DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-071, September 17, 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 1478, September 16-22, 2009 Wed 0700 WRMI 9955 [new] 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 1430 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 9330-CLSB? Fri 2028 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0700 WRMI 9955 [or new 1479 starting here?] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ABKHAZIA. 9495, 0300, GEORGIA, Radio Abkhazia-Soxom, good in Russian, music and talk, (has been lousy some days), but poor by 0335, Report sent in Russian, 13/8 (Ron Killick, Christchurch, NZ, Sony ICF6800W, 40m longwire, Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) 9495, 0325, GEORGIA. Abkhazia Radio. Fair in Russian 6/8 (Ian Cattermole, Blenheim, NZ, JRC NRD-535, Antenna EWE, ibid.) ** ANGOLA. (tentative) 4949.75, R Angola, Mulenvos, Sep 13, 0330 - carrier only until just threshold audio heard at 0500-0520. Talk by man and woman, possibly news (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA100, 4m x 8m delta loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476.02, R Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, Sep 14, 1800 - on with a Spanish ballad, brief announcement by OM at 1804, YL mentioning Esperanza and other announcements over ballads. Possible canned ID by OM at 1815, YL with what sounded to be saludos to oyentes internacionales, more ballads. Faded down to threshold level by 1830, carrier-only by 1900. I've been monitoring them daily this month with the Perseus, today is by and far the best signal. While the transmitter is fired up between 1730-1740 UT, they do not sign on until the top of the hour (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LRA36, Arcángel op 15476.30 kHz. Met spaanse liederen, en info door vrouw gesproken 1916 UT Sept 16 (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) 15476, LRA36, Very strong here tonight usual music and OM and YL commentary, perhaps being so close to the sea with my 20m vertical is getting some enhancement. Never picked up before with the old long wire, strange but very welcome (Mark, Anglesey, UK, 1959 UT Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Couldn`t listen to World of Radio on WBCQ, which turned off 9330 just after it started at 1900 Sept 17; and 7415 just barely audible, so what to do? Oh, I`ll listen to Antarctica instead. Tuned to 15476 at 1902 and there was weakly audible music, signal fading up a bit including at 1904 when YL gave ID mentioning LRA36 and also copied their 9401 postal code. Back to music; 1914-1919 longer talk segment; more talk at 1926 but too weak; 1933 another ID and address; 1945 tuneout (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. I am happy to report that as a result of our joint effort a contact has been established with the director of RAE or Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior. RAE have been traditional shortwave broadcasters for many years. Mr Luis María Barassi, Director of RAE has sent greetings both to the HFCC/ASBU participants and to the ITU, as well as to the conference organisers along with RAE frequency requirements for the incoming season. We have already agreed with the ITU to carry on with the effort to collect shortwave schedule data from stations that are active in external broadcasting but not present yet in our seasonal databases (B09 Conference Opening Remarks by Oldrich Cip, HFCC, NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Viz.: Message Sent from Luís María Barassi of Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior (RAE) to the HFCC/ASBU B09 Conference With great satisfaction, I send my best wishes to everyone who is participating in the High Frequency Coordination Conference organized in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic beginning August 17. I would also like to congratulate the organizers of this meeting which is recognized by the International Telecommunication Union -- that is, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters and the Dominican Telecommunications Institute INDOTEL. I realize the great importance of this type of event, and I am very sorry that my country is not in attendance. But I assure you that the international shortwave community has a great friend in RAE, Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior. And I am very pleased to provide the data required for this worldwide radio coordination effort. I must say that the Republic of Argentina is at a crucial moment in deciding the future of this particular medium of human intercommunication, And I am counting on a recent change in the leadership of Radio Nacional in order to boost the presence of RAE, improving the service's technical conditions to the level of the earth's major nations. Finally, I want to express my sincere wishes for the success of this important international meeting. I send to each and every participant in the HFCC/ASBU Conference in the Dominican Republic friendly greetings from the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA RELEASES ANNIVERSARY QSL CARD SEPTEMBER 2009 Radio Free Asia (RFA) announces its 13th anniversary QSL card which began use on September 1st. This QSL card celebrates RFA's 13 years of broadcast excellence. RFA's first broadcast was in Mandarin on September 29, 1996 at 2100 UT. This QSL card will be used for all confirmed reception reports dated September 1 - December 31, 2009. The design used is one of many drawings made by the children of RFA personnel earlier this year. This card not only commemorate RFA's 13th anniversary but also helps capture the spirit of the RFA's family and friends around the world while promoting peace, freedom and democracy. Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timely news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As a 'surrogate' broadcaster, RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at http://www.rfa.org RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX'ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl @ rfa.org and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to: Reception Reports Radio Free Asia 2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300 Washington DC 20036 United States of America (AJ Janitschek via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Indiam Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 2485, ABC-NT, 1300 kiwi [sic] accented male with news. probably the latest I've ever heard this one. No sign of other NT services on the other channels. 9/16 (Rick Barton, PHX AZ, Drake R-8, rw, lw, ABDX via DXLD) So far no sign of them here this `season` (gh, OK, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 11945, RA Shepparton, S=7-8 signal in Germany at 0755 UT, Sept 17. Scheduled 0700-1300 UT. 17820, CVC Darwin in Indonesian[?], sounds much strange compared to usual BI/BM language. S=3-4 at 0815 UT, Sept 17 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORF Ö1 program on 6155 missing our European mornings this week. Station answered as follows: Repair and maintenance on the Moosbrunn antenna field on Sept 15 to 17 [maybe off also 18th, when bad weather]. kHz off time 6155 0615-1359 UT 13730 0615-1259 UT 17715 1200-1230 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joachim Thiel" Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 Subject: [A-DX] Moosbrunn ***forwarded message**** On 2009-09-16 michael.marschal said: Hallo Joachim, Hier die Info vom ORF! Sie haben Revision! ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:01 AM Sehr geehrter Herr Marschal! Vielen Dank für Ihr E-Mail. Wegen dringend notwendiger Wartungs- und Reparaturarbeiten an den Antennen müssen von Dienstag 15. 9. bis Donnerstag 17.9. die Frequenzen 6.155 kHz in der Zeit von 08:15 bis 15:59, 13.730 kHz in der Zeit von 08:15 bis 14:59, 17.715 kHz in der Zeit von 14:00 bis 14:30 abgeschalten werden. Bei ungünstiger Witterung verlängert sich die Abschaltung bis Freitag 18.9. Wir bitte um Verständnis. Für Ihr Interesse an unserem Klassik- und Kulturprogramm Ö1 bedanken wir uns und verbleiben mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ö1 Service E-Mail: oe1.service @ orf.at Tel.: +43/(0)1/501 70/371 Fax: +43/(0)1/501 01/18595 http://oe1.orf.at Schon gehört? Sie können von fast allen Ö1 Sendungen der letzten fünf Jahre beim Audioservice Kopien bestellen. Informationen finden Sie hier: http://oe1.orf.at/service/mitschnitte (via Büschel, DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. EBU TO CONSIDER SONG CONTEST HARASSMENT CHARGE AGAINST AZERBAIJAN | Text of report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website on 14 September Oslo: Eurovision [TV programme exchange system operated by European Broadcasting Union, EBU] has concluded an investigation into charges that Azerbaijani officials harassed people who voted for the Armenian entry in May's Eurovision Song Contest and will soon decide whether to sanction Azerbaijan, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. Svante Stockselius, the executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, told RFE/RL on September 11 that Eurovision's Reference Group - which consists of eight members - has met in Oslo and has discussed the issue regarding Azerbaijan. A decision by the group will be sent to the European Broadcasting Union's Television Committee, which will announce a final decision on Azerbaijan in the coming days. Stockselius said Azerbaijan could be cleared of the charges or it could be found to have violated Eurovision rules and either fined or banned from participating in the contest for up to three years. The Reference Group is made up of delegates from Russia, Serbia, and Norway - the last three winners of the Eurovision contest - along with Spain, Holland, Ireland, and two members from Sweden. Rovshan Nasirli, a 25-year-old Azerbaijani, was called to Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry on August 12 to explain why he voted for an Armenian song in the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Moscow in May. The officials told Nasirli that his vote for Armenia - Azerbaijan's long-standing rival - was a matter of national security, and asked him for a written explanation before releasing him. He said the ministry had a list of a few dozen other Azerbaijanis who voted for the Armenian entry by sending a text message from their mobile phones. Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, Washington, D.C., in English 14 Sep 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.998, R San Miguel, Riberalta, Sep 13, *0947:30 - s/on with contemporary instrumental, soft-spoken OM and YL in Spanish, canned ID at 0958 UC --- clip: http://tiny.cc/4tMJp --- inspirational talks and vocals. Fair signal with some transmitter dawn enhancement from 1020 to 1030 UT. (tentative) 4716.69, R Yura, Yura, Sep 13, *0958 - only threshold audio, drifting up 10 Hz from 4716.68 before stabilizing (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOTSWANA [and non]. Checking VOA self-collision at 1430 on 17585: Sept 16 at 1428 found open carrier on 17575, which is the warmup frequency for Botswana, and meanwhile 17585 from Greenville was JBA. 17575 went off a few sex before 1430, and VOA World News Now came up on 17585 at 1430 with much improved signal over Greenville. So they finally are no longer overlapping several minutes, just as James MacDonell, Nigeria reported as of Sept 12 in DXLD 9-070 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4925.24v, R Educação Rural, Tefé, Sep 13, *1009 - poor in CODAR, drifting from initial 4925.245 down to 4924.237 by 1100 UT (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Hi Glenn, I read your logging in the latest issue of NASWA Flashsheet and wanted to tell you that I was also listening on 10 MHz, 13 September 2009 at 2155 UTC. Behind WWV, I could detect time pips at approximately every 10 seconds. At 2159, 2202 and 2204 UTC, I heard a male station ID as “Observatorio Nacional.” Since there was no mention of Cagigal, I would agree this was the Brazilian time station. I am not sure if what I heard was in Spanish or Portuguese, since I don’t know the language they use and how different this ID would sound in Spanish as compared to Portuguese. 73’s, (Ed Insinger, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those words sound quite similar in the two languages. Cagigal, in Venezuela, is Observatorio Naval, not on 10 but on 5 MHz, plus spurs, all inactive currently, it seems (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. Re: Canada and press freedom in Russia --- FWIW, NPR's Car Talk appears (or used to) on many private Canadian stations (Eric Flodén, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is no point to have NPR air in Canada as Walter said you can pick up NPR in most parts of Canada. When I use to live in Montreal the NPR station in Vermont that use to boom into Montreal. Unlike the US where only a small percentage can tune to any of the CBC frequencies. The same goes for television. Many PBS stations along the US/Canada border have many Canadians that watch. When PBS does it's funding drive stations like the outlets in Vermont and Plattsburg, NY have thousands of Canadian dollars coming in (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also: RUSSIA I wish I could pick up NPR here in Nova Scotia, but most of my province, as well as PEI and Newfoundland don't get any NPR at all. There's only a small corner of south-west Nova Scotia near Digby that can pick up WMED 89.7 from Maine, because the shot is completely over water. For me the only way to get NPR is streaming audio. Darn! I like their programs, too. Living in a valley doesn't help. I would need a 400 foot tower to clear the horizon! 73, (Jon VE1FTL, ibid.) ** CHAD. RNT 7120 without modulation on Sat. (12th), but back with Arabic on Mon + Tue, closing down not much after 1900, exact time not observed, other frequencies unheard. Subject to check again today Wednesday, when it was going strong at 1700+. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6937, Yunnan PBS 1222-1235+ Sep 10. Lite vocal music to 1228, then M&W chat with mention of Yunnan. In regional language, not Chinese. Pretty good today, punching thru the band noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 16: at 1234, good on 8400 // 9000, only fair with flutter on 10210. Have not heard any of the 13-18 MHz channels in quite some time, presumably just not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Re 9-070: CRI in Hawaii --- CRI has been quietly expanding in the US by hiring airtime on local AM stations for its English and Chinese relays. Such deals are almost never publicized by either party. (A Hawaii station is an exception.) Privately, the program directors of those stations do complain about "CRI's encroachment" but the pay is usually too good to say 'No.' Here's Salem's stock price during the last 12 months: http://tinyurl.com/salemradio Note the huge jump around the time when CRI contract was finalized. The market is probably expecting that Salem would get a major CRI distribution contract and/or that China will take (or is already taking?) a minority stake through its sovereign fund. As of December 31, 2008, Salem owned and operated 93 radio stations consisting of 27 FM stations and 66 AM stations (Sergei S., IL, Sept 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The problem with these deals is it only one way. As I said before, do you hear VOA, BBC, RNW, and others broadcasting in China via domestic AM and FM stations in China? No! Why? The SAFRT (State Admin of Film Radio and Television) banned the broadcast of foreign content on radio. As same did the Ministry Of Culture (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) MORE at HONG KONG; TAIWAN ** COLOMBIA. With the demise of our local pest WAMG on 890 I got this new one last night. 890, HJPM, Radio Galeón, Santa Marta 15Sep09 2359 - Man with Latin news then fanfare and woman with "Radio Galeón" and Santa Marta ID, then station promos with R Galeón and Santa Marta mentions. - Very good - recorded (Chris Black, Cape Cod MA, Perseus, 35 x 90 flag, ABDX via DXLD) See U S A about WAMG ** CONGO [and non]. 6115, 1841, CONGO/BELARUS? Radio Congo, Brazzaville *tentatively* here 18/8 with popular French songs and French talk. David Sharp in Inland NSW positively IDed Radio Congo all alone on frequency on same date/time at very good level. At 1900, time signal (5 short, 1 long), followed by news by female & male announcers. From 1910 orchestral music and folk songs heard which sounded more like Eastern European. So likely I was now hearing Belarus which dominates frequency in Europe. Frequency blocked by Family Radio in Arabic from 2000 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 5066.34, (tentative) R Tele-Candip, Bunia, Sep 13, *0359 - decent strength carrier, possible threshold audio in LSB? Transmitter dawn enhanced, sign-on is only 9 minutes after Bunia sunrise. Would be much easier without the WWCR splatter. + Sep 15, *0420 - threshold audio at 0424 and 0426, OM in French (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC musical-frequencies check Sept 16 at 0645: English on 6140, 6060, 6010; Spanish on 6120, JBA on 6000. At 1245 Sept 16 noticed that 15120 was missing, but still on 15360 and 13760. After 1400, all transmitters on 22m going full force: 13880, 13780, 13760, 13740, 13720, 13680 --- including CRI relay and leapfrogs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5965.0, RHC, 1227, Sept. 17. In Spanish. Their extended schedule is causing heavy QRM for Klasik Nasional on 5964.92v. // 6180 and 9600 and seemed to sign off about 1300 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 1710 ** CUBA. RUSSIA'S TOP MILITARY COMMANDER VISITS CUBA http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20090915/156132390.html HAVANA, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - The chief of the Russian General Staff has arrived in Cuba for a working visit at the invitation of the Cuban military leadership. