DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-053, July 22, 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 1470, July 23-29, 2009 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 2028:30] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first and second Sats] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 [suspended, until mid-August?] 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 1471 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 NOTE: I am getting bombarded by more and more requests to join facebook, myspace, do instant messaging, text, chat, twitter, etc. I am NOT INTERESTED in getting involved with any of that. Please don`t take it personally if I ignore or reject your automated request to suck me in. You may `follow me` if you like by reading what I write or listening to what I speak. But I am perfectly satisfied to communicate by regular ancient individual e-mail, and hope you will be too if you really want to contact me. Thank you (Glenn Hauser) ** ANGOLA. 4950, 2007 1 July, Luanda recently reactivated on 4949.76m, carrier evident most mornings & evenings around 0500 but finally got decent audio with popular music program (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, 1840-1905, 13-07, canciones argentinas, tangos, "De Esperanza al Mundo, un contraste entre la belleza de nuestros paisajes...", "Transmite LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel desde Base Esperanza, Antártida Argentina, por 15476 kHz, de lunes a viernes", "De lunes a viernes de 15 a 18 horas, por la frecuencia de 15476 kHz.", comentarios. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, Escuchas realizadas en Reinante, Mar Cantabrico, provincia de Lugo, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) First report I`ve seen since they said they were off the air June 21 due to high winds and extremely cold temps (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. QSL CARD FROM VK0BP DAVIS STATION ANTARCTICA --- VK0BP op. BOB, confirm with QSL card in 180 dd. QTH: Davis Station, Antarctica. QSL via VK2ABP. The picture is available here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/7401457.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, July 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA [and non]. 15345, 1634 15/07, MOROCCO, RTV Marocaine, em Arabic, desde Nador, com 250 kW, OM Talk e mx árabe, sinal muito fraco, sem QRM, leve ruído e moderada propagação (uma dica do log do colega Murilo Rodrigues), pelo SINPO dele a diferença é clara para uma escuta em zona rural. Às 1640 UT entra a Radio Nacional Argentina sobrepondo todo o sinal; o sinal surge de repente, não encontrei referência a essa transmissão nesse horário que segundo as listas deveria começar a partir das 1700 UT (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 15344.05, RAE, 2157-2210, July 16. IS and multi-language IDs; into Spanish; EZL ballads; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15344.03, RAE Buenos Aires with station ID's in various languages like Japanese and Italian noted at 1759 UT, into scheduled English program at 1800, S=8-9, best in lsb receiver mode, due of Nador-MRC on even 15345 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, July 16, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 18 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Hi dear Volker: I hope you will be fine there in Germany. Here I am sending for you, a DX information concerning to Argentina RAE, Radiodifusion Argentina al Exterior, in addition to the usual German programme broadcasted at 2100-2200 UT on 15345 kHz, ALSO broadcast from May 2009 at 1700-1800 UT on 15345 kHz. All, from Mondays to Fridays only. 73s (Gabriel Iván Barrera, July 19, to Volker Willschrey, Germany, via Drita Çiço, Albania, DXLD) Still no reception in Copenhagen on 15345 at 17 UT, but http://www.radionacional.com.ar/vivo/rae.html has German with some interruptions (congestions). Guess this test transmission will end at July 31? Kind Regards, (Erik Koie, DK-2840 Holte, Denmark, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. RA, 9580, Wednesday July 15 with Rural Reporter at 1337, interviewing an award-winning volunteer marine radio operator who has saved a lot of lives of boaties in trouble. Says he hasn`t had a day off in a semiyear, and leaves the radios on all the time he is at home, including overnight, so handles distress calls at any hour; lasted until 1344 UT, outroduced as Garry Smith at Tumby Bay, South Australia. WTFK? Never heard any mentioned tho VHF seems more likely than UHF as in the blurb below. No HF? What`s his callsign? Opens and closes with clips of real contacts, and sounds like in Strine he is saying VMI or VNI. But that doesn`t work in Googling. Finally found it, VMR, with details of his operation and others at http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/pdfs/safety/marine_volunt_network.pdf VOLUNTEER MARINE COASTAL RADIO NETWORK No HF, but there is MF. The reporter doing a show on radio about radio, doesn`t even know the difference between VHF and UHF, nor does SA Transport know the difference between MF and HF! ``VMR Tumby Bay [0700 – 1800 hrs] 0745 Hrs - 1715 Hrs: Frequency: HF 2524 27.88 – 86 VHF 81 Monitor: HF 2524 27.88 – 86 VHF 16 – 81`` `HF 2524` presumably means MF 2524 kHz, but what is 27.88 - 86? --- MHz just below 10m band? Not usually thought of as a marine band, but maybe it is in Australia. That would be HF. VHF refers to channel numbers. A repeater network is involved. Times are no doubt local in the wacky SA zone, UT +9:30, i.e. 0745-1715 SAT = 2215-0745 UT. Here`s the story with audio linx running 6:18, portrait: http://www.abc.net.au/rural/reporter/stories/s2621476.htm ``AN EAR ON THE SEA, By Brooke Neindorf from Port Lincoln, SA, Saturday, 11/07/2009 Imagine being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week with UHF radios constantly buzzing around your home? This is the life of South Australian volunteer marine radio operator Garry Smith, one of Australia's only full time "on call" operators. He estimates he takes more than 10,000 calls a year, which equates to about 8000 hours of volunteer time. Brooke Neindorf catches up with Garry Smith in his radio operations room at the back of his house in Tumby Bay`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 6020, RA, 1235, July 14. Vatican Radio via the Philippines, in Chinese, is scheduled from 1230 to 1313. Their strong signal effectively covers RA, which can only faintly be heard under them (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7240, RA; 1602 July 15, English M with World News, earthquake in NZ, ethnic violence in China. Poor-Fair 4 hours after local Sunrise! (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Australia and vicinity were very strong all last night, local Midnight to 4 AM (0400 - 0800 UT). I expected 19m and 16m to be going dead at that time, not opening up. Listened to Radio Australia on 15160, 15240 & 15515 and RNZI on 15720 for hours. That surprised me, but not as much as finding CVC (in Mandarin playing music) on 17830 at local 3 AM. I could hear fainter stations in Spanish and Mandarin on 19m and 16m, but no ID. An hour before the 0800 UT standby 9580 came booming in, I found Australia steady and readable on 9475. RNZI, as expected at that time, was on 6170. A repeatable phenomenon on SW is no certain thing, but NA SWL night owls should check those bands. I was able to use the following with whip antennas only: Grundig S350DL, G5 & G6, Radio Shack DX-398, Ten- Tec RX-320D (Terry Wilson, Grand Rapids MI, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s not unusual for me to hear a weak CVC Darwin on 17830 around 0600. However, 16m was dead on July 22 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** BELARUS [non]. Radio Liberty NEW on 1386 kHz --- NEW TRANSMISSION. Yesterday evening I heard Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda) on 1386 kHz in Belarussian: July 16, 2009, around 1900 UT. The signal was very strong, probably via Sitkunai, Lithuania (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, July 17, MWC via DXLD) Yes Karel, daily on air July 13 - 18. Also Sunday only broadcast, 1386, 2000-2030 Bozy Glos program http://www.zilionis.lt/rtv/radio-am.php?e 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) = Voice of God, a bit presumptuous (gh) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.7, Radio Eco, Reyes 0010 to 0030, om talk and vocals 19 July. Audible ever night same time. 4451.12, Radio Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma, 2330 to 2355 on 17 July; 2340 to 2355 with om vocal, good audio, music with drums, flute and percussion instruments, Radio Santa Ana ID, 12 July. Present every night checked so far in July. 73's (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) 4451.1, Radio Santa Ana. Santa Ana del Yacuma, 2240-2305 julio 19, promocional a las fiestas patronales; cuando se identifica utiliza los esloganes "Radio Santa Ana.. la radio.."o, "Santa Ana, una amistad que no se olvida..." Luego de las 23 el programa de mensajes y comunicados El Mensajero de la Mosquitania. Mencionaron al Sr. Alberto Saavedra Ortiz como propietario de la emisora (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6155.12, Radio Fides, 2313-2330 July 15. Noted a male in steady Spanish language comments. Signal hasn't fade in yet, there's still plenty of daylight left here in Florida. Persons continue to converse as a female joins in with Spanish chatter. At 2318 the signal improves drastically as the front of the grayline passes over Bolivia according to GeoClock. This pattern continues as the signal push up above the noise and then drops back to nil heard just like a seesaw. Boy what fun! At 2329 the audio has improved slightly making copy much easier. 6134.80, Radio Santa Cruz, 2333-2345 July 15, Noted a female in live Spanish comments followed with canned promos briefly. More comments follow from the female. At 2335 music is heard. Signal was poor. Although the three logs above [+ PERU Cusco 6195.65] aren't quality loggings because of poor conditions, I felt they were significant because they provide some proof that they're still active on their primary frequencies, and when the sunspots or whatever it takes to get better conditions, begin; we will know where to start our loggings search (Chuck Bolland, FL, Watkins Johnson HF1000, 27.27N 080.56W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Estaciones brasileñas captadas 1030 a 1100 en 60 metros hoy, julio 20. Todas ellas con una excelente y fuerte señal. 4805, Difusora Amazonas 4845.2, Rádio Cultura 4865, Rádio Verdes Florestas 4885, Difusora Acreana 4925.2, Rádio Educação Rural, Tefé 4965, Rádio Alvorada 5035, Rádio Educação Rural, Coari (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4915, 11/7 1806, Radio Anhanguera, Goiania-go tx esporte, 44444 (py5aap morato, gg46qu, Cornelio Procopio-Pr- Br, http://www.ipernity.com/home/py5aap.morato dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Olá Morato, Nos 4915 kHz voltou a identificar como Rádio Anhanguera? Não está mais em paralelo com a Radio Daqui AM 1230 kHz? Um abraço (Marcelo Bedene, ibid.) Pois é, ela simplesmente transmitiu como "Radio Anhanguera" (py5aap morato, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 5970, R. Itatiaia, 2315 discussion by M and W in Portuguese along with Donald Duck voice too and live audience. 5965 slop QRM [Havana?] blasting it out when they were playing music. 2331 finally clear with canned announcements/ad block and presumed mention of Itatiaia. Nice sung jingle ID by group at 2337 and M with several Itatiaia's in talk. (18 July) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 10000 kHz. Time Service Division DSHO (Divisão Serviço da Hora) of the National Observatory (ON - Observatório Nacional), located in Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil, that was founded in 1827. The DSHO are part of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology and is the Brazilian Primary Laboratory of Time and Frequency by delegation of the Brazilian National Metrology Institute INMETRO (National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality). We started the transmission of that broadcast radio time signal in November 2008. The specifications of our transmitter are: HF tx Redifon G453, by Redifon Telecommunications Ltd., London England. QRG 10 MHz, power 1 kW, modulation mode A3H horizontal dipole antenna, 1/2 wavelength. G.C. 22 53 44.6 S, 43 13 27.5 W, height 37 meters. Contents of the transmission, Brazilian Legal Time, UTC minus 3 hours, announced by a lady voice starting with "Observatório Nacional", followed by the current time (hh:mm:ss) each ten seconds and with a beep for each second with a 1 kHz modulation during 5 ms and a long beep with 1 kHz modulation during 200 ms at the 58th, 59th, and 60th seconds. Rua General José Cristino 77, CEP 20921-400 Rua General Bruce 586, CEP 20921-030 Sao Cristovão, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil Tel (21) 2580 - 7781. Fax (21) 2580 - 6071. e-mail dsh @ on.br http://www.horalegalbrasil.mct.on.br http://www.on.br QSL within one week to Austria, Europe. (Patrick Robic, Austria, July 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 18 via DXLD) (BC-DX July 18 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 11724, R. Novas de Paz, Curitiba, 1132-1132 in Portuguese, OM announcers with various hymns. Weak signal but in the clear and mostly fair, June 14 (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, July World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Was it exactly 11724.0? Even if someone reports a decimalled frequency, it will be deleted in this publication. Does 11724 mean anywhere between 11723.5 and 11724.5, rounded? Or does it mean maybe 11724.9, just as an indicator that it was somewhat off 11725.0? Nor everybody can report frequencies accurate beyond 1 kHz, but if they do, they should not be rounded (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. CHU, 7850 at 0050 with buzz along with each pip. // 3330 good, 14670 inaudible, 16 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. What's your view of RCI? This past week I had a chance to listen to RCI (Radio Canada International) a station I almost no longer listen to. My question for the CBC and the Canadian government is: who is listening? The shows I tuned were The Link and MASALA CANADA. Who is the audience? I got more news from Canada by listening to CBC Radio online that I did from RCI, which now stands as far as I'm concerned Radio Canada Immigration. RCI, which was a very well respected broadcaster, has turned into something of a "I don't know what". Now I know RCI will give the excuse that budget cuts had a part to play, but many stations have had cuts and still manage to produce good sounding programs. The two shows I mentioned are what exactly? What do they want to achieve? And who is the audience? Now I want to state here and now, I believe Canada should have an international service. But is RCI really an international service or just a station broadcasting to new immigrants who've arrived in Canada? If this is all Canada can offer, then I say shoot it and put it out of its misery. When I tuned in, it made me happy not to be living and paying tax in Canada anymore. If this is what the Government of Canada is funding and RCI staff is trying to save, I'm happy I'm not paying for it, even if it only works out to a few cents every year. I could use those cents to buy a sheet or two of toilet paper. What's your view? Do you think there is anything else to save? (Keith Perron, Taiwan, July 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Keith: Good Points raised. I about quit listening to and even no longer recommend ANYONE tune in this "Internal" mess the CBC has turned it into. With legends like Gerard Reyskind, Gordon Redding and others no longer around to reassure listeners they're fine, RCI no longer lives up to its original intent when it was founded back in 1945. Even Canadian-born celebs and musicians may have ceased hearing about immigration crap. The email alerts also carry the same thing and now omit US stock price closings, showing ONLY Canadian stocks. What a waste of transmitter time. That's My View of the "New" sound of RCI (Noble West, TN, ibid.) Not much to add in regard to the programming, just that I think the "Maple Leaf Mailbag" show, the only one left over from past times, is terribly self-referential. Otherwise RCI is from the German point of view already dead since 1991. I'm not aware of any listeners who still tuned in to the remaining English broadcasts once the hugely popular German service was gone. When I look into my archives I do not see any hints on real explanations for the immigrants format from RCI. In late 2006, when RCI introduced it, Glenn wrote that all he hears is "deafening silence", in particular from the side of the so-called "Action Committee". Back then it was understood that this format had been imposed on RCI from higher up in the CBC, and I got an impression that nobody at RCI complains simply because otherwise the whole thing would be shut down. Perhaps you have not read it on earlier occasions: I strongly suspect that the shortwave transmission of RCI+, their Sirius program, in fact aims at listeners in the Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto areas. The frequency selection appears to fit, for this distance of about 700...1000 km from the transmitter site. What I would say for the European side: The CBC would make better use of its Hotbird channels by putting CBC Radio 1 and Radio Canada Premiere Chaîne on instead (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Kai, I'm not quite sure what you mean about Maple Leaf Mailbag being self-referential. Is it about the show only focusing on itself (e.g. through cross-country road trips or attempts at comedy) and not the listeners? My thoughts are about the same as everyone else's. As someone who first started SWL during this format change, I got the impression that the programming would be better suited to an individual show, not something heard every day. It's certainly great if you want to learn about Canadian immigration, but worthless to anyone who wants news and non-immigration features from Canada. One of the questions I was asked during the interview I previously spoke about was why do I listen to RCI. At that moment I hesitated. I could have either gone on a rant about how RCI's programming has gotten worse since fall 2006, or I could have made up some excuse on why the station is good. I said the content helped me learn more about my own country. This is what Radio Canada Internal is good for nowadays (Jonathon Pukila, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, ibid.) Jonathan, you`re more diplomatic than I am. LOL. In 2006 when I was in Beijing I was contacted by the CBC that a group of 3 people from RCI were coming to China and was asked to show them around. That trip was nothing more than a waste of Canadian tax dollars. They spent 2 weeks in China, staying at 5 star hotels, and more than half the time shopping. The RCI Non-Action-Committee is just that. No names will be mentioned, but the guy who runs it as far as I'm concerned is just doing it to keep his job, the same with the others. If they were really serious they would do more. The Action-Committee made some big noises when Cantonese was cut. What loons! Cantonese was 30 minutes once a week. Who was tuning in? Who was the audience? Southern China? Well, people who live in South China also know Mandarin. So it must be Hong Kong. Wait, people in HK don't listen to shortwave. So who was it for? What could you possibly learn about Canada from RCI? Radio 1 does a much better job. I say pull the plug on this one. If RCI was to vanish I don't think anyone would care. Not like the BBC, RFI or VOA (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) ** CANADA. 9650, Radio Japan (assumed via Sackville) at 1215 on July 14th noted // 6120 with a feature on a Japanese psychologist and his work with teens. I believe KBS uses this frequency. Was this just a mistake at Sackville? (Mark Coady, NASWA yg via DXLD) Must be (gh) KBSWR relay, 9650, July 15 at 1239 describing dimensions in cm of passport photos, as part of language lesson; co-channel underneath presumably the usual Korea North. No sign of R. Japan on 9650; I should have checked before 1230 as Mark Coady heard NHK the day before // 6120, a Sackville mixup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. YUKON TO EXTEND CBC'S LEASE ON AM TRANSMITTER SITE, LETTER SAYS --- Last Updated: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | 5:52 PM ET CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/07/14/cbc-whse-am.html CBC Radio One listeners outside Whitehorse may keep tuning in on the AM dial as the Yukon government says it will extend the public broadcaster' s lease on its existing AM transmitter site for three years. Lake Laberge MLA Brad Cathers delivered the news on Monday afternoon in an email sent to concerned constituents like Pete Beattie, who had been calling on both the CBC not to drop its Whitehorse AM signal in favour of FM. In the email, addressed to Mayor Bev Buckway, Cathers said the lease for the land where the CBC's AM transmitter sits will be extended to September 2012 so that CBC can continue with AM broadcasting. "That was kind of out of the blue. I didn't really expect that, and it's just great news for me," Beattie told CBC News late Monday. CBC officials have said the Whitehorse AM transmitter, located in the city's Porter Creek area, had to be removed — at the city's request — to make way for residential development in the new Whistlebend subdivision. Simply moving the transmitter elsewhere would cost upwards of millions of dollars. Officials said it would be far cheaper to add another FM transmitter to the Radio 2 tower in the city's Grey Mountain area. But Beattie said switching from AM to FM would have left him and other residents outside Whitehorse without access to essential information such as road closures, forest fires and severe weather warnings. "It's a shame that they're spending the money on that, when it could be better spent to relocate the AM transmitter because FM, as I understand it ... it'll be patchy and local," he said. "You can put in a transmitter in a location, but it's not going to blanket the whole area in the same manner that the existing [AM] facility does." Cathers' letter states that leaving the AM transmitter where it is would not interfere with the Whistlebend development. He added that city planning officials agree with the lease extension. However, city manager Dennis Shewfelt said at Monday night's council meeting that he was unaware of any changes. Shewfelt said he would not comment until he has had a chance to look into it. CBC North regional director John Agnew could not be reached for comment (via Fred Waterer, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** CANADA. Special programming in Kelowna B.C. --- Glenn, Massive forest fires around Kelowna, B.C., broke out Saturday. At least 10,000 residents have been forced from their homes. Late word is that there are now three fires near the city. Just checked online and have found two radio stations with special live programming. CHSU 99.9 FM and CKFR 1150 AM (both owned by Astral Media) are simulcasting a special news program at this hour. 73, (Ricky Leong, Calgary AB, 0833 UT July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Later: here's why you shouldn't run ads during live disaster programming. Two ads during a commercial break were for "hot deals" at a local electronics store and an ad for a company that sells disaster restoration services. Oops. (Ricky Leong, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'll think you'll find these were ads that were placed on the station at short notice by people trying to make a quick buck. If you're running a commercial station that loses money, and someone comes along and offers to by commercial airtime, do you consider the ethical issues? I don't think so (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Au contraire, I imagine those ads were already running, and nobody thought to pull them because of the emergency (gh, DXLD) CBC Radio Kelowna, BC, has finally caught up with their private-sector competitors and put special programming on the air relating to the wildfires ravaging the area. At this time, more than 17,000 people have been forced from their homes. Direct links below (32 kbps) http://www.cbc.ca/livemedia/cbcr1-kelowna.asx (16 kbps) http://www.cbc.ca/livemedia/cbcr1-kelowna-low.asx Probably a tough DX catch on 88.9 FM, barring E-skip conditions (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., 2028 UT July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked a few hours later and it was back to CBC Radio 1 national (gh) ** CHINA. As I was googling to find the possible source of the misinformation that IRAN [q.v.] had broadcast Rafsanjani on SW, somehow I was led to this 2-minute video: CHINA SHORT-WAVE RADIO BIG DRAW --- Reuters - 8 hours 58 mins ago A growing number of Chinese are becoming passionate about short-wave radio. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090717/video/vwl-china-short-wave-radio-big-draw-d7f4ae7.html This is *not* about monitoring forbidden broadcasts from abroad! But only about a very minor aspect of SW, amateur radio; and no VHF? Says there are 80 to 90K hams in China now and that until 1992 ``possession of radio equipment was punishable by death``. I didn`t think it was quite that bad, but I guess there has been a bit of progress. CW included, as with BY1CW and someone fingering a key. How do you send Chinese by CW? There cannot be myriads of CW `characters`. They must have to Romanize it first or better yet, use English. I believe in typography, and/or with Japanese, each character is assigned a 5- digit number code, so those could be sent as CW, but remembering them all could be a lot more difficult than just reading the characters, speaking them or faxing them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake July 14: at 1306 nothing audible on 8400 or 9000; at 1315 poor-fair on 13970; 1317 poor on 14430, none audible 15-19 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake, 1344, July 14. All //: 8400, 9000, 13500, 13970, 14430 and 15150. At 1419 heard FD on 15600 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake July 15: at 1252, about same level, poor, and parallel on 8400 and 9000, which is not always the case. Did not hear any others. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake, 0220-0225, July 16. All //: 13500, 13970, 14430, 15150, 15600 and 18320 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting, the same ones we hear around 11 hours later (gh, OK, DXLD) Firedrake July 16: at 1310 fair on 15150, none heard higher. At 1312, poor on 14430, nothing on 13970. At 1339 poor and about equal on 9000 and 8400. Firedrake July 17: at 1253 fair on 17470, presumably because Sound of Hope had jumped there from 17500, where Aoki still has them listed today; but gone at 1335 recheck (not on 18320 either, but I did hear a W4 working a ZS6 on the 18 MHz band). At 1307 Firedrake JBA on 13970, not on 14420/14430; at 1321 JBA on 8400, not on 9000. Firedrake July 18: at 1350 VP on 8400, not on 9000 or 13970, trace on 14430. But at 1352, good on 15150, nothing on any higher frequency. Things were rather different after 1435: now FD was fair with flutter on 17470, still at 1508, good at S9+10 and less flutter. At 1438, now VG S9+10 on 13970, but just barely audible on 14430. At 1443, JBA on 9000 and 8400. At 1536 still good on 17470, fair on 13970; at 1537 also good on 13500. Did not take time to examine which frequencies were // and which not, but usually there are two different Firedrake music streams. Nor do I try much to track the other CNR1 echo jamming, but was hearing that at 1440 on 11510 and 11615, which are VOA Tibetan and Mandarin respectively during the 14-15 hour. Firedrake July 20: at 1305, just barely audible on 13970, 9000, 8400, nowhere else. Altho E Asian reception was better than usual on 9 MHz --- see NETHERLANDS [non] --- zero Firedrake to be heard on 9000 or 8400 at 1323 July 21. At 1331, JBA on 13970 but none higher. At 1410, 13970 was BA, and now 14430 JBA, seems // (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake July 22: at 1315, nothing on 8400, poor on 9000. At 1338 nothing audible on 13970 or 14430. Propagation from Asia quite poor today. In fact, nothing but North America (including Cuba, Costa Rica) on 19m, tho Spain, Chile and Ascension were audible on 16m (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake, 1414, July 22. Only on 8400 and 9000, both // and strong. By 1418, FD on 8400 was off-the-air. SOH/FD abnormally absent today; also noted lack of CNR-1 jamming on 19m. SOH cutting back on their transmissions? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA/TAIWAN/TAJIKISTAN Already at 1108 UT on 17560.00 kHz Chinese Firedrake Music Jamming on air. At 1120 UT I noted Voice of Tibet program via Dushanbe-TJK on the odd 17563.00 channel on air. Another Firedrake Jammer on 17500 kHz against opposition Taiwan Station SoH. CHINA/KUWAIT/TAJIKISTAN/UAE RFA Tibetan at 11-12 UT 13830TJK, 15375UAE, and 17750KWT kHz totally covered by strong CNR1 {echo missed today} jammer stations. Additional BUZZ scratching on 15375 kHz covers the usual CNR1 national program jammer, seems like scratching comes from satellite feed receiver or wrong dish adjustment. 17750 is very, very strong, so guess the jammer is co-located Kashi site, from Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu. Kaxgar, K'o-shih, Kaschgar, Kashgar Kona Shahr, Kashi Shi, K'a-shih, Kashgar Kone Shahr, Kona Shahr, Kashgar, Su-fu, Shu-f. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, July 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) East Turkistan ** CHINA. 5030, CNR1, 1158, 7/18/09. Mandarin chatter to TOH time pips. ID into news by OM & YL. Not heard in a long time. Fair signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7085, PBS Nei Menggu, 1226, July 15. Finally heard the spur here. Primary frequency 7105, along with // spurs now on 7085, 7095, 7115 and 7125; with 7085 being the weakest. 9505, Voice of Strait (presumed), 1326-1336, July 14. In Chinese; poor reception, but was by far the best audio level I have had since they moved here from 4940. Unable to hear VOS on either 6115 nor 7280. 7245, CNR-2/China Business Radio, 1450-1500, July 22. Heard possible change in the “English Evening” schedule. Normally during weekdays on from 1330 to 1400. Today surprised to catch their segment “Studio Classroom Worldwide” talking about the solar eclipse. Needs more monitoring to determine if they are now on from 1430 to 1500 and if so, is it a permanent change? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7130, UNID channel (CNR-1?), 1722-1744, 12 Jul, Mandarin, talks & soft musical background; 34433, QRM de TWN... or shall we say QRM upon TWN (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cf. Ron Howard`s report of MALAYSIA reactivated on 7130, on that late? (gh) ** CHINA. CNR-8 Uyghur extend -- Now sked (from July 14) [preliminary] 0600-0800 11630, 11780, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15415 0800-1000 11630, 11780, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15415 1500-1700 7445, 9420, 9630, 9645, 9890, 11630 0000-0200 9455, 11630, 11810, 13700, 15390, 15670 CNR-8 other languages 0200-0300 Kazakh [ ] 0300-0400 Mongolian 9610, 11815 0400-0500 Korean 9440, 9610 0500-0600 Kazakh 11630, 11780, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15415 1000-1100 Korean 7410, 9785 1100-1200 Kazakh 9420, 9690, 11630, 11720, 12055, 13700 1200-1300 Mongolian 5955, 9610 1300-1400 Kazakh 7445, 9420, 9630, 9645, 9890, 11630 1400-1500 Kazakh 7220, 9420, 9630, 9645, 9890, 11630 2200-2300 Korean 5955, 5975 2300-2400 Mongolian 5955, 7445 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, July 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CNR 8 New time and frequencies, effective July 14 0800 UT. 2155-2200 IS, ID in Chinese 5955, 5975 2200-2300 Korean 5955, 5975 2300-2400 Mongolian 5955, 7445 0000-0200 Uyghur 9455, 11630bei, 11810, 13700, 15390, 15670bei 0200-0300 Kazakh 11630, 11810bei, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15670bei 0300-0400 Mongolian 9610, 11815 0400-0500 Korean 9440, 9610 0500-0600 Kazakh 11630, 11780bei, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15415bei 0600-0800 Uyghur 11630+, 11780bei=, 12055+, 13700+, 15390+, 15415bei= 0800-1000 Uyghur 11630, 11780bei, 12055, 13700, 15390, 15415bei 1000-1100 Korean 7410, 9785 1100-1200 Kazakh 9420, 9690bei, 11630, 11720bei, 12055, 13700 1200-1300 Mongolian 5955, 9610 1300-1400 Kazakh 7445bei, 9420, 9630, 9645bei, 11630, 13700 1400-1500 Kazakh 7220bei, 9420, 9630, 9645bei, 9890, 11630 1500-1600 Uyghur 7445bei, 9420, 9630, 9645bei, 9890, 11630 1600-1700 Uyghur 6140, 7445bei, 7935, 9420, 9645bei, 9890 1700-1705 IS, ID in Chinese 6140, 7445bei, 7935, 9420, 9645bei, 9890 + not Tu. = not We. Streaming audio : mms://cdnmms.cnr.cn/cnr8 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, July 20, ibid.) ** CHINA. Today I received QSLs from China National Radio for September 2007 reports on 720 and 1377 kHz. Both cards were specific as to frequency, date and time and were sent in the same envelope. It was a pleasant surprise to finally hear back from them after 21 months with no follow ups. Address: China National Radio, P. O. Box 4501, Beijing 100866 (Bruce Portzer, WA, July 17, HCDX via DXLD) They must have been cleaning out the file, as I got one today as well, for a report on 1035 kHz, after getting nothing out of CNR for the last couple of years.. This for a November 2008 reception. 73, (Nigel Pimblett, Dunmore, Alberta, IRCA via DXLD) Oh, man, that it great news, Bruce. I've got one out from 2007 and a couple from 2008. I think that they just stopped sending out QSLs for a while. Maybe they will be reliable again like the old days. I assume that there was no verie signer??? Thanks for letting us know, Bruce! (John Bryant, WA, ibid.) Hi John, There was no v/s. I think I sent the reports to the Audience Dept or whatever it's called that had been sending out the QSLs in past years. You may get yours soon, seeing as Nigel got one as well. They're probably playing catch-up at the moment (Bruce Portzer, ibid.) If there were a verie signer it would probably be a collective name, not a real person; if one care (gh) ** COLOMBIA. Official Colombian FM list: http://www.mincomunicaciones.gov.co/mincom/src/user_docs/espectro/PlanTecnicoFM.pdf wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., July 15, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CONGO. Rep. of, 6115, Radio Congo. Dear friends, It looks like SW from Congo Brazzaville has been reactivated. I've heard them yesterday 15 July on 6115 kHz in French from 1745 to 1815 UT with local music till 1802 UT when they ID'd and went into a string of post-electoral speeches. Fair signal but the modulation was a bit rough. Gone when re-checked at 1915 (Vashek Korinek, RSA, July 16, DXplorer via BC-DX July 18 via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Radio Congo has been audible here very irregularly on 6115 kHz since January 2009. Mostly very weak and/or distorted modulation (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) As in DXLDs 9-004, 9-006, 9-007 (gh) ** CUBA. 1620, Radio Progreso, 0350-, señal regular, con noticias de los corresponsales de varios puntos de Cuba. Talvez están aquí para interferir a la emisora de las Islas Vírgenes Americana. Pero a esta hora, anteriormente los había notado en los 530 KHz con Radio Enciclopedia. (20 julio 2009) (Yimber Gaviría, Cali, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Previously was R. Rebelde; mox nix as jammer (gh) 5965, Radio Habana Cuba, 2245-, buena senal, con En Contacto. (12 julio 2009). 73 de (Yimber Gaviría, Cali, Colombia, Sony M37, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another screwup. Per own schedule, this frequency is supposed to be in Creole. DX program in Spanish is on Sundays (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC 17660, 2107 23 May, DXers Unlimited, SIO 433 (Robin Tancoo, Fyzabad, Trinidad, FRG 7700, 75-foot longwire, copy of log report to BDXC-UK Communication via p-mail postmarked 2 July, DX LISTENING DIGEST) We`ve picked just a few of his many logs reported, but looking over the sheets, each catch with an SIO reading, not a single one has 5 in the I-column. Does this mean every single log had some interference? No, he doesn`t go above 4 for any S, I, or O rating, so that must be the max, another way of doing it. But there are precious few 4s either in the I column. So what was the QRM on 17660? Further evidence that SIO and SINPO are pretty useless if you don`t give the details, avoiding which is the point of using a string of numbers in the first place (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Havana Shortwave Schedule --- Just received an e-mail from Señora Lourdes López, Head of Correspondence Department at Radio Habana Cuba, that had the April through October 2009 schedule attached. I have posted the schedule to the "Files" area. For your reading enjoyment, I have included her e-mail below: ----- Esteemed friend: Hope this note finds you well and that you've been able to tune in to Radio Havana Cuba's broadcasts. By the way, we've attached a frequency guide and look forward to receiving your feedback on our programs in the near future. With kindest regards, Lourdes López, Head of Correspondence Dept. ----- 73 and Great DX! (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, July 16, ABDX via DXLD) Any indication of a date on the schedule? I went through their online sked at the end of April and added what I could figure out to the Combined schedule spreadsheet (Dan Ferguson, NASWA yg via DXLD) Dan, I sent a reply to Sra. López, thanking her for her e-mail and for the frequency guide. If she responds, I will politely ask her how "recent" the guide is. If she does not respond, I will send her another e-mail and politely ask her. Thanks & 73, (Steve N5WBI, Houston TX, ibid.) If you have been paying any attention to my almost daily monitoring of what RHC is REALLY doing, you will know that this schedule is woefully inaccurate, even if it comes from the source. Without comparing every line, it looks to be about the same as on their website http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/c_frecuencia/frecuencias.htm but in a more user-friendly format, one line per transmission, what a wonderful idea! Both of them show frequencies which have since been dropped, such as 11820 and 12000. Does not show 5965 which is consistently on the air every morning. They do not show the fact that RHC is actually broadcasting Spanish on 5 or 6 frequencies in the daytime between 1500 and 2000. Nor the fact that there are Spanish broadcasts after 0500 taking away some of the `English` frequencies, etc., etc. Don`t you believe it! 