DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-040, May 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 1460, May 13-19 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 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 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1461 starting here?] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 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 ** ALGERIA [and non]. PEDRO MONINO: 891 kHz IS OFF THE AIR !!!!!!!!! Our Good Friend Pedro Monino living in Mallorca (Baleares) reports the RTA Alger transmitter operating in 891 kHz on MW is off the AIR after 1800 till 0600 UT. So on 891 kHz it is possible to listen to RADIO SIM from Portugal 10 kW TX located at Vila Moura !!! Any one may control what is going on 891 kHz ????? OM Argelia 891 de OM: Hola a todos, Hace tiempo que lo quiero comentar y siempre se me ha quedado en el tintero, resulta que desde hace unas semanas el 891 de OM está vacío aquí en Mallorca; hasta ahora se oía con señal local uno de los programas de la radio nacional argelina, pero se ve que han debido de cerrar el transmisor. Eso ha dado pie a poder sintonizar una emisora portuguesa por las noches. Buen DX, Pedro From: http://www.hermanboel.eu/emwg/online-mw1.htm 891 kHz ALG - Alger Chaîne 1, Alger (600*) - 24h: Arabic transmissions, (*: 0600-1800: 600 kW, 1800-0600: 300kW) AZE - Azerbaijani Radio 1, Baku (?) ETH - Radio Ethiopia, ? (?) HOL - Radio 538, Hulsberg (20) - current hits IRN - IRIB 1, ? (?) LSO - Lesotho National Broadcasting Service, Maseru (100) - 0300-2100 NIG - Osun State Broadcasting Service, Osu (?) - 0500-2300 POR - Rádio Sim (R. Renascença group), Vila Moura (10) - 24h RUS - Radio Yunost, Petrozavodsk (5-10?) - 0300-2200 TUR - TRT-1, Antalya (600) - 0400-0800 Here in Milano at 0010 UT on 891 kHz I get signal from RADIO 538 from Netherlands with popmusic, Dutch talks http://www.radio538.nl/web/show (Dario Monferini, http://www.playdx.com May 12, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. 11775 missing at 1346 check May 11, and also at 1331 check May 12, tho some DentroCuban jamming pulses were audible against nothing since R. Martí uses 11775 only at 0000-0300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. DIGITAL RADIO SWITCH ON DATES The Australian commercial radio industry is set to launch digital broadcasting in five capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in May 2009, creating a new wave of consumer interest and excitement about this well-loved medium. Commercial digital radio services are expected to be switched on in each city from the dates below barring any weather delays. For the first 10 -14 days services might be on low power at night as any potential interference to television services is addressed. Perth - 4 May Melbourne - 11 May Adelaide - 18 May Brisbane - 25 May Sydney - 30 May ABC and SBS are expected to commence digital services throughout June. Please continue to check this website – information will be regularly updated. http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/ Cheers (John Smith, Brisbane, May 11, ARDXC via DXLD) John, Who is going to buy digital radios? The featured radio - MP53 (Roberts Radio) is shown as being $999. Even the Sangean DPR-99 DAB+ Radio shown at http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/mp3_players/sangean/dpr-99_dab_radio/298658 has a listed price of $279 (Wayne Bastow, ibid.) I'm interested to see if I can pull the Sydney services from here, but not interested enough to spend that sort of cash. No doubt prices will come down when the obligatory fleecing of the early adopters is finished. I'd say the take up will be slow, unless the content is more compelling than what people can get elsewhere. In terms of programming, there's enough on my internet radio to keep me going for quite a while yet, even if the audio quality isn't up to the DAB+ standard. 10000+ stations on tap from any country. Best thing I ever bought. If the commercial DAB outlets are anything like their AM/FM equivalents, it will be lowest common denominator stuff. Rgds (Craig Seager, ibid.) G'day folks, I bought a Roberts Ecologic 4 FM/DAB+ $299 from Harvey Norman on the Gold Coast last weekend and I'm ready to try it here in Brisbane next week. The Roberts is quite a decent size radio and has the stereo speakers and comes with a mains lead, they say it will go for 150hrs on 6 (D) cell batteries. Listening to Nova 106.9 in Brisbane, RDS gives you, station name - freq - genre' - scrolling artist and song name - time - date. Quality on FM sounds pretty good so DAB+ should be ????? http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1019&special=radios&Product_ID=1020 http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/Robertsroberts-roberts-ecologic-4-review-153305-1104.html Actually Roberts sells virtually the same radio WM202 with WIFI / Wired internet as well for $499 http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1019&special=radios&Product_ID=1021 Cheers (John Smith, Brisbane, ibid.) ** BAHAMAS. Re 9-039: ``BAHAMAS BROADCASTING MINISTER SAYS ZNS NEEDS RESTRUCTURING - It will have to determine whether to retain or divest its other two branded stations, Power 104.5FM and Inspiration Station (1240 AM/107.9FM), he said. (Source: Bahama Journal) (May 7th, 2009 - 16:37 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD)`` Didn't someone confirm that the 1240 transmitter croaked a while back and this service ceased? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Anyhow it probably still exists on paper, possibly reactivable; still on FM anyway? BTW, looking at the BAHAMAS map in the new Emisoras de FM, we see zero FM stations on most of the islands. Just some in Nassau, New Providence; Freeport, Grand Bahama; and one station each on Abaco and Eleuthera (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.74, Radio Santa Cruz, 0916-0930 May 12, Haven't heard this well enough to report in recent days, but with music and Spanish comments, noted a fair signal here today from Radio Santa Cruz. Had to notch out the Brazilian located on 6135 however. At 0920 after some music, a male comments mentioning "Santa Cruz" often. A recheck at 1017 produced a good signal (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, Watkins Johnson HF1000, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. New 5044.95, 0230-0240 09.05, R. Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá, SP (tentative), Portuguese talk, reactivated with 1 kW according to Adalberto Azevedo, Brazil 15131. A very weak carrier, but no audio was also heard at 0050 on 10-05 (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Tive a oportunidade de fazer algumas escutas de alguns harmônicos de emissoras jamais sintonizadas na faixa de ondas médias. 3060, 07/05 0042, R. Continental, Coronel Freitas/SC, "A melhor programação do oeste catarinense você encontra aqui" (3x1020) 25222 3080, 06/05 2248, R. Nova Piravevê, Ivinhema/MS, mx típica de festa junina, hora certa (2x1540) 25232 3100, 06/05 2253, UNID, ?, px rlg IPDA 25232 3140, 06/05 2300, R. Cidade, Aparecida do Taboado/MS, jingle "Cidade AM, 1570" (2x1570) 25232 (Ivan Dias, Sorocaba-SP, Brasil, Receptor RFSpace SDR-IQ, Loop Welbrok ALA1530S+ Rotor Philips SDW1850/17, Faseador JPS ANC-4, @tividade DX May 10 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Brasil 5000 – Campinas -SP. A Rádio Brasil 5000, de Campinas-SP, que opera em 4785 kHz, que estava provisoriamente inativa, devido a queima de uma válvula do tanque final de saída de seu transmissor, já retornou ao ar, pois foi captada pelo Manuel Mendéz de Lugo, na Espanha, do dia 17 de abril de 2009, quando ele mencionou ter ouvido claramente o locutor fazendo comentários em português (@tividade DX May 10 via DXLD) Where does the `5000` come from? In WRTH 2009 it`s just ``Radio Brasil``, but in DSWCI DBS 2009 it`s ``Radio Brasil 5000``, as also in the March 1 Brazilian tropical band list from @tividade DX. Adding the 5000 certainly makes the name more distinctive than plain old Radio Brasil, but why 5000? Axually the 5000 is nothing new; Googling, we found a listing of that way as far back as 1996: http://ftp.braillnet.cz/hamradio/tropical.txt Here`s Manuel Méndez` original report of that date: ``BRASIL 4785, Radio Brasil, Campinas, Sao Paulo (probable), 2228-2235, 17-04, comentarios en portugués, locutor. 15321. (Méndez)`` Note it was a level-one S and O signal, he was able to identify nothing but the language and calls it ``probable``. From this it has grown to the definite info as in @tivivade DX. What about the other Brazilian listed on 4785, with 10x the power, Radio Caiari, Rondônia --- is it definitely off the air? DBS says it was last reported in October 2007. And Radio Ribamar, another one on 4785 in WRTH, shown as *inactive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Radio Brasil Central, 11815 fair with deep fades, ``Acontece na Madrugada`` mentioned as soon as I tuned in, May 12 at 0535, apparently program title, ``It Happens in the Wee Hours``, phone number in Goiânia, 0538 timecheck for ``duas horas, 37 minutos `` --- so nice to hear some genuine live local programming from Brasil in the nightmiddle instead of gospel huxters. I was about to label this ``OBOB`` --- only Brazilian on band in my log shorthand, as Bandeirantes missing from 11925, but then at 0539 I found 11765 also in with the IPDA wacko, strangely interrupted for ``2:40`` timecheck from studio announcer, het from 11760 NHK if not RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Glenn, Here is a ground-level photo of the R. Bandeirantes site in São Paulo, which I took in early 2006. These 4 towers are shared by R. Bandeirantes (840) and R. São Paulo (960). Each of the two stations uses a pair of the towers at opposite sides of the approximate parallelogram, a fairly unusual arrangement. And, at the time of my visit to the site, R. Bandeirantes was operating on 3 HF frequencies, but I didn't take any photos of the HF antennas, which are off to the right in this view (Ben Dawson, WA, caption, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMEROON. 