?]. Re the Al Aqsa relays on 5815, 5835, Al-Quds on 6220, no longer heard: The location of the relays was not confirmed, but probably Gaza or Lebanon as the audio was several seconds ahead of the satellite and internet feeds, i.e. likely to have been a studio feed. Al Aqsa TV is run by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas while Al Quds TV is run by the Lebanese Shi`a Islamic Hizbollah movement, which also supports Hamas (Dave Kenny, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Possibly, but this raises further questions: 6 MHz area is still too high for SW coverage from so near, the signals likely skipping over the target; it would make more sense propagationally for them to be some distance away, e.g. Iran. Unless, these were intended for short- range groundwave reach only. And where did the transmitters come from and where did they go? There are certainly no known SWBC transmitters capable of being activated on a moment`s notice in Gaza or Lebanon. Unless they were co-opted from utility services. Did anyone notice whether these signals were SSBish, and just how strong were they? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3235, R. West New Britain, 03/06/08, 1315. Easy listening/oldies type tunes, one of the better signals on a predictably poor showing from PNG. Other PNG frequencies noted with signals in a quick bandscan around 1320 UT: 3325, 3335, 3345, 3385 (marred by several utility QRM). 3325 and 3345 were too weak to determine for sure whether they were PNGs or Indonesians. All poor (Mark Schiefelbein, near Bois D'Arc, MO, Eton E1 / ~1000' E-W beverage antenna, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) 3235, NBC West New Britain; 1223-1229+, 8 Mar; M in Pidgin with EZL music; NBC ID at 1229+. Fair in QRN. Only other PNG near this level was 3275 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3385, presumed R. East New Britain, March 12 at 1321, music with a beat. This was 35 minutes after Enid sunrise. It had not been audible earlier as I was getting 3325 Indonesia, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4746.8, R. Huanta 2000, 3/9, 0035-0045, surprising signal, fair to almost good at times, with only light CODAR QRM. Huaynos and other Andean sounds, man announcing in Spanish. Jerry Strawman measured on 4746.91 a bit later so apparently drifting a bit (Don Jensen, WI, NRD-545, e1x, e5; Alpha Delta DX Ultra, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) ** PERU. Tropical Stations noted: 3329.63, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 0000 to 0010 on 10 March 4746.94, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, Ayacucho, 1030 to 1100 with music. 9 March and 7 March 4857.39, Radio La Hora, Cusco, 0010 OM over music, strong signal 10 March. 4990.93, Radio Manantial, Huancayo, 0000 to 0030 fading in and out, OM en español, 10 March 5460.1, Radio Bolívar, Cd. Bolívar, 0015 with music, 10 March 5470.80, Radio San Nicolás, No recent logs! 5486.62, Radio Reyna de la Selva, Chachapoyas, 1100 to 1120 the first time noted in over a month at this QTH. 10 March but not 11 March same time (Robert LC Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R8 NRD 535D, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BOLIVIA ** PERU. 5039.1, Radio Libertad de Junín, 1106-1108 7 Mar. Presumed with Peruvian cumbias. Fair (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6019.36, Radio Victoria (presumed); 0618-0630+, 7 Mar; M healer in Spanish (almost sounds like a Portuguese accent) with many sob stories. SIO=433- with pulse QRM. 9720 not audible. Still healing at 0659; no break at 0700 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You have discovered Pastor David Miranda and his unique language, Portuñol, which the S Americans seem to prefer to call it rather than Espanhuguês, beats me why, axually a mixture of the two, not just an accent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Radio Pilipinas, Tinang, 11730, 1731-1751, 3/8/09. Filipino commentary after "Voice of the Philippines" in English sign- on. Weak signal with moderate fading and moderate static. A man and woman discuss the transmission times and frequencies in Filipino until past 1745. That should be thorough enough. They have world-class records in extremely fast pronunciation of words. I’ve never heard anyone really talk that fast in any language (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Filipinas. Radio Veritas Asia transmite en numerosos idiomas hablados en Asia Oriental. De los programas en lenguas europeas sólo es captado el emitido en lengua rusa en la frecuencia de 9570, desde las 1500 hasta las 1555. El programa es de Radio Evangelio que integran la emisora católica Teo y la emisora ortodoxa Sofía (Por Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov, R. Bulgaria Espacio DX March 9 via Tomás Méndez, Spain, logsderadio yg via DXLD) See also VATICAN ** POLAND [non]. Polish Radio, via Wertachal Germany, 9450, 1343-1346, 3/7/09. Barely intelligible English language on a moderate strength poor signal with a fast nervous fade. There is interference from the adjacent station just above (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also barely audible here during the first part of the hour March 10, later on March 12 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. 3990-3995-4000, DRM noise audible March 10 at 0603, tho the DW DRM broadcast via Sines supposedly ends at 0559 as BBC Skelton in analog takes over 3995 at 0600. Forgot to turn it off in time? DRM operators seem to be even more sloppy than analog ones. Maybe they figure only a handful are listening --- but what they do impacts the real world (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Much more likely sites have been switched in time. There is no analogue BBC service on 3995, this frequency is in use for the joint DRM service of DW and BBC only. Some airtime on 3995 at Skelton is now booked by the BBC for this project, and this apparently resulted in some confusion (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Re 9-023: Yes, it's common practice for our RDPi and for many other stations, with BBC for instance being no different on this regard, i.e. to switch frequencies with no previous announcement. The old practice was quite different, but then there were no computers doing all this work. Automatic frequency changes aside, I fail to understand how the reporter imagined it might be a Brazilian stn when the sort of Portuguese he heard on 9455 is distinctively European, i.e. standard Portuguese. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Frequency change announcements --- Still re what's today's common practice followed by many of the so-called international broadcasters, like our RDPi for instance, I could hear another of their typical pre- s/off announcements, and that was moments ago: At 1954, during another football match report, an announcer clearly indicated the frequencies that were about to close, the target areas and the frequencies that would replace the former ones. These were the frequencies scheduled till 2000: Europe 9455 (1700-2000), Africa 13720 (1700-2000), WAfr+ESoAm 15465 (1700-2000), (NAm 12040 (only on the air due to the extra b/cast) 1700-1900 & 1900-2400); At 1958, the transmitters went off the air and took just 15 seconds to resurface on the new frequencies: Europe 9795 2000-2300 Africa 11825 2000-2400 WAfr+ESoAm 11960 ditto (NAm 12040 1900-2400) Omission of such announcements is often due to various reasons, but I feel there is always enough "space" to insert them, and have mroe than twice sent the RDPi my criticisms in this concern. As to why extra time slots intended for broadcasts aren't filled up to the limit, that can be misleading or confusing, but they just argue the whole slots are registered at the HFCC, and withhold the right to s/on should the programs end earlier, which is often the case. In this situation I suppose the transmitters are switched off not automatically but via remote control. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, I have heard RDPI do that too, but a few minutes ahead of the axual QSY, so you may have missed it when the time comes (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Nuevas frecuencias de RRI --- Queridos amigos: ¿Qué tal va todo? Espero que de maravilla. El presente correo-e es para informaros que a partir del 25 de marzo y hasta el 28 de octubre de 2009, podéis sintonizar nuestras emisiones en español, por onda corta, de este modo: a las 1900 horas, UT, por 11715 y 9580 kilohercios, en España; a las 2100 horas, UT, por 9755 y 11965 kilohercios, en Argentina; a las 2300 horas, UT, por 9745 kilohercios y 11955 kilohercios, en Argentina y por 9655 y 6100 kilohercios, en Caribe; y, finalmente, a las 0200 horas de la madrugada, UT, por 9520 y 11945 kilohercios, en Argentina y, por 5975 y 9645 kilohercios, en Caribe; También nos podéis sintonizar vía satélite y en Internet, en formato WMA (Windows Media Audio), en la página http://www.rri.ro Además, en Europa, nos podéis sintonizar a través del satélite HOT BIRD CINCO, en la frecuencia de 11623,28 Megahercios, polarización vertical, acimut 13 grados. Mil gracias por todo. Se despide con un muy afectuoso saludo, Victoria Sepciu (via Dino Bloise, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? What`s this fixation on Argentina, to the exclusion of the rest of S & Central America? Azimuth for the two frequencies at 0200, when it is rather late in Argentina, 11 pm, is 245 degrees, which is indeed right across Argentina and missing the more northerly Andean countries. Oops, I guess by Bs. As. night life terms, 11 pm is not late at all, but is anyone there listening to Romania on SW instead of dining or tangoing? And surely effective Sunday March 29, start of A- 09, rather than March 25 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. MAJOR CHANGES AT THE VOICE OF RUSSIA --- DXing.ru reports that starting March 29, VoR will be going through some major changes. They include both output increases and numerous language cuts. Programming increases: - VoR World Service in English becomes a 24x7 service again! (Currently, VoR broadcasts in English for 16 hours daily) - Spanish to Europe and Latin American goes up from 3 to 6 hours daily; - Kurdish increases from 1 to 2 hours; - German, Serbo-Croatian and Hindi Services will be increased by 30 min. to 7.5, 3.5 and 2 hours correspondingly. VoR's Russian World Service and Sodruzhestvo (Commonwealth) Service will be merged into one, round-the-clock channel (just like back in the end of 1980s - the very beginning of 1990s). Russian International Radio (Russian pop-music and news service) will continue operating as a stand alone 24x7 channel. The language cuts: About a third of VoR's language service will be shut down. They include Albanian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Urdu and Vietnamese. Some of those services are over 50 years old (Sergei S., Moscow, March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the info, Sergei; I hope you'll keep us posted! I'm especially interested in any frequency change for Russian International Radio, which I enjoy in our local evenings on 7125 kHz. I presume they'll be moving for A09 as the international broadcasters vacate the 40m ham band, but I haven't heard any new frequency announced yet (my Russian is poor, though, which is why I need to keep listening :-)). Thanks again and 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma, NY, ibid.) Thank you for this news alert! For Spanish it will still be a far cry from the situation in the past, when it was on air from 1900 to 0600, i.e. for 11 hours a day. But Serbocroatian has already more airtime now than in the past (when it used to be 1700-1800 and 2000-2100 on shortwave only), and German will have, too, from March 29 (it used to be seven hours, 1000-1200 and 1600-2100, then around 1994 the last hour of each block had been cancelled, later the noon broadcast expanded by these two hours – but not on shortwave -- to 1000-1300 again). I understand that the old Golos Rossii, the Russian-language foreign program of the early nineties, was independent from what was then Radio Moscow International, I seem to recall it was a production of Radio Rossii, i.e. what is nowadays the VGTRK. What was actually the predecessor of this old Golos Rossii service, were it simply the Mayak relays that are described as once omnipresent on shortwave? At present still 35 foreign language services from Moscow are on air. How big was the peak figure? Somewhere I saw a mention of 120 languages, but without any further details. In 1990 the number of Radio Moscow language services had been specified as 65, and WRTH 1994 still showed 45 ones, amongst them Dutch of which I happen to remember that it had been cancelled in spring 1994 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly not anywhere near 120 (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOR, English to NAm, classical music feature with super signal on 9840, UT Thu March 12 at 0541, // much weaker 9855. You`d think there would not be such a disparity between Pet-Kam on 9840, 250 kW, 70 degrees, and Vladivostok on 9855, 250 kW at 50 degrees; tho Vladivostok is quite a bit further. I would say the 9840 reception rivaled even 7335 via Guiana French which had somewhat crisper audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 6075, Radio Rossii Kamchatka, via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 0810-0900, March 11. Before 0810 was carrying R. Rossii network programming and parallel to 5935 (with QRM), 7200 and 7320; then switched over to their local/regional program; starts with ID for "Radio Rossii Kamchatka", but later also heard several mentions of “Kamchatka Radio”; Russian songs/ballads; the customary English at BoH: “This is Kamchatka"; local news; interview; final "Radio Rossii Kamchatka" ID just before ToH; pips and rejoins “Radio Rossii” network programming; fair, but with pronounced hum (or as Glenn has reported: “a bit of motor-boating underneath audio”) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, missing from 6075, March 12 at 1333 check. No signal at all, and this has been a regular until 1400*. Perhaps they have closed it down because of the growing warble / motorboating problem, but hope it`s back soon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio Vesti FM relays via MW --- Noted this from the DXLD list this morning about Vesti FM. We were hearing them on several Russian FE transmitters last summer and early fall: ``I believe MW relays of Vesti FM mostly ceased throughout Russia in October of 2008. It was a gradual process.