DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-056, August 7, 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 1472, August 5-11, 2009 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 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 1473 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 ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, Arcángel, 15475.940 kHz, 1827 UT. Met heel licht spaans gebabbel. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Monday August 3, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 1820-1904, 04-08, canciones latinoamericanas, identificación: "Desde Base Esperanza, transmite LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, por la frecuencia de 15476 kHz", "De Esperanza al mundo", locutora, comentario sobre los infartos en Argentina, menciona: "El presidente de la Asociación Argentina de Cardiología" (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, Escuchas realizadas en casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA [non]. United Kingdom. The BBC is planning special weekly emissions in English for the UK Antarctic base. Test transmissions took place at 2130 hours on June 16 and 21 on 5950 and 7295 kHz via transmitters in the UK and on 7360 kHz from Ascension Islands (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX July 24 via DXLD) See DXLD 9-049. This occurred on 21 June only, and was thought to be a usually not publicised annual event. Where does Rumen get the idea they are planning for it to be weekly? Probably another wild assumption of his. The BAS blogger mentioned the broadcast afterwards: http://alloutput.com/blog/?p=403 (gh, DXLD) Viz.: The week is a mix of precious time off work and traditional fun and games such as the Midwinter Olympics (skiing, ice climbing, races and lots of outdoor fun in the cold), round the base Crazy Golf and lots and lots of watching films and eating crisps. Midwinter’s Day was a special day with Riet pulling out all the stops for the Midwinter’s banquet, our very special Midwinter’s broadcast from the BBC World Service and, of course, the final showing and swapping of our Midwinter presents! (Andy ---, who is communications manager for BAS, at Rothera on the Peninsula until April 2010, Travellin` South blog June 25, via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 1660, R. Esperanza – new station – Address: Volta, e[ntre]/Vesalio y Dubalia, Barrio Esperanza, (B1763) Virrey del Pino (Marcelo A. Cornachioni via ConDig, via ARC SOUTH AMERICAN NEWS DESK Aug 2009, edited by Tore B. Vik, Norway via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 4810, Voice of Armenia, Yerevan, 1800, Jul 26, start of Arabic broadcast. Instrumental version of National Anthem, ID ”Huna idhaati Djumhuriyati Armenia men Yerevan”. Frequency 4810 kHz and postal address announced afterwards (Dmitry Mezin /Signal, Kazan, Russia, on holidays in Montenegro, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. 2368.50, Radio Symban. Not heard at all on August 5. Suspect off the air making adjustments (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ron, You`re correct, Radio Symban not on air last night (Aug 5) and not noted on air today either (Aug 6th) at the various times that I've tuned in the frequency. Regards (Ian Baxter, August 6, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. Radio Australia was audible on 15415, and without co- channel CNR-8 on their maintenance day. And even 13690 was propagating from Shepparton and clearly audible due to RFI 13695 not being enhanced by Es. There was no trace of 17750 though, and CVC via DRW on 17820 (Indonesian) and 17830 (Chinese) were both very poor, although they have been fairly well audible recently. (Noel R. Green (NW England), August 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA. Re 9-055, KHMER ROCK: Very large archive of mp3s from the pre-Pol Pot era here: http://khmermusic.thecoleranch.com/ (Terry Wilson, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Confirmation is coming in that the following people are no longer with CJAD: Olga and Laurie Peter Anthony Holder Cathy Coulombe Rod Dewar Al Gravelle Jake Lawrence Kevin Holden Skip Snair More to follow as it becomes available (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Aug 6, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) Of no concern to SWLs, except that Holder`s CJAD show is also carried on CFRX 6070 after local midnight. Or WAS, since CFRX itself has been mostly missing lately. Holder was expecting to be on for the rest of the week at least per his website, but axual guest/topic info stops without explanation at August 4: http://www.peteranthonyholder.com/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CFRX 6070 not heard at 2202. Has had transmitter problems lately. 6 Aug (Liz Cameron, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Also absent here on chex around 0500 and 1330 August 7 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. The public broadcaster serving northwest PENNSYLVANIA is warning that its impending removal from the cable lineup in London, Ontario could be the last straw forcing it to close down. WQLN-TV (Channel 54)/WQLN-FM (91.3) has already been hit hard by budget cutbacks, including an $800,000 hit in state funding that forced the station to lay off staffers and cut pay for remaining employees. Losing its 1700 members across Lake Erie in London would reduce the station's donations by about 20%, says president Dwight Miller, removing another $150,000-$200,000 from the station's already tight budget. "It would seriously jeopardize our ability to stay open," Miller told the Erie Times-News last week, forcing WQLN to put itself up for sale or to investigate consolidating with other public broadcasters. WQLN says it's investigating the possibility of a fiber connection to Rogers Cable in London to replace the off-air pickup that Rogers says has been unreliable, leading to its decision to replace WQLN with Detroit's WTVS, effective August 18. (NERW notes that Rogers is using the "poor signal" rationale in Ottawa, as well, where it plans to replace Watertown's WPBS-TV with WTVS. But the unfortunate reality for small stations like WPBS and WQLN that depend heavily on Canadian cable viewership is that Rogers and other cable companies north of the border tend to see the U.S.- based network affiliates as largely interchangeable now that the CRTC has relaxed the rules that once required carriage of specific local U.S. stations. It's certainly more convenient and less expensive for Rogers to feed Detroit signals to London and Ottawa via fiber or satellite than to maintain over-the-air reception capability for WQLN or WPBS, and it will take a loud public outcry to persuade Rogers to continue to go to the extra trouble of carrying the Erie and Watertown signals. Will that outcry materialize in time?) (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch July 27 via DXLD) The crisis that threatened to cost two small PBS stations in NEW YORK and PENNSYLVANIA much of their viewer and donor bases was averted late last week. WPBS-TV (Channel 16) in Watertown and WQLN-TV (Channel 54) in Erie faced the loss of their large and loyal audiences in Ottawa and London, Ontario, respectively, when Rogers Cable announced it was planning to replace its over-the-air pickups of those stations' signals with the feed of Detroit's PBS station, WTVS (Channel 56), that's already on Rogers' fiber backbone across much of Ontario. Viewers in both London and Ottawa responded with protests to Rogers, and the Canadian cable giant agreed to keep WPBS and WQLN on its systems if the U.S.-based stations could arrange for fiber feeds of their signals to Rogers' Canadian headends. Both stations announced last week that they'll move forward with those feeds, though they come at a significant cost (north of $30,000 a year) at a time when the stations - especially WQLN - are facing budget shortfalls and cuts in state funding. Still, the loss of the larger markets to the north would have been an even deeper blow; without viewers in Canada, both stations warned that they might have had to pare back operations or even merge with larger- market PBS stations in adjacent markets. (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Aug 3-10 via DXLD) ** CANADA. LOW-POWERED CBC STATIONS IN NOVA SCOTIA, CIRCA 1993 One of my other hobbies, besides DXing, is collecting old road maps, especially those published by oil companies from the 1940s up through the 1970s. Many of these maps contain radio station lists, which are interesting in and of themselves, for radio history buffs. One map in my collection is an official map of Nova Scotia, dated 1993 (I get to Nova Scotia a lot, as my wife is from there). This map contains a listing of Nova Scotia AM and FM stations, as most maps do, but with an interesting addition. On the map itself are about a dozen `boxes` with listings of other AM and FM stations that do not show up on any of the station lists from 1993. I suspect most of these other stations are the low-powered CBC AM outlets, that are just about extinct in eastern Canada. I only know of two such stations left in the Maritimes, in McAdam, New Brunswick on 600 and in St. Stephen, New Brunswick on 990 (which I always tune into when I cross the border), both with 40 watts. This map seems to list several such stations that were in operation in Nova Scotia in 1993. I don`t know if all such stations are listed, but it is an interesting piece of radio history to collect info about these low-powered CBC relay stations on AM. This map lists the following presumed low-powered CBC AM relays. I am guessing about the locations, as the boxes are printed beside the town where the transmitter was located. Quinan (near Yarmouth), CBAF-8 on 600 Sheet Harbour or Canso, CBAZ on 1230. There is a text box listing this station beside both Sheet Harbour and Canso. Larrys River, CBAU on 1370 Arichat (presumed, this is the closest town to this text box) (on southern Cape Breton Island), CBAF-13 on 610 Cheticamp, CBHE on 1380 Wedgeport, CBAF-7 on 990 I have quite a few official Nova Scotia maps but these listings only appear on the 1993 edition, as far as I know (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, http://www.pilgrimway.org/dx Aug 6, IRCA via DXLD) ** CHINA. Was actually able to hear CNR-1 on 9830 on August 5. Very weak, but clearly // 6030 at 1228. CNR-1 not heard on 4460, 5030 and 6175 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake August 5: at 1333 JBA on 13970; 1337 P-F on 9000. August 6: at 1317 poor on 9000, nothing on 8400, which has not been heard at all for several days and presumed off. But has Sound of Hope moved to another far out-of-band frequency as yet unfound? At 1352 could hear FD on 11805 mixing with VOA and CNR1 jamming, also 12040 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. R. Líder, 6140 --- my report to the station came back to me in two parts, two weeks apart. Everything I sent the station was returned except for the reception report. Something new for me (Marlin Field, MI, QSL Report, Aug NASWA Journal via DXLD) Inactive for years. So what all did you send them? I assume you are saying, no QSL either? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. En relación a los acontecimientos --- Hola Colegas, un cordial saludo. He leído y prestado atención a los comentarios expresados a través de lista con referencia a los acontecimientos sobre el cierre de varias emisoras en Venezuela y la ley mediática, también la posibilidad que en Ecuador prosigan el mismo camino poniendo en riesgo la libertad de expresión y por ende la democracia. Pero hoy quiero dar a conocer que estas mismas cosas están sucediendo en Colombia bajo otros nombres y bajo otras figuras; acá existe la libertad de expresión y prensa a conveniencia de la "realidad" que el gobierno quiera presentar y a los medios de comunicación afectos; medios alternativos son perseguidos, amedrentados y acusados con la frase universal que existe en mi país y también excusa para lo que suceda en el mundo, "terrorismo". Retomando una frase, en Colombia sí que existen "latifundios mediáticos"; cadenas radiales como RCN y Caracol poseen mas del 70% del espectro radioeléctrico; así como sus parientes en televisión (que ahora lloran por la llegada de un tercer canal); medios de comunicación que para ellos solo existe la "realidad" emanada de la Casa de Nariño; que se lucran de la pauta oficial, que es efectivamente usada para censurar otros medios. Oportunas licitaciones para premiar con emisoras a políticos de la coalición oficial; que luego de un buen dinero terminarán engrosando las cadenas ya mencionadas. Una radio comunitaria con la cual enarbolan como ejemplo; pero la cual es perseguida y estratégicamente entregada para no afectar intereses de la radio comercial, con lo cual su subsistencia a largo plazo está muy comprometida. Así me cabe que pensar polos ideológicamente tan extremos, son más parecidos que lo que parecen y que las trilladas frases "lucha por libertad de expresión y prensa" son solo una quimera en nuestra realidad latinoamericana. Por ahora me queda disfrutar escuchando la radio, este puente festivo del 7 de agosto donde se conmemora la Batalla de Boyacá que selló la independencia de mi país, mientras otros celebran la genulfexión y perdida de la soberanía recibiendo militares extranjeros; que paradoja, no? Buen DX para todos (Rafael Rodríguez, Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Aug 6, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Allow me to report that during the past 8 days improvements have been made to the transmission equipment and antennas for stations Marfil Estereo 5910 and La Voz de tu Conciencia 6010. The main objective was the installation of a new system of antennas for optimal coverage of the 6010 in Colombian territory and reduce their intensity elsewhere. The design is developed by Canadian engineers who worked with R Logos in Bolivia and the contribution of other donors have been able to do this work which includes the work of more than 15 people since it was necessary to modify the transmitter too. This is intended to provide solutions to the longtime situation presented by the R Mil, Mexico. At 5910 signal improvements at the existing antenna seeks wider coverage in Latin America. Although I was unable to attend and present the activities, I will in the future will be sending a full report about them where I hope to include some photos. We need to ask DX-friends to report these signals which are confirmed with the new QSL and sticker of the station (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Jul 29, same as in 9-055, translated by Anker Peteresen? DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [and non]. Information Minister Lambert Mende said transmission of R France International (RFI) had been stopped across the central African nation Sunday Jul 26, but declined to give further details. "Yes, the signal was cut off," Mende told Reuters, adding a news conference would be held Tuesday to explain the decision. The government shut down one of RFI's six frequencies in May, accusing a reporter of inciting unrest, and had said it may extend the ban further. RFI reported earlier this month that the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a former rebel group, had stopped participating in the implementation of a peace agreement in the troubled North Kivu province. The government has denied the report and CNDP secretary general Kambasu Ngeve told Reuters his party was still involved in the implementation of a peace deal. The government has long criticized RFI's coverage of Congo and expelled its reporter from the country during the campaign leading up to presidential elections in 2006 -- the nation's first democratic polls in over four decades -- which confirmed Joseph Kabila as president. However, RFI continues to report on Congo from its headquarters in Paris. (de http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE56Q55R20090727 Reporting by Thomas Hubert; Editing by Serena Chaudhry, Jul 27, via Z. Liangas, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD)) ** CUBA. RHC, 11760, August 6 at 0509 back in Spanish. You never know from one night to the next whether this frequency will be in Spanish or English. Do they change it on a whim, or just randomly? At least have not heard Portuguese lately after 0500 on any RHC frequency. 9570, CRI relay, August 6 at 1400 opening English hour --- but this is supposed to end at 1400! After a semi-minute, cut audio and after two minutes cut carrier. Meanwhile, I checked 13740 where it is supposed to be from 1400, and that was running normally; two different transmitters involved as already obvious from open carrier on 13740 which starts as early as 1350 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1100 UT Aug 7 at least Radio Habana Cuba in Spanish, fair signal on 11760 13760 15120 15360 kHz. 15120 has a problem with main power, many breaks and carrier drop outs. 12000/11875 not observed in Europe (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Because as I have frequently reported, 12000 is no longer in use, and 11875 had been used only on Sunday mornings for Aló Presidente, abandoned much longer than that. RHC at 0458 August 7: IS on both 11690 and 11760. I knew 11690 was about to go off so listened to 11760 which at 0500 went to vamp music, opening Spanish, Revista Informative de la Noche at 8-11 pm = 0000- 0300 UT, no mention of an 0500 playback. 11760 is the channel which is sometimes in English, sometimes in Spanish after 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO, TV MARTÍ TO CUT 35 POSITIONS Posted on Thursday, 08.06.09 BROADCASTING http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1173493.html Because of anticipated federal budget cuts, Radio and TV Martí will eliminate 35 positions. Also, their programming is about to be changed. Radio and TV Martí will lay off 20 percent of their workforce in a shake-up aimed at retooling the struggling anti-Castro stations in the face of a steep federal budget cut. In its funding request to Congress, the agency that oversees the Miami-based Radio and TV Martí submitted a budget that allocates $2.4 million less on the controversial broadcasts. The U.S.