6005, 1350 25 April, Cameroons RT, flute heralding world news in English, 34333 (Dzever Ishenge, Nigeria, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Buea ** CANADA. NO FREE PASS FOR CBC ON COST-CUTTING EXERCISE --- Already facing a $171-million shortfall, Ottawa asks public broadcaster to trim another $50-million in budget fat JENNIFER DITCHBURN The Canadian Press, May 11, 2009 at 6:08 PM EDT OTTAWA — The Conservative government is kicking the CBC when it's down by asking it to look for another $50-million in potential cuts to its budget, say advocates for the public broadcaster. The CBC is facing a $171-million shortfall this year, cutting 800 full-time jobs and reducing programming. Like other broadcasters, it's struggling with falling ad revenues, increasingly fragmented TV audiences and expensive technological changes. And it has received word it must look for another $50-million that it could either cut or redirect. “It is outrageous that the government would consider cutting funding at a time when Parliament is grappling with a major crisis in the media industry,” the Canadian Media Guild said in a statement. “It's also happening just as the CBC is trying to find ways to reinstate some local services affected by this spring's cut.” . . . http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090511.wPOLcbc0511/EmailBNStory/politics/home (via Dale Rothert, DXLD) Note from Dale: Wonder how much more they can cut and still have a broadcaster? (via DXLD) ** CANADA. Glenn. (em particular), Imagino o curto tempo que o colega tem devido a seus importantes monitoramentos. Assim, se houver alguma possibilidade, gostaria que o colega me ajudasse na ID da minha escuta da CFRX Toronto que fiz no dia 02/May. Desculpe pela gravação ruim, mas foi através de um gravador cassete. Segue o link: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/4776052/ : UNIDENTIFIED, probable CFRX Toronto in English, 6070 kHz, at 0451 UT, on 05/02. Fico muito grato por incluir comentários e logs meus em seu importante boletim. Sinto-me na obrigação de dizer que passei a escrever os meus logs em inglês para facilitar o entendimento dos colegas dexistas do exterior e os leitores do seu boletim. Muito obrigado (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jorge, Yes, it is CFRX (not CRFX). Around the middle, they mention a phone number starting with area code 905, which is Toronto, and a few seconds from the end of the clip there is an ID for ``It`s one o`clock. This is CFRB...``. You will never hear an ID for CFRX itself, the shortwave relay. 73, (Glenn to Jorge, via DXLD) 6070, 05/02 0451, CFRX, English, from Toronto, with 1 kW, reference to financial crisis in Canada, lively presentation the OM and YL, several references to Canada, QRM from Radio Anhanguera on 6080 kHz, 23332. Agradecimento pela ID a Glenn Hauser (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA-Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. The following stations from Canada broadcast on the MW X- Band: 1610 kHz, CHHA, Toronto. This community radio station identifies itself as Radio Voces Latinas, and broadcasts in Spanish and English to the GTA. (I have a grade 12 student in my school who is a weekend DJ on CHHA, and she is very excited about the future of this radio station and its outreach to the Latin community.) 1610 kHz, CJWI, Montreal. Operated by CPAM Radio Union, this French speaking station broadcasts to ethnic minorities, with an emphasis on the Haitian community. 1630 kHz, CHYW, Ottawa. This is a TIS station, giving flight info for the Ottawa International Airport (MacDonald-Cartier). 1650 kHz, CINA, Mississauga. South Asian Programming is the aim of this GTA station, with a lot of Bollywood hits and music reminiscent of the old Radio India station. 1650 kHz, CJRS, Montreal. Known as Radio Shalom, many believe that the call letters stand for “Canadian Jewish Radio Station”. During Jewish high holy days, the station turns into a French gospel-music format. 1670 kHz, CJEU, Gatineau (Hull). Perhaps one of the more unique stations on the X-band, “Radio Enfant” is a station dedicated to children’s programming (including children announcers and news items). 1690 kHz, CJLO, Montreal. This new station operates from Concordia University with music and related university programming. Their slogan is “Concordia’s Underground Radio.” 1690 kHz, CHTO, Toronto. Calling itself “Toronto Multicultural Radio”, this station broadcasts programs in Greek, along with a number of other southern European languages (Joe Robinson, VA3MRF, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CHINA. REPORTS VARY ON DEATH OF SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL Vivian Wu, 2009 2 20, South China Morning Post A senior military official in charge of the mainland's satellite and strategic missile radio network has died in his office amid conflicting accounts of the circumstances. Zhang Shengli, 52, chief of the National Radio Administration Bureau, died in his office on Tuesday afternoon after an "accident", mainland media reported. But a Hong Kong-based human rights group said he had committed suicide. The website of financial magazine Caijing published a story yesterday saying Zhang had died while "falling down steps after having lunch at a staff canteen". Quoting an unnamed official from the bureau's supervisor, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the report said Zhang might have been mentally exhausted because of a long illness. The official also said Zhang had not exhibited any unusual behaviour and that his death was accidental. "Judicial authorities are investigating the cause of his death, and the conclusions will be released and announced quickly," the report quoted the official as saying. But according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Zhang killed himself in his office with an overdose of sleeping pills. Quoting unnamed sources, the centre said that "Zhang was found dead and pills were found near his body". "Because of his involvement in China's military radio administration and huge access to confidential information, his death generated major anxiety among the authorities and his body was stored in a secret place only known by several bureau deputy chiefs," the centre said. Internet discussion of the death had been shut down by yesterday. A spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed Zhang's death, but refused to disclose the cause. "We are waiting for the final conclusion on [investigation into] the cause of death from the authorities and the hospital, but no information is available now," a Mr Wang said, refusing to give his full name. Zhang was appointed bureau chief in 2004 when it came under the Ministry of Information Technology and retained the position after the bureau became part of the new Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in March last year. Zhang was known in the media as the man in charge of radio frequency allocations, satellite tracking and monitoring, radio station supervision, and co-ordination between civilian and military radio. He was quoted several times on the mainland on radio communications security in Beijing, particularly surrounding Olympic venues during last year's Games. The bureau's website says his last official appearance was a meeting with British representatives about radio administration during the Games (via VR2BG via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Was he at HFCCs? (gh) ** CHINA [and non]. At 0015-0110, Sunday 10.05, Xinjiang was heard on 4330, 4980, 5060, 6120 and 7195, but Beijing-based stations and Lhasa again were off the air on 4460, 4800, 4820, 4905, 4920 and 5030! All were noted back on the air at 1715 on 10.05. Strange? (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. [Still on 40 meters:] 7130, CNR-1, X'ian, 1622- 1639, 10 May, cf. \\ 7185, and found 9845 was parallel too; 34332. Apparently, this is yet another jammer on TWN starting at 1600. 7135, CRI, some Beijing area site, 1842-1855, 10 May, Russian, talks; 24331, sporadic amateur (i.e., legal) QRM; \\ 6070. 7185, CNR-1, site?, 1620-1641, 10 May, Mandarin, talks, soft songs; 25321. Seemingly, this regular program is also acting as a jammer on TWN. 7195, Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, 1743-1801*, 09 May, Uighur, talks, folk songs; 35232; audible on \\ 6120 but poorly. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re: Hi Robin, Sorry to say the CNR-1 echo jamming was still very much present today on both 7130 and 7185 (Ron Howard, CA, May 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes I know as I found out myself :). However, I have never heard anything on 7130 over here but 1400 is locally midnight and I am in bed :) Yes, it was RTI for many decades and I have a QSL from the "Dragon show" way back in 1960 on that channel. That pulsating mode I have also noted lately in other broadcasting allocations, which makes me speculate it is no accident (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Tasmania, ibid.) Noted again Firedrake jamming music from mainland China against RFA Mandarin in 1700-1800 UT slot today May 11: 9355 and 9455 Saipan, 9905 Palau, 11540 and 11795 Tinian. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Wolfy, May 12, scanning from 0338 to 0408: Continuous jamming of RFA (no 5 minute gap at ToH) by strong CNR-1 program echo jamming on 17880, 17615, 15635 and 15615. Did not hear Firedrake on these frequencies. RFA jammed with both Firedrake (Chinese music jamming) and strong CNR- 1 program echo jamming on 15130, with only FD off for the usual 5 minutes at ToH. Firedrake only jamming of SOH on 15600 and 15150, with gap at ToH (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, WORLD OF RADIO 1460, ibid.) 13970 fair Firedrake lento passage at 1335 May 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET) See also UK [non] ** CHINA. Jamming from CHINA to peak soon! --- If there was already not enough jamming from FIREDRAKE and domestic broadcasters being used to jam foreign signals, this is about to jump up. This year marks the 20th anniversary of June 4th (June 3rd in China). This morning when I tuned on my shortwave radio from 5500 to 6200 kHz there was jamming almost everywhere. When I check the rest of dial it was insane. CRI News & Reports which is during the rest of the year live at 1100 UT, was recorded. The 1100 UT [sic: must mean 2300 UT] (7 am Beijing Time) is the first transmission of the day, broadcast on the domestic service and to North America. The only reason how I knew this transmission was recorded, is the sound of the studio when I listened to the 91.5 FM relay. The recording studios on the 4th floor have a bad tin sound to them, unlike the live studio on the 3rd floor. On shortwave this was missed, but the on FM you can hear the difference. Normally CRI does not use a delay, but a new delay in the live studio was installed and was activated on Saturday for all live and recorded programs. In the switching room next to the studio, the DAT player has a Chinese classical music tape in it, in case of any problems. Ahhhh, all this brings back some fond memories! LOL The schedule for CRI News & Reports is the following. Text is written from bad quality Xinhua feeds. Each shift of 4 writers and 1 editor prepare the news. After this, the editor checks the script for things like (Taiwan province of China, Hong Kong SAR, Chinese Motherland etc., etc., etc.). But because of this "special time", the scripts are then sent to Li Pei Chun, head of the English service, or if he's not there, another director, who then passes them to one of the main censors on duty. It's 5:15 am (Beijing Time). At 6:00 am the script is done, recording starts at 6:10 am. At 6:40 am, one more check. Then it's fed to master control. Any major news stories that come in after 5:15 am are left out. During 911, CRI reported on it three hours after it happened. The reason was, the on-duty censor didn't feel it was important. What is funny is that if you are in China and want to get news about China, the best spots are CNN International, BBC, and Radio Australia. If something major happens in China, there is normally a delay of 2 to 3 hours (Keith Perron, Taiwan, May 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Re 9-039, Rebelde: Sorry, wrong frequency, yes 5025 is the non-direxional service for all Cuba. The Chinese erected also a 'sister' 49 mb antenna for HIGH SUNSPOT YEAR seasons to cover also the Cuban neighbours in Central America? I guess 6000 kHz was the non-dir channel from La Habana some 30 years ago? Maybe deceptive in my brain ... or confusion with R Reloj Costa Rica 6006. I measured the 'legs' of the two non-dir antennas at Quivican in Google Earth and narrowed the object to 60 and 49 mb potential. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems to me Rebelde once used 6120 and/or 6140, now occupied by RHC. Don`t know about the antennas for that (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA. Re 9-039: "Grinder implies Cuban; never notice any such here on those RA channels. Hmmm; possibly could be a leapfrog of jammer on 9545 over jammer against nothing on 9565 to land on 9585? (Glenn Hauser)" It is definitely CRI's transmitter, Glenn. What I call white noise appears once sickly 9570 fires up. It is as bad as it ever was - creating noise under 9590 as well. The noise disappears when the Cuban CRI transmitter closes around 14 UT. Both RA frequencies were useless Sat May 9. You in a way are lucky you live closer to the site and this crap misses you ;-) a (Andy Reid, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) You are only about 300 km further; it`s not the distance but the azimuth on 9570 aimed close to youward, not meward, plus generally stronger signals from Australia here (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, ibid.) ** CUBA. Re O`Shea`s monitored sked in 9-039: The last two Sundays (May 3 and 10) I have checked RHC at 0700 UT for Esperanto on 6000 as listed. I used a timer and tape recorder since it is 3 am here local time. On both days English was on at 0700 to 0730 and not Esperanto. I did not record after 0730 but will do so next Sunday. The other Esperanto transmissions were on as scheduled. I checked 17705 again Monday, May 11 / Tuesday May 12. 2200-2230 Portuguese 2230-2300 French (still not Guarani as listed) 2300-2330 Portuguese 2330-2400 French (again not Guarani as listed) 0000-0030 Definitely not Portuguese or other recognizable language so presumably Quechua as listed. Transmissions are often a minute or so late in starting but were all fair to good today. Reception seems to be starting to improve on the higher frequencies during our evenings; e.g. RNZI on 15720 has been good the last few nights (Bernie O`Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC missing from 13780, May 12 at 1334, so I kept tuning and found that the frequency it replaced on April 13, 15370, was back on! But it cut off at 1356* so had the engineers realized their mistake? Then tuned to 11760 to catch the frequency announcement around hourtop by Antonio `Stacatto` Gómez --- at 1401 he still listed 13780 and not 15370 (and he also always mentions 6000 altho that is really closing down at 1400). Anyhow, that takes care of the mixing products with 13680, landing on 13880 and 13580, the lower one QRMing Prague. Oops, at 1404 check found 15370 back on, so it was just a normal transmitter breakdown a few minutes earlier. Weaker 15360 was still audible but not usual // 15120, tho a weak carrier from something was detectable there. So the question remains whether RHC has deliberately resumed 15370 instead of 13780 at 1300-1500? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX WORLD OF RADIO 1460, LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO REPÚBLICA (Clan), kHz: 670, 1550, 1620, 9545 Summer Schedule 2009 Spanish 0000-0200 daily CUB 1620dhp* 0400-0500 ......s CUB 670wfe, 1550hab 2300-0400 daily CUB 9545rmp Key: * Schedule variable. (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note WRTH thinx the 9545 site is Rampisham rather than Sackville. 1550 site is certainly NOT Habana --- what they meant to put was 1550rhc meaning WRHC in Florida as per the new abbrs. at the end (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 9545, Clandestine, R. República, 0027-0030 in Spanish with numerous IDs and music hits, 90 dB signal, excellent Apr 8 (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 90 db vs what? ** CUBA [non]. From the item under USA, Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request for U.S. International Broadcasting: The request also proposes a transition of TV Martí`s two 30-minute newscasts to news updates on the half-hour, conversion of Radio Martí to a 24/7 news and information format (via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) Oooh, no more entertainment, béisbol or opinion to attract listeners?? (gh, ibid.) OBAMA MANTIENE SEÑALES DE RADIO Y TV EN CUBA Por LAURA WIDES MUÑOZ © 2009 The Associated Press May 12, 2009, 5:49PM El presidente Barak Obama ha manifestado quizás una perspectiva nueva en las relaciones con los gobernantes de Cuba, pero su presupuesto para el 2010 no cambia en mucho las controversiales señales de Radio y TV Martí hacia el país comunista. La propuesta de presupuesto del presidente asigna casi 32.5 millones de dólares para las transmisoras estadounidenses, una reducción ligera respecto del presupuesto del año pasado por 34.8 millones de dólares, aunque sí requiere una reestructuración con segmentos de televisión más cortos y más frecuentes, y un formato completamente noticioso para la radio. Lo anterior reduce la cantidad de comentarios editoriales, que los críticos han dicho muchas veces, carecen de una perspectiva equilibrada y habrían sido dirigidos incorrectamente. La compañía Cuba Broadcasting, con oficinas centrales en Miami, dirige las emisiones de Radio y TV Martí a Cuba, en busca de ofrecer un contrapeso a los medios estatales. Los simpatizantes señalan que los programas de estas emisoras dan a los cubanos información esencial sobre su país y Estados Unidos que su propio gobierno se niega a proporcionar. Además del embargo estadounidense, estos medios de comunicación han sido un asunto delicado entre ambos gobiernos, pero cuentan con el apoyo de muchos cubanos en el exilio. La propuesta de presupuesto sugiere que Obama se cuidaría de un cambio radical en las políticas de décadas de antigüedad sobre Cuba, a pesar de que levantó las restricciones para que los estadounidenses puedan visitar a sus familiares en la isla. El presupuesto para las emisoras se presenta a meses de que se publicó un reporte realizado por el Congreso sobre éstas. El reporte incluyó encuestas telefónicas realizadas por un tercer país con las que se descubrió que las estaciones de Martí tienen una audiencia limitada entre los 11 millones de cubanos, a pesar de que durante las últimas décadas las emisoras habían recibido casi 500 millones de dólares. Los disidentes en Cuba se han quejado en múltiples ocasiones que la señal de TV Martí tiene interferencia, pero reconocen a Radio Martí por su influencia. La excepción al formato noticioso de Radio Martí serán las transmisiones de los partidos de Grandes Ligas, pues gozan de gran popularidad entre la audiencia. Fuente: URL: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sp/us/6421039.html Publicado por (Yimber Gaviria Blog en 19:25 http://noticiasdelaradio.tvsite.de via DXLD) ** CUBA. CONFIRMAN CON UN VIDEO RESTRICCIONES A INTERNET EN CUBA Yoani Sánchez y Reinaldo Escobar. Foto de archivo. Video tomado de Generación Y. http://www.martinoticias.com/FullStory.aspx?ID=F04C643D-5239-4AEE-AAC020FBF1A7E40B Radio Martí) - Los blogueros cubanos, Yoani Sánchez y Reinaldo Escobar, acudieron al Hotel Meliá Cohíba de La Habana para confirmar si podían o no, comprar servicios de Internet de esa instalación. Sucedió el pasado sábado y mientras Escobar le solicitaba a la empleada la compra de una tarjeta de acceso a Internet su esposa, Yoani, filmaba la escena. La conclusión de la visita ratificó lo que ya había sucedido antes. Según la empleada una resolución del Ministerio cubano de Turismo prohíbe al Hotel Meliá Cohíba de La Habana que le venta servicios de Internet a los nacionales cubanos. Fuente: Radio Marti (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** CZECHIA. RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY OPENS NEW HQ IN PRAGUE AFP 12 May 2009 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gp7UQ5Yf62yvNqW7vXmXc-g3fvsg US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts to countries with restricted press rights, opened Tuesday a new highly secured headquarters in Prague. "Security was our number-one consideration," Steven Simmons, a broadcasting board governor of the radio station, said at a ceremony. The move of the US Congress-funded broadcaster was partly sparked by heightened Czech fears of terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. RFE/RL has in recent years reduced its activities in Central and Eastern Europe to focus on Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. The radio station with more than 1,000 journalists and correspondents broadcasts in 28 languages and has developed a range of websites. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who worked at RFE/RL for nine years during communism and the post-Soviet transition, praised the radio for its efforts "to ensure there is a free press where the free flow of ideas is restricted." RFE/RL, founded by the United States during the Cold War in the 1950s, moved to Prague from Munich, Germany in 1995, settling down in the former Czechoslovak parliament building at the top of the central Wenceslas Square. After 9/11, Czech authorities decided to move the radio station out of the centre to a brand new headquarters that the radio itself describes as one of the best-protected buildings in Europe (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Re 9-039: ``The Voice of Peace. Prague --- Hi from Dublin! I came across your site while trying to find an answer to an old question. In the 1950s, I used listen to the call sign and introductory music of Radio Prague. Great, pity about the speech But what was it? Dvorak? Smetana? Thanks (Denis Fahey, Ireland, 5 Dec 2008, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The 10-note interval signal for Radio Prague prior to the collapse of communism was a communist anthem the title of which, in English, is 'Forward Left'. (Roger Tidy, UK, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ah yes, I can hear it now as it was still used when I started SWLing. A rousing good tune, especially on trumpets; too bad it has that unfortunate Commie connotation (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1954 WRH - Announcement: "Prague calling. - This is the voice of peace from Czechoslovakia." Above for FS. Shortwave stations had calls listed with "OLR" prefix such as OLR2A on 6010. Three letter call OLR on 6095. 