`` Wonder what replaced them? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC. IRCA via DXLD) Hi Walt, they are as before, carrying R Rossii and some have also regional programs. See for example: http://www.wrth.com/updates_national.html "RUSSIA --- The relays of Vesti FM on various medium wave transmitters have stopped and they are back to carrying R. Rossii programming." 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Thanks, Mauno. I wonder what prompted them to return to usual programming after such a brief interval? (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Probably boils down to politix, who`s in favor and who`s out (gh) I am not sure, but maybe Vesti FM relay was planned to last only as long as Georgia crisis was actual [current]. (Mauno Ritola, Finland, IRCA via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11297, Rostov VOLMET, 1355-1359 7 March, YL Russian weather. Site is listed at 25/55 minutes past hour. Weak. 11318, Samara VOLMET, 1416-1419 7 March, YL Russian weather. Site is listed at 15/45 minutes past hour. Poor. 11318, Tyumen VOLMET, 1351-1354 7 March, YL Russian weather. Site is listed at 20/50 minutes past hour. Poor. Also in at 1420 (Don Moore, MARE DXpedition near Brighton MI, Eton E-1 mostly attached to a 140 foot wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SENEGAL. 6535/USB, Dakar, Senegal; 0429, 7 Mar; ATC working aircraft; almost always, a/c say "calling Dakar-Dakar" (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. RADIO YUGOSLAVIA CELEBRA EL 73 ANIVERSARIO DE SU EXISTENCIA http://glassrbije.org/S/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6382&Itemid=26 Radio Serbia Internacional (Radio Yugoslavia) celebra el dia de hoy el 73 aniversario de su existencia. Con motivo de ello, el suplente del director, Igor Mladenovic, destaco que "Radio Yugoslavia celebra los 73 anos orgulloso de los resultados que ha logrado el ano pasado, pero tambien descontento debido a que su estatus no se haya resuelto aun, la situacion sea incierta en extremo y el financiamiento se retrase, es decir, el pago de los sueldos a los empleados". Segun sus palabras, el ano pasado ha reportado una mejora del programa en Internet, asi como de los programas existentes en onda corta y satelite. "El ano pasado nuesta radio emisora inicio un proyecto nuevo - la transmision de video-noticias, con lo que Radio Yugoslavia se ha sumado a los servicios mas modernos del mundo. Realmente hemos mejorado nuestra pagina de Internet y ahora nuestra oferta ha alcanzado un nivel maximo, comparado con casas afines a esta. Lo que no hemos obtenido a cambio de ello es el entendimiento de Estado, el cual es el fundador de esta casa, y la definicion definitiva del estatus de la misma, ya que el propio nombre de Radio Yugoslavia indica claramente que el Estado no ha dado ni siquiera ese primer paso de adecuar el nombre a las circunstancias reales", destaco Mladenovic. Por lo que respecta al financiamiento, el dijo que este ano reporta nuevos problemas, en vista de la muy dificil situacion en que se encuentra el Estado. "La situacion y la posicion los empleados de Radio Yugoslavia es realmente precaria e incluso se ha deteriorado de manera dramatica, dijo Mladenovic, y manifesto su esperanza de que en este ano se resuelva por fin el estatus y el problema del financiamiento de esta actividad, que en todo Estado reviste especial importancia. La practica en el mundo muestra que las casas de este tipo gozan de una confianza especial, pero tambien de un entendimiento especial de las autoridades, y esperamos que nosotros tambien obtengamos ese mismo estatus, si bien no sabemos si de esta manera piensan tambien los que estan encargados de resolver nuestro destino, acentuo Mladenovic (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, March 10, dxldyg via DXLD) sic – no accents, and I am tired to spending so much of time fixing such things ** SEYCHELLES [non]. Religious broadcasting: Voice of Forgiveness is described on its website as ``an Arabic SW radio station. Our purpose is to share the Good News with everyone``. Programmes are aired at 0800 UT (Morning Block) on 15220 and 1900 UT (Yemen Block) on 9550. Both fall within the B-08 schedule of FEBA Radio`s Arabic service (0800-0845 via Moosbrunn, Austria, and 1900-2030 via Kigali, Rwanda) (from http://www.arabicradio.org via Tony Rogers, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Geez, the Arabs already revere J. C. as a prophet, but no, that`s not enough --- gotta convince `em he was a deity, the very Son Of God, more so than any other human, i.e. (gh, DXLD) The following FEBA A09 schedule is copy-pasted from: http://www.febaradio.net/word/a09_all.doc FEBA radio broadcast schedule, Summer A09 29th March to 25th October 2009 Tx Site Codes - ARM Armavir Russia MEY Meyerton S.Africa ASC Ascension Island MOS Moosbrunn Austria DHA Dhabayya NVS Novosibirsk Russia ERV Yerevan Armenia TAC Tashkent Uzbekistan KIG Kigali Rwanda WER Wertachtal Germany Day 1 = Sunday (ITU Convention), etc. NORTH INDIA, NEPAL, TIBET - A09 summer schedule Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0015-0030 smtwtfs BANGLA rural 7370 41 TAC 0030-0045 s..w... HINDI 7370 41 TAC 0030-0045 .mt.... MIXED LANGUAGES 7370 41 TAC 0030-0045 ....tfs BANGLA 7370 41 TAC 0045-0100 smtwtfs HINDI 7370 41 TAC 1200-1230 smtwtfs TIBETAN 15215 19 DHA 1430-1445 smtwtfs URDU 12025 25 DHA 1445-1500 ...wtfs KASHMIRI 12025 25 DHA 1445-1500 smt.... MIXED LANGUAGES 12025 25 DHA 1430-1500 smtwtfs HINDI 9540 31 TAC 1500-1530 smtwtfs BANGLA rural 7370 41 TAC SOUTH INDIA - A09 summer schedule Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0100 smtwtfs TAMIL 5885 49 ERV 0130-0200 s...tf. TELUGU 9725 31 DHA 0145-0200 .mtw..s MIXED LANGUAGES 9725 31 DHA 1400-1430 s...... ENGLISH 12025 25 DHA 1400-1415 .mtwtfs MALAYALAM 12025 25 DHA 1415-1430 .mtwtfs MIXED LANGUAGES 12025 25 DHA PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN - A09 summer schedule Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0200-0300 s...... URDU 12035 25 DHA 0200-0230 .mtwtfs URDU 12035 25 DHA 0230-0300 .mtwtfs MIXED LANGUAGES 12035 25 DHA 0200-0230 smtwtfs PASHTO 9725 31 DHA 0230-0300 smtwtfs DARI 9725 31 DHA 1400-1445 smtwtfs URDU 9500 31 NVS 1445-1500 smtwtfs MIXED LANGUAGES 9500 31 NVS 1430-1500 smtwtfs PASHTO 9830 31 ARM 1500-1530 smtwtfs DARI 9830 31 ARM 1530-1545 smtwtfs HAZARAGI 9830 31 ARM 1545-1600 smtwtfs MIXED LANGUAGES 9830 31 ARM AFRICA, ETHIOPIA, SUDAN - A09 summer schedule Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1545-1600 smtwtfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 s...tfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 .mtw... GURAGENA 12125 25 MEY 1630-1700 smtwtfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 smtwtfs ETHIOPIA 11655 25 ARM 1630-1700 smtw... TIGRINYA 9865 31 DHA 1630-1700 ....tfs AMHARIC 9865 31 DHA 1700-1730 smtwtfs OROMINYA 11775 25 KIG 1730-1757 smtwtfs TIGRINYA 11775 25 KIG 1700-1730 smtwtfs SOMALI 6180 49 DHA 1730-1800 smtwtfs ETHIOPIA 5890 49 MEY 1830-1845 smtwtfs FRENCH (Cent+West Af) 7255 41 MEY 2145-2215 ....tf. HASSINYA/PULAAR (WAf) 11985 25 ASC MIDDLE EAST - A09 summer schedule Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0800-0830 smtwtfs ARABIC 15280 19 MOS 1900-1930 smtwtfs ARABIC 7230 41 WER 1900-2030 smtwtfs ARABIC 9550 31 KIG ------------------------------------------------------------------- Schedule Engineer, FEBA Radio, Ivy Arch Road, WORTHING BN14 8BX, UK. WEBSITE: www.febaradio.info A09bs01 dated 11.03.09 rww (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. WEB RADIO SERVICES GO OFFLINE --- By Chua Hian Hou A DISPUTE over licence fees has forced most of Singapore's radio stations to stop streaming online. Following an amendment to the Copyright Act last November, the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (Rips) asked radio broadcasters to pay an annual licensing fee if they want to continue their Internet radio service. Currently, over-the-air radio stations are exempted from having to pay royalties to record companies. The November amendment though, clarified that this exemption did not extend to Internet streaming services. Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_348405.html (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) see NETHERLANDS [non] Oh well, we can still hear them on the SW r--- Never mind (gh, DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. 7290, Italian Radio Relay Service; 1940-2001+, 6 Mar; Extremely wide variety of tunes; Brazilian whistle samba, Dionne Warwick, cool jazz, French vocal, modern jazz; English IRRS ID at 1959+ and into English religious program. SIO=3+53+ (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Too bad you didn`t listen past 2030 when WORLD OF RADIO is on Fridays (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Definitely a weak carrier on 9541.5 causing a het with something on 9540, March 9 at 1340; some bits of audio but could not determine which frequency it was coming from; not // BBC 9740. Also a bit better March 10 at 1332 with audio certainly sounding like BBCWS in English on 9541.5. Per online listings, the 9540.0 station this hour would be CRI Kunming in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. BS FOR SALE: http://www.overcomerministries.org/ Website is for sale. This may have been reported earlier, but I just noticed it (Fred Waterer, Ont, UT March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also U S A WWRB ** SPAIN [non]. REE via Costa Rica, 15170, Tue Mar 10 at 1349 in Castilian substituting for real Basque, except for standard closing of 5-minute segment rendered axually in Basque, and 1350 into Catalan, for which there is no substitute. Way over the European RRI co-channel this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. Rep. of Sudan Radio, Omdurman, 7200, 0404-on, 3/4/09. Arabic language news on a weak signal with high fading, bad static, and interference. 7200, 0423-0449, 3/8/09. Arabic discussion on a moderate strength good quality signal with some deep fading. Ham conversation interference kept content of the signal from being very pleasant to listen to. Off the air at 0430 (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [and non]. I happened to tune across 17790, best signal on 16m, Monday March 9 at 1818, which was RCI Sackville within The Link, interviewing someone from Miraya FM in Sudan, for 9 minutes; crummy quality line, apparently VOIP. He said the station is on FM in the south, has a permit to broadcast in the north, but no frequency assigned yet and that may take another year. Also on SW to the Darfur area 3 hours per day, plans to increase to 6 this year. There is also another unspecified Darfur project. Is the station endangered, like other NGOs, following the indictment of Bashir? No indication of that so far, he says, despite having reported the event live. Things are ``really calm``, no problem. Gave website where people may listen to the station, but despite having mentioned Miraya`s SW service, this shortwave station gave no details! We know it`s 15-18 UT on 15650 via Slovakia, and hear it here better now that Greece has crashed. Then I went back and found the program on the RCI website: http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/en/emissions/archives/archivesDetails_1952_09032009.shtml ``CANADIAN HELPS BRING RELIABLE NEWS TO SUDANESE: The Fondation Hirondelle is a Swiss NGO that establishes and manages independent media - mainly radio stations - in countries that are in conflict or post-conflict situations. In Sudan, working in partnership with the United Nations, the Fondation Hirondelle has set up Miraya FM and they've brought in a Canadian to run it. Marc Montgomery speaks with Jean-Claude Labrecque, former Radio Canada journalist and now head of Media and Editor-in-Chief at Miraya FM.