-funded broadcasts, aimed at breaking the information blockade on the island, will change formats in response to the proposed budget cut. Radio Martí will go to an all-news format, and TV Martí will have a five-minute news update every half hour, with other shows in between. Reducción de personal en Radio y TV Martí En vista de una reducción anticipada de los fondos federales que recibe la Oficina de Trasmisiones para Cuba (OCB) con sede en Miami, Radio y TV Martí comenzaron a eliminar esta semana 35 plazas de trabajo, que representan 21.8 por ciento de su plantilla laboral. "Hemos hecho todo lo posible para minimizar los efectos de los recortes en los empleados'', declaró Letitia King, vocera de la OCB. Del total de empleos eliminados, 22 serán despidos, afectando principalmente a presentadores y técnicos de televisión, editores de noticias y presentadores de radio, informó King. El resto se distribuye entre plazas vacantes y empleados que renunciaron voluntariamente a cambio de un paquete. BY DANIEL SHOER ROTH In the face of anticipated budget cuts in federal funding of the Office of Cuba Broadcast (OCB) in Miami, Radio and TV Martí will eliminate 35 jobs, or 21.8 percent of their workforce. ``We have done everything possible to minimize the impact of these cuts on our staff,'' said OCB spokeswoman Letitia King. Twenty-two employees will be laid off -- mainly television anchors and technicians, news editors and radio anchors, King said. The rest involve vacant positions and employees who have volunteered for buyout packages. The workforce cuts take place at a time when the stations, designed to break Fidel Castro's information blackout, get ready for a September retooling of their program format, which has been criticized for its scant reception in Cuba. The staff cuts ``reflect the proposal to change the news format of TV Martí, replacing two evening news programs with news updates every half-hour and giving Radio Martí an all-news format,'' OCB director Pedro Roig wrote in a memo to the staff Tuesday. Roig said this is ``an inevitable and unfortunate situation that in no way reflects on the professional effort of those affected.'' Employee union representative Niurka Fernández Arteaga said the ``layoffs of federal employees are unnecessary. TV Martí can reduce its budget without affecting these people's jobs.'' Regarding the program changes, Fernández Arteaga, vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812, argued that they are ``an excuse to dismantle TV Martí.'' ``The newscast is TV Martí's spinal cord and its very reason of being,'' said Fernández, a TV reporter. ``If the newscast is removed, we have no reason to exist since TV Martí was created to deliver news to Cuba. What news can you deliver in five minutes?'' Four nonunion management employees received layoff letters explaining that, due to budget cuts, their positions had been eliminated. Among these are Marta Yedra, a radio figure in Miami who is a co-founder of the Martí stations, and Ramón Cota, who was El Nuevo Herald's news editor years ago. The rest of the staff is in a wait-and-see mode, said Fernández. Those affected will be notified within about a month. Until then, TV and Radio Martí will offer buyout packages to employees willing to leave voluntarily, King said the OCB cuts are estimated at $4.2 million for the 2010 fiscal year, which will begin Oct. 1. In Miami, employees have protested the large number of contractors used by Radio and TV Martí. The staff of the TV Martí newscast that will be cut includes employees with the most seniority. (via Media Network blog via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, RTV Djibouti (Djibouti), 0310-0332, 8/5/2009, Arabic. Kor`an recitation by man followed by talk. Local vocal music at 0320. Announcements by man at 0332. Audio appeared a bit low at 0332, but could have resulted from announcer's very deep voice. Poor but steady signal (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF- SW7600G, Attic Mounted Random Wire (90') and Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB GLOBAL VOICE MOVES UP END DATE OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTS FROM ECUADOR The end date for international broadcasts from Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador has been moved up as the missionary radio ministry defines new strategies for future outreach. Anticipating the opening of the new Quito airport near the station’s international transmitter site in Pifo, staff members have already dismantled all but 14 antennas and towers. Present shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, Spanish, German and indigenous languages, including Quichua, had earlier been announced to end no later than April 1, 2010. These international broadcasts will cease between September and November 2009. Announcing the earlier closure date of Pifo, Graham Bulmer, HCJB Global’s director for the Latin America Region, said, “These times stretch us, causing us both to doubt and to grow in faith and hopefully drive us to confess our dependence on God. We believe He is guiding us. We hold all things with open hands and pursue understanding of what God expects of us as stewards of the resources of His kingdom.” The Pifo closure will impact Radio Station HCJB’s Quichua Language Service with some programming moving from the shortwave frequencies to local AM and FM channels. Investigations are also being made regarding the possibility of transferring HCJB-2, the ministry’s 37-year-old FM station in Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city), into the hands of local partners. The mission’s newer strategy, begun in the 1990s, has been to reduce its emphasis on shortwave in Latin America while focusing on “radio planting” or assisting local ministries realize their dream of beginning a Christian radio ministry. More than 300 local stations have been helped in these endeavors worldwide, including about 60 in Latin America. HCJB Global also continues to expand its training ministries across the region. “The way people consume media has changed,” said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. “So we have the opportunity to change to delivery systems such as satellite, FM Internet and podcasting. The closing of shortwave in Latin America is strategic because of the planting of local FM radio stations across the region and around the world. These stations are staffed and programmed by local believers who can speak to the culture in their own communities.” Pederson recently told the staff that a high priority for the mission is its initiative for Latin America called Corrientes that launches in October. The coalition of more than 10 Christian organizations involves training Latin Americans for bi-vocational mission work around the world. (HCJB Global Weekly News Update Aug 3-7, via John Wesley Smith, Aug 7, DXLD) ?? Previous reports were that HCJB would *not really* totally end SW from Ecuador, but instead keep going with Quichua (on 49 and 90m?) from the AM 690 site which is not being removed --- but contradicted in the above item. Is this just like the fact that HCJB did *not really* end SW in English, but kept broadcasting `Spotlight` within the Spanish service? And DX Partyline did *not really* end as originally planned, but kept going via Australia, WWCR, WRMI, etc.? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM with VOA: DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** EGYPT. 6255, Radio Cairo, Abis, Egipto, +0105-0120+, señal pobre a regular, en español, hablando sobre los derechos humanos; varias identificaciones como Radio Cairo. Algun cambio involuntario de frecuencia?? 2 agosto 2009 (Yimber Gaviría, Cali, Colombia, Receptor: Sony ICF 7600G, Antena: KA33, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6255 is of course their frequency for Europe earlier in the day, supposedly ending at 2245. Forgot to change frequency? Probably instead of one of the scheduled channels for the 0045-0200 Spanish broadcast, 9915 to SAm, which we recently heard with awful modulation, and 7540 to NAm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.2, Radio Ethiopia (Gedja Dera), 0437-0443, 8/4/2009, Amharic. Horn of Africa music. Poor to moderate signal with fading. Nothing heard on 7110 tonight (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF-SW7600G, Attic Mounted Random Wire (90') and Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Regarding R. Ethiopia: on 8/1 7110 was heard at good strength with 0259.5 sign/on and improving signals; but at approx 0318:12 there was an abrupt loss of audio and carrier. The carrier was heard again around 0330 but no further programming was detectable. Could be transmitter problems which apparently are ongoing? (Bruce Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ? If 0259.5 means 0259:30, then 0318:12 should be 0318.2, decimally (gh, DXLD) ** FINLAND. Special SDXL/FDXA-Summermeeting Radio SDXL-KESISRADIO VIA SWR, ÄÄNEEN 8. ELOKUUTA Suomen DX-Liitto ry - SDXL järjestää vuoden 2009 kesäkokouksen Turussa. Kokouksen virallinen kokousradio kertoo DX-kuuntelusta ja välittää kokoustunnelmia erikoislähetyksissä, jotka tehdään Scandinavian Weekend Radion voimin ja lähetetään SWR:n tajuuksilla 8. elokuuta 2009. Kokousohjelma-More: http://turku09.blogspot.com FDXA-SUMMERMEETING RADIO VIA SWR Finnish DX-Association - FDXA helds its summermeeting in Turku where SWR broadcasts happenings direct thru its frequencies starting 21 hours UT 7th of August 2009. Web: http://www.swradio.net/index2.htm Forum: http://www.swradio.net/forum/ and program/frequency schedule: http://www.swradio.net/schedule.htm Best Greetings, (Alpo Heinonen, SDXL-kesisradio -FDXA Summermeeting Radio, in advance August 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. RFI SIGNS MOBILE BROADCAST DEAL FOR FIVE US CITIES Radio France International has signed an agreement with mobile phone broadcaster AudioNow to broadcast its French programmes on the telephone network, 24 hours a day, in five US cities. Listeners in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and New York City have been able to hear RFI on their cellphones since 1 August. They can listen to RFI by calling the following phone numbers (only local charges will apply): 617.963.1545 in Boston 312.646.7684 in Chicago 415.200.0603 in San Francisco 786.228.5543 in Miami and in New York City very soon This form of broadcasting is especially adapted to cellphone users who wish to stay tuned to their favorite shows (Source: RFI) August 6th, 2009 - 13:20 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 4 comments so far 1 SRG August 6th, 2009 - 15:43 UTC The reception is excellent. I’m using my regular phone line. Any thoughts on how I can get a QSL? I wonder if they gonna relay their English service, as well. Right now they are carrying the general French service RFI Monde. Obviously, RFI doesn’t know much about the US cell phone market. The vast majority of the local plans do not have any long distance charges. Usually you get a set amount of minutes every month, with unlimited evening and weekends. So there’s no need to have an access number in every city. 2 Andy Sennitt August 6th, 2009 - 15:58 UTC Well, I’d have thought it’s the America partner company, Audio Now, that arranges things. And surely they should know about access numbers. This looks like a service worth investigating. http://www.audionow.com 3 SRG August 6th, 2009 - 17:09 UTC I guess AudioNow is just trying to milk RFI as much as it can. Notice that the company has just one access number in the US through which a (free) subscriber can access different stations. RFI isn’t on the list of the available channels yet. BBC, a few major and minor NPR stations, CNN, Fox, Bloomberg, Reading Radio for the Blind, Brother Stair and many others are already there. One has to register in order to access the list of the available stations and programs. Note that the users can request their favorite stations to be added to the list. I’d like to add R. Netherlands but AudioNow asks for a direct audio streaming link. How to get it from RNW player? (MN comments via DXLD) ** GERMANY. A DW TV report via World Focus, August 6, about the big but shrinking market for used German cars in Benin, concluded by referring to Nigeria as being WEST of there! While Nigeria is really on the east side of Benin. Is anyone paying attention at DW? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DRM, WAZ tests on 9525-9530-9535: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** GERMANY [and non]. GERMANY(non [sic]), Summer A-09 of Media Broadcast(ex DTK T-Systems). Part 2 of 4: IBC Tamil Radio: 0000-0100 on 7205 NAU 100 kW / 103 deg to SoAs Tamil Athmee Yatra He/Gospel For Asia (GFA): 0030-0130 on 9435 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs SouthEast Asian langs 1230-1500 on 15350 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs SouthEast Asian langs 1330-1530 on 15390 ISS 250 kW / 075 deg to SEAs SouthEast Asian langs 1530-1630 on 13750 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs SouthEast Asian langs 2330-0030 on 9680 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEAs SouthEast Asian langs Radio Free Asia (RFA): 0100-0300 on 9885 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEAs Tibetan Radio Liberty (RL): 0030-0400 on 7280 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 0400-0500 on 9635 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1400-1500 on 17670 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1600-1700 on 7340 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1800-1900 on 9855 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1600-1700 on 6060 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to CeAs Uzbek 1400-1500 on 9510 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to CeAs Uzbek 1500-1600 on 11810 WER 250 kW / 090 deg CeAs Avari/Chechen/Cherkassi 1500-1600 on 15565 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to CeAs Azeri 1900-2000 on 9805 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to CeAs Tatar Bashkir 1400-1500 on 13830 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to CeAs Turkmen 1500-1600 on 7260 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to CeAs Turkmen 1600-1700 on 7350 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to CeAs Turkmen 1500-1600 on 7420 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to CeAs Turkmen 1500-1700 on 9725 WER 125 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1700-1900 on 6050 WER 250 kW / 045 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1600-1700 on 6105 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1600-1700 on 7270 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian Voice of America (VOA): 0230-0330 on 9695 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 1600-1930 on 6040 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 1700-1800 on 9760 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 0500-0600 on 9770 NAU 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Kurdish 1400-1500 on 15130 NAU 250 kW / 113 deg to WeAs Kurdish 1700-1800 on 11950 NAU 250 kW / 113 deg to WeAs Kurdish 1430-1530 on 15380 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Pashto(Radio Ashna) 1530-1630 on 15380 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Dari(Radio Ashna) 1500-1530 on 12110 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to CeAs Uzbek 1700-1800 on 9780 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs Pashto(Deewa Radio) 1630-1700 on 15430 NAU 250 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Somali 1730-1800 on 11905 NAU 250 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Afan Oromo Mon-Fri 1730-1800 on 13870 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Afan Oromo Mon-Fri 1800-1900 on 12140 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Amharic 1900-1930 on 12140 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Tigrigna Mon-Fri 1800-1900 on 13870 NAU 250 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Amharic 1900-1930 on 13870 NAU 250 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Tigrigna Mon-Fri 0300-0330 on 5995 NAU 250 kW / 155 deg to EaAf Arabic Hello Darfur 1900-1930 on 9650 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Arabic Hello Darfur 2030-2100 on 9815 NAU 250 kW / 190 deg to CeAf Hausa Mon-Fri 2030-2100 on 9815 NAU 250 kW / 190 deg to CeAf French Sat/Sun CVC International 1400-2100 on 17770 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to WCAf English 1200-1600 on 11770 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to RUSS Russian 1600-1800 on 13640 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to RUSS Russian 1800-2000 on 11945 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to RUSS Russian Brother Stair/The Overcomer Ministries (TOM): 1400-1600 on 6110 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu English 1400-1600 on 13810 NAU 100 kW / 120 deg to WeAs English 1500-1600 on 17485 JUL 100 kW / 160 deg to CeAf English 1900-2000 on 6175 WER 125 kW / 300 deg to WeEu English Radio Dabanga 1530-1725 on 13730 WER 500 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Arabic HCJB Global: 1700-1800 on 6015 WER 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu German IBRA Radio: 1730-1800 on 11985 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to EaAf Swahili 1730-1800 on 15600 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Somali 1800-1900 on 13840 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to CeAf Arabic/Sara Gambai/Zaghawa 2000-2030 on 9675 NAU 100 kW / 210 deg to WeAf Hausa/French/ Fulfulde/Bambara Lutheran World Federation Voice of Gospel 1715-1800 on 11645 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to WCAf Fulani 1830-1900 on 9655 ISS 250 kW / 167 deg to WCAf Hausa FEBA Radio 1900-1930 on 7230 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Arabic Democratic Voice of Burma (DVOB): 2330-0030 on 9490 WER 125 kW / 075 deg to SEAs Burmese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, August 7 via DXLD) ?? Not clear why they are breaking this up into four parts a week apart; meanwhile there could be changes in the first part before the last part is published. It`s not like there is any arbitrary length limit to a single issue. This is properly headed GERMANY [and non] due to a few ISS entries inmixed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Radio Filia off air on shortwave, internet --- Radio Filia programming on 11645 has not been noted, on fairly regular checks between 0600 and 0800, since July 27. The news stories on their website are being kept up to date but their live internet stream is carrying Kosmos 96.3. http://www.ert.gr/filia/en/news/index.php (Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, Does Radio Filia broadcast English Programme on Shortwave? In their latest schedule (29.03.09-25.10.09) it's mentioned English Programme on Shortwave 11645 at 0600 UT (0900 Greece Time), but all I could hear was in Greek! Is there really a English Programme? // (Maruf Dewan, ibid.) There is main holiday month in Greece at present. Maybe ERT5 is short of technical personnel. As always happened during Orthodox Christmas and Easter holidays, no FILIA programmes appeared on shortwave ERT5 service during holy holidays. Wait till September. No noticias on German and Spanish internet link so far too. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) I know they have been missing for periods before but I couldn't remember whether it was the summer months; checked last years DXLDs and couldn't find any reports of the service not going out last summer. But as you say, we need to wait until end of holiday season, particularly since the internet feed is not carrying Filia. Is there really an English Programme? Yes, and quite a well produced programme too, including material from BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle. I last logged it on June 20, but am sure I have heard it since then as I only log routine stations when I am doing a report for my monthly club bulletin. To clear up a slight ambiguity in my report, I first noted that there were no Radio Filia transmissions on July 27 (Mike Barraclough, Aug 6, ibid.) ** GUATEMALA. RADIO VERDAD --- Information About Our Web Site We inform to all our friends of “Radio Truth” that we are reconstructing our Web Site WITH MUCH MORE SAFETY, and we plan to come out on Internet within a few days. We were attacked by Hackers, but we have such situation under control already. Besides that, we are planning to come back on the air on Short Wave very soon, with less power at first though. Listen on Internet. These are our addresses for our Web Site and Blog: http://www.radioverdad.org http://radioverdadguatemala.blogspot.com (Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Director and Manager, Aug 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. Re 9-055: What I assume to be this station has been audible at my location on an almost daily basis recently on 7125.0 at weak to very weak strength around 0630 UT. But on checking today = the 5th = there was no signal traceable at all on this frequency at around this same time. However, it was good to hear a VK7 (Tasmania) ham station on a nearby frequency to prove that my equipment was still functioning! (Noel R. Green (NW England), August 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. El propietario de Radio Globo, Alejandro Villatoro, denunció hoy que el régimen de facto hondureño decidió clausurar la frecuencia de esa emisora de cobertura nacional. De acuerdo con Villatoro, en las últimas horas recibió un comunicado de la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones donde se anuncia el cierre de la radio. "Esa decisión representa un duro golpe a la libertad de expresión y al derecho a la información de la población hondureña", denunciaron sus directivos. Defensores humanitarios afirmaron que el objetivo de la dictadura es acallar la voz de un medio de prensa que desde el inicio del golpe de Estado ha estado informando la verdad sobre la brutal represión lanzada contra el pueblo. Desde el 28 de junio la emisora se encontraba militarizada y sus trabajadores fueron víctimas de amenazas e intimidaciones (tomado de Prensa Latina [DentroCuban] via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Aug 4, condiglist yg via DXLD) Para visualizar un poco mejor el panorama conviene quizás agregar que Conatel devolverá el Canal 8 a su dueño primitivo. Lean lo que escribe http://www.cnnexpansion.com el 4 de agosto: Tegucigalpa.- La Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel) de Honduras anunció hoy que cancelará la frecuencia de Radio Globo, afín a Manuel Zelaya, y que devolverá el Canal 8 de Televisión a su propietario, el empresario Elías Asfura. Alejandro Villatoro propietario de Radio Globo, que es la única emisora que difunde las declaraciones de Zelaya, denunció este martes que la Conatel le informó que se le iba a cancelar la frecuencia. Radio Globo opera desde sus oficinas en el Bulevard Morazan de Tegucigalpa y tiene cobertura nacional. Por otra parte la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, informó que se devolverá el Canal 8 de la Televisión Local, al empresario Elías Asfura, que tiene también otros canales como el 30. El presidente Zelaya le arrebato dicho Canal al citado empresario y lo utilizó especialmente para difundir las asambleas del denominado 'Poder Ciudadano' que solía hacer los sábados o domingos en diferentes comunidades del país, acompañado de parte de su gabinete. O también lo que escribe el diario El Heraldo (lectura recomendada por quienes quieran seguir el tema hondureño) en la edición de hoy: TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS. El gobierno entregará la frecuencia del todavía estatal canal 8 al empresario Elías Asfura, en apego a una sentencia judicial, dijo el presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel), Miguel Rodas. La explotación de la señal le pertenece a la empresa Teleunsa, de Asfura, de acuerdo a sentencia del Juzgado de lo Contencioso Administrativo que ratificó la Corte Suprema de Justicia, después de un litigio ganado al gobierno del ex presidente Manuel Zelaya. En la gestión de Zelaya, Conatel, dirigida por Rasel Tomé, se opuso a la entrega de la frecuencia, pese al fallo judicial. "Nuestros abogados ya se reunieron con los apoderados del señor Elías Asfura para llegar a un acuerdo y aplicar estas sentencias como corresponde; solo vamos a aplicar la sentencia", aseguró el funcionario. Promoción de "Mel" Canal 8 fue usado por Zelaya como medio oficial para divulgar noticias a favor de su gestión y en los últimos meses para promocionar la ilegal cuarta urna para la convocatoria a la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente y cambiar la Constitución. Rosa no especificó cuándo se hará el traspaso de la frecuencia, pues faltan algunos procedimientos legales para ello. Por otro lado, aseguró que Conatel agilizará la entrega de la frecuencia de canal 12 a la empresa Eldi, de la que Asfura también es propietario y que ganó en una disputa legal con la compañía Sotel, porque así lo manda otro veredicto jurídico emitido por los tribunales de la República. Saludos, (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, Aug 5, ibid.) But getting back to Radio Globo, WTFK? A quick eyeball scan down the 4 columns of MW listings in the 2009 WRTH, pages 223-225, finds only one entry, on 1470, R. Globo Grupera, Nacaome, so is it otherwise on FM only? Apparently; from their website, a map full of FM frequencies and no 1470: http://www.radioglobohonduras.com/cobertura.html and the homepage autolaunches audio: http://www.radioglobohonduras.com/ even without clicking on the escúchanos button; yes, about topic Z (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Here are some nice photos of AIR Kolkata on flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/meckleychina/3793833918/in/set-72157621957360938/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/meckleychina/3793834340/in/set-72157621957360938/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/meckleychina/3793834802/in/set-72157621957360938/ (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. SPECIAL BROADCASTS ON INDEPENDENCE DAY - 15 AUG 2009 All India Radio will broadcast running commentary of Flag Hoisting Ceremony to be held at Red Fort, New Delhi between 0135-0240 UT on 15th August 2008 as per the details given below: 0135-0240 UT Hindi 6030 (Kingsway), 6155 (Khampur), 9595 (Khampur), 11620 (Aligarh), 15135 (Kingsway) 0135-0240 UT English 4860 (Kingsway), 11830 (Kingsway), 13620(Bangalore), 15050(Khampur) The regional shortwave transmitters will start earlier than usual on the 7 / 6 MHz frequencies providing unusual reception. The schedule is as follows: BHOPAL 0025-0115 UT 4810 0130-0448 UT 7430 CHENNAI 0015-0115 UT 4920 0130-0415 UT 7380 HYDERABAD 0020-0115 UT 4800 0130-0430 UT 7420 IMPHAL 0030-0115 UT 4775 0130-0400 UT 7335 KOLKATA 0025-0115 UT 4820 0130-0400 UT 7210 PORT BLAIR 0000-0115 UT 4760 0130-0400 UT 7390 SHIMLA 0025-0400 UT 6020 SRINAGAR 0025-0500 UT 6110 THIRUVANTHAPURAM 0020-0115 UT 5010 0130-0400 UT 7290 Reception reports on the above broadcast should be sent to : Spectrum Management & Synergy Division, All India Radio,New Delhi by email at: spectrum-manager @ air.org.in With Independence Day Greetings! 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos www.niar.org dx_india yg via DXLD) Hi Jose, Greetings from foggy California, USA! Wishing you a happy upcoming 63rd Independence Day! Thank you for the timely schedule. Am sure that the commentary of the flag hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort, New Delhi will be a lively event, but it unfortunately comes at a time that is not advantageous to all the SW listeners in North American, especially for those of us on the West Coast. But all is not lost! We can certainly still feel a part of these momentous events via SW. I hope the president's address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day (14 August) will again be scheduled as it was last year, making for decent reception here on the West Coast. President Shrimati Pratibha Devishingh Patil’s speech might be carried again at about 1330 UT (7:00 PM IST). Last year I had the good fortune to hear the speech on 4850 (AIR Kohima, which is a very special event for this rarely used frequency), 4895 (AIR Kurseong), 4940 (AIR Guwahati) 4970 (AIR Shillong), 5010 (AIR Thiru.), 5040 (AIR Jeypore) and 9425 (AIR Bengaluru). I probably missed hearing some of the regional stations, but certainly they all carried the speech that was given in both Hindi and in English. I look forward to listening in again to this unique coverage! Jose, is there any way that you could confirm the time of this live coverage? Thank you! We appreciate all your insights from India! Best regards, (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, to Jose, via DXLD) Hello Ron, Thanks for the email. Nice to know of your experiences logging AIR. I have not got the sked of President's speech. I shall let you know once it is received. Yes, Kohima is expected on 14 & 15 August. Will keep in touch. Yours sincerely, Jose (via Howard, DXLD) Hi Glenn, The 63rd Independence Day celebrations will shortly be taking place in India on August 15. It is one of the major holidays of the year and affords us the great opportunity to hear some special programming via SW. Of particular interest to me is the president's address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day (August 14). President Shrimati Pratibha Devishingh Patil’s speech will be delivered via SW radio at 1330 UT (7:00 PM IST), just as it was last year. I had the good fortune then to hear it on 4850 (AIR Kohima, which is a very special event for this rarely used frequency), 4895 (AIR Kurseong), 4940 (AIR Guwahati) 4970 (AIR Shillong), 5010 (AIR Thiru.), 5040 (AIR Jeypore) and 9425 (AIR Bengaluru). I probably missed hearing some of the regional stations, but certainly they all carried the speech that was given first in Hindi and repeated again in English. I look forward to listening in again this year to this unique coverage! Last year’s reception of AIR Kohima on 4850 was as follows: 1308, Aug 14, 2008 in Hindi; subcontinent music and singing; series of ads with singing jingles; 1328 marching music/anthem, open carrier from 1330 to 1331; started president’s speech on the eve of Independence Day, in Hindi; followed by the same speech in English; abruptly off at 1404. Special thanks to Jose Jacob of Hyderabad, India for confirmation that this year’s speech will indeed be broadcast at 1330 UT, August 14, 2009 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. VOI still on 9524.9 or so, August 6 at 1318 during English hour, with hum, talking about the origin of the WWW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. POLISH RADIO EXTERNAL SERVICE CONFIRMS END OF LONGWAVE 198 KHZ --- The website of the Polish Radio External Service confirms that it no longer uses the longwave frequency 198 kHz as of midnight UTC on 30 July. August 5th, 2009 - 13:58 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 10 comments so far 1 Kai Ludwig August 5th, 2009 - 21:06 UTC Correct, transmissions ceased already on July 30 (rather than 31), actually at 18:00 CET because 198 kHz was on air between 08:00 and 18:00 CET only. (UT of course does not matter at all in this case.) 2 Roy Sandgren August 5th, 2009 - 21:43 UTC Well, BBC at the same frequency will be better listning to 24/7 or I’m I wrong??? 3 Paul Martin August 5th, 2009 - 23:07 UTC Does not the Russian Mayak service use the same frequency any more? I certainly remember hearing “Midnight in Moscow” behind the Greenwich Time Signal at night. 4 Andy Sennitt August 6th, 2009 - 9:25 UTC In the UK, there was never any problem with the Polish transmitter because, as Kai points out, it operated daytime only. Yes, there are two Russian transmitters on 198 kHz carrying Mayak to the Moscow and St Petersburg areas respectively. They are generally quite weak behind BBC R4 here in the Hilversum area, though as you say you can hear the interval signal at night just before the hour when R4 has a few seconds of silence before the time pips or Big Ben. The interval signal hasn’t changed since I was at BBC Monitoring in 1974-78. Does anyone know of a domestic station that has used the same interval signal for longer? I can’t think of one… 5 agostino pendola August 6th, 2009 - 11:56 UTC Italian State Radio (RAI) has used the bird chirping since the 1920s. It was the interval signal for the now defunct external service and perhaps they still use it for domestic intervals (I am not much of a listener). 6 Rob K August 6th, 2009 - 12:10 UTC Well, if you include top-of-the-hour stings, then the chimes of Europe 1 don’t sound too different from their 1960s version. And last time I listened to RTL’s French programmes they were still using what sounds like a speeded-up playout of their 60s trumpet-fanfare ID. 7 Kai Ludwig August 6th, 2009 - 13:54 UTC Does Mayak still use the classical interval signal at all? Last time I listened it was still the same theme, but now as a fancy jingle. The jingles for traffic jam announcements on Bayern 3, the pop music station of Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, base on a theme already used as stand-alone sounder during the seventies. Jokers interpret it as “Du hörst den falschen Sender”, i.e. “you’re tuned to the wrong station”, since on the other side of the Iron Curtain it signalled immediately what some radio was tuned to. And cynics feel reminded on the lots of traffic incidents: “Schon wieder tausend Tote” = “already the next thousand victims”. I don’t know when traffic jam announcements had been introduced on the former Hvezda in Prague, nowadays called Radiozurnal. Anyway the jingle is still the same theme than in the eighties, and like then it is called Zelena Vlna, i.e. “green wave”, drawn from the technology to operate traffic lights in a coordinated manner. During the eighties some frequencies for Prague area (I think 66.83 MHz and 792 kHz) broke during peak hours like Friday afternoons even completely away for a separate Zelena Vlna show with traffic announcements, involving observations from a police helicopter, and music. 8 SRG August 6th, 2009 - 17:49 UTC Ocassionally R. Mayak still carries its classic interval signal - usually just one short jingle though followed by the contemporary fancy version. Admittedly I’m not an authority on R.Mayak. I rarely listen to the station since it switched to a trash talk format. R. Mayak is still on 198 with 150-kW transmitters near Moscow and St. Pete. Usually they are off by 21 UT. I guess in the past the station would routinely use 2,000 kW transmitters on 198 so even the listeners in W. Europe could enjoy its call sign I’m sure such DX is much more difficult today due to interference from BBC. 9 Kai Ludwig August 6th, 2009 - 21:08 UTC Well, it seems that never transmitters with more than 150 kW had been used in the USSR on 198 kHz. BUT: 549 kHz was 2000 kW from Krasny Bor (St. Petersburg) plus 1000 kW from Belarus plus numerous other transmitters with 150 or even 500 kW. With that this famous interval signal could here in Germany often be heard in the background, at times Mayak even caused serious interference. No longer so, today it is “interesting, there are other stations besides Deutschlandfunk on 549 kHz, too?”