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. 13760, 1619 15/07, R Habana Cuba, SS, desde La Habana, com 100 kW, um programa musical apresentado por OM com músicas do compositor Pablo Milanés (autor da bela música Iolanda cantada por Chico Buarque e Simone). Moderada QRM da CRI na mesma freqüência em EE, a partir das 1640 UT sinal degrada bastante e começa a predominar a CRI, SINPO antes da degradação no inicio da escuta 33433, SINPO as 1645 UTC 32432 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CUBA. 6000, RHC Havana; // 5965; very strong here late morning July 15 at 1602 here in south TEXAS with música SON de CUBA, but why do they need to be on the 49 metre band at all during the day. It is a great waste of those 100-250 kW transmitter (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX- 399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Started with the Honduran (non) coup; maybe 49m gets into there well all day, better than 11/13 MHz? Aimed that way? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC check UT July 17 at 0535: English on 6010, 6060, 6140; Spanish on 6000, 6120, 11760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6000 // 6120, RHC, 0830 + 0847, July 17; in Spanish. 6060 // 6140 in English. The weakest signal was on 6000 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I never monitor that late. So not only is Spanish extended way past former 0500* but English past 0700* (gh, DXLD) RHC check July 18 at 0610: Spanish on 11760, 6120, 6060 and very poor 6000. English on 6010 only, while 6140 was open carrier, still the case at 0630. How many DentroCubans could have had a decent meal for the cost of 250+ kW of electricity wasted in those few minutes? Wondering if RHC is still on extended schedule, not revealed on their website, almost two sesquiweeks after the Honduran coup/non-coup? Yes! July 18 at 1500 I tuned to 13780 which was playing music, but no sign- off or any other announcement before it went to open carrier at 1502, hetting Austria/Sackville on 13775. RHC 13680 was also still on with OC. Then I tuned to 11760 and found RHC news underway // no echo on: 5965, and // but echoing on 13760, 11690 and 6000. I had already noticed open carrier on 11690 at 1450 making HCJB barely detectable under that and the RTTY, during Aventura Diexista, Allen Graham interviewing Jeff White about WRMI; which was Lima Charlie on 11960. At 1510, 11760 dumped off the air abruptly, but was back on at next check for it 1535. I had also neglected to look for 11800 earlier but it too was on at 1538, an echo apart from 11760. So that makes a total of six extra frequencies found after 1500: 5965, 6000, 11690, 11760, 11800, 13760. Note: we have not had a word about this extended schedule from Arnie Coro; you need to get your RHC operational news from actual monitoring by yours truly instead. RHC, 13790, July 20 at 0203 in Spanish news, echoing against // 13760 from the other site. 13790 is now on the official schedule as always beamed at Rio de Janeiro, from 21 to 05 in Spanish, English, French, and Creole --- but not Portuguese! RHC check 0610 July 20: Spanish on 11760, 6140, 6000, no signal on 6120. English on 6060, 6010. Are they still pretending to be on 12000 in the mornings? Yes, July 20 at 1401, Tony`s announcement monitored on 15120 still says ``15120, 15360, 13760, 13680, 13780, 11760, 12000, 6000`` in that out-of-order. But then I found 12000 missing, instead breaking-up on 11800 as usual for the last few weeks, also unannounced 5965, better than 6000. They haven`t a clue in the studio what is going on at the transmitters. How about turning on a radio and listening to your own output some time? Additionally audible on 13720, which is a leapfrog of RHC 13760 over CRI English relay on 13740. A mix with the CRI audio could also be detected on 13720. RHC check July 21: at 0558, Spanish on 11760 but barely audible, also on 6140 and echoing 6120. English (or at least non // music) on 6010, 6060. Rapid clicking on 11980, or maybe centred closer to 11981, July 21 at 1404, and QRMing NHK English on 11985. What could this be? Ajá, same clix on 11880, equally flanking huge jamming noise against Martí on 11930, ergo spurs from one of the multitude of jamming transmitters there. Fortuitously, nothing much on 11880 or 11980 at this hour to be collaterally damaged, no tnx to incompetent DentroCuban engineering. But could bother R. Australia, 50 degrees on 11880 at 17-21. However, around 1330 before Martí is on, 11930 is totally free of jamming, and 11880/11980 of the clix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 9545, Radio República, 0359-0400*, July 16. Sign-off announcement with very little jamming; heard *0400 DW in Russian (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Tuning across R. Martí, 13820 via Greenville, July 20 at 1421, they had a feature from the Real Academia Española on the proper use of the colon (: dos puntos), audible OK despite heavy DentroCuban jamming against grammar lessons courtesy of the US taxpayer. In my experience, the SS community are more in need of lessons about the semi-colon, which is used even less by them than by English speakers; instead, comma-splices are even more rampant. It`s time for me to give away some more semi-colons for those in dire need of them in either language; if anyone will learn their proper usage: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. R Havana Cuba via internet; less [sic] English SW frequencies Now you can listen to Radio Havana Cuba (RHC) via their website http://www.radiohc.cu/ I have tried this in the past, but without success. Ed Newman announced on RHC's Mailbag on 6000 kHz last night that you can now listen via Real Audio and the message below appears on the English front page of their website: RADIO HAVANA CUBA ON REAL AUDIO Now you can listen to our broadcasts -- without a shortwave radio – in English on Real Audio. Here's how: Go to the Spanish front page and look for C2 (a little speaker icon) at the top, right-hand side of the page. Click on C2 and you'll hear RHC in English! We're 'on-the-air' beginning at 9 p.m. EDT. By the way, C1 features our audio in Spanish and can be heard 24- hours-a-day, seven days a week http://www.radiohc.cu/viejo/ingles/portada.htm The message above implies you have to connect via the speaker icons on the Spanish front page - though the icons on the English front page also work fine. The one titled 'Broadcasting 1' links to Spanish; the other titled 'Broadcasting 2' links to other languages. I haven't worked out the schedule of the 'Broadcasting 2' link yet, but caught the end of an English segment at 2130 UT yesterday (so presumably 2030-2130 is English). And their website message says English is carried from 9 pm EDT = 0100 UT. On shortwave, Radio Havana Cuba English is currently on fewer frequencies - some scheduled English frequencies carrying Spanish instead, maybe due to the military coup and ousting of President Manuel Zelaya in Spanish-speaking Honduras, with talks currently ongoing on the crisis. This morning (20 July) English 0300-0500 UT I could only hear on 6000 kHz (with 6140 carrying Spanish //6060). And at 0500 (-0700 presumably) 6060 kHz was in English but very difficult to listen to due to adjacent channel splatter (with 6140 and 6000 in Spanish). Which is a pity as 6000 and 6140 used to give best reception in English here (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Sony 7600GR / telescopic, July 20, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Webcast in English used to be limited to 05-07 UT only. But it`s NOT REAL AUDIO --- Windows Media 9, says my player, when I listen to the `English` stream at 1939 UT July 22 which is really in Portuguese. I had to copy and paste it in the player to get it to launch. Seems their streaming is just as confused as their shortwaving (gh, DXLD) Update: This morning (21 July) at 0500 UT 6000 kHz did carry English (unlike yesterday). 6060 also in English (I think) but barely audible here due to interference. But 6140 still had Spanish programming. (Alan Pennington, July 21, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Just as I have been observing, which are in English and which are in Spanish varies from night to night (gh, DXLD) ** CZECHIA. Glenn, While in the Czech Republic recently, I stopped by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for a visit. I've turned it into a two-part news feature for KUHF in Houston, and it's on the Web site at http://kuhf.org Hope things are going well! (Ed Mayberry, TX, July 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Full texts, illustrated, plus Flickr slideshow, additional audio: Directly: part 1, with 3:47 of audio: http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1248216638 Part 2, with 3:53 of audio: http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1248130009 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. WRMI, 9955, audible July 20 at 1311 with a bit of Spanish vs DentroCuban jamming. This is during the bihour previously occupied by R. Cuba Libre, but per the July 11 WRMI grid, it`s part of a greatly expanded schedule of R. Prague relays in English or Spanish as time-fillers, most of which are bonuses subject to replacement by new programming, and thus pointless even for the DentroCubans to jam: 0300-0430 Tue-Sat 0430-0500 daily 0600-0700 Mon-Sat 0700-0900 M-F 0900-1000 daily 1000-1100 M-F 1200-1430 daily That adds up to 56.5 hours per week, more than one third of WRMI`s total SW output if it were on the air 24/7 and even more than that since it is not! Those lucky Czechies. Reczeched at 1405 July 20, 9955 loud and clear, the NW antenna now in use, and no jamming audible, proving what a good signal WRMI is capable of providing. Now it`s R. Prague`s Sunday show in English being repeated on Monday with the Mailbox until 1409, Letter from Prague, 1412 Czech Books. Finally a trace of residual jamming is audible underneath. Meanwhile on 13580, R. Prague`s attempt to broadcast directly to NAm with the current day`s program, all I could hear at 1423 was the weak mixing product from RHC, leapfrogging 13780 over 13680, which is always stronger in the other direxion, 13880 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA: collision on 17485 ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Tele Antillas ch 2 video, 7 pm local time [2300 UT, date?] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKD3A-i7YZs (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, July 15, WTFDA via DXLD) Nice, but I kept wanting to adjust the horizontal hold. My new (old ) B&W TV exhibits this problem too. Why should the horizontal lock depend on the strength of the signal? If a set even has horiz hold, it may require a tool to get to. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 1630 miles, he says. Most of it is out of horizontal synch, but fades up about 1:05 and the TA logo/ID can be detected floating by (gh, DXLD) I've resurrected a vintage 12" b&w Emerson TV circa 1984. It's quite sensitive but didn't like strong locals so I packed it away in 1987. Now, with no low band locals to interfere, it's a great performer--and it has horizontal & vertical hold controls and locks sync with frame signals (still not good on VHF HI or UHF; too much adjacent channel issues) (Jim Pizzi, NY, WTFDA via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3220, 0937 6 June, HCJB Global Voice good in presumed Chiqua with talk, some QRN // 6050 the same (Cliff Couch, Paraparaumu, NZ, ATS 803A, 60m horizontal loop, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) You mean Quichua?? HCJB, 6050 at 0040 in Cofán. Good but QRM. Missed Waodani broadcast at 0000. 16 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. Ecuador/Peru. Dos estaciones tropicales retransmitiendo al mismo tiempo la señal satelital de Alas-HCJB captadas en sábado 18 de julio, luego de las 0100; son ellas Radio El Buen Pastor desde Saraguro por los 4915 kHz [sic; means 4815??] y desde Huanta en 4955 kHz Radio Cultural Amauta, esta última con cierre luego de las 0130 (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 7535.0, 0049-0052 14/7, Radio Cairo, Abu Zabal, (SS), falas de YL; música, 45444 (Antonio Laurentino Garcia, PR7BCP, Escutas realizadas em João Pessoa - PB HI22nu, Rádio: IC 756PROII - Antenas: 730V-1a/3DX3, HCDX via DXLD) ?? But as we recently reported, RRI Romania is now on 7535 at 00-02 in Romanian, and when we heard that, Cairo was on 7540. Is it really back on 7535 with no QRM? (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. 11590, R. Cairo, July 20 at 0200 with timesignal 18.5 seconds late (compared to WWV a minute later), Arabic news. Standard remark about useless and misleading timesignals. Fair modulation. Per Aoki, this is 250 kW, 330 degrees from Abu Zaabal, same as for English to NAm at 2300-2430 when I am rarely monitoring. For English at 0200- 0330 I should be tuned to 7540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa, 1416 23 May, mailbag and Christian music, SIO 233. Also 1557 7 June, Christian broadcast in English, SIO 323 (Robin Tancoo, Fyzabad, Trinidad, FRG 7700, 75-foot longwire, copy of log report to BDXC-UK Communication via p-mail postmarked 2 July, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, *0530- 0605, 15-07, inicio de la transmisión con canciones africanas y canciones en español, a las 0600 identificación: "Radio Malabo", noticias. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, Escuchas realizadas en Reinante, Mar Cantabrico, provincia de Lugo, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. VOICE OF ERITREA (new entry) Web: http://maihabar.org/wordpress/?cat=7 Email: epm @ maihabar.org Tigrinya Days Area kHz 1800-1830 .t.t.s. ERI 7165gjw, 9560gjw VOICE OF PEACE AND DEMOCRACY Tigrinya Days Area kHz 1800-1830 m.w.f.. ERI 7165gj [sic] (WRTH July 22 update via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, R. Ethiopia, 0322-0327, July 16. With pop African music; almost fair; // 5990 and 9704.08, both poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7109.99, R. Ethiopia, 0331, 7/19/09. Rock/funk music with local announcements by OM & YL. S6 on peaks (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. RADIO BILAL (new entry, back from February 2009 update) Web: http://bilalradio.com Email: bilalradio @ yahoo.com Amharic Days Area kHz 1700-1800 ......s ETH 15350sam VOICE OF OMORO LIBERATION FRONT Revised schedule Oromo Days Area kHz 1600-1630 .t.t..s ETH 11760wer (WRTH July 22 update via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 13830, 1719 15/07 GERMANY, Voice Oromo Liberation, em Orominya (um idioma falado na Etiópia e Quénia), desde Juelich, com 125 kW, OM e YL conversam entrementes mx típica etíope, ocasionais QRM tipo turbina de avião que vai diminuindo pois o sinal vai ficando melhor no passar do tempo da tx, 33443 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** EUROPE. 6585.00, 11 July, 1630 unID, Italian, relay of Cuore FM, pops, and fighting with hams, on LSB 24432 (Silveri Gómez, FRAGA CATALUNYA DEL NORTE, RX : R-2000 & ATS 909, playdx yg via DXLD) I had Radio Cuore relay 2-3 times these months on 17780 kHz (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ?? Wasn`t 17780 once a Rai frequency? (gh) ** FRANCE. A court hearing on RFI workers' objections to plans to cut 206 jobs has been delayed until next Wednesday morning [July 22]. Workers are asking the court to block the cuts, which prompted the longest French public broadcasting strike since 1968 (Mike Cooper, GA, July 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI in Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian to be cancelled THIS MONDAY! Today on RFI South Slavic program I heard an announcement that as of Monday, July 20, 2009 South Slavic programs will be cancelled!!! So, after 23 years of service, ex-YU branch of RFI will be closed. I'm very surprised why they announced that only 2 days before the deadline. Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, July 18, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The reference to Serbian/Croatian on RFI's website now links to http://www.betarfi.com the website of their rebroadcaster in Belgrade. Is this indicative or was it the case already for some time? Of course this also raises the question for the other language services RFI wants to discontinue. Nothing about an imminent closure on the German pages so far (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI refers to betarfi.com (Beta RFI) over a year now. Beta RFI is a cooperation between Beta news agency and RFI on FM in Belgrade on 107.9 MHz. From 21-06 local time on air is RFI Musique, and from 06-21 local there is a program from Belgrade, and they never rebroadcasted RFI Serbian shows (08 & 16h local), only short reports from Paris (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, July 19, ibid.) So it has nothing to do with the imminent closure. And this means the other way round that the website contains no hints on this circumstance at all. Why I asked: As well-known Serbocroatian was one of the services RFI wanted to close, as part of the package that cuts 206 job positions. I wonder if RFI management takes the opportunity of the strike being "suspended" and eliminates at dead of night what it wants to eliminate. I think it could not hurt to check out tomorrow if the language services in German, Polish, Albanian, Turkish and Laotian still exist or are gone as well (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY. DW: New head of Chinese service --- Will assume her post on Dec 1, until then the head of DW's Asia department also leads the Chinese service. Note how this press release puts the emphasis on web services and mentions radio only in the second place: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4488716,00.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DEUTSCHE WELLE CHINESE WILL GET A NEW MANAGER Sinologist Adrienne Woltersdorf, now Washington correspondent of der Tageszeitung, will take the new job in December. DW press release, 15 July 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Thanks to Kai Ludwig, who notes that DW is described as "des deutschen Auslandssenders im Internet und Radio verantworten," i.e. internet now gets first billing. There was controversy surrounding the previous head of DW Chinese. Posted: 18 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. July 18 at 1506 found a collision on 15450 and slow SAH; one was in Russian and soon heard DW theme music; the other unID language, and both were gone by 1530. Currently scheduled at 1500-1530 is VOA Uzbek via Sri Lanka, but can`t find any listing for DW! A mistake or something new, site? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. 15275, DW in German, July 21 at 1413, quite good contrary to usual, 1414 ``Fly Me to the Moon`` concluding feature on you know what, DW theme. If it`s DW it can`t be from Germany; this is RWANDA at 30 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUANTANAMO BAY [and non]. AL JAZEERA JOURNALIST HELD AT GUANTÁNAMO PLANS "LEGAL ACTION" AGAINST BUSH Sami al-Haj, an "al-Jazeera journalist who was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay plans to launch a joint legal action with other detainees against former US president George Bush and other administration officials, for the illegal detention and torture he and others suffered at the hands of US authorities. The case will be initiated by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, a new organisation open to former prisoners at the US base, which will set up its international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month." The Guardian, 17 July 2009. See also The Guardian, 17 July 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Unclear if this will be a criminal or civil complaint. The headline says "sue." But, in the story: "The legal action may be modelled on an action against General Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested in the UK in 1998 at the request of a Spanish prosecutor for the alleged murders of Spanish citizens in Chile under his dictatorship." That action was criminal, for murder, torture, etc. Posted: 18 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** HONDURAS. 3250.01, Luz y Vida, 0340, 7/19/09. Presumed the station here with poor signal equal to t-storm static. Seemed religious program in English but too much noise to pick out details (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Radio Progreso and Jerry Tolle --- Reading recently about the closing of Radio Progreso after the military coup in Honduras, and the late Jerry Tolle who signed its veries, reminded me of my QSL from that station. Since QSLs sometimes take months or years, and since I expected to be moving occasionally while my parents were settled in their home, I used their address for many foreign reception reports. A March 1971 report for 4920 soon brought a long personal letter, with details about the station and its equipment, from Jerry E. Tolle, Gerente. The letter was in Spanish so I suspected he might be a native Honduran, although the language might have been the result of my reporting in Spanish. I was very surprised a short time later when my parents were visited by Jerry’s parents. They said he had grown up near my parents’ Kansas City, Kansas, home (I think it was next door, but it may have been a few houses away). In those days there were a number of Hondurans on SW, and a few were good verifiers, but Radio Progreso is the one I’ll always remember (Wendel Craighead, Prairie Village, Kansas, USA, Cumbredx mailing list July 14 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. CERRADA LA RADIO JESUITA DE HONDURAS El director de la Radio Progreso, Ismael Moreno, SJ, informó por carta que a raíz del Golpe de Estado ocurrido a primeras horas del domingo 28 de junio en contra del Presidente Manuel Zelaya Rosales, la Radio Progreso fue intempestivamente invadida por un contingente de unos 25 militares, quienes a eso de las diez y media de la mañana, penetraron en todas las instalaciones radiales, mientras el personal estaba transmitiendo noticias sobre este acontecimiento político. Los militares los obligaron a cancelar de manera absoluta la programación. Mientras los militares estaban dentro de las instalaciones, un grupo numeroso de pobladores rodeó las mismas y exigían ingresar para defender la Radio y a todo su personal. Por suerte, y gracias a diversas mediaciones, se evitó que la confrontación llegara a extremos más violentos. El personal está sano y salvo a las alturas del informe, aunque la incertidumbre y el ambiente tenso no les garantiza prever que disminuyan las amenazas para las siguientes horas. Y están pendientes de una nueva decisión de la parte de la dirección, en relación con la necesidad de restablecer la programación de la Radio, a pesar de la prohibición y la amenaza que les dejaron los militares. Ismael Moreno, SJ, termina diciendo: “Seguiremos informando. Todo por un sueño” Una información más detallada puede verse en ALBOAN. Fuente: http://www.poresto.net/internacional/45483-cerrada-la-radio-jesuita-de-honduras (via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com July 17, DXLD) Hola Elmer, Me pregunto si esto es verdad o no? 73, (Glenn to Elmer Escoto, Honduras, via DXLD) Hello, Glenn. Well, Radio Progreso is not a Jesuit radio, to begin with. At least not lately. It has been for the most part a "revolutionary" radio station that had sided with the ousted government and was misinforming the population since months ago. I do not have any information about the military breaking in, although it is true that most radio stations were off the air for several hours on June 28. However, that was due not to any military intervention, but rather because the national power company shut down on that day. But all stations were back on the air by June 29. I have been monitoring the MW and FM bands to ascertain whether there were any restrictions, and found all stations to be operating normally. The TV channels are also operating normally, even those who openly support Chávez' intentions to rule Honduras. So, I'm sorry RHC, RNV, Radio Progreso, but you're lying (how strange, huh?) (Elmer Escoto, Honduras, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Tune in: Online radio show on media battles in Honduras [linx to previous shows] Tune in: Online radio show on Sudan, beyond Darfur Tune in: Online radio show on Uighur unrest in China Tune in: Online radio show on statelessness Tune in: Online radio show on Argentina’s farming crisis Tune in: Online radio show on Bosnia’s delicate balance Tune in: Online radio show on violence in Northern Ireland Tune in: Online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran Tune in: Online radio show on Mexico’s war on drugs Tune in: Online radio show on Canada’s role in Afghanistan Tune in: Online radio show exploring Hugo Chávez Political upheaval continues in Honduras, after liberal leader Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup in late June. It is a battle that has played out not only in the streets of Honduras, but also on television screens and over radio waves across the world. Some, including U.S. President Barack Obama and the Organization of American States, have condemned the ouster of the democratically- elected president, saying it was unconstitutional, illegal and a threat to democracy. Others point out that Zelaya was pushing ahead with a referendum on term limits that Honduras’ Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional, and consider his removal the result of healthy checks and balances. The Honduran military has clamped down on pro-Zelaya channels in the country and blocked the signal of Telesur, a left-leaning television network based in Venezuela. Other state-run media across Latin America have broadcast programs in support of Zelaya. Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show on explored the coup in Honduras and how Latin America’s media industry — from state-run stations to independent websites — has become a political battleground. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosts the following panel of guests: Competing protests have rocked the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. Photo: Sandra Cuffe Sandra Cuffe is an independent journalist and photographer from Montréal, Canada­. Sandra has reported from Latin America for several years and is the Honduras correspondent for UpsideDownWorld.org. Daniel Duquenal is a blogger at “Venezuela News and Views,” which he’s been writing for six years. He hails from small San Felipe in Venezuela and spent 15 years in the US before returning to Venezuela to manage a small family business. Silvio Waisbord is an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, and editor of the International Journal of Press/Politics. He is the author of “Watchdog Journalism in South America: News, Accountability and Democracy.” (from http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/07/14/tune-in-online-radio-show-on-media-battles-in-honduras/6339/ via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) See also Comments appended FUERA DEL AIRE EMISORAS DE RADIO Y TV OPOSITORAS EN HONDURAS Tegucigalpa, 15 jul (PL) El canal de televisión 36 y Radio Globo se encuentran nuevamente hoy fuera del aire en Honduras, luego de transmitir noticias y programas contra el golpe de Estado del 28 de junio pasado. En los servicios de televisión por cable Cholusat Sur, como se nombra la televisora, un cartel avisa al público que no hay señal. En tanto, al sintonizar la frecuencia de Radio Globo, sólo se escucha la estática que provoca el silencio en las transmisiones. Desde poco antes del inicio de la asonada militar, las dos emisoras fueron intervenidas por tropas del ejército. El gobierno de facto sólo permite el funcionamiento con normalidad de los grandes medios de prensa propiedad de los grupos de poder del país, comprometidos con la interrupción del estado de derecho. rc/rl Fuente: Prensa Latina [DentroCuban agency, so false?] http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=101245&Itemid=1 (via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1231 + 1317-1335, July 15. English news with the announcement that there would be a special program at 6:45 on many AIR stations; seemed to be an interview in English with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is in Egypt; interview // 4775 AIR Imphal; both poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR in Sindhi, 5990 at 0105z July 21 via Aligarh, 250 kW at 245 degrees, morning program to southern Pakistan. Surprising for me to hear India on 49m at this time of year. It must be via the long path since the short path is virtually all daylight. The long path is about twice the distance of the short. Nothing heard on // 7370 or 9635 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Texas, Eton E-1, sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. NEW ALL INDIA RADIO STATIONS --- 16:25 IST Lok Sabha One hundred and ninety five All India Radio Sub-Stations will be set up in the country during the 11th Five Year Plan. 50 new sub-stations will be set up in 18 states, viz: S.No. State/UT --------------------------- 1. Andhra Pradesh 4 2. Arunachal pradesh 5 3. Assam 3 4. Gujarat 1 5. Jharkhand 1 6. Madhya Pradesh 1 7. Maharashtra 2 8. Manipur 3 9. Meghalaya 1 10. Mizoram 3 11. Nagaland 3 12. Orissa 1 13. Punjab 2 14. Rajasthan 2 15. Tripura 4 16. Uttar Pradesh 4 17. Uttarakhand 6 18. West Bengal 4 145 FM Transmitters Also one hundred forty five FM transmitters - 100 Nos. in North East Region and 45 in rest of the country would be set up. The Government has allocated Rs. 163.90 crores for setting up of these stations. This information was given by Dr. S.Jagathrakshakan Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today (Press Information Bureau, Govt of India via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Are we to assume that all the non-FM stations will be on MW, or could some of them be SW? 73, (Glenn Hauser to Alokesh, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, The new stn's shud be on MW as well as SW, however no further details available. Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. RADIO ATMEEYA YATRA VIA AIR --- The Gospel For Asia program “Radio Atmeeya Yatra” via All India Radio was monitored by me during my recent trip to Kerala. It is broadcast in my mother tongue Malayalam by all AIR MW & SW stations in Kerala / Lakshadweep as follows: Language: Malayalam Time : Saturdays 5.00 to 5.15 pm IST (1130-1145 UT) Stations: Alappuzha 576 Thrissur 630 Kozhikode 684 Thiruvanathapuram 1161, 5010 Kavaratti 1584 These are not listed in their web site http://www.ayasia.org I have contacted them on the announced phone nos. and got info that these programs via AIR started about one year back. They also informed of broadcast via AIR Kochi on 102.3 MHz every week.. From today, 22 July 2009, on Wednesdays, their new programs are scheduled via AIR Thiruvanthapuram/Alappuzha/ Kavaratti at 7.35 pm (1405 UT) on 5010, 1161, 576 & 1584 kHz. They also have daily broadcasts via TWR Sri Lanka on 882 kHz in Malayalam at 0030-0045 UT and from Europe on SW in various languages. Currently, several other Christian broadcasters like FEBA, TWR, and Joyce Meyers are also broadcasting via All India Radio on MW, SW & FM. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) ?? What in the world is the government`s network doing broadcasting sectarian religious programs in this multi-religious land? (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. "BES Review" Oct-June [sic] 2009 issue is now available for download here: http://www.besindia.com/OCT-JUN2009.pdf Some of the articles of interest : - Demo of DRM by AIR Ahmedabad - Report on inauguration of DRM services by AIR - Report on BES EXPO-2009 BES Review is a quarterly publication containing articles on latest developments in the field of broadcasting and related science (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) 72 pages, illustrated ** INDONESIA. 3987.05, RRI Manokwari, 1236-1250 Jul 15. Jak program on late to 1239, then local vocal music. Fair but deteriorating. Best, as always, on USB to avoid Echo of Hope and jammer on 3985 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4750, RRI Makassar. Makassar, 0930-1010 julio 19, melodías y charla por locutor, mencionando en varias oportunidades "...Radio Republik Indonesia Makassar..." (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA [and non]. VOI, 9526-, Tuesday July 14 at 1302 opening weekly `Exotic Indonesia` hookup to RRI Banjarmasin with banter between Banj guy and this time an OM rather than YL at Jakarta studio. Listened carefully in case a date was mentioned as often the case, but heard none, tho again claimed to be `live`. Ron Howard found a VOI website claiming that this Exotic Indonesia series was running from April to December, 2008! If it was really a rerun from last year, days of week would not match days of month in 2009. Another question is that if it is really live on the 1300 UT broadcast (8 pm local as the site claims), is it repeated on all the following English broadcasts during the next 24 hours? Continues with regular features but breaks for kontact with Kalimantan, at 1321 the M&M conversing again, giving phone number and other listener input info to Banjarmasin; 1323 back to Jakarta for Today`s Commentary, by a YL about the presidential and vice presidential races. Only fair reception in noise but no QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, My supposition would be that the website is actually out-of- date; therefore perhaps the Tuesday Jakarta-Banjarmasin Network programming did start again in April, as you surmised and will in fact run through till the end of this year. Glenn, the shows are not reruns, but are current as to the day we hear them. This was established on Tue. (July 7) when I heard the VOI news with several major items about the presidential election to he held the following day (July 8). When they started their Jakarta-Banjarmasin banter, he talked about the fact that in Banjarmasin the major topic of local conversation was the election that would be held “tomorrow”. All of which was very specific to being live on July 7, 2009. Today (July 14) I caught their banter just before they were covered by CRI QRM at 1357. They jokingly said it would be nice if their show was on twice a week instead of just once a week (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI missing from 9526/9525 July 16 at 1334 --- no trace of a carrier anywhere around here, nor on 11785/11786 where could only hear the usual ChiCom jamming/VOA Chinese mixture SAHing on 11785.0. And at 1335 check, 15150 was still occupied by Firedrake, where it is occasionally heard presumably against Sound of Hope. 9525, 11785 and 15150 are the frequencies VOI always announces in English even tho only one at a time is in use, or in this case, none (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) July 17, second day without hearing VOI (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) For the second day in a row, no signal from VOI on 9526v, July 17 at 1319 check and later in the hour, nor on 11785 or 15150. I wonder if the other 250 kW transmitter at Cimanggis, 9680 carrying the domestic relay is on or off the air? It`s hard to tell here with the huge Chinese collision, at 1342 check, but seems a 3-way SAH at least. O, Aoki shows RFI 9680 only from 22 to 13 UT anyway, while ChiCom jamming and Taiwan are at 11-17 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Yes, RRI Jakarta on 9680 was on-the-air July 17 (Fri.). Heard “KGI” (Kang Guru Indonesia) program in English from 0802 to 0822, with a weak signal. KGI is scheduled for Wed. and Fri. during this time period. By 0840 RRI had faded up to fair reception, with programming in Bahasa Indonesia. [more 9680 below] 9524.88, Voice of Indonesia, 1103-1125, July 18. In Chinese; weak. Back again after being off-the-air for a few days (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI, missing from 9526 or any other frequency during the 13-14 UT English broadcast the last two days, was back July 18 at 1303 check, but now just a shade below 9525 instead of just a shade below 9526. Scenario: the 9526v transmitter failed, and it took them two days to get the 9525v one up and running instead. Newscast in progress about the suicide bombings at Jak hotels; same YL announcer heard thruout the hour doing all the narration, including around 1330 a feature on batik. Ron Howard also caught this July 18 after 1100 in Chinese and measured VOI at 9524.88. Normally, there is a big het during the 14-15 hour when CRI in Russian is in 9525.0, but today after 1400 I heard that without any het, which should have diminished from approx. 