DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-042, May 23, 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 1461, May 21-27 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 [suspended] 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 1462 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 ** ABKHAZIA. Mercoledì 20 maggio 2009, 0524 - 9495.6 kHz, ABKHAZ R. - Sukhumi (Georgia), Parlato OM/YL. Segnale insufficiente-sufficiente. In sottofondo sembra esserci un altro trasmettitore a + o - 100 Hz che fa eco con quello dominante. Ci sono altri txs in Abkhazia su tale frequenza? 9535 forse era off (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Yes, Wolfgang Büschel has often observed that they have two different transmitters around 9495 on slightly different frequencies --- but they should use only one at a time! (gh, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN Logs: 20090523 1023 15090.0 UDON THANI THA 244 Dari 20090523 1028 15680.0 IRANAWILA CLN 355 Dari // 15090 KHZ 20090523 1029 17685.0 UDON THANI THA 355 Dari // 15090 KHZ 73 de (Vincent Lecler, France, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. DRM tests: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** ANGOLA. RE 9-041: ``So 60m was 2 kHz lower than usual? As mentioned twice above (gh, DXLD)`` Don't think so; yesterday, May 20th I got the impression that there are two carriers in this area, one on 4949.7 and one on 4949.9. Maybe just a typo? 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Regarding the RNdeA 60 MB frequency. I had them measured on 4949.757. Carlos reported them on 4947.9. Any possibility he mistakenly "reversed" the last two digits on his log? I think he MEANT 4949.7 kHz, especially since he and I both had carriers on the second frequency of 7216.7+ kHz. (If not, then maybe the frequency is drifting; though it seemed "rock solid" when I heard them.) 73s (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, My RNA on 60 m actually regards 4949.7 - I did reverse the digits, I am sorry. They're drifted to this -49.7 months ago, even before the time when they were inactive on 60 m. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I apologise for having mistakenly typed 4947.9 instead of 4949.7 which is even the frequency RNA was being reported for quite some time even before their transmitter went silent for a few months' time very recently. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST So this also corrects the very first item on this week`s World of Radio 1461. Please everyone, reinforce your proofreading, says gh, who also makes his own mistakes. (gh, ibid.) 4949.757, Radio Nacional de Angola, 1650, first noted as massive het against AIR high-side. Readable in LSB with ballads, then presumed news or similar at 1700. Then carrier off. Back on at 1949 recheck, but this time with very low modulation, still readable with Portuguese talk by a man. Did a second check, and still there at 2135. Massive S9+30 signal but very low audio. 22 May (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. ANGOLA NATIONAL RADIO RNA INCREASING REACH, MODERNIZING | Text of report by Angolan news agency Angop, on 21 May [Headline: National Radio to Invest in Expansion and Modernisation] The expansion of the radio signal around the country and modernisation with high technology is the priority of the Managing Board of the State-run "Radio Nacional de Angola" (RNA) broadcasting station. This was said on Wednesday in Luanda by RNA's director general, Eduardo Magalhaes. The official said so during the visit to the premises of the RNA of the Mozambican media delegation, led by that country's Information Office director, Felisberto Tinga. Eduardo Magalhaes said that the project, which is an Angolan Government's initiative, is estimated at Euros 70 million and has been implemented by 60 percent. According to him, the money was used in the purchase of high technical and technological equipment, cars equipped with satellite systems, news reporting motorbikes and generators. He also said that the project comprises the rehabilitation and equipping of the provincial broadcasting centres and training of the staff. Source: Angop news agency, Luanda, in English 21 May 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) Surely this means a revival of SW broadcasting, external service as well as provincial stations!! Yeah, sure (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Re 9-041: What about the Russians? There were apparently never regular broadcasting transmitters at Mirny or the mothballed Molodezhnaya station. Publications indicate that Mirny had an internal wired system already in the fifties. The radio operators recorded some broadcasts for later playback, and perhaps in some cases put them on their utility transmitters, too. During these early years direct reception of broadcasts from Moscow, apparently including special ones for the expeditions in Antarctica, was common practice not only on the stations but on the treks as well. But today? Are shortwave radios a standard device, in particular on the Vostok station and the related supplying treks, or does nobody bother? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, RN San Gabriel op 15476.010, 1855 UT, Mooie carrier, met af en toe spaanse klanken!! (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, May 13, BDX via DXLD) LRA36, San Gabriel op 15476.030, 1801 UT. Met spaanse muziek en goed tevolgen (Maurits Van Driessche, May 21, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. Argentina goed op 15344.859, best in LSB, 1907 UT (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgilum, May 18, BDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. CVC Darwin, May 22 at 0536 with YL in Chinese on 17830; 340 degrees; next to it on 17820 was weaker singing, which chex as CVC Indonesian service, 290 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA in English, 13630, May 22 at 0551 during interview, but QRM from CW sending Vs, and then into brief message with DE but could not catch ID. At first I thought it might be part of the program production with CW effect in the background, but not present on // 15160, 15240. After 0610, RA had an engrossing talk mentioning the threat of frozen methane melting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the dire effect on American and European climates if the Gulf Stream stops keeping Europe mild and heat builds up in the Gulf. I wanted to hear all of this again, but the RA program schedule shows Asia Pacific Business at this time on Fridays, and its content does not match! I did find a web page about this potential devastation: http://armageddononline.tripod.com/methane.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 12 NEW DIGITAL RADIO STATIONS, BRISBANE --- G`day, Heard these 12 new DAB+ digital radio stations today in Brisbane. Noticed a delay on digital of a few seconds switching between FM and DAB+ on 973 and audio sounds quite brilliant on digital. 4KQ now sounds better than any FM station quality wise that is. [Frequencies in MHz] Radio TAB - 202.928 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 Nova1069 Pop Music - 202.928 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 Nova Nation Other Music - 202.928 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 973 Feel Good - 202.928 - 88 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 4KQ Classic Hits - 202.928 - 88 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 IPDigital - 202.928 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 1 (1 kHz tone only) Pink Radio - 204.640 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 Radar Radio - 204.640 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 4BC News Talk - 204.640 - 96 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 4BH Best Songs - 204.640 - 96 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 B105 - 204.640 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 Triple M - 204.640 - 64 Kbps / AAC DAB+ Brisbane 2 Roberts Ecologic 4 DAB+ portable receiver. Cheers (John Smith, Brisbane, May 22, ARDXC via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Only a month from Solstice, Europe now making it up to 14 MHz in the nightmiddle: 13730 in Austro-German at 0555 May 22, fair signal. I wanted to reconfirm the token English newscast around 0608, elsewhen heard on 6155, but missed it as I was trying to track down a local noise source, as the heavier line noise has abated; at 0614 however, I barely caught OE1 going from French back to German. Solar flux had inched up to 72 on May 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. FM logs 5-18-09: 94.9 ZNM Nassau Bahamas, Bahamas superstation 1160 Mi 96.1 "Cool Fm" Grand Bahamas Island 1124 Mi 104.5 ZNS "Power 1045" Nassau Bahamas 1160 Mi (Jeff Rostron, Springfield MA, Sangean HDT-1, Winegard HD 6065P @ 35Ft, WTFDA via DXLD) Jeff's Bahamas 96.1 Cool FM --- There is, I am told, a Cool FM in both Nassau and at Freeport. I visited the one in Nassau this past spring and can attest to its being there and on the air. A staffer at the station said he *thought* there was one, though separately owned, in Freeport. Both on the same channel, with a similar slogan. He also told me some stations up there MIGHT have gone off air due to the recession (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Hi Guys, Here is the link that I used to get the webstream. It looks as if this site has it listed as Freeprort. "Cool Fm" was in like a local for well over a half hour. http://radiostationworld.com/Locations/Bahamas/Radio_Tv_Frequencies.asp (Jeff Rostron, Springfield MA, ibid.) Jeff - you should've ordered a copy of Emisoras de FM. The 96.1 Cool FM is listed there! :-) (Jim Thomas, Emisoras de FM, ibid.) ** BELARUS. 7135, BLR radio still there!! 2052 19 May with `Russian` pops and relatively underloaded audio. At 2100 `Govorit Byelorussakye Radio` then hymn followed, Sign off 2102 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Summer A-09 of Radio Belarus, Minsk: Belarussian 1100-1400 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 1100-1400 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg Russian 1400-1600 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 1400-1600 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg 2200-2300 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 2200-2300 on 7255 MNS 250 kW / 252 deg 2200-2300 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg Polish 1600-1800 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 1705-1800 on 7255 MNS 250 kW / 252 deg 1600-1800 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg German 1800-2000 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 1800-2000 on 7255 MNS 250 kW / 252 deg 1800-2000 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg English 2000-2200 on 7210 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 2000-2200 on 7255 MNS 250 kW / 252 deg 2000-2200 on 7390 MNS 150 kW / 246 deg Belarussian Belorusskoe Radio HS-1 0400-0700 on 11930 MNS 250 kW / 072 deg 1500-1700 on 7255 MNS 250 kW / 072 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 22 via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. [Nigeria] 12050, R Biafra, 1908 19 May, talks by man about politics in Nigeria. Telephone calls to London and other places, mention of activism and non violence, S20 45544. Mixed talks in vernacular (Hausa?) and English. Short mentions of Biafra (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. DRM under consideration: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** BRAZIL. Martedì 19 maggio 2009: Spazzolata la banda dei 21 metri mi sposto su quella dei 25. Alle 1514 passo su 11815 kHz e sento parlare in portoghese un uomo e una donna con la tipica vivacità brasiliana e una citazione del "Brasil". Il segnale si riceve discretamente per qualche decina di secondi e poi svanisce nel nulla. Secondo i database correnti, come EiBi ed Aoki, l'unica stazione a trasmettere in portoghese a tale orario e su detta frequenza è RADIO BRASIL CENTRAL. Mi rendo conto che possa essere un ascolto difficile da rendere credibile agli appassionati più esperti, però io riferisco (sempre!) ciò che ho sintonizzato. Personalmente, comunque, non ritengo che - anche se raro - un ascolto del genere sia impossibile. In Portogallo, ad esempio, più di una volta il Brasile in 25 metri nel pomeriggio è stato ascoltato e, anche se geograficamente più vicino all'America, l'esposizione solare lusitana non è così diversa dalla nostra, almeno nelle ore diurne. Poi può anche darsi che c'entri qualche anomalia propagativa, oppure una riflessione di pura fortuna. Il famoso fattore C. (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) He heard what sounded like a Brazilian on 11815, but doubts it is possible under current conditions; well, I have heard RBC on 11815 but it`s usually in the nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTEING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 11600 at 0559 May 22 with `space music`, IS and opening French as ``Radio Bulgarie Internationale`` --- do they add International to their English ID now? If so, I have not noticed it. Neither English nor French webpages put International(e) in the title: http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_French/ So perhaps it should be rendered ``Radio Bulgarie (internationale)``. Then at 0601 on 11800 found R. Bulgaria in Spanish giving its entire transmission schedule in that language (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. Martedì 19 maggio 2009, 1438 - 17625 kHz, DEMOCRATIC VOICE OF BURMA - Talata V. (Madagascar), Intervista telefonica OM/YL. Segnale insufficiente- sufficiente (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SERVICE TO LAY OFF 180 EMPLOYEES NEXT WEEK === THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — CBC will lay off up to 180 employees in its English-language service next week, says Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of CBC English Services. Stursberg made the announcement Friday to employees at the public broadcaster, said spokesman Jeff Keay. The CBC had projected in March that about 393 jobs would have to be cut in its English-language service to make up for an overall $171- million shortfall in advertising revenue. The shortfall for the English-language service is $85 million. About 100 employees have applied for voluntary retirement, which reduced the number of total layoffs necessary. Layoff notices will be served on Wednesday and Thursday. Keay wouldn’t say whether more layoffs would be necessary. “The process is still underway,” he said. In March the company also projected 336 layoffs at Radio-Canada and another 70 in corporate support services, such as human resources and the legal department. 16:57ET 22-05-09 (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) Same: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/639027 (via Dale Rothert, DXLD) + 10 closed comments, mostly good-riddance Re: RFI strike updates from Mike Cooper [see FRANCE] I sometimes wonder if staff at RCI should follow the French. Well, speaking as a Canadian, the problem is, the RCI staff are too polite (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ex-RCI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perhaps for fear that the CBC will otherwise fire them? Cf. http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/SuspensionRadioCanadaInternational2008.html It seems that more news about RCI could emerge next week: "in a few days we're supposed to get official notice about the CBC layoffs and how they will impact Radio Canada International" http://twitter.com/RCI_Action/status/1887458355 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The CBC has applied to the CRTC to move CFWH-570 Whitehorse YT to FM (94.5 MHz, 3.3 kW, 420.5 meters). I never have been able to log this station, one on my most wanted, here in Calgary AB. Application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to convert the English-language radio station CFWH Whitehorse from the AM to the FM band. The FM station will operate at 94.5 MHz (channel 233C1) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,300 watts (maximum ERP of 6,290 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 420.5 metres). The applicant intends to operate the existing transmitters of CBDB Watson Lake, CBDC Mayo, CBDD Elsa, CBDK Teslin, CBDM Beaver Creek, CBDX Swift River, CBQF Carmacks, CBQJ Ross River, CBUA-FM Atlin, CBQK- FM Faro, CBDL-FM Destruction Bay, CBDF-FM Haines Junction and CBDN Dawson City as rebroadcasting stations of the proposed FM station. The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the proposed FM station on CFWH for a period of three months from the date of implementation of the FM station. The applicant is also requesting, pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(2) of the Broadcasting Act, the revocation of the licence of CFWH effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, May 21, DXLD) also via Ricky Leong, DXLD O, come on. In the wide open spaces of the YT, AM is necessary to reach remote areas, and people driving the Alaska or the other few hiways. In fact, it should be boosted to 50 kW, whatever they may do on FM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow!! What a surprise. I have been fortunate to log and QSL CFWH and also the one of 610, but they are rare and it took a beverage aimed N/NW to log them some years back. I am sad to hear about this as it will make future loggings of the Yukon almost impossible, as 610 is really tough. Then, how soon will they move to FM, leaving only a handfull of LPRTs. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Darn, I'll miss this one too as it's a regular in Masset (a.k.a. DX heaven), and an occasional visitor here in Victoria during very good northern openings (Walt Salmaniw, BC, IRCA via DXLD) ** CANADA. CJWI WANTS NEW FREQUENCY AND POWER BOOST http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-293.htm (via Ricky Leong, AB, May 21, DXLD) Viz.: Due in part to QRM from CHHA-1610 Toronto ON, CJWI-1610 Montreal Quebec has applied to the CRTC to change its frequency to 1410 (the old CFMB-1280 frequency) and to increase its power from 1kW-U to 10 kW-U, and to relocate its transmitter. The link to the application (2009-0646-4) is bad (goes to a unrelated application) so I don't know the details of the transmitter location, pattern and so forth. 