. Kaliningrad with 50 kW and Krasny Bor with 600 kW no longer cut through here. 10 Kowalski August 7th, 2009 - 8:10 UTC In Poland, Radio BBC on 198 kHz can be received in good quality after sunset, but often you can hear the Radio Majak (MN blog comments, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. SIRIUSLY GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE I bought a new KIA Soul in May with factory-installed Sirius radio. My free subscription will soon end. I am investigating renewal. Readers who enjoy listening to SW radio for news and cultural programming in the USA and Canada should be interested in something I learned today about the Sirius satellite radio service. My inquiry was prompted by a new practice of passing music copyright royalty fees on to the subscribers. I have lots of ways to hear music I choose without paying a monthly copyright fee. So I asked Sirius if I could get just the news and talk channels for a discounted price. Surprise, they said yes. $9.95 per month will get you BBC World Service, CBC Radio One, World Radio Network, two channels of NPR talk, Bloomberg Radio, and the audio from all the US cable TV news channels plus some non-English channels. This radio also has a USB port which allows me to rip my CD collection to a flash drive, plug it into the USB port and hear all the music I cared enough about to purchase. Goodbye copyright fees (Joe Buch, Aug 6, Swprograms mailing list, via DXLD) That appears to be an offshoot of their "a la carte" offering -- they committed to do this as part of the XM acquisition in order to secure FTC / FCC approval. Last time I checked a couple months back, there was only one aftermarket radio that had the capability to pick & choose channels, and it wasn't one of their cheaper radios (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. RURAL SOUTH KOREAN`S GLOBAL LINKS GROW, NOURISHED BY A SATELLITE CROP Satellite television dishes cover the home of Lee Si-kap, a farmer. Mr. Lee owns 85 dishes, the most of any South Korean. [caption] By CHOE SANG-HUN Published: June 29, 2009 Yeongju Journal YEONGJU, South Korea — Lee Si-kap, a shy farmer living in this central South Korean town, holds a record: He owns more satellite dishes than any other South Korean — 85 of them, receiving 1,500 satellite television channels from more than 100 countries, some as far away as South Africa and Canada. Mr. Lee's 85 dishes receive 1,500 satellite television channels from more than 100 nations. To passers-by, Mr. Lee’s home stands like an exclamation mark in the otherwise nondescript countryside dotted with apple orchards and ginseng fields. Satellite dishes cover his roof like giant steel mushrooms. They spread into his front yard and blossom in a field behind his house, some as large as 16 feet in diameter. . . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/world/asia/30satellite.html?scp=1&sq=%22Rural%20South%20Koreans%22&st=cse (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. 2009 INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE / LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND - Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1669 - August 7 2009 Some 300 lighthouses and light ships representing 50 nations are set take part in the 2009 International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend and the total number is expected to exceed 400 by the time the event takes place. Organized by Scotland's Ayr Amateur Radio Group International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend will happen the weekend of Saturday, August 15th at 0001 UT through Sunday, August 16 at 2359 UT. More information about the event, including a registration form is available on the web at http://illw.net (ILLW) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. WATCHING THE NEWS WITH IRANIAN PRESS TV Joshua Hersh in Beirut writes in The Faster Times: The other morning I swung by the local offices of Press TV, the Iranian-government-funded English-language news channel, to see how they were handling the fallout from the disputed Iranian election. Read about his visit, and the thoughts of Ali Rizk, the network’s Beirut news director. Read the article http://thefastertimes.com/lebanonandsyria/2009/08/06/watching-the-news-with-iranian-press-tv/ (August 6, 2009, 1629 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. CLANDESTINE --- 4794.97v, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, Salah Al-Din, Iraq (presumed), 0245-0315, Jul 26 and 31, Aug 03, Kurdish (presumed) talk by man and woman, Middle East song, heterodyne and jamming, 23232. Frequency varies: On Jul 31 was 4788.96, on Aug 03 it was 4780.01, with audio jumping to 4795.42. Not heard on 4800-4900. According to press reports, the Iraqi Army brutally attacked the exile camp of the Iranian People’s Mujahedins in Ashraf in the Diyala Province on Jul 28 and 29. Apparently this transmitter is still on the air, but it may be from a different location. It is no longer jumping in the 4835-4886 range as used for many years, but now observed since July between 4780 and 4800. The Iranian jammer follows, as usual (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. SW DX update from northern Delaware: 4-Aug-09 // 1758 UT // 11990 kHz // Radio Kuwait // 500 kW // Kabd, Kuwait // Middle Eastern music (female singing) followed by female talking in presumed Arabic, then presumed national anthem. Time pips at TOH, then male in English with "This is Radio Kuwait. The time now is 9 pm Kuwait local time, 1800 GMT." The national anthem (presumed) was then played again followed by male with frequency announcements in English. // Excellent signal. MP3 clip available here: http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/11990-khz_1758-UTC_4-Aug-09_Radio-Kuwait_Kabd_Kuwait.MP3 Rgds, (Pete Jernakoff, Wilmington, Delaware, K3KMS http://www.21centimeter.com ABDX via DXLD ** LAOS. 7145, vs SOMALILAND: q.v. ** MALAYSIA [and non]. Suara Malaysia-Indonesian on 6175 kHz can be received well. CNR-1 (Beijing TX) is the same frequency has been off the air. Tune in at 1140 UT VoMalaysia in Chinese // 11884.5 kHz. From 1200 in Indonesian. CNR-1 of the Beijing TX on 4460, 5030, 6175 and 9830 kHz are off the air (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Aug 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) but see CHINA 6175, Suara Malaysia. Thanks to Sei-ichi Hasegawa of Japan for the timely tip that CNR-1 was also off the air on this additional frequency and that he was hearing Suara Malaysia in the clear. 1200, August 5, DJ in Bahasa Indonesia playing pop songs; poor audio; 1300 two time pips and news. // 11884.48v till this frequency suddenly went off-the-air at 1220; also with poor audio. The Chinese Service on 6175 and 11884.48v ends right at 1200 and changes over to Bahasa Indonesia programming, but on 11884.48v it is just a filler audio feed till the transmitter is turned off, which varies from a few minutes to almost half an hour. Dan Sheedy first pointed out this change over in language at 1200. So many thanks to both Sei-ichi and Dan (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK [and non]. 7130.50, Sarawak FM, August 5 clearly off the air. Was my reception yesterday their last on this frequency? Nothing heard on 7235 (future frequency?). 5030, Sarawak FM had poor reception August 5, but was again in the clear with the continued absence of CNR-1 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station Show for [6] August, 2009 0100 & 1500 UT Uploaded! 0100 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_080609_0100utc.mp3 1500 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_080609_1500utc.mp3 (Keith Perron, Taiwan, August 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Week-OLD BBC `news` on OETA OKLA --- What in the world is going on with BBC World News? Yesterday there was no news, but instead a couple of long features about Alaska, global warming on the north slope. Very good, but what became of the news?? The BBCWN opening and closing were still there, altho the whole thing was about 5 minutes short. Today Thursday August 6, it`s clear this `news` is a week old! First about the world`s oldest man who has died, being memorialized. He died on July 18, but the memorial in Britain was probably the following week. Mentioned 40th day since the killing of Neda Soltan in Iran, which I quickly confirmed was on June 20 --- that adds up to July 30. Shortly after, the anchor mentioned the elections in Afghanistan, ``next month``, i.e. August! Etc., etc. Following stories were also obviously a week stale, seen before. Is your computer playing back old stuff without your knowledge, or is KCET responsible, or is BBC itself? Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, August 6, to OETA, via DXLD) After some research, I was able to find out. The reason for the outdated episodes is nothing more exciting or interesting than we had technical difficulties two days in a row. On Wednesday, we had problems with the satellite feed and were forced to use an “evergreen” episode, which means it’s an episode we keep on the shelf for just such occasions. It’s not new news, but it’s not necessarily old. And yesterday, we had a problem with the ID number for the program being assigned incorrectly. Instead of yesterday’s episode, we aired last Thursday’s episode. We believe everything is on track for BBC WORLD NEWS tonight. Thank you for being such a loyal viewer (Holly Emig, Program Schedule Manager, OETA, Aug 7, to gh, via DXLD) And so it was OK Aug 7 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KTOK audio question --- My wife and I were traveling though OKC two weeks ago and spent some time listening to KTOK during the day. I was surprised at their lifeless audio quality. We were listening on our car radio (09 Ford Edge, decent AM section). Compared to other AM's in the market and those we heard in KC, Des Moines and Minneapolis they reminded me of a badly maintained small town AM'er. I know "Oklahoma's Radio 10" (from their old TM jingle of the late 70's) is a CC station and they were on a kick to limit bandwidth/frequency response years ago but it was surprising how inferior they sounded. Anyone, like OKC Radio Guy have an answer? (317C50KW, July 29, radio-info.com OK board via DXLD) I think it has to do with the fact that they have HD Radio running. KFAQ in Tulsa sounds very flat to me as well and they have HD. As I understand it, stations have to cut their higher frequency analog audio for the HD signal to work (philspicel, ibid.) Yup. It's another great "feature" of AM-HD radio. The sooner the industry gets around to understanding how big of a failure AM-HD is, the better off we will be. AM-HD belongs on the former channel 5 and 6 TV frequencies below the FM band. Trying to force it into the existing MW (AM) band just proves how idiotic the big players that backed IBOC in the first place are. It works about as well as nationwide contests. LOL! (OKCRadioGuy, ibid.) ** PANAMA. Panamá, Radio Nacional is inactive on all their medium wave frequencies. W Radio is now Radio Panamá. It is not clear if every outlet is on the air (via Christer Brunström, ARC, CENTRAL AMERICAN NEWS DESK Aug 2009, edited by Tore Larsson, Sweden, via DXLD) ** PITCAIRN. Re DXLD 9-055, it so happens that Adrian Peterson recently rebroadcast his Pitcairn radio history. It does not get into the more recent developments of sexual abuse involving many of the islanders as in DXLD 4-169 and http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/07/world/fg-pitcairn7 The Pitcairn Story - 01:03 Pitcairn Island, down there somewhere in the South Pacific, is one of the most isolated islands in the world, and it would vie with Easter Island as the loneliest island on our planet. A map of the world would show us that Pitcairn is situated five thousand miles from Australia and four thousand miles from South America. This lonely, remote island is a rocky out-crop jutting up from the floor of the deep Pacific Ocean. It has an area of just two square miles, and its highest hill, Lookout Point, is just eleven hundred feet above sea level. Pitcairn is never visited by plane, and seldom by ship. Its main source of income is from the sale of their beautifully colored postage stamps, and also from locally made curios and handicrafts. In more recent time, they have made some income from the sale of foodstuffs, including bottles of Pitcairn Honey. The saga of Pitcairn Island, and the drama regarding the mutiny of the Bounty, have often been chronicled in books and magazines, and portrayed on stage and theater screen as well as on TV. In fact, Marlon Brando portrayed the now notorious Fletcher Christian in the 1962 Hollywood movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty". Archaeological research indicates that the first inhabitants on Pitcairn Island were Polynesian peoples who came in, probably from Mangareva Island, some three hundred miles to the northwest. The available evidence would suggest that the Polynesians brought in bread fruit trees, and bananas, and other fruit trees and they must have stayed on Pitcairn for a lengthy period of time, even several centuries. Early Polynesian legends tell of visits to Pitcairn, but apparently they all migrated elsewhere before the arrival of the first European explorers. Interestingly, a small stone statue, with its back to the sea, was found on Pitcairn by the first European settlers more than two hundred years ago. This stone statue reminds us of the similar, though much larger, stone statues, found on distant Easter Island. Pitcairn Island was discovered by the English navigator Philip Carteret in 1767 and it was named in honor of Midshipman Pitcairn who was the first to sight the island. The island lay dormant on the navigation charts of the Pacific for a third of a century. In the year 1790, nine mutineers from HMS "Bounty" together with eighteen Tahitian men and women, landed ashore at Bounty Bay on the north-eastern edge of Pitcairn Island. They removed everything possible from the ship and then burned the hull; and in this way they turned their backs on the rest of the world. Forty years later, when a drought threatened the Pitcairners, they were all removed to Tahiti, but during the following year, they all returned. Then, a quarter century later again, when the population grew too large, the entire colony was transferred to Norfolk Island. However, two or three years after that, several families began to return to Pitcairn Island. It was in the year 1890 that the islanders established the Seventh-day Adventist church building in the main square area of Adamstown, Pitcairn Island. Beginning in 1926, postage stamps from New Zealand were in use on Pitcairn Island. The first Pitcairn postage stamps were issued in 1940, and the first post office was constructed during the following year. Just three years ago, new coins were minted for Pitcairn Island but these are more for the interest of coin collectors than for circulation on the island. The population on Pitcairn Island reached a peak of 223 in 1937; and today, the total population is less than fifty. A large number of the Pitcairners are licensed amateur radio operators; and telephone contact with the outside world is nowadays maintained by satellite. Radio Stations on Lonely Pitcairn Island - 07:44 The story of radio broadcasting on Pitcairn Island is also a very interesting saga and it dates from the very earliest times. We go back to the very beginning and this is what happened. During a voyage across the Pacific in the year 1921, the New Zealand ship "Rimutaka" stopped at Pitcairn Island and the captain handed a Morse Code message on a card to the island Magistrate, Mr Fred Christian. Several islanders showed an interest in this card, including the young man, Andrew Young. He determined that he would learn how to signal passing ships at night by flashing them in Morse Code, using a flashlight. After a lot of practice at learning Morse Code, Andrew was successful one night in flashing a message to a passing ship and the ship's radio operator replied in a similar manner. This ship was thus the first to stop at Pitcairn Island through the usage of Morse Code. The Marconi Company in England heard about this event and during the following year they sent out two crystal set receivers and a small spark transmitter. However, the islanders were unsuccessful in operating the equipment; and some time later the captain of another ship from New Zealand sent his radio operator ashore to fix the problem. Soon afterwards, another passing ship, the "Corinthic", was contacted by wireless for the very first time, using the re-vitalized Marconi equipment. During the year 1926, Robert Hare, an Adventist pastor from New Zealand, took a small 12 volt spark coil transmitter to Pitcairn Island and this was in use for a short while in making contact with passing ships. This equipment was rated at ¼ kW and it was powered by an engine from a motor vehicle. However, petrol was in short supply on Pitcairn and the equipment was in use for only a short period of time. In January 1937, the radio operator on board the schooner "Yankee", Allan Eurich, spent a week on Pitcairn Island during the ship's second world tour. He investigated the radio equipment on the island, and subsequently wrote an article that was published in "QST Magazine". This article created a great interest in the United States and two men, Granville Lindley and Lewis Bellem, assembled a quantity of radio equipment that was donated by eighteen different radio companies. It was carried to Pitcairn Island by another New Zealand ship, this time the "Rangitata". This ship arrived off the coast of Pitcairn Island at 8:20 pm during a thunderstorm. However, on March 1, 1938, the two men, Lindley and Bellem, went ashore at Bounty Bay and they brought ashore four and a half tons of radio equipment, as well as a package of QSL cards, and a batch of radio envelopes. The radio equipment was set up and the station went on the air four days later, and it was officially inaugurated on March 18, 1938. Originally, the callsign in use for amateur transmissions was VR6A, though shortly afterwards, the callsign was amended to VR6AY, with the letters AY indicating the operator, Andrew Young. Officially, the callsign for use with the relay of broadcast programming was PITC, but there is very little evidence that this callsign was ever in use on air. The first transmissions from Pitcairn were amateur in nature and the fortunate first QSO contact was with amateur station W8CNA in the United States. Other amateur QSO contacts followed quite quickly. The first commercial tests on 15320 kHz were made a few days later in contact with the RCA communication station located at Bolinas in California. These original tests were made with KKW on 13780 kHz and KKR on 15460 kHz. The antenna on Pitcairn was a rhombic beamed on San Francisco. During the month of April, three radio broadcasts, quite short in duration, were made from Pitcairn Island to NBC in the United States. Interestingly on a subsequent occasion, everybody on the island was ready to make a choir broadcast when suddenly a ship was sited off the coast. This event interrupted the choir broadcast, which was never again re-staged. When the American engineers left the island on May 5, the radio station was left under the complete control of Andrew Young. At this stage, the major usage of the radio equipment was for amateur QSOs, and for communication with