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, who landed in Havana late on Monday, will meet with his Cuban counterpart Gen. Alvaro Lopez Miera and other top brass, and "visit a number of military installations," Russian Ambassador in Cuba Mikhail Kamynin said. Although the Cuban leadership has repeatedly said it has no intention of resuming military cooperation with Russia after the surprise closure of the Russian electronic listening post in Lourdes in 2001, bilateral military ties seem to have been improving following the visit of Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to Cuba in July last year. A group of Russian warships, led by the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer visited Cuba in December during a Caribbean tour. Moscow had a military presence on Cuba for almost four decades after the Cuban crisis, maintaining an electronic listening post at Lourdes, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Havana, to monitor U.S. military activity and communications. The Lourdes facility, the largest Russian SIGINT site abroad, was shut down in October 2001. The facility covered a 28 square-mile area, with 1,000-1,500 Russian engineers, technicians, and military personnel reportedly working at the base, which was believed to cost Russia $200 million a year to run. The complex was capable of monitoring a wide array of commercial and government communications throughout the southeastern United States, and between the United States and Europe. Lourdes intercepted transmissions from microwave towers in the United States, communication satellite downlinks, and a wide range of shortwave and high-frequency radio transmissions. Some Russian military sources have recently indicated that if a political decision is made Moscow could resume operations at the Lourdes facility and also use airbases in Cuba for refueling of strategic aircraft (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** DENMARK [non]. Re WORLD MUSIC RADIO, extinct: And meanwhile in last year a German webradio hijacked the station name: http://www.world-music-radio.com For photos of the studio Stig had set up for this project, also for QSL cards from the former pirate incarnation of WMR as well as the transmissions via Bolshakovo in 1996 (as ABC Radio, which at this point was his employer) and via Meyerton in 1997, consult http://www.radiojournal.de/1/international/18_00wmr_the_return.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 13, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. R Djibouti, Sep 13, *0400 - 1 kHz test tone from 0342, possible anthem at 0400, brief announcement by OM in French then directly to Qur`an. Poor (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH 2009 shows *0300; are they temp *later* for Ramadan? (gh, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. A new tropical band shortwave station was inaugurated during the HFCC-ASBU Conference in Punta Cana. Radio Discovery broadcast on 4730 kHz during the event. No confirmed reports were received from outside the Dominican Republic, but the station's antenna situation was very limited by the physical restraints of the hotel from which the broadcasts emanated. Radio Discovery will resume transmissions in the near future from its permanent location in Santo Domingo on the frequency of 4780 kHz, which has been authorized by the Dominican Telecommunications Institute INDOTEL. It had been hoped to conduct tests in the WinDRM digital transmission mode from Radio Discovery in Punta Cana, but these were not done due to the antenna limitations. However, Pedro Estrella of Radio Discovery hopes to do the WinDRM tests after the station is re-constructed in Santo Domingo and operating on 4780 kHz (Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) OPENING REMARKS BY RODOLFO ESPINAL ON BEHALF OF DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT Dear Fellow Broadcasters, good morning. My name is Rodolfo Espinal, although better known in the shortwave world of the past as Rudy Espinal. On behalf of the Dominican Government, and especially on behalf of Minister José Rafael Vargas, President of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute, which is the government telecom regulatory body in the Dominican Republic, I would like to welcome all delegates from all the different countries represented here today, with special thanks to my longtime friend and fellow broadcaster Jeff White and the HFCC/ASBU Board for choosing our country for this meeting. Although shortwave is not a very well known subject in my country -- some associate it with the ham radio operation -- we have two outstanding periods in history in which shortwave broadcasting played an important role in communicating the existence of this still happy paradisiacal Caribbean island to the rest of the world. The first one was the late Dictator Rafael Trujillo’s propagandistic attempt to promote the wellbeing of this country and its people under its dictatorial regime and contradict the negative news and opinions made public by adverse governments and the political opposition in exile. It was through the multiple band and frequency emissions of “La Voz Dominicana” (The Voice of the Dominican Republic) and later “Radio Caribe” that I had my first encounter and experience with shortwave, at the age of 14, in the late 1950’s. My father being a career diplomat, as all other Dominican diplomats, kept himself up-to-date with what was going on politically in the country through the international broadcasts of the government stations, and I kept myself up-to-date with the music and culture of a country of which I was a citizen, but which I had not yet lived in (I was born and practically raised in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles). The second one -- and here I (and my long time friend and broadcaster, Teo Veras, who is joining us on Friday) had a lot to do with its international incidence -- was “Radio Clarín International,” which became the first private SW Broadcaster with a special SW programming, and through which I produced the 1978 NASWA and ASWLC Broadcaster of the Year award-winning shortwave program, “This is Santo Domingo.” For many years we have been using SW broadcasting, but not as specially programmed broadcasting stations, but merely as re- transmitters of the regular programming of those local stations. Famous for their international reach, with barely not more than 1 KW Tropical Band Transmitters: “HIZ, La Voz del Trópico, Radio Universal, Radio Mil”, and since the late part of the 1970’s, Radio Clarín. Some of these stations are still using their SW frequencies as they used to, some have dropped it for economical reasons, and some still maintain their unused Tropical Band frequencies. Radio Clarin’s 50 KW transmitter is still on the air, but broadcasting from Florida as Radio Miami International. During this meeting we will have a DRM showcase, and we have made special arrangements to have regular local broadcasters and SW frequency holders to attend this showcase, so as to re-encourage the use of the modern, far reaching, and economical DRM digital SW transmitters. If this objective has a positive result, we might, in a very short time, have new SW broadcasting stations pop up in this country. One of them is soon to make history as the first Tropical Band broadcaster using the DRM digital technology, which this week is broadcasting live from Punta Cana, which is my good friend Pedro Estrella’s “Radio Descubrimiento” or Radio Discovery, godfathered by Jeff, and named after the fact that the Dominican Republic is the place where the first European settlement in the New World was erected, and from where the Conquistadores departed to discover the rest of America, including the U.S. through Florida. Don’t be too surprised, in the very near future, to hear “This is Santo Domingo” on Radio Discovery, or the “This is Santo Domingo” Shortwave Station. I’m proud of my past, and looking forward to be part of the Dominican shortwave future that is beginning right this moment, and for which we have to thank all of you for making this happening. Again, a very warm welcome to the Dominican Republic (Sept NASB Newswletter via DXLD) Jeff, 4780? From 0300 or earlier will be QRM from Djibouti. Perhaps RD will be signing off before then. Any more info on the additional DR SW Rudy was hinting at? 73, (Glenn to Jeff White, Sept 17, via DXLD) I think Rudy was hinting that he might want to start a SW station of his own some day. But he is also involved with Radio Discovery as well. We have to go through some legal steps to get the permanent authorization for the Santo Domingo location, so I'm not sure exactly how long that's going to take yet. But it's in the works. There's also one other large organization in the DR that's interested in putting a SW station on the air. (Jeff White, ibid.) ** ERITREA [non]. HOUSE OF COMMONS: INQUIRY ABOUT RADIO ERENA BROADCASTS TO ERITREA. "Mr. [Michael] Moore [Lib Dem MP]: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided to Radio Erena to broadcast to Eritrea in the last three years; and if he will make a statement. Mr. [Gareth] Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not provided any support in the last three years to Radio Erena." Daily Hansard, 14 September 2009. Three years? See also previous post, in which Reporters sans frontières reported that Radio Erena is a Tigrinya-language station based in Paris that began operation on 15 June 2009. Posted: 15 Sep 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Believed to be satellite only, no SW (gh, DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. Re: Björn Fransson on ERITREA in DXLD Sept 15 This is quite interesting, but it's probably ERITREA [non] or ETHIOPIA regarding SW: http://maihabar.org/?cat=7 gives us the downloads of the programmes heard via RE External Service on Tue/Thu/Sat 1800-1835, and these are quite similar to those transmissions occasionally heard on 7175 or last year 8000 kHz (and likely similar operations on other frequencies). 