880 to 120 Hz, suggesting that VOI was off the air during the Malaysian hour today, unless it outfaded completely, unlikely. When CRI finished abruptly at 1457* no trace of VOI then either when a bit of its next English broadcast used to follow after 1500. I wonder if they belatedly took my advice and started moving to 11785 at 1400 to avoid the CRI QRM --- that`s OK on weekdays, but not here on weekends when WHRI blots everything else out on 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.90, VOI, 1210 7/18/09. OM & YL with Indo news. Fair to good signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI still on 9525-, July 20 at 1309 in English with news of Jakarta bombing investigation. At 1418 CRI Russian dominating on 9525.0 and VOI definitely still on this time with het of about 0.1 kHz. If it`s Tuesday, this must be Banjarmasin, the weekly Exotic Indonesia excursion on VOI`s English service. On 9524.9 at 1320 July 21, usual conversation between guy in Banj and studio in Jak, and into Commentary segment. 1336 time for ``weekly talk`` from Banj, but try as I did, could not get anything out of it: reception not bad, but too much accent. Extreme concentration, headphones, might have helped, but am busy with breakfast. Perhaps Indonesians can understand better such English with an Indo accent. But this is for the World. Nice music fill after 1350, ruined at 1357 by CRI prélude on 9525.0, just as VOI went back to talk upwrapping the hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI still on 9524.9, July 22 at 1336 check in English. Het with CRI after 1400 axually sounded like less than 100 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. La Voz de Indonesia: En español se puede ir a: http://es.voi.co.id/ Programa diaria : 1. Noticias 2. Comentarios 3. Parlamentaria 4. Conociendo Indonesia 5. Varias musicas 6. Entretenimientos Programa semanal : 1. El pais vecino (todos los Lunes) 2. Arte y cultura ( todos los Martes) 3. El ritmo archipielago (cada Miercoles) 4. El mundo de las mujeres (todos los Jueves) 5. El perfil (todos los viernes) 6. El turismo (todos los sabados) 7. El metropolitano Jakarta (Todos los domingos) Se puede escuchar a la Voz de Indonesia online, cuando la estuve escuchando (0810 hs UT) con identificacion de POISON INDONESIA (musica pop), con News Update a las 0830 hs UT, identificacion y comentarios en ingles. ESCUCHAR http://live.voi.co.id/ Fuente: Pagina de La Voz de Indonesia http://es.voi.co.id/ (via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com DXLD) Got a 400 instead of the live page (gh) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 0800-0820, July 22 (Wed.). KGI (Kang Guru Indonesia) English program # 6502; songs by American Idol winner Kris Allen; Fri. should be a repeat of this same show. Taiwan was late today signing on (scheduled for *1100); heard without the usual CNR-1 jamming chaos; from 1237 to 1304 with fair to good reception; in Bahasa Indonesia; EZL songs; announcement for a contest. If it could only be like this every day! By 1412 the CNR-1, et al. mess was here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. WHRO DIVES INTO DIGITAL RADIO By David Nicholson July 19, 2009 Big band music used to be a familiar format on Hampton Roads radio, but you don't hear it as much anymore. Unless you tune in The 1920's Radio Network, a 24/7 digital station operated by WHRO. The public broadcasting station streams it over the Internet on its Web site. Log onto whro.org, and you can hear six different digital radio streams. radioNtenna, which broadcasts alternative music, has a large following in Central Europe, says John Heimerl, the station's chief enterprise officer. WHRO radio host Raymond Jones programs Connoisseur Classics, a digital station devoted to full-length operas and obscure classical selections, and he regularly hears from listeners in France and Australia. [. . .] WHRO has been streaming radio over the Internet since 2002, when Brian Hughes, the station's radio operations manager, started The 1920s Radio Network with his collection of more than 25,000 recordings of big band and swing music and old radio programs. Even though big band music had declined as a popular radio format, says Heimerl, the station slowly began building a worldwide audience and is now averaging more than one million hits each month. radioNtenna went online in 2005, followed by Connoisseur Classics and SpeakEasy Radio. There are plans to develop a jazz station and Defenestration, a Web page that will collect audio and video clips from local artists with a social networking component. Heimerl calls it a "24/7 media mash of the 21st century." [. . .] Digital radio stations WHRO has six 24-hour digital radio stations. They can be heard by purchasing a digital radio or though live radio streams available online at http://www.whro.org. WHRV-FM (89.5 — HD1). News talk and public affairs programming; jazz SpeakEasy Radio (89.5 — HD2). News talk and public affairs programming. NPR, PRI and popular rebroadcasts of WHRV. radioAntenna (89.5 — HD3). Alternative music WHRO-FM (90.3 — HD1). Classical music Connoisseur Classics (90.3— HD2). Full-length operas, out-of-print recordings and works by lesser-known composers. The 1920s Radio Network (90.3 — HD3). Nostalgic music from 1900 to 1950, including big band, swing and old radio programs http://www.dailypress.com/features/family/dp-gl_digitalradio_0719jul19,0,5963034,print.story (via Kevin Redding, TN, ABDX via DXLD) You have to love journalist that do not completely do their homework. The 1920's Radio Network is =NOT= operated by WHRO radio. It is operated by a friend of mine who just happens to also work for the FM/TV station.(WHRO - FM, WHRV - FM, WHRO - DT) The URL is ..... http://www.the1920snetwork.com/ This just happens to be the same fellow who operates a Kahn and C-Quam AM Stereo part 15 station mentioned on this list some time ago; its URL is http://www.wbdhradio.com/ Enjoy! (Bob Carter - KC4QLP - WQJK414, Mid-Atlantic-Engineering- Service of Utica NY / Elizabeth City NC http://www.midatlanticengineeringservice.com/ ABDX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. "Forty years ago, VOA marked the historic moon landing with the radio documentary 'Eagle on the Moon'. The narrator was Harry Monroe with contributions from announcer Frank Oliver and VOA Correspondent Rhett Turner at the launch site in Florida. The program was written and produced by Michael Hanu." VOA Apollo 11 web page. http://www.voanews.com/english/Apollo-11.cfm (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Thanks to Jukka Kinkamo, who noticed the link to part 2 of "Eagle on the Moon" does not work. By trial and error, Jukka found this correct link http://www.voanews.com/english/upload/EagleOnMoonPt232b.mp3 Anyway, good for VOA for saving and retrieving this program (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Jim Lehrer on the PBS News Hour July 22 referred to the solar eclipse as the longest one ``expected this century`` --- you mean, an eclipse might surprise us with its length? These things can be calculated with extreme precision far more than just 91 years ahead. But Jim is cautious, if not exactly well-schooled in celestial mechanix (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 11665, VOIRI (Zahedan), 0323-0335, 7/18/2009, Arabic. Talk by man. About half a minute of traditional music at 0326, then talk by woman. Music at 0329. Talk by woman at 0330 with mention of Iran. Poor signal with only a small amount of fading. 13740, VOIRI (Ahwaz) (presumed), 0320-0335, 7/18/2009, Dari. Talk by woman followed by traditional music at 0327. Talk resumed at 0330. Poor signal, fading down into the noise, especially after 0330 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, E1, Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non?]. An item on the half-hour newscast within The World, from Public Radio International, via KOSU, July 17 at 1930 UT, the newscast originating in the USA, unlike the one on the hour from BBC, referred to ex-Pres. Rafsanjani`s Friday Prayer speech in Tehran being heard by listeners abroad `` on shortwave`` from Iran. What? Anyone who knows the first thing about VIRI knows that SW broadcasts in Persian were abolished years ago, reserving the SW transmitters only for foreign language services. Possibilities: 1) VIRI has resumed an external SW service in Persian. 2) VIRI had a special broadcast from the opposition in Persian, even tho live broadcasts on TV were prevented. 3) VIRI carried the contentious Persian-language speech in some other language service, perhaps with translation. 4) It was really carried by some Persian-language SW service from outside Iran, e.g. Radio Farda (tho it`s hard to imagine them breaking format of mostly-music for a real spoken program!) 5) Whoever wrote the news item, and consequently whoever read it, has no idea what ``shortwave`` really means (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I'm guessing #5. Scary to think that Brother Stair knows more about SW than journalists. Worth keeping an ear out just in case. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Simple answer: It was heard abroad on TV, in Europe via Hotbird. Apparently the event had been broadcast by IRIB, contrary to various reports, although they are being accused of manipulations: http://niacblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/state-tv-sold-hashemi-to-china-censored-death-to-china%e2%80%9d/ (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldydg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I heard a similar reports, but I was left with the two differing impressions. (1) That Iranian domestic media didn't carry the speech, but VOIRI did. (2) Iranian television didn't carry it, but Iranian domestic radio did. However, here's a blogger's translation of the speech in which he complains that the radio coverage was cut off early on. http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2009/07/translation-of-rafsanjanis-spe.html Here's an RFE/RL report that says that television didn't carry it at all, an unusual occurrence. http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jul/1174.html This one mentions the domestic radio cutoff as well, however, and appears to be the same blogger cited on Beliefnet. http://www.sidewalklyrics.com/?p=918 Do many Iranians speak Arabic? Could the speech then have been heard by Iranians via VOIRI Arabic Service or by listening to the speech itself and ignoring the translations? P.S. Interestingly, the IRIB World Service 3 channel, which I've used to listen to the Voice of Justice broadcast and other VOIRI transmissions on my wifi internet radio in the past has gone missing since about a week after the elections (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. HOW EXPENSIVE IS IRAN'S SATELLITE JAMMING? "To constantly be filtering the internet and jamming satellite broadcasts from abroad is very expensive. For example, European diplomats have told me that to jam satellite television broadcasts such as Voice of America and BBC Persian is exorbitantly expensive, it costs the government thousands of dollars per minute. Think about those costs over a four-week period. We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars that the government is spending on tools to repress the population. This may be sustainable for the next weeks and months, but it’s not a long-term option for the regime. I don’t see time being on the side of the hardliners in Iran, especially if there continues to be a decline in oil prices, which is really the regime’s lifeblood." Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 16 July 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) From the format of this piece, it looks like Mr. Sadjadpour, a Carnegie associate, might be interviewing himself. As for jamming, calculating its cost is difficult. Keep in mind that the incoming station has to produce programming, at considerable expense, whereas the jamming transmitters involve only noise. Terrestrial jamming, i.e. interfering with the reception nearby satellite dishes, involves a large number of transmitters, although I don't know how many watts are required for each. Cell phone networks also involve a large number of transmitters, and many not-wealthy nations maintain them. To jam, or desensitize, the satellites themselves would require a ground station for each satellite used to broadcast into Iran, numbering probably less than a dozen. Posted: 19 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) More about Iran, jamming: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6991 ** IRAN [non]. Rich Lowry: Radio Farda hits Iran regime where it hurts – with the truth --- Published: Saturday, Jul. 18, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 11A Together with the BBC and Voice of America, Radio Farda provided the real-time, accurate information that the Iranian regime did its utmost to suppress. When a state is built on lies, it can't abide the truth. That's why when doing its work in undemocratic places, RFE/RL is invariably hated by the governments. . . Source: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/2035830.html via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio, DXLD) ** IRELAND. 6295, 2022 14/6, Reflections Europe poor with gospel songs, program identification. Latest I’ve heard this Sunday only transmission (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** IRELAND. ÉIRE, 27600, unID parish station, site? 1844-1855, 15 July, English, mass; 35433. Back in early July, 2008, not less than 5 of these stations were logged simultaneously, at around 1800, on frequencies from 27065 to 27725. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. 26000, R. Maria, Andrate, 1101-, 21 July, sermon; 25443. It faded out around 1300, and was not be heard later. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not DRM, I assume (gh) ** ITALY [non]. I just heard you [WORLD OF RADIO] via IRRS 9510 kHz [SLOVAKIA] 0800-0829 [Saturday] with excellent 55555 signals, ufb! (Robert Foerster, Germany, July 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And July 25, but pre-empted August 1 and 8 (gh, ibid.) From 1942 to 1959 UT, I was listening to IRRS on 7290 kHz, with a program of music. Fair signal but clear and audible, this transmission presumably from Slovakia. (19 July 2009) 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. TOKYO ROSE SEGMENT ON PBS "HISTORY DETECTIVES" I was just scrolling through the WNED-TV (Buffalo, NY) program listings for the coming week and noticed this program coming up twice this week: July 20, 2009 at 9:00 PM History Detectives Tokyo Rose Recording - A HISTORY DETECTIVES viewer has a recording he thinks holds evidence used in the World War II treason trial of Iva Tugori, aka Tokyo Rose. Toguri was an American citizen who hosted a Japanese propaganda radio show broadcast to U.S. troops serving in the Pacific. These broadcasts were at the center of what was then the costliest trial in U.S. history. The viewer has never been able to play his oversized record, but family lore says it reveals the role his uncle played in this infamous show trial. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright consults with experts from Long Island to Los Angeles. Her answer flips assumptions of guilt and innocence, and gives viewers a fresh angle on what actually happened in and around that trial. 9 pm on the 20th; 1230 am on the 24th. At least in Buffalo. Check your local listings as they say. http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/ (Fred Waterer, Ont., July 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Full transcript and video excerpts: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigations/705_tokyorose.html (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. China & North Korea. It is strange and yet is to be confirmed but China Radio International and Voice of Korea, both in English, are said to share the frequency of 13760 kHz between 18 and 19 hours (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX July 17 via DXLD) It certainly looks that way, in fact a 3-hour collision with CRI also in English at 16-18 on 13760 all via Kashgar, East Turkistan. Not so unusual, and now it`s Commies vs Commies vs Commies as RHC`s extended daytime service is also using 13760 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze Sea Breeze via Yamata, *1400- 1420, July 14. No jamming heard here since July 7. In rarely heard Chinese (Mandarin) with specific information about the Japanese abductees taken to N. Korea. A native speaker of Chinese listened to my recording and confirmed what I suspected, the Japanese announcer today was speaking Chinese with a strong accent. July 15 heavy jamming back again today; in English (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. ECHO OF HOPE Revised complete schedule Korean Days Area kHz 0900-2300 daily KRE 3985hwa, 6003hwa, 6348hwa FREE NORTH KOREA RADIO Korean Days Area kHz 1100-1200 daily KRE 15670gav (add) VOICE OF FREEDOM (a.k.a. VOICE OF FREE RADIO) Korean Days Area kHz 1600-1700(ex–1630) daily KRE 7520tac VOICE OF THE PEOPLE Revised complete schedule Korean Days Area kHz 0900-2300 daily KRE 3912goy, 6518goy, 6600goy (WRTH July 22 update via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. SW RADIO FOR NORTH KOREA FACES HARDSHIPS By Lee Sang Yong [2009-07-13 17:57 ] Non-governmental short-wave radio aimed at North Korea, the most effective tool for transmitting information on the outside world to the North Korean people, has been on air since 2005. Defectors in South Korean society and experts on North Korea believe that radio broadcasts can help North Korean people to change their awareness in a North Korean society where inflows of information from the outside world are heavily censored. However, according to the broadcasting company presidents, while their services for the North Korean people are acknowledged and encouraged by foreign donors, in South Korea they face widespread indifference. Therefore, financial problems are their biggest headache. The operators of the radio broadcasts try to raise money, or survive on irregular donations from supporters. These are surely inadequate. The only substantial, regular funding comes from the National Endowment for Democracy. South Korean government support is seemingly far off, so the radio stations exist deep in the red. In this unsustainable situation, they cannot concentrate on developing better programs or more professional manpower. In addition to financial problems, frequency is another significant issue for them. They are using short wave transmission, which can reach North Korea and the three most northeasterly provinces of China, but due to jamming by the North Korean authorities and the ever- present danger of punishment, it is not easy for the North Korean people to listen to them. Furthermore, the radio broadcasts are sent via foreign transmitters because, in June, 2000, the Kim Dae Jung and Kim Jong Il governments agreed to suspend denouncement broadcasts towards each other in their Summit and Defense Minister’s meetings. Although President Lee Myung Bak has declared that he intends to change the policy, his administration has yet to bring about any difference. Accordingly, the radio programs are sent to North Korea through Taiwan, Thailand or Uzbekistan, on commission and at considerable cost. Thus, facing indifferent public opinion and a lack of funds, the presidents and staff of the non-governmental radio broadcasters find themselves working for unseen listeners and intangible purposes. However, the knowledge of unimaginable potential influence on people growing up behind the modern-day “Bamboo Curtain,” plus sincere international interest in their activities for the North Korean people is enough to keep them going. The presidents, some of whom are themselves defectors, unanimously agree that radio was the most decisive factor in changing their own awareness, so they will never give up producing programs, regardless of the difficulties. Source: http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00300&num=5160 (via Yimber Gaviría, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, UKRAINE, Denge Mezopotamia (Mykolyiv), 0401-0425, 7/18/2009, Kurdish. Talk by woman. Presumed Kurdish traditional music at 0405. Poor to moderate signal under strong WYFR Portuguese program, improving over time. Occasional peaks almost to WYFR's level (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, E1, Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Re 9-052: This antenna will it make possible to use the Kuwait transmitters for target areas at present out of reach, in particular Russia and the Kavkasus region as well as Africa. The original antennas aim at Afghanistan, and it seems that slewing is already stretched to the maximum, in particular when relaying Radio Farda (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's not the first Thomcast Thomson rotatable shortwave antenna in Kuwait. Also Radio Kuwait uses that System at http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=kuwait&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=20.453081,56.733398&ie=UTF8&ll=29.153047,47.762251&spn=0.003467,0.006925&t=h&z=18 similar HP-RCA 2/2 (High Performance Rotatable Curtain Array) antennas, which are fed by feeder from away TX house are installed at Sines, Portugal, and Çakirlar/Emirler Turkey also. Also new 2 Thomcast (Thomsongrasvalley) SW curtain masts on Karachi SW site are planned there on air soon. http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/docs/DataSheets/transmission/hp-raa_2/hp-raa_2_v5.0.pdf 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 1418-1430, July 15 (Wed.). In French with French ballad; BoH program of Laotian music and songs; mostly fair. 7145, LNR, 1348-1400*, July 15. In English with the news; 1351 “We come to the end of the local news. You are now listening to the Lao National Radio”; “This ends our program . . . Democratic Republic” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. July 17, exceptional Asian reception! 6130, LNR, 1415-1429, July 17. “Hi, I am Max”, “Hello, my name is Kathy”, “Welcome to New Dynamic English”, "New Dynamic English is a basic English language course and an introduction to American people and culture"; equal amounts of English and Laotian; interview with guest María Álvarez, a store manager from San José, Calif.; almost fair. 7145, LNR, 1347-1401*, July 17. Their timing was off by about 4 minutes today (not uncommon); in English; end of local news; into world news (item about the space station, etc.); 1356 “This ends our program from Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic”; into Laotian, with nice singing station jingle (at first thought it was just a pop Laotian song, but then realized they were singing “radio” many times); series of ads. Day by day the reception improves! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. LAO NATIONAL RADIO Complete schedule English Days Area kHz 0600-0630 daily SEA 7145vie 1330-1400 daily SEA 7145vie French 0530-0600 daily SEA 7145vie 1300-1330 daily SEA 7145vie Khmer 0000-0030 daily SEA 7145vie 1230-1300 daily SEA 7145vie Thai 1130-1200 daily SEA 7145vie Vietnamese 1200-1230 daily SEA 7145vie 2330-2400 daily SEA 7145vie Note: shortwave operation restarted in June. (WRTH July 22 update via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 21695, very weak signal occasionally fading up, July 18 at 1355, music and talk, sounds Swahili, and that matches V. of Africa schedule, to go into English after 1400; unfavorable azimuth for us of 230 degrees, per Aoki, which BTW is not toward Swahililand either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Updated schedule (July 2009) for relays via Lithuania from Sigitas Zilionis's website http://www.zilionis.lt/rtv/radio-am.php?e : Mediumwave (times below are UT, converted from EST on website -3 hrs): 612 Vilnius 100 kW 0300-2200 R Svaboda (Liberty), Polskie R, Golos Rossii 1386 Sitkunai 500 kW 1700-1800 daily IRIB Iran 1386 Sitkunai 500 kW 1900-2100 Jul 13-Jul 18 TEST - R Svaboda 1386 Sitkunai 500 kW 2000-2030 Sun Bozy Glos (Polish rel.) 1557 Sitkunai 150 kW 1600-1800 daily Polskie R Shortwave, all via Sitkunai 100 kW (times UT): 9490 0100-0200 daily Erkin Asiya R. (R Free Asia) 6110 0200-0259 Sun KBC 9635 0300-0400 daily Azatliq R (RFE) 9635 0500-0600 daily Azatliq R (RFE) 9770 0630-0730 daily IRIB Iran Italian 5940 1430-1530 daily IRIB Iran Russian 5940 1730-1830 daily IRIB Iran German 5940 1830-1930 daily IRIB Iran French 5940 1930-2030 daily IRIB Iran English 6055 2030-2130 daily IRIB Iran Spanish 6055 2130-2229 daily KBC (via Alan Pennington, July 13, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.90v, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1304-1359, July 22. In vernacular; RTM Kuala Lumpur news, which was // with Sarawak FM on 7130.50 till 1312; singing “Klasik Nasional” ID; several distinctive “Radio Malaysia Klasik Nasional” IDs; DJ playing pop songs; covered at 1359 with CRI sign-on (5965.0) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130.50, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1224-1321, July 19. In vernacular; DJ playing EZL pop songs; ToH two pips; “RTM Kuala Lumpur” news; frequent singing “Sarawak FM” IDs; almost fair; // 5030 (poor under CNR-1). Believe their last broadcast here was March 30. Clearly they have a different transmitter now, as before they were on 7130.0. In the past they always had serious QRM to contend with, but since all the others have correctly abandoned this frequency, Sarawak today was completely free of QRM, just bother by some summer time QRN (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe this one was supposed to move to 7235, 10 kW from Stapok site (Glenn, ibid.) See also CHINA; UNIDENTIFIED Update – After listening to my recording, it sounds to me as if the singing ID is actually “Klasik Nasional Sarawak FM”. Audio file posted to dxldyg “Files > Station Sounds” (under Malaysia). (Ron Howard, ibid.) 7130.50, Sarawak FM via RTM, randomly from 1204 to 1355, July 20 & 21. In vernacular; Islamic segment starts at 1204 (call-to-prayer, etc.); DJ with dedications for EZL pop songs; “Sarawak FM” IDs; 1355 covered by strong CNR-1 (jamming Taiwan) sign-on (7130.0). Glenn indicates “I believe this one was supposed to move to 7235, 10 kW from Stapok site”, which would seem to be a good choice for them, as it is a clear frequency, if they ever decide to actually move there. 7130.50, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1304-1355, July 22. In vernacular; RTM Kuala Lumpur news, which was // with Klasik Nasional FM on 5964.90v; 1312 ends being //; into DJ playing dedications for pop songs; noted “Radio Malaysia Sarawak FM” ID; // 5030. At 1355 severe CNR-1 QRM against Taiwan (7130.0). 7270, Wai FM via RTM, 1405-1404, July 20. In vernacular; singing ID; DJ playing EZL pop songs; QRM from PBS Nei Menggu. Nice to be able to hear both Sarawak stations on the same day (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx FM, 1200-1225+ Jul 18. 2 pips to ToH, then news headlines; pop/techno tunes followed from 1203-1225, with occasional Traxx FM ID's and jingles. This program continued well past 1230 per spot- checks. All in English. Better-than-usual signal but started going downhill after 1230. High-side QRM, as usual, from 7300 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Re 9-052: 11884.47v, VOM, 1053-1215*, July 16. With Chinese programming till 1200; two pips; into Bahasa Indonesia; many V.O.M. IDs along with a nice singing ID. This also conforms to Dan Sheedy’s observations from So. Calif., who also noted the improved audio quality. Could this just be another example of a switching/feed error on their part? Why would they deliberately change the language at the tail end of a broadcast? Dan noted on July 12 that the BI programming only lasted for three minutes (1203*). It will be recalled that recently after the Chinese audio feed ended here, I could then hear the audio feeds for both Asyik FM and Klasik Nasional mixing together till the transmission ended (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, R. Mauritanie, 7/20/09 0715-0725, OM talking in Arabic. But it doesn't matter much because modulation is so poor. The signal goes from severely over-modulated to grossly under-modulated, so much so that the audio could barely be heard. Copy impossible. And this comes after Nouakchott returned to 4845 with a brilliant signal (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. Equipment: NRD 535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0524-0605, 13-07, locutor, comentario religioso, español, "muchas gracias por acompañarnos", canciones religiosas. 25322. También 0549-0608, 17-07, locutor, comentarios y canciones religiosas. Identificación a las 0551: "En la frecuencia de 4800 kHz transmite X.E.R.T.A., Radio Transcontinental de América". 25322. (Méndez) 6010, Radio Mil, México D. F., 0715-0726, 14-07, canciones mexicanas. Muy débil, e interferencia de La Voz de tu Conciencia. 13321. (Méndez) 6104.7, XEQM, RASA, Mérida, 0533-0548, 14-07, locutor, español, llamadas telefónicas de oyentes: "Qué tal... a través de nuestra emisora", canciones en español. 14321. También 0550-0559, 16-07, locutor, español, llamadas de oyentes, canciones. Muy débil, mejor en LSB. También 0536-0559, 17-07, hoy locutora, "buenos días a todos los que nos están escuchando, a todos nuestros amigos", "Buenos días, ¿con quién hablo?,", "Nos vamos rápidamente con la música". Canciones latinoamericanas. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, Escuchas realizadas en Reinante, Mar Cantabrico, provincia de Lugo, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Tal parece que los locutores en cabina no están informados de la señal en SW de Candela FM ya que me comuniqué a la estación y la locutora, sorprendida, me dijo desconocer que son escuchados fuera de Yucatán y tampoco sobre la frecuencia en 49 metros en 6105 kHz, y saludó a petición mía a todos los que los sintonizamos en onda corta (0045 UT, 12 de julio). El horario regular de XEQM es la señal XEMQ 1100-0000 UT con himno nacional al cierre y XEMH 0000-1100, la cual suena el himno a la 0600 local [1100 UT] al anunciar su programación matutina, el tiempo de cambio entre emisoras no es a la hora exacta ya puede demorar algunos minutos y puede ser abrupto (1105 UT, 15 de julio, en medio de una entrevista) o durar algunos minutos de silencio (0005-0010 UT, 12 de julio). Por otro lado no logro identificar la señal que la interfiere entre 2300-0000; hace un par de semanas me parecía que era una espúrea de Radio La Habana Cuba pero ahora es (son) otra (s) desconocida(s), a veces canciones tipo gospel, otras canciones en español, a veces locutores en español y otras veces idiomas desconocidos. A ver si alguien tiene más suerte en identificar al (los) “invasor(es)”. Envío archivos de audio de lo antes mencionado (saludos, cierres e interferencias) y espero les sirvan. Gracias. http://rapidshare.com/files/256100986/SW6105KHZ-11_15JUL2009-1100UTC.zip.html Atte: (Ing. Civ. Israel González Ahumada, M.I., Mérida, July 15, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No clues in HFCC for 23-24 on 6105, but in Aoki there are plenty: 6105*R.TAIWAN INT. 2200-2400 1234567 Chinese 100 310 Kouhu TWN 12010E2335N CBSC a09 6105 R.Primero de Marzo 0900-0400 1234567 Spanish/Guarani 0.6 ND Asuncion PRG 05738W2516N 6105 XEQM Radio Merida 0000-2400 1234567 Spanish Merida MEX 08937W2058N RASA b08 6105 R.Cancao Nova 0000-2400 1234567 Portuguese 10 340 Cachoeira Paulista B 04501W2239S 6105 R.Filadelfia 0900-0300 1234567 Portuguese 5 176 Foz do Iguacu B 6105 R.Panamericana 0900-0400 1234567 Spanish 7.5 ND La Paz BOL 06808W1630S 6105 R.Universidad CRica 1300-0610 1234567 Spanish 10 ND San Pedro Montes CTR 08422W0901N The Brazilians are occasionally reported, and Filadelfia, being on the border, I believe does some Spanish as well as Portuguese. PanAm I think is inactive or jumped to an out of band frequency; Paraguay and CR have been gone for sesquiyears (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Muchas gracias por su información; he observado su listado y por instantes me pareció haber escuchado transmisión en chino o similar (¿R. Taiwan?), aunque en uno de los archivos se escucha claramente la canción "millón de amigos" de Roberto Carlos (¿alguna de Brasil?), o acaso esperanto en RHC. Lo que sí es claro es que la banda está muy congestionada pues le toca estar junto a Family Radio, RHC, NHK, Radio Nederland y Radio Martí (con jamming). Seguiré a la escucha. Atte: (Ing. Civ. Israel González Ahumada, M.I., July 15, ibid.) 6105, Mérida, Yucatán, XEQM; 1545 July 15, SP PSA's "Centro de Salud de Yucatán", one PSA demonstrating the hurricane early warning system: "alerta amarilla y alerta roja", apparently a red alert means to wait for orders to evacuate and a yellow alert just means stay tuned for further information! Música Mexicana. Fair daytime signal, but I'm only 600 miles away on an over the water path, and I doubt that the SW transmitter is over 100 watts! (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6105, 0704, XEQM Candela FM, Mérida tentatively the Latin heard best on 24/6 on 6104.76m [meaning measured, I assume, obviously? If not a typo for comma]. Lively program of popular canciones, mention of Can- del-ah [sic] at 0828. Carrier audible most days but audio infrequent (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) 6104.75, Candela FM, 1025 end of LA pop song, canned ID jingle by M, then back to music. Clear and better than heard a couple weeks ago. (19 July) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6010, MEXICO DF, Radio MIL; very strong today July 15 at 1555 for some reason 4 hours after sunrise with M in Spanish greeting the summer visitors (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. MEXICO TV LOGO PAGE UPDATED http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogos.html I am sorry to be so late about updating the Mexico TV logo page. DX received on my newly opened channels 3 and 6 gave me some inspiration to spend some time on this project. Jeff Kruszka also sent me a new XHBC-3 logo, and I thank him. Although the state pages have not been updated yet, the Mexico TV logo page has been updated. (When you click a logo, you will get the outdated state page, but each logo on the logo page has calls and state listed under the logo.) Unfortunately, some of the logos are *not* available on Cantu's site, Wikipedia, or any place where I searched. (Some of the IDs on my tapes look good enough to photograph when I have more spare time.) Therefore, I had to make some of the logos in a paint program based on what I have recorded this summer via Es. They are not pretty (you can laugh all you want), but they do give DXers an idea of what the logos look like. Of the forty stations on the logo page, there are seven that I've never received. Others, like XEFE-2 Laredo, have not been received here in several years. The XEFE-2 logo is probably one that has changed. Let me know if you spot errors (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, July 18, WTFDA via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 9665 at 1543 20 May[?], V. of Mongolia, YL OM commentary in English, 33443 (Zdenek Elias, Czechia, July WDXC Contact via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. Re 9-052, 171 kHz: ´´Do they even know whom they are doing business with?´´ --- I think it's safe to assume that their actual customer is the state broadcasting organization SNRT, since RMI is just a joint venture of SNRT and foreign partners. Note that the complete antenna will be replaced as well, or do they mean something else when referring to "three pylons"? It's indeed a three-mast system if I recall correct. Renewing it must be quite expensive (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Some recent posts about Nador, Morocco cause me to wonder who operates the site, the private Radio Mediterranée or the government Radio Marocaine? WRTH usually lists a transmitter operator when the government controls all of the transmitters. Perhaps in this case the private company operates the facility and provides it to the government as a concession (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, July 21, Eton E-1, sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.medi1.com/ I guess this station is a joint venture of the Moroccan Government. 51% and French media firm 49%, which holds http://www.medi1.com/elementcle/radio.php like the other French private stations Sud Radio Andorra, Radio Europe-1, Radio Monte Carlo, and partly R Luxembourg too. But French hobbyists have more details. 73 wb ``Radio Méditerranée Internationale (Medi 1) est née en 1980 d'une volonté commune marocaine et française. Les deux parties détiennent respectivement 51 et 49 pour cent du capital.