nearby shipping. Six months later, the first subsequent delivery of mail came in by steamer, including a total of five hundred reception reports addressed to the radio station VR6AY. Early in the next year, 1939, the radio equipment began to develop faults; first the battery charger and then the transmitter itself. Some of these problems were corrected by radio officers on passing ships, but ultimately in the spring, the faulty equipment was loaded onto a ship and taken to amateur station NY2AE in the Panama Canal Zone for repair. Towards the end of this same year, the radio equipment was loaded back onto another ship bound for the Pacific, and for Pitcairn. At this stage, Admiral Richard Byrd, who was now on his third expedition to Antarctica, stopped at Pitcairn Island for two days and dropped off some much needed food for the islanders. His radio officers also repaired the receivers still in use on Pitcairn. After an absence of nine months, the radio station was re-installed on Pitcairn, and re-activated, still under the same callsign VR6AY. However, by this time hostilities had broken out in Europe at the beginning of World War 2, and events in the Pacific took another turn. We will present the second episode of "Radio Broadcasting on Pitcairn Island" on another occasion. In the meantime, we should say that these days, the QSL cards verifying radio station PITC-VR6AY, as well as the associated radio envelopes, are valuable collector's items. There were two printings of the original QSL card, one as VR6A, and one as VR6AY; and both versions are highly prized. The Unfinished Story of Radio Broadcasting on Pitcairn Island - 01.03 In our program last week, you heard two aspects of information about Pitcairn Island; the introductory story of the island and its people, and the early wireless years on the island. In that program, you heard about the early usage of wireless for communication with nearby shipping, and also the story of the radio station with the double callsign, VR6AY-PITC, which was in use for amateur communication and also for occasional relay broadcasts to the United States. Today, we continue with additional information in this interesting saga as we present the story of radio broadcasting on Pitcairn Island. We go back to the epic year 1939. There was trouble over there in Europe, the ambitious American National Geographic Expedition to Pitcairn Island was cancelled, and the low power 60 watt shortwave transmitter VR6AY was still on the air, though not heard widely. There was an amateur radio operator in New Zealand by the name of Nelson Dyett, with the callsign ZL2FR. He had married a Pitcairn girl and he volunteered to go out to isolated Pitcairn Island, to take his own amateur radio equipment, and install it on the island. This project was granted approval by the New Zealand navy. Four men went to Pitcairn for this project, and they constructed a hut for use as the radio station and they installed all of the radio station equipment. This station was in use for communication with nearby shipping and with New Zealand, and it was known variously as a station operated by the British navy or the New Zealand navy. It was identified in radio magazines as VR6AY, the older licensed amateur callsign, and VR6AA, the amateur callsign that Dyett used on Pitcairn. However, give three more years, and the New Zealand navy sent out additional radio equipment on a ship that broke down in mid ocean and had to be towed back to Auckland in New Zealand. A few weeks later, in May 1944, the vital radio equipment was delivered to Pitcairn, and a contingent of men constructed buildings and installed equipment, which included 2 transmitters, 2 receivers, 2 diesel generators, and a rhombic antenna system. This station was now noted on air under the callsign ZKG. Later in the same year, the station was upgraded with additional equipment which included meteorological equipment for weather forecasting. When Pitcairn Radio was heard on air with weather information, the callsign was noted as ZBF. As circumstances would have it, additional shortwave equipment from New Zealand was installed in 1952, and the callsign of Pitcairn Radio was changed to ZBP. Soon afterwards, plans were implemented for the use of station ZBP as a radio broadcasting station for coverage of nearby islands throughout the Pacific areas. The prestigious World Radio TV Handbook listed the scheduling for the broadcast of this planned programming, though there are no known monitoring reports of any actual program broadcasts from ZBP. However, in 1962, the radio station was again completely rebuilt, and plans were announced once again for the broadcast of radio programming for coverage of nearby Pacific islands; and once again, there are no known monitoring reports of any radio broadcasts from this station. Well, in 1985, the station was once again upgraded, but this time no plans were announced for radio broadcasting. However, international radio monitors in New Zealand and the United States noted that they heard Pitcairn Radio, ZBP, with a musical identification signal and bird chirps, before moving into phone traffic to New Zealand. In 1994, the station was closed in favor of satellite communication with New Zealand. An attempt was made to stage a final radio broadcast from the station, but the government authorities would not permit. So, Pitcairn Radio, with all of its varied forms of equipment and its usage of half a dozen callsigns over the years, quietly left the air, never to return. However, there is yet more to this story. David Ricquish in New Zealand informs us that the New Zealand air Force installed a 50 watt mediumwave transmitter on the island in January 1978, and that it was on the air with general traffic for the South Pacific for just five days. In addition, there was in reality, a series of test broadcasts radiated from Pitcairn Island as a preliminary to establishing a regular radio broadcasting service. At the end of the year 1961 and the early part of 1962, a series of test broadcasts was on the air from amateur station VR6AC, operated by Floyd McCoy. Programming consisted of re-broadcasts of the religious program, "Voice of Prophecy", taken from the large discs produced in Los Angeles, California. One listener in the United States was honored to receive a QSL letter from VR6AC verifying his reception of these broadcasts. Then, four years later again, there was a repeat attempt at test broadcasts from VR6AC, and these were noted again in the United States. However, due to the difficult logistics that would be involved, no permanent radio broadcasting service was ever established on Pitcairn Island. So, there really was radio broadcasting from Pitcairn Island, and it occurred on three separate occasions. Back in the year 1938, there was a short series of program broadcasts from station PITC as a relay to the NBC network in the United States via KKW at the RCA radio station located at Bolinas in California. Then, in 1961 and 1966, there were two additional attempts at radio broadcasting from the island with the launching of two series of test broadcasts from amateur station VR6AC. It should be added, that QSLs do exist for these brief bursts of radio broadcasting from this lonely and isolated volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific, known to us all as Pitcairn Island. Many QSL cards have been issued by Floyd McCoy for amateur QSO contacts from his station VR6AC. In addition, there were two printings of the QSL card issued for station PITC. The first card, with a known print run of 1500 copies, shows the callsign VR6A. The second printing gives the callsign as VR6AY and it is probable that a total of 1500 cards were printed in this batch also. The VR6A & VR6AY QSL cards show the radio equipment in use and also a map of the Pacific showing the location of Pitcairn Island. These unique QSL cards command a very good price when sold on eBay. Back in the middle of last century, some of these cards were sold as tourist items to passengers on visiting ship. The cards are stamped with New Zealand postage stamps and they were cancelled with the Pitcairn Island cancellation (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan scripts July 5 and 12, 2009 via DXLD) Interesting story, Glenn. My understanding, though, is that there are no active hams on the island for the moment. They've either moved away, or, perhaps are serving prison time (Walt Salmaniw, BC, IRCA via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 9645, RRI in English 0300-0357 7/19, letterbag in which RRI announces that they intend to do their best to stay on SW in response to listeners` letters (Lin Robertson, Carlsbad CA, Aug NASWA Journal via DXLD) ! They`d better, after large expenditure to refurbish antennas, replace transmitters last couple of years resulting in greatly improved signals. Of course, they could always succumb to the who- needs-shortwave-anymore faxion, close it down, and then rent out the transmitters to insatiable gospel huxters or whatever other ISWBC stations may still need them; not that I would want to give RRI any ideas (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 4831, Voice of Russia, Tbilisskaya, *1958-2200*, Jul 08, 25 and 26, Radiokanal Sodruzhestvo in Russian with IS, ID and religious programme, 25232. This is a new spurious transmission heard // Tbilisskaya 1089 MW (1200 kW towards Middle East). It is an intermodulation signal while Tbilisskaya is also broadcasting in Spanish and Portuguese *2000-2200* on default 5920 (200 kW) (45444). 5920 – 1089 = 4831 ! (Van Arnhem, Bueschel, Petersen and Robic, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. I`m a longtime member of NASWA and I mostly listen to SW broadcasts from Russia. For some time now, the Voice of Russia external service in Russian, `Golos Rossii`, has been using a brief audio segment at the end of most half hours in which there is the repeated sound of what I can only describe as someone hand-sharpening a sickle. From my perspective, this seems particularly sinister and harkens back to the Soviet hammer and sickle era. Their home service similarly plays a segment at the top of most hours consisting of a hammer striking chimes. Are these signals that the old Soviet bear is coming out of hibernation? I wonder with some dread (Douglas W Johnson, Issaquah WA, Aug NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. VOR Khabarovsk, 12000, still free of RHC QRM as that is still on unannounced and perpetually crackly 11800 instead; August 5 at 1357 wrapping up Chinese hour, 1358 IS. 12000 quality has improved but somewhat distorted, and with BFO on can tell carrier is still unstable. Very good signal strength today; but August 6 at 1350 nothing audible, off the air? SF has been down to 66 and not much else on high-latitude E Asian paths (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. RUSSIA’S FREE MEDIA FIND A HAVEN IN UKRAINE By Chrystia Freeland Published: July 11 2009 01:37 | Last updated: July 11 2009 01:37 Imagine Jeremy Paxman being forced by an authoritarian crackdown on the media to flee London for Dublin, and begin a new career as a prime-time presenter in Ireland. A decade ago, it would have been equally preposterous for Russians to conceive of Moscow’s TV news stars – who, thanks to the youth of their country’s democracy, tended to be more influential and admired than their western counterparts – having to abandon jobs in the Imperial City and seek work in one of the former Soviet republics. The big problem with the Russian media seemed to be too much pluralism and too few standards, not too little freedom. And the country’s democracy, while chaotic and unruly, appeared to be one of the great accomplishments of the Yeltsin era. Moreover, even the most liberal, least chauvinist Muscovite would never have dreamed of exchanging the cosmopolitan opportunities of the capital for the backwater cities of the ex-Soviet Union. That’s why I was a little surprised, a couple of months ago, as I settled into my seat for the hour-long flight from Moscow to Kiev, to see Yevgeny Kisiliev, the television anchor who was the face of the Yeltsin revolution, sitting across the aisle. And I was astonished when I learnt the purpose of his trip: Kisiliev, who had been Russia’s most influential TV journalist, was commuting to his new job as an anchor in Ukraine. “Travelling to Ukraine is like going back in a time machine to the 1990s – they have real politics there,” Kisiliev told me enthusiastically. With his trademark thatch of thick, extravagantly boyish butterscotch hair and full moustache, Kisiliev still looked every bit the TV celebrity. And with his Hugo Boss glasses and chunky steel wristwatch, he met the dress code of a cabin filled with Gucci- clad women who looked like they were auditioning for a James Bond movie and their wannabe-oligarch boyfriends. Kisiliev explained that on his weekly Moscow radio show – he has been forced off regular television – he could only interview political analysts, since the politicians themselves refuse to appear. Independent journalism has been so marginalised in Russia, he said, that “even the press secretaries don’t like to talk to us any more”. In Kiev, by contrast, politicians not only come on his show, they answer their own mobile phones. “Working in Ukraine allows me to be a true political journalist,” Kisiliev said. “In Russia, there is no open political debate any more. The authorities are hermetically sealed, we can just hypothesise about the discussion going on inside. I call it the black box. Here [in Ukraine] you have access to tonnes of information, to almost any politician.” . . . [much more] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b227a87a-6c20-11de-9320-00144feabdc0.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Mike axually sent a sheet on real peach paper of the US edition with this 2-full-page story, except it was headlined NOISES OFF, and the first graf used Katie Couric fleeing the US to Canada as an example instead of Jeremy Paxman; who`s he? They also changed some spellings to US conventions, e.g. tons instead of tonnes; how considerate (gh, DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. Re 9-055: Ron, Maybe you could start hearing Hargeisa 7145 as soon as Laos signs off? (Glenn Hauser, dxlydg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALILAND [non]. 7145 R. Hargeisa. RE: WOR 1472: Glenn hopes that they will continue to sign-on earlier (at or before local sunrise) so we can we hear it in North America. For myself, I probably would have a problem hearing them due to the strong presence on 7145 of Laos (LNR), scheduled from 1130-1400*. Day by day their signal is gradually improving. It is now possible for me to actually make out a few of their news items in English (1330-1400). At about 1350 they usually announce the “end of the local news”; gives full ID with FM frequency and proceeds on with the “International News” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, August 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, Lao National Radio sign-off at 1400 UT, and R. Hargeisa sign-on at 1455v UT (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, ibid.) Yes, but have you confirmed *1455 lately? This discussion was started because of this report: ``7145, R. Hargeisa, Somalia. In vernacular with the earliest time heard here at 1220 on 22/7 with ID, something like "Idoo Somale" at 1300. Asking more for their s/on time (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF-2001, 16m Marconi, August Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1472, DXLD)`` In case it depend on day of week, 22/7 was a Wednesday (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hargeisa carrier on at 1454 UT, started with HOA music - National anthem(? ) at 1458. Today's condition is very weak (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Aug 6, ibid.) So Rumen`s July 22 log must have been anomalous; however, Aoki retains the old sked which might sometime be reinstated: 03-06, 09-12, 15-20, with English at 1915-1930 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. New shared MW site of RNE/EITB. Biribilondo is the new transmitter site for RNE and EITB in San Sebastián (province of Guipúzcoa, Basque Country, Spain). It consists of 4 x 50 kW transmitters tetraplexed into the same antenna. It works on 558 (RNE- R5TN), 774 (RNE), 963 (R. Euskadi, Spanish language) and 1476 (Euskadi Irratia, Basque language). Note the interchanged frequencies of Radio Euskadi between San Sebastián and Vitoria (probably to meet the needs of the tretraplexer instaled in San Sebastián). This is the actual situation of the EITB stations: Euskadi Irratia: 1197 EAJ162 Vitoria (Estíbaliz) 1386 EAJ362 Bilbao (Ganguren-Artxanda) 1476 EAJ562 San Sebastián (Biribilondo- Zubieta) Radio Euskadi: 756 EAJ462 Bilbao (Ganguren-Artxanda) 819 EAJ262 Vitoria (Estíbaliz) 963 EAJ662 San Sebastián (Biribilondo- Zubieta) Some more info and photo of the equipment in the site of the supplier, VIMESA: http://www.vimesa.es/web/noticias/2009/03/Tetraplexor_OM_RNE/Noticia.shtm Saludos! (Mauricio Molano Sánchez, Salamanca, Spain, Aug 6, dxldyg via DXLD) Note the callsigns all in –62; I had not noticed this assignment method before (gh, DXLD) ** TUNISIA. Rdf TV Tunisienne 12005 at 2007 with poor signal in Arabic. Carrier off at 2007. // 9725 also off. 7225 // 7345 fair at 2009. Neither 7 MHz frequency noted at 2200 recheck, altho' scheduled. 6 Aug (Liz Cameron, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) [and non]. 