`` There are audio linx. This part starts 13:14 into the second hour and I assume will be available indefinitely. BTW, no sign of RCI on 11805 which had been in use temporarily for the 18 UT transmission to Africa, but otherwise well audible here off the back on several frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15650, Radio Miraya FM; 1611-1617+, 7 Mar; M&W in Arabic with MANY IDs & mentions of Sudan. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. BBC Darfur Sudan in Arabic sked: 0500-0530 9440, 11865; 1700-1730 5965, 9760, all via Cyprus (DX News, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. RTI`s Japanese service, 9735, 250 kW at 45 degrees also favoring US, March 12 at 1345 sounded OK on the fundamental, but could not help but notice that there were hets of identical pitch on weak 9730 and 9740 signals, and therefore assume they were spurs from this transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 8743/USB, Bangkok Meteo, Thailand; 1247...1301+, 8-Mar; M in unknown language at 1247 with very muted audio; Steven Hawking syn- voice in English at 1256:28 after tune; ID at 1300:23, then same tune as before (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6010, CNR-11 (new Tibetan service), 1430-1500, March 9. Program heard in English; started with ID: “China National Radio. Welcome to our English program from Tibet”; item about the money being spent to develop rural Tibet and steps taken to improve the income for rural people; distinctive canned promo for the medical massage clinics in Lhasa, giving cost for one massage for foreigners “and for local people about 55 Renminbi and it takes one hour"; segment called both “Tibet Tourism” and “Tourism of Tibet” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, CNR-11 (new Tibetan service), 1435, March 11. Jamming on 6003 is causing QRM to this English program (1430-1500). Is very hard to understand what is said when the jamming is so strong, as was the case today (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, CNR-11, 1432-1436, March 12. Again poor copy of this English program due to adjacent QRM from the jamming on 6003. In my earlier logs I should have commented on and clarified just what these English programs are from 1430 to 1500. What CNR-11 has done is take the “Holy Tibet” (H.T.) programs, which I assume are produced by PBS Xizang in Lhasa, and deleted the H.T. IDs at the start and finish of the programs and instead inserted canned IDs (“China National Radio” [male announcer], “China National Radio” [woman announcer], “Welcome to our English program from Tibet” [man announcer]) at the beginning of all the programs. Finishes the programs with a very generic ending with no specific ID. The canned promo for medical message clinics in Lhasa that I recently heard here on CNR-11 is absolutely identical to the same one I have heard countless times on H.T. Even some of the news items are also repeats from earlier news stories I have heard on H.T. Has anyone confirmed the location of these CNR-11 transmitters? Somehow I would expect a Beijing transmitter to have much better reception than I am hearing here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. TIBETAN UPRISING ANNIVERSARY MARKED BY VOA -- VOA spotlights Tibet 50 years after a failed uprising against Chinese rule Washington, D.C., March 10, 2009 – The Voice of America (VOA) today spotlighted Tibet 50 years after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, with a key congressman saying President Obama should meet with the Dalai Lama to underscore U.S. support for the region. “I hope the President … will meet with the Dalai Lama … hold a very public meeting at the White House … as soon as possible to convey that there has been no diminution whatsoever in our concern and solidarity with the suffering people of Tibet,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) in an interview with VOA Mandarin Service’s Issues and Opinions call-in television show. Meanwhile, VOA’s Tibetan Service http://www.voanews.com/Tibetan/ broadcast live the Dalai Lama’s speech in which he reiterated his appeal for autonomy for Tibet, and said the climate of fear in Tibet amounted to “hell on earth.” Robert Barnett, a Tibetan expert at Columbia University in New York, said today on National Public Radio http://www.npr.org that Tibetans living in the countryside “are exceptionally well-informed about Tibetan history and politics and world affairs because they were all tuning into Voice of America.” Additionally, the Tibetan Service plans analyses of China’s policies over the past half-century, an interview with an eyewitness to the 1959 uprising in Lhasa and a series that will look at Tibetans living around the world. Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is a “a man of peace” and “extraordinary character.” He said lawmakers intend to vote this week on a nonbinding resolution that “condemns the practices by the (Chinese) Government against the people of Tibet.” The resolution also calls for a multilateral effort to bring about a peaceful solution to the Tibet issue. China’s foreign minister has urged lawmakers not to pass the resolution. Added Smith: “The Dalai Lama’s peace plan and his emphasis on autonomy is a very workable solution.” He said he hoped the Chinese government would realize that the Dalai Lama “is not looking for independence but autonomy within the Chinese framework.” VOA’s Mandarin Service broadcasts 84 hours of radio and seven hours of television each week, with many programs available on its website, http://www.VOANews.com/Chinese/ VOA also broadcasts in Tibetan http://www.voanews.com/Tibetan/ 42 hours weekly on radio and two hours on television weekly (VOA press release via WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DXLD) Vive le Tibette libre! (Guillaume G. Hauser, DXLD) ** TUNISIA. RTT observed signing off as follows when checked 25 Jan: 9720 -2010*, 7225 -2110*, 7190 -2310* (Tony Rogers, UK, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Maybe one hour earlier from A-09, and 7190 is doomed, evening broadcast moving to 7345, and 9720 to 9725. RTT, 7275 and 7190 both in open carrier at 0555 March 20, both supposed to be underway much earlier. At 0601 recheck both modulating Arabic, with 7275 slightly stronger. 7190 is doomed in A-09, moving to 7335 for the morning broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. VOT relay via Canada, 7325, is STILL NOT IN ENGLISH, March 12 at 0405 check, good signal with Turkish talk, music. At least I think it`s Turkish; sure isn`t English. Could be a related Turkic language VOT broadcasts in, but none such scheduled, and in fact Turkish itself is taking a 1-hour break on SW frequencies direct, per WRTH 2009 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. Turkmen Radio, Ashgabat, 4930, 0620-0627, 3/8/09. Foreign language commentary on a very weak but very readable signal that comes and goes with high fading. Unfortunately there is a pretty loud CODAR. Noise floor was extremely low (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s very late for Turkmenistan to be propagating, 11+ am local [sunrise being at 0230 UT]. Most likely to be heard here is VOA via Botswana, but that is supposed to end at 0600. Since this was almost the beginning of daylight time shift, I wonder it the UT reported is correct? Anyhow, VOA is in English (Glenn to Bill, via DXLD) One error I cannot immediately understand is the Turkmenistan report. The time is correct as UT is UT and doesn't change on the clock with our daylight savings experiment. I'm confident in the time I reported and the language was certainly not English. However maybe the signal was not real but a harmonic off some very powerful signal on some other band? On the other hand, a bleed from a strong lower band signal should not fade out and come again every 30 seconds or so. Well, it's not important as I did not hear a station ID or other highly reliable identification (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 7440, RUI, 0130-0133, 11 Mar. English with current affairs roundup. Signal reads about S7 to S8, but always has low modulation and/or noisy carrier. Some sources list this as a 600 kW transmitter (I think I even recall seeing 1000 kW - a megawatt - in the past!) Sounds like maybe 100 kW. Still listenable with some effort (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Re: DXLD 9-006/9-007 BBC Persian Service Document --- Monday 23 March 2000-2030 BBC RADIO 4 Mike Thomson returns with BBC Radio 4's investigative history series which examines documents that shed new light on past events. In the first edition, Mike uncovers papers which accuse the BBC of biased reporting as Iran descended into revolution in 1978 and 1979. The documents show that the BBC's Persian Service found itself attacked on all sides, with the most vociferous critics claiming that the Corporation was not simply reporting events but influencing them in favour of regime change. As Ayatollah Khomeini sat in exile in Paris, the BBC stood charged with galvanising the radical cleric's supporters and acting as his mouthpiece in Tehran. The Shah's government was notorious for its suppression of all opposition and its ambassador to London even advocated the blowing up of BBC boosting transmitters to stop the broadcasts. But the accusations of bias don't just stem from the government of the Shah in Iran. Confidential memos cabled from Tehran – only just released into the public domain – show that the British Ambassador himself was very concerned that the BBC was adopting an anti-Shah approach to the political upheaval and that he wanted it to be stopped. Thomson examines the documents and talks to former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen – the then Iranian Ambassador – and senior BBC figures to get to the truth of what took place during those turbulent times. Key academic experts evaluate the allegations of bias and assess the role of the BBC Persian Service during the crucial months that determined Iran's transition to an Islamic Republic. Presenter/Mike Thomson, Producer/Laurence Grissell (BBC Radio 4 Publicity via Mike Barraclough, England, March 10, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. BBCWS via Meyerton, RSA, to WAf on 6155, listed as 2200-2300 UT on Sentech website, is heard regularly through to 2313 when it is cut abruptly. Offers good reception most days here in the UK at 2300 of the news and start of The World Today (Tony Rogers, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Beg to differ; as I recently reported, it cut off at 2314:30 as in 9-021 (gh, DXLD) BBCWS, 5875, end of English newscast at 0605 March 10, with background noise level ramping up at each pause, as if a limiter is very maladjusted. Have not noticed such a problem at BBC before, originating in studio, or processing at Rampisham? The noise vanished at 0606 as next program started, but then reappeared, an annoying roar every few sex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Such a slow AGC uses to be the first component of AM audio processing. More sophisticated equipment avoids ramping up background noise in the natural pauses of speech by using an approach called "gated AGC": When the audio level drops sharply the AGC "freezes" and starts to increase the level only after a much prolonged time. On old, analogue Optimod boxes (such as the 9105 HF that can be found at many shortwave sites) this condition is signalled by a yellow LED, marked "Gate". Here the question would be what kind of background noise they had on the audio. The description suggests some problem on this side, caused either in the studio or maybe also later in the chain. And this kind of ramping up indicates that some less sophisticated AGC circuitry/function was involved as well. The whole description reminds me on the Glória site of RFE/RL in Portugal, shut down in 1996. Here this ramping up was very obvious, I think in particular on broadcasts still originating from Munich. Another candidate of very obvious AGC operation was RAI's Prato Smeraldo site which now is presumably off for good, too. And remember how the interval signal of Radio Norway International sounded on air (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. DVR alert --- LOOK AROUND for this! I am just noticing that Cartoon Net/Adult Swim is now running LOOK AROUND YOU, the brilliant 2005 BBC spoof of a bad 70's BBC midday science show. It is a must-see, bizarre, low-key masterpiece. There are only a few episodes, so don`t delay. It runs 2x overnight at various times, some are 15 mins and some are 30 (tom roche, March 10, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Zap2it shows it not starting until UT Sat 14th at 0430, 0830, also Mondays 0500 and 0900 UT! New episode on 3/23, ``Live Final``. That is, on the feed we get in OK. Does this match your info, nothing before Friday night? (Glenn to tom, via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. VOA continues to consider shortwave not even worth mentioning as one of its ``platforms`` --- On VG 15590, March 10 at 1359 wrapping up Éxitos Latinoamericanos music show ``vía satélite e internet``; 1359:30 cut the music, started standard VOA sign-off in English, but cut carrier after only a few words of that. In only one minute one observed a gross lack of coördination in multiple ways. VOA Spanish, 15590, VG with LA music show March 11 at 1355, nary a selective fade, but unlike the day before, no announcements whatsoever when abruptly cut off modulation a few sex past 1359 as a new tune had just started a few notes, and carrier off a few sex before 1400, audiblizing weak Spain on 15585. Next morning, March 12, I found 15590 already at 1325 with rock music in English. 