`` (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 171, MOROCCO Medi Un, Nador, JUL 18 0255 - woman host of an Arabic music program containing mostly plaintive Egyptian religious vocals. Very good at times. Best on 169 kHz in AM WIDE Mode with the PK LW loop perpendicular to the north-east / south-west which is not too bad as 171 Nador has a NNW directional pattern meaning some of its signal manages to scatter toward the north-east of my QTH. I took my battery powered Sangean ACS 818-CST along with the PK LW loop and just came to the other side of the road and this station was QRM-free! 9575, Medi Un, Nador, JUL 17 2250 - fair with splatter from 9580 and 9570 kHz; with mostly plaintive Egyptian vocals, religious in nature. When the darkness path between Morocco and Montreal is viable, LW 171 kHz often fares better than SW 9575 kHz, as far as its signal strength goes! Additional comments: I have a severe case of noises on several spots on LW, MW and even SW since several months. Now it has jumped from 162 to 171 kHz leaving France Inter in the clear but burying Medi Un. It seems to come out of our neighbor's backyard, as I did some testing the last night with the radio in the dark! Any hints on how to solve this awful issue I have with DXing? This report is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu, DXing from Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), Quebec, Canada using a Sanyo MCD-S830 / PK AM LOOP combo, a Sangean ACS 818-CST / C-LOOP HDSM 150- 450 kHz LW Shielded Magnetic loop combo and a Grundig G5 / random wire connected to a broken Yagi antenna combo. May the good DX be with you! (Bogdan Chiochiu, HCDX via DXLD) Médi 1 appears to have transmitter troubles on 9575 kHz. On 15 JUL 2009, the carrier suddenly fell off at 0827 and did not return to the air until late in the afternoon. On other occasions, numerous breaks in transmission were observed. The carrier also still shows the characteristic hum in the background of the modulation. 73s and good week-end (Robert Foerster, Germany, July 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I remember how awful was the web streaming of MEDI 1 with MP3/16kbps/16kHz/MONO. Now they improved the quality, so it is quite listenable [MP3/48 kbps/22 kHz/mono]: http://streaming1.mpl1.ovea.net/medi1.m3u Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, July 21, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It doesn't work here (Robert Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Connected immediately here at 2242 UT July 22 (gh, Enid, ibid.) I'm streaming them via http://streaming1.mpl1.ovea.net/medi1.m3u right now and it works just fine! Try the same link via http://www.medi1.com/player/playlist.php?p=winamp or without .m3u, but then you will actually download the streaming: http://streaming1.mpl1.ovea.net/medi1 Regards! (Dragan Lekic, July 21, ibid.) Work with mms:// instead of http:// (Scaglione, ibid.) ** MOROCCO. 15345: see ARGENTINA [and non] ** MYANMAR. 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces BS via Taunggyi, 1225-1235, July 21. In vernacular; EZL pop songs; BoH the usual bugle and military marching band music; weak. 5985.0, Myanma Radio, July 20. Noted this was off-the-air for awhile around 1325; heard at 1353; while 5915 (not //) was heard under CRI; playing music. 9730.81v continues to be off-the-air (disappointing!) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Radio Netherlands helpful website - NOT! Perhaps Andy Sennitt can answer this. I happened to be listening to a poor and noisy signal at 1900 on 15335 which I believe is via Nauen. Anyways, I went to the Radio Netherlands website to see what other frequencies are available and what programs they are scheduling. Do you think I can find a program schedule anywhere on their website. No sir! They've got all kinds of archived programs on demand, you can listen live on demand, you can also find out all kinds of stuff about Radio Netherlands and their programs, but nowhere can I find a program schedule. Am I an idiot and a moron, simply missing something that is on their website, or have they forgotten to post such information? (Mark Coady, Ont., July 20, ODXA yg via DXLD) http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/rnw-frequency-schedule-summer-2009 (Dan Ferguson, SC, ibid.) That helps with the frequencies, but not directly which programs are on which days. Best source for that is the weekly program(me) e-mail; that shows programming by day by region. Mark, I agree; that' s a page that really ought to be there. I have already communicated some usability issues regarding the website to Andy & the team; the old site was better for that (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Yeah, well it would be nice if one could find a place on the website to sign up to receive that weekly email. And if someone has found it, it would be nice if it were more easily found. df (Ferguson, ibid.) Yes, I hear all the critics, but if you have been visiting the site recently or read my blog you will know that we've had huge technical problems. That means creating new pages and/or importing old ones has been held up. There were some serious errors made by the people who planned the new site. In theory, all the old pages are still available, but they omitted to take into account the fact that all the internal links (i.e. links to other pages or files on the same site) would need changing. I will try to create at least a temporary page in the next couple of weeks if time allows. It annoys the hell out of me too - and I have to work here! (Andy Sennitt, RNW, ibid.) Hi Mark, No you are certainly not an idiot or moron. See my other message on this subject. There are about 350 people here, but sorting out these basic essentials seems to be beyond most of them :-( I will do my best to put that right ASAP (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) It would also be nice to have a way in which to *unsubscribe* from "that weekly e-mail". I have been trying to do so for several weeks, without success. I've filled in forms on the website, and send e-mails to the "owners", but I still get the thing each Thursday. I expected much better from RN. 73, (Peter Bowen, ibid.) OK Peter, I will fix it for you. Meanwhile, I am busy typing out a 24- hour schedule of all our English programmes which will be online by the end of the afternoon Dutch time. You will be able to access it by clicking on 'listening guide' right under the RNW player at the top right hand corner of the Home Page. In due course every line will be linked to the appropriate programme page, but we're going to publish it immediately Perhaps you are not aware that the entire English department was uprooted for a few few weeks and had to operate in very cramped conditions while their offices were gutted and remodelled in an open plan format. This unfortunately coincided with the launch of our new website, which brought with it a whole load of additional problems. My apologies for all the frustrations we have caused you (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) The hour-by-hour guide to what's on RNW2 (our 24-hour English stream) is now available at http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/hour-hour-programme-guide I'm not sure how quickly it will be linked directly from the Home Page - that's not my responsibility - but hopefully it will help. Once again, my apologies for the sub-standard level of service in recent weeks (Andy Sennitt, 1340 UT July 21, ibid.) Below is the Radio Netherlands current weekly e-mail; someone with a bit of time and willingness to help out can boil this down to a table and then upload it to the files section of the group. Unfortunately, corroborating what Andy S. had mentioned, the old links from the prior incarnation of the website aren't valid...and the footer in the e-mail contains the old links. However, the new page for creating and managing a subscription to these e-mails is here: http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/www.radionetherlands.nl/listeningguide/weekly_newsletter-redirected or http://snipurl. com/nne5q if the long URL breaks over multiple lines. Helpful hint: It appears you can take any old Radio Netherlands URL you might have from the prior version of the website and reformat it to yield a new, working URL for the information you need. Let's say the old, no longer working URL is: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/documentaries/index.html The new, working version of this is: http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/www.radionetherlands.nl/documentaries/index.html-redirected So, here's the formula for building your own URL: 1. Take "http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/" 2. Then add the old URL MINUS the http:// 3. Then add "-redirected" 4. Remove the quote marks Presto...working URL... Now, the information at that kludged URL is itself the old info, but at least the content is there. Clearly the new website was implemented well before it was ready for prime time...and, unfortunately, our friends at RNW are likely to lose some significant listener / visitor goodwill if the system isn't fixed ASAP (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Nope. That seems to be the *old* link, which I have tried numerous times before. Tried again, though just in case. Got "Page not Found" and "The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query cgi." messages. Maybe Andy, as he mentioned in another thread, can put things straight. 73, (Peter Bowen, ibid.) Hmm. That link (below) worked for me just now (Richard Cuff, ibid.) Did you actually try to use it? I have, and tried again, and got the same result described earlier by Peter Bowen. Df (Dan Ferguson, ibid.) Ah, good point! The *result* page comes up as "not found"; not sure if the request itself is processed. I haven't (yet) received an automated e-mail acknowledgment. Suggesting the webform itself isn't working. RC (Cuff, ibid.) Rich, We are working as hard as we can to put these matters right. Andy Clark is just back in the office today after two weeks in India, and we have prioritised the service pages. You're quite right - the website was launched too quickly, and should have been much better planned and tested. But the old one was becoming impossible to update in a timely manner, so it was a case of choosing the least worst option. I personally am very aware of the damage that is being done by poor service - however, moaning at me is not going to do any good, because I'm not the one who needs to be convinced. Please send your gripes to letters@rnw.nl (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Thanks, Andy - I did mention the usability suggestions via the letters inbox, if I recall correctly. I know you are in a thankless position here in the group. You're the de factor ambassador for RNW so you get to take the heat, even if it's not deserved. I'll forward my note on to the letters folks as you suggest (Rich C, ibid) Ladies and gentlemen, Thanks to the help of Harald de Vries, our long- suffering Webmaster, you can now access our 24-hour programme schedule, frequency schedule, programme pages and What's On This Week via the links in a new block called "How to Listen to RNW" on the right hand side of the page right under the "Listen on Demand" block. This is a "work in progress" - the programmes listed in our 24-hour schedule will ASAP be linked to the individual programme pages. But I hope it makes it easier to find out what we're broadcasting, and when. Thank you for your help in getting this done. It's amazing what a few constructivelty critical comments from listeners can do :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) [scarcely one hour later:] Guys, I will try to have a page up and running on the new website before the end of this week. In the meantime, if you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, you can email me and I will do it manually for you. The old links don't always work as expected. Some do, some don't. Don't ask me why. There seems to be a problem with the redirection in Internet Explorer, but other browers such as Firefox seem to handle it better. But the answer is to get the new pages uo and running. The problem is I cannot do everybody else's job as well as my own, and there's a mountain of other stuff to do. But I'll do my best (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 6225, 0505, NETHERLANDS? Radio Netherlands Dutch Service regularly heard here (e.g. 6/6 and 3/7) at poor to fair level // Bonaire 6165 strong. May be a spur from 6165? Closes abruptly at 0530 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) If it`s RN it can`t be transmitted from the Netherlands itself, even if in Dutch. We have explained this more than once in DXLD: leapfrog mixing product at Bonaire of 6165 over 6195 which during that half hour is carrying Radio Japan (gh) 9650, July 21 at 1325, orange-tinted national anthem concluding RNW Dutch semi-hour via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, 250 kW at 220 degrees but outputting heap big signal backwards 40 degrees USward, such that today it was about equal level to the CRI English relay via Sackville with News & Reports! Pause for a few sex, then at 1327 switched to jazz music, unannounced until off at 1330*. This is the unlisted 2- sesquiminute English broadcast, the jazz matching one of the listed features for July 20 in RN`s weekly program previews, European Jazz Stage, altho no exact times are specified, and evidently also repeated at times on Tuesday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station Show going to Tokyo, Japan --- The first week of August I'll be in Tokyo to shoot a TV series for NHK. That week August 6th at 0100 and 1500 UT the shows will be recorded at NHK. These 2 shows will be lots of fun as I will feature Japanese artists singing in English and Americans and Europeans singing in Japanese. Singers like France Gall, Caterina Valente, Brenda Lee and others. Special thanks go to Tomoshro Izumi at NHK for arranging the studio and technician (Keith Perron, Taiwan, July 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Happy Station Show July 16, 2009 0100 & 1500 UT now uploaded 0100 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_061609_0100utc.mp3 1500 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_071609_1500utc.mp3 (Keith Perron, Taiwan, July 16, ibid.) The shows for this week, July 23, are ready to go. The 0100 UT edition will feature questions sent in via facebook. The 1500 UT edition will feature an interview with Jerry Berg author of 3 books about shortwave. Frequency: 9955 Webstream: http://www.wrmi.net (Keith Perron, Taiwan, July 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 6170, RNZI; 1549 July 15, "This is the EXTERNAL SERVICE of R. New Zealand International. You may tune now to 7285 kHz in the 41 metre band``, bird chirping, sign/off 1550*, still audible almost 4 hours after local Sunrise! 7285, RNZI; 1555 July 15, English M in interview with a M who designs theatre sets, song "Down to the River to Pray"; 1600 time pips, ID "RNZI Pacific Regional news", talk of the quake in NZ. Not bad 4 hours after local Sunrise! (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6170, RNZI, 1058*, July 17. Announced they were changing frequency, bird call and off; still off at 1140. Looking for PBS Radyo Magasin- DZRM (Philippine), but could not hear any sign of them. Light splatter from adjacent QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. NIGERIAN PUBLIC MEDIA WORKERS ADAMANT ON STRIKE The strike embarked upon by workers of the Nigerian government-owned media organisations entered its second week yesterday without a solution in sight to the issues that precipitated the crisis. The media workers, under the aegis of Radio Television Theatre and Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) and The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), embarked on the strike last week to protest the non-payment of two years of their ‘monetization allowance’, amounting to about 70 billion naira, by the government (US$1=140 Naira). Several appeals by Information Minister Dora Akunyili to the workers to return to their duties have fallen on deaf ears, as the workers rejected the part payment of the allowances. Since the strike started, all national broadcasters, including the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the external broadcasting service Voice of Nigeria (VON) have been providing only skeletal services. Also affected by the strike is the nation’s sole wire service, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). (Source: PANA via Afrique en Ligne) (July 15th, 2009 - 13:05 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 comment so far: 1 Daniel Finnan July 16th, 2009 - 13:01 UTC This strike has now ended. I have confirmed this with the Nigerian Union of Journalists (ibid.) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925, 0354 7 June, USA (HOBBY PIRATE) Barnyard Radio initially poor but improving till closing at 0458. Unusual music mix & DJ chatter. Email QSL received in 22 hours, stating 100 watts, transmitter in South Eastern USA (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Right now, I have The Crystal Ship on 6876 AM, not bad for 100 watts or so tonight. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, 0047 UT July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6876, 0056 The Crystal Ship preparing to s/on at 0100, heard with new IS - "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum." dnj (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, UT July 20, NASWA yg via DXLD) Audible here at 0127. Only a fair signal that is fading and subject to t-storm static. Folk songs (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8/ ALA-100 Loop, ibid.) ** NORTH AMERICA. Since the beginning of this year I have maintained a database of pirate broadcasts as logged in the Free Radio Weekly. I have graphed freq used, station activity, and pirate activity by month in 2009. Some interpretation was required to distinguish individual broadcasts and frequencies but the larger trends of activity can be easily identified. This database only contains logs from the FRW and is not to be considered definitive. I plan to maintain this project throughout 2009. Weekly updates occur on Monday or Tuesday. The overview can be found on the Activity Page of piratesweek.info. Links to the monthly details can be found at the bottom of the page. http://shortwavepirate.info/pw/wordpress/activity/ -RD (Ragnar Daneskjold http://www.piratesweek.info Free Radio Weekly July 19 via DXLD) Names of NAm pirates reported this week in FRW, all in the 6.9+ MHz range: All Abroad Radio, CJ Radio, Downtown Radio, Captain Morgan, Dead Cat Radio, KUSA, Long Range Radio, Outhouse Radio, Radio Appalachia, Radio Casablanca, Radio Free Mars, Radio GA-GA, Radio Marlene, WBNY, Wee Monkey Radio, Wolverine Radio, XXP, Your Right to Know (FRW July 19 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Martin McCormick, WB5AGZ of Stillwater, Oklahoma offered some very interesting comments on TV channels 2-6 after the digital TV transition. ''Central Oklahoma is now devoid of local signals between 54-88 MHz and the listening is interesting. Sunday July 12 was the last day of the ''Nightlight'' service that Congress authorized so that one TV station in each market could keep an analog transmitter going with a loop to tell the 1 or 2 people who hadn't figured it out yet what needed to be done to receive TV over the air. KOCO Channel 5 in Oklahoma City was the last full-power analog to go dark there and Monday July 13 saw a moderate Es opening with Spanish language TV probably from Mexico fading in briefly around 1700 UT on 81.75 MHz. A couple of propagation Observations: We have had several days this year in which Mexican signals reached as far up as the low end of the FM Broadcast band. When that happened, TV Channels 2-6 were full of Spanish and sometimes English and French from Canada. In a QST article of a couple of years ago, someone mentioned that it would be nice to see if we can get the 72-76 MHz band for North America. The services there now could move to an equal amount of space in one of the vacated TV channels and make this an interesting DX band. A couple of weeks ago, I had left a receiver tuned to TV Channel 4 at 71.75 MHz. We have had very hot summer days and the tropo at night has been fairly impressive. Instead of Es, I got literally hours of a Channel 4 television audio signal from somewhere within the central US. It was running the endless loop nightlight service with no aural ID so I don't know where it was, but it didn't fade out until after Sunrise at which time it went away fast. One can guess that 6 meters and 72 MHZ would have been hot during that night. It is strange to spin the dial on a general coverage VHF receiver now and not hear the buzz of video and FM audio landmarks that were there since before many of our births, but Canada and Mexico will provide good propagation beacons for a few more years to come. I believe it was February QST where I read that 37 US broadcasters will keep their new digital signals on Channels 2-6. I wonder for how long and how many Es openings it will take to change their minds''. Thanks, Martin. (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 29 ARLP029, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA July 17, 2009, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. July 16 at 2140 UT as I was watching BBC World News via KETA-13.2 OKLA channel, the signal vanished. Not merely `` no signal`` on the converter, which often means a signal, but too weak to decode, but really 0 strength on the meter. By 2145, checking commercial OKC stations, altho weather remained hot and dry here in Enid, it was clear that a big storm was moving thru OKC. Winds were clocked exceeding 80 mph, and power poles were blown down in NE OKC around most of the TV stations. I soon found that the only OKC stations still on the air and receivable on antenna were KOCO-7, KTBO-15 and KSBI-51. No signals either from KWTV-9, KOKH-24, KFOR-27, KTUZ-29, KOCB-33, KAUT-40 or KOPX-50. However, at the moment, all were still coming thru via Suddenlink cable, even tho some of them are off-air pickups. Whenever there is a storm between here and OKC or in OKC, DTV reception is disrupted, even if the stations retain their power and stay on the air. The major OKC stations were all in continuous storm coverage, as there was a threatening wall cloud and tornados could have developed. However, KAUT-40, which was back on the air at 2212, was running a sitcom while it should have been simulcasting its primary station KFOR-27 which apparently was not yet back on the air itself! KOPX-50 was also back on the air at this time. At 2213 I noticed that KETA-13.1 on cable was in freeze-frame of an animated show, one of those with e|i in a circle bug upper-right. Suddenlink must have retained that final frame before transmission failed along with 13.2 back around 2140. Schedule shows it was Word Girl. 2245, still same frame. At 2321, 13 showed on cable, but not on DTV direct. Finally at 2322, 13.2 was back on the air with black screen only, but signal meter confirms it is on (however, the Zenith/Insignia are apt to default to ``no signal`` when there is a full signal but no modulation!). At 0000 as UT July 17 was starting, 13.2 had a freeze frame, and 13.1 was black but with the OETA HD bug in lower right. At 0013, 13.2 was black, but 13.1 was finally back to PBS programming. Around 0035 I noticed that 13.2 was finally also back to programming. Meanwhile, the 2330 UT Oklahoma News Report was missed by 13.1, apparently due to power outage in the studio, not even produced, recorded. Such are the drawbacks of centralization. OETA`s full- and low-power relays around the state were no doubt still on the air and in need of programming. ONR plays back at 0430 UT on OKLA 13.2, and so it did this night, ``recorded earlier`` -- except it was the previous day`s show, recorded *much* earlier, i.e. 29 hours earlier instead of 5. Unless you keep up with the content every day and pay attention, this might not be obvious, and no explanation or apology was provided. Meanwhile, my observations of some of the other channels during the outages: KWTV-9 was running weather graphics, but these would freeze intermittently for long periods as received on cable here, indicating the transmission was intermittent, or strength was dropping out. However I was not getting any signal at all directly via antenna. At 2259 via cable, frame was frozen again on graphics. Briefly at 2321 on cable, KWTV had color bars and ID. Was that a satellite feed? At 2353 on cable it was a green screen, and then ``no video input`` and a digital clock started running, including the frame numbers zipping by on the right, then back to black. At 0000 UT sharp, just in time, KWTV-9 on cable brought up CBS primetime programming, but was still invisible on DTV 9 direct. By now the worst of the storm had moved out of OKC, and would soon dissipate in the counties to the southeast. KOCO-7 never had any interruptions, which made it the station to stick with for severe weather info! They are in the same neighborhood as KFOR-27, KWTV-9 and KETA-13 in NE OKC, but either lucked out with no power breaks, or they have backup generators. You`d think that in this volatile weather area, all the major OKC stations would have backup power standing by! On the noon news next day, KFOR said it was running off generator. (But probably not enough to put out a full-power DTV signal?) KSBI-50 has its own fifth-rate local news and weather and did manage to stay on the air thruout. KFOR-27 was first noticed back on the air at 2253. They had the best shots of the storm, including wall cloud, and chopper angles, for those who could see them. KOKH-24 was back on the air shortly after 0000 UT, at first with video frame offset vertically, and another thin horizontal line of noise above it; reminded me of what we used to be able to see on NTSC vertical interval blanking. Well after 0000 UT, KTUZ-29 and KOCB-33 were still off the air, apparently no power restored yet. Finally at 0040 all the OKC stations seemed to be back to normal via DTV on antenna. P.S.: Guess what: a good 24 hours later, during BBC World News on July 17, OKLA starts continual breakup again altho does not disappear. At 2208 UT, checking 13.1 via cable, it`s again in freeze frame, this time from an e|i non-animated show. But now there is no storm in OKC, and checking direct OTA reception of 13.1 we find it still on the air at normal strength but with black screen only, while 13.2 is transmitting nominally, still breaking up indicating borderline strength but still attempting to transmit. So here we have a station unable to modulate its main channel but still emitting its subchannel. At 2235, 13.1 on cable finally went to black matching the black being transmitted. Then we check the OETA website and find nothing about KETA 13.1 being black while OETA 13.2 is nominal, but this instead: http://www.oeta.tv/component/content/article/120-about/678-translator-outage.html ``Translator Outage OETA-The Oklahoma Network’s 14 rural translators (locations listed below) are currently off the air, due to damage sustained by OETA’s audio/video encoder during severe weather in Oklahoma City on July 16. OETA engineering staff is working vigorously to repair the damage as soon as possible, but it is unclear when the repairs will be completed. Keep checking oeta.tv for updates. OETA translators currently offline: Ponca City Frederick Idabel Duncan Velma Boise City Beaver Buffalo Hugo Alva Durant Lawton Ardmore Altus Guymon`` We see that does not include the one nearest Enid, channel 46 in Medford (site actually due N of Enid at the US 81/US 64/US 60 junxion) but it may have already been closed down. We used to see it weakly in Enid till an LPTV in the OKC area came on 46. Yes, it has been removed from the coverage map http://www.oeta.tv/about/coverage.html and now there is a gap between 30 in Alva and 38 in Ponca City. IIRC, 30 used to pick up 46 Medford which picked up KETA-13, for a double-off-air relay, with the consequent tropo DX overrides, such as KERA-13 or KUAF-13 being seen instead, or worse yet, commercial stations in Kansas. BTW there is nothing on this page: http://www.oeta.tv/dtv/coverage.html This undated page, http://www.oeta.tv/dtv/tuning-in.html includes: Frequency Changes: Some digital upgrades have been completed in rural areas and OETA has changed frequencies, requiring you to tune-in to a different channel. Those new channels are: Frederick Channel 34, Idabel Channel 23, Duncan Channel 47, Boise City Channel 20, Beaver Channel 34 and Buffalo Channel 48. But those numbers do NOT match the old ones on the map and accompanying list: 19 Altus 56 Frederick 30 Alva 16 Guymon 28 Ardmore 15 Hugo 56 Beaver 63 Idabel 58 Buffalo 36 Lawton 54 Duncan/Velma 38 Ponca City 46 Durant Clearly, the translators above channel 51 have had to be moved down already into what remains of the UHF TVBC band, and are they really DTV already? If so, I`ll bet their coverage has shrunk proportionately to `full` power analog vs DTV. At 2330 UT July 17, KETA 13.1 managed to resume transmission both on the air and via cable, with a new Oklahoma News Report. This included a brief explanation, that the storm had ``caused a power surge burning out relays and plunging the studio into darkness`` preventing any show from being produced on Thursday. Also mentioned the translators being down. Also on the tuning-in website page: ``Why can't I get Create and Kids over-the-air? Cable systems in Oklahoma City and Tulsa are carrying four OETA channels – OETA HD, OETA Okla, OETA Create and OETA Kids, with efforts underway for all cable and satellite providers in the state to carry the channels.`` We were under the impression that the Create and Kids channels had been abolished at the beginning of 2008. Kidvid occupies a hefty portion of OKLA, all day Saturday and Sundays, while OETA main channel is essentially kidvid all day M-F. Kids should be encouraged to do something more active than be gluable to the TV all day, every day, even if it is superior non-commercial stuff! OETA`s own schedule site http://www.oeta.onenet.net/schedules/index.php used to say that the extra channels were gone. But now it just says: ``As of January 6, 2008, all of our High Definition television (HDTV) programming is identical to the programming on our main broadcast channel, which means some programming which is not available as HDTV is upconverted for broadcast.`` At the beginning of OETA`s DTV venture, before we had DTV receiving capability here, there were indeed four channels, plus 13.3 and 13.4. The OTA schedules now have four lines, but three of them are always identical, with different labels! OETA, OETA-HD and KETA. It`s even worse if you click on an individual program for further info. At each scheduled time, in tiny type, there are multiple entries for channels 3, 11 and 13 (but not 12 or 8, the other full-power relay in western OK, nor any of the translator channels). So do the ``third and fourth programmes`` really exist, even via OKC and Tulsa cable on some rarified tier? Current Titan TV listings for the OKC market do show 4 channels for KETA, but only two for KWET-8, the western OK relay which is really invisible and unneeded in the OKC market itself, but thrown in here by the listings with no better place to put it, like KOET-3 was thrown in with Tulsa market. However, we know that Titan TV online listings are in other cases notoriously out of date and inaccurate, especially regarding DTV subchannels. Zap2It OTA TV listings for Enid even show *five* OETA channels when there are certainly only two (or zero or one depending on recent outages). Apparently the imaginary programming OETA-5 is identical to OETA-1. Choosing Cox Cable OKC as `provider` on the OETA schedule site, we do see the Create and Kids channels listed, but to be accurate, they should never appear anywhere as in Digital OTA listings. OTOH, why doesn`t OETA put these channels on their entire Digital OTA network? TBN manages to run 5 useless channels, and Ion runs 4 just about everywhere. Answer: we can still have HD unimpeded when available on OETA main channel, and SD OKLA is always of good quality too. OETA claims to be trying to get more than the prime channel on cable systems, but no OKLA on Suddenlink in Enid. OETA promos also say to `consult local listings` to find the OKLA channel! ?Like, if you are getting 13.1 OTA you can certainly also get 13.2 once the transmission difficulties are solved (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The next evening, again correlating with a storm in northern OKC, we again lost reception from OETA 13.1 and 13.2, around 0140 UT July 19. This time the signal was still on the air, says the meter, just too weak to decode. Other OKC channels were also disrupted, borderline (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Idaho PTV has been off the air for up to 16 hours due to a power failure. Once two nights in a row! Funding is really tight now so not everything is on UPS yet. Power goes down now and they lose the network delay computer. They have had great difficulties getting a generator approved for their main studios in Boise, partly due to funding, partly due to regulations, and it's a leased space. BTW, they share the building with the Idaho Department Of Environmental Quality and they won't spend a dime on backup power. There are a lot of TV stations out there that have absolutely no backup encoders. Being basically computers, they will fail. When they do fail some stations lucky enough can get back on with a 4:3-480I feed (Bill Frahm, Boise, July 17, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3204.91, Radio West Sepik, Vanimo 1045 to 1100 on 19 July, 22 July Same time. 3275, Radio Southern Highlands 1050 to 1100 with clear audio on 19 July, 22 July (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PERU [and non]. Ecuador/Peru. Dos estaciones tropicales retransmitiendo al mismo tiempo la señal satelital de Alas-HCJB captadas en sábado 18 de julio, luego de las 0100; son ellas Radio El Buen Pastor desde Saraguro por los 4915 kHz [sic; means 4815??] y desde Huanta en 4955 kHz Radio Cultural Amauta, esta última con cierre luego de las 0130 (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. Radio San Antonio a las 1130 con identificación utilizando parte de señal promocional del Sistema Radial Alcaraván Radio, pero incluyendo el nombre Radio San Antonio. "...Dos sistemas radiales propagan sus ondas para llevar paz y servicio a la comunidad... San Antonio...Ondas de Paz..." Luego voy a subir los audios para que comparen las identificaciones. En el siguiente enlace http://www.goear.com/listen/9399bed/Fuerza-de-Paz-via-San-Antonio-Rafael-R. podran escuchar el promo original de las emisoras de la campaña Fuerza de Paz y el promo utilizado por Radio San Antonio 4940 desde Atalaya en Perú. Me parece divertido y me recuerda algo similar que utilizaba en su momento por la onda corta la emisora La Voz de los Carás por allá en los años 90 cuando utilizaban para ellos un promo del conocido programa Radio Enlace grabado en la voz del locutor Marcelo Fortín que decía algo como: "...de su antena al receptor... Radio Enlace lo mejor..." y editaban una parte quedando: "...de su antena al receptor... La Voz de los Caras lo mejor..." (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. Desde las 2330 hasta las 0106 del 19 julio [¿es decir 19-20? TU?]; a traves de los 4888.2 kHz, captada emisora evangélica con largas tandas de música de alabanza en ritmos peruanos, programación en vernacular. Con muy poco español solo mencionando Ministerio de Alabanza y Adoración Nazareth y Librería Nazareth. Con baja modulación del microfono que no permite entender lo que dice el locutor. En la mañana de hoy notada hacia las 1106 con similar programación; en algunas menciones creo entender el nombre de Radio Félicy o Felici. No sé si se trata de reactivación (Radio Macedonia) o de una nueva estación (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** PERU. 4824.4, Radio La Voz de la Selva. Iquitos. 1130-1140 julio 19, pgm: Realidades. promo a la página web en http://www.radiolavozdelaselva.org Buen Dx (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Escuchas realizadas con JRC-525 y antena dipolo de 15 metros, July 20, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 6195.65, Radio Cusco, 2324-2335 July 15, So far the frequency is clear of any major stations and I can just hear program events from Cusco. Noted a male in Spanish language very weak and not a solid signal. The audio is fading in and out periodically. Overall the station was threshold (Chuck Bolland, July 15, 2009) (Chuck Bolland, FL, Watkins Johnson HF1000, 27.27N 080.56W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see BOLIVIA ** PERU. 6019.29, R. Victoria, 0246-0306, July 16. In Spanish till ToH then preacher David Miranda in portuñol/españuguês; best in LSB; almost fair; unable to hear any // (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9395, 1740 15/07, R Pilipinas, em Filipino, desde Tinang, com 250 kW, YL conversa com OM pelo telefone, parece apresentar nx e chama um correspondente externo, 35433 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Reactivated Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) on 6170 kHz --- Several DXers in Japan had monitored on 6170.4 kHz relay to PBS Radyo Magasin-DZRM on 1278 kHz. I can receive at +1130-1300 KO'ed by RNZI on 6170 and severe QRMed CNR-1 on 6175 kHz. Audio file: Jul. 15 at 1200UT http://www.ndxc.org/imgbbs/img-box/img20090715222234.mp3 cf. http://pilipinasdx.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/philippine-dx-news-no-26-27/ (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, July 17, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 6150, R. Romania International, 0309-0325, July 16. In English with the news; announced a new contest with questions regarding George Enescu, the Romanian composer (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOR Khabarovsk, 12000, July 14 at 1314, more distorted than ever in Chinese talk, very unstable carrier, better during music than talk at the moment, but the trouble increases and decreases cyclically (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOR English poorly audible with hum on 9850, July 20 at 1414 about British politix, // but not synchronized 15605, also poor; 9850 had ACI from Chinese music jamming on 9845. 