1. Montréal, Quebec, Application No. 2009-0646-4 Application by CPAM Radio Union.com inc. relating to the broadcasting licence of the French-language ethnic commercial AM radio programming undertaking CJWI Montréal. The licensee proposes to amend the licence by changing the frequency of CJWI from 1,610 to 1,410 kHz. The licensee also proposes to change the authorized contours by increasing the transmitter power from 1,000 to 10,000 watts day and night, and to relocate its antenna to another site. The licensee states that, during the past two years, an AM radio station from Toronto broadcasting on the same frequency has become a source of interference. Moreover, since CJWI’s target audience has moved to the suburbs surrounding Montréal, the licensee maintains that such a power increase would allow it to reach the target audience with a clearer signal. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The CBC.am website CHU Proposal has been updated and is now listed on http://www.scribd.com/doc/15652506/CHU-Proposal Otherwise it is avalable at : http://cbc.am/CHU.htm (Max Power, CEO, Power Broadcasting, HireMe.geek.nz, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glen[n], This proposal has been floating around the internet for a few years. Max Power has never discussed this idea with the National Research Council of Canada. This idea has never been considered by NRC either. We do not have the resources to set up a new station in Western Canada or Atlantic Canada. Do not take this proposal seriously. Regards, (Raymond Pelletier [CHU], Frequency and Time Institute for National Measurement Standards National Research Council Canada M-36, room 1026 1200 Montreal Road Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6 Tel: (613) 993-3430 Fax: (613) 952-1394 raymond.pelletier @ nrc- cnrc.gc.ca Government of Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE [non]. Re 9-041: Question: Did also other stations than Radio Moscow and Radio Berlin International launch extensive broadcasts for Chile after 1972? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6937, Yunnan PBS, 1156-1214 May 10. Talk in [unknown] language to ToH, then possible news; regional music followed at 1210. Fair but starting to fade (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** CHINA. Lunedì 18 maggio 2009 0744 - 15590 kHz, FIREDRAKE -> Sound of Hope? Segnale sufficiente-buono. Su 15800-16000 non c'era niente. (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. Martedì 19 maggio 2009 0546 - 21550 kHz CNR 1 -> RFA Mandarin Segnale insufficiente-sufficiente 0556 - 17780 kHz CNR 1 -> RFA Mandarin Segnale insufficiente-buono 0559 - 15615 kHz CNR 1 -> RFA Mandarin Segnale buono-molto buono (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Does the -> mean that you only heard CNR 1 in these cases? 17780? There should not be any RFA there until 0600 in Tibetan via Kuwait. Maybe getting a headstart. Or did you mean 17880? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Improved conditions were experienced on 19 meters after 0200 UT on 5/22 and 5/23. A number of Chinese transmitter sites were heard, along with AIR, Voice of Korea, Radio Thailand, and other Asians. Normally 19 meters is a maze of static at this hour. Perhaps a better Summer for higher frequency DXing is forthcoming? 15270, CNR 2 Chinese Business Radio (Beijing), 0451-0456, 5/22/2009, Chinese. Chinese music followed by man and woman talking over music. Just talk at 0456. Poor signal. 15380, Chinese National Radio 1 (Lingshi), 0455-0501, 5/22/2009, Chinese. Woman talking at 0455 with a few bars of music at 0458. Announcements by man over music at 0459. Time pips at 0500 followed by talk by man and woman. Good signal with heavy fading. Parallel 15480 (Beijing) noted with slightly weaker signal (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA, KOREA NORTH, RUSSIA, SRI LANKA, THAILAND, UZBEKISTAN. Correlates with my Asian reception an hour or so later. These trans- polar paths enjoy a lot of daylight around summer solstice for the next bimonth, so behave rather like daytime paths, which they mostly are if you realize it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake, May 21 at 1333 on 11300, better than and not // 13970 or 9000, while inaudible on 8400, so ex-that? Good thing I bothered to scan that far out-of-band, so I continued up to 19 MHz, and found something else interesting instead; see U S A. Firedrake, May 22: at the very late hour of 0533, there it was on 18320 with a poor signal. 17 and 15 MHz were full of Asian signals, including CNR-1 jamming; see below. At 0544 also FD poor on 15600 and not // 18320. At 0556 a trace of FD on 13970. Not so good the next morning: at 1317, no FD audible on 11300. At 1350, none on 11300, 13970, 15150, 15600 or 18320, but poorly audible on 9000 // 8400. Also checked entire out-of-band ranges from 10000 to 19000 with no others found. Unlike some previous mid-night openings, May 22 had both ChiCom CNR-1 jamming, and R. Free Asia audible at same time; site and azimuth info from Aoki and/or HFCC: 0535 on 17880, mix of two different Chinese services, one of which is CNR-1 jamming. The other, RFA SAIPAN, 310 degrees. 0536 on 17615, similar to 17880; one audio source was // 17880, and the other was not, i.e. RFA with deliberate delay of a few seconds: RFA, TINIAN, 295 degrees. 0542 on 15635, Chinese audio with echo, // 17880. Target RFA via Irkutsk, RUSSIA, 152 degrees, itself not audible. 0549 on 15615, CNR1 jamming mixed with other Chinese audio. RFA TINIAN, 279 degrees. 0630 on 17880, Chinese talk with `diamond` music theme as heard a few times before, mentioned Mei-Guo, good over other Chinese audio. I think it is RFA on top at the moment, but either one could have been mentioning America, of course. Other catches from China and East Turkistan, altho not jammers: 0540 on 15785, Chinese M&W not // 17615, fair, since this is CRI itself, Xi`an 354 degrees toward Mongolia and W Siberia. Not good news for Galei Zahal if it is really 24h on this frequency; no sign of it. 0543 on 15665, M&W conversation in Russian, fluttery, CRI ID ``MPK``; Kashi 308 degrees; 0545 // 15445, same. 0547 on 15465, CRI English ID in passing, address. Kashi 209 degrees. Hunting for Firedrakes the morning of May 23: conditions depressed, and did not find any between 8 and 19 MHz except: 14420 at 1316, good signal, // weaker 15600. Note: some of these Firedrakes are likely coming from EAST TURKISTAN sites Kashi or Urumqi, but since SAFRT refuses to register their jammers with HFCC, we can`t be sure. It makes propagational sense for jammers targeting east or central China to be sending from an appropriate skip distance in west `China` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don't want to incite a "religious war" discussion on their jammer locations. BUT Firedrake and Echo like jammers are much WEAKER here on posts in Europe, compared to the tremendous signals of the usual 500 kW BC beast outlets from either Urumchi or Kashgar bc centers ... so I guess most broadcasting transmitter sites with more than five transmitters and curtain antennas disposability in inner China are in use for the jamming purpose. Like Nanning, Hainan, Kunming, Shijiazhuang, Lingshi, Xian, Geermu. There are no separate jamming station installations. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We recently had a post in DXLD, from Keith? Listing a handful of minor transmitter sites allegedly used ONLY for jamming (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I think Glenn's point was that the Kashi and Urumqi broadcasting facilities appear to be involved in the jamming as well, besides all the other sites. And as earlier discussed the Continental-equipped plant near Urumqi has clearly antennas aiming at southeast, to within China. Let me add a particular observation I made today around 1630: 11540 had a big echo mixture, with a huge signal level and the program audio transmit at least four times. If no audio effects were in use this indicates that at least four different transmitter sites were involved. (Victim: RFA in Mandarin, here on air via Tinian 1500-1800.) There were much more signals with Chinese programming on air, but I simply did not feel like noting all of them down. I ended up wondering at any CRI signal (like those in English and Russian that were booming in at local-like levels) whether this is real program distribution or just jamming (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also FINLAND for 963 kHz relays ** CHINA. CCTV-CHINA APPOINTS NEW PRESIDENT Sunday 17 May 2009, Sidney [what Sidney??] The Chinese government has appointed Jiao Li, a vice minister of China's Ministry of Propaganda, as the new President of the country's state broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV). Mr Jiao took up his new post yesterday. Zhao Huayong, CCTV's former President, will continue to serve as Chairman of the China Television Artists Association. CCTV said that because Mr Zhao had already reached his position's retirement age, "it was normal to hand over to younger cadres," the Xinhua News Agency reported. via Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union http://www.abu.org.my/abu/index.cfm/elementid/52220/CCTV-China-appoints-new-president- (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, May 22, DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 6209.989v, Radio Kahuzi, 1718, presumed with conversation between a man and woman in Afro dialect, into religious-themed African music at 1721, followed with talk by a woman in vernacular. Could only copy due to quiet conditions as signal was just above threshold. 22 May (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hope so, but in case you are not aware of the alternative, when logging this be on the lookout for the mixing product from Voice of Greece, 15630 minus 9420. Should be able to check // to one or the other if not both (gh, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Thanks for the input. Whether it was DR Congo, I *can* say it was not a Voice of Greece mixing product. Will try for this again tomorrow to see what I hear, but I've tried for Kahuzi in the past and have not heard anything prior to today. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) [Later:] Hi Everyone. Regarding my possible log of Radio Kahuzi on 6209.989 kHz: I tried again for them this morning (local time), prior to 1700, and didn't hear a thing. However, Dunamis Shortwave from Uganda was fair on 4750.000 kHz, with religious talks by a woman, music, sign-off announcement and transmitter off at 1700 (23 May). Reception between Australia and Africa has been good for the past couple of days and for anyone else in this part of the world, reception of Peru especially seems to be improving from about 1030 UT. 73s (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, ibid.) Kahuzi only on Fris and Suns on air, never on Saturday May 23 ? (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** CROATIA [non]. GERMANY: 9925, Croatian R/Voice of Croatia with music & time pips to ToH, then into English ID by YL & news read by OM and YL. Into sports & weather at 0208, then into feature about a food festival in Croatia featuring Swiss Chard & broad beans (yum, but then I've not often met a veggie I didn't like!) back to news headlines, IDs & sked on satellites (24 hours) MW for Europe & SW announcing times in LOCAL time to the targets, e.g. "7-11 pm Local Time for Eastern North America on 9925." They also gave the web address http://www.hrv.hr and then into music at 0214 which apparently ended the English segment. They IDed alternately as Croatian Radio & Voice of Croatia. SIO 3+3+3+ with lots of local QRM here but this well on top. 0159-0219 16/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet May 22 via DXLD) But, but there are three timezones in ENAm, or four depending on where you draw the line, so WTF does 7-11 pm Local Time mean?? Yeah, I know, one timezone gets all the dominance; rebel, ye Centrists, Mountaineers and Pacificists! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Re 9-041: "I didn't know China HAD a standard for DTV." --- Was news to me as well, and it seems that some DVB-T transmissions were already on air in China before their own system had been mandated. See http://www.dvb.org/about_dvb/dvb_worldwide/china/index.xml And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMB-T/H includes an interesting mention, for what it's worth: "El Salvador (Experimental and will be recommended to replace ATSC)" (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Clear Radio Progreso ID on 103.1 at 1931 [EDT May 21 = 2331 UT]. Spanish up to 104.7 on the dial (Nick Langan, Florence, NJ, My DX page: http://www.wnjl.com/dx/ WTFDA via DXLD) Three Cubans listed on 103.1, but not exactly clear which one would have Progreso: 1) Granma, Bartolomé Maso, CMNI, 1995 watts, variety 2) Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, CMJS, 501 watts, network relay - variety 3) Villa Clara, Santa Clara, CMEI, 3981 watts, variety (Emisoras de FM, 2009, via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC absent again from 13780, May 21 at 1340, and not on its ex, 15370, either. This also removed the 13880 and 13580 mixing products with 13680, still running, as well as 13760, 15120, 15360, all checked, plus 12000, this time somewhat atop the VOR Chinese co- channel from Khabarovsk. May 22 at 1311, 13880 was back and therefore fundamental 13780 as well, at the moment with clips of Obama vs Cheeney {pace, Chris Matthews} speeches the day before. Today RHC had more advantage over VOR 12000, still problematic. RHC audio pretty distorted on 11760, May 23 at 1310 during Despertar con Cuba. Wake up and fix it! // 12000 was OK, and well atop the VOR Chinese co-channel. Fortunately, 11760 was not splattering or putting out any detectable spurs; the 22 and 19-mb frequencies were not distorted, either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Happened to hear R. Martí promoting TV Martí, May 22 at 1301 on 7405, saying people could see it on channel 20. The channels have changed from time to time, but I wonder why this is seldom if ever reported by US TV DXers. You`d think Gulf tropo would bring it in even if the signal is direxional and weakish usward. So is this now from the plane, or an aerostat, or ground-based, and what hours is it on the air, surely not 24? What else is on channel 20 in Florida? WBBH Fort Myers would have been the biggest problem but it has already migrated to 15 for DTV. However, 20 is the permanent DT for WLRN Miami, 625 kW with a CP for 870. There are also lower-powered stations in Melbourne, Tampa-Saint Petersburg and faraway Panama City, all per W9WI.com listings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They use highly directional antennas. Might get some backscatter from it (Bill Frahm, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Radio Martí's webstreaming with bad audio --- I have just checked Radio Martí webstreaming: http://www.martinoticias.com/envivo.asx It is WMA, 16 kbps, 16 kHz, stereo. The audio is distorted, and left audio channel is louder than the right channel. That is pretty unprofessional, if you ask me. 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, 1920 UT May 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same at 0327 UT May 24 (gh, DXLD) ** CZECHIA [and non] Re 9-041, A09: German 1630-1657 on 11700 via Sines should be AM. I just had no opportunity so far to make sure that it indeed is (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But today I finally had: Yes, indeed AM. The signal strength left something to be desired, but altogether it was not bad. The modulation sounded more pleasant than on DW programs, as it can be observed on transmissions from other sites as well. Somewhat exaggerated room ambience / reverb, reminiscent to CRo domestic programming on FM where they use pretty hard dynamics compression as well (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 23, ibid.) Yes, I enjoy recognizing ``that Prague sound`` (gh, DXLD) ** CZECHIA [and non]. Subject: your comment on Prague "This cannot be a surprise to R. Prague, as they are deeply involved in HFCC, and Tunisia registered its new frequency, ex-7190 which had to be evacuated. Prague does not start until 2230, and there are plenty of repeats of the English broadcast after that." Glenn, are you implying you [for one] do not care if this situation persists? I bring up this instance [like another you are aware of] as it is a matter of principle. It is interference and situations like this that makes it harder to attract new SWL's. Hopefully it can be rectified and yes R. Prague needs to champion the effort. They have had this frequency for years. Maybe some like listening to Prague at 2230 - like me once in a while. It is 2009 and we should not have to put up with this. a (Andy Reid, Ont., May 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy, No, just speculating how Prague may have rationalized or signed off on this collision. Of course it should be avoided, but some collisions are more harmful than others. 73, (Glenn to Andy, via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Saludos cordiales, queridos amigos diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. Ayer entre las 0300 y las 0400 UT pude escuchar en los 1600 AM la señal de Radio Revelación en America, transmitiendo desde la República Dominicana. La señal entró por breves segundos para luego desaparecer al poco tiempo. Esta escucha fue hecha con el pequeño SONY SRF-M37, el cual sigue dando excelente resultado y haciéndome disfrutar cada vez más la escucha de la onda media. Como siempre comparto mi archivo sonoro con todos ustedes donde podrán oir cuando nombran a la radio. Solo dicen Radio Revelación, no dicen Revelación en América. Un fuerte abrazo para todos (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EAST TURKISTAN. Middle-of-night 16 and 19m opening from China May 23 not nearly as good as 24 hours before, but at 0622 on 17680 hearing Chinese-accented Spanish, fair with deep fades, which checks as CRI via Kashi, 294 degrees for Spain (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CHINA ** ECUADOR. Re 9-041: "Well, if they really want to maintain the service, there are plenty of other transmitters they could buy time on" --- Like they do for broadcasts in German, Arabic and CIS languages which all have already lost their Pifo transmission capabilities. I guess it is quite certain that the mediumwave site, in future with the added single shortwave transmitter, will continue with a mixture of Spanish and Quichua. The interesting candidates are indeed Portuguese to Brazil and German within the Americas. Will they decide to lease airtime for these services or choose to abolish them? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Summer A-09 of Radio Cairo: 0700-1100 15790 ABZ 100 kW / 250 deg WeAf Arabic General Service 1015-1215 15170 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg WeAs Arabic 1215-1330 17835 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg SoAs English 1230-1400 15710 ABS 250 kW / 106 deg SEAs Indonesian 1300-1600 15080 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg WeAf Arabic 1330-1530 15800 ABZ 100 kW / 070 deg WeAs Farsi 1430-1600 12170 ABZ 250 kW / 070 deg WeAs Pashto 1500-1600 9250 ABZ 250 kW / 050 deg CeAs Uzbek 1500-1600 15255 ABS 250 kW / 330 deg EaEu Albanian 1530-1730 17810 ABZ 100 kW / 170 deg CEAf Swahili 1600-1700 15285 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg ECAf Afar 1600-1800 6270 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg SoAs Urdu 1600-1800 12170 ABZ 150 kW / 195 deg CSAf English 1700-1900 6860 ABS 250 kW / 005 deg N/ME Turkish 1700-2300 9250 ABZ 250 kW / 180 deg EaAf Arabic R. Waadi e[l] Nile 1700-1730 15285 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg ECAf Somali 1730-1900 15285 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg ECAf Amharic 1800-1900 6255 ABS 250 kW / 330 deg WeEu Italian 1800-2100 9990 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg WeAf Hausa 1900-2000 6255 ABS 250 kW / 330 deg WeEu German 1900-2000 6860 ABS 250 kW / 005 deg EaEu Russian 1900-2030 11510 ABZ 100 kW / 250 deg WeAf English 1900-2400 6290 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg WeEu Arabic General Service 1900-0030 11540 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg CEAf Arabic R. Voice of Arabs 2000-2115 6255 ABS 250 kW / 330 deg WeEu French 2000-2200 6860 ABZ 250 kW / 110 deg AUS Arabic 2030-2230 9280 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg WeAf French 2115-2245 6255 ABS 250 kW / 330 deg WeEu English 2215-2330 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg SoAm Portuguese 2300-0030 11590 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg NEAm English 2330-0045 9250 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg SoAm Arabic 2330-0045 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg CeAm Arabic 0000-0700 6290 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg NoAm Arabic General Service 0030-0430 11590 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg NEAm Arabic 0045-0200 7540 ABZ 250 kW / 315 deg NoAm Spanish 0045-0200 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg CeAm Spanish 0045-0200 9915 ABS 250 kW / 252 deg SoAm Spanish 0200-0330 7540 ABZ 250 kW / 315 deg NoAm English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 22 via DXLD) Anything new/changed here? ** EL SALVADOR. 89.3 Cool FM El Salvador in good; others in the low end unidentified, 72.9 Radio Selectos, unusual frequency station in good on the PRO2004 (Randy KW4RZ Zerr, Fort Walton Beach, FL (northwest panhandle), EM60qk, http://www.geocities.com/kw4rz 1344 UT May 22, WTFDA via DXLD) 72.9 MHz = one of those background-music services between TV channels 4 and 5 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa, 2245-2304*, May 22, fairly clear English religious talk with very little distortion but closing announcements at 2302 with very distorted, barely intelligible “Radio Africa” IDs along with contact information (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [and non]. Erithiopia: We heard some "Dimtse Ertran" (or Dimtsi Ertrai or Dimtsi Eritrea) programmes recently again on 7165 and 7175 jamming Eritrea. Also this type of programming is aired Tu+Th+Sat 1800-1835 on 7165/9560 via R.E. External Service transmitters. Mauno Ritola compared this with recordings from 8000 kHz last year, and found that they had identical IDs and jingles. Researching the internet I found a google hit: "[Ai] Asmarino Independent Radio /Dimtsi Eritrea/ April 29th 29?2008. Wednesday, 28 January 2009 10:35. PDF Email Print. Please Click Here for Radio /Dimtsi Eritrea/ *...* delina.org/blog/cs/hdmo/33/item/935?view=article -" But not on the server or the google cache any more. No further hints, but a similar jingle recorded in 2006 can be found here: http://www.intervalsignals.net/countries/clandestine-active.htm This all is definitely different from Voice of Democracy and Peace of Eritrea and also Voice of Meselna Delina though there might be links as there HP was mentioned during those 8000 kHz activities last year. Thanks to Mauno Ritola, Jari Savolainen and Wolfgang Büschel for the mails and audio clips on this topic! 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Amhara State Radio, Bahir Dar, 6090 kHz - friendly email reply with verification statement from Dereje Moges, Station Director, in less than 24 hours. This was for my April 24 reception during Caribbean Beacon silent period. Email address dereradio2000 [at] yahoo.com He did not respond to my query if he had received my original airmail report mailed to Bahir Dar, Amhara Province, Ethiopia. Many thanks to Björn Fransson, Sweden, SWB via DXLD for reporting the email info! (Brandon Jordan, TN, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5950, 21/05 1855, Voice of Tigray Revolution, in Tigrinya/Afar, from Addis Ababa-Gedja, with 100 kW, African music, at 1856 UT YL Talk and ID, end transmission at 1900, 25332 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) ** FINLAND. 963 kHz, CRI via Pori, audible 2117-2130, 21 May, German to Europe, talks, Chinese music; 33432, QRM de PORTUGAL local & SPAIN. I was actually trying to null our local signal so as to receive R. Euskadi in Gasteiz, and found this other weaker signal underneath which grew stronger, stronger than that from Gasteiz. It seems "everybody" is willing to spread Chinese propaganda --- as long as it is [well?] paid. Nice. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 9-041: In reading this I can't help but wonder why the various "clandestines" trying to reach the Chinese mainland don't try to counter the efforts of the ChiComs in spreading their propaganda in this way as well? I'm not sure how effective it would be, but at least they'd have less of a chance to be jammed. Take care! (Eric Loy, DWS Sportsnight, WDWS Radio, Champaign IL, 217-351-5613, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. RFI strike updates day by day: Workers at RFI have voted in favor of two motions directed at RFI's top management and against the organization where RFI was placed with television channels France 24 and TV5. AFP, citing a labor spokesman, said one motion accuses the French government of fabricating claims that an underfunded RFI is responsible for a budget deficit. The other motion accuses directors of RFI and the holding group Audiovisuel Exterieur de la France of "fabricating unfounded arguments to justify a layoff plan that is as massive as it is illegitimate." Four labor unions says more than two-thirds of RFI staff voted on the resolutions, and more than 95 percent of the votes were in favor of them. A statement by the unions said the strike would continue for another 24 hours (Mike Cooper, GA, May 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to the site RFI Riposte rfiriposte.wordpress.com RFI employees voted unanimously to continue their strike until Monday. The site also posted pictures of RFI's top three executives enjoying themselves on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. "What are they doing there? What do they think they represent?," a comment on the site asks. RFI staff are scheduled to meet again on Monday afternoon (Mike Cooper, GA, May 17, DXLD) Labor unions announced today that the strike at RFI would continue. They said that of the more than 120 workers who voted, only one voted against the strike. Two abstained. The overwhelming vote seems to conflict with a statement by Christine Ockrent, the head of RFI and France 24, that only 3.6 percent of RFI personnel are participating in the strike. She told LePoint.fr that "the strikers are the ones who control" RFI's broadcasts. "It's so complicated to explain to listeners," she said from Cannes, where she announced a new program schedule for television outlet France 24. Ockrent also sought to take credit for an increase in RFI listenership in Africa. She said new surveys by Sofres-Africascope show RFI moving up from 5th- to 3rd-most popular in Dakar, behind two local stations, with 14 to 15.5 percent of the audience. Ratings from Abidjan, Kinshasa and Ouagadougou are expected in the next three weeks, she told LePoint (Mike Cooper, GA, May 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The strike at RFI was extended for another 24 hours on Tuesday, according to Agence France Presse, which cited a union source (Mike Cooper, May 19, DXLD) RFI employees voted again on Wednesday to continue their strike, saying that RFI management has refused to meet with them and shows no interest in doing so, according to a statement issued by four unions. Strikers met with the leaders of several political parties at the National Assembly on Wednesday. Didier Mathus of the Socialist Party told AFP the party supports the strike and opposes the plan to cut 206 staff members at RFI (Mike Cooper, GA, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listening to RFI on SW this morning, there was a 10-minute weather bulletin during the Météo Marine broadcast, but the second part of the half-hour broadcast, which usually contains marine-related features, reverted to fill music (Mike Cooper, May 22, DXLD) Presumably 13640 via GUF, i.a. (gh) Workers at RFI voted today to continue their strike. The next assembly of RFI employees is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Four striking unions have sent a letter to an aide to the French president asking for mediation, complaining that top RFI management has refused contact with the unions since Tuesday and has ignored an appeals court decision issued May 11 that suspends a plan to cut 206 positions (22 percent of RFI staff) and end services in seven foreign languages (Mike Cooper, GA, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And I wonder how the situation at RFI will escalate in case the unionists do not choose to surrender on Monday (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Gareth asked a question two months back - if anyone knows whether Radio Bleu on 864 kHz is still broadcasting in AM Stereo? Well, I dusted off my Sony AM Stereo Walkman and have the pleasure in confirming that it is indeed still broadcasting in Stereo on the MW band! (Andrew (Shoreham), May 21, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. New station via Media Broadcast - Cheetah Radio in English: 1600-1700 on 11885 WER 125 kW / 090 deg to SoAs Sat. VG signal here in BUL (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 22 via DXLD) As already outpointed in DXLD, these are really infomercials, already airing on WRMI, and here brokered by RMI (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** GERMANY. MEDIA BROADCAST GmbH (formerly T-SYSTEMS - DTK) A09 period (29/03 - 24/10/2009), operational DTK schedule of 19th May 2009 frq startstop ciraf loc pow azi day from to broad 3975 0400-0500 28 WER 250 ND 1234567 290309 241009 RBP 3975 1800-2000 28 WER 250 ND 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 3975 2100-2200 28 WER 250 ND 1234567 290309 241009 RBP 5935 0000-0100 41 NAU 100 103 1234567 160409 241009 WRN 5945 0700-0730 27,28N WER 100 300 1 290309 241009 BVB 5945 0700-0815 27,28N WER 100 300 7 290309 241009 BVB 5945 0745-0800 27,28N WER 100 300 6 290309 241009 BVB 5945 1100-1115 27,28 WER 250 ND 1 290309 241009 MWA 5945 1300-1400 27,28 JUL 100 ND 1 290309 241009 RTR 5945 1530-1559 28NW ISS 100 55 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 5955 0758-1000 WER 250 ND 7 010609 310809 RNW 5955 1000-1657 WER 250 ND 1234567 010609 310809 RNW 5955 1000-1657 WER 250 ND 1 290309 310509 RNW 5955 1000-1657 WER 250 ND 1 010909 241009 RNW 5955 1459-1657 WER 250 ND 234567 290309 310509 RNW 5955 1459-1657 WER 250 ND 234567 010909 241009 RNW 5965 1130-1159 28NW WER 100 ND 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 5975 1130-1159 28NW WER 100 40 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 5995 0300-0330 NAU 250 155 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 6015 1700-1759 27W,28 WER 100 ND 1234567 060409 241009 HCJ 6025 1000-1059 28 WER 250 ND 1234567 290309 241009 RBP 6025 1600-1700 28 WER 250 ND 1234567 290309 241009 RBP 6030 1930-2000 28NW WER 40 ND 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6035 0559-0657 NAU 250 215 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 6035 0659-0757 NAU 250 186 234567 290309 241009 RNW 6035 0659-0800 NAU 250 186 1 290309 241009 RNW 6040 1600-1930 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 6045 0900-1000 27E,28 WER 100 ND 1 290309 241009 HLR 6050 1700-1859 29 WER 250 45 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 6050 1900-1930 29N WER 100 45 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6055 0900-0959 27,28 WER 100 90 1 290309 241009 CHW 6055 1030-1100 27,28 WER 125 ND 1 7 290309 241009 EMG 6060 1600-1659 19;29 WER 250 60 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 6065 0300-0330 48 WER 250 135 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 6105 0642-0750 27 NAU 100 285 1 290309 241009 TWR 6105 0657-0750 27 NAU 100 285 23456 290309 241009 TWR 6105 0712-0750 27 NAU 100 285 7 290309 241009 TWR 6105 1700-1759 29 WER 250 60 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 6110 1400-1559 27,28W JUL 100 290 1234567 290309 241009 TOM 6115 2000-2200 37,38W NAU 250 210 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 6120 0659-0757 WER 250 300 234567 290309 241009 RNW 6120 0659-0800 WER 250 300 1 290309 241009 RNW 6120 0759-1000 WER 250 255 23456 290309 241009 RNW 6125 0459-0557 NAU 250 243 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 6125 1959-2200 NAU 250 225 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 6130 0330-0400 27,28 WER 250 45 1234567 290309 241009 NHK 6130 0430-0500 27,28 WER 250 60 1234567 170409 241009 NHK 6130 1800-1830 28,29 WER 125 55 3 6 290309 241009 BVB 6130 1800-1845 28,29 WER 125 55 5 7 290309 241009 BVB 6130 1800-1859 28,29 WER 125 55 1 290309 241009 BVB 6130 1815-1830 28,29 WER 125 55 2 4 290309 241009 BVB 6135 1930-1959 28NW WER 100 40 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6140 0900-1000 27,28 WER 100 ND 1 290309 241009 MVB 6140 1800-1829 29S,30 WER 100 75 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6140 1830-1929 29S WER 100 75 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6145 0500-0600 28E WER 100 120 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 6155 2100-2159 28NE,2 WER 100 55 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6175 1830-1859 29S WER 100 75 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 6175 1900-2000 27,28W WER 125 300 1234567 290309 241009 TOM 7220 1357-1500 28,29, WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 TWR 7230 1900-1930 39N WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 FEB 7245 2100-2200 27S NAU 250 220 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 7260 1500-1559 30S WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7265 1700-1759 27 WER 40 300 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 7270 0400-0430 39,40W WER 250 120 1234567 250409 241009 AWR 7270 1600-1659 29,30 WER 250 60 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7280 0030-0400 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7330 1200-1300 18 NAU 100 5 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 7340 1600-1659 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7350 1600-1659 30S WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7420 1500-1559 30S WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 7420 2200-2300 37,38W WER 250 210 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9430 1545-1659 39,40 JUL 100 115 2 4 290309 241009 BVB 9430 1615-1630 39,40 JUL 100 115 6 290309 241009 BVB 9430 1701-1800 39,40 WER 125 120 7 290309 241009 BVB 9430 1730-1759 39,40 WER 125 120 1 290309 241009 BVB 9430 1800-1859 39,40 WER 250 120 7 040409 241009 BVB 9430 1815-1845 39,40 WER 250 120 1 290309 241009 BVB 9430 1830-1859 39,40 WER 250 120 6 290309 241009 BVB 9435 0030-0130 40E,41 WER 250 90 1234567 250409 241009 GFA 9435 1800-1830 37NW JUL 100 220 1 290309 241009 BVB 9440 1330-1429 28NE,2 WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 9440 1500-1528 29S JUL 100 70 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 9440 1528-1559 29S,39 WER 100 90 23456 290309 241009 TWR 9440 1528-1559 28 WER 100 105 7 290309 241009 TWR 9445 1700-1729 39,40W WER 250 120 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 9490 0030-0100 41 WER 250 90 1234567 250409 241009 BVB 9490 2330-0030 41,49 WER 125 75 1234567 290309 241009 DVB 9505 1629-1700 30S,40 WER 100 90 1234567 290309 241009 TWR 9510 1400-1459 WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9515 1930-2015 37,38 WER 250 150 1 290309 241009 PAB 9515 1930-2030 37,38 WER 250 150 7 290309 241009 PAB 9525 1200-1300 27 WER 100 300 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 9565 1700-1859 29,30 NAU 250 65 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9585 1800-1859 28E,29 WER 125 75 7 150409 241009 CHW 9590 1900-2000 37E,38 WER 250 150 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9595 1159-1600 WER 100 300 1234567 040709 270709 RNW 9595 2000-2100 46E,47 WER 500 180 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9610 1900-2200 46,47, WER 500 180 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9635 0400-0500 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9635 1801-1901 37N NAU 250 230 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9640 0030-0045 41 WER 100 90 1 290309 241009 PAB 9650 1900-1930 47 WER 250 150 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9655 1830-1859 46S,47 ISS 500 167 1234567 280409 241009 LWF 9670 1500-1530 30S WER 250 75 1234567 050409 241009 IBB 9670 1530-1700 28NE,2 WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 9680 2330-0030 41NE,4 WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 GFA 9695 0230-0330 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9695 1800-1830 38E,39 WER 100 120 1234567 150509 241009 PRW 9720 2100-2159 46E,47 WER 500 180 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 9725 1500-1659 29 WER 125 60 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9760 1700-1759 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9765 1900-2030 37,38W WER 100 210 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 9770 0500-0600 39N,40 NAU 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9780 1700-1759 40E,41 WER 250 90 1234567 190409 241009 IBB 9790 0900-1000 28W NAU 100 180 1 290309 241009 AWR 9790 1200-1230 27,28 WER 250 300 1234567 290309 241009 NHK 9790 1700-1759 18 ISS 100 25 1234567 150409 241009 PRW 9805 1900-2000 29,30 WER 250 60 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9815 0330-0400 48 WER 250 135 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 9815 2030-2100 46,47, NAU 250 190 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9845 0300-0330 48 WER 