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Hallo Glenn, here's a little summary on the Ethiopian activities in the past few days. Radio Fana: Definitely back on 6890 since Saturday, (12th). 6110 carried something else on Sat and Mon, but now again // 6890 with Fana. On Sunday Mauno Ritola heard Fana 7210 // 6890 but not 6110. VoTR: Not on 5950 Sat to Mon, but on 5980 with the weaker transmitter, not there on Tue and Wednesday. Irritating: There's weak signal around 1800 on 6170 today Wednesday, which usually isn't there but is not // 5950. R. Ethiopia: External service 9560 is missing for several days now. R. Oromia: Missing on 6030 Sat + Mon, but also back on Tuesday. (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 7550.00, 0709 1730 R. Amica, It, instrumental, ID, email, pop funky, dance 24332 7550.00, 0809 1545 R. Amica, It, pops, Dj presentations, jingle ID, Yeke Yeke, pop dance, Sunshine reggae 35443 7550.00, 1109 1830 R. Amica, It, pops, ID, email, Programma turistico, ID, Tell me why 35443 7550.00, 1209 0807 R. Amica, It, discurso sul canviamento climatico, translate from English 34333 7550.00, 1309 0640 R. Amica, It, pop dance, ID, email consigli sulla rete, disco 35333 7550.00, 1309 1300 Atlantic 2000 Int, F, E, ID, pops, Golden brown, blues, remembering R. Andorra shows, pop 24222 (Silveri Gómez, Fraga Catalunya Norte Ocidental, RX : R-2000 & ATS 909, playdx yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. THIRTY JOURNALISTS LEAVE FRANCE 24; VARIOUS ISSUES "Cependant, selon la CGT (journalistes et techniciens), 'l'une des raisons essentielles aux départs de la douzaine d'anglo-saxons reste le conflit d'intérêt entre notre dirigeante (ndlr: la directrice générale de la chaîne Christine Ockrent) et son compagnon, le ministre des Affaires étrangères (ndlr, Bernard Kouchner)'". AFP via [ahem] France 24 http://www.france24.com/fr/20090911-environ-30-journalistes-france-24-ont-fait-jouer-clause-cession 11 September 2009. Posted: 15 Sep 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) 30? Douzaine means 12. Original story says 30, of whom 12 are Anglo- Saxon (not including those of Celtic ancestry, I guess). ndlr = editor`s note (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. James Serpell of Christian Vision announced that CVI has decided to cease operations at its Julich, Germany transmitter site at the end of the A09 season. He cited as reasons for the closure financial considerations and "the changing patterns of how people are using media." (Jeff White, report on HFCC DR, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ?? Ceasing its operations, but does that mean the Jülich will be totally closed down, transmitters scrapped, dismantled or moved; sold to another operator, or what? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) That's a shocker. Didn't CVC take a full operational control over Julich facilities just two years ago?! So the end is slated for Oct. 25, 2009? But brother Stair will still be on, right? (Sergei S., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TAIWAN ** GERMANY. EMR relay this Sunday, Date 20th of September 2009, Time 0900 to 1000 UT, Channel 6140 kHz. Programmes: 0900 Tom Taylor programme 0930 Mike Taylor (Mail Box programme) EMR Internet radio service on Sunday and Monday Programme repeats are at the following times: 0900 - 1200 - 1500 - 1800 and 2000 UT Please visit http://www.emr.org.uk and click on the “EMR internet radio” button which you will find throughout the website (see the menu on the left). M.V.Baltic. Information: MV Baltic Radio relay service Schedule for summer 2009 1st Sunday – MV Baltic Radio 3rd Sunday – European Music Radio 4th Sunday – Radio Gloria International Please send all reception reports to: studio @ emr.org.uk Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, UK, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GLORIOSO ISLAND. Re: It looks as though this DXpedition might just make it to reality. Tickets seem to be in hand to make it there on Sept. 11th or 12th, with a three week stay planned. Here is the website to watch: http://glorieuses2008.free.fr/e-glorieuses_news.htm Callsign will be FT5GA. Glorioso is near Madagascar (Steve Lare Holland, MI USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FT5GA heard here at 1930 on 14214.5 USB. 17 Sept (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Website now says until October 5 (gh) ** HONG KONG. Re CRI relays, continued from CHINA [non]. Maybe not in Beijing but I believe that BBC World Service is still relayed 24/7 in Hong Kong on medium wave 675 kHz. This is many more hours than CRI is relayed on MW anywhere in the UK. 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Dave, The BBC WS stopped broadcasting in Hong Kong after the turnover to China in 1997. RTHK run some newscasts but that`s about it (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) This is news to the WRTH 2009 which under HK page 226 (still separately listed) shows RTHK Radio 6, 675 as 24h BBCWS relay in English (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I know; I also see it listed everywhere too. But every time I've been to HK I have never heard anything on that frequency. What did hear was some programing from Metro Radio, a station from Guangzhou. The only place I heard BBC was on RTHK. In Kowloon when I tried 675 the last time all I got was static. Hong Kong newspapers also list the BBC WS in HK, but no one I know has been able to tune in. When HK was still a British Colony, BBC had a very clear signal. This is what I gather from airchecks I've heard. Here is the RTHK site: http://www.rthk.org.hk/index_eng.htm Radio 6 is long gone (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Hi Keith, According to the BBCWS web site and several other independent sources the BBCWS is still relayed 24 hours a day in Hong Kong on 675 kHz; certain news bulletins from BBC Cantonese service are also carried on RTHK 783 kHz per the BBC. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/asiapacific/radio/hongkong_1.shtml and http://www.asiawaves.net/hong-kong-radio.htm (Dave Kenny, ibid.) Also still included in VTC engineering xls. format file. 675 0000-2400 smtwtfs BBC Hong Kong 1kW 0(non-dir) English, S China target (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Yes, I know. But now on that frequency is one of Metro Radio's channels (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) No Guangzhou 675 in WRTH (gh) Talked to a friend of mine at in the RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) technical department over the status of 675am used by the BBC in Hong Kong. He told me that with the Sino/British Joint Declaration over HK signed in 1985 China is to maintain 675am until 2047. He told me if the Mainland had it there way they would turn it off, but can not do it. So instead they lowered the power so much that at the moment less than 8% of the territory has reception. The government has said that if the transmitter was to break it would not be repaired or replaced. This is the same case with the English channels from Hong Kong Commercial Radio and Metro Radio Plus. These two only maintain English frequencies and carry programs from international stations like VOA, DW and RFI. But again they also lowered power and have become nothing more than a computer playing file after file. TVB Pearl which was one of Hong Kong's most popular TV stations has also suffered the same fate. Since 1999 almost 90% of its schedule is made up of cheap syndicated shows from the US and direct to DVD movies (Keith Perron, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. 3987.05, RRI Manokwari 1258-1359 Sep 14. SCI at 1258:45, then very short Jak program lasting until only 1305; a local segment followed, consisting of many phone calls to BoH, then vocal music, largely uninterrupted, to 1359, then SCI again. Good signal, peaking around 1315, but very weak by 1359 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9680 with qontinuous Qur`an, Sept 16 at 1425 and still at 1442, fair with no QRM. Figure it`s RRI domestic service relay, as nothing else fits from an Islamic country; assume even in Indonesia they get a bit more serious about religion during Ramadan. Also considerable het on 9525 indicating another Cimanggis frequency is propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15785.24, Galei Zahal with football discussion of Haifa vv Bayern Munich match, S=5-6 fair signal at 0810 UT, Sept 17 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. R. Nikkei, 3925 good signal and hams were avoiding it, Sept 16 at 1222, classical music on Moog synthesizer, // 6055. They really love this kind of music, often heard around this time and later. In fact, they must have played everything available in that repertoire multiple times. Do they have a deal with Isao Tomita, or is Wendy Carlos ever played? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.943, RTV Madagasikara, Ambohidrano, Sep 13, 0330 - nice etheric female vocal, talk by OM in vernacular, drumming. Good signal at tune in despite transmitter being in daylight for 45 minutes, slowly fading (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) cf. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC item in 9-070 ** MALAYSIA. QSL Cards received to date. Voice of Malaysia, 15295 kHz, correspondence address P. O Box 11272, 50740 KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA; full data card including programme schedule (Roger Pryde, Dunedin NZ, Sept 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.63, Asyik FM 1259-1315+ Sep 10. YL chatting past ToH, then pop/techno tunes from about 1302. Good signal. (Wilkins-CO) SARAWAK - 7270v Wai FM 1300-13356+ Sep 15. "R-T-M" news from Kuala Lumpur at 1300; "Wai FM" jingle at 1310, followed by vocal music hosted by YL; several mentions of Wai FM. Very good signal, way atop Nei Menggu, but plagued once again by transmitter problems, jumping several times to around 7270.4 or 7270.5 kHz for just a few seconds, too quick to measure. The rest of the time, the frequency varied from about 7270.01-7270.06 kHz (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.92v, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1311-1337, Sept. 17. In vernacular; ID “Radio Malaysia Klasik Nasional”; singing jingles for “Klasik Nasional”; DJ with EZL ballads. Audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?yyxim00tgm2 6049.60v, Sept. 17. 1338-1400, Radio Asyik FM via RTM. In vernacular; DJ with dedications for pop songs; DJ talking over crazy whistle blowing and pop music in the background; IDs. 1400-1409; ToH changed to Radio Suara Islam programming; in vernacular; ID (“Radio Suara Islam, Kuala Lumpur”) with list of frequencies; Islamic music; mostly fair. At 1447 heard the “Malaysia” song; talk about education ending with the “Malaysia” song again; 1500 1+1 pips; news (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6104.76, XEQM, Radio Mérida, 1040-1100, Noted a male and female in Spanish language conversation. At 1045 noted promos mentioning "Candela". This was followed with music. Signal was fair to good as it continued to fade in and out (Chuck Bolland, September 16, 2009, Watkins Johnson HF1000, 26.37N 081.05W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Do they axually ID as Radio Mérida? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Today's TV Es IDs from: XHDY-5 San Cristóbal, Chiapas (Logo upper right) XHVIZ-3 Villahermosa, TAB (Text upper right 1440 CT) unID-6 Relaying XHDY XHP-3 Puebla (3tv) XHP-4 Tehuacan, PUE (3tv // XHP-4) XHGV-4 Las Lajas, VER (rtv) XHURT-5 Cerro Burro, MICH (Text upper right 1748) XHLEG-4 León, GTO (Logo upper left) XHLGT-2 León, GTO (cdc) XEWO-2 Guadalajara (TVT) I don't generally mention unIDs from Mexico as they are so plentiful. In fact, they far outnumber IDs. However, this is the second time I've received a relayer of XHDY (with their distinctive 5 logo) on channel 6 (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Sept 15, WTFDA via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3261, at 2034, SOUTH ISLAND, NZ MOUNTAIN RADIO SERVICE M,R,S, INVERCARGILL Base IV, Base weather including rain, snow, freezing levels, ref to outdog hut not heard from my DN QTH at 2045 IV BASE sign off (Roger Pryde, Dunedin NZ, Sept 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI FREQUENCY SCHEDULE Effective from 08 September 2009, ANALOGUE SERVICE, Primary Target 1300 – 1550 6170 Pacific 1551 – 1850 7285 Cook Islands Niue, Fiji, Samoa 1851 – 1950 9615 Pacific 1950 – 2050 11725 Pacific 2051 - 2235 15720 Pacific 2236 – 0458 15720 Pacific 0459 - 0658 11725 Pacific 0659 - 1058 6170 Pacific 1059 - 1258 9655 NW Pacific, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea DRM SERVICE - A DRM Capable Receiver is required for this service 1200 – 1550 NO SERVICE 1551 – 1850 6170 Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Samoa 1851 – 1935 9890 Niue, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands 1936 – 1950 9890 Tonga 1951 - 2050 11675 Solomon Islands Niue, Fiji, Samoa, Fiji **NEW** 2051 - 2235 13730 Vanuatu, Fiji 2236 - 0458 13730 Pacific 0459 - 0658 11675 Pacific 0659 - 1158 7285 Pacific (Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) What appears to be the same sked in a different format appears on the RNZI website under How to Listen to Us, including 11675-DRM at 1951- 2050, but nothing about it being effective 8 Sept. It would have us believe that has been in effect unchanged since 29 March! (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 4769.963, R Nigeria, Kaduna, Sep 13, *0428 - transmitter on at 0404 but modulation not heard until 0428. Poor, talk by OM, tribal music. Much improved at 0500 with news in English then pop and reggae songs, good peak at 0520 Kaduna sunrise (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925 USB, 0500, PIRATE Outhouse Radio heard poor to fair till closing 0550 23/8. Quick email QSL received shows power as 100 watts. Also heard following day but weaker signal. BCM North American hobby pirates are being heard on weekdays as well as weekends - check 6925 to 6935 in USB mode from 0700 UT. The internet helps with information on who is on-air - see the ACE Loggings section at http://www.frn.net The frequency 6925 is certainly a popular one for the U.S. pirates (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Re 9-070, KWTV on twice the channels: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ** PAKISTAN. RADIO PAKISTAN PLANS A NUMBER OF NEW MEDIUMWAVE TRANSMITTERS With mediumwave transmission of Radio Pakistan Larkana already off the air since 14 August, the recently-installed 2.5 kW transmitter for FM- 93 designed to broadcast up to 80 kilometres radius, has also proved an enigma for the faithful listeners who claim it can only be heard within a 20-25 km radius. The 2.5 kW transmitter replaced the 1.5 kW transmitter of FM-101 after its mast collapsed in December 2008 and the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation renamed it FM-93. The radio station was commissioned in October 1995 and was inaugurated by Benazir Bhutto. Sources in the PBC and listeners of FM-93 told Dawn on Tuesday that the new transmitter could hardly be heard beyond 20 to 25 km. It was neither properly tuned nor were its antennas properly fitted, restricting the transmission up to 20 km radius, said the sources. The sources said the officials at the radio station had refused to give certificate to the mast installers about the transmission range without carrying out tests and had informed PBC senior management about the faults. Najeeb Alam, the engineering manager of the PBC, had sent a letter to the controller of the procurement cell, requesting him to ask the mast company to send experts to check the FM-93 transmitter, they said. The old 1.5 kW transmitter’s range was 60 to 70 km. A large number of radio listeners recently held a demonstration in Qambar and protested over small range of FM-93. They called for rectifying the fault. The Director General of PBC, Ghulam Murtaza Solangi, said that mediumwave transmission had been temporarily suspended in Larkana because the old transmitter was giving barely 40 per cent output. It was, therefore, not fair to keep it operating and it would be replaced by a newly approved 100 kW mediumwave transmitter, which would take at least a year to get operational, he said. He claimed the range of old mediumwave transmitter of the Lahore radio station had almost doubled after necessary repairs and admitted the transmission of 100 kW mediumwave transmitter at Karachi had also been off the air temporarily. A new 5 kW FM transmitter installed in Karachi was quite enough for the whole metropolitan area, he claimed. A 100 kW mediumwave transmitter purchased for Larkana was shifted to Turbat by the previous government and replaced with a 10 kW one, said the sources. The mediumwave transmitter of Khairpur radio also remained off the air for over six days, but the DG claimed it was now back on the air after necessary repairs. Mr Solangi said that a new 100 kW mediumwave transmitter would be installed in Hyderabad within a year and the PBC was planning to install mediumwave transmitters in Muzaffarabad, Multan, Guwadar and Turbat because the budget had already been allocated for them in the current fiscal year. He disclosed that an estimate for installation of 1000 kW mediumwave transmitter in Gwadar, which would broadcast to Iran, Afghanistan and Middle East, had been submitted to the Ministry of Information and hoped it would be okayed soon. New 150 kW mediumwave transmitters would be installed in Quetta and Dera Ghazi Khan while a 300 kW mediumwave transmitter would be installed in Peshawar, he said (Source: Dawn.com) (Sep 16th, 2009 by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3905, R. New Ireland, 1234-1305+ Sep 10. Pop music, YL host in Pidgin-accented English (or English-accented Pidgin), continuing past Toh per re-checks. Fair signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. (tentative) 4746.923, R Huanta 2000, Huanta, Sep 13, *1003 - carrier only signal at s/on, but strengthening to poor level by 1033 UT with monologue by YL in lang, fading back to carrier level by 1100 UT. Relatively stable, drifting +/- 2 Hz. 4789.99v, R Visión, Chiclayo, Sep 13, 0330 - Power increase? Signal peaked at 0420 to an excellent level, and remained so the rest of the night. Iglesia Pentecostal preacher, contemporary Spanish inspirational vocals, casual R Visión mentions occasionally just after the top of the hour. After 0600 there many vocals with a strong Andean flavor (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. 