1958 WRH - INT.-SIG.: The opening bars of the song "Forward Left" by J. Seidl. I doubt it is on Limbaugh's ipod. Above for the FS. Calls still listed, but three letter OLR and 6095 gone. May 12 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Articles on the history of Czech external broadcasting are at: http://www.radio.cz/en/html/65.html The only mention of the interval signal I can find is in the article The Return to Democracy: "After the "Velvet Revolution" the most compromised employees and secret service agents left Czechoslovak Radio. Radio Prague gradually returned to its original mission - to provide the world with balanced and unbiased information about events in Czechoslovakia. Programmes once again began with a horn fanfare from Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony, as they had before the war. From the early 1950s to 1989, Radio Prague's signature tune was the rousing Communist anthem "Forward Left"." http://www.radio.cz/en/html/65_democracy.html Forward Left is composed by J. Seidl according to the 1958 WRTH. There's a film featuring the Radio Prague interval signal on YouTube from Peoples Palace Productions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlUYRMCls2s They have also done a film based on the Swiss Radio International interval signal: "In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqGtYQh7ruQ These are taken from the 1983 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album Dazzle Ships, though the Swiss Radio International recording was dropped at the last minute and appeared as a bonus track in a remastered CD reissue to coincide with the album`s 25th anniversary. It was once referred to as "The Ice Cream Song" by drummer Mal Holmes due to its similarity to the melodies played by ice cream vans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_Ships_(album) Two other tracks feature Radio Prague announcers. This is Helena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ89sikbbPs and ABC Auto-Industry which features a recording from Czechoslovakian radio by a presenter called Vladimir who presented a weekly economic talk on Radio Prague. The theme was the use of robots in Czechoslovakian industry. Again Peoples Palace Productions have a film set to the music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRK9iI2evL0 They've also done on to the Times Zones track which uses a collection of speaking clocks from around the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRkAsKiWG-Q (Mike Barraclough, England, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. Mercoledì 6 maggio 2009, 0558 - 7175 kHz, VOBME 2 - Asmara (Eritrea), Musica locale e annunci OM/YL. Segnale sufficiente-buono (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) See also ETHIOPIA ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Venerdì 8 maggio 2009, 0436 - 7110 kHz, RADIO ETHIOPIA - Gedja, Musica romantica locale. Segnale molto buono-buono. 0439 - 7165 kHz, VOBME + Jamming, Segnale buono-sufficiente. Il jamming era uguale a quel rumore bianco (hash) che usano per disturbare le stazioni politiche dirette ad Eritrea/Etiopia via TDP e/o T-Systems (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. In a bandscan Monday May 11 at 1958 I came upon Amharic on 15665, HOA music, the final word ``amen`` before WHRI ID in English and cut off before any frequency could be mentioned. WRTH A-09 update reminds us this is: Dimtse Tewahedo, Mondays only at 1900-2000; (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Target: ETHIOPIA, DIMTSE TEWAHEDO (Rlg) - new entry - Web: http://tewahedomedia.org Email: vot @ tewahedomedia.org kHz: 15665, Summer Schedule 2009, Amharic 1900-2000 m...... EAf 15665hri (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Comments attributed to Jonathan Marks in the latest DXLD [9-039, from the Media Network blog] are among the most ridiculous and ill-informed things I've ever seen written about international broadcasting. I can't believe any intelligent international broadcast veteran would say that cutting 22 percent of RFI's journalist staff is a "long overdue move." RFI's French service has some of the best and most timely newscasts of any international broadcaster. Newscasts and longer news programs are never repeated, unlike many other international broadcasters. RFI consistently has solid details on breaking news as well as insightful reports from correspondents. And to suggest that RFI's ratings rise when fill-music tapes and played repetitively during a strike is a ludicrous statement. To call strike programming a "music and news format" is a bit overreaching. How is preventing hundreds of journalists from being laid off abruptly "failing to see the bigger picture"? And what is meant by "analogue denial"? One comment attributed to Marks is certainly accurate -- "Compare RFI`s offering to France 24 and I`m afraid there is absolutely no contest." That's right. RFI's news offering is leagues ahead of the watered-down news on France 24 and TV5. That's why it's so objectionable to see RFI's budget pillaged to pay for TV channels that have meager offerings and much smaller audiences. And the comment that "RFI`s French language service is also going to be untouched, and that makes a lot of sense" shows a complete ignorance about the devastating effect these cuts will have, not only on RFI's newscasts, but also its cultural feature programs, which be the first to be cut when available staff is reduced (Mike Cooper, GA, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI did begin a strike. The normal half-hour newscast at 2300 UT Monday (1 am Paris time) was only 10 minutes, with an explanation that this was due to a work stoppage. But it may not be indefinite, thanks to a ruling on the eve of the strike by a Paris Appeals Court which temporarily blocks management's plans to cut 206 positions (including 106 journalists) from RFI's staff of one thousand. RFI management, which claimed that only 7 percent of RFI's staff was participating in the strike, said it would temporarily suspend its plans to terminate staff. Unions have complained about the way RFI has been placed in an organization with television channels France 24 and TV5. The court ruled that the labor unions are owed further explanation about how the holding group, Audiovisuel exterieur de la France, was created and its plans, according to an AFP report. Unions also contend that RFI's directors engaged in discrimination against journalists in its foreign-language services. RFI's cuts would reduce 7 of RFI's 19 foreign-language services, AFP reports. RFI management said it would enter new talks with the unions, but said the "reform" of RFI is "indispensable." An RFI newscast at 1700 said the strike would continue for at least another 24 hours. The court also ruled that RFI must pay 3,500 euros to RFI's employee group (comité d'entreprise). (Mike Cooper, GA, May 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. 17620, RFI French to Africa. With African pop music. Good, steady signal. 1920. May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) via GUIANA FRENCH at 17-22, 75 degrees; before 1700 it`s Issoudun 185 degrees (gh) ** FRANCE. Littoral DRM test: see NORWAY ** GREECE. Good afternoon Mauno from John Babbis, I just looked at Supplement 2 to the WRTH International Radio Schedules for May 2009 and there seems to be errors in the English schedule of the Voice of Greece. When I last monitored them, and also according to their A09 Program Schedule, it is like so: 0005-0105 m...... Eu,As,Am,Au 7475avl, 9420avl, 15650avl (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Instead of Sunday 2305 ** HAWAII. PROPAGATION - 12 noon (2200 UT) local signal levels on 3 kW VOLMET transmitter 15 miles from receiver. 2863 fair, 6679 good, 8828 nothing, 13282 poor. 7 PM local (0500) just after sunset. 2863 Good, 6679 excellent, 8828 fair, 13282 nothing. AFRTS 10320 at 17 miles from receiver, always good during local daylight, but poor in the local evening. The same noted on the Oahu 20 meter CW beacon on 14100. Time station BPM, PRC has been Killing WWV/WWVH on 10 MHz here until around 10 AM (2000 UTC) mornings out here. May 10 (Brock Whaley, HI, May 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1610: Two TIS stations now battle it out in Honolulu. The convention center in Waikiki runs visitor info, Hickam AFB, next to Honolulu International Airport repeats local NOAA VHF weather, with occasional announcements by a F on base security conditions. Both stations about 10 miles apart, and mix at equal levels midpoint in downtown Honolulu, as well as here on the windward side. May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) ** INDIA. 4800, *0018-0040 10.05, AIR Hyderabad, Telegu announcement, national song, sitar music, 0035 news in English // 4920, 45444. Again excellent reception, because Voice of China, Ge'ermu 4800 was off the air AP-DNK 4920, *0015-0105 10.05, AIR Chennai, Tamil announcement, sitar music, 0021 "All India Radio", 0035 English news from Delhi // 4800, 0040 songs, 45544. No QRM because Lhasa 4920 again was off the air! (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. VOI remains on 11785 before and after 1400 facing heavy interference from the China/US radio war during VOI`s English hour at 13-14, not to mention WHRI/Hmong on weekends. Monday May 11 at 1359 heard a clip of former acting president George W. Bush, something about home ownership, as nonsensical as that may be, presumably from VOA Chinese --- don`t they have enough clips of current legitimately elected president Barack H. Obama to use? Anyhow, that went off quickly, uncovering at 1401 VOI IS and ID, still lite CCI from BBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Tweet Dreams --- Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Widgets and Gadgets. For some time I have been making use of “social networking” sites, and have found that in many cases they can be quite useful to those of us who enjoy international broadcasting. My experience with myspace is quite limited. Yes, I have a page; no I never use or update it (the last time I did anything to it was in 2006). But I have also noted that some broadcasters and programs have their own myspace pages. An example is one of the more interesting music programs from Polish Radio External Service, Studio 15. Their myspace page is at: http://www.myspace.com/polishradiostudio15 Facebook is a different story. I find this one particularly useful. Many international broadcasters, programs and hosts have profiles and in some