9850 is listed as Samara site by HFCC; Chita by Aoki; Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskij [sic] (Yelizovo) by EiBi and WRTH! I guess the latter would be my pick too, only for propagational reasons, hearing it at this hour in CNAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAIPAN. 11650, July 15 at 1230 just tuned in to interval signal of 8 notes, I think, but only heard it twice as I was trying to count them, then ID as Radio something, and address backwards in Russian, as previously heard here from Radio Teos, so I am fairly sure it was that. Nailing down the exact sked of Radio Teos within the KFBS Russian transmissions is difficult if not impossible. See previous reports and linx in DXLDs 9-050 and 9-024. M&M proceeded to converse about BOG. A DX program? Beverage On Ground antennas are a God-given shortcut, much less trouble to string out than proper Beverages Above Ground, convenience often outweighing drawbax (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. INTERNATIONAL RADIO OF SERBIA MAY HAVE TO DROP 6 LANGUAGES The International Radio of Serbia (a.k.a. Radio Yugoslavia ) has received a draft contract from the Ministry of Culture, according to which the French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Greek and Arab services should be disbanded, while the remaining programmes would be broadcast in English, Chinese, Russian, Albanian, Spanish and Serbian. The contract is not acceptable, said Station Director Milena Jokic, who resigned a month ago because of the official attitude towards the station. She said that the proposed contract has a number of legal shortcomings, and that closing down of those programmes does not save anything, because it would only close down ten jobs, and leave the entire infrastructure unchanged. Ms Dokic also said that the programme in Arabic has a strong foothold in the Arab countries, so that it would practically mean the end of one important channel of communication. She confirmed that nobody from the International Radio of Serbia was consulted when the contract was drafted. She expressed the hope that, instead of closing down the programmes, the Ministry of Culture will offer a provisional contract on the financing of the station by the end of the year, after which another solution for savings will be found. The editor-in-chief of Radio Belgrade, Dusan Radulovic, supports Ms Dokic, and said in an interview with the station that “the shortwave broadcasts should not be cancelled, and if the country wishes to make some savings, it should decrease the number of various advisors, for example.” Mr Radulovic agrees that the savings achieved by disbanding these services would be insignificant, since the transmitter is already working around the clock, and the satellite channel has been rented for a long-term. “I believe that the cancellation of these services should be discussed again. The Government needs to think about the function of a station such as Radio Yugoslavia. Many countries in the region have tackled the same issue, and their world services are functioning normally”, added Mr Radulovic. With regard to the request from the Ministry of Culture to provide information about the number of listeners of Radio Yugoslavia, he described it as meaningless. “I could have the greatest number of listeners, if I would try to follow the line of least resistance and adapt to the public taste. We have a social interest to preserve stations like this”, Dusan Radulovic concluded. Read the full report: http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7900&Itemid=32 (July 15, 2009 - 9:48 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) 2 comments so far 1 SRG July 15th, 2009 - 21:15 UTC Giving up on German is a huge mistake. German SW listeners are the best when it comes to writing letters and those reception reports But I’m sure canceling Hungarian is fine. Perhaps, the Chinese service could have been shut down, too - considering that IRS has no broadcast facilities to reach the target area. 2 Sima July 16th, 2009 - 1:22 UTC Hungarian and Chinese services should remain important since there are significant Hungarian and Chinese communities in Serbia (ibid.) 14/07/2009 --- El redactor en jefe de Radio Belgrado, Dusan Radulovic, estimo que no han de suprimirse seis de las en total 12 programas en idiomas extranjeros de Radio Serbia Internacional (Radio Yugoslavia) que emite en 11 idiomas y en serbio y que el Gobierno de Serbia ha de reflexionar sobre esta propuesta y sobre la función de este medio de comunicación. Con el señor Radulovic converso nuestra priodista Mirjana Nikolic. . . Fuente: Radio Serbia http://glassrbije.org/S/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7905&Itemid=32 (via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio, DXLD) INTERNATIONAL RADIO SERBIA SIGNS NEW CONTRACT WITH MINISTRY The Serbian Ministry of Culture and Radio Yugoslavia/International Radio Serbia have concluded the contract on the basis of which the station will continue to broadcast programmes via satellite and the Internet and in 11 foreign languages in addition to Serbian. The contract on the co-financing that will be valid by the end of this year was signed by representatives of the Ministry and the radio station. Representatives of International Radio Serbia said that during the next week talks will be held on the social programme for a certain number of radio employees (Source: International Radio Serbia) Andy Sennitt comments: The only distribution platforms mentioned are satellite and the Internet, so it would appear that the station intends to drop shortwave distribution for at least some of the languages, which explains the planned discussions on the ’social programme’, another term for redundancy. (July 18th, 2009 - 16:19 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Which is another term for getting fired (gh, ibid.) International Radio Serbia will keep its 12 language services, but will it keep shortwave? "The International Radio Serbia (Radio Yugoslavia ) has receive a draft Contract from the Ministry of Culture, according to which the French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Greek and Arab services should be disbanded, while the remaining programs would be broadcasted in the English, Chinese, Russian, Albanian, Spanish and Serbian languages. 'The short wave broadcasts should not be canceled, and if the country wishes to make some savings, it should decrease the number of various advisors, for example”, {Editor-in-Chief of Radio Belgrade Dusan] Radulovic says... He added that regardless of the existence of new technologies, such as the Internet, the function of a radio like ours is still very much needed. 'There is no need to play avant-garde where it is not necessary. Let other around the world be the first to cancel all their short-wave services, and then we can think about it', stated the Editor-in-Chief of the Radio Belgrade. With regards to the request from the Ministry of Culture to provide the information about the number of listeners of Radio Yugoslavia, he described it as meaningless." International Radio Serbia, 13 July 2009. "Now, when the strategic battle is underway for Kosovo and our position in the world, the closing down of office for the Arabic language would inflict the great political damage because a large number of Arab countries has not recognized Kosovo, said [director or IRS Milena] Jokic." International Radio Serbia, 14 July 2009. "The Serbian Ministry of Culture and Radio Yugoslavia (International Radio Serbia) concluded the contract on the basis of which the only shortwave radio station will be able to broadcast programs via satellite and the Internet and inform the world public in 11 foreign languages and the Diaspora in the Serbian language." International Radio Serbia, 18 July 2009 (all kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Apparently meaning that all twelve language services will continue. But will shortwave continue? Posted: 18 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) Btw, this [IRAN, Persian on SW??] is another example that explains my opinion about recent reports from Radio Serbia: They should not be weighted too well. Time will tell whether or not they will shut down Bijeljina. On the other hand I would not be surprised at all if these transmitters will soon start to relay CRI. I could even imagine that Bijeljina will carry CRI *only*, just to bring in money to keep their own online services alive (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldydg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL RADIO SERBIA ON SHORTWAVE Posted July 17 on the International Radio Serbia English website: The Serbian Ministry of Culture and Radio Yugoslavia (International Radio Serbia) concluded the contract on the basis of which the only shortwave radio station will be able to broadcast programs via satellite and the Internet and inform the world public in 11 foreign languages and the Diaspora in the Serbian language. The contract on the co-financing that will be valid by the end of this year was signed by representatives of the Ministry and our Radio. Representatives of Radio Yugoslavia communicated that during the next week talks on the social program for a certain number of Radio employees. http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7937&Itemid=26 The wording is unclear; has the same news been reported more clearly by the other language sections (Mike Barraclough, England, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) La misma noticia en español: RADIO YUGOSLAVIA SEGUIRA EMITIENDO SU [sic] EN 11 IDIOMAS Y EN SERBIO http://glassrbije.org/S/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7940&Itemid=26 El Ministerio de Cultura de la República de Serbia y Radio Yugoslavia (Radio Serbia Internacional) han suscrito el contrato que hace posible que la única estación radio serbia que emite en honda [sic] corta, en Internet y via satélite, siga informando a la opinión pública mundial en 11 idiomas extranjeros y en serbio. El contrato sobre la cofinanciación lo firmaron los representantes del Ministerio y de nuestra radio y el mismo estará en vigencia hasta fines del año en curso. Los representantes de Radio Yugoslavia comunicaron que durante la venidera semana en el Ministerio de Cultura continuarán las negociaciones sobre el programa social para la despedida de cierto número de nuestros empleados (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, ibid.) Brief item had several more typos in it I fixed (gh) ** SOMALILAND. Re 9-050: ``R. Hargeisa noted with sign-on at 1455 on 7145 12-13 June (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, July BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) So evening schedule is probably 1455- 1900 UT; best here after 1800 (Dave Kenny, England, ibid.)`` I should point out that if it is signing on as early as 1455, it`s conceivable it could be heard by longpath in the western North American mornings. Urge those out there to look for it. That`s close to 6 pm local in Somalia, so plenty of darkness eastward (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA [and non]. As I tuned by 7310, July 14 at 0600 I noticed two stations in English mixing about equal levels, DW and BBCWS. Now, DW is scheduled here at 0600-0630 in English via Sines, PORTUGAL, but nothing else. However, BBCWS relay in English via Meyerton, SOUTH AFRICA runs 0400 right up to 0600 also on 7310 --- so I conclude that SENTECH failed to close down their transmitter on time. This went on for at least a couple minutes merging newscasts from both before I moved on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 17485, 1534 15/07, CZECH REPUBLIC, R Prague, em Czech, desde Litomysl, com 100 kW, OM Talk e orquestrada mx às 1536 UT. Forte QRM da The Overcomer Ministry na mesma freqüência. As duas se alternam na freqüência com predominância da The Overcomer Ministry. A localização dos transmissores é próxima e o azimute é quase o mesmo, portanto me parece ser uma clara colisão. 32433 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Oops, bad collision for a semihour and registered as such in HFCC. TOM is Jülich at 160 degrees to zones 46E,47,48W,52 at 1500-1600 while Prague is at 161 degrees to zones 38,39,48,53 at 1520-1630. Hey, the computer only detects 48W conflicting with 48, the rest different, so perfectly OK (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Since WWCR 13845 and 15825 were inbooming, July 18 at 1350, I knew sporadic E was again in axion, as without it these megameter-distant frequencies are poorly audible. So I checked 18770 for the WWRB 2 x 9385 harmonic at 1354, and there was Brother Scare`s organ music steady at S9; at 1431 he was screaming to a chorus of amens. At 1437 was also hearing BS on WBCQ 15420, much stronger than and running about one second ahead of // 18770. WBCQ carries him on 15420 Sabbath mornings only. As for the sporadic E, WWV was also well heard on 20000 at 1354, less than one megameter, so normally inaudible here without Es. But the MUF did not rise to channel 2 TV, and there were only a handful of 6-meter ham contacts on the map (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. As usual heard on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire. 4749.98, 0255-0310 fade out, 02.07, R Peace, Nuba Mountains (tentative), weak talk in unID language, 15121. Nothing heard on 5895 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 4750, SUDAN, tentative R. Peace, Nuba Mountains, 0233, July 14, vernacular. Talk in unidentified language & occasional music bits buried waaay under band QRN; barely audible; needs further monitoring (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4750, E-mail verie received from Pete Stover for a Global Tuner UK reception of R Peace on 4750 on Jul 9 from 0245 to 0325. Partial content of e-mail that contained other interesting info: "Wonderful! Thanks so much for the report. According to the timeline/content info you provided, it appears you were listening to RP. I can't tell from the MP3 audio, though. It's very rough. One of the reasons the signal may not be as good as before is because there is another broadcaster transmitting in the evenings on 4750. We spoke with them recently about their choice of frequencies since we've been operating on 4750 since October 28, 2003. Their explanation is that RP is not registered and they applied with the Ugandan government for their license and registered it with the ITU, etc. So, they're unwilling to change despite the interference. So, in Sudan, at least, both struggle. 5895 is still operating from 0600 to 0700 and 1900-2000 Sudan time with English & Arabic. We're working on several projects to improve RP's SW operation in South Sudan and we're hoping to begin using computer-assisted programming for distribution and playout as well as developing FM station in two southern cities..." The other broadcaster is Radio Dunamis in Uganda which also uses the 4750 channel during the R Peace local evening transmission 1600-1800 UT. I reviewed recordings I had of Radio Peace from DX Tuner sites in Southern Sweden from February 2007 and the difference in signal strength is remarkable: the 2007 receptions were near S-3 whereas the Jul 2009 recording was S-1 at best. Time of year and sunspot cycle likely caused the difference, along with some world-class antenna arrays used in the 2007 Sweden sites (Bruce Churchill, Falbrook CA, Jully 21, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** SUDAN. 7200, R. Omdurman, 0320, 7/19/09. Extended Arabic talk by OMs. S6 signal hampered by t-storm static (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 13730, 1604 15/07, GERMANY, R Dabanga, em Arabic/Sudanese, desde Wertachtal, com 500 kW, Om e YL conversam e parecem apresentarem noticias se alternando, forte QRM de apito como batimento de portadora, ouve-se a R Dabanga com baixa modulação e moderada propagação e leve ruído, o apito não é de QRM de freqüências próximas. Em // com 11500 kHz que tx com 250 kW desde Madagascar, mas chega melhor o sinal (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo de 16 metros Balun 4:1 Direção Leste/Oeste, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SURINAME. R. Apintie, 4990, 1035 14 June, musicals and jingles, Dutch, SIO 332 (Robin Tancoo, Fyzabad, Trinidad, FRG 7700, 75-foot longwire, copy of log report to BDXC-UK Communication via p-mail postmarked 2 July, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, R. Damascus, 2134 5 June, YL, music, poor modulation, English, SIO 132. Also 2234 6 June, `I` songs [?], English, SIO 232 (Robin Tancoo, Fyzabad, Trinidad, FRG 7700, 75-foot longwire, copy of log report to BDXC-UK Communication via p-mail postmarked 2 July, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12085, 2140, 7/18/09. S7 carrier, but no audio detected. Modulator tube must be about gone (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. After Teos 11650 log, tuned down to 11635, July 15 at 1235 to find solo singing. Per Aoki that`s RTI in Indonesian during this hour via Paochung site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. RTI Japanese service, 9735, again flanked by spurs July 17 at 1316, slightly higher pitch buzz on 9740 against BBC than on 9730 against CRI, so 9735 fundamental was very slightly off-frequency to the low side. RTI Japanese, 9735, accompanied by buzzy spurs July 22 at 1338 around 9730, 9740; but not the day before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 9745, Voice of Han, *0755-0844, July 17. In Chinese; western orchestra music; played EZL pop songs; two women in long conversation (their typical format). Not able to access audio streaming at their website, as I could in the past; mostly fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 7350, CNR-11 (Tibetan Service), 1437-1500, July 15. “Holy Tibet” program in English; talking about the recent history of Tibet; played a lot of traditional Tibetan music; after 1500 into assume Tibetan. Nice to be able to enjoy their music even with the poorer summer time reception; // 6010. 7350, CNR-11 (Tibetan Service), 1430-1442, July 20. “Holy Tibet” program in English; C.N.R. and Holy Tibet IDs; news item about the total solar eclipse that will occur July 22; // 6010 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey heard on 10530 kHz, signing on today, 17 JUL 2009 and the days before at 1530, until 1624 s/off with interval signal. Modulation distorted most of the time. Language not sure, but it could well be the transmission in Azeri from Emirler listed for that time on 9530 kHz. The frequency reminds me, by the way, of the well-known one for Radio Alma-Ata some 35 years ago (Robert Foerster, Germany, July 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Some receivers can produce false signals 1000 kHz away, such as the FRG-7 if the preselector is not properly peaked (gh) ** UGANDA. R. Dunamis colliding on 4750: see also SUDAN When Dunamis started their broadcasts on 4750 I talked with Bible Voice and informed them about Radio Peace being on the same channel. They said they had gone thru the process of license with Ugandan Govt and ITU. ITU said frequency is clear and local monitoring in Uganda showed no one on 4750. Apparently R Peace was off the air at that time of monitoring. So here we are now. My opinion is that it's much more difficult for Dunamis to apply permission to change frequency than for R Peace to move a bit up or down. Two Christian organizations arguing - which one will show Christian brotherhood and move aside? What do we learn of this :-) (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 12095, ASCENSION. BBC, 2130, 7/18/09.WS nx presented by OM & YL. Despite relative closeness, not heard well in many months. Fair to good signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This transmission is currently at 21-23 UT only. Other sites in use for BBCWS English on 12095: 03-04 Oman, 04-07 & 14-15 Cyprus, 15-17 Rampisham, 17-21 Cyprus (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE Bengali* Days Area kHz 0030-0100 daily SAs 6065sla, 9570nak, 11850sng 0330-0430 mt..... SAs 9695nak, 11995nak, 13790nak 1230-1300 daily SAs 7350nak, 9590nak, 17615sla 1230-1300 ......s SAs 11795sng, 15360arm 1400-1500 ......s SAs 15450arm 1530-1600 daily SAs 5965nak, 9510sng, 11685sng 2330-2400 daily SAs 6065nak, 9505nak, 11695nak *Revised complete schedule English 1530-1600 daily SAs 1413sla (add) Urdu 1500-1530 daily SAs 7205nak (ex –1545) 1500-1530 daily SAs 1413sla, 5965sla, (ex –1600) 9510sng, 11685sng (WRTH July 22 update via DXLD) ** U K. BBCR3 PROMENADE CONCERT SEASON July 17-September 12, 2009. Times and number of concerts per day vary widely, so keep up with the weekly/daily schedules! http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/season/ (Monitoring Reminders Calendar via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Listen Again linx for the Proms; not necessarily neatly organized so you may have to keep your own log of which ones and which parts have been heard. I found there was also a Proms Preview from Thursday night. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search/radio/?q=Proms (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for this valuable link. I wonder if any other European broadcasters have their equivalent to the Proms ? I continue to be amazed at the depth of the music that is available, nothing like it in the USA as I type this from the Chautauqua Institute http://www.ciweb.org/ (Andy O`Brien, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another useful source of BBCIPlayer links is the "The Beebotron" http://www.beebotron.org/index.php?reload Note that the "High Quality" links don't work outside the UK but the standard Real Player ones do work (Sandy Finlayson, swprograms via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Station to Station: BFBS Radio, the station for Britain's armed forces, is charmingly light, and surprisingly welcoming towards civvies. I'm not in the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force, and don't know anybody in them, but last week I tuned into the station for Britain's armed forces – known as BFBS Radio – and after their interview with Gordon Brown, decided to carry on listening. Despite the fact that BFBS is available on DAB radio I felt as if I was trespassing. This is a radio station for our men and women in the armed forces, to help their friends and family keep in touch, and to raise the morale of people facing daily life or death situations. It's not meant for some North London berk to listen to while he rustles up the kids' nuggets and curly fries. . . Source: Guardian.co.Uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2009/jul/17/british-forces-broadcasting-service (via Yimber Gaviria. Noticias de la Radio, DXLD) ** U S A. Bandscanning July 16 at 1317, came upon strong and distorted SSB on 11436, Coast Guard net with control station calling a bunch of other stations which had much weaker signals. The few stations I could barely hear answering seemed to be a similar-sounding YL. Format was same with each call, but due to distortion, background noise, mumbling speech of op, it was hard to understand his ID given twice, but I suppose it was ``Camslant Chesapeake`` as previously logged last October 30 at the same hour. Referred to ``11 meg frequency``, ``Lima Charlie`` -- meaning loud and clear? Stations contacted included District 7 Miami, Coast Guard Air Station Lincoln(?), Sector San Juan, Sector Key West, at 1320 Clearwater, 1324 Charleston (which one?), 1327 Upper Mississippi (where is that exactly?). At 1330 announced the net was concluding. My October log started on 7530 and they QSYed to 11436 at 1316 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Summer A-09 for Voice of America. Part 1 of 2: Afan Oromo 1730-1800 on 11520 11905 11925 12140 13870 Mon-Fri Albanian 0500-0530 on 5945 1600-1630 on 9605 1830-1900 on 3995 Amharic 1800-1900 on 11520 11905 11925 12140 13870 Arabic 1630-0400 on 990 1170 1431 1548 (Radio Sawa) 0400-1630 on 990 1170 1548 Arabic-Sudan 0300-0330 on 4960 5995 9650 Hello Darfur 1800-1830 on 4960 9650 11635 1900-1930 on 5880 9650 11635 Azerbaijani 1730-1800 on 5830 7215 13580 Bangla 0130-0200 on 11735 15205 1600-1700 on 1575 7260 9320 Burmese 0000-0030 on 1575 6035 7430 9325 1130-1230 on 11965 15620 17775 1430-1500 on 1575 5865 9325 11910 12120 1500-1530 on 5865 9325 11910 12120 1500-1530 on 1575 Sat/Sun 1530-1600 on 1575 5865 9940 1600-1630 on 5865 9940 2300-2400 on 6185 7430 9325 Cantonese 1300-1500 on 1170 7365 9355 Chinese 0000-0200 on 9545 11830 11925 15150 15385 17765 0200-0300 on 9545 11830 11925 15385 17765 0700-0900 on 13610 13740 15250 17775 17855 21705 0900-1000 on 11825 11965 13610 13740 15250 15665 17775 17855 1000-1100 on 9575 11825 11965 12040 13610 15250 15665 17855 1100-1200 on 1170 6110 9575 11785 11825 11990 12040 15255 1200-1230 on 6110 9845 11785 11825 11990 12040 15255 1230-1300 on 6110 9845 11785 11805 11825 12040 15255 1300-1400 on 6110 9845 9985 11785 11805 11990 12040 1400-1500 on 6110 9845 11615 11805 11990 12040 2200-2300 on 6135 7205 9510 9845 11925 13775 Creole 1130-1200 on 9660 15390 Mon-Fri 1630-1700 on 15390 17565 2100-2130 on 11895 13725 15390 Croatian 0430-0500 on 5975 1830-1845 on 6060 7295 Dari 0130-0230 on 1296 9335 12140 (Radio Ashna) 1530-1630 on 1296 9335 15090 15380 1730-1830 on 1296 9335 11565 11580 1930-2030 on 1296 7555 7595 English to 0300-0400 on 909 1530 4930 6080 9885 15580 Africa 0400-0430 on 909 1530 4930 4960 6080 9885 15580 0430-0500 on 909 4930 4960 6080 9885 15580 0500-0600 on 909 4930 6080 12080 15580 0600-0700 on 909 1530 6080 12080 15580 1400-1500 on 4930 6080 13570 15580 17585 1500-1600 on 4930 6080 13570 15580 17895 1600-1700 on 909 1530 4930 6080 9885 15580 17715 1700-1730 on 6080 9885 11835 15580 1700-1800 on 15675 Sat/Sun 1730-1800 on 6080 9885 15580 17895 1800-1830 on 6080 9885 11975 15580 17895 1800-1830 on 909 4930 Sat/Sun 1830-1900 on 909 4930 6080 9885 11975 15580 17895 1900-2000 on 909 4930 4940 6120 6080 9885 15580 17895 2000-2030 on 909 1530 4930 4940 6080 9885 15580 17895 2030-2100 on 909 1530 4930 6080 9885 15580 17895 2100-2200 on 1530 6080 15580 English to 0100-0200 on 7430 9780 11705 FE/SoAs/OCE 1100-1130 on 1575 Mon-Fri 1130-1200 on 1575 1200-1300 on 1170 6140 7575 9510 9760 12075 1300-1400 on 7575 9340 9510 9760 1400-1500 on 7545 7575 9760 11715 1500-1600 on 7545 7575 9700 12150 2200-2300 on 5895 5915 7460 7480 9415 11955 2230-2400 on 1575 Fri/Sat 2300-2400 on 5895 5915 7480 9415 11955 English to 0100-0130 on 1593 Eu/ME/NoAf 1400-1500 on 15530 17740 1500-1600 on 12005 15530 English to 1730-1800 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Mon-Thu Zimbabwe 1810-1820 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri 1720-1740 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri-Sun English AFG 2030-0030 on 1296 7555 English 0000-0030 on 1593 Special 0030-0100 on 1575 1593 7430 9715 9780 11725 15205 15290 15560 17820 0130-0200 on 1593 6040 9820 Tue-Sat 1500-1600 on 6160 7520 9485 9760 15550 1600-1700 on 12080 13570 17895 1600-1700 on 1170 Mon-Fri 1900-2000 on 7480 9780 2230-2300 on 9570 11705 15145 2300-2330 on 1593 9570 13755 15145 2330-2400 on 1593 7460 9570 13755 15145 15340 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 17 via DXLD) Summer A-09 schedule for Voice of America. Part 2 of 2: French 0530-0600 on 1530 4960 6035 6095 9885 13710 Mon-Fri to Africa 0600-0630 on 4960 6035 6095 9885 13710 Mon-Fri 1830-2000 on 1530 6170 9815 17550 2000-2030 on 6170 9815 12080 15730 17550 2030-2100 on 4940 9815 9830 12080 15225 15730 Sat/Sun 2100-2130 on 9815 9830 12035 12080 Mon-Fri Georgian 1530-1600 on 11945 15460 1600-1630 on 9850 15460 1700-1800 on 7480 15455 Hausa 0500-0530 on 1530 4960 6045 9600 0700-0730 on 4960 11785 17800 1500-1530 on 11890 11905 13750 2030-2100 on 4940 6170 7355 9815 15185 Mon-Fri Indonesian 0000-0030 on 9535 11805 13705 1130-1230 on 9700 9890 12010 1400-1500 on 7550 9945 Thu-Sat 2200-2400 on 7225 9535 11805 Khmer 1330-1430 on 1575 5955 11540 2200-2230 on 1575 6060 9325 15340 Kinyarwanda 0330-0430 on 6095 7340 11905 and Kirundi 1600-1630 on 11640 12015 15730 Sat Korean 1200-1300 on 1350 5890 7225 9490 1300-1330 on 1350 5890 7225 11740 1330-1500 on 1188 5890 7225 11740 1900-2100 on 648 6060 7365 9510 Kurdish 0500-0600 on 7230 9770 15380 1300-1400 on 9825 13680 15130 15530 1400-1500 on 1593 9825 13680 15130 1700-1800 on 9770 11950 15130 2000-2100 on 1593 Laotian 1230-1300 on 1575 9810 11930 Ndebele 1800-1830 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Mon-Thu 1820-1830 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri 1740-1800 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri-Sun Pashto 0030-0130 on 1296 7555 9335 (Radio Ashna) 1430-1530 on 1296 9335 15090 15380 1630-1730 on 1296 9335 11565 11580 1830-1930 on 1296 7555 7595 Pashto(Deewa) 0000-0300 on 9380 11535 12015 1200-1800 on 7495 9310 9380 9780 Persian 0230-0330 on 9695 11870 17855 1530-1600 on 1593 6040 9405 11780 1600-1700 on 1593 6040 9840 11780 1700-1730 on 1593 6040 9840 9855 1730-1800 on 1593 6040 7455 9840 1800-1830 on 648 1593 5860 6040 7455 1830-1900 on 648 5860 6040 7455 1900-1930 on 5860 6040 7455 1930-2030 on 5860 7455 9310 Portuguese 1000-1030 on 17740 21590 Sat/Sun to Africa 1700-1730 on 1530 11960 12080 1730-1800 on 1530 9815 11960 12080 15730 1800-1830 on 1530 11960 12080 15730 Mon-Fri Shona 1700-1730 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Mon-Thu 1800-1810 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri 1700-1720 on 909 4930 11605 15775 Fri-Sun Somali 0330-0400 on 5945 12110 15430 1300-1400 on 12110 15170 1600-1630 on 1431 12110 15430 1630-1800 on 12110 15430 Spanish 1130-1200 on 9885 13715 15590 Mon-Fri 1200-1230 on 9885 13715 15590 2300-2400 on 5890 6110 9825 Swahili 0300-0330 on 7380 9440 Mon-Fri 1630-1730 on 9815 15365 15730 Tibetan 0000-0100 on 7250 9480 9855 0300-0600 on 15265 15490 17735 1400-1500 on 7465 11510 11975 1600-1700 on 7330 7565 9565 Tigrigna 1900-1930 on 11520 11905 11925 12140 13870 Mon-Fri Turkish 0330-0400 on 7265 Mon-Fri 1045-1100 on 15240 17565 Mon-Fri 1830-1900 on 9840 12025 Mon-Fri Urdu 0000-0100 on 972 1539 7460 9515 (AapKiDunyaa) 1300-1400 on 972 1539 11835 15725 1400-2400 on 972 1539 Uzbek 1500-1530 on 801 9670 12110 13755 15450 Vietnamese 1300-1330 on 1575 5955 9720 1500-1600 on 1170 5955 7455 9355 2230-2330 on 6060 15340 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. "SENIOR EDITORIAL WRITER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS" AT THE WASHINGTON TIMES FINDS "ASTONISHING" THE CONCEPT OF TRANSMITTING NEWS TO THE WORLD From review of Ilan Berman, Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam: "The Broadcast[ing] Board of Governors, which currently oversees VOA and other communication efforts, sees itself as 'separate from public diplomacy,' an astonishing perspective since if this government-funded organization is not advancing America's message to the world, what is it doing?" Jamezs S. Robbins, senior editorial writer for foreign affairs, Washington Times, 17 July 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) It is broadcasting the balanced, comprehensive, credible news that international audiences seek as the antidote to the state controlled media in their own countries. Such news helps overcome the misinformation and disinformation of dictators, terrorists, exploiters, poachers, spammers, chicken thieves, and the like. Furthermore, if USIB merely broadcast "America's message to the world," nobody would listen. Posted: 17 Jul 2009 Compare CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, which are global, multimedia brands, with US government funded international broadcasting, which is a dog's breakfast of brands: VOA, IBB, RFE, RL, RFA, MBN, Radio Sawa, Alhurra, Radio Farda, Radio Marti, TV Marti, OCB, Deewa Radio, Ashna Radio, Aap Ki Duunya, etc. Most of the USIB brands are not known globally, they are sometimes confused with one another, and they compete among themselves. Not much brand equity here (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. HERITAGE BLOG CRITICIZES VOA'S "INTERNET-ONLY APPROACH" The Voice of America's "internet-only approach in Russia, and the inability to provide sufficient security for this service, allowed Kremlin-controlled media to undermine Obama’s attempt to connect with the Russian public. Unless the Obama Administration takes the necessary steps to ensure the vitality of VOA and similar programs, our nation’s outreach to foreign publics will continue to be rebuffed by unreceptive governments." Jonathan Liedl, The Foundry blog, Heritage Foundation, 17 July 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) This item is based on points made by Ted Lipien (see previous post). It makes no mention of RFE/RL's shortwave broadcasts in Russian, which did cover Obama's visit to and speeches in Moscow. (See, for example, RFE/RL, 7 July 2009.) Does Heritage want two US radio stations broadcasting the same news to the same country in the same language? Heritage states that it believes in limited government, but it apparently does not believe in limited bureaucracy. Look, the recent denial-of-service attack did not prompt many people to retrieve their shortwave radios. In Russia, the internet is now much more popular than shortwave, and so far Russian authorities have not blocked foreign websites. For the time being, then, an internet- only strategy, with adequate marketing, makes sense. Two shortwave services to post-shortwave Russia makes no sense. Posted: 18 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. REP. MALONEY WORKS TO SAVE VOICE OF AMERICA'S GREEK DESK SERVICE WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) called on House appropriators to restore funding to the Voice of America’s Greek Desk Service, calling it “essential” to an “accurate and balanced message” to audiences abroad. In a letter to House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Chair Rep. Nita Lowey and Ranking Member Rep. Kay Granger, Hellenic Caucus co-chairs Maloney and Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis and eight other caucus members said: “The Greek Desk Service is an essential communications capability upon which we rely to disseminate an accurate and balanced message to crucial audiences abroad. Losing the service is much more than the loss of an important information link between Greece and America. It is a blow to our broader national security and public diplomacy efforts. Indeed, the elimination of the Greek Desk would be detrimental to the interests of the United States in the Eastern Mediterranean. It would remove a dependable and valuable information source, one that projects the best of American journalistic qualities to a vital region and helps to promote American interests and values.” The full letter follows below. June 16, 2009 The Honorable Nita Lowey, Chairwoman Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations HB-26, The Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Kay Granger, Ranking Member Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations 1016 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Madam Chair Lowey and Ranking Member Granger: We are writing to express our deep concern about the elimination of Voice of America’s Greek Desk Service and to ask that the Committee restore $500,000 as part of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Operations (IBO) program for FY10 Foreign Operations and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The Greek Desk Service is an essential communications capability upon which we rely to disseminate an accurate and balanced message to crucial audiences abroad. Losing the service is much more than the loss of an important information link between Greece and America. It is a blow to our broader national security and public diplomacy efforts. Indeed, the elimination of the Greek Desk would be detrimental to the interests of the United States in the Eastern Mediterranean. It would remove a dependable and valuable information source, one that projects the best of American journalistic qualities to a vital region and helps to promote American interests and values. For example, the service helps to foster the ongoing efforts to bolster relations between Greece and Turkey. In fact, in the past, the Greek and Turkish VOA Services have worked jointly to promote reunification of Cyprus through the use of television and radio. As a one example of this collaboration, a VOA interview with a former Cypriot Ambassador to the United States was broadcast to Turkey two years ago. Finally, the statistics simply do not support elimination. Voice of America’s reporting in Greece is well-received by Greek audiences. VOA in Greece receives a 4.5% rating, which in a country of its size, is a substantial audience. The broadcast rating in Athens is 5.2%. Approximately one million people in Greece receive VOA either via TV, Radio, or the Internet. In short, the value of this Desk is extremely high both in terms of the service it provides to the Eastern Mediterranean region, and its diplomatic benefit to our national interests, especially when one considers its relatively low cost. We urge the Committee to restore these funds. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for all of your hard work and that of your staff throughout this appropriations process. Sincerely, CAROLYN B. MALONEY GUS M. BILIRAKIS Member of Congress Member of Congress JOHN P. SARBANES ROBERT WEXLER Member of Congress Member of Congress ZACHARY T. SPACE HENRY BROWN JR. Member of Congress Member of Congress NIKI TSONGAS DINA TITUS Member of Congress Member of Congress LINCOLN DIAZ-BALLART SUZANNE M. KOSMAS Member of Congress Member of Congress (via John Babbis, MD, July 13, DXLD) VOA SW broadcasts in Greek were eliminated sesquiyears ago (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. VOA Korean, July 14 at 1309, poor on 7225, good on // 11740, except talk on 7225 was running a few sex behind 11740. 