11850, RDP Lisbon via Sines relay site. Mon-Fri only, 0645-0800 UT, noted with powerhouse S=9+40dB signal at 0740 UT Sept 17. \\ 7240 kHz from RDP site which is 2 seconds ahead of Sines signal (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 11875 in German with strange accent, Sept 16 at 1236 introducing a Lied, then song with too much music vs voice level, as in a karaoke, another German announcement with ID as Radio Rumänien International. Still seems odd to be hearing German at this hour, which is mid-afternoon in target, but aimed at same azimuth 307 degrees from Tiganeshti as used for NAm elsewhen and elsewhere. Meanwhile, slightly better signal on 11920 in Romanian despite being 285 degrees from Galbeni (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Altho still dated effective from last March, the VOR English frequency schedule has been changed to include e.g. 5900 as recently reported to the Americas, without benefit of ******s: http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&w=129&p= Maybe still on after 0300 in another language? The Spanish transmission and frequency schedule is still hidden under Espacios at http://spanish.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=spa&w=90&p= and does not show 5900, but may not have been updated yet. And 5900 is surely not via Bulgaria as previously speculated; Bulgaria has not relayed Russia for many years. Probably `Armavir`; but Plovdiv is on 5900 until 2200 for R. Bulgaria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re 9-070: NPR in Canada and press freedom in Russia ``It's my understanding that virtually all of the media in Russia now follows the government's line and those very few that don't are shut down, intimidated into submission, or murdered.`` Walter, it's a misconception. I'm not saying that the trend for media freedom is great. - Russia's major TV channels are rather tightly controlled by the government. But there are oppositional REN-TV and independent Russian-language EuroNews. There's a lot of hard-hitting reporting when it comes to radio stations (esp., Echo of Moscow), newspapers and, of course, Internet. Here's a list of international stations that have their own AM frequencies in Moscow: BBC WS/Russian (24x7), R. Liberty Russian (24x7), VOA English with 30 min. of Russian (18 or so hours), DW German/Russian (24x7?), WRN Russian (24x7). In St. Pete there are AM relays for both BBC and DW. In smaller places the relays aren't as common but there's almost always Echo of Moscow Radio available. I congratulate you on having an easy access to 5 or 6 NPR stations on your FM dial. I doubt that your situation is typical for Canada or - for that matter - for the US. ``Nothing would be gained by having NPR programming carried on Canadian stations for the majority of the Canadian population.`` That's how the Russian authorities explain why foreign stations usually cannot get an FM channel in Moscow or St. Pete or why many smaller communities do not have local relays of foreign programming. I personally believe NPR does produce quite a few good shows that might have been of interest to some listeners of CBC. I'm not an expert on Canadian broadcasting law. But I remember that in the past Chicago Public Radio and Michigan Public Radio did complain about this lack of easy access to many Canadian listeners. I guess the issue is not as urgent today, thanks to Internet (Sergei S., IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAIPAN. FCC OKS ASSIGNMENT OF KRNM LICENSES Local, Thursday, September 17, 2009 http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=93595 The Federal Communications Commission recently approved the Northern Marianas College's application to assign its KRNM licenses to Guam- based Marianas Educational Media Services, which has offered to continue public radio format broadcasting in the CNMI. The college had submitted its complete application to the FCC last July, after extensively reviewing it to ensure compliance with all applicable FCC requirements. Among other requirements, the college was asked to publicly announce its intent to reassign KRNM's license for notification purposes and public comment back in July. NMC will now be able to transfer KRNM's 88.1 FM and 89.1 FM licenses to MEMS. Since the college stopped subsidizing KRNM operations to focus its resources on its core academic programs, public radio services continued to be broadcasted through an agreement with KPRG, a non- profit radio station on Guam. KPRG regularly airs “BBC World Service,” and programs from National Public Radio and Public Radio International, which feature programs such as “All Things Considered,” “World Café,” “Fresh Air,” “Blue Monday Micronesia,” and other radio shows. “We would like to thank the listening community for their continued support, especially those who contributed financial resources to KRNM,” said NMC president Dr. Carmen Fernández. “Those generous donations went a long way in diversifying the type and content of radio programming available to listeners in the CNMI.” Programs aired by the Marianas Education Media Services will also include educational programs, cultural features, and national news from news organizations like National Public Radio. “We are pleased that MEMS has agreed to continue to broadcast the great educational and cultural programs that CNMI listeners have enjoyed all these years,” added Fernández. KRNM was originally established with federal funds in 1998 when the FCC granted the college a license to broadcast non-commercial public radio programming. The radio station set out to become self-sustaining with external funding. The goal was never reached, however; and, for the past 10 years, KRNM was heavily subsidized by NMC. The NMC Board of Regents voted in a September 2008 meeting to support the assignment of KRNM licenses to a nonprofit, educational entity. (NMC) (via Kim Andrew Elliott, DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 4775, TWR, Manzini, Sep 13, *0342 - vernacular religious program, English ID at the top of the hour "to Africa service, this is Trans World Radio" into German program for South Africa. Excellent signal (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [and non]. Continued from CHINA, and HONG KONG: Frankfurt Book Fair --- I know this is not a radio related story, but I'm talking about this in the context of the CRI thread we have going. FURORE OVER CHINESE DISSIDENTS AT FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR SYMPOSIUM http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4675700,00.html Now after learning of this story it makes me wonder if stations that carry CRI are also under pressure not to poff the communist party. In the last few years western leaders have said a lot of words, but no real action has been taken. Here in Taiwan when the KMT was elected in March 2008, they were saying that they wanted to get closer to Beijing. Well, this has backfired. The KMT which won a majority government has fallen so much, chances they will be re-elected again in 3 years is very unlikely. Now to media; This year Taiwan allowed journalist from the PRC to be based in the ROC for more than the normal 3 months at a time. CCTV 4 was even added to cable systems, only to be dropped 5 weeks later and replaced with the ABC from Australia. Two hours of CRI programs were even carried locally on a station in the southern city of Kaoshung. This was one of those deals where CRI paid for the airtime. Well it didn't last too long, before it was stopped because advertisers pulled out. There was such a backlash against the station in just a few weeks they went from being number 3 to the bottom of the barrel. Some of the staff also quit, saying this would be like a major US radio station broadcasting programs from some neo-nazi group. All this opened the flood gates to a number of discussions in Taiwan (ROC). The feeling of many Taiwanese is that the west only kisses the ass of the PRC. There was a time back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s when countries like the US were putting lots of pressure on Taiwan to abolish martial law, improve its human rights, and abolish censorship in the media. But after this happened in the early 90s when Taiwan became a democracy, everyone turned towards China and now ignore Taiwan. They won't even recognize the island and its population of 22 million people. Foreign media who wish to be distributed content, such as radio programs, films, television, books, and music don't need to get approval from any government department. Both the VOA and