250 135 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 9850 0530-0600 46,47 WER 500 195 1234567 290309 241009 NHK 9855 1800-1859 40E,41 WER 250 90 1234567 190409 241009 IBB 9885 0100-0300 42,43 WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 9895 0459-0557 NAU 250 160 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 9895 0559-0657 NAU 250 226 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 9895 0757-1000 NAU 250 221 7 010609 310809 RNW 9895 1000-1657 27,28, WER 250 240 1 010909 241009 RNW 9895 1000-1657 27,28, WER 250 240 1 290309 310509 RNW 9895 1000-1657 27,28, WER 250 240 1234567 010609 310809 RNW 9895 1459-1657 27,28, WER 250 240 234567 010909 241009 RNW 9895 1459-1657 27,28, WER 250 240 234567 290309 310509 RNW 9895 1800-1859 28E WER 100 105 1234567 150409 241009 YFR 9895 2059-2127 NAU 250 320 1234567 010609 310809 RNW 9925 0100-0500 2,3,4, NAU 100 325 1234567 100509 241009 HRT 9925 2200-0300 11,12, WER 100 240 1234567 100509 241009 HRT 9925 2300-0300 6,7,8, WER 100 300 1234567 100509 241009 HRT 11600 1800-1859 37E,38 WER 250 150 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11635 0430-0500 48 WER 125 135 1 290309 241009 BVB 11635 0430-0530 48 WER 125 135 7 290309 241009 BVB 11640 1630-1659 38E,39 NAU 100 145 3 6 290309 241009 RHU 11665 1659-1727 WER 500 120 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 11670 1600-1659 40 NAU 500 105 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11680 1600-1659 41 WER 500 90 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11750 0530-0600 46,47 WER 500 180 1234567 290309 241009 NHK 11750 1430-1529 29S WER 100 75 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 11755 2000-2100 46E,47 WER 100 180 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 11760 1600-1630 47E,48 WER 500 135 1 3 5 030509 241009 RMI 11810 1500-1559 29SE WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 11830 1830-1959 46,47 WER 100 165 1 290309 241009 BVB 11830 1930-1959 46,47 WER 100 180 7 290309 241009 BVB 11830 1945-2015 46SW WER 125 210 23456 290309 241009 BVB 11835 1300-1329 29 WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 11840 1900-2000 37,46 WER 500 210 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11850 1700-1759 40 WER 500 105 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11865 0430-0500 39,40 WER 250 120 2345 290309 241009 BVB 11865 0430-0545 39,40 WER 250 120 6 290309 241009 BVB 11885 1600-1659 41 WER 125 90 7 250409 241009 RMI 11885 1700-1759 39 WER 250 120 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 11905 1730-1800 48 NAU 250 140 23456 290309 241009 IBB 11915 1030-1059 27 WER 100 300 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 11915 1730-1800 37,38W WER 100 210 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 11935 0659-0757 WER 250 240 234567 290309 241009 RNW 11935 0659-0800 WER 250 240 1 290309 241009 RNW 11950 1700-1759 39N,40 NAU 250 113 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 11955 1430-1459 29N WER 100 45 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 11955 1500-1529 29,30 NAU 250 87 7 050409 241009 EMG 11955 1530-1545 39, 40 WER 250 105 1 120409 241009 BVB 11970 1800-1815 39,40 NAU 100 105 7 290409 241009 BVB 11970 1800-1830 39,40 NAU 100 105 2 4 6 290409 241009 BVB 11970 1800-1859 39,40 NAU 100 105 3 5 290409 241009 BVB 11970 1830-1859 39,40 NAU 100 105 1 290409 241009 BVB 11975 1330-1429 28NE,2 WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 11980 0700-0830 37,38W WER 100 210 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 11995 1030-1100 28NE,2 NAU 100 100 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 12010 0800-0900 37,38W WER 100 210 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 12140 1530-1730 39,40 JUL 100 100 1234567 290309 241009 BVB 12140 1800-1900 48 WER 250 150 1 7 290309 241009 IBB 12140 1800-1930 48 WER 250 150 23456 290309 241009 IBB 13580 1625-1715 39,40 ISS 250 110 23 56 290309 241009 BVB 13580 1625-1729 39,40 ISS 250 110 4 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1530-1815 39,40 NAU 100 125 1 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1545-1600 39,40 NAU 100 125 2 4 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1545-1615 39,40 NAU 100 125 6 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1545-1620 39,40 NAU 100 125 3 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1545-1645 39,40 NAU 100 125 5 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1545-1829 39,40 NAU 100 125 7 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1700-1800 39,40 NAU 100 125 3 290309 241009 BVB 13590 1730-1759 39,40 NAU 100 125 6 290309 241009 BVB 13605 1400-1459 30S,40 WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 13645 1600-1659 39 WER 250 120 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 13690 1300-1329 30N,31 WER 500 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 13700 1159-1459 NAU 500 140 1234567 040709 270709 RNW 13700 1159-1459 NAU 500 230 1234567 040709 270709 RNW 13700 1459-1557 NAU 500 230 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 13700 1459-1557 NAU 500 140 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 13700 1557-1657 NAU 500 140 1234567 010609 310809 RNW 13700 1557-1657 NAU 500 230 1234567 010609 310809 RNW 13710 1100-1130 19,20, NAU 250 20 7 290309 241009 EMG 13730 1529-1727 WER 500 150 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 13745 1100-1129 29 WER 100 60 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 13750 1530-1628 40E,41 WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 GFA 13790 1800-1859 46E,47 WER 500 180 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 13810 1400-1557 28,29W NAU 100 120 1234567 290309 241009 TOM 13810 1600-1759 38S,39 JUL 100 130 2 45 290309 241009 BVB 13810 1600-1859 38S,39 JUL 100 130 1 6 290309 241009 BVB 13810 1630-1759 38S,39 JUL 100 130 3 290309 241009 BVB 13810 1630-1830 38S,39 JUL 100 130 7 290309 241009 BVB 13820 1700-1759 38E,39 NAU 125 145 5 290309 241009 ELF 13820 1700-1759 47E,48 NAU 500 140 7 290309 241009 ADM 13820 1700-1759 38E,39 WER 250 135 1 4 290309 241009 EFD 13830 1400-1459 WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 13830 1500-1559 41E WER 500 75 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 13830 1600-1629 39,40 JUL 100 100 1 5 290309 241009 PAB 13830 1700-1759 38E,39 JUL 125 130 1 4 290309 241009 SBO 13830 1730-1800 47E,48 JUL 100 130 6 290309 241009 RMI 13840 1100-1129 29S WER 100 90 1234567 290309 241009 PRW 13840 1700-1759 37,38 WER 100 180 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 13870 1730-1759 48 WER 250 150 23456 290309 241009 IBB 13870 1800-1900 48 NAU 250 140 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 13870 1900-1930 48 NAU 250 140 23456 290309 241009 IBB 15130 1400-1458 39N,40 NAU 250 113 1234567 270409 241009 IBB 15160 1500-1529 41N ISS 250 80 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15160 1530-1559 41N ISS 250 80 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15160 1600-1659 47,48 WER 250 150 1234567 290309 241009 RBP 15190 0830-0900 38,39, WER 500 105 1234567 290309 241009 NHK 15205 1400-1415 39N,40 NAU 250 95 7 290309 241009 PAB 15205 1400-1430 41 NAU 100 95 1 290309 241009 PAB 15205 1415-1430 41 NAU 100 95 234567 290309 241009 PAB 15205 1430-1445 41 NAU 250 95 1 290309 241009 PAB 15205 1900-1930 46S NAU 125 215 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15205 1930-2000 46SE,4 WER 250 165 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15255 1300-1459 41E NAU 500 84 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 15260 1900-2000 37,38W NAU 100 215 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15295 1500-1530 41 ISS 250 77 1 7 290309 241009 BVB 15295 1500-1559 41 ISS 250 77 56 290309 241009 BVB 15295 1515-1559 41 ISS 250 77 4 290309 241009 BVB 15295 1530-1559 41 ISS 250 77 23 290309 241009 BVB 15320 1300-1457 42,43W NAU 250 70 7 230409 241009 AWR 15320 1300-1459 42,43W NAU 250 70 1 230409 241009 AWR 15320 1300-1500 42,43W NAU 250 70 23456 230409 241009 AWR 15335 1500-1529 41N WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15335 1530-1559 41N WER 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15335 1859-1957 NAU 500 183 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 15350 1230-1459 41 WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 GFA 15370 1500-1558 41 NAU 500 95 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 15380 1430-1629 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 15390 1330-1529 41NE,4 ISS 250 75 1234567 290309 241009 GFA 15430 1630-1659 48 NAU 250 140 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 15435 1200-1300 41NE WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 15495 1630-1729 47,48 WER 100 150 1234567 150409 241009 BVB 15495 1729-1745 47,48 WER 100 150 6 150409 241009 BVB 15535 1759-1957 WER 500 150 1234567 290309 241009 RNW 15565 1500-1559 29SE WER 250 90 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 15610 1200-1230 31S,42 NAU 250 70 23456 290309 241009 BVB 15670 1400-1559 41 WER 500 90 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 15675 1830-1845 52,53 NAU 100 170 3 5 290309 241009 RRP 15680 1500-1515 41,49N NAU 250 83 1 050409 241009 BVB 15680 1500-1530 40,41 JUL 100 90 2 040509 241009 BVB 15680 1500-1559 40,41 JUL 100 90 7 020509 241009 BVB 15680 1500-1559 40,41 JUL 100 90 3 290309 241009 BVB 15680 1515-1559 40,41 JUL 100 90 456 290309 241009 BVB 15680 1530-1559 40,41 JUL 100 90 1 020509 241009 BVB 15690 1400-1459 41S WER 500 105 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 15715 1400-1500 41 WER 500 90 1234567 210409 241009 YFR 15715 1500-1559 41 WER 500 90 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 15750 1600-1759 47,48 NAU 500 155 1234567 290309 241009 YFR 17485 1500-1559 46E,47 JUL 100 160 1234567 290309 241009 TOM 17535 0900-1000 38,39 WER 125 135 6 290309 241009 BVB 17575 1630-1659 48 WER 250 135 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 17575 1730-1759 48 WER 250 135 1234567 290309 241009 AWR 17670 1400-1459 40 WER 250 105 1234567 290309 241009 IBB 17805 1400-1459 41 WER 250 90 1 7 180409 241009 BVB List of Broadcasters which are using MEDIA BROADCAST technical equipment ADM Abu Dhabi Media Company AWR Adventist World Radio BVB High Adventure Gospel - Bible Voice Broadcasting CHW Christliche Wissenschaft CVC Christian Vision DTK MEDIA BROADCAST (ex Deutsche Telekom) DVB Democratic Voice of Burma EFD Ethiopeans For Democracy ELF Eritrean Liberation Front EMG Evangelische Missionsgemeinden in Deutschland FEB Feba Radio UK GFA Gospel for Asia HCJ Voice of the Andes HLR Hamburger Lokalradio HRT Hrvatska Radio Televizija IBB International Broadcast Bureau IBR IBRA Radio Schweden LWF Lutheran World Federation MVB Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Baltic Radio MWA Missionswerk Arche NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai PAB Pan Am Broadcasting PRW Polskie Radio Warsaw RHU Radio Huriyo (Xoriyo) RMI Radio Miami International RNW Radio Netherlands World Service RRP Radio Reveil Paroles de Vie RTR Radio Traumland (Belgium) SBO Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo TOM The Overcomer Ministry TWR Trans World Radio VOR Voice of Russia WRN World Radio Network YFR WYFR Family Radio Michael Puetz MEDIA BROADCAST GmbH Order Management & Backoffice Josef-Lammerting-Allee 8-10 D-50933 Cologne Germany Please send your inquiries and reception reports to: E-Mail: Internet: (M&B via Michael Bethge WWDXC Bad Homburg, condensed and sorted by BC- DX TopNews May 19 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio Gloria International this Sunday Date 24TH of May 2009, Time 0900 to 1000 UT Channel 6140 KHz Radio Gloria will be broadcasting over the transmitting station in Wertachtal Germany. The transmitter power will be 100 000 Watts, and we will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DRASTIC AIRTIME REDUCTION FOR MAINFLINGEN 1539 KHZ As of July 1 ERF [TWR] will cut back its airtime on 1539 from 06:00 to 24:00 CET to merely 07:00-09:00 and 19:30-22:30 CET (= 0500-0700 and 1730-2030 UT during summer), still using 700 kW. This is primarily a cost saving measure. The plain power bill for the transmitter (rather than the full transmitter lease) is specified as 280,000 Euro per year. http://www.erf.de/index.php?node=4355&content_item=819 No word in this press release about the foreign language programmes that still go out on 1539 between 0300 and 0400 UT, including Radio Évangile broadcasts, put on 1539 as replacement for the now gone slot on Roumoules-216. During recent years substantial investments had been made into the 1539 transmission facility, including a new NVIS antenna for skywave service in the morning and evening: http://www.waniewski.de/id330.htm The old tube transmitters have been replaced as well, if I recall correct by a set-up of 2 x Thomson S7HP. The new scheme may reflect a minimum usage that must be kept after these big investments. Personally I wonder if ERF meanwhile regrets its deep involvement into this mediumwave operation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. PETER HARALAMBOS PALEOLOGOS It is with heavy heart that I inform you of the death yesterday, May 20, of my cousin Peter Haralambos Paleologos, son of the late Haralambos and Zaharoula Paleologos, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the sge of 83. He was the beloved husband of Elli Malta Paleologos and is survived by his cousins Helen Chakalakis, Sophia Cooksey, John and Nicholas Babbis, Peter Allen (Albanidis), Costas Paleologos, and numerous other relatives in the Washington area and in Greece. The family will receive friends on Saturday, May 23, from 10 a.m. until time of funeral service at 11 a.m. at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 4115 16th Sreet, NW., Washington, DC. Interment will be at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Paleologos Graduate Scholarship Fund, c/o The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 8-10 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075, attn: Ely Papadeas. Peter was indeed a man of the church; he served Saint Constantine and Helen for most of his life; first as an altar boy, later in the choir (we served together as bass); always working diligently in the Greek Festivals and Greek Picnics there. He was always elected to the Church Board and was the Kombaros (Godfather) at scores of baptisms. During World War II he served his country in the U.S. Navy, Peter retired from the Westinghouse Corporation after making numerous trips overseas to Europe and the Near East in the line of business; making visits to his relatives in Greece whenever possible. It was his pleasure to be interviewed on your Voice of Greece's short- wave radio program several years ago "Hellenes Around The World" describing the workings of the Annual Greek Festival at Saint Connie's. I still have the tape recording that I made of that program to cherish the memory of his voice. Peter will be sorely missed by the thousands of Greeks in the Washington area whose lives he has touched (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, May 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Our condolences (gh) ** GREENLAND. 720 kHz, Greenland is fairly strong and very steady here tonight. And, here is the best part - it does not take a good desktop fed by a good antenna to bring it in - I'm getting it on everything from nekkid Kaitos KA-2100 & KA-1103 to Sangean PR-D5 to my R-390A. May be one of the best chances for other to log it! (Phil Rafuse, Stratford PEI Canada, 0222 UT May 23, ABDX via DXLD) Now [0246] I'm getting it on a $20 CDN Grundig FR-200 crank radio! Very much worth a try folks. Listen for a language that sounds a lot like that of the Inuit people. Best of luck - this might be one of the best chances for you to log Greenland (Phil Rafuse, ibid.) After lots of talk, now [0251 UT] rolling music (Rafuse, ibid.) THANKS For the heads up? I'm trying, but ALL I`m getting so far between lightning static, is the baseball game on WGN I think? and some Mex music. Parked on 720 (Dean Wayman, O'Neill NE, 0316 UT, ibid.) PEI and NE have rather different access to Greenland on 720. The Mexican would be KSAH in TX, pest here vs WGN (gh, OK, DXLD) Too close to WGN 720 here in NW Indiana, Cubs game (KC9IBN, 0319 UT, ibid.) 720 is awash in IBOC crud from WOR here when I null WGN - something else in there, but hard to say what it is. Has anyone done a frequency measurement on the Greenland station? They're not in the mwoffsets list (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, 0405 UT, ibid.) Barry - I was hearing WGN way in the background of Greenland, noticeable when Greenland has a few seconds of dead air. No sign of any hets, even when using receivers with pretty good low end response (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) ** GUINEA. 7125.000, RTVG. 2140, French, very low audio, with general talk by a man and occasional Afro music bridges. Seemed to be "right on" frequency. 22 May (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250.05, R Luz y Vida at 0245 in Spanish. Mod sig but severe static crashes. 21 May. 3340, R. Misiones (presumed) at 0250+ in Spanish. Very faint 21 May (Liz Cameron, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** HUNGARY [non?]. Re 9-041: I checked 3975 tonight: Still Jászberény, obvious from the bassy audio with classical dynamics processing. The Wertachtal entries appeared from the start of the A09 season, and I already raised this question, but no further background information surfaced so far. Thus I can only speculate than Jászberény could indeed go dark, literally any minute. And after the end of the programme at 2158 they played tonight again the old Radio Budapest identifier, with the voice of Franziska Simon and all the other staff members they have presumably fired as well (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, Could you or some hams on your website help me to solve the problem with finding the location of the transmitting site and antenna field of Hungary Radio (from Jaszbereny) on the Satellite map? After failing to find any photos of them, I started to search the Internet, using the coordinates 19 52E, 47 35N for Jaszbereny. Here what I found: there were two places on the map named 'Jaszbereny', one - small town 20 - 50 km east of Budapest, another - in eastern suburb of Budapest where was some road or highway also called Jaszbereny. In neither place could I find any images of antennas. Maybe, the coordinates I used for the site was incorrect? Thank you in advance. Sincerely, (Lev Lytovchenko, Edmonton, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wolfy sent him a bunch of info (gh) ** INDIA. DRM wave of future: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** INDIA. All India Radio will broadcast live the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister and the new council of Ministers today (22nd May 2009) from 1825 IST (1255 UTC) onwards. The news services division of All India Radio will have a special live bilingual discussion in Hindi & English on the formation of new council of ministers before the swearing-in ceremony from 1230 to 1255 UT. All the All India Radio stations & four metro FM Gold channels will relay this entire programme. All India Radio stations which have no transmission at the scheduled time will have special transmission to relay the swearing-in ceremony from Delhi. Due to above special programme all central/regional news bulletins will be re-scheduled (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, 0922 UT May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thank you Alokesh, AIR Kohima on 4850 will therefore be on-the-air for this special coverage of India’s Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) being sworn in for a second term, along with his Council of Ministers. Ceremonies to be held at the presidential palace. Usually Kohima only broadcasts on special occasions (Republic Day, Independence Day, etc.), but recently has also been observed a few times on apparently non-special days (by myself on April 5 and tentatively heard by Dan Sheedy on May 6). Thanks again for the alert! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, 1025 UT May 22, ibid.) 9425, AIR Bengaluru - National Channel, *1318-1420, May 22. IS and subcontinent music. Thanks to Alokesh Gupta’s timely tip heard announcer in Hindi and English with coverage of the administering of the oath of office to the various members of the new government; National Anthem; poor audio as the microphone picked up a lot of background noise. Propagation the last few days has been rather poor and today had no hope of hearing any of the 60m AIR stations (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 15074.95, All India Radio (Bangalore), 0253-0300, 5/23/2009, Kannada (per schedule). Man talking. Music began in the background at 0259. Announcements by woman at 0259:55. Signal gone at 0300. Moderate signal with heavy fading. Slightly stronger parallel noted on 11985 (Bangalore). (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3995.02, RRI Kendari, 1202-1214 May 14. Jak program // 4789.97; back to local programming at 1221 with a bit of chat, then vocal music. Fading fast. 3987.04, RRI Manokwari, 1156-1240 May 15. SCI and Jak news; back to local studio at 1227 with a short vocal selection; dulcimer-like IS at 1230, then ten-minute talk segment. Generally fair. Has been irregular in recent weeks. 4605v, RRI Serui, Has not been heard here in many months. Last logged here in May 2008 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100- foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. 6220, 21/05 2006, SOUTH AFRICA, RTE Radio 1, English, from Meyerton, with 100 kW, OM and YL Talk, at 2008 announce a program of pop music with stretches the songs, at 2009 an interview by telephone, QRM moderate of amateur radio, 33333 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) No hams on 6220. If you mean 2-way SSB QRM, those would be maritime stations who are supposed to have this band to themselves (gh, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. EDELSTEIN SECURES FUNDING FOR ISRAEL RADIO'S PERSIAN SERVICE --- By YAAKOV KATZ May 19, 2009 19:53 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1242212416401 Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein has secured the funding for the continued operation of Israel Radio's Persian Service. On Monday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the radio service was under the threat of closure if NIS 1 million was not transferred to Bezeq for a new antenna in the coming weeks. The radio service is Israel's only line of communication with the Iranian people and is broadcast daily by Menashe Amir, one of Israel's leading experts on Iran. The radio broadcasts are transmitted to Los Angeles and then diverted to Iran where they are believed to be listened to by millions of Iranians daily for almost 50 years. In a letter Edelstein sent to Israel Broadcasting Authority Chairman Moshe Gavish, Edelstein revealed that he had secured a budget of NIS 3 million for the Persian Radio Service for the next two years. The funds will come from the Information and Diaspora Ministry. (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) A new antenna? For shortwave? Why? Persian is the only service remaining on SW. ``Transmitted to Los Angeles and then diverted to Iran``?? What in the world does that mean? Maybe referring to also piggybacking on some private Iranian exile satellite service? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15785.01, Galei Zahal, Tel Aviv, 2040-2110, May 22, Hebrew talk. Local pop music. Good level but slightly distorted audio. Weak // 6973.00 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Possible ISR Galei Zahal on 6973 --- While scanning 6900-7000 kc looking for pirates this evening at 0251 UT, I came across a weak station on 6973. Made sure this wasn't shadow of WYFR on 6985 and listened for a while. Heard music of a Middle Eastern style(????) and a man speaking a language that I did not recognize. It sounded soft and breathy as spoken by the man, but was not European or Arabic. There was a formal announcement at the TOH but still I didn't recognize the language and could not make out what may have been an ID. SIO was 212-211. PPWB radio has this as Galei Zahal, part of ISR, from Tel Aviv, as does Aoki, Eibi, and one more list I saved but had not properly titled. It was not listed at all on the HFCC list. I really can't claim it as ID'd but probably is. The signal was covered up by interference by 0315 (Steve Cross, Midwest City, OK, UT May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very likely, unless a pirate spoiler. This time of year you might be able to get a // on 15785 if it is really 24h on both frequencies (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 15180, KOREA (DPR), Voice of Korea (Kujang) (presumed), 0303-0310, 5/23/2009, French. Talk in French by man and woman. Moderate signal with some fading. Normally only noise is heard on this frequency at this this hour (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7490, R Free Chosun with talks by man and woman in Korean. Signal S8 but strong QRM from 7495 with S10. Better reception on LSB and soft QRM from a co channel carrier, 19 May [time??] 11560, RF Chosun? 1246 20 May, man with talks in Korean, some light music, then 1248 followed by talks /woman. Sudden sign off 1300 leaving WYFR with S3. 11680, V. Wilderness, talks by OM in Korean 1344 20 May, mention of Communism? Many signal cutoffs in-between the program (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Martedì 19 maggio 2009, 1504 - 13725 kHz, NIPPON NO KAZE - Darwin (Australia), Canzone melodica in giapponese. Segnale insufficiente- sufficiente, QRM BBC -5 kHz (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. Finally got a middle eastern country to verify something! Radio Kuwait, 13620 in about 60 days. Certificate QSL and a bunch of other stuff. SW Broadcast country #98. PS, now if only the other 7 stations over there would answer (Bob Combs, New Mexico, May 23, HCDX via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 1053.05 kHz, LJBC, Tripoli, 2114-2230, 18 May, Arabic, talks, Arabic music & songs; \\ 1449 Al-Assah (feed delay relative to Tripoli); 43422, QRM de E+G [Spain and UK]. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. Martedì 19 maggio 2009, 1430 - 21695 // 17725 kHz, VOICE OF AFRICA - Tripoli-Sabrata (Libia), Inglese, notizie YL. Segnale sufficiente-buono (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 6134.93, R. Madagaskira, 1307 May 20. Presumed with vocal music. Poor and getting poorer (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Long-path of course; really early hour at 1607 LST, but it`s almost `winter` there; LSS is 1422 UT, within a sesquiweek of earliest sunset 1420 per http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/antananarivo.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. SARAWAK, 7270.01, Limbang FM (presumed), 1230-1302 May 12. Droning indigenous vocals to 1245, then MoR Malay vocals; 1+1 pips at ToH,. mixing with Nei Menggu's 5+1 pips and into presumed news. Fair signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Mexicanos interesados en transmitir en SW, Requieren nuestra orientación Saludos. Recibí hace días dos correos electrónicos interesantes de compatiotras que deseean transmitir en ondas cortas. Bueno, aquí se los pongo. Les ruego les escriban! (Miguel Angel Rocha Gámez, xe2itx, May 20, Noticias DX yg via DXLD) Viz.: De : "Luis Alberto Rodríguez" sextarodriguez@gmail.com Fecha : Fri, 15 May 2009 22:25:26 -0500 Asunto : Saludos. Pido información sobre transmisión en onda corta Saludos afectuosos. Mi nombre es Luis Alberto Rodríguez y he conocido con muho interes su sitio sobre diexismo. Un grupo de compañeros dedicados a la comunicación alternativa, estamos muy interesados en transmstir radio de onda corta en banda internacional. Pero no contamos con información suficiente de cómo lograr hacerlo. Estimamos que usted, en su amplia experiencia en el diexismo, nos podria ayudar. Muchas gracias por su atención. -------LLevado por la curiosidad, principalmente por el tipo de emisora que quieren llevar al aire, le contesté y su respuesta inmediata fué: Le agradezco muchísimo su comuncación, Miguel Ángel. Nuestra radio no es ni concesionada ni permisionada -por ahora-, sino transmitirmos por internet; le paso nuestra dirección http://www.desdeabajo.org.mx/wordpress/ y estamos interesados en emitir señal de onda corta, banda internacional, pues hemos revisado la legislación al respecto y el espectro de transmisión en VHF es libre y no requiere de permisos especiales de la SCT, según nos indican. No obstante, ya que ustdes cuentan con basta experiencia en el tema, deseamos conocer si en efecto, esto es así o bien si se requiere un permiso especial para emitir una señal de radio en banda internacional (así como la signación de una freciencia o los metros de alcance, no sé) Usted, que opina. Su consejo nos será muy valioso. Saludos afectuosos "Luis Alberto Rodríguez" -------Sería posible una emisora más en nuestro país. Creo que nuestras respuestas, principalmente de quienes tienen experiencia en el ramo pueda ser de utilidad. Ya estamos en marcha rumbo al XV Encuentro Nacional Diexista. http://www.gratisweb.com/dxmexico/cuernavaca2009.htm Te esperamos! (XE2ITX Miguel Angel, Noticias DX yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Alfonso Montealegre and Jaime Báguena were the guests on REE`s DX program this week, which I tuned in about 5 minutes late at 0510 UT Saturday May 23 on webcast. Good news: they say there were so many listener protests about Radio Nederland dropping SW broadcasts to the Southern Cone, that management has agreed to resume one hour a day `muy pronto`; frequency not mentioned but time will be 2300-0000 UT. They also keep getting requests to bring back Radio Enlace, but that is not happening. However, Cartas @ RN, the mailbag show, includes some DX news: http://www.informarn.nl/programas/programassemanales/programa_Cartasatrn/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Re 9-041: Happy Station DXER Tribute Special to air June 4th On June 4th I am airing a special edition of Happy Station called A Tribute to DXers. Now since it is June 4th there is no need to tell you with that date my topic will be jamming in China with my guest Bill Whitacre from the Voice Of America, Mark Fahey who discovered Firedrake on satellite. Then Stuart Parkins who was with China Radio International and hosted Listeners Corner, The Cooking Show and Let's Learn Chinese for 10 years until he left in 2007 with some funny stories of working at CRI. To keep the C in communist I also contacted Arnie Coro at RHC who declined (that is a story in itself). Bob Zanotti will have something about SINPO. And then finally Ian McFarland, formerly with RCI and Radio Japan will be on to talk about his interval signal series. And much more. Also to round it off, some music recorded for North Korean radio which I picked up in 2006 on a visit to the DPRK. I'm not kidding: the name of the orchestra is: The Central Korean Government Orchestra and Choir Of The Democratic People's Republic Of Korea. Try to say that 5 times fast. June 4th on WRMI at 0100 and 1500 and repeated June 11th (Keith Perron, Taiwan, May 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. Unlike the night before, R. Free Asia in Chinese very good on 17880 and 17615 at 0623 May 23, well atop the ChiCom CNR1 jamming if it was audible at all, due to propagational variation. RFA 21550 also JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The afternoon of May 21, I notice that the long-silent 250-watt translator on 89.1 in Enid, K206CA, is back on the air, with country-tinged religious music, and yes, Brucey, in $tereo. Score one for the gospel huxters vs public radio on the `educational` band, as 89.1 had been open in Enid for public radio signals originating in Wichita and Lawton, tho usually a toss-up which would dominate on a non-direxional caradio antenna under dead conditions. And which were easily overridable by Es stations on a hot summer afternoon. Heard an ID for Oasis Network, along with a commercial, so we know it`s relaying KNYD 90.5 Broken Arrow/Tulsa, and/or KMSI 88.1 Moore/OKC. For some years K206CA was relaying a Spanish-language gospel-huxter from extreme S Texas. FCC info shows that went off Dec 31, 2008 and resumed operations under new ownership on May 18, 2009; however it seems to me it had been off the air much longer than that. Anyhow, Enid since last year has had its own local Spanish gospel-huxter, KAMG-LP 92.1, as we reported. 89.1 FCC data under Facility 89523: Legal Name of the Applicant CREATIVE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA CORPORATION, INC. P. O. BOX 1924 TULSA OK 74101 RESUMPTION OF OPERATIONS DETAILS K206CA RESUMED BROADCAST OPERTIONS PURSUANT TO CONSTRUCTION PERMIT BPFT-20090508AAQ. A LICENSE APPLICATION TO COVER THIS CONSTRUCTION PERMIT WAS FILED EARLIER TODAY. [``a minor change in licensed facilities``] Consummation Notice 1. Legal Name of the Applicant PAULINO BERNAL EVANGELISM PO BOX 252 MCALLEN TX 78505 Voluntary Assignment of License From: PAULINO BERNAL EVANGELISM To: CREATIVE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA CORP., INC. Form 345 One is hard-pressed to find ``Oasis Network`` mentioned anywhere in the FCC data. ``Creative Educational`` sounds so much more --- educational, doesn`t it? I checked their website and no mention of this among their ``affiliates``, and no other translators either. Coordinates and mapping shows the transmitter site is not in downtown Enid on the Broadway Tower like a number of other relays, but NW of Enid roughly halfway to Carrier. It`s not next to a main hiway, OK 45, OK 132, or US 412/60 so I am not sure I have ever seen the site, which is 1 mile west and 3 miles north of the Garland/Garriott intersexion, or almost 2 miles south of Hwy 45 and 3 miles east of Hwy 132 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1428-1500, May 22, tune-in to lite instrumental music. Gongs/chimes at 1430 followed by their theme music & English news at 1431-1439. Theme music and ID at 1439. US pop & Euro-pop music at 1440-1500. Very weak but occasional peaks up to a weak but readable level. Lost in noise at 1500 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR Website? Hello Glenn, Are you aware of a Radio PMR, Moldova, website? I found some outdated, inactive links, and that's all. There is the official Radio Moldova International website, but different from PMR. With thanks, (Eric Bryan, May 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Eric, No, I am not. I vaguely recall that this came up before with nothing found (Glenn to Eric, via DXLD) see also RUSSIA [non]: ** RUSSIA [non]. MOLDOVA: 9665, Voice of Russia via Grigoriopol, with English Tx [does that mean transmission, or talks? --- gh] and Russian Pop music, co-channel de Spanish station (CRI via Brazil?) SIO 3+32 with Spanish station popping up, then falling under but mostly trouncing VOR by the 0400 s/off with the Kremlin chimes being drowned out by Asian vocal singing. Carrier(s?) off at 0402 when another station popped up. 0345-0400* 16/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet May 22 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. Russian International Radio --- Heard this in Russian at 0042 on 7270 kHz. My Russian's not great, but it's good enough that I heard Mezhdunarodnoye Russkoye Radio (MRR) and not Golos Rossii. I don't see this frequency mentioned anywhere. I went to the MRR Internet site and pulled up the same program I'm hearing on 7270. Can't find a frequency schedule there. 73, (Joe KQ3F Stepansky, UT May 23, swl at qth.net via DXLD) It`s in Aoki, EiBi, HFCC and WRTH, so where are your ``anywheres``? Linx to these and other online references are on my homepage http://www.worldofradio.com --- look for items mentioning A09. 