4960, VOA French, fair at 0605 March 12. Via São Tomé, 0530-0630 M-F only; quickly confirmed by // weaker 9480 Greenville with which it echoed. The 4960 transmitter comes back on at 0700-0730 daily for Hausa which also precedes the French hour. Looked for VOA Korean`s American-songbook music which used to appear reliably at 1315 UT, but not at tune-in 1317 March 12 on 5890 via Tinian; instead a string of frequencies announced including ``AM, kHz``, 1319 starting another show with banjo music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. U.S.-SUPPORTED FOREIGN BROADCASTING ADAPTS TO DIGITAL AGE By Jim Fisher-Thompson, Staff Writer http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2009/March/200903101658171ejrehsiF0.3728144.html?CP.rss=true Washington - The U.S. government's premier international radio and television broadcast organization - the Voice of America (VOA) - will continue to provide timely news and information to more than 130 million people worldwide while pursing innovative ways to engage this audience, says VOA Director Dan Austin. "Everything I have seen or heard from the new [Obama] administration and from people [in Congress] is that there is an understanding that what we do, dollar for dollar, is one of the better investments the American taxpayer can make," Austin told America.gov March 4. The former Wall Street Journal reporter and executive, who now oversees VOA's $190 million budget, said, "Our fundamental mission has basically remained the same" since VOA began broadcasting in 1942 during World War II. "Our task is still to provide accurate, balanced and comprehensive news and information programs for foreign audiences. We are just expanding our technical ability to do that while at the same time using state-of-the-art information technology to have a dialogue with people." Increasingly, VOA is using the Internet to interact with its audience. In addition to transmitting news and information, it operates social networking programs on its Web site and uses blogs and webchats to encourage audience participation, Austin said. It also uses the Internet for English language learning programs. In 2008, VOA awarded a contract to Alelo Inc. to develop an interactive Web-based learning portal to teach English as a second language. The portal is extremely popular with college-age students in China and Iran. VOA now broadcasts 1,500 hours of radio and television news and feature programs each week for a foreign audience of 134 million people. Its 1,100 journalists and technicians broadcast in 45 languages (25 through its television arm), using a growing network of 1,200 local radio and television stations, as well as cable systems. "Our strategy for reaching audiences is market- and research-driven," Austin explained. "People in Nigeria get most of their news via shortwave radio, so we're there in that market with radio. Many people in Iran get their news through satellite TV, and we're there in TV. If mobile devices [cell phones] are what young people in key markets are using, we're going to be there" broadcasting to them in that format too. AFRICA'S LEAPFROG APPROACH TO TECNOLOGY Austin said Africa is where information technology is literally "leapfrogging." "Where they didn't have a hard-wired infrastructure, some countries have gone from shortwave broadcast to text messaging, SMS [short message service], to mobile devices," he said. In Zimbabwe, for example, "we have used SMS with some success, although we still broadcast there from [shortwave] and medium-wave transmitters in Botswana." (See "Zimbabweans Relying on Foreign Broadcasts for Political News.") "We are investing a fair amount of money into our technological infrastructure," Austin said. "Right now, we have one foot in the analog world and one foot in the digital world." "But, bit by bit, we're putting together a [digital] system," he said, that eliminates tapes and similar recording and playing equipment, relying instead on computerization to get better quality quickly and cost-effectively. CRACKING THE "TOUGH NUT" OF BURMA Austin said a good example of melding technology with traditional reporting was VOA's coverage of a devastating cyclone that struck Burma in May 2008, killing more than 75,000 people. Because the Burmese government played down the effects of the storm, Austin said, "to get the true story of the devastation out, we brought people into neighboring Thailand, trained them in how to use satellite video cameras, and then sent them back into Burma to get footage." (See "Warnings on Burmese Cyclone Came Mainly from Overseas.") In February, VOA launched its first satellite TV program for Burma, an important development because the country's ruling junta severely restricts the flow of information, Austin said. "Burma is a very tough nut to crack, and this program will expose people in Burma to information and images they may never have seen before." The television show, airing Sunday mornings and repeated during the week, is an expansion of VOA's Burmese Service radio programming, which now broadcasts 3.5 hours daily on shortwave, according to VOA's Web site. In October 2008, VOA signed an agreement with MGM [TV] Networks Latin America to carry Spanish-language news and cultural affairs programming on MGM's popular movie channel. The network reaches 20 million households throughout the region on satellite and cable. "This agreement will supplement VOA's wide network of radio and TV affiliates in the region, and ensure the audience is up to date on the latest news and information from the Americas and the world," Austin said at the signing ceremony. VOA's reach has become so broad, Austin said, that "Google News now rates us as the Number 5 news source worldwide. This comes at a time when a lot of television networks and print people have really cut back on international coverage." More information on VOA is available on its Web site (via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg, and via Zach Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** U S A. TED ROBERTS, HOST OF VOA'S NIGHTLINE AFRICA, TO RETIRE "The popular Sierra Leonean presenter Ted Folarin Roberts of the weekend Nightline Africa programme broadcast to Africa from the VOA studios in Washington is finally retiring after a long and successful stint. ... Ted Roberts is 'Uncle Ted' on his signature 'Nightline Africa,' a family magazine on VOA that has been a staple for Africans and Caribbeans all over the world for years. Known for his wisdom and compassion, Roberts has carved his way to success in the highly competitive world of international broadcast journalism." Awoko (Freetown), 3 March 2009. Posted: 09 Mar 2009 THE DAPPER HOST OF AFROPOP, AND HIS VOA YEARS Twentieth anniversary of the public radio program Afropop Worldwide, with host Georges Collinet. "The dapper Cameroonian host's lightly- inflected French accent is so radio perfect, you'd be gripped just to hear him read the Fruit Loops nutrition label." Concierge.com, 5 March 2009., with link to this piece about Collinet's VOA years... "From 1965 until the late nineties, Collinet, now the host of Afropop Worldwide, hosted a hugely popular morning show broadcast by the Voice of America, the country’s international radio service. Every morning 120 million Africans living under socialism tuned in to hear James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Georges Collinet’s motor-mouth ramblings about girls, cars, and life in America. ... VOA’s success was a testament to the power of music and the politics of fun—not what one would expect of a station broadcasting from warships. Brutal dictators like Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea railed against 'this infamous Georges Collinet,' but their peoples couldn’t get enough. Collinet’s first goodwill trip to Mali in 1970 sparked a Beatlemania-style frenzy." Dan Scheuerman, Humanities (NEH), March/April 2008 (both via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) "Living under socialism"? A few African countries professed socialism, but most just labored, non-ideologically, under too much government involvement in the economy. "Broadcasting from warships"? VOA transmitted from one ship, the US Coast Guard Cutter Courier, off the Greek coast, from 1952 to 1964. But the article was correct that Georges Collinet was a major talent and hugely popular in Africa. During the 1980s and early 1990s, I listened, too, to Collinet's "Sound of Soul" program, via the Monitron in the VOA building. He was supporting the hypotheses in my doctoral dissertation, written in 1979, which was about the power of personality in international radio broadcasting. Posted: 09 Mar 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. 6370, WWRB Manchester TN (presumed); 0119, 7 Mar; English fire & brimstone religious program. SIO=333 with ute trill QRM; 2 x // 3185, SIO=554+ (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWRB UPDATES --- Hi Glenn: The weather cleared up for a few days so we installed the microwave antenna, wave guide, heater wiring and lined it all up. This equipment is full commercial Ku-band radio equipment, the same stuff you would find on a cell phone tower used by Verizon & AT&T. It is 300 + pounds; we have to beef up one of the 195 foot high towers here at the WWRB transmitter facility to hang the antenna system. We have our streaming in place Global-1 & Global -2 are now online. Global - 3 & Global- 4 in the next few days. Regards (Dave Frantz, TN, WWRB, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why bother to stream Scare? ** U S A. 3199.4, 3215, 3230.6, WWCR #3 – Nashville, 0818, 3/7/09, in English. “Rock the Universe” with very nice Do Wop [sic], ad for external active antenna, “Rock the Universe on WWCR, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.”, more Do Wop. Symmetrical spurs. Fundamental very good, spurs weak with upper readable and lower barely so (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, Icom R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD) Axually it`s WWCR-1, which is really WWCR-2, but not 3. Checked March 12, the WWCR online program schedules are now dated March 8, but all time conversions are wrong, showing a 6-hour difference between CT and UT as in winter instead of 5 hours! Possibly at least programming info has been updated (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 3230.6, WWCR Nashville TN (presumed); 0547, 7 Mar; English religious program. Weak spur // 3215, S30+ sig (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On another program I heard the preacher tell where the safest place to be when the world ended --- in Southwest Arkansas --- a very specific place (Marlin A. Field, MI, from The Road(s) I`ve Traveled, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) I bet that was the compound of Tony Alámo, who funxioned in that area before going to jail, trial still pending on sex charges. Yes, he`s still on WWCR 15825, checked at 1324 March 12, talking about