9725, Aug 7 at 0505 found mixture of two weak stations producing a rippling SAH indicating maybe 15 Hz apart; one with YL in Arabic, news? Other OM speaker weaker, uncertain language, guessing maybe Greekish or Slavic. Looked up later in Aoki, we find: 9725 TUNISIA 0200-0500 Arabic 500 100 Sfax TUN 01053E 3448N RTT a09 9725 RFE 0500-0600 Georgian 100 85 Biblis D 00830E 4941N IBB a09 So Tunisia was just running a few minutes overtime and was gone at 0508. And Georgian is neither Greekish nor Slavic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. See RUSSIA [and non]! ** U K. 17530, August 5 at 1329 poor with BBC sounder, Farsi. Don`t often hear anything here but it is Rampisham, 1230-1500, 500 kW, 95 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TED LANDPHAIR TAKES US TO THE VOA BETHANY TRANSMITTING STATION --- VOA Bethany transmitting station, now a museum and park. Veteran Voice of America “Americana” reporter and essayist, Ted Landphair recently posted an essay on his blog outlining the past and present of VOA’s Bethany, Ohio transmitter site. This article is a fascinating read and takes us back to the the site’s roots in WLW and wartime propaganda. . . http://tedlandphairsamerica.blogspot.com/2009/07/our-temple-of-radio.html Thanks Ted–and to Kim Elliot for bringing this article to my attention (swling.com blog Aug 3 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 4960, SAO TOME. VOA (Pinheira), 0422-0430, 8/4/2009, English. Two women talking. At 0425, talk regarding Nigeria by African-accented man. Identification by man at 0429 and 0430 followed by news. Poor to moderate signal with fading. VOA also noted on 4930 (via Botswana) with much weaker signal, not strong enough to determine if parallel programming (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF-SW7600G, Attic Mounted Random Wire (90') and Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA DRM tests: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ~~~ ** U S A. WWCR, 13845, DGS service, August 5 at 1332 check. This would not be notable, except on certain days recently it has been absent. Also on the air about 24 hours later August 6. At that time, Es MUF was between 13845 and 15825, the latter not inbooming. WWCR 13845, missing again Aug 7 at 1336, while 15825 was inbooming. I am beginning to wonder if its span has really been curtailed rather than transmitter trouble. I don`t keep listening to find when it comes on, but at 2228 recheck it was on weakly, with 6090 Anguilla in fact better with PMS. The 5935/13845 switchover times of WWCR-2 are scheduled to be 1200 and 0000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB, 18770, poorly audible August 5 at 1408 check with hoarse Ralph giving 888 number. He axually thinx people are eager to listen to him on the phone if not SW, altho for that I think he has a different toll number. 9385 x 2 = 18770, often making it here with a little help from the sporadic E layer, MUF of which does not need to reach TV channel A2 to be effective on HF. Yet I don`t recall anyone else ever reporting 18770. Why not try? I am not suggesting that Brother Scare is any more listenable when heard on a harmonic. Depending on skip distances, etc., other harmonics of US 9 MHz stations might be audible in the 18-20 MHz area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Last few days I`ve noticed WINB missing from both frequencies, such as August 6 at 1354, nothing on 9265 or 13570. Curtailed schedule? But at 1554, 13570 was audible poorly, and as soon as I tuned in heard the convicted Tony Alamo and some woman giving Texarkana TX PO Box. If you are broadcasting a convicted criminal, does that make you an accessory? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Accessory? Probably not unless they were luring victims to him. Wouldn't listening to his ranting run them off instead?? Just sayin' ...... (David R Block, ptsw yg via DXLD) ** U S A. I am hearing WOR (from NYC on 710 kHz) on their third harmonic of 2130 kHz. The signal is fading up and down, spending a fair amount of time under the noise level, but occasionally popping up with clear audio around 0100 UTC on August 6 2009. I am listening in New Hampshire with an 80m full wave loop and an Icom R75. All rights reversed (Rik van Riel, HCDX via DXLD) What would Tom Ray say? (gh) ** U S A. NEW YORK's dance music station was back in the headlines last week, but it's still not clear what exactly was going on behind the scenes at "Pulse 87" (WNYZ-LP), the channel 6 LPTV license that's operated by Mega Media as an FM station at 87.7 on the dial. On Monday, Pulse's announcers began telling listeners that the station was in severe financial trouble and would be gone by week's end...unless those listeners came forward with donations to save the format. Listeners apparently responded - but the fund drive didn't last long. By Tuesday morning, the fundraising announcements (complete with premiums such as messenger bags and wristbands) had been pulled, the "donate" webpage on the Pulse website was gone, and the station was suddenly announcing that it had won a reprieve from its creditors thanks to an "overwhelming" response from listeners. But all that money pledged by the Pulse audience isn't staying with Mega Media - it's being returned to donors, the station says, leaving it rather unclear as to what the point of the one-day fundraiser really was. So while the good news for New York's dance fans is that Pulse remains on the air, there are still plenty of unanswered questions - what prompted the drive in the first place, and why was it called off so abruptly? Even more curious is the low profile Mega's leadership has been taking; the announcements of the pledge drive and of its cancellation came from Pulse staffers, not from CEO Alex Shvarts, and the normally outspoken Shvarts hasn't been heard from at all during the latest series of events. Apart from a one-line posting to his Facebook page on Monday, he's had no public comment, and even the station's passionate fans, who've been outspoken about the latest developments on all the usual message boards, say they've heard nothing at all from Mega management to clear up what's going on. Mega's stock dipped below a penny per share last week, closing at $0.008 per share, and the company has now pulled back from its ambitious expansion plans for "Pulse." Mega had earlier announced that it wasn't going ahead with plans to launch "Pulse" on channel 6 LPTVs in Chicago and Los Angeles, and last week it dropped its plans to put the format on a channel 6 LPTV in the Washington, DC market (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch July 27 via DXLD) ** U S A. VOICE THAT SOUNDS LIKE HOME WELCOMES MEXICO’S OUTSIDERS By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD Published: June 8, 2009 Fresno Journal [with 46 second audio clip] FRESNO, Calif. — The voice trembled with anguish. ”La Hora Mixteca,” or “The Mixtec Hour,” broadcasts on Sundays from Fresno, Calif., over Radio Bilingüe, the only Spanish-language public radio network in the United States. The show mixes advice, music and messages from family members. “Please,” Esmeralda Santiago pleaded, calling into a radio show here aimed at the poorest of Mexico’s emigrants, indigenous people from the southern state of Oaxaca. “This is for Sylvia Santiago. Please, if you can hear us, call. Our mother is worried because we have not talked with you in a while.” Filemón López, the host of the show, listened and nodded. He had heard such heartache before. The woman spoke first in Spanish and then repeated her plea — breaking down in sobs — in Triqui, one of Oaxaca’s indigenous languages. “When there is no communication,” Mr. López, himself a legal immigrant who once worked the fields, said in a break, “it causes such sadness.” On this recent Sunday, there were certainly happier moments on “La Hora Mixteca” (The Mixtec Hour), Mr. López’s show, which is aimed primarily at Mixtec (pronounced MEESE-teck) Indians but draws listeners from other groups in the United States and, via satellite link, in Oaxaca, too . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/us/09mixtec.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mixteca&st=cse (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ¿Would you believe `trilingüe`? (gh) ** VENEZUELA [non]. English on 13680 and 15250 at 2300-2400; still on 6060 with news only in English for several minutes just after 1100 UT. The rest of the hour is Spanish. The 2300 broadcasts are ``interesting,`` in the sense of Star Trek when some alien is eating up the Enterprise and everyone is running around screaming except Mr. Spock who raises one eyebrow and says, ``Interesting.`` After two weeks of listening, there is no schedule. English may be 30 minutes or so, even a full hour as yesterday June 29. Fridays, the whole transmission seems in Spanish. Programming in English is the national news, a cultural feature at times, and many commentaries. Many, many IDs, all in Spanish, and unfortunately, not enough of their wonderful music. Presently, they have two major features. One marking the 10th anniversary of (a TV program by the looks) ``Hello [sic] Presidente.`` Some parts are in English but mostly Spanish. Here, the president explains policies, answers questions, even sings and plays a musical instrument (shades of FDR`s `Fireside Chats`` and Clinton`s saxophone solos). If the president is not available, then the program is ``Hello Vice Presidente.`` The other feature is promoting socialism. One program in this series was a socialistic Christianity. Even the Bible was quoted in the hatred of the rich. That one ended up saying that the most perfect Christianity is communism. I`ve heard a number of born-again Christians but none ever took that road. There is also the usual speeches by Chávez (in Spanish) and once there was a number of bombastic speeches for Bolivia`s Independence Day. There is one feature aired every so often in Spanish which I cannot figure out --- a listing of South American cities with what appears to be shortwave radio frequencies. At least at the start of the transmission, the following programs are listed in English (Bob Fraser, Belfast ME, Aug NASWA Journal via DXLD) ?? the cities and frequencies are the imaginary schedule of RNV, not updated since its début and now almost totally wrong, and anyway each expressed in local time, not including DST; as we have outpointed numerous times (gh, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, Radio Christian Voice (Lusaka) (presumed), 0431-0435, 8/4/2009, English (per schedule). Music followed by talk by man at 0434. Very poor signal, fading badly at noise level. Usually only a carrier with minimal audio on this frequency in Summer (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF-SW7600G, Attic Mounted Random Wire (90') and Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 4880, SW R Africa, via Meyerton, 1716-1842, Jul 22 and 26, talks in English, moderate strength, but badly interfered by AIR Lucknow that had nearly the same signal level. Free of QRM during re-check at 1803 when India was already off, then 35333 ((Dmitry Mezin /Signal, Kazan, Russia, on holidays in Montenegro, and Bernard Mille, Bailleul, France, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) You can see Ms. Gerry Jackson presenting this station: http://www.guardian.co.uk/activate/video-gerry-jackson-sw-radio-africa (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 2720 kHz -> 1360 x2? 680 x4? It sounds like another AM harmonic on 2720 kHz, which would correspond to a base frequency of 680 or 1360 kHz. I have not caught a station ID yet due to static crashes, but did identify some of the songs. At 0443 UT Nirvana with "I don't have a gun", followed at 0446 with REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it", then some songs which I do not know. Heard in southern New Hampshire from 0443 till 0505 UT, August 7 2009 (Rik van Riel, harmonics yg via DXLD) See also USA: WOR 2130 UNIDENTIFIED. 4700, 1733, Jul 26, songs non-stop. Good at tune-in, but became much more weak by 1746. Might be an image or harmonic, but I could not manage to find its fundamental. Not parallel to Greek pirates above 1610 kHz (Dmitry Mezin /Signal, Kazan, Russia, on holidays in Montenegro, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) 1566 -2/3 x 3? UNIDENTIFIED. 4888.20, UNID carrier, maybe R Félicy or Felici [PERU?] as mentioned in DX-Window no. 381, 2320-2330, Jul 21, very weak 15111. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 5 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 5840, CHINA, CRI, 0407-0410 news in English 5/21; not shown here on any of my lists; 30-60 dB signal with long, slow QSB, good-excellent (Richard Parker, Pennsburg PA, Aug NASWA Journal via DXLD) Spur or harmonic? Not sure how to calculate; tho you`d think that sometime during the past 9 years I`d have written down how to when more experienced DXers explain (Mark Taylor, NASWA log editor, ibid.) It`s really not that hard: 1, look up in EiBi or WRTH or MT which frequency(ies) CRI English at 0400 is supposed to be on: you find only one, 6080 via Sackville. 2, we know that Sackville is a rich producer of leapfrog mixing products. Most likely there is one halfway between 6080 and 5840 over which it leaps. 3, that would be 5960, 120 kHz midway between both. You compute that by 6080 minus 5840 = 240. Then 240 divided by 2 = 120. Then 5840 plus 120 = 5960. Guess what, Sackville is also on that during this hour with NHK relay in Japanese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. MEXICO [?]. 5955, unID SPANISH ROCK MUSIC --- 1850z Aug 7, someone playing nonstop lite-rock MEXICAN music, grupo Maná. fair daytime signal, but all DAYLIGHT path, will check back around 2100z (Steven C. Wiseblood, Brownsville TX, (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach, GULF of MEXICO), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, times in UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Remember the never fully explained tests from COSTA RICA around this frequency last year? Could have continued on in daytime only, so not widely noticed; or just resumed. Wasn`t Maná a favorite of theirs before? For example: (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5953.5; 1932-1936 9 August, 2008. Weak carrier audible on both the ICF-2010 and ICF-7600GR using the 200 foot longwire. No audio. A kHz below where the seemingly inactive unidentified ELCOR Costa Rican operated, so who knows (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-091) COSTA RICA. 5954.13v, unidentified ELCOR transmitter, Guápiles; no trace of this for weeks here (the last log -- at least the last one I entered into the logbook -- was on April 23). Anything different to report from Costa Rica, Raúl? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, June 23, 2008, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-073) UNIDENTIFIED. DRM Signal on 9625 at 2210 UT --- Hi Everyone, Currently, I'm seeing a strong DRM signal on 9625 kHz. However, an analog signal (CBCNQ) is preventing any significant decode. The DREAM decoded ID is E0D901 and it reports a mode B signal with the SDC / MSC Mode: 16-QAM / SM 16-QAM with two data services. On Google, I found one reference to this frequency and DRM posted by Glenn Hauser in December, 2006. He said: "UNIDENTIFIED. Dec 22 at 2112 I noticed that CBCNQ 9625 had some DRM- like QRM, also audible down to 9620 and up to 9630. Some analog music was still audible on 9625. But the QRM went off at 2118 and I cannot find any DRM transmissions listed anywhere near this frequency or time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)" Any ideas on what this is? (Mark Bauman, KB7GF, July 14, drmna yg via DXLD) Unless it is another of these current little- or un-publicized tests, my guess would be a Sackville AM/DRM transmitter which in the past has gone into DRM or hybrid all by itself. What does E0D901 denote?? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 9750, August 6 at 1320, besides Japanese talk from NHK, co-channel from what sounded like a SE Asian song. V. of Malaysia is also listed here in Indonesian, per Aoki (as well as PBS Nei Menggu, and VOR Russian via Kaliningrad) so VOM looks likely. It seems to me that both Japan and Malaysia using same frequency to and from Asia is not a very good idea (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Recently I have been checking 9750 in the vain hope that I could establish this frequency as being Suara Malaysia/VOM carrying the Bahasa Indonesia (BI) programming after 1200. I had hoped it would be parallel to the BI audio feed I was hearing on 11884.48v at 1200 till their sign-off a short time later. It seemed logical that there must have been a VOM frequency that continued on with the audio feed. Now I know it is VOM on 6175 that continues on with BI well after 1200. I never did hear VOM on 9750. NHK (// 11815) and PBS Nei Menggu were the only two stations ever heard. Is easy for me to confirm PBS Nei Menggu, via their parallel on 7270, where they usually are dominant against Malaysia (Wai FM/Limbang FM), so please give a listen to 7270, if you can, and see if you can match up the audios (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, August 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK; 7 MHz is useless here by that hour. I see that WRTH A09 also shows 9750 in use for VOM Indo at 12-14, Malay after that (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Seeing as you can not hear 7270 at your QTH, thought this audio might give you a rough idea of what it sounds like today at Asilomar Beach. Attached audio: 0:00 to 0:23 – 7270 kHz. PBS Nei Menggu with man talking/ singing/ chanting along with distinctive indigenous music. Light QRM in background. 0:23 to 1:26 – 9750 Khz.: NHK (pop music and in Japanese) mixing with PBS Nei Menggu (still with man talking/singing/chanting along with indigenous music. 