7270 is Armenia site at 2300-0300 to N&CAm, 500 kW, 305 degrees, per Aoki, which shows V. of Russia in the main column, but VORIR at the end of each line. Eibi just calls it Russian International Radio. WRTH A-09 update has the transmission under this heading: ``VOICE OF RUSSIA – MEZHDUNARODNOYE RUSSKOYE RADIO (MRR) (Gov) kHz: 612, 621, 630, 693, 801, 1026, 1089, 1143, 1170, 1215, 1314, 1323, 1431, 1494, 1548, 5925, 5980, 6145, 7270, 7300, 9890, 15500, 15540`` So it seems MRR is now considered a subsidiary of VOR (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "Anywhere" for me is Passport to Worldband Radio 2009 and Klingenfuss Super Frequency List CD that I picked up last weekend at Dayton, and the Voice of Russia Russian language web site. Let's just say I got "inspired" to listen again after a many year hiatus. Sorry I'm not up to date with some of the newer sources (Joe KQ3F Stepansky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No need to be sorry, but now you are up to date (gh) ** RUSSIA. Krasnodarsky kray. Krasnodar. DRM, Radiostation Vesti FM, 3970 kHz 17.00-.... http://www.radioscanner.ru/forum/topic38286.html http://rtrs.ru/projects.asp?view=19812 http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2067 (Viktor Rutkovsky, Ekaterinburg, Rus-DX May 24 via DXLD)) ** RUSSIA. Samara. "... Here http://retro.samnet.ru/zapstolica/rvs/index.htm it is possible To look photos and to familiarize with a history " Object * 15 " - Super-power Velshchatel`novo [transliterated by gh] the radiocentre in Kuibyshev (Samara), Functioning in 1942-2006 ??... " (Vladimir Emeljyanov, Samara, "MEDIACOM DIGEST" # 260, 24 May 2009, Editor : Pavel Mikhaylov, Moscow, Russia via RusDX May 24 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 15110, Radio Tatarstan (Samara) (presumed), 0440-0450, 5/22/2009, Tatar (per schedule). Man talking. Joined by woman at 0450. Poor signal, degrading over time (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Today (21 May 2009) I received the wonderful QSL from Radio St. Helena. Last two years I send the report to them with IRC, but unfortunately I didn’t get it. So this is my first QSL from RSH. QSL signed by S. S. Walters. QSL number is 280. Germany Rhein-Main- Radio-Club sponsored the QSL card. 6th of May they dispatched from RSH, but the postal seal was on 4th May 2009. With the QSL Gary Walters write a letter which says, “Thanks for the report from Chennai, India.” (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, http://www.dxersguide.blogspot.com dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amigos, hoje recebi mais duas confirmações QSL. Uma delas é muito especial, pois, não sabia se iria receber. Trata-se da Rádio Santa Helena. Ouvi a emissão especial dela que foi ao ar no ano passado. Foi dito na lista radioescutas, que o informe de recepção deveria ser enviado por e-mail [sic] e com alguns IRC´s (cupons de resposta internacional). Enviei o meu informe por correio normal, mas sem IRC´s, pois, na agência de correios daqui não se acham. Juntamente com o informe, enviei um CD contendo trecho da escuta da Rádio Santa Helena e um punhado de músicas brasileiras. Não sabia se iria receber o cartão QSL dessa emissora, pois, não enviei IRC´s para custear a resposta. Gravar algumas músicas brasileiras além do áudio da emissora, foi crucial para receber o tão desejado QSL. Gary Walters (quem confirmou o meu informe) disse-me em carta pessoal, ter gostado muito das músicas brasileiras contidas no CD. Ele gostou tanto da música brasileira, que pediu a mim ou amigos, que enviem CD´s com músicas brasileiras (jazz) para que ele possa tocar na programação da Rádio Santa Helena. Esse é o terceiro QSL que obtenho dessa emissora. O QSL que me enviaram é muito mais bonito. Os outros dois que tenho foram confeccionados em papel tipo cartolina, mas esse que recebi, foi confeccionado num papel de melhor qualidade (ele tem brilho). 73! (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso (SWL1033B). Bandeirantes/ PR. Engenheiro Agrônomo. Membro do DXCB e do DX Clube do Paraná. May 22, dxclube pr yg via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. DRM conversion, tests from KFBS: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** SAUDI ARABIA. Martedì 19 maggio 2009, *1450 - 15225 kHz, BSKSA - Ryadh (Arabia Saudita), ARABIC, talk OMs e musica locale. Segnale buono-molto buono. S/on 10 minuti prima del previsto. (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. 7145.720, Radio Hargeisa, 1735, comments by a man, into local music. Very good. 22 May (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7145, Radio Hargeisa und Baldur Drobnica DJ6SI. --- Das ist der OM, der nach Spratley Isl. wollte und unterwegs mit seiner Crew beschossen wurde. Sein Afu-Call ist DJ6SI. Bitte anklicken http://www.pileup.de.com/ Das ist die Homepage von Baldur. Ich habe mittlerweile mit ihm telefoniert und ihn um Hilfe gebeten. Er bestaetigt Empfangsberichte fuer Radio Hargeisa und hat mir gleich auch eine QSL Karte versprochen. Heute kam dann auch sein Schreiben mit QSL und Post. Er weist besonders darauf hin, als Anschrift zu verwenden: QSL address: Konsulting of Somaliland <<<< c/o Baldur Drobnica Zedernweg 6 50127 Bergheim Germany Ob sein Schreiben an den Fernmeldeminister in Hargeisa was nuetzt: Wir werden sehen, ob der BC QSY macht. Baldur meinte, die haetten noch eine unbenutzte 7500 kHz - Frequenz (Uli, DJ9KR; Leiter der Bandwacht des DARC, May 16 via BC-DX via DXLD) "Dear Ulrich, I will write to the Minister of Communications in Hargeisa and ask him to change the frequency of Radio Hargeisa. (...) I hope that my petition in Hargeisa will be successful. Regards and best 73, de: - BALDUR" Bitte unbedingt oben stehende Anschrift 'Konsulting of Somaliland' benutzen, weil kein Anspruch auf 'Konsulat' Titel in der Bundesrepublik besteht! Dies bitte auch in den diversen BC Magazinen und Newsletter veroeffentlichen (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX May 23 via DXLD) ** SPAIN. 10320, REE, Noblejas, external mixing spur, 2110-, 21 May, Castilian, talks; 24332. This is the result of 17595 REE with Portuguese to Brazil minus REE 7275 with Castilian to Europe (= 10320). The "QRM" was actually from the REE signal beamed to S America. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Someone recently complained that REE`s mailbag show in Spanish ignores everyone but Cubans. Can this be? I listened to it at 0530 UT Sat May 23 following Amigos de la Onda Corta [see NETHERLANDS], on webcast; if I had been using the radio, it would have been tuned to 6055. They are right. Every single call to a listener that I heard during that semihour was to someone in Cuba! And they all wanted pen-pals to their postal addresses; I wonder why? I expect REE feels obligated to help out their poor listeners in this benighted country otherwise cut off from contact with the real world; but they should not ignore e- or p-mail response from all their other listeners. Perhaps a special separate Contacto Con Dentro-Cubanos show should be instituted. But doing something that overt might open REE to jamming. Even tho Cuba maintains relatively good relations with mother-country Spain, lots of investment, tourism, etc., there are limits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 15450, Deutsche Welle (Trincomalee), 0314-0319, 5/23/2009, Russian. Talk by woman in Russian. A few bars of music at 0318 followed by talk by man. Poor signal with fading (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 5880, 21/05 1907, SRI LANKA, R Affia Darfur/Hello Darfur, Arabic, from Irana Wila, with 250 kW, OM and YL with news, several references to Darfur, reviews of recorded interviews, at 1913 UT OM and YL talk to man by phone, at 1918 OM and YL speaking between short musics, then 1927 last news, left the air at 1929 while the OM still talking, 25332 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via Slovakia, 15650, Miraya 101 FM, 1458-1525, May 22, tune-in to Euro-pop music. Several “Miraya 101 FM” IDs at 1501 followed by English news. Arabic talk at 1510. Afro-pop music at 1514. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. 6120.0, Trans World Radio, 0704, May 15, English, several men talking, time beeps at 0700, Fair (Mike Rohde, Columbus OH, Ten-Tec RX-340, Wellbrook ALA-330 s loop, dipole tuned to 6925, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Interesting log; TWR Swaziland is indeed scheduled 0602-0900 in English, 50 kW at 233 degrees; but on 6120 so is RNW in Dutch via Wertachtal, GERMANY, 0700-0800, 250 kW, 300 degrees toward us. Both of them are at 9 am local time, not exactly ideal for 49m propagation, but with southern winter solstice only a month away, TWR would be closer to local sunrise, and it`s earlier than it seems in Germany, since they are on DST. In our winter one would certainly hear Germany at this time and not Swaziland, but now? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, Radio Damascus, 2110-2200, May 22, tune-in to English news. Local music. Commentary. News headlines at 2158. National Anthem at 2159. Spanish at 2200. Fair to good level but the usual very poor audio with hum & low modulation. 12085 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. RTI TO INCREASE TRANSMISSION IN NORTH AMERICA Starting June 15th, RTI will add two more frequencies for listeners in North America. From 0200 to 0300 UT on 9680 kHz to the Midwest and from 0500 to 0600 on 5950 to the West Coast. Source: http://english.rti.org.tw (via Salahuddin Dolar, Global Radio Fan Club, Chaumahani, Motihar, Rajshahi-6000, Bangladesh, May 20, DXLD; also http://english.rti.org.tw/Content/WhatsNewSingle.aspx?ContentID=79276 via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg via DXLD) Those are of course WYFR relays which were canceled last year. However, 0500 will be a new time for RTI English (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 15275, Radio Thailand (Udon Thani), 0305-0316, 5/23/2009, Thai. Man talking with occasional musical bridges. Slightly longer music at 0314 followed by more talk. Moderate signal, much better than expected at this time of night (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 5975, Voice of Turkey with News & Turkish Press Review in English, ID & web address at 0314 and into Outlook & DX Corner at 0318 comment that they had received only two reception reports over the last two weeks! 0329 into "Turkish pop music from past to present" IS from 0350 to s/off -- kinda muddy modulation but SIO 443 despite it. 0310-0356* 17/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet May 22 via DXLD) ** UGANDA. Hi Everyone. Dunamis Shortwave from Uganda was fair on 4750.000 kHz, with religious talks by a woman, music, sign-off announcement and transmitter off at 1700 (23 May). Reception between Australia and Africa has been good for the past couple of days and for anyone else in this part of the world, reception of Peru especially seems to be improving from about 1030 UT (David Sharp, FT-950, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBC WORLD SERVICE DIRECTOR MEETS AUDIENCES IN SIERRA LEONE AND NIGERIA Date: 22.05.2009 From Monday 25 May, the Director of BBC World Service, Peter Horrocks, will be in Sierra Leone and Nigeria to meet with audiences and listen to their comments about BBC's programmes. During the six-day tour, he will meet with political and spiritual leaders, journalists, business partners and the BBC audiences from the two West African countries... http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/05_may/22/west_africa.shtml (via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg, and gh, DXLD) ** U K. RAMADAN 2009 - OFCOM DRAW FOR RSL LICENCES Watch the video of the draw by Ofcom for Ramadan 2009 RSL licences at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/rsls/ramadanstations09/ Ofcom has today confirmed that 29 temporary radio broadcast licences (SRSLs) will be issued for the period of Ramadan commencing in August 2009. Earlier this year 16 licences were awarded for locations where there was one applicant, and yesterday a further 13 temporary radio broadcast licences (SRSLs) were awarded following a draw (via Mike Terry, May 20, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A. Don't you believe the claim that: ``Adding credence to the accolades bestowed upon Conover, just a little over a week ago, the U.S. Congress proclaimed April 25 Willis Conover Day.`` According to the Congressional Record, a bill to make such a proclamation was introduced (with only one sponsor) and was referred to a House committee (Mike Cooper, May 21, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY HAS LOST ITS UNIQUENESS, WARNS FORMER RUSSIAN SERVICE DIRECTOR In a nutshell, the station [Radio Liberty] has abandoned its uniqueness, its identity, its face. Former Russian Service Director at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has warned that the U.S.-funded international broadcaster has lost its identity, uniqueness and effectiveness in Russia as a result of programming changes imposed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. federal agency which manages RFE/RL. Mario Corti, an Italian born journalist, writer, and Russia expert who was fired in a dispute with the American management team, also charged that former RFE/RL managers and BBG members are hiding massive loss of audiences in Russia and other mistakes from the Obama White House, the U.S. Congress, and the American public. In an interview published in Free Media Online Blog Mario Corti described his battles with the American management at RFE/RL and with BBG consultants, whom he accused of imposing on the Russian Service the same popular culture talk show format which former BBG member Norman Pattiz, a Democrat, developed with the Bush White House for Arabic language Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television for the Middle East. These two U.S.-funded private broadcasting entities have been plagued by financial and programming scandals, including airing of statements by Holocaust deniers on Alhurra. A study by researchers for the University of Southern California, who conducted a review of Alhurra broadcasts, concluded that "the quality of Alhurra's journalism is substandard on several levels" and that the station has no significant audience in the Middle East. . . http://www.bloggernews.net/120950 (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA PARK DELAYED --- Here's a story from the Cincinnati Enquirer about the proposed park at the VOA Bethany (Mason, OH) site. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090519/NEWS01/905200357/1055/NEWS/Plans+for+VOA+Park+slowed (Dale Rothert, KA8KOD, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. On Saturdays only, 15170 is not blocked by REE Costa Rica, so May 23 at 1323 I was hearing HOA singing, S9+10 with fades, but undermodulated; still 1335 with weak talk. Per Aoki this is the VOA Somali service via MADAGASCAR, 1300-1400, 250 kW at 359 degrees. VOA English, 17585 Greenville, often barely audible, but assisted by sporadic E, loud and clear on May 23 at 1426 with anti-AIDS PSA, the underlying assumption being that sex otherwise is acceptable! This is one of those-split-hour transmissions, nonsensically switching transmitter sites in the middle, both aimed at the same target from widely divergent direxions. In this case it`s Greenville 250 kW at 94 degrees until 1430, then Udorn, THAILAND from 1430, 250 kW at 276 degrees, both for all of Africa except the North. Normally I can`t hear the second half as 16m propagation from Thailand at that hour is not exactly ideal, but this time I could. The next promo at 1429 for VOA`s hip-hop show was cut off sharply at 1429:30 for the Yankee Doodle Dandy sign-off routine from Greenville, but barely audible underneath I could hear a separate YDD as Thailand was signing on. Greenville left its open carrier on until 1438:15* making a SAH of 200/minute = 3 and a third Hz, with the much weaker Thai signal. This was a mixed blessing; the carrier helped to squelch the noise level, but it was still too much to make Udorn readable. At 1450 recheck, Udorn alone was just barely audible. Now in Africa, assuming roughly equal propagation at that hour from NC and Thailand, the modulation clash at 1429-1431 plus the additional 7 minutes overlap amounts to VOA interfering totally unnecessarily with itself! If they insist on this nonsense of switching sites in the middle of an hour, it should be DCI and CS == one drops carrier immediately and the other crash-starts, so at worst there would be a brief interruption or overlap glitch in the progression of the programming content, which goes on relentlessly. Is anyone paying attention at IBB frequency management? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS And both should do so at 1429:55/1430, for which they have an "Y" mark. Or does no other show start at 1430 sharp? Then it does not matter anyway. The other part of the problem could be avoided if they dare to simply discard this Yankee Doodle Dandy stuff altogether. It sounds horribly old-fashioned, hardly suitable to represent an impartial news organization, and its use is inconsistent anyway due to lots of third party transmission facilities being involved nowadays. Why not just starting VOA programs two minutes before the hour with a distinctive backtimer or promo (designed for cutting in at any point of course) and defining xx58 or xx59 as program start at which program audio is to be applied when possible, i.e. no crash start necessary? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO ON WRMI 9955: Glenn: Just to let you know, we have a half-hour infomercial for a medical product that will run daily beginning tomorrow. It will be on Monday-Friday 1430-1500 and Saturday 2000-2030. The Sunday time slot will be 1515-1545, preempting WOR for at least 3 weeks. No word yet if it will go on past that point (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it will also pre-empt the following at 1430, all of which have additional airtimes: Mon, STUDIO DX; Tue/Wed/Thu FRECUENCIA AL DIA; Fri WAVESCAN. Sat 2000: FRECUENCIA AL DIA (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Looking for Firedrakes, May 21 at 1345, instead encountered weak signal with singing on 18770, fading in and out and/or with modulation pauses. Must be a harmonic: yes, // 9385 WWRB in Brother Scare service but someone else singing and testifying at the moment. 