7225 is 329 degrees from Tinian, while 11740 is 21 degrees from Tinang, both 250 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 9760, VOA via PHILIPPINES, news item at 1403 July 22 from Brian Padden in Jakarta about ambushes in mining area concluded by saying ``Papua is at the eastern end of New Guinea`` --- Not Indonesia`s Papua --- the western end! A search at voanews.com found only one `current` story by him, a different one from July 1. Instead I found the story by searching on Papua http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-22-voa14.cfm ``There has been an ongoing separatist insurgency in Papua, which is on the eastern end of New Guinea`` I hope he at least knows which way is up. Perhaps he meant ``the eastern end of Indonesia`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 5890, La Voz de America, Greenville, USA, 2326- , señal pobre con fuerte QRM (de Cuba?), emitiendo en español. Ni que decir de Radio Martí en 6030 kHz en iguales condiciones. (20 julio 2009) (Yimber Gaviría, Cali, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17775, KVOH Rancho Simi CA; 1531...1600+, 17 July; Screaming preacher in Spanish with program La Voz de Salvación; ID promo in Spanish at 1600, but pronounced call letters in English; New Spanish religious program at 1600. SIO=343, minor splash from One Africa on 17770 [via Germany] (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WINB, 9265, in the Tony Alámo hour at 1249 July 15, railing against children being taken away from him, and claiming it is perfectly legal to marry a female who has reached puberty. That attitude got him into a peck o`trouble as he is currently on trial in Texarkana. Loads of press reports the last few days are piling up at http://www.tonyalamonews.com It is not a pretty picture, and the accusations are not limited to just molesting children. ``Tony`` (Bernie Lazar Hoffman) also dreams of getting back on TV despite a face made for radio, and a stiff jail sentence facing him. Maybe it`s different in His presence, but on the radio I find ``Tony Alamo`` totally lacking in charisma, and can`t imagine what little girls, let alone adult women, see in him! Unless, of course, they have been brainwashed. While standing trial in Texarkana, he keeps on broadcasting: July 17, already at 1257 via WWCR inbooming on 15825 tnx to sporadic E, squeal plus T.A., interrupted by announcer at 1300 to tell us it was the ``mid-point`` of the broadcast, Texarkana address, but no ID for WWCR as would have been appropriate. At 1329, T.A. was attempting to sing ``What a Friend We Have In Jesus``, a jazzed-up version with chorus (of minors?). He can`t carry a tune, so was lapsing into speaking the lyrix, but not completely. There is a term for that in opera I can`t seem to recall, parlatto? Then announcer outroed the program and into another preacher at 1330. This timing took me by surprise, since T.A. used to be at 13-14 UT on WWCR. In fact the updated July 1-2 program guide at http://www.wwcr.com/program-guides/WWCR_Program_Guide.pdf does still show him at 13-14 UT. If he really starts at 1230 now M-F, that knocks out lots of 15-minute shows including one of the few airings of Ask WWCR. Last week I heard ``Tony Alámo`` on WWCR 15825 ending at 1330 instead of scheduled 1400. Maybe it was computer misprogramming, since Monday July 20 at 1357 he was still going, Karaoke-singing some hymn, confirmed as him by WWCR announcer outro. I had also checked before 1300 to find if he was already on then, but not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15825, 2028 5 June, WWCR Nashville TN with Rick Warren promos, then Glenn Hauser’s ‘World of Radio edition 1563’ [sic], scheduled Fridays. Good readability in English (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO 1469 must have started as early as 2028:30 on WWCR 15825, Friday July 17, since it was ending at 2057:15, leaving plenty of time for the frequency change to 7465 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A confirmação da WWCR foi uma das melhores que já recebi de uma emissora norte-americana. No bonito QSL, a emissora agradece pelo excelente informe de recepção. Olha que eu nem detalhei tão bem o que fora ouvido no dia da escuta. Já fazia algum tempo que queria receber um QSL dessa emissora norte-americana. 5890 WWCR - Nashville - USA - Recebido bonito QSL full data (mostrando os transmissores da emissora), schedule e 1 adesivo. 29 dias. V/S: Assinatura ilegível (Program Director). QTH: 1300 WWCR Avenue, Nashville, TN 37218 - USA (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, dxclube pr yg via DXLD) ** U S A. 9955, 0540 4 June [Thursday], WRMI Miami FL with Glenn Hauser’s ‘World of Radio’. Fair strength in English but odd pulsing QRM co-channel made readability difficult (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) Odd pulsing QRM? It`s the DentroCuban Jamming Command, of course, but sort of in standby mode rather than a massive wall of noise (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1470) WRMI: see also CZECHIA [non] 9955, World of Radio via WRMI, USA, 0508- , buena senal, con reporte de Glenn Hauser en inglés. (20 julio 2009) [UT Mon] 9955, Frecuencia al Dia con Dino Bloise via WRMI, USA, hoy inicio a las 1140 hs UT, señal pésima, fuerte QRM de CUBA?! (20 julio 2009) 9955, Happy Station show via WRMI, USA, 0050- , con buena senal, terminando con varias identificaciones de emisoras en inglés e invitando a escucharlos a las 15 horas (UT) (21 julio 2009) 73 de (Yimber Gaviría, Cali, Colombia, Sony M37, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tuning across WTJC, 9370v, July 18 at 1300, so-called `news` from IRN-USA network had a `correspondent` reporting the death of Walter Cronkite, incorrectly saying he was 90 instead of 92, and getting in a jab that he was a member of some one-world organization, godforbid. The clear implication from the tone of this item was ``good riddance``, as to anyone remotely liberal or fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CBS Special Report from earlier tonight here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9c9YJ8t0SE Excellent photo essay on life of Walter Cronkite http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2008/05/30/in_depth_showbiz/photoessay4138847.shtml (via Tom Roche, GA, July 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I missed the original CBS announcement. Apparently it ran about 9 minutes at 0000 UT Saturday pushing the Friday evening schedule that much late. Then it was back to the usual crap on CBS primetime. When will they run their own at least hour-long obitribute which must have been canned since longtime? I greatly respect Cronkite too, but as usual the cable news nets have gone nuts, throwing out everything they must have planned for tonight on MSNBC, CNN, in order to play the momentous clips of Cronkite which are already well worn and quotable word-for-word from repeated pre- mortal exposure; and interview everyone they could round up in a hurry. On a Friday night, most were accessible only by phone, but Dan Rather made it into Rachel Maddow`s studio within the hour. Once again we are forced to search out news sources abroad if we want to know what else is going on in the world, or indeed, in the USA. What would the consummate journalist Walter Cronkite say about such priorities? (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING via DXLD) It may interest some to know that Walter held the Amateur Radio callsign of KB2GSD. http://www.qrz.com/db/KB2GSD (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) hmm, that was a novice call and the address was at CBS (gh, DXLD) Here's ham radio video he presented. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcNuOF94CV4 (Keith Perron, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Full ARRL obit with lotsa linx: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/17/10971/?nc=1 (via Richard, DXLD) Andy Sennitt adds: I started spending 5-6 weeks a year in Philadelphia at the beginning of the 1980’s, and was lucky enough to see Walter Cronkite towards the end of his career. I immediately understood why he was so highly regarded. Here was a man delivering the news with great authority, yet with a warmth and sincerity that made it seem like he was talking just to the people in my room. It was a unique talent, and I can’t think of anyone who has been able to match it either in the US or anywhere else in the world. Following his retirement I picked up a double LP of Walter Cronkite’s most memorable broadcasts - a sort of “Greatest Hits” if you will. Even though I’m not American, I feel I’ve lost someone special. R.I.P. (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. A deafening silence from WEWN, July 22 around 1330 check: no signals on 11530, 11550 or 12050, scheduled during this hour and usually inbooming here. Another closedown for local lightning? No, weather summary shows there was a cold front approaching Birmingham, but local conditions were only ``broken clouds and light rain``, nothing severe. What`s the problem? Still absent at next check 1730 when supposed to be on 11550, 15610, 17510; ditto at 2010. Nominal schedule is at http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DX LISTENING DIGEST) :Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt :Issued: 2009 Jul 22 1500 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # # Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 21 July follow. Solar flux 68 and mid-latitude A-index 5. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 22 July was 2 (13 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected. (SWPC via DXLD) K=5 but I still think they were off the air as other signals were being received (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 9855.0, 0024-0030 15/7, Family Radio, Oakland, CA UNITED STATES, (EE) falas de OM, 45333 (Antonio Laurentino Garcia, PR7BCP, Escutas realizadas em João Pessoa - PB, HI22nu, Rádio: IC 756PROII, Antenas: 730V-1a/3DX3, HCDX via DXLD) YFR is not scheduled on 9855 at 00-01, so another new unscheduled relay test? However, VOA Tibetan via Sri Lanka plus Chicom jamming are there, per Aoki, and there is a registration for the mysterious ``ADM`` via UAE site – could that be YFR? Not a good idea considering the competition (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, Too weird, but both the Aparecido F. Morato in Paraná, Anderson Torquato in Garopaba, and I in Barbacena; yesterday (July 14), heard a Family Radio in 9855, in English, around 2400 to 0100 UT (presumed because I had no clock), with an excellent signal ... And they were repeated every 5 minutes the name Family Radio...At the end they put that identify characteristic with that band ...Seemed to be a test because there was not any great religious preaching... I was lying and my Sangean had only one signal S5 with telescopic antenna...After searching and not found about this transmission. [later:] Dear Glenn, Please correct the frequency of my previous email, because it is not the 9855 kHz, that I, Morato and Anderson, heard [but] 9935 kHz ... A Hug, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena- MG- Brasil, ibid.) Following Brazilian reports of Family Radio on unlisted 9855 in the 00-01 UT period July 15, I looked for it 24 hours later, starting at 2359 July 15: the tests via GUIANA FRENCH on 9790 and 9935 were not yet on, as Sackville DRM was ending on 9790, then weak signal on 9790 and by 0001 UT July 16 // 9935 was also on. This was about Family Radio, but not the all-Harold Camping stream, which was even weaker on Ascension 9835 // 7335. But nothing on 9855. I thought I heard the announcer refer to ``the late Harold Camping``, but surely not! He`s got to last until at least Oct. 20, 2011. Googling for a new obit, I instead found several sites by irate `true Christians` claiming Camping runs a cult with Family Radio, e.g.: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/harold_camping.htm Recheck at 0014 in case anything changed: no, still nothing on 9855 Oops, word just in from Adalberto Marques de Azevedo: Previous logs should have been reported as 9935, not 9855. Never mind. We already know that 9935 and 9790 are via French Guiana (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Someone apparently got caught OFF GUARD and referred to Dr. Camping as the "late" Harold Camping. "Rumors of Harold Camping's demise have been greatly exaggerated". I believe he's got a birthday coming up next week; he'll be 88. YES, Dr. CAMPING is still on FAMILY RADIO albeit a bit LONG in the TOOTH (Steven Wiseblood, TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) He`s not a Dr (gh, DXLD) When you don't know the transmitter location you can find it at IBB Monitoring. WYFR TEST transmission is recorded at BELO (Belo Horizonte), Brazil and NATA (Natal), Brazil. In the following log file http://america.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Scripts/2009_07_14/BELO/RMS_SCRIPT_BELO_090714_190249.TXT you can see: 2200-0100 UTC YFR TEST 9935 kHz GUF So, this test transmission is from GUF (Montsinery)! 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, July 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but it is fun to deduce it first (gh, DXLD) Nesse momento: 9835 2305-23~ 16/07 Family Radio, Oakland, USA, EE, falas de OMs, característico da emissora (voz grave), com prog. perguntas e respostas. Sinal de S9. Identificada. É possível que eu tenha me enganado na hora de digitar a frequência. Não consta de minhas listas (Antonio Laurentino Garcia, PR7BCP, HCDX via DXLD) Como ja informei, isto e via Ascension, 22-01 TU. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 9835 kHz at 2200-0100 UT to zones 13,14,15 with 250 kW at 245 degrees 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Olá Glenn, Não deixei claro na mensagem anterior. É possível que eu tenha digitado a freqência 9855 (no log anterior) erradamente, quando o correto é 9835 kHz, como escutada hoje. Nesse momento (2354) ouve-se apenas um balbuciar de palavras ininteligíveis com o ruído mais forte. (Garcia, PR7BCP, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WQXR IS BEING SOLD BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, BUT WILL REMAIN NEW YORK'S CLASSICAL STATION WQXR, founded in 1936 and owned since 1944 by the Times, is being sold to WNYC and to Univisión. The deal will mean the move of New York's Classical Station from 96.3 FM to 105.9 FM later this year, where it will become a listener-supported public radio station. FCC approval is required, so the timetable for the move up the dial isn't yet known, but we'll keep you posted as more details become available. Here's WQXR Vice President and General Manager Tom Bartunek's announcement. http://http.earthcache.net/htc-01.media.globix.net/COMP005996MOD1/WQXRtoWNYC090714.mp3 Here's the New York Times article on the sale. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/arts/music/15radio.html Here's WNYC's story on the transaction. http://blogs.wnyc.org/news/2009/07/14/wnyc-acquires-wqxr/ AND HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART: For now, WQXR remains at 96.3 FM and at WQXR.com. And for the future, WQXR will continue to bring classical music to FM listeners in New York, and online listeners around the world, for a long, long time to come. Source: (WQXR website http://www.wqxr.com/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com July 14, DXLD) OK, but why the frequency swap? Is 96.3 somehow considered more valuable being closer to the center of the dial; does it for some reason due to other stations have better coverage? 96.3 no longer has its cachet as a classical spot anyway, since KHFM lost it in Albuquerque several years ago, and that was definitely a case of trading superior for inferior coverage. Long before, when I announced at KHFM, I would sometimes allude to WQXR being on the same frequency (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Classical music fans may be relieved by WNYC’s pledge to keep that focus, but fewer of them will be able to tune in. Under the deal, WQXR would trade places on the dial, and transmitting equipment, with WCAA, at 105.9, a station owned by Univision, a major Spanish- language broadcasting company. Both stations broadcast from atop the Empire State Building, but WQXR would give up its 6,000-watt signal, for WCAA’s signal of about 600 watts. But Steve Shultis, the chief technology officer of WNYC, said the reach and quality of the signal “is not a linear comparison” based on wattage, and there are no plans to make the 105.9 signal stronger, which would require obtaining a different kind of F.C.C. license. He said a clear 105.9 signal reaches about 30 miles from the broadcast antenna, extending into southwestern Connecticut and Central New Jersey — an area that is home to 12.6 million people. The 96.3 signal extends about 12 miles farther, reaching 17.1 million people. WQXR is broadcast even farther afield on independently owned “repeater” signals in Poughkeepsie and Asbury Park, N.J. It was not clear Tuesday what would become of those arrangements. Listeners will still be able to go online to hear WQXR, which will retain its own Web site (from the NY Times story via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) I found those powers unbelievably low, but FCC FM Query confirms 105.9 has 610 watts ERP and 96.3 has 6 kW, but app and then lic for 26 kW. You can get away with that in a dense-population area with a fairly high antenna. BTW, when pronouncing ``Empire State Building``, stress Empire and not State. Think about it ``Empire State`` is a single term modifying Building. It`s not a STATE-building (gh) The New York Times Co. está vendiendo su radiodifusora de música clásica y abandonando ese negocio. La compañía informó el martes que venderá la WQXR-FM mediante un convenio tripartita, que convertirá al formato de música clásica en parte de una radiodifusora pública y dará la frecuencia del 96.3 a una estación en español. Univision Radio pagará al Times 33.5 millones de dólares para cambiar la concesión de la WCAA, 105.9, por la frecuencia del 96,3. La radiodifusora que transmite actualmente desde Newark, Nueva Jersey, tiene contenido de música y entretenimiento en español. WNYC Radio, el proveedor de radio pública de la ciudad, pagará 11.5 millones de dólares por el formato de WQXR y la concesión del 105.9 FM. WNYC planea seguir el formato de música clásica de la WQXR y ha lanzado una campaña de recaudación de fondos para la compra. El acuerdo, que necesita la aprobación de la Comisión Federal de Comunicaciones (FCC), se completaría antes de que concluya el año. El Times ha buscado vender propiedades mientras pasa problemas dentro de un mercado publicitario que se está alejando de los medios impresos. Fuente: (La Voz de Houston http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sp/us/6529282.html via Yimber Gavria, Noticias de la Radio, DXLD) ** U S A. Another Liberal flip-flop --- Liberal talk radio has had an interesting history in Phoenix. KXEG-1010 ran into a problem with Talk Radio Network, which pulled their programming from the station, thus KXEG decided to go with Air America. When James Crystal sold the station, it went religious, and after about a two-month absence, liberal talk moved to KPHX-1480, replacing Music Of Your Life. Sheldon Drobny's company managed the operation for a while, and Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes moved to that company after parting with Air America (sorry, the name of the company eludes me at the moment.) But that company planned to buy the 1190, and the liberal talk format moved there. But the company's fate was bankruptcy, thus the 1190 deal fell through and lib talk went away. Meanwhile, KPHX-1480's owner already contracted for a standards format, so liberal talk was homeless for a while. But it had been reasonably successful on 1480, so it has returned there. So in relatively conservative Arizona, lib talk has had four incarnations, two on the same frequency. I'm not sure anything on 1480 comes from Air America these days. That network's strongest hosts have moved to other syndicators or have marketed themselves. I can't imagine Air America lasting much longer, but the network did bring some of the better liberal talkers into the mainstream. -- -- (Rick Lewis, July 14, ABDX via DXLD) Rick Lewis` synopsis was good, but I wish to add here that there is still actually a lone Liberal talk program on KXEG 1010. Though the station runs largely a religious radio format, local Liberal talk-host Jeff Farias is on weekdays from 11:30 AM (local) to 12:30 PM (Rich Barton, July 15, ibid.) = 1830-1930 UT ** U S A [and non]. 1090 in Megheeco Back in the '40s, when my parents had the radio on through the evening hours to listening to the network comedy shows, dramas, and the Richfield Reporter at 10 p.m. in Corvallis, Oregon, our NBC outlets that gave us reliable coverage were KFI-640 and KPO-680 --- no problems with them at all, QRM-wise. KIRO-710 Seattle was a distant third. KGW-620 Portland, with 5 kw., didn't make it the 85 miles down the Willamette Valley with anywhere near the nightime signal as the two California powerhouses. For CBS, KNX-1070 beat KOIN-970, though KOIN had a relatively clear time of it in the '40s. Stations that crept up beneath the Portland outlet were WDAY, KVAI (Amarillo) and CJIB in Vernon, BC. ABC, in the '40s, was more difficult. KGO-810 and KEX-1190 both were, if I remember correctly, 7.5 kw. By 1948, when I was particularly interested in Jim Hawthorne's 10:30 to 11 p.m. show, neither station would carry it, except for KEX on Saturday night only, particularly disappointing since they both had increased power to 50 kw and were equally dominant. The most reliable reception of the Hawthorne show came from KTKC-940, in Visalia --- but in mid-season, KFRE bought 'em out, shifted from 1340 to 940, and dropped ABC to run CBS shows. Drat. I really had to fight QRM on weeknights to hear Hawthorne --- sometimes on 790 KVOS in Bellingham and/or KECA in Los Angeles would be heard, but KGHL in Billings caused QRM. Later, when KWIL, 11 miles away, shifted from 1240 to 790, I lost any of those stations, but by then Hawthorne was no longer on the network. XERB, Rosarito Beach, with its mail order XERF/Border Baby style programming, and KING in King County, Seattle, battled. Some nights one would dominate, other nights it'd be the other. It didn't have to be auroral, which occurred much more rarely in the Pacific Northwest than in the Midwest and East Coast at similar and lower latitudes. Back in my early days of DX'ing, CBK-540, WSM-650, the Chicago clears, WMAQ, WGN, WBBM, WLS/WENR sharetimers, had the frequencies all to themselves, as did WBAP/WFAA-820, KRLD-1080 and WOAI-1200 in Texas. Less often but still regularly heard, even on an old Philco upright living room machine, were WNBC-660, and WCBS-880. WJZ-770 couldn't make it through KOB, which was operating temporarily on 770 because it got forced off 1030. WHO-1040 was also easily heard from September to May. WHAM-1180 was rarer, and occasionally WWVA-1170 would slip through KVOO's powerhouse signal. Even after Bellingham, San Jose and San Diego came on 1170, KVOO still dominated. WCAU-1210 was easily heard at night, WBZ-1030 less often, but I recall hearing 'BZ one afternoon in full daylight in Corvallis, a little after sunset in Boston, of course. KYW-1060 was heard regularly until CFCN in Calgary moved up from 1010 to make way for CBX. I still recall the CFCN s/off announcement, in which the announcer told us that the next five and a half hours of silence are sponsored by the (so-and-so) mattress company. Sleeping on a so-and-so is like sleeping on a such- and-such. (I made up that last line, hah!) I still remember the TOH, well elocuted rhyme-time line, "Ten-Ten, CFCN." DXing seemed a bit easier then, too, because most of the stations were carrying network programming and didn't go local until TOH and BOH. Often, we'd hear a slight echo effect from another station carrying the same network show. I nearly fell out of my chair one night as I listened to an ABC show from KASH-1600 in Eugene and, at the TOH, after the network ID, KASH ID'd and unmistakably in the background was WAPX, Montgomery. KXEL-1540 in Waterloo used to dominate at night as well, back when they were one of the north-of-the-border stations that did Border Baby mail order type commercials at night. Wonder if the XEL part of the call meant they were trying to sound like XERF just 30 kcs. up. (We'd never heard of kHz back then!) Maybe, maybe ... AM will sufficiently die that all the clutter will be culled away and foreign stations will be easier to hear. About the same time, I guess, the U.S. gets back on an even economic keel --- or CPBS owns all the stations! (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. You probably remember, in the mid 1970's, KDWN - 720 - in Las Vegas ran a "DX'er Report" once a week or so. This station was like a local in Northern California - 50,000 watts, I believe. I sent them a reception report and, shortly after, my name was mentioned on the "DX'er Report" - I taped the show - what a thrill - I'll be able to play this tape to my grandkids - except - this may not happen due to the fact that I don't have any kids to produce the above mentioned grandkids (Kevin Molander, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 3945, 2118, Radio Vanuatu noted reactivated 1/7 with Pidgin talk. Still just audible at 2315. Subsequently noted 2/7 at 0500 with good, improving signals. On 3/7 at 0534 was strong with relay of RA’s “Pacific Beat”, running 1.5 seconds behind RA Brandon 9660 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, NZ, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, July NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** VATICAN. Vatican Radio was widely publicized to start running commercials on July 6, but it was unclear whether this would apply to international SW broadcasts. Has anyone heard any ads from VR on SW in the past dekaday? Tnx, (Glenn, July 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Haven't heard anything during monitoring of the regular English and English for Africa broadcasts this week. As far as I know it only applies to FM in Rome. I know CBC R1 did a report on the matter on last Sunday's The World This Weekend, complete with audio of the first commercial. It's 12[.5-18.5] minutes into the July 12 edition, downloadable at http://www.cbc.ca/worldthisweekend/podcast.html (Jon Pukila, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA. ACTIONS AGAINST VENEZUELAN RADIO STATIONS SOON He rejected reports that the elimination of the radio networks comprising more than three radio stations is intended to uproot live baseball or soccer broadcasts. “Every rule has an exception,” Cabello said [caption?] Politics Diosdado Cabello, the Minister of Public Works and Housing and acting director of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), announced that Venezuelan authorities will begin to implement on July 17 or July 20 the first administrative procedures against all the radio stations that have been using the radio-electric spectrum without authorization. The official rejected criticisms against this government move. Opposition sectors have suggested that such measures are intended to hide official corruption, Cabello said. "Investigate into anything you want," he added. The head of Venezuela's telecommunications regulatory agency denied that the government is pursuing monopolization of the radio-electric spectrum. He said that state-run radio stations barely amount to 10 percent in all the country. "Venezuela's Radio Chamber and opposition pundits know that the radio-electric spectrum is concentrated in very few hands. Twenty-seven Venezuelan families control 32 percent of the spectrum," the minister said. The director of Conatel stressed that his speech in the National Assembly was "transparent." Cabello referred to a hearing where he proposed eradicating radio networks. He denied claims that he suggested revoking licenses. Rather, he insisted that he said that the government would open administrative procedures against several radio stations. He rejected reports that the elimination of the radio networks comprising more than three radio stations is intended to uproot live baseball or soccer broadcasts. "Every rule has an exception," Cabello said. Globovisión On the case of private-run TV news station Globovisión, Cabello said "whether they protest or not, we will enforce the laws." The Minister of Public Works explained that Globovisión's broadcast license was awarded to two people and one of them died. Therefore, the Venezuelan authorities are trying to recover the administration of 50 percent of the TV channel. "They know what we want, because the law is very clear. I know them pretty well. They went to Conatel to cry for more licenses to broadcast. And they are right to attack me because I will never talk to them." Cabello accused Globovisión's owners of inciting the government to take the decision of revoking the license of the TV channel. "We will revoke the license if we have to," he warned. Regarding cable television, Cabello said that to be an international channel, the TV station must have at least 70 percent of international production. If a channel does not reach this percentage, then it is not international, as it is the case of Radio Caracas Television International, which only broadcasts Venezuelan programs. "We will monitor those "international stations" in order to verify their compliance with national programming and laws," he said. Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/07/16/en_pol_esp_actions-against-vene_16A2505285.shtml (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, July 17, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. CHÁVEZ PROPONE CREAR UNA "RADIO POPULAR" EN FRECUENCIAS QUE SERÁN REVOCADAS 04:05 PM Caracas.- El presidente Hugo Chávez propuso hoy la creación de una "radio popular" que operaría en las frecuencias de unas 240 emisoras, que según él funcionan "ilegalmente" y cuyas licencias serán restituídas al Estado. Está previsto que a los concesionarios de estas frecuencias radiales les sea abierto un proceso administrativo por no haber actualizado sus datos en el plazo estipulado por la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel), informó AFP. "Estas emisoras, centenares de ellas, están trabajando ilegalmente, y no son pequeñas, la mayoría son circuitos radiales de alcance nacional que no tienen permiso", sostuvo el mandatario en un acto retransmitido por televisión. "Al que no tenga permiso, al que esté violando la ley, (le decimos que) nosotros vamos a recuperar el espectro radioléctrico para ponerlo a la orden del país, a la orden del pueblo", agregó. El mandatario explicó que con las emisoras que recuperen se creará "una radio popular en manos del pueblo". "Si recuperamos esas emisoras, no es para dárselas a la burguesía", agregó, en medio de aplausos. La revocatoria de estas licencias forma parte de lo que el gobierno ha llamado la "lucha contra el latifundio mediático", que incluye además una propuesta al Parlamento, controlado por el oficialismo, para que limite por ley la conformación de los circuitos radiales, es decir, de las asociaciones de emisoras locales que trabajan en conjunto para transmitir a todo el país. Según el gobierno, esta medida impulsará la producción de espacios radiales locales y "democratizará el espectro radioléctrico". Para la Cámara de la radio de Venezuela, la "recuperación" de estas 240 emisoras es "un atropello gigante" de parte del gobierno de Chávez. Fuente: El Universal http://www.eluniversal.com/2009/07/21/pol_ava_chavez-propone-crear_21A2525923.shtml (Via Yimber Gaviria, Noticias de la Radio, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060, R. Nacional de Venezuela via Cuba, 1101- 1130, July 17. Mostly in English with Spanish IDs; talking about how great their president is; songs in Spanish about Chávez; poor with QRM (CRI in English till 1130*, then seemed to be Sichuan PBS-2) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 9430, July 21 at 0600, ``1Africa News`` starts at end of one-hour transmission, but cut off less than a semiminute later for QSY to 13590, which was not announced. How rude! They expect to keep listeners this way? At 0601:30 I tuned to 13590 and found them there with no news, instead promoing text number for contacts; more 1Africa IDs. Next check at 1332 found 13590 still on the air and audible with praise music in English. Lusaka is currently scheduled on 13590 all the way from 0600 to 1900, 315 degrees toward UP Michigan; despite China, Russia and Germany also scheduled at various times amid. ZNBC should be extremely embarrassed that CVC puts out a much more effective external SW service than they do on 5915, 6165, and CVC is not about Zambia at all, your average listener not even knowing whence it emanates. As with any `guest broadcaster` arrangement, Zambia should have made it contingent upon CVC donating a certain amount of airtime on the transmitter for ZNBC`s own external service. Just another in a long list of countries which miss such a golden opportunity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Voice of the People discontinues 1700-1800 UT broadcast --- The 1700-1800 UT broadcast of Voice of the People via Madagascar on 7395 kHz has been discontinued as of yesterday. The broadcast at 0400-0500 on 9895 kHz is unaffected (July 16th, 2009 - 10:02 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Dear Sir, On July 19, 2009 0106 I received from Akbar Indra Gunawan, West Java, Indonesia the following short message: "Karen.van.Lierop @ rnw.nl is very helpful. She confirmed my reception report on Radio Voice of The People via Madagascar with her QSL card with technical data RVOP sts & Madagascar site in 2 weeks." Regards, (via Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 1570, English gospel huxter dominating the frequency urging us to resist the devil, July 15 at 0616 UT. Listened for a few minutes and could not hear any Spanish underneath from XERF. Could XERF possibly have resumed its old format of gospel-huxtering in English? Or was off the air at the moment. It`s usually atop the jumble or at least audible most of the night, only in Spanish as an IMER public radio station since expropriation a good many years ago. This was on the longwire so did not try to get a bearing on it. Must do so at next chance with a portable. Turned on the radio again at 1219 UT and there on 1570 was a comedy (?) show doing shtick on current events, in Irish-Catholic brogue, soon IDed in passing as Imus in the Morning; and at 1221 with local ID for KZLI, The Breeze, which is the latest call for Tulsa/Catoosa OK, per NRC AM Log, 1000 watt daytimer with 20 watt PSRA, nostalgia format. It`s also audible here daytimes via groundwave despite 200 km distance. I see I am not missing anything as an Imus unfan; that kind of `humor` leaves me cold. Re previous report of a gospel huxter in English on 1570 instead of XERF: I checked again July 18 at 0635 UT, this time with the DX-398 portable which has good nulling capability. XERF was certainly on in Spanish as usual, but if I nulled it I could hear the preaching in English. But on the FRG-7 with E-W longwire, I was getting the English station and very little XERF. The LW must be more direxional than I had realized at this frequency. It was late and still didn`t get ID, but the two most likely possibilities, roughly at right angles to Del Río, are: KZLI Catoosa/Tulsa OK, but is supposed to have a nostalgia format and NOT be on the air at night; however we did hear that after sunrise with Imus in the Morning, which is not a musical show, so they could have preachers too. Token website is extremely uninformative: http://1570kzli.com/ The other and very likely the answer is a relatively new station in Missouri, which *is* legally on 24 hours, COL Hollister, address in Springfield, and NRC AM Log says its format is religion: KBCV, 5000 W day, 3000 W night. The NRC Pattern Book of 2006, when it was just a CP, showed night pattern with major lobe NW, minor SE, which means not much of a signal toward Enid, but not in a total null either, which is directly toward XERF. Finally got a definite ID from the gospel huxter on 1570 in the null of XERF: July 20 at 0557 UT, EWTN promo, i.e. Catholic programming, 0559 ID as KBCV, mentioning the Ozarx. EWTN affiliates are usually Catholic-only, but did not take previous preaching heard as especially Catholic. ``Keep Blessing Catholic Virgin``? Should check if this SW Missouri station is // WEWN on the other term abbreviated SW. Then checking listings, I am not 100% sure the EWTN promo came from the same station, as there was QRM. The EWTN website http://www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm.htm does not list KBCV as an affiliate, but only two others on 1570: KPIO Loveland CO, and WISP Doylestown PA. KPIO nightpower is supposed to be only 18 watts, and WISP 900 watts, so I still think KBCV is more likely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710 Russian speaking station --- So has no one ever knocked on their door or contacted them directly yet? Of course that could be counterproductive DXwise if it spooks them. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, July 15, IRCA via DXLD) 1, There is only a Mount Vernon, WA PO box # on the web site. No street address. No listing for it or Russian Christian Radio in several directories I tried. 