cases fan pages. I also have many Facebook friends from the dxing community. It’s a very handy resource at times. Radio Sweden and Radio France Internationale have particularly good Facebook pages. And there are groups for fans as well. I keep up to date on the latest news from the new Happy Station broadcasts via the HS Facebook page and that of the host Keith Perron. I’m relatively new to Twitter (does that make me a Twit or a Twiterer?) I still haven’t made up my mind whether I like it or not. However it’s easy to subscribe to different Twitter feeds from major news sources such as the BBC World Service, CBC, DW and many others. My feeling is it's something you have to fine tune --- some of the feeds, like the Huffington Post, I found almost spam-like and intrusive. Not judging the content, but the volume. If you want to add me as a Facebook friend, or “follow” me on Twitter, go ahead. I also played with Yahoo Widgets for a time. I finally deleted them, for the simple reason they took up way too much memory on my computer. They are probably ok if you have tons of RAM, then they can be quite useful. To be honest I had never heard of widgets, or never paid attention to them, until I read about them on the DW website. I downloaded the widget program and then the DW widget. It was a nice toy. I had access to DW News, Radio and once, perhaps by accident, to TV. There are many radio related widgets, which allow one to listen to radio stations around the world. I had mixed results with these and found I didn’t really use them. ”Gadgets powered by Google are miniature objects made by Google users like you that offer cool and dynamic content that can be placed on any page on the web. “Gadgets might come in handy when you’re at work (to-do list, currency converter, calendar), at school (calculator, Wikipedia, translation tool), or just passing time (news, blogs, games). You can add gadgets you like to iGoogle and, if you have Google Desktop installed, you can also add gadgets to your computer’s desktop.” http://www.google.com/webmasters/gadgets/ I haven’t used gadgets myself, but I am sure there are many radio applications to be found there as well. And now for an opposing viewpoint --- (unattributed, presumably by Fred Waterer, column editor, Programming Matters, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) NOT SO TWEET DREAMS http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/commcomm/2009/apr/10/tweet-no-thanks/ Tweet? No, thanks. Good morning, Netizens. David Horsey’s cartoon of the day certainly hits a sore spot in my repertoire, because although I spent years talking to total strangers on the CB radio, a shortwave radio, Usenet news and e-mail, for some strange reason I have avoided these social networking schemes such as Facebook and Twitter. Somehow it seems a total waste given the amount of time I otherwise spend communicating with other people I don’t know when I could be talking with people I do know. Granted, Twitter has some limited uses for live news broadcasts, but my personal preference is to leave Tweets for our feathered friends, and I don’t even have a Facebook page. I guess the questions for me are: If I am satisfied with my wife-for- life and my narrow circle of friends, why should I cast my net further afield in search of someone else? Sometimes I wonder if I spend enough time with them as it is; due to constraints of work and writing, time seems to simply slip away from me as it is. If I can talk directly to my wife or friends, why should I add another electronic geegaw to the various methods I already employ because it is the latest rage? Personally, I don’t give a damn about the latest fads, because they inevitably change into something else and in some cases never fulfill their purpose to begin with. Perhaps the biggest concern for me is that of privacy, something which as we have seen over the last six months or more, in the worlds of social networking, privacy sometimes simply ceases to exist. While I’m quick to admit any proof of the lack of privacy in the online community is nebulous and often unprovable, I also know, based upon previous experiences, that anything written online is discoverable under law, and therefore what you say can be held against you. Somewhere in that great nebulous electronic village things you may have written years ago are waiting, carefully guarded, and waiting to come back to haunt you (via May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** IRELAND. 8957, Shannon VOLMET good with aviation weather. Occasional unID digital bursts on frequency. 0720 May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) ** IRELAND [non]. 6220, SOUTH AFRICA, RTE (via Meyerton) at 1854 with a man with long talks about government, then into pop music. Poor March 28 (Michael Ford, Staffordshire, ENGLAND, JRC NRD-515, AOR AR- 7030 and 85 foot wire, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) Mike notes that this service started on St Patrick’s Day and relays via shortwave a selection of RTÉ radio programs from the day’s programming to Irish workers in West, Central and East Africa and is scheduled 1830-1930 (Mark Coady, ed., ibid.) No, it isn`t, but at 1930-2030, both in B-08 and A-09; so what did he really hear at 1854, or time misconverted? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** JAPAN. 9595, JOZ-1, Radio Nikkei. No stranger out here, but the audio quality was outstanding during a classical music selection at 0930. Rich deep response with nice dynamic range. Excellent signal on 9595. 6055 also in. 3925 Just beginning to rise at 0730, two hours before Tokyo sunset. JOZ-2 Already closed down by 0730 May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) ** KOREA NORTH. [Still on 40 meters:] 7100, Voice of Korea, Kujang, 1803-, 09 May, French to Africa, newscast; 24331. 7180 Voice of Korea, Kujang, 2114-, 09 May, Mandarin, talks; 34443; audible on \\ 9975. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. VOK still using 7100 at 1900 with English to Africa. Weak. 9975 excellent at this hour. 11535, 11910 very good. May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) ** KOREA NORTH. 11710, VOK in English, May 11 at 1350 talking about their imaginary satellite and all the neat data they are getting from it! 1351 about a dance, ``The Cowboy and the Girl``, which I thought was just introducing some music, but the talk went on and on, and there were only a few sex of music at 1354 before transmitter cut off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. FS in Chinese on 9345, good signal parallel 9975 fair and 11535 fair. This at 12 noon local, 2200 UT May 10 (Brock Whaley, HI, May 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re 9-039: Hi, Regarding my QSL from North Korea (non): According to WRTH 2009: Free North Korea Radio winter schedule: Korean 1000-1100 9490 tnn 1400-1600 7585 tac 1900-2100 7530 gav I don't know if they have changed schedule during the Spring period. 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I queried because I found it odd that you did not mention the frequency and site which were being verified, whether or not still in use (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 11680, V. Wilderness with piano play at 1353 and talks in Korean, but program seemed as a religious funeral one with means on the end [?]. Musical break at 1359 with someone shouting. S8 45334 till 1358 when RFA started signal with program in Vietnamese at 1400+ 10 May. 11825, Furusato no Kaze, 1451 with talks in Japanese. Just Sr5, 242x2. 11570, RF Chosun, 1548 with talks by YL, music background. Off 1615. Some QRM from carrier on 11571.46 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. DRM: Hi All, MOI Kuwait is peaking S9 here with no audio decode. The display header says 11.64 kbps EEP aac Mono. The signal looks and sounds badly distorted, but it is generally square in spectrum shape. My first guess was it was SSB interference. But on further reflection its probably highly dispersive fading of a Rayleigh characteristic. Noise floor here is S3. This is on the indoor 1.25 meter diameter loop. S/N varies from 3 to 8 dB. Delay spread is not terrible large at 1.44 ms. Doppler is 2.7 hz. If it was not for that distortion, it would be an easy decode (Don, location unknown, May 4, DRMNA yg via DXLD) Interesting listening to MOI Kuwait broadcasting Simo DRM 11675 2243 UT 05/05/09 RSSI -100dbm SNR 20db Arabic 95% decode AM 9855 " " " " S9+5 Arabic same program (Eric KG4OZO, Atlanta GA, May 5, ibid.) Yes, good signal here today in midwest on 11675. Still have that pesky AM QRM at 11680. :-) At 2310 UT, they are lil stronger (5db) on 31m band (Mel Whitten, ibid.) What's the digital delay like? (Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O, Randolph, NJ, ibid.) Listening to them simo here... 9855 on RX2 and 11675 on RX1.. several seconds delay difference (Mel K0PFX, ibid.) ** LAOS [non]. HMONG WORLD CHRISTIAN RADIO (Rlg) kHz: 11785, 15260, Summer Schedule 2009 Hmong 0100-0130 .....s. SEA 15260tai 1400-1430 .....s. NAm 11785hbn [NO: 11785 site is hri --- gh] (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. DETAINED RADIO MADA REPORTER IS CHARGED AND TRANSFERRED TO PRISON http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200905080875.html 7 May 2009 press release --- Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by today's decision to keep Radio Mada sports reporter Evariste Ramanantsoavina in detention and charge him with "inciting revolt against the republic's institutions," defamation and disseminating false information. He was arrested on 5 May and forced to reveal the location from which the radio was broadcasting in defiance of a closure order. "Even if one could understand why the authorities wanted to prevent a radio station from continuing to broadcast clandestinely in violation of an official ban, the way they singled out one of its journalists and the manner of his arrest are shocking and incomprehensible," Reporters Without Borders said, calling for Ramanantsoavina's immediate release. Ramanantsoavina was taken this evening to the prosecutor's office in Antananarivo, where he was formally charged and an order was issued transferring him to prison. He will now have to spend the weekend in prison pending a trial hearing on 11 May. He was arrested at his home at 5 a.m. on 5 May by masked soldiers as his daughters looked on, and was taken to the National Mixed Committee for Investigations (CNME), which is located in the suburb of Ambohibao, in premises that used to be the headquarters of the former domestic intelligence service, the DGID. There he was made to reveal the secret location from which Radio Mada, which supports the exiled former president, Marc Ravalomanana, has been broadcasting since the change of government. Soldiers then went to the location, dismantled its transmitter and seized equipment under communication ministry closure order 01/096mcc of 27 April accusing the station of "inciting civil disobedience and undermining public confidence in institutions." The decision to bring charges against Ramanantsoavina contradicted an initial statement by communication ministry secretary-general Charles- Aimé Randriamorasata that the authorities had arrested him simply to find out where Radio Mada was broadcasting from. His arrest just 48 hours after World Press Freedom Day stunned journalists in Madagascar and was immediately condemned by the Order of Madagascan Journalists, which called for his unconditional release. Aware that Madagascar is currently in a difficult period that has given rise to cases of unprofessional behaviour by some news media, Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call to all the country's journalists to provide responsible, objective news coverage and not take sides in the ongoing political power struggle. Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) What about the Radio Mada which was on SW 5895 for a while? (gh, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Traxx FM - in addition to an e-mail verie received several months ago, a personal letter and stickers have arrived by a courier (!). This time the v/s was Suhaila MD Zaini (Programme Manager). Her e-mail: sue @ traxxfm.net (Vashek Korinek, RSA, QSL report via Dario Monferini, May 12, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MALI. 7285 kHz, R. Mali noted May 11th, at 1750z, ending transmission in French, with YL announcer. Suffered weak noise QRM, presumed digital hash. SINPO 44343. At 1758 flute music plus ID and carrier off at 1759z and opening at 1800 on 5995 kHz, with French ID and news. QRM from R. Australia, same QRG. SINPO 32432. Greetings from Portugal (José Turner, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. See UNIDENTIFIED 6104 ** MONACO [non]. 8728 (USB), 1056-1100* MNC [sic] 09.05, Monaco Radio- Naya Sarl, Fontbonne (USB) English utility message reading frequencies, 1059 short message in French, but no relay of R Monaco heard at this hour, 25232; heard // 13146 USB (15221), but not on 4363 USB or 17260 (USB (faded out). Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. Warm greetings! I'm hearing RMC Info on 216 with a poor-fair but readable signal with very slight beacon interference. Here is the log: 216, FRANCE, RMC, Romoules MAY 11 0320 - end of a sports report, followed by weather, ID and news headlines including drug issues for some tennis players. Fair to poor and armchair copy at first. New and a TOTAL surprise in May! Also had France-162 with a poor and Morocco- 171 with a very poor signal. (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 4830, Mongoliin R, Altay, 2154-2209, 10 May, tone signal, IS at 2200, ID at 2201 followed by the national anthem, announcements, news (presumed); 25331. Inaudible on 4895 Murun. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station coming to New Zealand! Last week I was contacted by Chris Mackerell who runs World FM in Tawa, New Zealand and he told me he wanted to add Happy Station to the station`s schedule. I was a little surprised at first, but he told me he use to listen to Happy Station with Tom Meijer and when he heard the show was revived he thought it would be nice to add to the schedule. So beginning May 16, 2009 at 1000 UT (10 pm New Zealand time) it will air in Tawa, a suburb of Wellington, on 88.5 fm. This Saturday will be the first revived show from March 12 at 1500 UT with Dick Speekman. You can tune to the web stream of World FM 88.5 FM at http://www.worldfm.co.nz/ Keep listening! Keith Perron (via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg via DXLD) NEW ZEALAND ** ** NIGERIA. R. Benue, Makurdi, 918 kHz, personal e-mail verie in 38 days; v/s Espie Adzape (Director Administration / Finance), address: Espieadzape @ yahoo.com (Vashek Korinek, RSA, QSL report via Dario Monferini, May 12, playdx yg via DXLD) ** NORWAY. Littoral AM, will carry out a DRM test broadcast on [Monday] May 18, according to this schedule: 0700-0800 GMT - 9610 kHz 1200-1300 GMT - 12075 kHz 1500-1600 GMT - 9920 kHz --- The transmitter power is 35 kW from the Norwegian site Kvitsøy (source Littoral AM) Littoral AM is a regional station in Brittany (France) who carried out last year tests in medium wave DRM (f1tay via drmrx forum via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, May 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If it`s DRM, why do they call themselves ``AM``? (gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. May 11, 2009. Radio Pakistan Bangla service was monitored in Lahore today from 1200 to 1245 UT at 7475 and 9345 kHz. The signal was poor on both frequencies. Transmitter buzz was very high on 9345 making it very difficult to hear the audio which was heard only a couple of times. The transmitter was probably API-9 but its performance is quite unpredictable. The transmission on 7475 was less noisy. Propagation was poor on both frequencies. Owing to some problem in the Radio Pakistan external service studios' technical section, whenever background music is played during announcements it suppresses the audio and one is unable to know what is being announced. Most of the background music and signature tunes selected for various segments are very unpleasant and annoying. But the most horrible piece of music is Radio Pakistan's interval signal which can be used to frighten children. There is need to record it on latest equipment and making it soft and subtle as was done recently for the national anthem (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, May 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. RADIO DAY CELEBRATES THE PAST, LOOKS FORWARD FTM By Michael Hedges May 11, 2009 In most every country a Radio Day is organized. Most are a mix of professional discussions, networking and social events. Very few are nationally recognized, complete with parades. Russia has celebrated Radio Day on May 7th as a national professional holiday for a very long time. The day itself, May 7th, is set aside specially to commemorate Alexander Popov's 1895 presentation to a scientific society describing a radio receiver. Ever the academic, Popov didn't apply for a patent. The rest is history. . . http://followthemedia.com/linguafranca/radioday11052009.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia offers podcasts http://ruvr.ru The website for the Voice of Russia, has been adding podcasts to its listening options. For the uninitiated, podcasting is a concept that allows software residing on your PC, or on a website, to automatically download updated programming to your computer for listening at your leisure, either on the computer itself or on another device capable of using MP3 fi les, such as an iPod, MP3 player, or an Internet radio. The benefit to listeners is that, if you regular listen to a particular program, your computer will have an inventory of episodes of that program at your beck and call, so you don’t have to think about fetching the program from the station’s website. The downside is that, if you don’t regularly clean out your downloaded episodes, you may find your hard disk space disappearing fast. The Voice of Russia now offers several of its regular programs from its current schedule, as well as past schedules, for podcast. Not all episodes of all programs are available, but this list might motivate you to listen to something you might have otherwise missed. The list includes: Moscow Mailbag – the long-running listener contact program Kaleidoscope – Economic, social and cultural magazine program Christian Message from Moscow – about the Russian Orthodox church This Is Russia – customs and traditions of Russia’s many nationalities Legends of Russian Sports – biweekly on prominent Russian athletes Guest Speaker – a daily short (5-minute) interview with a notable political / economic / artistic celebrity Voice of Russia Treasure Store – Programs that feature recordings from the Voice of Russia / Radio Moscow archive. These could be historical, cultural, or dramatic readings (Rich Cuff, Click!, May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. Sabato 2 maggio 2009, 0740 - 15220 kHz, COTTON TREE NEWS - Rampisham (UK), EE, intervista OMs. Segnale sufficiente- buono (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. Target: SOMALIA (SOM), RADIO HORYAAL (Clandestine) back on SW, cf. WRTH 2007, kHz: 9840, Summer Schedule 2009, Somali 1730-1800 mtwt.ss EAf 9840dha IRIN RADIO, kHz: 13685, Summer Schedule 2009, Somali 0830-0930 daily EAf 13685dha SOMALI INTERACTIVE RADIO INSTRUCTION PROGRAMME (SIRIP) kHz: 15200, Summer Schedule 2009, Somali 0545-0615 mtw..s. EAf 15200mey 0620-0650 mt...s. EAf 15200dha (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALILAND. 7145, 1630 29 March, R. Hargeisa, talk, singing, YL talk in Aragbic, vernacular, 35432; also 1645 8 April talk, music, hymn, OM ID in Hausa (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Surely not in Hausa (gh, DXLD) 7145, 1834 8 April, R. Hargeisa, talk, ID, NA 1903*, vernacular, 25443 (Zdenek Elias, Czechia, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 7145, R. Hargeisa, Hargeisa, 1736-1804, 09 May, Somali, talks, folk songs; 35232; better on 10 May at 1800. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7145, 11May2009 1850, Somalia, R. Hargeisa, in Somali, from Hargeysa, with 25 kW, typical music and OM talk. At 1848 UT song of the Islamic Kor`an, at 1859 end of transmission, 24332 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA, Brasil, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, WWRB, May 11 at 2011 found open carrier, a blessed relief from the usual B.S. ranting; only slight hum and crackle to remind us a real transmitter was there burning up 100 kW for nothing. I took the opportunity to enjoy the almost-silence and listened to it for five minutes as modulation maintained its mumness still. So does The Overcomer Ministry get a pro-rated refund? Or was it their own feeding failure (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, SRTC, Al-Aytahab, 1751-1559, 09 May, Arabic, soap opera; 35332 but then choked by splash de CRI 7205 in Russian. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. See CZECHOSLOVAKIA ** U K [non]. 