flying saucers and Satan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955, with R. Prague, March 9 at 1410 talk about ancient bridges over the Vltava; 1415 or so, Magic Carpet music show. Useless dentroCuban jamming continued, but WRMI on top. Running early, 1424 going to irrelevant R. Prague French transmission schedule, 1426 program promos for World Baseball Today (tnx for mentioning WOR therein) and something else; 1427 starting Frecuencia al Día three minutes early; and still jammed at 1441 final check. Strangely enough, RHC`s DX programs in English and Spanish do not get jammed and thus enjoy an unfair advantage. Rechecking 9955 March 9 at 2122, nothing but heavy jamming was audible, the DentroCuban Jamming Command apparently assuming WRMI was on the air with Radio República, which for a few months had started at 2200, and might now with DST start at 2100, except it was cancelled on 9955 at the end of February! WRMI is presumably filling the time with more innocuous English broadcasts from World Radio Network, between 17 and 01 UT weekdays, but WRMI`s online schedule has not been updated since January, so, aside from further changes not yet appearing, one must treat the Eastern times shown as EDT (UT -4) now rather than EST (UT -5). Another check of 9955 the next morning, March 10 at 1422, Prague relay again with VG and steady S9+20 signal way over still-present jamming, discussing new press law. Wish WRMI were this well-heard all the time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: We're still off air 12-8 pm ET [16-24 UT]. We may do another week or so of maintenance while the jammers carry on jamming dead air. Website schedule has been updated. Still a few minor things to change yet (Jeff White, WRMI, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Happy Station revival via WRMI: all this is filed under NETHERLANDS [non] ** U S A [and non]. WBCQ still has a collision problem on 15420, should one wish to listen to the anapaestic Fence Lake preacher between 17 and 19 UT, when BBCWS is also on 15420, 250 kW at 5 degrees via South Africa. Here in OK, March 9 at 1815, found a bad mix but BBC somewhat stronger, and a lo het from slightly off-frequency `BCQ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5110.3/USB, WBCQ Monticello ME; 2335-2358+, 6 Mar; Jean Shepherd on opera; The Planet SID at 2357+. Excellent (in USB); 5110.46, 0147, 8 Mar; Radio Tim-Tron Worldwide. SIO=454 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, New show starts this Monday on WBCQ. Runs Mon-Fri 6-7 pm Eastern on 5110. Show is an alternative news and blues program hosted by Dave vonKleist. Area 51 will follow from 7 to 9 pm. Thanks, (Allan Weiner, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So what is its name? I.e. 22-23 UT Mondays, and then A51 at 2300-0100 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11520, WEWN Vandiver AL; 1204, 8 Mar; English Catholic service with Spanish translation. SIO=353+. Same service // in English on 11510 without the Spanish translation! SIO=152 (EiBi shows WYFR in TG via Kazakhstan on 11510 at 1100. Needless to say, it's not WYFR.) 11510 does not appear on EWTN's web sked (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11510 = 2 x 5755! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 15130, WYFR Spanish, March 11 at 1401, carrier OK, but modulation reduced and distorted, while playing hymn ``Sólo un paseo más cercano conTigo``. That`s a literal translation of the English title, but I have no idea what they really call it in Spanish, which Google translates back to English as ``just a walk nearest you``, while trying it the other way, ``Just a closer walk with Thee`` comes out as ``sólo con un pie más cerca de ti``. If I make it ``solo un paseo mas cerca de ti``, it comes out ``just a walk near you`` --- Google doesn`t quite get it. RHC has a similar but worse modulation problem at same time on 13760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Please note the following changes to the upcoming WYFR A-2009 Frequency Schedule: Del 11855 kHz 222 degrees zone 11 0400-0500 UT Add 7570 kHz 222 degrees zone 11 0400-0500 UT (Evelyn Marcy, WYFR, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NEW BRAZILIAN RADIO STATION HITS THE AIRWAVES By Liz Mineo/Daily News staff, The MetroWest Daily News http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x238204187/New-Brazilian-radio-station-hits-the-airwaves FRAMINGHAM - With the launching of a new radio station hosting only Brazilian radio shows, an American entrepreneur plans to become the nation's largest Brazilian broadcaster in the area. Alex Langer, manager of Langer Broadcasting Group LLC, already owns Framingham-based WSRO 650 AM, which offers mostly Brazilian religious programming to listeners in Framingham, Worcester and Boston. His new radio station, WJOE 700 AM, features a mix of religious and secular programs and aims at reaching a bigger Brazilian audience. Like WSRO 650 AM, it will target the Brazilian community but it'll reach them in western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. WJOE 700 AM, a 2,500-watt station, will be based at a studio on Mount Wayte Avenue. The station will launch next Monday. For Langer, the new venture is an effort to tap into the emerging Brazilian market that has sustained WSRO 650 AM since 2003, when the first Brazilian radio program hit the station's airwaves. More than 12,000 Brazilians live in Framingham, and nearly 50,000 call New England home. "With 650 AM, the Brazilian community has been well served," Langer said "We saw the need and we responded, but we want to continue the franchise. We now may be the largest Brazilian broadcaster in the United States." The new station has already leased most of its airwaves to Brazilian programs, Langer said. The hosts pay $120 per hour to the station and they can charge advertisers for air time. "Brazilians have had a positive effect on Massachusetts," Langer said. "Brazilians work hard, bring business and want the American dream just like all immigrants who come to the United States." Langer hopes Brazilians welcome the new station. Since 2003, they have remained loyal listeners to WSRO and have been key to its success. In the past two weeks, Brazilians from as far as Hartford, Connecticut, and Dudley, Massachusetts have called the new station. A woman who called from Dudley told a radio host she was thrilled to have found a Brazilian station. Where she lives she hardly sees any Brazilian or hears Portuguese on the streets, say Mara Rubia, who hosts programs on both stations. "She said it was like finding light in the darkness," she said. Raquel Coelho of Framingham feels the same way. She listens to WSRO 650 AM whenever she can and she plans to tune to the new station as well. Brazilian radio shows, she said, keep her informed of community events and local news, help fellow men and women in need and provide solace for many. "I love all the programs," she said. "I listen to the radio when I go to work and when I am working. It's the Brazilian community's companion." (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: FLORIDA SHUTS PIRATE RADIO STATION OVER DRUGS, GANGS The Associated Press Posted: Saturday, Mar. 07, 2009 http://www.charlotteobserver.com/weird/story/582759.html (via Sergei S., Moscow, dxldyg via DXLD) A curious report from AP with somewhat misleading headline. First, I thought it's mostly up to the federal authorities (not states) to shut down illegal broadcasters. Second, was the station really busted over its questionable programming or due to the fact that it was unlicensed? According to AP's report, the charges against people who run the station have nothing to do with its content (Sergei S., ibid.) Florida recently passed its own state law allowing pirate-busting, since the problem is rampant and the feds were not doing the job. As to grounds for doing so, I have no idea whether the content was a factor or whether this differs between federal and state (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** VATICAN [and non]. 11850, VR IS at 1413 March 11 with heavy WYFR English 11855 splatter. Caths vs Prots! 1415 VR started up a language but I couldn`t tell what. Per sked folder it`s Urdu, Weds and Suns only; direct from SMG, we know. 5985 with VR IS, weak but clear March 12 at 1313, so what`s coming up? Cannot be direct from SMG at this hour. Continued until brief announcement at 1315, but nothing further heard. So it was the end rather than the beginning of a relay transmission. Per the current VR program folder this is Chinese, starting daily at 1230, so now we also know when it ends! But what`s the site? VR won`t say that either, but HFCC reveals it`s Novosibirsk, RUSSIA, 100 kW, 111 degrees, and // 6020 which is via RVA Philippines. On Saturdays only it`s a mass in Chinese. Also heard DRM noise on 15495-15505 steady at S9+10, 1325 UT March 12. Per Kim, KD9XB, this was a VR test from SMG at 13-14, in preparation for DRM specials to the Winter SWL Fest, March 13 and 14 only during the same hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: VATICAN RADIO TEST FOR THE FEST --- Vatican Radio will test March 12 at 1300-1400 UTC on 15500, either DRM or analog. This will be to test propagation for DRM transmissions to the Winter SWL Fest, March 13 and 14 during the same hour. Reports on reception, posted here, would be welcome (Kim, KD9XB, March 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GUIANA FRENCH 7250, Vatican Radio, Santa Maria di Galeria, Mar 12 0730-0745* Tuned in to OM with news which ended with details of the Pope's coming visits to Angola, Cameroon and Israel. He then gave the web site address, followed by bells of St. Peter's. Pulled the plug at 0745 (Bruce Barker-Broomall, PA. Equipment: NRD 535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Vatican Radio special transmissions for the Holy Father's apostolic trip to Cameroon and Angola (March 17 - 23) http://www.radiovaticana.org/coorpro/entrasmisspec.htm (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. R. Nacional de la RASD, Rabuni, Algeria, 6300, 0702-0718, 3/8/09. Qur’an until 0709, then an Arabic announcer for a while, finally what might be preaching. Signal is moderately strong, muddy, moderate static and high fading. The muddy tone of the signal makes voice barely readable but works fine for music and OK for Qur’an (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. Republic of Yemen Radio, Sana, 9780, 2028-2035, 3/7/09. Arabic commentary on a very weak unintelligible signal with high static. The signal comes and goes above the noise floor (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. Zimbabwe BC Corp., Gweru, 6045, 0738-0741, 3/8/09 discussion in French. Signal is weak but intelligible with moderate fade and high static (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is no indication that the Zimbabwe domestic service broadcasts in French, and this would be rather late for 6045 to propagate, after 9:30 am local, sunrise being 0400 UT. The only transmission scheduled here which might propagate better is KBS via Skelton UK, but that is in Korean. Could you check further? (Glenn to Bill, via DXLD) Basically, it seems Passport has not done me much good in sorting out who I am listening to. I'll check again sometime on the possibly incorrect Zimbabwe signal. It sounded like French which is pretty distinct from most other languages (Bill Holliday, New Braunfels, TX, Old Heathkit SW7800 receiver and two Eavesdropper multiband horizontal trap dipoles, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe Community Radio (5935) website http://www.zicora.com is under construction. It should be available within a week or so (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, March 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. GREAT BRITAIN: 11745, SW Radio Africa; 1831-1847+, 7 Mar; W in English interviewing heavy accented M in English about Zimbabwe's many problems; program name was Heart of the Matter; SWRA ID at 1845 in unknown language and English. SIO=253 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1610 MYSTERY --- The music I was hearing on 1610 kHz on portions of Highway 99 going back and forth to the airport is not Anguilla. Today at noon while returning from a three-day seminar, it was heard cutting through KYIZ-1620 slop on 99 between 272nd St. and Hwy. 509. It was broadcast quality EZ/semi-classical. I have yet to hear any talk. I don't have a clue - church, housing development, who knows. Some day when I have nothing else to do I'll take a loop and a Google map up there and pin it down (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, March 8, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Pete, In addition to the Anguilla-1610 beacon (confirmed with the 6090 kHz parallel), I have also heard a second music station mixing with the TIS jumble after local midnight. It is definitely not the Anguilla beacon, and often competes with Anguilla, and the TIS jumble. This other station is apparently all music (seemingly R&B), and has never been heard to ID. Like you, I have no idea what it is. 73, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA) (C. Crane SWP Slider ultralight), ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWNISTAN: 3975/AM, 0311-0315:30*, 7 Mar; M in English with Liberalese about Reagan & New York problems. SIO=322+, best in USB. Bored ham? (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4440, UNID harmonic; 2317, 0028, 6/7 Mar; C&W music; 1480 x 3 WSRC Fairbluff NC listed as C&W has been reported here recently. They are now WWKO. 3 x 1480 WSPY Geneva IL has also been reported, but listed as nostalgia music (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Usually it`s Spanish 2-way SSB interfering with a broadcast, but now it`s English 2-way SSB exactly matching and interfering with XERTA speaking Spanish on 4800, March 12 at 0609. One of the SSBs was much stronger than the other, and could not make out much except ``A-OK``; maybe military net? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4930: see TURKMENISTAN UNIDENTIFIED. Re: ``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. And what is this? 1730-1745 daily on 11985 to zone 48, 300 kW, 125 degrees from Skelton Zone 48 is East Africa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` A carrier appeared at 0800 on 5875 today (9th) until off sharp at 0805. And 12095 came up about 10 secs late and off sharp at 0810. Both carried continuous MNO guitar music only - no announcements at all. So I guess it's a case of 'watch this space (or frequencies)' to see what eventually happens. Frequency 11985 was tuned at 1730 over weekend, but I heard nothing - the frequency was clear. I'm located about 50 miles south of Skelton (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn! 11985 kHz: nothing heard when checked on Sunday, March 8th at 1730 UT 5875 kHz: On Monday, March 9th on air from 0800-0805 UTC with the well known VTC test music, but without any announcements. O=4 12095 kHz: On Monday, March 9th on air from 0810-0815 UTC with the well known VTC test music, but without any announcements. O=3 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Therefore 5875 and 12095 at least must be reception tests for some possible client, which if implemented would be on those frequencies, but probably for more than 5 minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Patrick Robic checked out these transmissions on 5875 and 12095 yesterday: They contained the usual VTC fill audio. So these are obviously just test transmissions for fieldstrength measurements etc., and the only mystery here is what could be in the pipeline, if anything. Not that these would be the first such tests (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6045: see ZIMBABWE UNIDENTIFIED. 6060, large open carrier from 1335 to 1338* March 11. Most likely Cuba left transmitter for Venezuela on past 1300; stronger than RHC 6000, which is also badly squeezed from both sides at this hour, unlike 6060 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 9555, TURKEY, TRT to Central Asia, MAR 7, 1945 - Tentative really! Mid-Eastern music with an almost tropical feel to it. Most likely Turkey, as non Kor`anic vocal music was always banished out of Saudi Arabia! Also, some awesome Turkish artists such as Sibel Can have a slight sub-tropical Mediterranean flavour to their music! As far as the reception goes, it was better on 9557 kHz in AM Narrow mode to avoid splash from an unID Kor`anic broadcaster on 9550, likely Egypt. That broadcaster was having at 2022 a short interlude on guitar followed by a man who greeted his listeners with two badly accented "Salam Aleikum" (May the peace be with you)! It must have stopped broadcasting to North America shortly afterwards! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why guess Turkey when they aren`t scheduled on 9555 at all, but Saudi Arabia is, and at this time. It could also have been Ethiopia 9560v, but that is supposed to close at 1900. As for Arabic on 9550, that would be FEBA, via Rwanda, certainly not Qur`anic. Suggest you check the online references Aoki, EiBi and HFCC before making wild guesses (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saudi - 9555 is // 9870 and 1521, so quite simple to sort out (at least here in the Northeast). (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 12170, 1751-1755*, 7 Mar; Classical music; off without announcement. Weak (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 85 ft. TTFD + 500 ft. unterminated N-Sish bev, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Must be Cairo concluding English to Africa, 1600-1800, 150 kW, 195 degrees (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 12810, at 1014 4 Feb, R. Exterior de España, YL talk, checked on two receivers, ID; at 1025 strong carrier, mostly silent with some automated numbers read by YL, more active at 1030, same numbers read out, Spanish, SIO 454 (Stephen Howie, London NW9, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. CUBA?? RHC??? 15135, 0018, Spanish, 333, March 9, OM with comments. Mentioned Cuba often. Heard no official ID for this frequency (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing listed except RFA Vietnamese via Saipan, 2330-0030 (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ What a great site! http://www.worldofradio.com Hi. Just got into the hobby. This has to be the best for information and current events. Great reading and listening info. Many thanks (Claiborne Floyd, March 10) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE INN AT TOWAMENCIN Links to the WinterFest are in good condition on WBCQ, FRN Grapevine, and maybe AMFone.net The roster of first floor presentations is nauseating, only a few hours towards the end Saturday, are non-digital or DRM; are Pirate etc. But don`t be dismayed. You can walk past the first floor broadcaster wannabees who nearsightedly push buttons on their ipods and don`t pay attention to you. The 4th floor Timtron/ WBCQ suite is where it`s at. Since Allan Weiner won`t be there things won`t be the very highest, and I won`t be there either so Clande TV B`c`g won`t get its big boost either but you`ll come home after, with plenty of "3D" background for your next year`s news. Almost everyone and anything and anyone in Pennsylvania is in the same game. They practically walk up to you and sniff your shoulder close to figure if you are as poor as a coal miner or have $5,000 cash in your pocket. Either extreme is common enough in Pennsylvania. Just pass muster and pretend to be blandly poor and sensibly nice. You`ll get to tease the socks off of Paul of RadioWorld and Scott Webb, TheRadioInformer all year long for going, yourself. "In order to stay young one must be exposed to almost continual surprises." Book, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir". This is a good warm- up for "Near- Fest" 20 miles from Manchester, NH which is better and cheaper. I wish "Dayton" were practical but it certainly isn`t. We already know who our enemies are, it`s nice to meet friends. Here, Globe magazine and National Enquirer didn`t get the scoop. Maybe they went to NAB (Federic Jodry, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSEA +++++ BLETCHLEY PARK RECEIVES FUNDING Bletchley Park, also known as Station X, is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, UK. Since 1967, Bletchley has been part of Milton Keynes, England. During World War II, Bletchley Park was the site of the United Kingdom's main decryption establishment. Ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted there, most importantly ciphers generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines. The high-level intelligence produced at Bletchley Park, codenamed Ultra, is credited with having provided crucial assistance to the Allied war effort and with having shortened the war, though Ultra's precise influence is still studied and debated. Bletchley Park is now a museum and is open to the public. The main manor house is also available for functions and is licensed for ceremonies. Part of the fees for hiring the facilities are paid into the fund and are another way that support may be given to the Trust. Full details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park Now the good news: MILTON KEYNES COUNCIL ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH ENGLISH HERITAGE IN SECURING BLETCHLEY PARK'S FUTURE The creation of this local and national partnership will provide Bletchley Park with a further £600,000 for critical restoration When English Heritage invested £330,000 for Mansion roof repairs last November, they invited further investment for Bletchley Park by pledging an additional £100,000 a year over the next three years, on condition that the funding was matched by outside partners. Today, Milton Keynes Council formally announced that, thanks to enormous support from the people of Milton Keynes, they will be matching the investment pledged by English Heritage. This means £600,000 will be made available for the essential backlog of maintenance and urgent repairs needed at the WW2 Codebreaking Centre. Chief Executive of English Heritage, Dr Simon Thurley announced, "Bletchley Park is of enormous historical importance and played a vital role in the allies winning the Second World War. A large part of the activity that secured the freedom that Europe now enjoys took place here, and this is why English Heritage is so keen to help. When we announced our initial £330,000 grant last year for urgent roof repairs to the Grade II listed mansion, I laid down the gauntlet by pledging another £100,000 each year over three years if match funding could be found. I am delighted that Milton Keynes Council has pledged this money which will ensure urgent repairs can be made to the historic buildings on the site." Simon Greenish, Director of the Bletchley Park Trust welcomed the announcement as, "Another huge step forward for Bletchley Park. Not only would we like to convey enormous gratitude to Milton Keynes Council and English Heritage for their collaboration and the clear demonstration of their belief in the Trust but, equally importantly, to the people of Milton Keynes for voting to support Bletchley Park in the Milton Keynes Council Budget Consultation. This vital endorsement takes us one step closer to achieving our aim of creating a world- class educational and heritage site reflecting Bletchley Park's crucial contribution to the outcome of WW2 and the Twentieth Century." Cllr Vanessa McPake, the council Cabinet Member responsible for Heritage and Culture, added: "I am delighted that the residents of Milton Keynes agreed that we should support Bletchley Park. In this time of economic downturn more people are likely to be holidaying in the UK, so Bletchley Park has a real role to play in supporting the economy of Milton Keynes, as well as educating us all with their excellent exhibits and special events." VOTE FOR BLETCHLEY PARK AS BUILDING BRITAIN IS MOST PROUD OF! Click here http://www.buildingwithpride.co.uk/ and, if you agree, vote for us! Voting closes Friday 13 March! So please vote and encourage your friends and family to do so too! For further information; visit http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk e-mail info@bletchleypark.org.uk (via Mike Terry, March 12, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see BELGIUM; BULGARIA; GUIANA FRENCH; ++++++++++++++++++++ IRELAND; ITALY; PORTUGAL; VATICAN DTV CONVERSION; see also PROPAGATION abottom; OKLAHOMA above TRANSLATOR PROBLEMS A story this morning on NPR's "Morning Edition" looked at the loss of television programming in some rural communities where translators have been shut down because they have not been upgraded to receive digital stations in areas where analog stations have gone off the air. A town in the mountains of Virginia was used as an example. With the difficult economy some community translator organizations do not have the money to buy the equipment necessary to receive digital signals.? Of course, this doesn't even include converting the translator to transmit in digital. The problem will become even worse when the June 12 deadline arrives. One local resident described trying a DTV box to get programming but got nothing. No surprise there. I wonder what we will find when we go to our cabin in New Mexico this summer. All TV reception is from local community organization translators. It could be a summer of watching programming via skip from Canada and Mexico. Well, I will enjoy that part (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, March 9, WTFDA via DXLD) Cash-strapped translators should just use a consumer STB as input --- assuming there is any DTV signal to capture (gh, DXLD) WRGB-6 & POST-TRANSITION FM AUDIO There was something posted on radio-info a few months ago about WRGB-6 Schenectady, NY considering leaving their analog aural carrier on the air after transitioning to DTV. WRGB's post-transition DTV assignment is also 6 -- they were talking about operating a DTV station and an analog aural transmitter on channel 6 at the same time. If this worked you could count on "LPTV-6-as-radio-station" operations like WNYZ "Pulse 87" NYC to jump on the bandwagon when the FCC eventually forces LPTVs to go digital. At the time I wrote it up to idle speculation being taken too seriously by one of the less-technically-inclined members of that board. The same idea has now appeared in a rather more technically- oriented forum -- the pages of "TV Technology" magazine. Fred Lass, Director of Engineering at WRGB, is quoted as having a plan to leave the station's analog aural signal on the air. Lass says "We think that it's possible to operate with a vertically polarized analog FM audio carrier when we go back to ch. 6 for DTV. That signal {the DTV signal - ds} will be horizontally polarized, of course, and there should be enough cross pol isolation to make it work." Lass goes on to say they're thinking of applying for an experimental license to cover such operation. Personally, I disagree vehemently with Mr. Lass's belief that there will be enough cross-polarization loss to keep the analog audio signal from interfering with the DTV. **In theory**, he's probably right -- the vertically-polarized analog signal would be so poorly received on a horizontally-polarized TV antenna that it's quite likely it wouldn't interfere with the horizontally-polarized digital TV signal. But in practice, an awful lot of viewers' receiving antennas are NOT horizontally polarized. When's the last time you've seen a set of rabbit ears laid out horizontally? (heck, on a lot of indoor antennas it's *physically impossible* to lay them out horizontally - they simply won't tilt that far down) Even if the antenna *is* laid out horizontally, there are enough other conductive objects nearby that the actual polarization response is nearly impossible to predict. TV receiving antennas are *supposed* to be horizontally-polarized, but in the real world most of them aren't. I think in the real world, digital TVs are going to be seeing a LOT of signal from the analog FM transmitter. And they aren't going to like it (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA via DXLD) WYLE-26 DELETED: 1 DAY OF TEST PATTERN DOESN'T COUNT AS "BROADCASTING" http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-576A1.txt WYLE-26 Florence, Alabama (and their DTV permit) has been canceled. The station told the FCC they suspended operations for economic reasons on Feb. 8, 2007. They returned the station to the air on Feb. 3, 2008, and operated it for 24 hours before turning it off again. The Communications Act requires the FCC to cancel the license of any station that fails to broadcast -- remains off the air -- for over a year. WYLE felt their 24 hours of operation on Feb. 3, 2008 would allow them to keep their license. The FCC asked for clarification -- what type of programming did WYLE run during their 24 hours of operation on February 3rd? Their response was "a test pattern". (presumably color bars with a station ID superimposed) The Video Division ruled that 24 hours of color bars does not constitute "broadcasting" in the sense Congress intended when they amended the Communications Act. They canceled the WYLE analog license and DTV permit. The station does still have the right to appeal the decision to the full Commission. One must assume there has since been another 24 hours of color bars, or another year of non-operation would have expired a bit more than 30 days ago. I have not seen WYLE in several years (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, March 12, WTFDA via DXLD) Bravo to the FCC. Maybe someone who can actually put programming on the air will get a licence for this channel now. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) Sounds good in theory; in practice, it will probably be a good few years before channel 26 (or DTV 20) in northern Alabama is lit up again - the owners of WYLE are sure to appeal the license revocation, and that will take a few years to sort out. And even if they still lose on appeal, it will be a few years beyond that for the FCC to get around to auctioning the channel. If the goal is to have somebody actually putting programming on the channel, the quicker way to do it would have been to grant WYLE's application to sell the license as a "failed station" to crosstown WHDF-15. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) o Gary Stigall of SBE Chapter 36 has put together a terrific story entitled, "Lessons Learned During the San Diego DTV Transition." It is available here: http://tinyurl.com/SDdtvTransition o Gary says he's a real evangelist for the "Terrestrial Digital 91XG" UHF receiving antenna. It has high gain AND excellent front-to-back ratio (28 dB): http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=TD-91XG o If your viewer also needs a high-gain/high-band (CH-7 to 13) VHF antenna, Gary recommends the following Winegard: http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=YA1713 o "What will you do with your free White Space?" That's the aggressive theme of this White Space page: http://tinyurl.com/FreeWhiteSpaces o NAB, MSTV sue to overturn FCC's White Space decision: http://tinyurl.com/WhiteSpacesSuit KPBS-TV, SAN DIEGO, TO CONTINUE IN ANALOG UNTIL JUNE 12 KPBS-TV's plans to shut off its analog transmitter early -- well before the June 12 deadline -- have changed. According to the station's Website, "KPBS will continue to simulcast all programs until our analog channel is turned off on June 12." A KPBS insider put it this way: "In the end, we decided that the cash cost to keep the [analog] transmitter on was outweighed by the needs of our audience (many of which are still "unready households") and the increasing demands by the FCC to run even more DTV education spots if we sign-off early..." The letter also mentioned that fundraising could be impacted by an early analog shutdown. http://www.kpbs.org/tv/digital_television RADIO NEWS BRIEFS o There is a looming danger of "digital host interference" if and when HD Radio transmitter power is cranked up: http://www.rwonline.com/article/75498 o Radio magazine's Digital Radio Update has a fascinating look at HD Radio (IBOC) penetration figures in a story entitled, "Eye on IBOC:" http://tinyurl.com/IBOCReach COMMENT ON HD RADIO I am the Engineering Manager of a Los Angeles area AM & FM combo and have nothing good to say about AM HD Radio and little positive for FM HD. The systems are seriously flawed and cause a host of problems including serious adjacent channel interference. Fundamentally, HD Radio needs to be aborted, and the last thing it needs is a power increase. In its place, at least for FM, I'd deploy FMeXtra because it's a good spectral neighbor and it's inexpensive. It's time we station engineers spoke up despite being muzzled. HD Radio is just plain bad science. Name withheld upon request (all: CGC Communicator March 9 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Might be a new manager for the Citadel stations. KLAC 570, KSPN 710, and KABC 790 all suddenly have no HD the past week or so. Though I partially agree with him (HD on AM being not well-developed and suitable for the band), this shows how one managerial person can "take away" the listening quality for a whole region of millions of people at the wave of a magic wand. Citadel disliked analog stereo as well. Too bad there's no real focus on the offering of good-quality complex- audio capability and decent programming to go along with it; even though, unlike TV, audio is THE one and only single medium by which the listener is reached. I predict that within 10 years, we'll just have an AM band comprised of a collection of narrow-bandwidth "no-frills" monaural stations. iBOC-AM will be long-gone, at the expense of the previous C-QuAM, which in many cases was formerly quoted by CE's as to have been sacrificed TO make way for iBOC, or was discontinued due to some made- up reason (coverage, no receivers, downgrade from stereo to mono STL, etc.). Digital radio for mediumwave should have been designed by broadcast engineers banding together. That probably would never have happened, though, as their majority are not necessarily interested in emphasizing stereophonic or complex audio capabilities of mediumwave broadcast anymore, so would not have taken time to develop a system among themselves - and the likes of iBiquity would have made it nearly impossible by drowning out any of their ideas, with the blessing of the FCC, too (Darwin Long, CA, March 10, ABDX via DXLD) Three different owners: KLAC is Clear Channel, KSPN is Disney and KABC is Citadel. It's been Citadel policy for a while now not to run AM IBOC at night, but CC and Disney use it 24/7 unless there's some technical reason not to. KSPN is going through a ton of engineering changes: they just moved into new studios at the ESPN Zone restaurant next to the Staples Center, and they're tearing down the historic KMPC transmitter building in the Valley and replacing it with a nondescript new building with a new transmitter inside, so perhaps their lack of HD has something to do with those moves. I have no idea about KLAC. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) KSPN isn't very far along in their project yet. They have put a fence around the site of the new building, and covered it with green cloth to keep the lookie-loos away. So it's kind of hard to tell what's going on behind the curtain, but I don't think they've done much more than the foundation work. I doubt that anything they are doing would affect IBOC - unless they are having technical issues that they don't want to bother fixing until the new building and transmitter are up (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) But it's still possible - likely, even - that the studio move, which is evidently much farther along than the transmitter reconstruction, might have an effect on their IBOC or lack thereof. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) I have heard conflicting reports; is the iBOC encoding done on the studio-end of the STL with the compressed data fed over the STL to the exciter out at the transmitter, or is the entire encoding and compression process done in the exciter itself from analog audio inputs fed by the STL outputs? You're right - KLAC is still CCU. I mistakenly thought that KSPN was now Citadel, bought from ABC - Disney in 2006. Also, KSPN did the on- day, off-night schedule (per Citadel's policy) , while KDIS 1110 runs iBOC 24-7. However, KSPN dumps nearly all night signal southward out to sea, so interference doesn't seem to be a reason for a daytime-only schedule. Wonder if KDWN had anything to do with it, even though they're in the "back-door" null, and also switched to a day-only iBOC schedule. KABC and KSPN both simultaneously shut off iBOC on 2/24 and have been straight-quadrature since (no real loss, though they both had good- sounding stereo audio - not as "gritty" as KNX or KDIS sounds). (Darwin Long, ibid.) Yes, absolutely :-) As with so much IBOC-related, the answer is, "it depends." For FM, the encoding is done with two components, an "importer" and an "exporter," and it's common to have one of those pieces at the studio. For AM, the encoding is generally done at the transmitter itself - but there are still reasons why a studio move might affect the use of IBOC. There's that 8.4-second analog delay (to match the IBOC delay), and that's often done at the studio end so it can be turned off during live events --- which means you have to have two STL paths, one for analog, one for HD. Maybe they don't have the second path up yet. I can ask. The ABC/Citadel split was confusing, wasn't it? Citadel got all the "ABC Radio" stations - WABC/WPLJ in NYC, WMAL/WRQX/WJZW in DC, WLS/WZZN in Chicago, WJR/WDVD in Detroit, KGO/KSFO in San Francisco, WBAP/KSCS/KTYS in Dallas, WKHX/WYAY in Atlanta, KQRS/Love 105 in Minneapolis, and KABC/KLOS in Los Ángeles. (I'm sure there are a couple I missed there.) Disney kept all the ESPN Radio and Radio Disney O&Os, including KSPN and KDIS in LA. But in several markets, that meant there were buildings housing stations owned by Citadel *and* stations owned by Disney. So in LA, KSPN and KDIS ended up as tenants renting space from KABC/KLOS in their facility on La Ciénega --- at least until they completed