2, The voice mail is in Russian. A contact who speaks Russian was going to call them and try to speak to someone but no word on that yet. 3, I did write them requesting info. This seemed to be followed by two DXers (one in BC, one in OR) reporting significantly decreased signal strength. I do not know if Pat Martin ever sent a report to them. 4, No, as far as I know, no one has ever gone to the front door of the home housing the transmitter (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, 12225w 4719n, ibid.) Good Morning, The Russian speaking station on 1710 kHz in with good signal at 1127 UT. Choir singing. Very deep fade outs every couple of minutes (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, JRC 545 ewe NW, July 15, IRCA via DXLD) Also noted here this morning, much better than usual lately (Steve, NE Oregon, Ratzlaff, Bend, ibid.) Noticed that I was getting fair audio, with deep fades on 1710 (closer to 1709.992), // and a few seconds ahead of the internet feed at http://www.radiomv.com All this well before LSS up to 0345 UT in Victoria. PS: Anyone talk to anyone at the station, or wangled a QSL? (Walt Salmaniw, BC, UT July 21, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Who's on 5110 around 2130 UT? Hello DXers, I hear a very weak carrier on 5110 kHz as I'm writing this email, 2155 UT, been trying to get anything out of that carrier but in vain. Any ideas ? Thanks (Tarek Zeidan, Aalborg, Denmark, July 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That's probably WBCQ's "Area 51" programming (Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, ibid.) Tarek: This could be WBCQ in Maine or possibly a yet to be determined service from Europe, Africa, etc. Perhaps Glenn knows this one (Noble West, TN, ibid.) 5110 0000-2400 3-5,9-11 BCQ 50kW 245degr Eng USA BCQ or IF spur of your rx (+900 / +910 kHz ) of nominal 6010 or 6020 kHz ? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) I may be wrong, but doesn't WBCQ use some sort of "suppressed carrier" transmission technique on the 5110 broadcast? (Mike, Louisville, KY, ibid.) Mike: This transmission is in Compatible Upper Sideband mode as per DXLD listings. See The World Of Radio Site for an explanation of this from Glenn himself. Hope this helps, 73's, (Noble West, TN, ibid.) Area 51 supposedly does not start until 2200 on Sundays, later on weekdays: http://www.worldmicroscope.com/ And 2130 is about two sesquihours before sunset in Maine (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Tho WBCQ scheduling should always be taken as approximate (gh) Weird psy music on 5110 kHz. Good Evening to both CumbreDX and ABDX members! I'm hearing weird psy music on 5110 kHz and I know I may sound a bit silly but it sounds like extraterrestrial music or a melodic kind of jamming. Never heard something like that before! Any idea? May the good DX be with you! This is the most intriguing shortwave DX in a long time! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, 0046 UT July 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Surely it`s Area 51 on WBCQ. See the July 20 schedule at http://www.worldmicroscope.com/ 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 7130, unID 1606 July 15, someone here with light vocal music, probably S. Pacific? (Steven C. Wiseblood, AG5BP, Brownsville TX (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See MALAYSIA: SARAWAK, CHINA; how late is it on? UNIDENTIFIED. 7225 - RE: DXLD 9-052: Glenn, believe you are correct, you must have heard VOA on 7225. At 1304, July 14 heard both VOA (Korean) and Sichuan PBS-2 (Chinese) mixing together on 7225. VOA was // 11740 (which had QRM from R. Japan in Chinese); Sichuan PBS-2 // 6060 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Frequency Pileup --- Hi Glenn, I was tuning between 9200 and 9400 kHz at 2000 UT, 19 July 2009. Whatever stations were heard suffered from a distorted signal covering the entire range. I then tuned a second time to see if I could find the source of the distorted signal, without success. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From my experience, prime suspects are RCI 9515, WWRB 9385 and WTJC 9370. Did you rule any of those out? (Glenn to Ed, ibid.) Glenn, I heard all three of them in my frequency sweep; maybe one of them was the culprit, splashing over. I also ran my R8A // JRC NRD-525 and both produced the same results. Thank you for the feedback. I'll try again to see if I can come up with something (Ed Insinger, NJ, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9495-9500, ute with multiple whining carriers filling this range in a supposedly broadcast-only band, July 15 at 1248 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At first I thought I was looking at a DRM signal, but my Perseus shows 8 peaks centered on 9497 kHz, and extending almost 2 kHz on each side, and very strong at 0610 UT July 22. Any ideas? Some sort of digital mode? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Doesn`t sound anything like DRM to me; clearly some utility intruder (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 15450, weak signal in Asian(?) language, Friday July 17 at 1337. Nothing to account for this in Aoki or Eibi, but I logged the same Saturday July 11, and found WRTH A-09 shows BBC Bengali service at 1330-1500 Saturdays via ``Armavir``, RUSSIA. Now I suppose it is 7 days a week here, or at least more than one. Altho Dr Supratik Sanatani has complained how BBC have been unable to present their shifted Bangla schedule accurately, perhaps someone can read this and tell us if it includes 15450 and on what days and Universal times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bengali/institutional/frequencies.shtml (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 9-052, 87.7 in Washington DC? Possible transcript of lyrics: SI SE ENCIENDE CONTIGO, TU COMPAÑIA TODO EL DIA, SI EN EFE EME, LLENOS DE VIDA, OCHENTA Y SIETE PUNTO SIETE, MUSICA QUE LLENA TU VIDA, SI EN EFE EME, PENSANDO EN TI TODOS LOS DÍAS, SI EN EFE EME VEINTICUATRO HORAS DE SINTONÍA, SI EN EFE EME, LA FRECUENCIA QUE ANIMA TU VIDA SI EN EFE EME, LLENOS DE VIDA, OCHENTA Y SIETE PUNTO SIETE One has to remember that in Spanish two identical vowels, whenever they meet in speech, merge into one. This goes for lyrics, where you have to count the syllables, but also in regular speech. The initial "si" would of course translate "if". (If you switch on your 87.7 FM [which] is full of life, your all-day companion... music that fills your life, if on FM... thinking of you every day, if on FM... around the clock, if on FM... the frequency that animates your life... if on 87.7 [which] fills your life"). In the jingle "87.7" is referred to as a plural noun, characterized as being full of life, "llenos de vida". As I said, this is a possible version, not necessarily the final one. (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Henrik, Why not Sí, en FM, Yes! on FM, rather than if? That could allude to it not being a normal FM station. 73, (Glenn to Henrik, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, maybe I should add that when writing "si" (without an accent), usually translated as "if" I am merely saying that this is the conjunction we´re hearing, not the adverb "sí". However, and as you know, in certain idiomatic expressions such as "(pero) si es cartero", why, yes it´s the postman, one does approach the meaning you are suggesting and this is written "si" without a tilde or a comma. (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Mr Hauser: Enclosed is a postal money order toward your work for the radio hobby community (short-wave radio in particular). I have found DX Listening Digest and World of Radio program to be both timely and very informative. While being a subscriber to [magazines], the service you provide week after week is far superior to these publications which must cover a greater variety of radio communications. Having been a fan of radio since childhood and despite the changes (by the way, not for the better) to this medium over the years at the local, national and international levels, it is still more interesting than television and the internet. Thanks again for all you do! (Robert Gruska, Glendale NY, July 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1470) NOTE: I am well aware that a lot of my logs are of the same stations from one day to the next. This is largely because in my daily routine there are only certain time periods when I can usually squeeze in some monitoring. I too would rather spread these out to different times with different results, but only hope that tracking the erratic behaviour e.g. of Firedrake, RHC, Voice of Indonesia, RTI spurs, etc. will be of some historical interest. I am not the only monitor in such a rut, and believe it or not, do deliberately avoid some re-logs when nothing at all has changed. For example I did not bother to report Russia on 12000 today! (Glenn Hauser, OK, July 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, It seems to me your postings consist of material not just of “some historical interest”, but for me they are of current interest (no matter how often you report on a particular station), as they contain information about the present band conditions, which is always helpful. Certainly others must think I would also fall into the category of being “in such a rut”, but I do attempt to be aware of overposting an item. I tend to do it with the intent that the details in my logs may prove useful to a listener in another location who is not as fortunate as I am here in Calif. with my great conditions, primarily for Asian reception. I was pleased recently when you were able to hear the Voice of Malaysia after I had reported on it several times. Aside from the pleasure I get from just hearing a station and then reporting on it, it’s also nice to see other that have been able to duplicate my logs. So please do not feel any constraint about your postings. O’yes, I promise not to post any more Laos receptions on 7145 for at least two full weeks, hi. Keep up the good work! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ HARRY HELMS` QSL GALLERY http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/qsl-card-gallery.html From there you can read the rest of Harry`s blog about hiking, ghosts towns, publishing, coping with terminal cancer, nasty neighbors and moving back to Las Vegas (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PASSPORT TO WORLD BAND RADIO® IN LIMBO As with any good recipe, a range of ingredients has to come together if a reference book is to succeed. Solid content is, of course, essential. But in recent months other considerations have had an increased bearing on the future of Passport to World Band Radio®. So it is that the 26th Edition of Passport to World Band Radio® is being held in limbo. Despite this, for now we are continuing to maintain the WorldScan® database and uphold all proprietary material. Among other things, this should help allow for an orderly return to production, under IBS' aegis or otherwise, should conditions allow. For Passport® readers and our small team, alike, this is a seminal moment. After all, Passport to World Band Radio® goes back a quarter century and has had something like a million readers worldwide. But the future has its own rhythm that confounds prognostication. There may yet be more chapters to this story. Stay tuned. Best regards, Lawrence Magne, Publisher Passport to World Band Radio International Broadcasting Services, Ltd. mktg @ passband.com http://www.passband.com (via Alokesh Gupta, India, July 17, dxldyg via DXLD) Given the current level of interest in shortwave listening, this is not surprising (Harry Helms, TX, also via, ibid.) That's just about the most inscrutable statement I've ever read! One can only surmise as to the reason(s), but increasing production costs certainly have to be near the top of any list. Unfortunate, to say the least; especially since Magne has been among the strongest proponents of shortwave. The door doesn't appear to be completely shut at this point, so we will all have to just hope for the best. Hopefully, this isn't a harbinger of more bad news as far as the WRTH is concerned (John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Grundig/Eton not buying adverts as much. General malaise at bookstores as they don't take books--maybe returns after 3 months were too high. General advertizing dropping 15 to 30 percent depending in industry (cars, fashion and so on) in the mag trade at least (Dan Say, BC, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Yes what does it all mean? I saw this posted on the DXLD mail list yesterday but it hasn't generated much discussion so I assume everyone but me knows what is going on! What are the other considerations they refer to? Is this management disagreements or perhaps an increasing lack of demand for the book? Cheers, (Mark Fahey, NSW, ARDXC via DXLD) Has the writer spent time in North Korea: "But the future has its own rhythm that confounds prognostication." (Or should that be a friend of Confucius). At least there is no mention of the world economic climate. Do you get DXLD as a digest? I do and quite often it takes a day or two to catch up so that might explain lack of discussion. I still buy PWBR but am not using it as much as WRTH. Regards, (Wayne Bastow, Wyoming, NSW, Australia, ibid.) I would say if anything, it`s good news for the WRTH! I expect that PWBR readers have realised that despite the compilers` best efforts, the annual `blue page` frequency listings, only specifying a few major languages, are inevitably outdated by the time they are printed, more and more so day by day during the following year on the cover, with no attempt to provide any updating, and thus cannot possibly compete with online info. Had some good articles and illustrations, tho (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It depends on how one uses the blue pages. For domestic broadcasters that didn't adjust frequencies every six months, the blue pages were a helpful way to get a quick look at who might be on a given frequency at a given time. When I first got back into the hobby in the mid-1980s (after a 15-year hiatus), just seeing the geographic diversity embodied in the frequency spectrum helped to motivate me to get active. I had purchased Passport before I had purchased my first new shortwave radio (the GE World Monitor. from NYC area electronics chain "Crazy Eddie's"). Nowadays, the availability of instantly-updated spreadsheets and documents provides accuracy and value that can't be matched by a guide updated only once per year, but certainly Passport has been an important resource for my radio listening -- even in the World Wide Web era - for 20+ years (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ODXA, via DXLD) Rumours of its passing are premature but, with the recent announcement from Larry Magne, I guess the bedside vigil is on. When Passport first came out it certainly was like a TV Guide for shortwave radio. The information was quite accurate and the mid-year changes were often anticipated. As broadcasters' schedules cannot be figured out anymore shortwave enthusiasts have to use every resource at their disposal to ascertain what is on a given frequency at a given time. In my capacity of editing a loggings column for the ODXA, I have long been forced to use both Passport and the WRTH, the HFCC and the AOKI files, individual station websites, and Glenn Hauser's DXLD site. With the cost of printing (and more importantly shipping) going up and up and the fact that (in these days of ISO9000) printed material is obsolete as soon as it is printed, we will have to rely less and less on printed publications and more and more on internet related sources. It's just the way it has become. (Mark Coady Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup Shadow Lake Radio Camp Convenor Ontario DX Association Member, NASWA, NASWA yg via DXLD) One would assume that Larry is very likely looking at going electronic, should the figures no longer be there for hard copy versions of PWBR. In any of the three possibilities, gone, hardcopy, electronic, I'd certainly support him (by buying) in the latter two outcomes. Tell you what, though, I'd dearly like to see the hobby in all its forms undergo some voluntary consolidation so that we had fewer but much healthier groups and publications. Remember those wise words about "hang together?" (Lee Reynolds, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Nowadays, one can self-publish (if one wants to) without great difficulty. One of the challenges for the hobby is that there is fragmentation, and the capability of the Internet to enable groups of enthusiasts to coalesce over their common interest will likely continue to fuel such fragmentation. What I find most helpful is to know what the key resources are for the various specializations in the hobby: which lists are best, which people are the most helpful resources, which broadcasters are most interested in engaging with listeners. Those interest groups that do exist then have to sort out what the critical mass is for their continued existence with their current specialties. For example, the ODXA recently transitioned to an electronic format, and has opened up participation to all. The good news is that electronic means such as the e-groups we have can enable us to stay connected in one way or another. By the way, I exchanged e-mails with Larry earlier today, and he has appreciated all the messages of support sent his way (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, July 18, ibid.) I see this in black and white - if the PWBR goes to an eBook fashion, as someone earlier said, and I agree- I would rather see that than the book totally fade away. Let's face it, major newspapers are in many cases going to the web format; with that in mind, PWBR may need to do that as well. 73s's, (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, ibid.) I don't pretend to have any inside answers; however, in the publishing field there are any number of "ingredients" or factors that figure in success, and quality of product (the editorial package) is just one of them. Some other that come to my mind, mostly obvious ones, are increased costs of printing, binding, production; increased costs of distribution, or perhaps the shutting down of vehicles of distribution; and/or changing policies of your major retail outlets. Other factors that have been of longer term, but equally important include a major changing of the marketplace --- some of these affect publications in general -- most print media are suffering -- and some are particular to DXing (it is continuing to die, and the speed at which it is declining advances). As to the somewhat cryptic nature of Larry's announcement, I suspect, simply, that he is still weighing other options beside "ink on paper between two covers." Again, I stress, I have no special inside knowledge, but am merely speculating based on the public announcement. —don (Jensen, NASWA via DXLD) I made the comment on the PWBR website about perhaps changing to a PDF based eBook which can be updated in sections, without having to worry about redoing (and thereby republishing) the whole thing every year. In this economy, costs like that gotta hurt! Perhaps it's time PWBR (and perhaps the WRTH too) went to the eBook concept. It's proved fairly popular in other realms (the Phillybook scanner reference guide by Joe Cardani comes to mind), so why not here? And keep in mind that the WRTH has been making updates available via PDF files for some time now, so it would really be just an extension of an already-accepted concept. Time to bring both pubs into the 21st century, I think 73 (Mike KA3JJZ, ibid.) There are a variety of publishing options out there, but the economics of any of them are likely to be less financially rewarding than the approaches that Larry has historically used. The question then becomes how much work to put into the book vs. how much one would be able to earn on each sale; if the issue remains health-related for key members of the PWBR team, then the challenge of finding and compensating suitable coverage becomes an issue. I exchanged e-mails with Larry yesterday...he's appreciative for all the messages of support and concern that folks have sent his way. (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, NASWA yg via DXLD) Although this "World’s #1 Selling Shortwave Guide!" provides much information about shortwave broadcast schedules and programming, PWBR's main attraction is its reviews of shortwave receivers. These days, fewer shortwave radios are available on the market. Another factor is consumer confusion about whether "world band" is the same as shortwave. (It is.) PWBR is useful and fun to read, and I hope it carries on somehow (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) "You knew that VHS tape was dead when Disney started giving away a free player with a set of videos. Confirmation that shortwave wireless is finished in the Western World comes when one of the two remaining shortwave annuals announces the 26th edition is uncertain." Jonathan Marks, Critical Distance Weblog, 17 July 2009 (via ibid.) The other annual is the World Radio TV Handbook, not strictly a "shortwave," book in that its largest section deals with domestic radio broadcasting by whatever waveband. The WRTH also has a smaller section (in the back, easy to overlook) about international radio broadcasting. This is a vital reference to our profession, but expanded coverage of the television and internet operations of international broadcasters is needed. Posted: 18 Jul 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) WRTH JULY 22 UPDATE; http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTH%20A09%20schedules%20update_July2009.pdf Unlike the May comprehensive A09 update, this is just 3 pages showing additions, deletions, correxions and changes: they missed Ireland via WRN via RSA being on 6225 ex-6220. See above in this issue: ERITREA [non], ETHIOPIA [non], KOREA NORTH [non], LAOS, UK (gh) BOLETÍN CLUB S500 Estimados amigos diexistas, ya ha salido el número 18 del boletín diexista "Club S500" Con un esfuerzo titánico para poder llevarlo adelante ya ha visto la luz el boletín. Esta vez el intentar hacer una pequeña exposición del contenido va a ser difícil debido a sus 72 páginas, más de 30 secciones y más de 200 imágenes. Un boletín cargado de información que de seguro hará vuestras delicias para estas vacaciones de agosto. Contiene entre otros un artículo especial dedicado a las antenas de Pals en Gerona (España) de Radio Liberty (como anexo); el museo de Radio Vaticano; la radio IP con un par de recortes sobre esta forma de hacer radio por Internet; un test a varios receptores de radio; el concurso del Club S500 "La Radio en tu Ciudad"; diexismo de onda media con receptores ultra livianos; el comentario invitado de Horacio Nigro desde Uruguay; webs recomendadas; Jesús Rolando desde Cuba; la radio en prensa con un especial sobre Radio Andorra; las emisiones especiales de Radio Exterior de España; los receptores de la década de los 80; una espectacular coleccion de receptores, los españoles que montaron Radio Pekín; la segunda parte de campaña a favor de la inclusión del término diexista en el diccionario de la RAE; la asamblea general IARU en Croacia; el 75º aniversario de Radio Linares (España); el duelo fotográfico lunar entre Londrés y Moscú en 1966; etc. Y un montón de cosas más a las que se añaden las "Historietas de la Radio", "Radio Noticias", "Las Escuchas" con el espectacular José Miguel Romero al frente. Todo un boletín, que esta vez alcanza la categoría de revista por su extensión, contenido y su color en las imágenes QSL y gráficos comentados. El archivo en formato PDF tiene un peso de unos 18 Mb, y lo podéis descargar desde la página web del Club en http://www.upv.es/~csahuqui/julio/s500/ o bien acceder a dicha web, poniendo en cualquier buscador (del tipo Google) las palabras "Club" "S500". Ya sabéis que aceptamos gustosos todos los comentarios, colaboraciones y por supuesto las críticas que deseeis hacer. Tan sólo desear que disfrutéis del recién salido número 18, y recordad que el próximo será en enero de 2010. Postdata: No perderse la web de mujeres de diexistas en contra del diexismo, ni la verificación de la Guardia Civil española (Emilio Sahuquillo Julio Martínez Club S500 Alacuás & Valencia (España), July 16, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) Huge 72-page bulletin dated August, almost all in Spanish, lots of QSL and other illustrations. Many logs but disorganized. Could take two sesquimonths to read it, which fits as a quarterly. Quotes a few things from DXLD in English (gh, DXLD) NUEVA DIRECCIÓN DE PROGRAMAS DX http://programasdx.com/ Nos vemos obligados a cambiar la dirección de las páginas de Programas DX, por cierre del servidor GeoCities. Las direcciones antiguas estarán disponible, sin enlaces, hasta que cierren el servidor en octubre, y se redirige automáticamente a la nueva. Nueva dirección de los diferentes programas: Programas DX del Ayer...: http://programasdx.com/delayer.htm Equipo de edición: http://programasdx.com/editores.htm la Rosa de Tokio: http://programasdx.com/larosadetokio.htm Rincón Diexista: http://programasdx.com/rincondiexista.htm Amigos de la Onda Corta: http://programasdx.com/amigosdelaondacorta.htm Espacio Diexista: http://programasdx.com/espaciodiexista.htm Aventura Diexista: http://programasdx.com/aventuradiexista.htm El Mundo en Nuestra Antena: http://programasdx.com/elmundoenantena.htm Noticiero Diexista: http://programasdx.com/noticierodx.htm Antena de la Amistad: http://programasdx.com/antenadelaamistad.htm En Contacto: http://programasdx.com/encontacto.htm Historias de Radio: http://programasdx.com/historiasderadio.htm Frecuencia al Día: http://programasdx.com/frecuenciaaldia.htm Actualidad DX: http://programasdx.com/actualidaddx.htm Sintonía Internacional: http://programasdx.com/sintoniainternacional.htm Esperanza DX: http://programasdx.com/esperanzadx.htm El Rincón del Diexista: http://programasdx.com/elrincondeldiexista.htm Radioactividades: http://programasdx.com/radioactividades.htm Viva Miami: http://programasdx.com/vivamiami.htm Las direcciones de "Boletín DX Radio" y "El Castor Mensajero" no han cambiado. Se ruega la máxima difusión. Cordiales 73 (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, July 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) K4KYV says converter: AMFONE.NET Forum topic Ham Radio Film « Reply #8 on: October 04, 2007, 10:15:44 AM » Quote ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote from: W1UJR on October 04, 2007, 07:10:06 AM How does one "capture" or download the video stream? I'd like to keep a copy of that on my system. Check out this website. http://vixy.net/ Simply paste in the url of the YouTube video. If and when it works, it will convert it to Flash Video format on the site, which you can then download and save to your hard drive. You will need software that converts the .flv file. A free download is linked to the site. It doesn't always work 100% for me, and it can take a while to convert and download. Sometimes the video stalls at about 91% complete and I have to cancel and start over. It can be a PITA, but I usually can eventually get a complete download. So far I haven't been able to get it to work on anything but YouTube, but it's supposed to work also with Google Video, Reuters.com, Yahoo! Video, MySpace and BBC news clips. Quote This service allows you convert a Flash Video / FLV file (YouTube's videos, etc.) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online. It is using a compressed domain transcoder technology (outline in Japanese). It converts FLV to MPEG4 faster and less lossy than a typical transcoder. When you submit an url, it will download and convert to the video format. Then you can download the converted file. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBGIdf0VjQ4 It`s "Radio Hams" by, Pete Smith Specialty for, MGM second half of 30`s. (via Frederic Jodry, DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS See also CHINA: CW ham radio; USA: WQXR: ESB ++++++++++++++++ THOSE LATIN MELS Re previous discussion of Manuel Zelaya going by the nickname Mel --- How about the US Senator from FL, Mel Martínez? No, his real name is Melquíades, per Wikipedia, so no wonder he goes by Mel! That name also appears in the 2005 film ``The Three Burials of Melquiades [sic] Estrada`` http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419294/ But I digress (Glenn Hauser, OC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SONIA WHO?? I just can`t believe it. This far into the Sonia Sotomayor story, numerous anchors are still stumbling over her name. Since I mostly watch public TV, I have noticed this from Judy Woodruff, Charlie Rose, and Jim Lehrer. It seems none of them have the faintest idea how to pronounce anything phonetically in Spanish. It`s that final O that throws them --- they want to make it into an E or something, and not necessarily stress it. Add to the list various senators, starting with Spector. Durbin makes it -er; on MSNBC, David Shuster does the same. Sen. Kohl called her ``Sutomayor``. A hearing testifier in her favor who supposedly knows her, Patricia Hynes of the NYC bar association, repeatedly made the A in Sotomayor long, which is impossible in Spanish. So did Dick Pryor on OETA. George Tomek, OETA ONR anchor, keeps saying ``SotomaYERR``. On NPR a reporter in New York called her Sandra! Will a lightbulb ever flash over their heads, will these Anglos ever have an epiphany, realizing that you don`t have to learn each Spanish name individually; just learn the absolutely regular and simple phonetic scheme of the language, and then you can pronounce anything - -- well, at least if the accents are included. BTW, soto means a thicket, grove or copse, and mayor means larger. Make of that what you will. We can only hope a case will soon come before the SCOTUS making it a capital crime to mispronounce Spanish names (Glenn Hauser, OK, July 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPONS I stopped at the main post office here Columbus last week to buy some IRCs. I was told by the clerk that they were out and will not be ordering any more. She gave me the phone number for UPS Consumer Affairs. The gal there confirmed that the UPS has made a decision at the national level that they will not longer sell IRCs in the US. I usually use mint stamps but some countries are not available through the one or two sources I use. I guess I will have to start using $1 bills instead. Buy the way if you have any IRCs now they are expiring in December so use them or lose them (Mike Rohde, OH, July 20, NASWA yg via DXLD) Canadians can still get IRCs but at $3.50 each it's a lot cheaper using $1 US Greenbacks (Mark Coady, Ont., ibid.) /begin tongue-in-cheek capitalist pig mode Score one for good old capitalism: Greenbacks *are* the de factor IRCs now. Who needs steenking postal service bureaucrats to design and administer an IRC system? Just piggyback onto that universal currency...the US dollar! /end tongue-in-cheek capitalist pig mode (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ENGLISH ON 6540, SPUR? === 2 x IF IMAGES Hello DXers, checking some volmet stations I found a station in English on 6540 around 2230 UT, sounded like a spur. Any ideas which spur is that? All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tarek, Probably not a transmitted spur but a receiver-produced image of Romania on 7440, English 22-23. You really need to check +900 kHz when you hear something weird out of band. What receiver are you using? 73, (Glenn to Tarek, ibid.) Hello Glenn, Thanks for the tip, I'm using Sangean ATS 909 with a wire. Not a long one but it helps. All the best, 73s (Tarek, ibid.) Maybe helps too much, overloading the receiver, causing the images. I also have an ATS-909 (and a clone DX-398 which I use more), and seldom have such a problem, but usually operate portable with only whip, or with a short wire clipped on. I looked up the spex and it is double-conversion, first IF 55845 kHz, second IF 450 kHz. That minimizes but does not eliminate the possibility of -900 kHz images showing up with extremely strong signals. You should be able to match 6540 with 7440 under same conditions 24 hours later if you did not manage to do that in time today. I`m sure that would not be strong enough here to duplicate. But I do get an image on 490 kHz of my strong MW local on 1390, so it can happen. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Re: CAT-KENWOOD=ETON It sounds like Lucky lives up to its name...It's "lucky" to have such a patient owner. :-) My experience is as a dog owner. In the 1970s and 1980s, my German Shepherd/Collie "Teddy" used to do an imitation of the RCA Victor dog whenever the IS for RAI or Radio RSA (both chirping birds) came on. Nothing else seemed to interest him. I guess he wasn't into cold war politics. From 1995 I had a Boxer/Lab German Shepherd mix named Shadow, who got her name from the fact that as a puppy she stuck to me like glue and was inseparable from me. I would listen to CHUM-FM's Theater of the Mind on Sunday nights. Any time they played episodes of "The Shadow", she would get excited and wag her tail whenever the line "the Shadow knows!" was spoken. She also had a thing for the HCJB IS. She lost her hearing during the last three years of her life...at that point she limited her DXing to sleeping at my feet or beside me on the sofa (Fred Waterer, odxa via DXLD) SPECTRUM INVENTORY LEGISLATION Here's the best writing yet on the spectrum inventory legislation: http://spectrumtalk.blogspot.com/2009/07/spectrum-inventory-bill-moving-through.html (Benn Kobb, DC, July 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CENTROS EMISORES LOCALIZACIÓN DE CENTROS EMISORES DE ONDA CORTA SHORTWAVE BROADCASTING SITES LOCATOR http://www.qrz.com/database/XE1JLW Favor de reenviar este enlace a tus contactos diexistas u oyentes de onda corta. Puede serles de interés. Y si tú tienes una página web relacionada con el diexismo, te solicito de favor incluir en la misma los vínculos anotados arriba. Gracias. Please forward this link to your SWL friends. May be of interest. And if you have a website related with SWL, I request for the inclusion of the links listed above. Thank you. Atte. Je-Ma xe1hmw@hotmail.com (Jesús Martínez Miranda, Mich., via Santiago San Gil, DXLD) This may or may not be of any interest. This list has some very strange entries, e.g. for VOA sites which do not exist (tho some could really be FM relays). Also has some photos and audio clips inmixed. 73, (Glenn Hauser, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) HUMAN ANTENNA - WHAT THE HECK? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Being only a casual FM DX'er (and even less sporadic (pun intended) TV DX'er), I use minimalist equipment. For FM, I use a set of generic rabbit ears and a used Accurian HD FM receiver. I have noticed a VERY unusual phenomenon while DX'ing Tropo on FM. I noticed it for the first time, last summer. I was hearing a weak station and I grabbed one of the dipoles to reorient the antenna, with my left hand. The signal jumped from say a level 3 on a 10 point scale to about a 7 or 8. Cool, I thought! I tuned to another weak station and I reached over again to see the same effect but I used my RIGHT hand. Guess what? Very little improvement. I then touched the dipole with the left hand and tremendous signal increase. What is going on? Is it some rare metal in my way to expensive wedding band? Does my heart double as a pre-amplifier? Did the aliens that kidnapped me inject something in me while I was on that UFO? :) I know that there is a logical explanation melded out of human physiology and (radio) science but what is it? Why does my left hand "work" and not my right? Thanks - just curious. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, July 17, WTFDA via DXLD) Probably body capacitance. Would you mind coming to my house and stand on the roof a while? (Glenn Boche, South St Paul, MN, CM1160A @ 35 feet, CM4251 @ 15 feet, ibid.) Thanks Glenn; Body capacitance, I think that I have heard of that term / phenomenon before. It's just odd that my left hand works better than my right. Stand on your roof? Sure but I don't come cheap and refuse to hold on to the 35' high antenna. 73, (Dave in Indy, ibid.) Try touching the antenna, stand on one foot and extend your other arm out as far as you can, and hold your mouth open.. you can adjust directivity by moving your mouth and tongue into other positions, and put some aluminum foil on your head like a cap. Also get someone to video this technique and post it on Youtube. ;-) (Randy Zerr, FL, KW4RZ, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Question about IDs on DTVs and LPTVs Doug, Scott, or somebody has probably addressed this in the past, but I don't remember. Are DTVs required by FCC rules to put station IDs in the PSIP data displayed by TVs and converters? Are they required to run on-air IDs at the TOH? Are analog LPTVs still required to run TOH IDs? (Danny Oglethorpe, WTFDA via DXLD) I don't think we have. Most stations put their callsigns in the "short_name" field of the "Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table". On the Insignia DTV box, the contents of this field show up above the word "Signal" and below the RF channel number when you go into Setup, Manual Tuning (among other places, if I recall properly. I stole the antenna off my DTV box to mess with the XDR-F1HD I bought from Mike last week; gonna have to get around to making a few more coax jumpers). However, this is NOT required by the PSIP standard. A65/C simply says "The name of the virtual channel,..." (with the rest of the paragraph explaining the character table to be used) You can legally name the virtual channel anything you want. WCBI-4 in Mississippi calls theirs simply "CBS". (frustrating!) Looks like most ION stations do the same thing. The only legal ID requirement for DTVs is the same one that applied to analog stations: a TOH ID aired in the actual video and/or audio. The standard does carry a requirement to use a "Transmission Signal ID" ("TSID") which is unique to each station. You might say it's the DTV equivalent to the RDS PI code, except that use of the proper TSID is mandated by the ATSC standard. (and by reference, the FCC regulations) Unfortunately, no consumer receiver I know of will display the TSID. TSReader (PC software) will display it, but you need either a USB DTV tuner or an expensive professional demodulator. (the USB tuner route is actually well within the financial reach of most DXers, but at least in my experience compatible tuners aren't all that sensitive.) The full-power legal ID rule applies by reference to LPTV stations that originate programs locally. Other LPTV stations (and translators) are held to a different ID rule that allows the station to be identified in Morse Code by either shifting the station's frequency slightly or amplitude-modulating the aural signal. Either mode cannot be decoded on a regular TV. (but can if you have something like a R7000 that will tune TV channels in SSB mode) I'm not entirely sure how the FCC intends to apply this to digital LPTVs. ``My reason for asking concerns KHPK-LP-3, which is a *digital* LPTV in the DFW area. I had the station again this morning. They produced continuous (mostly perfect) video from 0845 to 0915. My Zenith DTT- 901s don't show any data except "3-1". Nor, did KHPK run any kind of ID (supered text or otherwise) at any time.