15285, May 12 at 1405, good signal in Chinese operatic music, then M&W talk, SAH over a weak signal. BBC Mandarin operates from Singapore at 1300-1530, 100 kW at 13 degrees, so also favorable for us, but I fear this may have been CNR1, as Aoki assures us this, like all BBC Chinese frequencies, is jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FISCAL YEAR 2010 BUDGET REQUEST FOR U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING Washington, DC, 05/11/2009 --- Today, the President is forwarding the budget request for Fiscal Year 2010 to the Congress including a request for $745.5 million dollars for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an increase of 3.9% from FY 2009 levels. The request reflects the continued critical role of BBG broadcasts in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. The FY 2010 budget supports expanded local and regional coverage on the Voice of America`s (VOA) Radio Deewa programs to Afghanistan and Pakistan and the establishment of a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Russian language Internet Web site for Central Asia. The request also supports the continued expansion of digital audio and video capability and programming for VOA, RFE/RL, and Radio Free Asia (RFA), and establishment of a television and radio equipment replacement program for the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). The proposed budget also continues funding for key agency initiatives to critical audiences, including: * 24-hour streams for VOA Persian TV and RFE/RL Radio Farda to Iran; * Al Youm, the daily three-hour Alhurra Television program broadcast live from the Middle East; * Radio Deewa, the VOA Pashto program to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region; * VOA Urdu radio and television broadcasts to Pakistan; * VOA and RFE/RL Dari and Pashto programming to Afghanistan; * VOA Somali to Somalia; * A 10-hour coordinated RFA and VOA stream to North Korea; and * A 30-minute, 5 day a week, VOA Spanish television program to Venezuela. The FY 2010 budget environment is one in which critical policy priorities must be balanced with budget resources. The FY 2010 budget request includes several program adjustments , including the closure of the VOA Croatian, Greek, and Hindi services, reallocation of program funding for radio rebroadcasts of VOA Persian News Network television programming and one hour daily of original VOA Persian radio. VOA regional radio and Internet programs in English will serve audiences in India and RFE/RL Radio Farda and VOA Persian TV will continue to reach audiences in Iran. The request also proposes a transition of TV Marti`s two 30-minute newscasts to news updates on the half-hour, conversion of Radio Marti to a 24/7 news and information format, closure of the VOA Paris finance office, and the consolidation of the West and East Africa regional marketing offices. The Broadcasting Board of Governors looks forward to working with the Congress toward enactment of the proposed funding levels and program proposals. Further detail on the requested BBG budget is available here. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas. BBG broadcasting organizations include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí). BBG broadcasts reach over 175 million people worldwide on a weekly basis (BBG Press Release via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty opens new HQ in Prague: see CZECHIA ** U S A [non]. 17550, VOA French with pop music such as Lady Gaga. Good signal, but from where? May 11 at 1925 (Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) French at 1830-2030 is Bonaire, 90 degrees (gh) ** U S A [and non]. SEQUEL TO THE W3XAU-WCAI-WCAB PHILADELPHIA STORY by Adrian M. Peterson, 05.12.2009 Was it deliberate disinformation during the hectic, sometimes shady days of World War II? Was it a change of plans on the part of decision-making personnel? Or was it just a case of bad memory regarding events of long ago? You may remember that we presented the story of Philadelphia shortwave station W3XAU-WCAI-WCAB in Radio World's Aug. 15, 2007 issue, part of RW's "American Shortwave" series of occasional articles in cooperation with the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters..... We concluded our 2007 article in good faith with the following: "However, that is not the end of the story. The large new international shortwave station at Brentwood was taken into service with OWI-VOA (Office of War Information & Voice of America) programming less than two months later, on Feb. 24, 1942 and the 10 kW unit in Philadelphia was packed up and sent over to England for use by the BBC in London. How interesting it would be to find out what happened to this famous American transmitter while it was in service over there." We pause now for a moment or two and we introduce the question: What really happened to this historic shortwave transmitter? Full article in Radio World: http://www.rwonline.com/article/80914 (via Mike Barraclough, May 12, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. WEWN, 11550 with het, no doubt the perpetually off-frequency TAIWAN, May 12 at 1413 in Spanish, voice-over translation of Arabic singing --- odd to hear the Arabic with Latinate Catholic rather than Qur`anic intonations! Same thing // on 11530 English frequency but without the Spanish, live event from Israel, 1417 alleluiahs. Then speech in English by the RCC CEO. I onturned EWTN TV and found same running about one second ahead of SW, plus video. This was variously labeled as homily, eucharist from the Valley of Josephat [sic], an outdoor mass before a crowd in casual dress. Now I could see that the pope was seated on an ornate golden throne, wearing a golden mitre and golden robes in full regalia --- wow, this must be a rich church --- or is it fool`s gold? Another thing you can`t get from radio: at 1501 in the ceremony a line of subordinate priests was seen and they were racially segregated --- three black guys at the end. I suppose the church would claim they were geographically segregated. Coverage on TV lasted until 1530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. CHEETAH RADIO (Commercial) - new entry - Web: cheetahradio.com Email: radio@cheetahlearning.com kHz: 11885, Summer Schedule 2009 English 1600-1700 .....s. SAs 11885wer (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, May 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is axually Power Learning, originally on WRMI 9955, and now with this added transmission; http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=102 (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, thank you for the corrections. I heard Cheetah Radio also carry Your World Your Way. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, WRTH, ibid.) http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=99 ** U S A. WBCQ – THE PLANET, kHz: 5110, 7415, 9330, 15420 Summer Schedule 2009 English 1200-0400 daily NAm,CAm 9330bcq 1700-2200 daily NAm,CAm 15420bcq 1800-0900 daily NAm,CAm 7415bcq 2200-1000 daily NAm,CAm 5110bcq (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) These times are not correct, but the supposed maximum span. 9330 is really on only a few hours a day currently; 7415 is off by approximately 0500, and 5110 around 0100 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Ted Randall says he will be broadcasting live from the Dayton Hamvention this weekend, via WBCQ 9330 --- see his website for the schedule when known, http://www.tedrandall.com This was mentioned on his QSO show May 12, starting with an interview with someone about Dayton, and from 2137 UT until almost 2300, the interview with gh. Presumably this pattern will follow in the repeats. We were getting the webcast OK until about 2135; then it dropped out, but we confirmed it was running on 7415, somewhat weak and fadey here but no QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. The YFR relay via Ascension, 11875, 65 degrees at 18- 19 is being converted from English to Igbo. Could not hear it on May 12 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Philadelphia FM pirate (with website link) http://www.flavaphilly.com/index4.htm Frequency: 92.9 MHz. I first logged this station 2 May 09, 02 UT. At that time the broadcast seemed to be a relay of a New York City station. References to clubs in the NYC area. On 12 May at 0210 UT the website address was given. So enjoy the reggae music (L. R. Rooney, May 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1160, WCFO, GA, EAST POINT, 2200 [EDT] 11/05/09. CBS news at top of hour, then ID-"WCFO, East Point, (with a list of little towns that are east and south of Atlanta) and all of metro Atlanta this is 'The talk of the town." Then into Dr. Laura. Their signal at 2200 is equal to their day-time power level and is definitely not their night-time level of 160 watts. Here they are a S- 9 all day long and normally disappear at night, however, over the last two nights they have been in all night long. Been killing any chance of DX on 1160. DXer: (Willis Monk, Old Fort, TN, 149' long wire, Drake R-4C, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) Ha! ``Day`` power is slightly more, 50,000 watts, per NRC AM Log (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGST) ** U S A. WILL BOARD FORCE A CHOICE BETWEEN PBS AND SECTARIAN PROGRAMS? --- Published in Current, April 13, 2009, By Dru Sefton The few public TV stations that carry religious programming are uneasily awaiting a final PBS Board decision on whether a station can air “sectarian” content and remain a member of the network. The issue affects at least five stations, with one, WLAE in New Orleans, weighing its PBS membership against a long-running broadcast of Sunday Mass. . . http://www.current.org/pbs/pbs0907sectarian.shtml (Current via DXLD) Including NOLA, SLC, Harlingen ** U S A. CPB inquiry, deficits: more tribulations for KMBH OUSTED BOARD MEMBER LEADS MOVE FOR NEW RADIO VOICE IN TEXAS BORDERLAND Published in Current, March 16, 2009 By Dru Sefton A public broadcaster removed unexpectedly from the board of Catholic Church-controlled KMBH public radio and TV in Harlingen, Texas, is heading an effort to create an independent pubradio station in the Rio Grande Valley. Betsy Price of Brownsville and 30 other volunteers call themselves Voices from the Valley. Their goal is to provide more local and NPR programming than KMBH currently carries. The group’s forthcoming announcement of its board members may coincide with more news about KMBH, the region’s only pubcaster: CPB’s inspector general is completing a review of its compliance with grant rules and examining station financial documents related to CPB. . . http://www.current.org/pb/pb0905riogrande.shtml (Current via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Sunday morning May 10 only had time for a quick check at 1553 of the Aló, Presidente frequencies via CUBA: all of them were on at widely divergent degrees of audibility: 11690, 12010, 13680, 13750(best), 17750. WRTH A-09 update says all but 13680 are also on the air Saturdays from 1400 but I doubt it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RADIO NACIONAL DE VENEZUELA – ANTENA INTERNACIONAL (Gov), kHz: 6060, 6180, 11670, 11680, 11690, 11705, 12010, 13680, 13750, 15250, 15290, 17705, 17750, Summer Schedule 2009, Spanish 1400-1800 .....ss Am 11690hab*, 12010hab*, 13750hab*, 17750hab* 1400-1800 ......s Am 13680hab* (from http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note the first four frequencies are shown as Saturday and Sunday; news to us if Aló, Presidente ever appears on Saturday. The ending time varies widely, and can be well past 1800 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** VIETNAM. 