18770 peaked at S4, and with the FRG-7 preselector peaked on 18770, not 9385, so despite the usual extremely strong signal on the fundamental, I think this was a true transmitted harmonic, usually inaudible but propagating now tnx to an increasingly frequent seasonal sporadic-E opening, correlating evidence being WWCR 15825 inbooming (but no sign of it on 19960 = 2 x 9980), so once again WWRB is one-up on WWCR in the spurious department. Hey Dave, how much power are you putting out on 18770? I think it must be a pretty good QRP DX catch. Such a short skip distance, slightly over a megameter, is possible only with E-layer skip, not F-layer. Next day May 22 at 1352, since WWCR was again inbooming via sporadic E on 15825, I searched for the WWRB harmonic on 18770, but could not detect even the open carrier this time: WWRB, 9385, S9+22 at 1348 May 22, nothing but hum, having lost the Brother Scare feed again; enough signal to put weak spurs detectable on 9317 and 9453 hetting 9320 and 9455 stations, but at least there was no modulation on the spurs either. Altho I could have heard him on WINB 9265, I preferred 9385 for another enjoyable break from B.S. rants, so kept listening to the hum; at 1357 and again at 1359 inserted WWRB IDs, but nothing else. Finally at 1404 joined in progress Alex Scourby Bible readings, via Walterboro, or default fill from Manchester? Left the receiver running down low, not paying much attention, but realized at 1530 that it was again modulation-less; fitfully resumed Scourby at 1539 at low level, taking another two minutes to bring him up to normal level. Since thanks to HF sporadic E, WWCR was inbooming again May 23 at 1327, 15825 so strong I could hear the squeal, and 13845 so strong I could hear the crosstalk from 7490 modulation, I looked again for the WWRB harmonic on 18770, and there it was, weak but fading up to S4, // 9385 with Alex Scourby biblical pontifications. But still, WWCR 9980 harmonic not making it on 19960 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWV, 20000, May 22 at 0534, correlating with a late sporadic-E opening in WNAm still being reported into VHF, tho not much of that here. Time to check for KOA 25950 or anything else on 11 meters, but nothing heard yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: During 1600 routine bandscan, I noticed the audio from WYFR cutting in and out on 17755 at around 1654 UT tune-in. A hymn, possibly by all male female choir, breaking up on the feed to Okeechobee, Florida at this hour. Is Dan Elyea awake to fix this? I wander if Harold Camping knows about this? 73's, (Noble West, Sangean ATS818ACS, RS Pocket Reel, 23 feet length, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess you mean 17750, which is not officially opening until 1700 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. RNZI AIRS NEW RADIO HERITAGE DOCUMENTARY --- AFRS MOSQUITO NETWORK Join us on June 01 2009 when the Radio Heritage Foundation airs a new radio heritage documentary on the Radio New Zealand International [RNZI] Mailbox program. You can listen via shortwave or audio on demand [for the following month] with full details of frequencies and times and audio download at http://www.rnzi.com The program features the story of the six stations of the famous AFRS Mosquito Network during World War II, and how they got their name. American Expeditionary Stations in Nouméa, Munda, Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Bougainville and Auckland all went on air in 1944, some 65 years ago, and were staffed by professional broadcasters drawn from American radio stations. Featuring top Hollywood and music show stars, the stations entertained hundreds of thousands of Allied troops, and introduced structured radio broadcasting to the Solomon Islands and [now] Vanuatu for the first time. Join David Ricquish of the Radio Heritage Foundation on this journey back to 1944, details about the special four station off-air network broadcast, and the music of forces favorite GI Jill who joins the program. This new radio heritage documentary on RNZI complements three new stories about the Mosquito Network just released at http://www.radioheritage.net You'll read more about the stations and their place in Pacific radio heritage in AFRS Guadalcanal, AFRS Radio City and AFRS Mosquito Bites. The stories are based on interviews with surviving Mosquito Network personnel and extensive research by Martin Hadlow, former manager of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service (David Ricquish, RHF Press Release May 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. WLS 890 Chicago will air "The History of WLS" Monday (Memorial Day - 25 May), 11 am to 6 pm Central Time (1600-2300 UT) http://www.wlsam.com//Article.asp?id=1332599 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, May 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HARRY PAID THE COST. The New Jersey Network public TV authority hired Harry Boettcher to maintain 30 each one-inch VTRs. He performed all the maintenance, paid for all the parts, and made sure all the machines were running fine and rebroken-in properly. His work and bill to them were in time and within estimate. As usual of them, their story of when they are going to pay him for the work, travel, and parts quickly became from the handshaken amount of time to 30 days because, "We`re a part of the Government and don`t have to pay anyone at all before the standard maximum waiting time". It gets worse. NJN took all 30 machines, discarded them as soon as Harry gave them the list and wrote them off on paper as maintained in best shape, which they were. NJN never paid Harry a cent for the job including any costs at all. Summary warning: don`t be a costly sucker, their sucker, for their nonpayment and lies. Oh, and don`t watch NJN (Frederic Jodry, KA2PYQ, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FCC’S WARRANTLESS HOUSEHOLD SEARCHES ALARM EXPERTS By Ryan Singel May 21, 2009 | 12:00 am | Categories: Spooks Gone Wild, Surveillance, privacy You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it. That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device. “Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says. The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts. That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB- radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge ... http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/fcc-raid/ (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. 13630. CVC International (Tashkent) (presumed), 0425- 0434, 5/22/2009, Hindi. Talk by man in Hindi. Music at 0434 followed by more talk. Very poor signal, above the noise about 50% of the time (Jim Evans, TN, E1, Random Wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. GOBIERNO VENEZOLANO DESIGNO 200 INSPECTORES AUTORIZADOS A SOLICITAR INFORMACION EN EMISORAS DE TV Y RADIOS Escrito por Administrator Jueves, 21 de Mayo de 2009 00:28 Dos días después de que el presidente Hugo Chávez advirtió que aplicaría medidas severas a los medios de comunicación, el Ejecutivo venezolano firmó una resolución según la cual se iniciarán inspecciones a radiodifusoras y televisoras a cargo del ente regulador del sector. En la última emisión de su programa dominical de radio y televisión ‘Aló, Presidente’, Chávez criticó duramente a los medios de comunicación, y exhortó públicamente a los entes estatales a iniciar los procedimientos contra los canales y estaciones de radio locales que incumplan las leyes. “Se pueden llevar una sorpresita en cualquier momento. No se equivoquen. Están jugando con fuego, manipulando, incitando al odio’’, advirtió el mandatario. Así pues, casi 200 personas fueron autorizadas por la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel) para efectuar labores de inspección en todo el territorio nacional. Radios “piratas” En Carabobo hay un total de 30 emisoras legalmente constituidas, de las cuales 24 están inscritas en la Cámara Venezolana de la Industria de la Radiodifusión. Alrededor de otras 25 operan de manera irregular sin tener sus papeles en regla, interfieren en otras emisoras, o desaparecen de repente, lo que, además de violar la ley, ocasionan un mal servicio para el usuario. El presidente del Capítulo Carabobo de la Cámara, Esteban Simonetti, le dijo al periódico El Carabobeño que el procedimiento que emprendió Conatel puede tener el objetivo de intimidar a los difusores de información, pero también tendrá aspectos positivos si las visitas se realizan respetando el marco legal venezolano. Coincidencia “circunstancial” Una fuente de Conatel le aclaró a dicha publicación que es una “coincidencia circunstancial” que el operativo de este organismo haya comenzado dos días después de las palabras que ofreciera el Presidente hacia los medios de comunicación. La providencia supuestamente se hace una vez al año cerca de esta fecha, y no tuvo nada que ver con la alocución del mandatario nacional que la precedió. Según el declarante, que prefirió permanecer en el anonimato, los medios de comunicación han tergiversado la información al señalar que se pretende “perseguir o intimidar” a las emisoras de radio o televisión. Por el contrario, el anuncio del operativo permite la publicación de los nombres y cédulas de los funcionarios habilitados para las inspecciones. Fuente : Radiodifusiondata tomada de http://www.portalfe.com/index.php/component/content/article/38-internacional/90-emisoras-ilegales-ppp-licencias-fm.html (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. APOYO A RCTV NO CESA A DOS AÑOS DEL CIERRE Fuente: URL: http://www.laverdad.com/detnotic.php?CodNotic=13009 (via Yimber Gaviria, ibid.) ** ZAMBIA. 5940, 21/05 1953, CVC Africa, English, from Lusaka, with 100 kW, YL Talk, at 1955 rap gospel music (rap gospel ???), at 1956 ID “CVC Africa” and pop gospel music, 34333 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710: Has anyone noticed a Russian on 1710 kHz? I started hearing one around 0700 UT, May 21, here in the NW Oregon (US). A Domestic? Strongest off NE EWE antenna. Fairly decent at peaks, lots of fading though. Female in Russian and older Russian Pop music. Thanks. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, USA, HCDX via DXLD) This set off a lengthy thread, primarily on IRCA, as DXers in the Pacific Northeast and as far away as Hawaii tried to hear and ID it. Saving that for next issue, requiring a lot of editing down. Maybe by then they will have nailed it. Seems to me if a few guys would DF it, could be quickly triangulated but people were driving all over Washington looking for this apparent pirate. Fun! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi, interesting carrier without modulation on 5050 for about 3 hours today and is still there at this time 0839 UT. Interesting because there are at unrelated intervals a snatch of voice and whistles as though modulation is being tested. Level of modulation very low and thin. No ID at this time- can anyone identify this signal- is it a new one on this frequency as I cannot recall it previously? strength S9 with slow deep fades. Radio Rebelde Cuba excellent signals this morning until 0630 on 5025 MHz. Further on this: 0950 UT English/US military voice heard USB on this frequency so it may be a badly adjusted SSB TX used by military? 73 (Dave G8SZX Towers, May 21, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Suspect WWRB, as they have been running a lot of open carrier (lost modulation) on 9385; see my latest report. However your times seem a bit late for that; were you still getting WWCR 5070? 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 5085: H. F. Dumrese recent logs from South Africa show: "5085 ??? abends Vn." I tried to check that and found a weak/fair carrier around 5084.7 May 19/20 signing off around 1850. But no or very low modulation. Maybe worth rechecking. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or possibly 2 x IF image from 5985 or 5995. We know nothing about H.F.`s receiver, but yours? Or B minus A difference mixing product from higher bands (gh, DXLD) {Or a 49m SW frequency minus a MW frequency, à la Croatia} UNIDENTIFIED. Lunedì 18 maggio 2009, 0939 - 15320 kHz, VTC int/sig. Segnale buono. Tests o manutenzione (tx?). (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ EMISORAS DE FM The Emisoras de FM arrived sometime last week - the clerk at the post office tells me it was around Thursday. I stopped by yesterday en route back from a bike ride, not really expecting it to be here so quickly. The book looks great. I must say the maps are very well done. Everything is very well organized. Quite an undertaking with all that data from a part of the world where records are not all that certain. This seems like an incredibly awful lot of work on Jim's part for just a few dozen editions. No doubt these copies will be treasured. I will take a heavier read of it over the next few weeks - perhaps with some skip down that way. I've had Mexican unIDs in the past on FM, and Bermuda is easily within reach (yet a couple unheard from there). Thank you, Jim! (Saul Chernos, Ont., WTFDA via DXLD) DXERS TOOLBOX --- New DX website to be up and running soon Hi everyone. Just a few lines to let you know that I am re-starting myold DXer's Toolbox website. You can find a holding page containing some more information by going along to: http://dxers-toolbox.webhosting-for-free.com We are looking for DX enthusiasts to contribute textual articles etc for inclusion on the website, once again, more information on thiscan be obtained by going along to the website. Yours (Chris Ridley, Sligotown, Ireland, May 22, MWDX yg via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2009 ARRL NATIONAL CONVENTION: A HUGE SUCCESS! ARRL May 18, 2009 http://www.arrl.org/?artid=8947 The 2009 ARRL National Convention at Dayton Hamvention was held May 15-17. Even if you couldn't make it to Dayton, you can explore all the excitement -- including photos and stories -- on the Convention's Weblog http://www.arrl.org/blog/2009%20ARRL%20National%20Convention%20--%20Dayton%2C%20Ohio (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See AUSTRALIA ++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM see also RUSSIA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DRM USA ANNUAL MEETING – MAY 7 John Stanley reported on the conversion of three Continental transmitters on Saipan to DRM. They used an exciter designed and built by HCJB with help from Tim Mason. They had to make numerous adjustments in order for everything to work properly. After making these adjustments, they were able to achieve a signal to noise ratio of 40 dB. They moved the screen power supplies out of unit 2 (utility cabinet) into unit 4 (the power enclosure) as recommended by Continental Electronics. All three screen supplies were moved, but only 2 transmitters were completely modified to operate in DRM mode. They also modified the low-pass filters. Modification of the audio cards was required. They couldn’t quite meet the required spectral mask. They broadcast only 20 kW on air; 50 kW into the dummy load. The broadcasts occurred just prior to regular hours; replies were heard from listeners in Germany, Japan, Sweden, and Russia. They operated in both 5 kHz mode (met required spectral mask) and 10 kHz mode (did not meet required spectral mask). The 5 kHz mode was done primarily to avoid interference. The transmitters were reliable and stable; the exciter worked well and was reliable. Listeners were limited in number, but were excited. Reception was good, especially in Japan. The Saipan station is now ready for special event broadcasts. Adil Mina, VP of Continental Electronics, gave a DRM report. His PowerPoint presentation is available upon request. In general, transmitter manufacturers are ready for DRM transmissions and have been for 10 years. The problem is in getting receivers to market. We are now seeing a breakthrough: India and Russia have both decided to go with DRM as their mandated digital standard. India will use DRM for both AM medium-wave broadcasts and for high frequency shortwave broadcasts. They will replace all analog transmission equipment within a couple of years. China is still interested in DRM, but India and Russia will be the countries which will actively pursue/push DRM. As a result, it is hoped that many companies will produce inexpensive receivers for that market. DRM+ is being tested. This is an enhanced system which will allow simulcasting on frequencies above 30 MHz (such as the FM broadcast band). This will provide an alternative to the proprietary and expensive Ibiquity HD Radio (IBOC) system which has been adopted by the United States. Adil next reported on DRM receivers. He expressed the need for inexpensive, simple radios. He wants to see a simple receiver with on/off/tuning only – very basic and inexpensive. Adil wants to propose an NASB recommendation for industry to come up with a basic affordable receiver. He guesses that only 5,000 receivers have been bought thus far because they are too expensive. He brought a UniWave receiver with him for display, but in his opinion, it is too complex and will probably be too expensive. (The radio has not yet received FCC approval and has not yet been officially released for sale, so the price is unknown.) Ibiquity’s HD/IBOC system has not "locked up" areas outside of North America, so DRM and DRM+ may become the standard in other parts of the world. Simulcasting is possible, but is not usually done on shortwave due to transmitter and bandwidth limitations. (The shortwave broadcast spectrum is quite limited with lots of stations, so regulatory bodies such as the ITU have mandated fairly narrow bandwidth allocations.) Don Messer gave a report on "Tests of Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRM) to Cover Alaska." The goal is to see if all of Alaska can receive DRM shortwave broadcasts throughout the state at anytime and any day. They had to get an FCC experimental license to conduct these tests. Some of the questions that had to be addressed included: What frequency bands should be used? How much power will be needed? The tests are being done in central Alaska. They are using 10 to 20 kHz channels with various error correction and constellation options. They are putting in place a receiver network of around 18 sites. Then, they will conduct field tests. They plan to report the results to the FCC after a 2 year interval. Three 100 kW transmitters are being used. The technical specifications: DRM at 10 or 20 kHz wide; 4, 16 & 64 QAM; Coding rate of 0.5 & 0.6 (50% voice or 60% voice), 3 crossed half-wave length dipole antennas (5, 7, and 9 MHz). The key is using ionospheric propagation. DRM for long range has been effectively tested and is working well. Here, however, using high latitude (near vertical incidence) "bounce back" propagation will require careful experimentation. Modeling shows success up to 10 MHz, but it will require "real world" testing. Power levels of 10 kW to 100 kW will be used in the tests. They can probably use 3 antennas below 10 MHz. Testing should begin by the end of the year. Up to 4 speech programs can be used in a 20 kHz channel, full stereo in a 20 kHz channel, or quasi-stereo in a 10 kHz channel. The FCC does not permit broadcasting via shortwave from the US to the US. In order to conduct regular broadcasts, this policy would have to be modified, or an exception would have to be granted (NASB/DRM USA ANNUAL MEETING REPORT, by David Creel, Far East Broadcasting Company, excerpts, May NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Re: NASB Urges Speedy Manufacture of Basic DRM Radios ---------- National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters says getting consumer Digital Radio Mondiale receivers onto store shelves is a priority. At its recent annual meeting, the NASB passed a resolution that encourages radio manufacturers to make DRM units. ---------- Somebody has to say it, so I will: the NASB people are seriously stupid. Does anyone associated with NASB have any idea how markets work? Demand for any product comes from consumers, not manufacturers. Their resolution demonstrates an astonishing economic ignorance. You could flood the shelves at Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, etc., with DRM receivers and no one would buy them; no one outside of we radioheads cares about SW these days. Someone needs to stage an intervention with the NASB people before it's too late. They must be made to understand they're pissing into a gale force wind (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) Digital Radio Mondiale - our medium-wave experiences