BBC air blocks of time on a number of stations. So this gets me back to what I have said before. These Am/Fm relays are just a way for China to whitewash its human rights records and other topics and have help from western media outlets to do so (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Sept 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) More quotes from Mei Zhaorong on this incident: "I have great respect for Germany and the Germans, but I have to note that people here talk about democracy while in fact they just dictate!" "The German media is a power that can not be brought under control, and this is dangerous." From http://www.faz.net/s/RubBE163169B4324E24BA92AAEB5BDEF0DA/Doc~EB2C0BBFC3BA84F3B9545E62EC81FCB2B~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html where the author muses if perhaps the event should have been break off and if Germany can accept, even must not accept being called a dictatorship, in particular by a Chinese official (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) The quotes are predictable. Any media they can not control is seen as dangerous (Keith Perron, ibid.) > Some of the staff also quit, saying this would be like a major US radio station broadcasting programs from some neo-nazi group. That's exactly what WBCQ, old WRNO and some other US stations used to do. William Pierce was heard on SW + nine AM/FM stations. Ernst Zündel, a Canadian neo-Nazi, hired some air time for his Voice of Freedom on the US SW station, too. I'm not sure if anyone quit over that. But Zündel is serving his jail time in Germany. He is scheduled to be released on March 7, 2010. > All this opened the flood gates to a number of discussions in Taiwan (ROC). The feeling of many Taiwanese is that the west only kisses the ass of the PRC. I'm not sure if ROC has many chances for survival as an independent state. This reminds me of a story. A few years ago a Russian DXer wrote to CRI commenting on their constantly repeated statement that CRI is the only international station broadcasting to overseas audiences from China. He said that he hear a Russian broadcast of RTI and inquired if PRC gave up of its policy of "one China" ;) Surprisingly, CRI read this letter on the air. Basically, they said that PRC will always follow one-China policy and RTI was some kind of illegal radio operation from a "renegade province of PRC." >They won't even recognize the island and its population of 22 million people. They recognized Kosovo instead (Sergei S., ibid.) ** TURKEY. 13635 at 1246 Sept 16, YL with pursed lips talking about Afghanistan in presumed Turkish as scheduled from VOT, fair. No sign of CVC Darwin in English. Per Aoki they collide between 1130 and 1255, 104 degrees from 500 kW Emirler and 303 degrees from 250 kW Darwin, which would be almost aiming at each other! But other sources show TRT more sensibly using a 310 degree beam to Europe, and thus also usward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. VOICE OF TURKEY, 7205, 20/08/09, English report, QSL received with programme schedule and DVD of Turkey's Screen, Turkish Radio and Television Corp presentation (Roger Pryde, Dunedin NZ, Sept 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** UGANDA. 4975.966, R Uganda, Kampala, Sep 13, 0330 - very little audio despite decent signal strength, best at 0340-0350 with talk by OM (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Tuesday 15 Sept: 9410 BBC (via WHRI, USA) at 1239-1300 Spanish, YL playing pop music* in both Spanish and English. One selection included "I Left My Heart in Tokyo" by Mini Viva. G signal. * This so called "pop" music sounded more like Dicso Rap to me. Having lived in San Diego, and now Las Vegas, I'm accustomed to hearing Mexican music. That said, I've always been amazed how frequent "corazón" occurs in the lyrics. Well that word appears to have been replaced by "sexy," at least according to this BBC programme. I was so impressed by the song selections heard that I penned what is sure to be the next big Spanish Disco Rap hit - "Soy Demasiado Atractivo Para Mi Camisa." You can check out the song "I Left My Heart in Tokyo" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvjML3-66SA (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas, NV USA, Kaito KA1103 (battery powered), telescopic antenna, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor, Balcony Listening Post, Ripple mailing list via DXLD) The top 20 (?) appear as filler the second half of the Spanish hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays, whilst balanced by miscellaneous classical music on M/W/F (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. LONGTIME BBC RADIO 4 ANNOUNCER JEFFERSON DEPARTS Longtime BBC RADIO 4 continuity announcer PETER JEFFERSON has been let go by the station after 45 years, reports the DAILY TELEGRAPH. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6189784/Voice-of-Radio-4-Peter-Jefferson-is-frozen-out-by-BBC-at-64.html JEFFERSON, who officially retired in 2001 but continued as the voice of RADIO 4 on a freelance basis, will leave the station on SEPTEMBER 20th, although he will continue appearing on the station's "QUOTE UNQUOTE." JEFFERSON joined the BBC as a librarian in 1964 and soon became an announcer on the WORLD SERVICE, the HOME SERVICE, and the LIGHT PROGRAMME (the BBC networks before 1967's creation of RADIO 1, 2, 3, and 4). He joined RADIO 4 in 1974. The network says that the termination is unrelated to JEFFERSON's age nor his accidental swearing on the air last month. JEFFERSON was heard uttering an expletive after making a mistake reading lines just before the hourly time signal; the network received no complaints over the incident (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, HI, DX Listening Digest) ** U S A. AFGHAN STAR OF AFGHAN STAR IS NOW A VOA BROADCASTER "Daoud Sediqi, former host of Afghan Star, one of Afghanistan's most popular and groundbreaking television programs, has joined the Voice of America (VOA) in the United States, where he moved to escape Taliban threats. ... Sediqi, 29, sought and was granted asylum in the United States after he came to this country for the airing of an award-winning documentary, Afghan Star, at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah earlier this year. He later joined VOA as a Pashto-speaking radio broadcaster." VOA press release, 14 September 2009. Posted: 16 Sep 2009 Permalink REPORTER FROM PAKISTAN OUT OF US DETENTION BUT "STILL UNABLE TO BROADCAST FOR THE VOA." Rahman Bunairee's reporting from Pakistan for the Voice of America "made him a target. In July, the Taliban bombed his home, chased him across the country and terrorized his family. The VOA, a 67-year-old international broadcasting service, decided sensibly to bring him to Washington for a year to safely continue his reporting. Bunairee arrived at Dulles International Airport on Aug. 9 with a valid U.S. visa and ample documentation of his sponsorship by a U.S. government agency. Rather than being welcomed to our country, Bunairee was interrogated at length by Customs and Border Protection officials, who ultimately rejected his visa, deemed him an 'intending immigrant' and threatened to deport him. This courageous journalist wound up in jail in Hampton Roads, Va. ... Only after 10 days of exhaustive legal efforts and intervention by the State Department was Bunairee released. But that wasn't the end of his ordeal: U.S. authorities freed Bunairee under terms that forbid him to work. Rahman Bunairee remains in legal limbo, invited here by a U.S. government agency but still unable to broadcast for the VOA. He is living off of charitable contributions and cannot support his young family in Pakistan because the terms of his release also bar our agency from giving him money." D. Jeffrey Hirschberg, member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Washington Post, 15 July 2009. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 15 Sep 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Viz.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091402708_pf.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) with lots of comments appended, as now required following any newspaper item, some of them pertinent (gh) ** U S A [and non]. Hi Kim, Lost my bookmark to the VOA languages list showing times and SW frequencies. Damned if I can find it starting at voanews.com. The site map is a laugh. Can you redirect me? (gh to Kim Andrew Elliott, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes, the schedule is hidden so as to reduce the risk that VOA transmissions are intercepted by listeners. http://www.voanews.com/english/About/Frequenciesatoz_a.cfm One way to get there from voanews.com ... 