`` Keeping in mind that I'm not a lawyer!, I'm pretty sure not showing the callsign in the PSIP is legal, but not IDing on the video or audio itself is not legal (but remember, the ID must be either video *or* audio. Stations aren't required to do both). The standard does call for a short_name -- I believe it's technically illegal to have *nothing* in the field. Though I'd imagine seven spaces would count as *something*... ``I never thought a 300 watt LDTV from 187 miles away would become such a common catch. TV DXing has changed.`` Your recent LPTV Es catches are pretty amazing. As are the South and Central American 2 (and 3) Es reports from the Northeast, and Saul's Nicaraguan FM report, and all the DTV Es. I think we all knew TV DXing was going to change with the end of analog. I don't think any of us thought it would change this dramatically (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA via DXLD) WE NEED MORE SENSITIVE DTV TUNERS To anyone's knowledge is any place designing a next generation of more sensitive DTV chip? Or a special PSIP "reader"? It's pitiful how strong a station still has to be to decode when its coming in. The hobby could become a lot more interesting and fulfilling with a better chip. I know some people who would pay a premium price for one. Thanks, (Jeff Kadet, IL, July 15, WTFDA via DXLD) Adding some Line TV amps should help. (-John L., Muskego, WI, ibid.) Line TV amps are just for compensating for line loss. The signal-to- noise ratio on the DTV's is already fairly high. They just won't decode even with a decent SNR. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) Nope, already tried that. IF you are within 40 miles of a full power DTV, the line amp kicks in too much signal, the DTV decoder chip sees it as multipath interference and shuts the entire box down - in other, words, nada. Everything you had in is suddenly gone, even your locals. My antenna installer colleague and I have gone around in circles about this. Colorado Springs stations are 105 miles from us - we can get their signals about 60% of the time, but rarely a decode. The signals will sit there for hours at 30-40% on the Zenith and Insignia boxes (Jim Thomas, Colorado, ibid.) One thing to keep in mind is that the "signal meter" on the LG Zenith/Insignia box not the signal level meter we are used to. It's more of a bit error rate meter than anything else; the lower the bit error rate, the higher the meter reads. I think LG blew it when writing the algorithm for the signal display. It will display signals just into green when the signal is actually so weak that there is no hope of it ever decoding. Moving the antenna doesn't change the signal reading until the bit error rate starts coming down. It's VERY frustrating. It's as if the first stage of the signal level meter simply shows the presence of a DTV signal, and has no relation to the strength of the signal. If I had designed the meter algorithm it would have an indicator that a DTV signal is present, a bar for actual signal strength (based on AGC), and a bar for "signal quality" (based on bit error rate). I think this would have been much more useful, even for the average consumer who is trying to get these STBs to work with rabbit ears. On the issue of sensitivity, I think the LG box does fine. I consistently get perfect pictures from all of the Louisville and Cincinnati DTVs (at about 70 miles), which is something I couldn't always do with the analogs. I use a Motorola low noise 15 db "drop amplifier" in the system, with no apparent problems from my locals, 3 of which are within 5 miles of my location. I can and have seen DX on the first adjacents to my locals. That's not so say that a better box wouldn't be welcome (Girard Westerberg, http://www.DXFM.com Lexington, KY, ibid) My thoughts exactly, Jeff. If the DTV receivers don't improve, I might just give up on TV DXing. I have seriously considered designing a PSIP reader. It's the only part of the signal we care about and it's just a few bytes of information. I don't know how easy it is to obtain the DTV chipset. I think I will tear apart my crappy Apex STB and see what's in there. If I can tap into the DTV packet somehow, grabbing the PSIP header should be simple. Maybe the DTV chip has a serial output. I will check into it (Bob Timmerman, ibid.) Hold your horses, guys. I'm in the middle of doing some serious research on this and have already learned a bit I did not know before. For one thing, LG *supposedly* made the best tuner chip - BUT - they messed up by introducing a threshold mechanism in the circuitry in their CECB's, that despite how good the chip might be, the threshold suppresses the signal until the signal strength is sufficient to compensate for any multipath distortion that is encountered on the tuned channel. I have witnessed this first-hand. On the DTV channels from Colorado Springs, which are 105 miles to my south, I have tuned to the RF channel and watched the signal strength jump to 70%, only to immediately drop to 30% before there is any opportunity to grab the PSIP information or even decode. I DO NOT live in the mountains, where I would expect serious multipath issues. I am to the east and have to use the antenna parallel to the mountains to receive Colorado Springs TV. On that note, the mountains may be introducing some second and third images. Further research: I am reading the papers on the Microtune and Sanyo tuner chips. I am under the impression that these two tuners are much less prone to interference from multipath distortion, as well as every bit as sensitive as the LG chip. I have read some independent studies that the Sanyo DTV tuner chip beats the LG chip hands down in decode time and will hang on to a signal longer, even if it is going through major pixelating issues. I will be doing more research on these and if I can locate from internet retailers the particular brands of converter boxes that use the two chips, I will be purchasing some very soon and doing exhaustive testing. Please stay tuned in (Jim Thomas, Colorado, ibid.) I just did an experiment where I fed the 10.7 MHz output of the R8500 through a DC block into a old cable converter box. The cable converter upconverted the 10.7 MHz signal to UHF Channel 26. I fed this into the Insignia box wondering whether the R8500 would squeeze out any more signal. Amazingly, this homebrew setup did work with DTV. However, the best I could do is match the sensitivity of just the box alone. The things one does at 3 am (William R Hepburn, Grimsby ON CAN 43 10 59.4 -79 33 34.5 http://dxinfocentre.com/hepburn/ ibid.) There is one additional thing I have wondered about with the DTV tuners, regardless of the brand/model. Just as the radio techs will check and check and check to get the correct filters (matched) when doing radio modifications (for us DXer types), is it possible that even in one particular DTV tuner brand/model, not all of the tuners perform exactly the same? Perhaps the comparison to the filters is not exactly accurate, but I am left wondering exactly how do the engineers arrive at deciding that a tuner is *good enough*, when the product is a mass produced item? I am almost certain that no two units of the same brand/model are exactly alike. I would expect if you are pulling units off of the assembly line for the Zenith or Insignia box and testing them randomly, you are going to see varying results on the test reports from one unit to another. And what is the RF environment in that testing facility? Are they actually looking for weak signals? Or do they even test them? These are probably questions that can't be answered and are really rhetorical, to stimulate the *thought and analysis* process. One other thing --- while the tuner in the DTV converter box seems to be the hot topic regarding sensitivity, error bit rates, multipath issues, etc., is there anything else in the converter box circuitry that can effect the signal quality and signal level once it has left the tuner? Perhaps this is another question that can't be answered. (Jim Thomas, Colorado, ibid.) For those of you keeping tabs on this thread, I am posting these comments from a broadcast TV engineer in East Providence, RI. There is a thread on the AVS Forums for the best CECB and these comments were posted 6-20-09....... Jim Thomas Colorado >From W1KNE, East Providence, Rhode Island === My experience ---------------------------------------------------------------------- So I don't know if this will provide a little crumb of insight or not BUT, here is some experience we've found at the TV station based on callers with DTV issues. The APEX boxes are junk. We've had at least 5 different callers where the box lost it's channel mapping after it's been programmed. These boxes were on a constant power source, not plugged in. Maganvox boxes are a touch better, however tend to be clumsy to operate. Now onto my own experience. I personally have an Insignia NS-DXA1 box at home and installed 5 of them in the live trucks at the stations I work at. My box at home, however, is starting to fail. It has one major technical glitch, after having it a year and a half, it loses chroma! That`s right, you'll be watching a show and the chroma level drops to the point the TV set loses lock on it and goes to black and white. Change to another DT channel, it comes back. Also the sensitivity is starting to wane on it. I am about 45 miles from the Newton transmitter sites in Boston, and used to get everything except for the low powered stuff (18, 32, 39). It's starting to lose even the higher powered stuff, despite not changing the antenna or pre-amp. (I haven't ruled out a local noise source however on this.) The antenna I am using is a indoor UHF only dual bow tie antenna, the one they used to sell at radio shack years ago. It always performed stellar with analog and it's been the best UHF antenna around. We only have 2 local VHF stations and Boston was to have one, but it switched back to UHF after a lot of people weren't ready for the change. The other issue with the box is the VHF selectivity is terrible with it. We have two VHFs here, adjacent channels, 12, 13., one is running 30 kW and the other 18 kW. The box has a hard time with the one running 18 kW over the 30 kWer. Because I do the transmission engineering of both stations, I've checked them on a spectrum analyzer and there are no issues with the signals overlapping or signs of transmission antenna interleaving. So for my experience, the Insignia gets a 3 out of 5 and doesn't get my vote. So far the best box I`ve seen is the Digital Stream. I have that at work (in fact I have several of them now), and it works at par with the Insignia at work for picking up stations off the master antenna, but doesn't have the selectivity issue I see with the Insignia. While I like the way you can check signal strength easier on the Insignia, i just am overall happier with the digi-stream's performance (via Thomas, ibid.) Let`s put it this way. DTV Converter Boxes are only being manufactured for a limited time. Sales are expected to taper off and eventually a time will soon come that they will no longer be making DTV converter boxes. DTV Converter boxes are mainly for people who don't want to buy a new TV set right away. I expect perhaps a year from now nobody will be making DTV converter boxes anymore. I am sure we have some DXers who love electronics and love to tinker. I expect in time a DXer or 2 will design a custom box that`s sensitive and very well acceptable as a DX receiver more so than just your regular DTV converter box. Eventually someone will be able to start a small business and manufacture such devices out of the basement of their home and take orders from DXers and even some of the dealers who sell DX equipment just like some of the homebrew Medium Wave Loop antennas that were designed by some well known DXers (John L., Muskego, WI, ibid.) I expect perhaps a year from now nobody will be making DTV converter boxes anymore. There might still be a market for converter boxes in Canada and Mexico, so may be no more improvements, but reissues of the same old boxes. Wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) Didn't somebody on this list say the DS box does a poor job with DX? (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) Danny, I believe I've posted a few comments about my experiences with the Digital Stream CECB (DTX9900). Overall, if I were an average DTV viewer (not a DXer), I think I might go for the DS unit over the Zenith/Insignia unit. The DS does provide a better program guide than the Zenith/Insignia unit, plus it automatically stores a station, plus the subs, once it decodes, whether it was initially found via manual RF channel number entry, "UPDATE" scan ("EZ Add" on the Zenith / Insignia) or complete "RESCAN" ("Auto Tuning" on the Zenith/Insignia). But this is where the DS unit drives me crazy for DXing. Once it decodes a station, it AUTOMATICALLY stores the station's info, including the RF channel and the virtual channel, and now when you want to manually search for other DX stations, you've got the receiver linking back to these previously decoded stations. This is similar to the way the older RCA ATSC11 stored all previously decoded stations, but simply starting an auto scan on the ATSC11 (5 or 6 seconds) would completely clear all the previously stored station information. It's not that simple with the Digital Stream. The only way I've been able to completely clear the stored channel listings on the DS is to perform a COMPLETE "RESCAN" with the antenna disconnected from the unit. Am I missing something here Another thing I do not like about the Digital Stream for DXing is that you cannot bring up a "Manual Tuning" screen like you can with the Zenith/Insignia. The DS allows you to manually enter the RF channel number, but then you have to bring up the signal meter (bar and numeric readout) to see if there is any signal. Then when you want to move to another channel, you must first remove the signal meter screen before moving to the other channel. Then after you move to the next channel, you then have to once again bring up the signal meter. Also, the DS signal meter is not nearly as quick to respond to changing signal strength/quality like the Zenith/Insignia. The signal bar on the Zenith/Insignia needs to be up around one third of the way before the DS signal meter starts indicating any signal at all. As for actual weak signal decoding, I would still have to give that award to the Zenith/Insignia CECB over the Digital Stream CECB. I've been doing some side-by-side testing again this morning (virtually dead band conditions) and with some very marginal signals from stations around 60-100 miles, the Zenith is beating the Digital Stream or the two units are virtually even. A few times, the Zenith has completely decoded a station while the Digital Stream was still looking for the station. I will say, that once the two units have decoded a station and then the signal drops below the decoding stage, the Digital Stream will hold the previously decoded video display several seconds longer than the Zenith. That's my 2 cents. Your experience might be completely different (Steve, Indianapolis, IN, Rich, ibid.) Last night I left the Zenith and the DS stb's both tuned to RF 24 with antenna to the south, which would be receiving KRDO-DT 13 Colorado Springs, at 105 miles away. When I went to bed, the Zenith was showing about 30 % with no decode. The Digital Stream was showing 15-20 on its meter, with no decode. This morning the DS had decoded KRDO-DT's signal, while the Zenith was still showing a signal but no decode (PSIP) information (Jim Thomas, Colorado, ibid._) Most DXers agree that the Insignia/Zenith boxes are the best for DXing. I use two boxes, one for VHF and another for UHF. During Es season, I also use the UHF box for Es by switching from the UHF antenna to the VHF distribution amp. This arrangement is becoming a little irritating during Es, trying to cover the front of one box or the other at the right time. I want a box that doesn't use the same remote as the Insignia/Zenith boxes. If the ATSC-11 wasn't so big, require a modulator, and run so hot, I would hook it back up. (That old workhorse has some features that I like for DXing. The lack of a signal meter is the worst feature.) Is there anybody on this list who likes any of the new generation converters for DXing other than the Insignia/Zenith? (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) DTV PILOTS REALLY GET OUT After studying my new "DX" landscape, I have come realize that I can 24/7 under normal TrS conditions, I can pickup the DTV pilot tone for WRGB-6 Schnectady at 283 miles (I've never had analog WRGB, I have a local 6), WWTV-9 Cadillac at 296 miles (again u/local), and an assumed CFTM-59 Montreal at 335 miles (are they on yet?). Of course, in reality these are all "assumed". This is just with a coarse scan, I'm sure if I sat on every DTV pilot frequency that I would get lots more in the 300 mile range fading in & out. That's not too bad, as my farthest 24/7 analog audios are/were in the same range (CFJP-35, former WETK-33, etc.) I've also had more practice using these tones to peak the antenna to allow a distant DTV to break through a local. There's no easy visual clues that there's a station underneath the local ready to break through, so the aural clues really help. DTV acts like FM, where the stronger one wins rather than the 'ole AM-mode TV we're all used too...where we see 2 or more stations at same time. Automatically that should cut down on the # of logs. One nice thing though, is that if the DX manages to sneak above the local in signal strength, the local is completely gone rather than CCI'ing like crazy. Though admittedly 2 stations tied seem to result in neither one decoding and one has to be a fair notch above the other, though I don't have a good feel yet for how much. Now, if only those pilot tones carried an ID ! The Euro DXers should have no problems in finding DTV tones from North America during TA skip events. They're maybe not as strong as analog TV carriers, but still get out nonetheless. They may never decode a North American DTV - but who knows, if receivers improve? At the very least, the DTV pilots can be used to indicate possible TA FM openings. PS - I still can't understand why a digital signal averaging 3 S units above the noise throughout the 6 MHz bandwidth (with a pilot at S-9!) won't at least decode the repetitive PSIP ID. It must be possible some day (William R Hepburn, Grimsby ON CAN 43 10 59.4 -79 33 34.5 http://dxinfocentre.com/hepburn/ July 21, WTFDA via DXLD) I am not a DTV engineer or would purport to be one, but in the recent DTV research I have been doing, I have discovered some things about the NTIA *standard* regarding the development of the CECB boxes. It is quite possible that what Bill mentions might have something to do with these standards. I am under the assumptions that in some way, the DTV tuner or the second staging of the circuitry (after the tuner), applies the NTIA standards to the incoming signal. I readily invite any TV engineers/DTV engineers on this forum to share their comments or views in this regard. I honestly would like to understand these CECB boxes better. Here is the list that was mandated from the NTIA for CECB manufacturers.... First Adjacent Channel Rejection Taboo Channel Rejection Burst Noise Co-Channel Rejection Phase Noise RF Dynamic Range Field Ensembles Single Static Echo That's it for the tuner section of a CECB. Other things that were mandated were user interface functions, clock, channel list, etc. ***In my own case, I can observe signal strength on adjacent channels to my locals (RF channels) and they virtually never decode, unless they get strong enough to appear as a local signal. At that point, the converter box will grab the PSIP information, but it takes quite a bit of signal to get channels to actually decode (Jim Thomas, Colorado, ibid.) NIELSEN FINDS MANY HOMES STILL WITHOUT TV, OTHERS USING BOOTLEG ANALOG SIGNALS 07/21/2009 http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=110160 Summary of article- people are STILL watching analog TV when it's available. Seems we're bootleggers if we do so. Personal note- I think it might be a step up in the world to tell people I'm a bootlegger instead of a crackpot who watches distant analog TV (Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) ANOTHER PORTABLE DTV RECEIVER Adding to the recent discussion of portable/emergency/battery DTV options, here's a rather pricey 7" portable that can use regular AA batteries: http://lcddigital.tv/7_tv_digital.html $249.99 is awfully steep. They also have an 8.4" model for $100 more. (Ouch!!) Really, if they can make a CECB that retails for 50 bucks, all you need to add to that to make a "portable TV" is a small LCD screen (which must be pennies in bulk these days) and a DC/battery circuit -- is that really worth another $200-300? I bet the profit margin on these things is way up there. Anyway, this is a company I've never heard of (natch -- there will probably be a slew of "no-name" DTVs coming out this summer and fall), and they don't mention some critical facts, such as whether it has an external antenna connection (pretty much a must for indoor DTV -- unless you live in the shadow of the transmitters, those little built- in dipoles probably won't cut it). Says it runs 3.5 hours on a set of AA batteries, but doesn't say HOW MANY AA's it takes. (I'm guessing 6- 8....that could really add up during a long power outage.) IF the unit were well-made and favorably reviewed, I would consider paying maybe half as much for something like this. But 250 bucks and an unknown manufacturer? I'll keep looking --- caveat emptor (Stan Jones, Orlando FL, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HD RADIO AND HOW IT SOUNDS - AN AUDIO PRIMER. http://www.archive.org/details/AnAudioPrimerOfHdRadioReception (Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) Review of new “portable” HD radio: http://technology360.typepad.com/technology360/2009/07/hd-radio-without-the-wall-wart.html Three on Radio Mag Online: DAB+ in Australia: http://radiomagonline.com/digital_radio/hd_radio/dab-australia-0715/ Arguments for HD Radio: http://radiomagonline.com/currents/arguments-hdradio-0715/ Broadcasters split on power increase: http://radiomagonline.com/digital_radio/hd_radio/digital-power-increase-commetns/ (via Rob de Santos, Columbus, OH, July 16, Swprograms via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING -- DRM see INDIA; ITALY; UNIDENTIFIED 9495 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FCC BPL Further Notice AMENDMENT OF PART 15 REGARDING NEW REQUIREMENTS AND MEASUREMENT GUIDELINES FOR ACCESS BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE SYSTEMS/CARRIER CURRENT SYSTEMS, INCLUDING BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE SYSTEMS. Request for Further Comment and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking responds to a DC Circuit Court of Apples remand of the Commission's Report and Order for further consideration and explanation of its decision. by REQUEST FOR FURTHER COMMENT. (Dkt No. 04-37 03-104 ). Action by: the Commission. Adopted: 07/16/2009 by FNPRM. (FCC No. 09- 60). OET http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-60A1.doc http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-60A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-60A1.txt [Excerpt:] In this Request for Further Comment and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), we address certain issues from the Commission's Report and Order on rules for broadband over power line systems and devices (BPL Order)1 that was remanded by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In the BPL Order, the Commission established technical standards, operating restrictions and measurement guidelines for Access Broadband over Power Line (Access BPL) systems to promote the development of such systems while ensuring that licensed radio services are protected from harmful interference. In ARRL v. FCC, the court remanded the BPL Order to the Commission for further consideration and explanation of certain aspects of its decision. Specifically, the court directed the Commission to provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment on unredacted staff technical studies on which it relied to promulgate the rules, to make the studies part of the rulemaking record, and to provide a reasoned explanation of the choice of an extrapolation factor for use in measurement of emissions from Access BPL systems. As directed by the Court, we have placed the unredacted staff technical studies into the record of the above proceeding and are requesting comment on the information in those studies as it pertains to our BPL decisions. We are also placing into the record certain additional materials that contain preliminary staff research and educational information and were not previously available therein. In response to its remand of a portion of the BPL measurement procedure, we are also providing an explanation of our reasons for selecting 40 dB per decade as the extrapolation factor for frequencies below 30 MHz. We further explain why we believe the studies and technical proposal submitted earlier by the ARRL do not provide convincing information that we should use an extrapolation factor that is different from that which we adopted. We also note the existence of more recent studies that verify the correctness of our determination, although we do not rely on those studies as post facto rationale or justification for our decision. (via Benn Kobb, July 20, dxldyg via DXLD) FCC GIVES BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE A SECOND CHANCE The FCC, chastened by a court order, is once again suggesting standards for Access Broadband Over Power Lines. Can the Commission and BPL's ham radio critics meet each other halfway? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/fcc-gives-broadband-over-power-lines-a-second-chance.ars Broadband over power lines is back. I guess this will never go away until those who want it get their way (via Craig, Denver, CO, WTFDA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Jul 14 1821 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Jul 14 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Jul 15 68 8 3 2009 Jul 16 68 5 2 2009 Jul 17 68 5 2 2009 Jul 18 68 5 2 2009 Jul 19 68 5 2 2009 Jul 20 68 5 2 2009 Jul 21 68 12 4 2009 Jul 22 68 8 3 2009 Jul 23 68 5 2 2009 Jul 24 68 5 2 2009 Jul 25 70 5 2 2009 Jul 26 70 5 2 2009 Jul 27 70 5 2 2009 Jul 28 70 5 2 2009 Jul 29 70 5 2 2009 Jul 30 70 5 2 2009 Jul 31 70 5 2 2009 Aug 01 70 5 2 2009 Aug 02 70 5 2 2009 Aug 03 70 5 2 2009 Aug 04 70 5 2 2009 Aug 05 70 5 2 2009 Aug 06 68 7 2 2009 Aug 07 68 5 2 2009 Aug 08 68 5 2 2009 Aug 09 68 10 3 2009 Aug 10 68 10 3 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1469, DXLD) IS THE SUN MISSING ITS SPOTS? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/science/space/21sunspot.html?_r=1&8dpc Interesting to note that this news is deemed worthy of the general public's attention (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) PREMIER EDITION (#1) OF SPACE WEATHER AND RADIO PROPAGATION PODCAST The new NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast, Edition One, is being released for the public on July 18, 2009. This podcast delves into space weather and radio frequency propagation. The podcast is educational as well as informational. The release is expected by 2000 UTC, July 18, 2009. Details and source: http://podcast.hfradio.org/ Here are the highlights from Edition One, to be released at 2000 UTC, on July 18, 2009: 1. The host interviews Art Jackson, Amateur Radio Operator, KA5DWI. Art is a record-holder on VHF troposcatter, and an enthusiastic participant of the PropNET project. Art has been researching the Spring and Summer sporadic-E (Es) phenomena. He has compiled and written a paper (35+ pages) on 4 years of data (50,000+ 'Catches', 119 calls). Time and continued curiosity have made him decide to add a 5th year to this research. Art has arrived at some revealing conclusions. In Edition One of this podcast, the first part of our interview with Art explores the 2009 Sporadic-E season, and interesting observations from the PropNET project. (Edition Two will continue the interview). 2. The host discusses recent solar cycle activity (or the lack of it), and editorializes on the current status of this new Sunspot Cycle 24. 3. The host provides a review of the last week in space weather and the resulting radio propagation. 4. The space weather forecast of the coming week is then given, as well as the general outlook for radio propagation. I venture that the generally low level of geomagnetic activity leaves the ionosphere in a rather stable state, added to the up-tick in sunspot activity created a path between you and the other stations in your log. We're seeing a lot of great activity such as this. One of the great aspects of having a longer solar minimum is the discovery of all the great propagation that occurs, despite our conception that things would be dismal. In addition to the recent solar activity, this year's sporadic-E appears to have been one of the more active in recent years. In my new podcast, I interview a fellow that has made a scientific, statistical observation of the sporadic-E activity over the last five years' of real-world radio contacts conducted in the PropNET project. -- 73 de (NW7US, Tomas David Hood - Bitterroot Valley of Montana, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Space WX Podcast now on iTunes The 'NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast' is now included in the iTunes Podcast directory (in Natural Science). The link to the podcast on iTunes is: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=324480816 (NW7US, Tomas David Hood, Bitterroot Valley of Montana, Jul 22, ibid.) TROPS -- ACROSS THE OCEAN? Checking Bill Hepburn's North Atlantic maps for this week it seems possible for a tropospheric path that might bring some form of DX to our southeast coast for the coast of North Africa or Portugal/Spain. Fred --[Nordquist, SC] might be in the best spot to try. Maybe that DXer in Portugal will try. Has there ever been reported VHF or UHF trops across the Atlantic. Is there s list of potential FM, TV or any kind of possible target station in that area. Check out the maps; maybe I'm just dreaming (Jim Pizzi, NY, July 19, WTFDA via DXLD) That definitely looks like one of the better setups I've seen for TA trops. The west end instability will be the main issue as to whether sigs can sneak through. There is a Brendan Trophy for the 1st TA trop. I don't believe TA trop has been accomplished yet. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) Doesn't the DXer trying for long haul tropo have to be at a certain elevated level ASL? I believe that's how Shelby [Remington] in [Big Island] Hawaii was able to receive the West Coast via tropo (Fred Nordquist, Moncks Corner, SC, 33.21756N 79.95798W, KJ4BUG Grid FM03AF, ibid.) You never know, Fred. Swing those beams to the east & northeast this week and have your recorders ready. Is C. Dunne on FL's east side? Any others? It would be worth the try (Jim Pizzi, ibid.) I can't address whether there has been any VHF broadcast tropo across the Atlantic. But, I can address 2m (144 MHz). There has been a prize offered for the first complete terrestrial (i.e., not moonbounce/satellite) QSO across the Atlantic. That prize has yet to be claimed -- by any mode. And, it's not been due to lack of trying; there have been some impressive attempts at such a contact. Certainly, there are challenges to getting it done. Only a few spots along the East Coast will work without crossing a landmass. Even the Newfoundland guys are failing. And, along those northern paths, one often runs into some cold, drier air, the death knell for tropo. It seems to me that a Brazil to Africa path might be possible. But, I don't know if there have been any serious attempts at that (Peter, N4LI, Baskind, J.D., LL.M., Germantown, TN, 901-624-5295, ibid.) I think Fred has the best shot over the pond. I agree with Peter about the cold dry air in receiving over the Atlantic. The best at this location by tropo being, 8 CBNT CBC Saint John's, Nfld. verified. OLD ROY (Barstow, Cape Cod, ibid.) I'd be happy to get Bermuda via tropo at 883 miles, but the 2945 mile tropo between Charleston SC and the Azores is quite a stretch (about 450 miles further than the distance between Hawaii and California). (Fred Nordquist, Moncks Corner, SC, ibid.) I am quite confident it can be done. Indeed, it *has been* done: I have clear recollection of a QST article in the mid-1970s written by an American servicemember stationed at Lajes Field in the Azores. This article detailed a tropospheric opening that began with reception from the European continent, and then flipped directions. He specifically reported receiving two New Jersey FM stations. Will have to go digging through my back QSTs and see if I can find it. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) I remember reading that very same article years back at the Falmouth Public Library and was amazed. Maybe he picked it up more than 1 day. Or maybe was mentioned weak signals some days. My memory not like it use to be, but yes Doug that article would be an interesting read (Roy Barstow, ibid.) I recall when in Bermuda in 1993 hearing stations from Boston and Providence via tropo - nothing else stateside though. But that tells me that those along the coast who are able to cash in on coastal tropo ought to have a good chance at Bermuda that way (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Looking forward to seeing that somehow. Is QST indexed in RGPL, if that still exists? Our library decided QST was no longer worth subscribing to. The question is whether the Azores guy knew how to tell tropo from Es. We should examine the evidence surrounding the claim of mode. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) Again, vague recollections only until I find it, but it seems to me this opening continued over more than 24 hours. (Doug Smith, ibid.) Back in the early 80's, I was running a packet digipeater on 145.09 with 25W output to an Isopole 15 feet above ground from my QTH in Holbrook, Massachusetts, 15 miles south of Boston.(2000' ASL). I came home one evening to see a Connect from a packet station with a G3 call (United Kingdom). I hit the reply command, but it only timed out and any chance of QSO was gone (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels early on 13 July. From midday on 13 July through mid-afternoon on 14 July, activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels, with isolated active periods. Solar wind data at ACE indicated the increase in activity was associated with a coronal hole high-speed stream. Solar wind speed increased from 330 km/s at 13/1109 UTC to 569 km/s at 14/0213 UTC. Intermittent periods of southward IMF Bz were observed between 13/1017 - 14/0115 UTC, with a minimum of -10 nT at 13/2347 UTC. Wind speeds gradually decreased to 276 km/s, beginning at 14/2050 UTC and lasting through the end of the period. Geomagnetic activity decreased to predominantly quiet levels on 15 July. The remainder of the period was quiet. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 22 JULY - 17 AUGUST 2009 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during 22 July - 04 August. Quiet levels, with isolated unsettled periods, are expected on 05-06 August due to a recurrent coronal hole. Activity is expected to decrease to predominantly quiet levels during the rest of the period, with possible isolated unsettled periods on 05-06 August and 09-10 August due to recurrent coronal holes. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Jul 21 2301 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Jul 21 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Jul 22 68 5 2 2009 Jul 23 68 5 2 2009 Jul 24 68 5 2 2009 Jul 25 69 5 2 2009 Jul 26 70 5 2 2009 Jul 27 70 5 2 2009 Jul 28 70 5 2 2009 Jul 29 70 5 2 2009 Jul 30 70 5 2 2009 Jul 31 70 5 2 2009 Aug 01 70 5 2 2009 Aug 02 70 5 2 2009 Aug 03 70 5 2 2009 Aug 04 70 5 2 2009 Aug 05 70 8 3 2009 Aug 06 70 7 2 2009 Aug 07 69 5 2 2009 Aug 08 68 5 2 2009 Aug 09 68 8 3 2009 Aug 10 68 6 2 2009 Aug 11 68 5 2 2009 Aug 12 68 5 2 2009 Aug 13 68 5 2 2009 Aug 14 68 5 2 2009 Aug 15 68 5 2 2009 Aug 16 68 5 2 2009 Aug 17 68 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1470, DXLD) ###