http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2009/05/digital_radio_mondiale_our_med.shtml Related news : DIGITAL MEDIUM-WAVE TEST RUNS INTO TROUBLE AFTER DARK http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/22/bbc-trial-digital-radio-mondiale-medium-wave Reports of BBC's DRM MW trials are available here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2009/05/11/digital_medium_wave_report_feature.shtml (all via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, May 22, dxldyg via DXLD) BRAZIL READY TO EVALUATE THE DRM STANDARD WHILE DECIDING ITS DIGITAL RADIO FUTURE This major breakthrough for Digital Radio Mondiale was announced during the 25th ABERT Broadcasting Congress in Brasilia, Brazil (19-21 May). Seven experts representing the DRM Consortium (from BBC, Digidia, Dolby, Fraunhofer IIS, TDF, and Thomson Grass Valley) were invited to this congress and made well received presentations in the plenum. In addition, DRM in the AM bands with multimedia elements Slideshow and Journaline, DRM+ with 5.1 Surround Sound, and DRM/AM simulcasting were demonstrated during the 3 days of the congress, while live transmissions from Chile, Ecuador and French Guyana could be listened to on the latest generation of DRM receivers. During the opening session of the congress on May 19th, the Brazilian Minister of Communications Helio Costa announced an upcoming public consultation period of 180 days. The aim of this consultation is to choose the most adequate digital radio system fulfilling all broadcast requirements of Brazil. DRM has confirmed throughout the congress, attended by 1500 participants, its readiness and willingness to lead this evaluation, together with Brazilian partners and the general support of the Brazilian authorities. The preparation of these trials has already started during the congress. The DRM Consortium will contribute to the selection of the best digital radio solution for Brazil. The open, global DRM Digital Radio Mondiale standard was recently officially chosen by India and Russia for their radio broadcasting bands (DRM PRESS RELEASE 22.05.2009 via Jaisakthivel, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PANAMA ADOPTS HD RADIO AS DIGITAL RADIO STANDARD May 19, 2009 2:30 PM http://radiomagonline.com/digital_radio/hd_radio/panama-adopts-hd-radio-digital-radio-standard-0519/ Panama City, Panama, and Columbia, MD - May 19, 2009 - After reviewing several digital radio technologies, the Republic of Panama has selected the HD Radio in-band, on channel (IBOC) system as its official digital radio standard on May 12, 2009. More than 2,000 AM and FM stations are broadcasting with HD Radio technology with ongoing operations in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine and the United States Tests have been undertaken in Argentina, Bosnia, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Poland, Romania and Vietnam. In Decree No. 96, the Panamanian government states that it selected IBOC technology after the country's Digital Broadcasting Technical Commission reviewed IBOC, Eureka 147 and (Digital Radio Mondiale). (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV see also CHINA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A DISSENTER`S VIEW OF DIGITAL TELEVISION This from the May 19th Pine Bluff Commercial. An elderly viewer in Rison AR shares her frustrations with digital TV. I don't buy many of her arguments, but it is true that weather does effect VHF/UHF propagation. http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2009/05/19/opinions/opinion2.txt (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com WTFDA via DXLD) I wonder what her problem is? After frequent regular viewing of DTV stations (stations 9-52 miles away) and DXing of Digital TV for 3 1/2 years, I have not found any correlation between terrestrial DTV and rain. Lightning clearly can have an effect, particularly lowband local WLMB (5) at 24 miles. I have no highband DTV (yet) in the area, so I don't know what it's doing there. UHF seems to be quite (but not completely) immune to lightning. Windy conditions cause havoc with UHF DTV if the antenna is indoors or an outdoor antenna aimed the wrong way (as it does with UHF analog). Oddly enough, the effect of wind is most noticeable on the best DTV receivers, such as CECBs. The kind of signal damaged by dynamic multipath due to wind is the kind of signal that doesn't work on an ATSC-11 when there isn't any wind. Warm, calm air masses seem to cause trouble, too, by allowing distant stations to interfere with local ones (us DXers actually like this and call it "trop"). This will be less of a problem after transition. Interestingly, the old lady mentions DirecTV, which is affected by rain. The cable companies have been running a horrible FUD campaign, with people saying that the satellite goes out every time it rains (as someone who was a DirecTV subscriber for 12 years and was basically satisfied with the technical performance of it, I can say it took a real DOWNPOUR to knockout the DirecTV, the kind of downpour one gets in a severe thunderstorm that sends tree branches flying into runs of CATV coax). Perhaps this lady's antenna is connected by 300 ohm flat ribbon rubbing up against a bunch of ivy or bushes? (Robert Grant, ibid.) I also wondered if her lead-in line is so old that it might have cracks or breaks in the insulator that is allowing water to get to the line? If the copper gets wet enough, it can impede a solid signal. (JimThomas, Colorado, ibid.) That is quite possible of her coax having poor connections and allowing water to seep in. I've seen periods of weather that do "reverse tropo" but those instances are rare. My hunch that the lady has water in her coax, is using 300 ohm twin-lead, using a VHF antenna and not getting an adequate signal on UHF, or the antenna is mis-aimed and there is a feedline issue (Fritze H Prentice Jr., KC5KBV, Star City, AR, ibid.) I was trying to figure it out myself. It must either be an antenna or cabling issue. I'm the same distance from Pittsburgh's transmitters as she is from Little Rock's, and probably deal with similar terrain issues, but I don't have any problems with reception. I've read other's complaints about losing reception during rain, which I will get on DISH with moisture-laden storms 10 miles out, but had that problem with my OTA TV (Jeff Kitsko, Unity Township, PA, ibid.) LOW-VHF STATIONS OFF THE AIR Thanks to info provided by Falcon_77? http://www.rabbitears.info/ss/DTV-Channels.xls?at Trip's website http://www.rabbitears.info I counted 87 low-VHF analog stations currently off the air. My quick list includes: KACV-2 Amarillo, TX KDTN-2 Denton, TX KETS-2 Little Rock, AR KHON-2 Honolulu, HI KGAN-2 Cedar Rapids, IA KNAZ-2 Flagstaff, AZ KSNC-2 Great Bend, KS WETP-2 Sneedville, TN KUSD-2 Vermillion, SD WMAB-2 Mississippi State, MS WDIQ-2 Dozier, AL WKTV-2 Utica, NY KHBC-2 Hilo, HI KTWO-2 Casper, WY KNOP-2 North Platte, NE KOTI-2 Klamath Falls, OR KLNE-3 Lexington, NE WEDU-3 Tampa, FL KEYT-3 Santa Barbara, CA WISC-3 Madison, WI WPSU-3 Clearfield, PA WSAZ-3 Huntington, WV KFDX-3 Wichita Falls, TX KBTX-3 Bryan, TX KREG-3 Glenwood, CO WWAY-3 Wilmington, NC WCAX-3 Burlington, VT KSWK-3 Lakin, KS KSAN-3 San Angelo, TX KRTV-3 Great Fall, MT KGMV-3 Maui, HI KBME-3 Bismarck, ND KENW-3 Portales, NM KARK-4 Little Rock, AR KITV-4 Honolulu, HI WSKY-4 Manteo, NC KXLY-4 Spokane, WA KXJB-4 Valley City, ND KTIV-4 Sioux City, IA WCBI-4 Columbus, MS KFQX-4 Grand Junction, CO KHMT-4 Hardin, MT KCSG-4 Cedar City, UT KCWC-4 Lander, WY KDUH-4 Scottsbluff, NE KLBY-4 Colby, KS KWSE-4 Williston, ND KPRY-4 Pierre, SD KALB-5 Alexandria, LA KFVE-5 Honolulu, HI KNPB-5 Reno, NV KHAS-5 Hastings, NE WFRV-5 Green Bay, WI KTXT-5 Lubbock, TX KREX-5 Grand Junction, CO KOBI-5 Medford, OR WPTZ-5 North Pole, NY KIVV-5 Lead, SD KDLV-5 Mitchell, SD KFBB-5 Great Falls, MT KFYR-5 Bismarck, ND KGWL-5 Lander, WY KHQ-6 Spokane, WA KTAL-6 Texarkana, TX KCEN-6 Temple, TX KSBY-6 San Luis Obispo, CA KUAT-6 Tucson, AZ WLNE-6 New Bedford, MA KOTV-6 Tulsa, OK KMOS-6 Sedalia, MO WABG-6 Greenwood, MS WOWT-6 Omaha, NE WCTV-6 Thomasville, GA WECT-6 Wilmington, NC KBJR-6 Superior, WI WVVA-6 Bluefield, WV KSVI-6 Billings, MT KLEI-6 Kailua Kona, HI KIDY-6 San Angelo, TX KVIQ-6 Eureka, CA KPTW-6 Casper, WY KSRE-6 Minot, ND KWNB-6 Hayes Center, NE KBNY-6 Ely, NV WCML-6 Alpena, MI KBCJ-6 Vernal, UT KMOH-6 Kingman, AZ (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, 20 May, WTFDA via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEW DOCS SHOW FCC GLOSSED OVER BPL FLAWS SURPRISING, WELL, NOBODY Monday, May 18, 2009 by Karl Bode (Reprinted with permission from dslreports.com) http://spectrumtalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-docs-show-fcc-glossed-over-bpl.html [see original for illustrations] The relationship between the FCC and ham operators has always been a contentious one, due to BPL's interference potential and the FCC's rather, uh, over-enthusiastic promotion of the flawed technology. As part of an effort to pretend their pro-incumbent policies resulted in something more than an uncompetitive duopoly, the agency used to call BPL the "great broadband hope." Hams have always alleged that the agency ignored interference data for the benefit of the BPL industry. Interestingly, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has obtained and published on its website FCC studies it had obtained from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it filed at the end of March. In October of 2007 the ARRL filed suit against the FCC, alleging that the FCC had held studies on BPL that may not have supported its own position on BPL until it was too late to comment on them. The FCC dismissed these documents as "internal communications" that did not factor in on its decision to adopt the BPL rules. The FCC fought releasing the documents for years, until new FOIA rules implemented by the Obama administration finally resulted in the documents being released earlier this week. The studies show, among other things, that the FCC redacted, manipulated and ignored data in order to support their own position that power lines were perfectly suited to broadband, while ignoring advise from numerous providers and vendors in the sector. The FCC chose to ignore the findings from a 2003 study that plainly stated that BPL was not a point source. View PDF of original and redacted version That's in line with previous criticisms levied at the the way former FCC boss Kevin Martin ran the agency. In Martin's FCC, objective science and real data were an afterthought to political agendas or fealty to industry lobbyists. Even employees within the FCC complained that the agency had become a political animal that frequently ignored or violated the commission's own guidelines at the whims of Chairman Martin. Unfortunately for Martin and the FCC, all of their BPL cheerleading efforts came to naught. With the recent closure of several of the technology's highest-profile trials, BPL exists as little more than a fringe player being used in very select rural locations to provide connectivity. Most of the BPL vendors the FCC was presumably working for have since moved on to promote smart electrical grid functionality. Another example of FCC "redaction" View PDF of original and redacted version ======================================================= ars technica has a more detailed and more scathing discussion of what was revealed with the ARRL FOIA request entitled "Did the FCC cook the books on broadband over power lines?" The blog part of the article has the following input from "tetrault": "So, when will the Obama administration announce that the Office of the Inspector General has opened an investigation of the FCC to determine who altered the data, why they altered the data, and whether there was outside influence (bribery)? Is your guess "never"? The Obama administration prefers big businesses that it can control (and get bribes from) to little guys such as ham radio operators. Therefore, no investigation will occur." Actually an interesting idea, although readers may recall I have little faith in the present FCC IG. Meanwhile our congratulations to Steve Martin of the FCC Lab (shown in photo at left from an IEEE meeting)who was the original author of the redacted document. He is the only one in this mess who emerged as a hero. (I suspect some of Steve's supervisor's may have supported him, but we will probably never find out.) Posted by MJM at 5:19 PM (SpectrumTalk blog via DXLD) SWISS OFCOM - 2ND GENERATION POWER LINE COMMUNICATIONS The Swiss regulator the Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM) has published some information on 2nd Generation Power Line Communication systems on their website. The latest issue of the Swiss OFCOM Infomailing, No.16, has some information on this technology. It says that Powerline Communication (PLC), is used to transmit data via the electrical mains and can operate in the frequency range of 1.6 to 34 MHz. It is able to cover several hundred meters through power lines and has attracted interest to cover the "last mile" via the electrical network. The article acknowledges that it is not possible to operate short wave radio receivers in the immediate vicinity of these devices. The French language variant is at http://www.bakom.admin.ch/dokumentation/Newsletter/01315/03174/03187/index.html?lang=fr and a Google English translation of the French newsletter can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/r9hpax Swiss Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM) (newsletter not available on the English site) http://www.bakom.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en UKQRM http://www.ukqrm.org/ (Southgate via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SONG IDENTIFICATION SOFTWARE Even deze mail doorsturen. Heel interessant voor schrijvers van ontvangstrapporten. Dit is een prachtig stukje software dat niet alleen door Perseus users gebruikt kan worden. Het is een klein programma dat er in slaagt uitvoerder en titel van een song te bepalen. Zelfs in verruiste omstandigheden lukt het nog redelijk en niet alleen de meest populaire maar bvb ook Latijns Amerikaanse songs herkent hij. Wel opletten dat je de juiste audio ingang selecteert bij de settings. 73 (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, May 15, BDX via DXLD) Viz.: Hi all, following an advice from Roger in the German mailing list A-DX I'd like to forward an information about an audio based song recognition software. This tool is helpful in identifying unknown songs from any source (including wav, avi, mp3, CD): http://www.wildbits.com/tunatic/ "Ever thought ‘what is this song?’ Let Tunatic hear it and you will get the artist's name and the song's title within seconds. Tunatic is the very first song search engine based on sound for your computer." The intention of the software is clear. As soon as a title is recognized you'll get a link to buy the song. :-) But nevertheless it may help to gather some details for reception reports. Be aware that if the software is set to microphone, every spoken word will be copied and sent to the server. So rightclick on Tunatic, and choose Settings. Then use Virtual Cable 1 as Input device, to get song identifications from your Perseus signal. http://www.radio-portal.org/sdr.html SDR-Special http://www.mwlist.org/mw_logmap.php?la=en Visual Logbook of MWList & TBL 73, (Willi Passmann, May 14, Perseus_SDR yg via Schotmans, ibid.) FUTURE OF RADIO BROADCASTING IS CURATION, IRF TOLD Traditional radio broadcasting will decline and instead broadcasters must become the best possible curators of content to add value, the International Radio Forum (IRF) in Tehran has been told. Media futurist and author, Gerd Leonhard, who presented the keynote address at the opening of the conference yesterday, told a special session of the IRF this afternoon that the future of radio broadcasting will be all about "curating, collating, culling, contextualising and connecting". "One-to-many broadcasting as we know it today won't die, but it will decline," he said. "Many-to-many broadcasting - involving both professional and prosumer content - will see the biggest growth in the coming years." "Radio will no longer be about the 'free' delivery of music and audio. Once music on the Internet is collectively licensed, on-demand streaming and downloading will simply be included in everyone's Internet access," he explained. Mr Leonard said that all broadcasters - both radio and television - needed to support and embrace convergence, not oppose it; otherwise their businesses would see greater declines. He added that broadcasters should support time-shifting and support sharing through social networks because 'one-to-one' transfers of content would also be a significant growth area. A copy Gerd Leonard's presentation to the IRF - a joint initiative of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the ABU - can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/rdneut (ABU Weekly News Digest 19 May 2009via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ BAND MORE QUIET LATELY Glenn, The bands have really quiet down around here in Clewiston. I am trying to decide if it has something to do with the ionosphere or the weather conditions? I am thinking it's more the weather. We have had a lot of rain the past week and possibly the ground is absorbing the RFI easier since it is wet? Do you have any ideas in that area? I have an 8 foot ground rod that I installed a couple of months ago and it might be getting better conductivity since the soil is moist now? Just wondering (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, I`m no expert on grounding. By `really quiet` do you mean the signal strength of stations has declined across the board? Or the noise level is lower? and/or the signal/noise ratio is generally better? 73, (Glenn to Chuck, via DXLD) Glenn, What I mean is that the noise from the power lines and other electrical entities is being absorbed into the moist earth more readily, resulting in less noise reaching my receiver. And possibly this is a result of the moist ground from all the rain we are getting the last week and a half. Prior to the rain, the drought index was over 700. The ground was really dry and any grounding systems were not making contact with the earth. Actual radio signals are about the same however, it is just more quiet. I am really starting to worry about the lack of stations on the tropical bands. The other morning I couldn't sleep, so I sat and waited for the Africans to start transmitting on 4 and 6 megs. I didn't hear a single station. There's not much left from South America either. It will never be the same as it was a few years ago. Hope your weekend is going well (Chuck Bolland, FL, May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###