7280, VOV. M&F in English. Poor but better then parallel 9730. 1910 May 11 (Brock Whaley, HI DX Listening Digest) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa appears to have canceled its broadcast on 12035 via Rampisham at 1700-1900. Only 4880 is mentioned at http://www.swradioafrica.com/ but I am not sure if the other frequency ever was shown. Please monitor (Glenn Hauser, 1600 UT May 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Empty channel here from 1700 after VOR had signed off (Jari Savolainen, Finland, 1705 UT May 11, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6104.66, 1000-1005 May 11. Prior to the hour, noted a carrier here. On the hour however, a very weak audio was heard which was only music. I have had Mexico, XENK (6104.60) and Radio Filadélfia, Brazil (6104.71) here before. At 1003, noted a male in comments. Could not distinguish the language, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was ...? At 1005 music continued. Signal was worse than threshold if that is possible? (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, Watkins Johnson, HF1000, Not taking any chances today, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH A-09 UPDATE The 103-page pdf A-09 supplement to the World Radio TV Handbook is out today May 11, which they generously availablize to everyone, even those who have not purchased the annual paper Handbook: http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHA09UpdateMAY2009.pdf (Glenn Hauser, 0339 UT May 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See our comments and correxions at various entries above (gh, DXLD) WRTH is pleased to announce that the 'A' season schedules file is available for download from the WRTH website at: http://www.wrth.com and follow the links. The file contains schedules for over 230 international and clandestine/target broadcasters. The schedules file is in PDF format. You will require the free Acrobat reader (v6 or above) available from http://www.adobe.com to read the file. The file is 102 pages long and is 355 kb in size. We hope you find this a useful accompaniment to the printed WRTH. Regards (WRTH editorial Team, WRTH Website: http://www.wrth.com Email: sean.gilbert @ wrth.com (International Editor, 0742 UT May 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY See CZECHOSLOVAKIA +++++++++++++++++ LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ LEARN SPANISH, A LANGUAGE WITHOUT BOUNDS 6055, SPAIN, REE at 0046 with a man and woman with Spanish language course – Very Good Apr 8 – this very same course has been played over and over as long as I’ve been in the hobby (Mark Coady, Ont., May ODXA Listening In via DXLD) That was a UT Wednesday (gh) BBC: FOREIGN LANGUAGES BY WEBSITE, RUSSIAN Today I was surprised to find a link to Russian lessons on BBCRussian.com. It's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/russian The lessons are geared to people who know English. Sure enough, Russian is a new addition to BBC foreign languages program found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages I briefly looked through a few Russian teaching sections. I guess their value is mostly entertainment-related. As examples of tough Russian surnames BBC uses Mkrtchian (an Armenian name) and Strzhalkovsky (Polish). The links in the Related Links section are mostly useless. I was especially surprised to see a link to the English service of Novaya Gazeta. The newspaper's English part rarely gets updated. Why didn't they talk to guys from BBC Monitoring?! I liked this encouragement to Russian language students from BBC, though: "Being able to roll the "r" helps a lot, but don't worry if you can't - Lenin didn't manage to either." (Sergei S., Russia, May 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Other language lessons available: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Chinese, plus Quick Fix - Essential phrases in 36 languages (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See FRANCE; KUWAIT; NORWAY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See also AUSTRALIA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I have not used my DAB radio for a number of weeks as I found only one or two stations that appeal to me. Some FM stations offer slightly better programmes, but I must say I don`t think the quality of DAB is any better than FM, so why change? Also, reception of DAB seems to vary a lot. In the part of the town where I live, reception of DAB is good; I can pick up many stations, but reception in other parts of the town is poor, according to people I`ve spoken to, with one person taking a DAB radio back for a refund (Edwin Southwell, Basingstoke, England, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ METEOR SOURCES The Astronomy Picture of the Day for today (APOD), 11 May, shows a great graphic of the source of many recent meteors. Never saw anything like this before... http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090511.html (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, WTFDA via DXLD) SOLAR CYCLE 24 PREDICTION UPDATED MAY 2009 Presented by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html May 8, 2009 -- Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Update The Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel has reached a consensus decision on the prediction of the next solar cycle (Cycle 24). First, the panel has agreed that solar minimum occurred in December, 2008. This still qualifies as a prediction since the smoothed sunspot number is only valid through September, 2008. The panel has decided that the next solar cycle will be below average in intensity, with a maximum sunspot number of 90. Given the predicted date of solar minimum and the predicted maximum intensity, solar maximum is now expected to occur in May, 2013. Note, this is a consensus opinion, not a unanimous decision. A supermajority of the panel did agree to this prediction. http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ARLS003 SCIENTISTS PREDICT SOLAR CYCLE 24 TO PEAK IN 2013 ZCZC AS03 QST de W1AW Space Bulletin 003 ARLS003 From ARRL Headquarters Newington, CT May 12, 2009 To all radio amateurs Scientists predict that Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with 90 sunspots per day on average. At the annual Space Weather Workshop held in Boulder, Colorado last month, an international panel of experts led by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) predicted that Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with 90 sunspots per day on average. If the prediction proves true, Solar Cycle 24 will be the weakest cycle since Solar Cycle 16 which peaked with 78 daily sunspots in 1928, and ninth weakest since the 1750s, when numbered cycles began. The panel predicted that the lowest sunspot number between cycles -- the solar minimum -- occurred in December 2008, marking the end of Solar Cycle 23 and the start of Solar Cycle 24. If December's prediction holds up, at 12 years and seven months Solar Cycle 23 will be the longest since 1823 and the third longest since 1755. Solar cycles span 11 years on average, from minimum to minimum. An unusually long, deep lull in sunspots led the panel to revise its 2007 prediction that the next cycle of solar storms would start in March 2008 and peak in late 2011 or mid-2012. The persistence of a quiet Sun also led the panel to a consensus that Solar Cycle 24 will be what they called "moderately weak." Although the peak is still four years away, a new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928. Despite the prediction, the scientists said that Earth is still vulnerable to a severe solar storm. Solar storms are eruptions of energy and matter that escape from the Sun and may head toward Earth, where even a weak storm can damage satellites and power grids, disrupting communications, the electric power supply and GPS. A single strong blast of "solar wind" can threaten national security, transportation, financial services and other essential functions. The most common measure of a solar cycle's intensity is the number of sunspots -- Earth-sized blotches on the Sun marking areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that solar storms will occur, but a major storm can occur at any time. "As with hurricanes, whether a cycle is active or weak refers to the number of storms, but everyone needs to remember it only takes one powerful storm to cause huge problems," said NOAA scientist Doug Biesecker, who chaired the panel. "The strongest solar storm on record occurred in 1859 during another below-average cycle." The 1859 storm shorted out telegraph wires, causing fires in North America and Europe and sent readings of Earth's magnetic field soaring, as well as produced northern lights so bright that people read newspapers by their light, he said. Biesecker cited a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences that found if a storm that severe occurred today, it could cause $1-2 trillion in damages the first year and require four to 10 years for recovery, compared to the $80-125 billion of damage that resulted from Hurricane Katrina. The Space Weather Prediction Center is part of the National Weather Service and is one of the nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction. It is the nation's official source of space weather alerts, watches and warnings. SWPC provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events that impact satellites, power grids, communications, navigation and many other technological systems. NNNN /EX (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) ``90 sunspots per day`` implies that each day has different sunspots! In fact, almost the same sunspots carry over from one day to the next. You might as well say ``90 sunspots per hour``. And those who feel `threatened` by normal solar activity fluxuations haven`t lived long enough (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Propagation a little bit better (Solar Flux up to 74) (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, May 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 May 12 2121 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 May 12 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 May 13 73 5 2 2009 May 14 73 5 2 2009 May 15 73 8 3 2009 May 16 73 5 2 2009 May 17 73 5 2 2009 May 18 73 5 2 2009 May 19 72 5 2 2009 May 20 72 5 2 2009 May 21 70 5 2 2009 May 22 70 5 2 2009 May 23 70 5 2 2009 May 24 70 5 2 2009 May 25 70 5 2 2009 May 26 70 5 2 2009 May 27 70 5 2 2009 May 28 70 5 2 2009 May 29 70 5 2 2009 May 30 70 5 2 2009 May 31 70 5 2 2009 Jun 01 70 5 2 2009 Jun 02 70 10 3 2009 Jun 03 70 8 3 2009 Jun 04 70 10 4 2009 Jun 05 72 8 3 2009 Jun 06 72 5 2 2009 Jun 07 72 5 2 2009 Jun 08 73 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1460, DXLD) ###