the new studios at the ESPN Zone. I'm pretty sure ESPN stations are still renting space from ABC in New York and Dallas. Chicago and San Francisco are special cases - the buildings belong to ABC-TV, and KGO radio, WLS radio and their sister stations were paying rent to ABC-TV even when they were all co-owned. In the particular case of LA, it's my understanding that the Citadel/KABC-KLOS folks and the Disney/KSPN-KDIS folks maintained a good working relationship even after the ownership split, so there were no doubt moments where one side helped out the other with engineering issues. But that doesn't explain why KSPN wasn't doing IBOC at night. It certainly wasn't a question of "continuing" old-ABC corporate policy into the Citadel era, because the decision to not run IBOC at night was made by Citadel's people (specifically, corporate engineering director Martin Stabbert) only after the FCC approved nighttime AM IBOC, which was well after the Citadel/ABC split, and thus would not have affected KSPN at all. Instead, I suspect (and can ask, if anyone's curious) that the reason had to do with KSPN's DA-N antenna system. It may well be that KSPN's old phasor isn't wideband enough to handle IBOC when 710 goes directional after dark. Since they're getting a new phasor when they rebuild, it will no doubt be designed to handle nighttime IBOC. (Whether or not you're a fan of AM IBOC, that's still just good engineering practice - a broadband phasor is a happy phasor.) I have no idea why KABC would have shut off IBOC. Citadel is said to have adopted a quiet internal policy that AM IBOC gear won't be fixed (or at least won't get any priority on the "stuff that needs fixing" list) if it breaks. Maybe something broke as KSPN was in the process of moving out? s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) It would probably depend on where the processing is done, and whether they process the IBOC stream differently than the analog. If the processing were being done at the studio end and two separate streams were being sent to the transmitter, then the studio changes would definitely affect IBOC. I assumed that the reason they didn't use IBOC at night was because of the increased difficulty of tuning the 3-tower array, though that's just a guess. They did run it at night briefly, so they may have solved those problems. I never did understand though why KDIS runs it 24/7, while KSPN does not. All I know is that I get much more interference from them when IBOC is on. I need to pay more attention to the audio on KABC's IBOC. KFWB and KNX drive me nuts, but I don't recall if KABC sounded better or not. KABC's analog audio has always been much better than most AM stations - stereo or not. I'm just curious. Do you know what kind of STL they use for KSPN? There is a satellite dish in back of the building, but there are other antennas around too. I'm curious how they would get the signal from downtown L.A. to the Valley. I would guess it's either satellite, two- hops via Mt. Wilson, or some form of telco link, since there is no line of sight path between the two locations (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ TWISTED RADIO BEAMS New Scientist has an article on twisted radio beams which could provide a new way to encode information onto radio transmissions. The article says experiments to generated twisted radio beams have been carried at the HAARP site in Alaska. Read the article - Twisted radio beams could untangle the airwaves - at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16591-twisted-radio-beams-could-untangle-the-airwaves.html (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2009/twisted_radio_beams.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Hmmm, very interesting, not circular or helical polarization, but OAM, "orbital angular momentum`` as explained in a reply (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE REVERSE BEACON NETWORK I'm writing to this group in an effort to recruit more users and contributors for a unique new institution on the amateur bands, the Reverse Beacon Network. For those of you who already know about us, my apologies for repeating, but please scroll down to learn about a neat new on-line capability we've just activated - the Signal Comparison Tool. PY1NB and I started this project just about a year ago. The basic idea is this. Instead of transmitting a signal as normal beacons do, "reverse beacons" listen to all of a given amateur band and report the CW stations they hear, their frequencies and signal strength (actually, the signal-to-noise ratio) to a web site The web site displays the paths being reported in near real time on a world map, and offers a variety of searches and other useful ways of manipulating the data. During the recent ARRL CW DX Contest, in 48 hours the existing network of about a dozen reverse beacons reported over 125,000 spots. "Isn't that enough?", you may ask. Currently, there are reverse beacons only in North America and Western Europe. The majority are on this side of the Atlantic. We lack reverse beacons in Japan, China, VK/ZL, Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America, and there aren't enough yet in either Europe or North America to afford full coverage of all the open bands all the time. If you'd like to start by sampling the reverse beacon network's capabilities as a user, just go to http://skimmer.dxwatch.com The first thing you will see is a zoom-able map displaying the last few minutes' spots, and a list of the spots. In the right margin you'll see a list of reverse beacons currently on-line, with the bands they are reporting on. If a band is open between your QTH and Europe, you can get on that band, call CQ for a minute, and then see which reverse beacons hear you and how strong you are. You can search the database for spots of or by a particular station, or by country or zone. You'll also note the banner about our new Signal Comparison Tool. Follow the link, enter a date, enter up to 10 stations' callsigns, and select a band at one of the reverse beacons that was active on that day. Click Go! and you'll see a list of all the spots of those stations reported by that reverse beacon. You can easily compare your signal with your friends and competitors, or see when the band opened and closed on a given day, or review the action from last weekend's contest. We hope that you'll be interested in being more than just another user, though, and want to join the network. What do you need to become a reverse beacon? The basic requirement is a software-defined receiver, such as the SDR-IQ, SoftRock, Perseus, QS-1R or Mercury, which many people already have. This is coupled with the CW Skimmer software developed by VE3NEA which amazingly decodes all the CW it hears across an entire amateur band, validates the callsigns and serves up a list of "spots". A small freeware program written by PY1NB then provides the link between CW Skimmer and the skimmer.dxwatch.com web-site. The PY1NB software, called the Aggregator, transmits spot data to the reverse beacon web site without requiring you to open your firewall or, in fact, to change your computer's setup at all. Do you incur any particular obligation by participating? No, not at all. Membership in the reverse beacon network is constantly changing as reverse beacon stations connect and disconnect. SWLs can continue their usual listening activities, but may choose to leave their receivers on, scanning the ham bands, while they are at work or otherwise occupied. Hams could do the same, only putting their SDRs on the bands when they are not actively operating. Where's the rub? Well, CW Skimmer is shareware. A full-featured 30-day test version is available from but after that you would have to pay a registration fee in order to keep it operating. My somewhat prejudiced view is that once you've tried it, you will decide it is well worth the cost, both for the reverse beacon network and as a tool for your DXing, contesting or SWLing. However, I am talking with Alex about the possibility of his writing a special limited reverse beacon version of Skimmer, and possibly allowing CW Skimmer to continue to operate in reverse beacon mode after the 30-day trial period has elapsed. I should emphasize that Alex is under no obligation to do this -- he is a professional software developer with his own objectives to consider -- but I am hopeful we can persuade him. If you would like to try your hand as a reverse beacon station operator, as we hope you will, go to and take a look at the "getting started" tutorial. Download the free trial version of CW Skimmer, download the "aggregator", start them both up and you're ready to go. Soon your station will be displaying the stations it has heard on the Reverse Beacon Network. And of course, Felipe and I stand ready to answer any questions or help you get started. Give it a try - I really think it will add a new dimension to your radio experience. Thanks for reading this! 73, (Pete N4ZR Smith, the World Contest Station Database is back, and updated daily http://www.conteststations.com HCDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Re: AIRPLANES DISRUPT DTV Commercial flights into and out of Topeka don't exist (KCI is easy to get to) but we do get some small planes overhead going into a local airport. I haven't seen any impact on my DTV reception as a result. I do recall the summer of 1966 when I took some summer courses at San Francisco State College. We lived a block from the coast in Pacifica west of the hills. They would be mountains in Kansas. The only time I could get channel 42 from Concord was when planes from San Francisco International Airport went over providing a few seconds of signal. At the time the only other UHF station in the Bay Area was KSAN-32 and I think I was the only viewer as nobody I ever talked to including a guy running a TV shop even knew it existed (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have friends that live in an apartment complex in Omaha, NE who have airplane drop-out problems. The second floor apartment has a north- south orientation --- units all around and above except south [small balcony area]. Airport is east of them as are DTV locals [about 3- 5miles].They get all but Council Bluffs 33 DTV, also east. Every time a plane passes over, they get tiling/drop-out on whatever channel they're watching. They are using an amplified indoor antenna. Airplane Scatter [AS] can produce momentary ghosting with no signal loss but mess up the digital stream. They love the picture quality but the drop-out is annoying (Jim Pizzi. 15 m ESE of Rochester, NY, WTFDA via DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels during 02 - 07 March. A weak sudden impulse occurred at 0602 UTC on 03 March in response to a discontinuity in the solar wind observed at ACE at 0451 UTC. ACE solar wind velocities increased from 314 km/s at 03/0450 UTC to 413 km/s at 03/1559 UTC. During this period, interplanetary magnetic field Bz values varied from -5 nT at 03/0627 UTC to 9 nT at 03/1229 UTC. Solar wind velocities at ACE decreased to an average of 370 km/s at 03/1928 UTC and continued through 07/0358 UTC. On 08 March, geomagnetic field activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels, with minor to major storm periods at high latitudes, due to a recurrent enhancement in solar wind speed and the interplanetary magnetic field. During this period, solar wind velocities at ACE increased from 301 km/s at 07/2239 UTC to 457 km/s at 08/1855 UTC. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 11 MARCH - 06 APRIL 2009 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to increase to high levels during 14 - 18 March. Normal flux levels are expected during the rest of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominantly quiet levels through 12 March. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 13 - 14 March with a chance for minor to major storm periods at high latitudes due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream. Mostly quiet activity is expected for the rest of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Mar 10 2252 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Mar 10 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Mar 11 70 5 2 2009 Mar 12 70 5 2 2009 Mar 13 70 15 4 2009 Mar 14 70 12 3 2009 Mar 15 70 5 2 2009 Mar 16 70 5 2 2009 Mar 17 70 5 2 2009 Mar 18 70 5 2 2009 Mar 19 70 5 2 2009 Mar 20 70 5 2 2009 Mar 21 70 5 2 2009 Mar 22 70 5 2 2009 Mar 23 70 5 2 2009 Mar 24 70 5 2 2009 Mar 25 70 5 2 2009 Mar 26 70 5 2 2009 Mar 27 70 5 2 2009 Mar 28 70 5 2 2009 Mar 29 70 5 2 2009 Mar 30 70 5 2 2009 Mar 31 70 5 2 2009 Apr 01 70 5 2 2009 Apr 02 70 5 2 2009 Apr 03 70 5 2 2009 Apr 04 70 5 2 2009 Apr 05 70 5 2 2009 Apr 06 70 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1451, DXLD) ###