1:26 to 1:49 – 7270 kHz. PBS Nei Menggu with man talking/ singing/ chanting along with distinctive indigenous music (Ron Howard, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, yes they certainly match up (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WORLD OF TELEPHONY ++++++++++++++++++ WORLD OF RADIO has been available by telephone for years now. It’s usually uploaded by Sunday mornings via Laser Box, 1-206-333-5096. Toll charges apply outside Seattle (SRG, Aug 6, Media Network blog via DXLD) A brief update to my previous post: the World of Radio isn’t heard on that phone number anymore (SRG, Aug 7, ibid.) Does anyone have any info whether another number or service has replaced it? I believe the person who was running it died some time ago (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) see also FRANCE [non] PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ATLAS OBSCURA http://atlasobscura.com/ This site features wondrous, curious, and bizarre locations around the world. The Atlas Obscura is a compendium of this age's wonders, curiosities, and esoterica. The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloguing all the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If you're looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you'll find them (via John Legett, Claremore, Oklahoma, Aug Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) FINE TUNING PROCEEDINGS Hope this isn't too far off topic. I got a nice copy of Fine Tuning's Proceedings 1991 off ebay. Good copy. Was wondering how many years this was printed? And, does anyone have a complete set they might want to part with. I saw the index listed in the back of the journal, but have no idea how many years this was printed. So, if anyone has a set or even a single copy, and they want to part with, I'll pay fair price. Thanks. Drifter... (driftermick, NASWA yg via DXLD) I believe Proceedings had a two or three year run around 1990. The ODXA mail order sells a CD of all 128 articles from those editions for $10 CDN shipping included (Mark Coady, Ont., ibid.) There were, in fact, six volumes, annually from 1988 to 1991 and two biannually, 1992-93 and 1994-95. As Mark notes, the best and cheapest way to acquire them is to purchase the ODXA CD copy. Proceedings had many talented and dedicated contributors and editors, and the set remains an invaluable reference -- arguably the best ever -- available to the DXer. They were the brainchild of John Bryant, DXer and college professor, who felt that SW deserved a serious, peer-reviewed research publication that at least attempted to bring an academic approach to the hobby. And while Proceedings did include a certain amount of seat- of-the-pants science, and some equipment reviews now seem terribly dated , it also contains some of the best writing on propagation that has ever appeared in print! --dnj (Don Jensen, WI, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ C. CRANE FOUNDER FEATURED IN BUSINESSWEEK I was pleasantly surprised to find an interview with Bob Crane in recent BusinessWeek. Many of us know C. Crane as a reliable supplier of SW radios and antennas. Now Bob seems to be moving into the energy- efficiency arena. Fortunately, there's no talk of dropping DX gadgets. (Sergei S., Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: WHERE AN INVENTOR-ENTREPRENEUR FINDS MOTIVATION --- By Karen E. Klein The founder of 26-year-old gadgetmaker C. Crane talks about how he develops new products, the latest of which aims to save energy It's almost becoming a cliché to predict that entrepreneurs will lead the U.S. out of recession and into a new clean-energy economy. But what compels those smallest of companies to invent and innovate, given the odds against success? For Bob Crane, the 58-year-old president and founder of C. Crane in Fortuna, Calif., the driving factors are independence, altruism, and ambition. He spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow. . . http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2009/sb2009083_902169.htm?link_position=link9 (via Sergei S., dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM / LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO SHACK'S SHOCKER Posted: 05 Aug 2009 12:02 AM PDT By Jerry Del Colliano http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2009/08/radio-shacks-shock.html Looks like the folks who run Radio Shack have all of a sudden inherited the terrestrial radio dumb-dumb gene some of the "C" list consolidators have. They are going to drop "Radio" from their name -- making them known as simply "The Shack". This all happened after a new ad agency got its hands on the Radio Shack account and decided to make the brand more now sounding. He's a bunch of bullshit: The Chief Marketing Officer Greg Stern was quoted in Inside Radio yesterday as saying, “This creative is not about changing our name. Rather, we’re just contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand.” Does anyone tell the truth anymore? Of course it's about changing your name and running away from who you are or better yet -- what you've unfortunately become. Radio is no longer cool so it is getting the heave-ho from The Shack. That name sucks. Even the real Shaq won't like it. Radio is apparently so toxic to the new Shack that they are going to leave radio out of the buy for its repositioning campaign -- you know, the one that doesn't use the word "radio". So if 230 million people listen to radio (albeit for significantly decreased time periods), maybe they should go elsewhere for their electronic needs. Like online where everybody else goes. It's cheaper. Faster. Better. You can read reviews and you don't have to suffer fools when a salesperson doesn't know what he or she is talking about. Maybe that's their real reason for the name change -- they don't like who they are? Since you put your boots on for the previous b.s. quote I cited, let me throw a little more you-know-what on the floor: “Everything about the advertising — the media, format, style, music and tone — will contribute to a new interpretation of the brand.” Somehow Radio Shack thinks it is like Coke or FedEx. Well, there are a couple of problems here -- and as Barack Obama would say -- it gives us a teaching moment. The Shack is nothing without Radio in it. They'll find out -- too late. What would OfficeMax be if their honchos thought offices were passe -- The Max? If the Cheesecake Factory suddenly felt diners thought its cheesecake desert was causing an outbreak of adult onset diabetes, would it hire this ad agency to rename it -- The Factory? If Apple someday saw digital downloads as yesterday's technology, could it rename the iTunes store -- The Store? And what about Burger King -- take away the Burger because the fats are contributing to heart disease and this agency would rename it -- The King. Even Larry wouldn't eat there. And if you think these examples are just me fooling around, did you see what Pizza Hut did? They dropped the Pizza and kept The Hut. No kidding. Back to Radio Shack -- and I'm going to call them that just for spite. I get that they don't sell many radios these days. I understand that their help doesn't know what an HD radio is -- after all, most radio CEOs don't know either not to mention consumers. Maybe that's why radio groups never adequately programmed their subchannels. And my readers have told me they have tried to buy HD radios just because they are in the industry and have had a Radio Shack sales associate walk them over to the satellite radios -- which they knew nothing about either. Maybe Radio Shack should have been renamed Radio Hack for the low level of product expertise some of the stores' employees have. I'll bet they couldn't even sell a popular item like an iPod or an iPhone if Apple let them. Notice Apple doesn't let them. So, let me contain my outrage. No one knows better than we do that radio has seen its better day, but when a company that has "radio" as its first name and then decides to leave out the most important word -- and replace it with nothing -- either we're real uncool or they are. How about both. I've got some pretty smart radio friends who I could have invited out to Scottsdale for a brainstorming session (pizza courtesy of JD and The Hut), and we could have come up with something a lot better than - - The Shack. How about Digital Shack. Or a totally new name that somehow means as much as Radio Shack did for decades. Or at least some word modifying the word Shack. Caddy Shack would have been better than nothing -- at least it conjures up some strong imagery of the Dali Lama. (I call my driver "the lama"? cause its a big hitter). How about Radio Shack -- there's a good name. Now comes the teaching moment: 1. Radio Shack is the radio Shack just as the radio industry is still the radio industry. Trying to be that which you are not will impress no one. The new imagery is not more contemporary as their agency argues, it's actually less meaningful. 2. Radio executives should learn as well -- taking personalities off of the radio (something listeners have loved for decades), is our version of a screw-up the size of Radio Shack dropping its first name. Sorry, but we're guilty here, too. 3. Offering the most compromised programming in the history of the radio industry is tantamount to the all-new Shack opening for business without putting their best products on the floor for sale. Terrestrial radio has been doing this for a long time. Repeater Radio. Voice Tracking. No local news. No local anything. No live people. No contests, promotions or excitement. Bland, compromised programming. 4. Radio can't seem to get beyond Cousin Brucie or Gordon McLendon. It can't rise above programming to people instead of to People Meters. The concept of radio isn't what's uncool -- doing yesterday's formatics without much music discovery is what young people will tell you is very uncool. 5. Podcasting is the new radio but 98% of the radio industry doesn't know it. They think it's a hobby. Podcasting is more radio than radio is because it is about one-on-one relationships the way radio used to be. Personal relationships never go out of style. Talking about your interests and not your listeners interests is lame no matter what you call that type of communication. (I'm in the midst of writing a book on success, happiness and people power skills in which I note that Dale Carnegie used to say if you want someone to like you, get them to talk about themselves. Talking about you is a no-no). One more thing. The coolest product to come along for the next generation is called Pandora. No, I'm wrong. It's called Pandora Radio and founder Tim Westergren wears the name "radio" like a badge of honor. Even when young folks have challenged him about the use of the name, he embraced it. Did someone forget to tell Westergren that radio was passe -- damaged goods, yesterday's news? Or does he know something Radio Shack doesn't? So the lesson for the radio industry and its electronics buddy Radio Shack is clear. It's not the word "radio" that is uncool -- it's the stuff that passes for local programming these days on terrestrial stations. And the reason Radio Shack is too embarrassed to use its real name is because they too have lost site of what is cool -- like knowing lots about exciting electronic products. If Pandora wants to be called radio -- what's Radio Shack's excuse for not? (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) RADIOSHACK CALLS ITSELF 'THE SHACK' IN ATTEMPT TO MODERNIZE IMAGE By Tim Conneally | Published August 3, 2009, 11:36 AM I remember decades ago when a trip to Radio Shack was a genuine electronics hobbyist delight. I could buy surplus PC boards packed with components, virtually any electronic part I wanted - they could get it. Those were the days of Lafayette and Olsen stores as well. My favorite Olsen store was demolished for a freeway. Lafayette in my old home town was torn down and is now a fast food location. Fast forward four decades - there are a few of them that stock electronic components, and I know where they are in case I need something from the limited stock they have. Replacement IC's? Better have a Mouser account for NTE parts. I do - and a Digikey account. Most Radio Shacks? Fronts for Sirius, Sprint, and stuff like that with predatory sales people that pounce on me the moment I walk through the door. Useless store except for the occasional stereo plug adapter which miraculously they still have. If I can navigate the sales people grimly determined to tell me the "virtues" of Howard Stern or Sprint. I know where the true electronics stores are in my area, and shop at them instead (Bruce Carter, ABDX via DXLD) Re: ``Long-running electronics retailer RadioShack is updating its image by referring to itself as "The Shack http://www.radioshack.com/theshack/ " in a new campaign.`` I've been thinking about this some more. I just don't understand why a company thinks they'll be better off by changing away from a long established household name to something that sounds like a place you'd buy bait. At least not when there isn't some major scandal associated with that name. We, myself included, may not think much of Radio Shack these days, but it's a well known name with well known, meaningful catch-phrases associated with it. Unlike NBC's, "Now more than ever," Radio Shack's, "You've got questions, we've got answers," even if more joke than reality, means something. Giving all that up for the pipe dream of being perceived as more hip is just plain stupid. It ranks right up there with New Coke. To top that with moving purposely into a highly competitive business where you'll actually be competing directly with the companies whose services you'll be selling, well, that's a special kind of stupid. I must pass six company-named cell phone stores every day just on my drive to work. One of Radio Shack's problems is that their stores don't have room to sell much in the way of large items. I can see why they want to get out of the radio and electronics business. No one but we crazies buy radios, and I know I haven't bought one at RS in over ten years because their selection was poor and their prices high (sales excepted). And electronics are far better sold over the Internet. It struck me that with small stores they might be better off reinventing themselves as a service business rather than a retail business. Maybe sell a few computers out of the store and come up with their own version of the Nerd Herd. They'd have to hire people who actually had a clue about which was the business end of a keyboard, but, my parents having recently received a computer, I know there's a market out there for the type of computer services a minimally trained RS employee could provide. On some web site I read a comment suggesting that they start serving coffee in the stores. Get people in the stores for coffee and let them look at all the pretty cell phones while their double mocha half-caff soy latte is being prepared. This makes me think that maybe Starbucks is missing a cross-marketing opportunity. I've been in several Starbucks that were plenty big enough to host a cell phone kiosk. I wish "The Shack" well, but I can't say I have high hopes. They've tried to reinvent themselves several times in the past without huge success. I don't see this effort as likely to be much more than a dying gasp (Jay Heyl, ibid.) My phone has 2 transmitters stuck to it - the 1.9 GHz CDMA transmitter for the phone, and also a stereo FM transmitter that tunes 87.5-107.9 MHz over which you can broadcast your mp3s or sound from videos stored on the phone to a radio within a couple hundred feet. When I worked at RadioShack in the 90's ("The Technology Store" days), we called it RatShack. We actually had rats in our back room... because the associates never seemed to clean up after themselves and left food crumbs laying around among the boxes of stock. And before the smoking ban for business spaces, we called it SmokeShack because everyone (except me) would be back in the stock room puffing away between customers, and when you would go back there to get something, you had to navigate through a thick haze to find it. When I was a kid, it seemed every Radio Shack I went into had that unique essence of smoke and factory-fresh electronics. I dunno about "The Shack" - I have always gone there for batteries and components, and sometimes a radio or tools. Now they're even selling candy at the checkout counter --- like Nerds brand (I suppose to compete with Best Buy's Geek Squad). RadioShack still beats Best Buy in the brains department (barely), and is still a store right there in your neighborhood that you can just walk into and buy a Grundig radio, batteries, a pair of MosFETs, and some solder (and I guess a candy bar, too)- but Frys still has the best selection of everything... they just don't know a tunnel diode from a zener diode, though they carry both (Darwin Long, ibid.) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ New DTH Opportunity in the Philippines The Philippines has a population of over 90 million people, of whom over 90% are Christian and of those, 81% are practicing Roman Catholics. Filipinos are a sophisticated and westernised nation, now the third largest English speaking country in the world. We invite you to reach the Philippines via direct satellite, with the option of local FM transmission. WRN has access to the Agila 2 satellite that provides transmission for the “Dream” bouquet. In addition to audiences in the Philippines, the satellite is watched in many nearby countries that are covered by the footprint. In fact, many English speakers in China have receivers for “Dream” in order to access major European and American channels. WRN can also arrange lease of airtime on local FM stations for radio broadcasters (WRN Wired, Aug, via DXLD) This is startling; can it be true that ``Philippines is the third- largest English speaking country??`` Assuming population is meant, does that mean right behind USA and UK? What about India and many other large countries where there is ESL? Do we skip them? Not every Filipino speaks English, but for this computation, is the entire population of the Philippines being counted? Here`s a ranking which puts Phil at a still surprisingly high no. 6, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population behind USA, India, Nigeria, UK and even Germany! While less than 50% of Phil`s 90 megapeople are English-speaking. The wiki listing is very interesting, to see the wildly divergent percentages of English-speakers where it is non-native. Proportionately, more people in Netherlands speak English than in Canada! 48 percent in Greece, less than 6% in Ghana, ex-British colony. The only 100% English speaking countries per this are American Samoa, and BIOT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM see also UNIDENTIFIED 9625 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ECHO DES TAGES - 9530 kHz DRM on 30 July from 2215 to 2230 UT. Audio broadcast with news in German. Audio clip with station ID at end here: http://www.mediafire.com/?jyjmm2uzm1m Verified on subsequent days that broadcast was from 2100 to 2230 UT. Heard again on 4 Aug. WAZ Nachtrichten - at 2230 UT, 9530 continues but switches from audio to the proprietary "Journaline" text data mode, comparable to a mini webpage with a list of clickable headlines which take you to individual news summaries, in this case all in German. First found it on 30 Jul. 9530 was off the air between 2301 and 2320 UT on 4 Aug. VOA/HCJB - 9405 kHz DRM on 4&5 Aug. Found weak DRM signal at 2220 UT, enough to get the VOA/HCJB banner on the decoder, but not enough to decode the audio. Strong signal at 2230 decoded as rock music, but signal was off at 2231. Weak signal returned at 0000, but could not decode audio. Jumped to strong signal at 0035, playing VOA Music Mix with news break at top of hour. Though the "MOT Slideshow" mode was included with the audio, numerous checks showed no pictures were broadcast. Near perfect decode on audio until 0120, when audio sputtered and hiccuped before becoming undecodable. VOA/HCJB banner on decoder: http://www.mediafire.com/?znxrujm0lez (Terry Wilson, MI, Aug 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ECHO DES TAGES http://www.wdr5.de/sendungen/echo-des-tages.html This is a joint programme from Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), a relic from the former Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, split up already in 1956 but with a joint radio service remaining until 1981. Another such joint news magazine still airs at 23:30 CET, on the Cologne side on WDR 2. This one here goes out at 1630 UT, so the ominous DRM relay is a 5.5 hours old recording. Deutsche Welle has nothing to do with this. They have been created by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk and make heavy use of news material from the regional public broadcasters, but do not rebroadcast complete programmes. The remarkable thing here is that this strange outlet sails under the flag of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) publishers. I guess that the text messages in question originate from their online department. The really interesting question (for those observing the German media scene much more interesting than transmitter site etc.) is how such a WAZ service can make use of WDR audio material. In fact WAZ and WDR already struck a controversially discussed deal under which WAZ can use WDR video material for online publication. But now it seems that the cooperation goes beyond some video clips. Still the question remains who is behind this DRM service. If it was WDR itself it would be quite remarkable how it gets flagged as a WAZ service. Be that as it may, I'm not surprised at all that the whole thing is run in a clandestine manner so far. Concerning the Greenville tests: I understand that the engineering department of HCJB Global struck this deal with IBB simply because Pifo has hardly more than a half year left to run, leaving them without own facilities for their DRM project? Btw, it would be interesting which transmitter they use. The old Continental transmitters use Doherty modulation, and if I recall its principle correct a use of these rigs for DRM can be ruled out. The less old ("only" 45 years) General Electric rigs use plate modulation if I'm correct, so it would be possible. Certainly possible are the Telefunken and Brown Boveri sample transmitters with the PDM or PSM, respectively, technology of these manufacturers (these were evaluation samples, installed in preparation of the Morocco and Sri Lanka projects which ended up using transmitters with Marconi technology, manufactured by a previously unheard-off Cincinnati company). But most likely are probably the SSB transmitters, considering that utility SSB gear is in use for the DRM experiments at Pifo as well. These SSB transmitters are no longer in any regular use, with the days of shortwave feeds being long gone, so using them for DRM trials does not affect regular transmissions in any way. And one thought about all the special transmissions for the HFCC: What is their purpose at all? I understand that HFCC is a conference of engineering staff, with no decision makers from broadcasting organizations being present. So what's the point? Do they need to convince themselves? (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi KaiLudwig, the HFCC became an associate member of DRM in 2000. Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) is an international consortium of organisations from across the broadcast industry, who have come together to develop a standard for digital broadcasting in the AM bands below 30 MHz - traditionally the short, medium and long wave bands. http://www.hfcc.org/pro/index.html (Dino Bloise, Miami, FL, ibid.) The banner station ID on the decoder is "Echo des Tages" during the audio broadcast and switches to "WAZ Nachrichten" when the freq switches to the text-only stream. So maybe two different and unrelated media outlets, like how 9800 from Sackville switches the DRM stream from RCI to Vatican Radio to CRI? From Mel Whitten, via DRMNA Yahoo group: I have received further info on current broadcasts from the VOA. 9405 kHz is aimed Northwest at 306 deg from Greenville, NC. Expected transmission hours from 0000 to 0400 UT (they are on the air right now!) Expect transmissions to continue for the next 2 months as they demonstrate the technology to the powers that be in the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), basically looking for funding to continue. HCJB is providing the DRM exciter and VOA is providing the transmission capability with an average power of 8 kW in DRM. There is another transmission beaming to Europe on the 19m band but I do not have the exact frequency. Use drm @ voanews for reception reports. It is important that reports are sent to this address for support of these and future transmissions (via Terry Wilson, MI, ibid.) Found some more info in my email. Thank you Douglas! This transmission originates from Nauen, Germany (200 kW). The label "WAZ Nachrichten" is related to a newspaper from the city of Wolfsburg, MEDIA BROADCAST uses their RSS feed as content for the Journaline service. The "Echo des Tages" is produced by two public radio-stations, WDR 5 and NDR Info. It is available as a podcast on http://www.ndrinfo.de (Terry Wilson, MI, ibid.) minor correction: http://www.derwesten.de/nachrichten/waz.html WAZ News originate from Essen - not from Wolfsburg - , I guess. regards wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) See http://www.waz-online.de Wolfgang! :) By the way, you are invited to send your DRM reception reports to MEDIA BROADCAST via info @ media-broadcast.de (or their special QSL address which I do not have in mind at the moment). (Douglas Kähler, ibid.) Kim`s column for the August NASWA Journal, evaluating the Uniwave DRM receiver, concludes with: ``Listen for test DRM transmissions from a famous transmitter site of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Possibilities are 2000-2200 on 15475, 0000-0200 on 11725, 0200-0400 on 9465.`` Written at least a couple of weeks ago, details may be out of date, but worth checking these. Has already been reported around 9405, 9530, instead? So far so good on 15475, no DRM there at 2033 check August 6; but no LRA-36 audible either (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, 9530 is via Nauen as reported in DXLD. A before someone posted in DRMNA also. (Alokesh Gupta, ibid.) DIGITAL BRODCASTING --- IBOC ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HD is a dud - LA Times Insignia's hand-held player unlikely to boost HD Radio's popularity The included ear buds are substandard, negating the promised sound upgrade, and reception inside buildings is hit-or-miss. By David Colker 11:41 AM PDT, August 5, 2009 HD Radio, introduced amid much hype in 2004 as a way to digitally improve the sound of FM and AM stations, has never much caught the ears of U.S. radio listeners. . . http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hd-radio6-2009aug06,0,716211.story . . .For the meantime, the initials in HD radio might as well stand for humdrum. (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ LONG-HAUL FM DX, COLOMBIA OR VENEZUELA; URUMQI TO ROMANIA? [continued from 9-052, ANOTHER POSSIBLE TA FM EVENT?] Hello everyone, There are a few things needing more work. 1. I am hearing bits and pieces such as "....está pasando la movida escolar venezolana, sintoniza La Mega, de lunes a viernes de 2 a 4 de la tarde, porque tú..." 2. The mention of a programme host as "Alejandro Leon, PRODUCTOR NACIONAL INDEPENDIENTE 3104" 3. Reference made to the programme host as "Alejandro MI PAPITO León". No. 2 and no. 3 are consistent with Venezuela. The P.N.I. lincensing appears to have been created by the Chávez government, apparently in an answer to the "certificado de locutor" of earlier governments, and "Mi papito" is arguably unknown as a term of endearment in Spain but quite consistent with Venezuelan (and Colombian) practice. 4. On the Spain main it is rather unusual to present school girls the way we are hearing, as "señoritas", in this case Paola Barreto and María Alejandra Morales. There is a Venezuelan FM station on Isla Margarita on 88.7 where programmes are arranged in 2-hour blocks, but so far I have been unable to check the info with my Venezuelan contacts. Whether aired or not on a Spanish FM station, this feature seems to have originated in Venezuela (Henrik Klemetz, July 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why would an 88.7 station in Colombia be relayed on 88.7 in Spain featuring a Chávez-licensed DJ? (Henrik Klemetz, July 27, playdx yg via DXLD) Venezuela seems to have been heard on FM in Romania I have been doing some further research, finding sufficient evidence to show that the clip recorded in Romania on July 1, 2009 was aired by a Venezuelan FM network. If you type http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuito_Unión_Radio#Lunes_a_Viernes_2 you will find that the Unión Radio network runs a sub-network called La Mega where there is a regular feature run by Alejandro León (mentioned in my previous mail), Mo-Fri at 2-4 pm, which is called “Zona Escolar FM”. It is this programme that the FM DXer in Romania has picked up. The two school girls invited as “locutoras” whose names were given in my previous mail, are probably shown on the first picture with the programme host Alejandro “mi papito” León, at http://zonaescolar.net/verFotos.php?1631,Fm.html (Clicking on the picture a host of new pictures can be seen). In the report showing what was done on July 1, which can also be found at http://zonaescolar.net/verFotos.php?1631,Fm.html it says, ”Miércoles 01 de julio. Hoy nos acompañaron como locutoras invitadas Paola Barreto y Maria Alejandra Morales ambas estudiantes de 8º grado del Colegio Santa Gema.” On the Mega home page, where Alejandro León is shown, it is said that the Mega transmitter in Puerto Ordaz, 88.9 (why not 88.7??), probably will have to stop relaying the “Zona Escolar FM” programme if president Chávez´s new and restrictive media law takes effect. See: http://www.lamegaestacion.com/index.aspx#&&NewsId=19186 (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "South America heard on FM in Romania??" ---------------------------- Venezuela --- A Youtube audio and video clip dated July 1, carries mentions of Alejandro "mi papito" León, Productor Nacional Independiente 3104, la movida escolar venezolana, sintoniza La Mega, Paola Barreto, Maria Alejandra Morales etc. It seems to be part of a transmission aired on that particular day in Venezuela. The patchy audio, recorded on 88.7 FM, is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuVbgDZ5F68&NR=1 Per http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuito_Unión_Radio#Lunes_a_Viernes_2 one learns that Venezuelan Unión Radio is running a sub-network called La Mega where there is a programme called “Zona Escolar FM” Mo-Fri at 2-4 pm local time. The Romanian DXer seems to have hit the first minute of this show. Two school girls invited as “locutoras”, Paola Barreto and María Alejandra Morales - names are clearly audible - are probably the ones shown on the first picture from the July 1 transmission, with the programme host Alejandro León in between, at http://zonaescolar.net/verFotos.php?1631,Fm.html The website verifies that they were on the show. The programme log for July 1 says, ”Miércoles 01 de julio Hoy nos acompañaron como locutoras invitadas Paola Barreto y Maria Alejandra Morales ambas estudiantes de 8º grado del Colegio Santa Gema.” There is a picture of Alejandro León on the Mega home page and also network frequency information. The easternmost transmitter of the Mega network in Venezuela is located in Puerto Ordaz and operates on 88.9. See: http://www.lamegaestacion.com/index.aspx#&&NewsId=19186 European FM-DXers have said that that the audio features La Mega programming from Colombia as relayed on a Spanish FM outlet, but this theory will have to be discarded now that we know that the audio cover the starting minute of a Venezuelan programme aired at 1830 UT on July 1 (Henrik Klemetz , Sweden, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, no direct path Venezuela - Romania on FM. No doubt that the program was produced in Venezuela, Henriks research is 100% perfect. Daniels reception was aired via a station in Spain. From the Italian Group "fmdx_ITALY@yahoogroups.com", posted on 09.07.2009: -- quote -- Hi Daniel, You heard La Mega Radio from Valencia: this spanish station repeat the programs of the colombian station Mega Radio. Tnx to Dario Monferini for the research. Fabrizio Carnevalini Il programma è PRODOTTO in Colombia ma lo RITRASMETTE in SPAGNA ..... 88.8 LA MEGA RADIO (97.9, 98.7, 107.1 y 107.4 ) ZONA CHESTE-CHIVA C/ José Andreu Alabarta 3, entlo, 1ª, 46014-Valencia Si tratta della emittente di Valencia che si chiama LA MEGA e che trasmette tra 88.7 e 88.8 MHz da Valencia.... http://www.lalistadelafm.com/cvalenciana.htm http://www.lamegaradio.fm/ .. -- unquote -- 73, (Günter Lorenz, http://www.fmlist.org DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fw: [SkywavesDX] 5760 mile / 9270 km FM E skip??? The plot thickens..... Curtis Sadowski Hi all, the following has been kindly sent to me by Harri Kujala in reference to Romanian DXer Daniel Albu's recording of what was thought / claimed to be Colombia on 88.7 July 1st. This was discarded as a Spanish relay of the Colombian Mega network from Valencia. Here`s what Henrik Klemetz had to say about the recording: [as above] I'd be interested to hear what skywaves members make of this. In all honesty Im stumped by this one. If this is not some relay outside Venezuela it should be given the plaudits its deserves. One thing does bother me however and that is the Brazilian station from Londrina which appears on one of Daniels videos on 88.8 when Brazil does not use that frequency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkkIzV4IOGs& feature=channel_page at 6.22 in a station from Londrina suddenly arrives and at 7 minutes a clear ad for the Asia sushi bar can be heard http://www.londrinatur.com.br/Londrina//Gastronomia/Chinesa_e_Japonesa/Asia_Sushi_Bar/3_65_2035.html Londrina is NOT in Northern Brazil but east of São Paulo and way across the equator. Anyway I`d like to hear what particularly the propagation students think about this one. Regards for now (Paul Logan, Lisnaskea, N. Ireland, Aug 2, Listening Homepage: http://band2dx.webs.com/ Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiofotos/ Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/yogi540 skywavesdx via Curtis Sadowski, WTFDA via DXLD) Marcelo Xavier Vieira in Maringá, Brazil, by way of Samuel Cássio Martins, identifies the Londrina ads as coming from Jovem Pan which is on 102.9 in Londrina. Daniel is trying to have us believe he heard the signal on 88.8 Unfortunately, I think we will have to conclude that this is foul play (Henrik Klemetz, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Urumqi China in Bucharest [??] Hi Glenn, this has just come to my attention! It`s been confirmed, he even had RDS! (Tim Bucknall, UK, Aug 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hello, I am not sure if the group has already covered this reception of Dan`s but another interesting reception http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzRV0y20IF4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HLgE_22gU&feature=channel 73 (Hugh Johnstone, UK, Aug 3, SkywavesDX via Tim Bucknall, DXLD) That`s about 2977 miles / 4793 km! A comparative distance would be from my location to Massachusetts! Very impressive bit of DX! (Paul Logan, Lisnaskea, N. Ireland, ibid.) CHINA 88.7 WAS A HOAX --- Hi Glenn, It seems Dan in Bucharest was out to trick everyone; he just revealed how he did it. I'm absolutely furious but I suppose it gives me the idea of monitoring 88.7 if I ever have 65.75 TV carriers again. All the best (Tim Bucknall, 1511 UT Aug 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There you go, hoaxter, so everything he reports should be ignored and deleted, including the Venezuela? Colombia as researched above, altho I have not seen his confession. Where is it? The `Urumqi` audio on the recording sounded just a bit too perfect for me, like from webfeed, mixed in with FM noise to make it appear to fade in and out (gh) Daniel in Romania, whose Youtube signature is Zvartoshu, has a recording of Zona Escolar FM, on Venezuela´s La Mega. He was quite convinced the audio was from a Colombian La Mega, listed on 88.7 which is the frequency shown on his receiver. Unión Radio does not list any La Mega on 88.7, only on 88.9 Another audio contains a mix of Iran on 88.8 and programming, including ads from Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. There is no FM on 88.8 in Brazil. In order to identify the originating station, I contacted Samuel Cássio Martins who asked a friend living in the area to listen to the audio. Marcelo Xavier Vieira says he is quite convinced that the station is Jovem Pan in Londrina, which is on 102.9. A third audio-video clip submitted by Zvartoshu contains vallenato music, typical of Colombia, and at one point a clearly audible mention of "Concurso Siembra". This might well be from La Mega in Colombia. But the Colombian La Mega is a nationwide network and so their audio can be readily downloaded from the RCN website in Bogotá. So unless Daniel produces some more tangible evidence, I am therefore bound to believe that the three Latin American audios mentioned have been downloaded from internet sites, their audio mixed so as to resemble FM reception (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###