1) Click on About VOA, top of page 2) Click on Radio & TV Programs, left of page 3) Click on Radio Frequencies There is another way, but I forget what it is. 73 (Kim Andrew Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI is trying out the NW antenna on UT Wed & Fri at 0700- 0800, when there are English/DX programs, i.e. Wed 0700 WORLD OF RADIO, 0730 Frecuencia al Día; Fri Happy Station. I managed to stay awake until 0645 UT Sept 16, and there was no signal at all audible on 9955. Lately however, 31m has been pretty dead by that late hour. In fact, the only signals reaching a fair level were Australia on 9660 and WWV(H?) 10000. Was WRMI audible anywhere? We hoped this transmission might be making it to WNAm, where it`s only midnight PDT/MST, while local time in SAm, the previous target and still such other days of the week, is 2-4 am. Solar flux is supposed to soar to 72 next week, so maybe that will help (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Glenn. We may try some transmissions going north earlier in the evening. I'll keep you posted (Jeff White, WRMI, ibid.) i.e. UT Fri, Wed as well as Mon at 0200-0400. Monitoring at 0159 UT Sept 18, 9955 went from zero to S9+20, rather like happens at 1359; now just as Frecuencia al Día was ending, and Your World Your Way infomercial did not start until 0201. Seems program timing and antenna switching are still not exactly synchronized. {But by 0302 recheck, no WRMI, just jamming which was not audible earlier} (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ simulcasting WORLD OF RADIO on 9330-CUSB last week was apparently a fluke, perhaps unintentional runover of the 18-19 UT broadcast. Sometime between 1900 and 1930 Sept 16 I noticed that 9330 was not on air; so Sept 17 I tuned in at 1859. WOR did start up at 1900 but transmission cut off halfway thru the opening theme (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Greetings: The FCC has advised WWRB: 3215 for B-09 usage is: 2100 UT until 0200 UT. We have placed the FCC on notice WWRB for B-10, B-11, B-12 TFN is 2100 UT until 0200 UT (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So WWCR will just have to wait until 0200 to come up on 3215, even in dead winter when it`s 2+ sesquihours after sunset (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. WAMG-890 Dedham, MA signed off at 1700 EDT Monday 9/14 and it is uncertain when, if ever, they will return. They were dropped by ESPN and had only 5 hours of local programming per day so the decision was made to pull the plug. I am not certain of the status of their parallel station, WLLH-1400 Lowell/Lawrence. This leaves 890/891 wide open for International DX here, especially just before and shortly after local sunset before WLS fades in and becomes an issue. But, there is one other problem -- LOUD IBOC jamming from WCBS-880. :-( (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Mass., NRC AM mailing list digest via DXLD) 1400 WLLH Lowell/Lawrence, a local here during the day, is also off the air. I'm receiving IDs for "AM 1400 and 1490" with "am1400and1490.com" promos. Checking the website, this is apparently WVAE Biddeford and a format change to news/talk/sports, ex-nostalgia. (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH http://www.bamlog.com ibid.) Obvious answer to NYC QRM here in eastern MA is a cardioid-pattern antenna such a Flag or SuperLoop nulling toward the Big Apple. Typical 880 at Granite Pier is a duke-out of Venezuela, Brazil, and WCBS. 891 now has Portugal tops with Algeria now gone at customary US reception times. WLS-890 and anything else out of Chicago is very easy to null stable low-angle skip. Well into the evening, Cuba is more apt to be the QRM in the way of juicier 890 Latins a bit farther east in bearing. There's no significant IBOC at the Rockport and Rowley DXpedition sites with the car-top cardioid antenna nulling west-southwest except for locals WBZ-1030 (MA), WGIN-930 & WTSN-1270 (coastal NH), and WVAE- 1400 & WBAE-1490 (ME). I don't think WBUR-1240 (another pest) has turned its IBOC back on yet. Domestics in an arc from southwest through west to northwest shouldn't be that pesty if the antenna system is set up right (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, ibid.) but see COLOMBIA ** U S A. DALLAS' NEWEST STATION WILL DEBUT NOVEMBER 9 - NON- COMMERCIAL AAA "KXT" http://www.radio-info.com/sections/2-breaking-news/news_items/6912-dallas-newest-station-will-debut-november-9-non-commercial-aaa-kxt KERA-FM/TV owner North Texas Public Broadcasting announces a debut date (Monday morning, November 9) and call letters for the new FM that it’s launching with an adult alternative format. They'll brand it as “KXT” (legal calls KKXT), and here’s more about the lineup: The Morning, Afternoon and Evening shows will “provide 9 to 11 hours of weekday local programming.” Fridays bring two hours of “Texas Mix” in middays. The Sunday evening Paul Slavens Show is transferring from mostly news/talk KERA (90.1). While KXT will make use of many of the compatible syndicated shows available for the Dallas market, such as Acoustic Cafe from Ann Arbor, American Routes with Nick Spitzer, Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, Putumayo World Music Hour, Sound Opinions, Thistle & Shamrock, Undercurrents, and WXPN’s World Cafe with David Dye. North Texas Public Broadcasting is paying $18 million to acquire Christian teaching KVTT (91.7). The Dallas Board of Radio-Info.com is talking it over, on this thread. http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=152808.msg1293348#msg1293348 (via Artie Bigley, Sept 16, DXLD) ** U S A. NEW FCC COMMISSIONERS UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY RADIO ACT --- Bipartisan bill would expand low power radio Contact: Cory Fischer-Hoffman, Prometheus Radio Project (215) 605-9297 Pete Tridish, Prometheus Radio Project (215) 605-9297 Sept 17, 2009 Washington DC -- In the first Congressional oversight hearing since the three new FCC Commissioners took office, all five Commissioners endorsed the Local Community Radio Act HR 1147/ S592, unanimously reaffirming the FCC’s continued support for the bill. FCC Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners Baker and Clyburn expressed support for the Local Community Radio Act in a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. Introduced by Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-14) and Rep. Lee Terry (NE-2) in February, the bill would repeal a 2003 law that restricts Low Power FM radio (LPFM) radio to rural areas. “We are very pleased that the Commission has again voiced their support for this important bill, which would allow community radio to expand into thousands of towns, cities and neighborhoods throughout the US,” stated Cory Fischer-Hoffman, Campaign Director at the Prometheus Radio Project. This is the third time that the Commission has unanimously requested that Congress return authority to the FCC to manage “third adjacent channel restrictions” on Low Power FM radio (LPFM). These restrictions, imposed by Congress in 2000 in response to concerns that LPFMs could cause interference to full power stations – limited low power radio to rural areas. Since a 2003 congressionally-mandated engineering study showed that LPFMs do not harm full power stations, the FCC has told Congress they are ready to move forward with community radio. The bill now awaits a mark-up in the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Technology and the Internet. LPFM stations are licensed to government, churches, emergency responders, and other noncommercial organizations. They have a three- to-five mile range and a maximum 100 watts of power. Today, over 800 local organizations operate LPFM stations around the country. (PRP press release Sept 17 via Benn Kobb, DXLD) ** U S A. Save me: EWTN Affiliates List http://www.ewtn.com/radio/download/EWTN%20Radio%20AM-FM%20Affiliates.pdf (Kevin Redding, TN, Sept 16, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Here is the silent station study for September, with frequencies. If anyone would like a copy of the study, email me at alexhorton55 @ gmail.com (Alex Horton, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two doc files, one for AM, one for FM ** VENEZUELA [non]. Radio Nacional Venezuela, Habana Cuba op 11679.784 kHz, 1504 UT Sept 12. Met opera muziek, fair reception! (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) 11705, RNV CI via CUBA, Sept 16 at 1230 giving e-mail address as internacional@rnv.gov.ve Good thing they said it twice, as audio was cutting out, then feature Venezuela y su Geografía about Estado Sucre on the Caribbean coast. All in Spanish during the minute I listened (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. I received VOV-1 on new frequency of 9635 kHz at +0730- 1400 KO'ed by BBC-Russian. // 7435 (1200v*), 9530. On 7435 kHz seem to service in the daytime(local time) now, investigating a schedule now. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Sept 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9635 kHz sign-on at 2145 on Sep.15. http://www.mediacat-blog.jp/usr/hiroshi/9635_0915_2200.gif de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, ibid.) shows CNR1 jamming starting up too (gh) The new frequency schedule of VOV-1: 9635 *2145-1500* 7435 *2250-1200* de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Sept 16, ibid.) Current schedule of VOV -1 5975 2145-1700 UT 7210 2145-1700 9530 2145-1700 *7435 2255-1200 *9635 2145-1500 *two frequency on 7435 and 9635kHz that began newly is regarded as East Sea Broadcasting Service (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC Sept 17, ibid.) 9635, Voice of Vietnam, (tentative) 1000-1030 Sept 17, Noted a weak signal here with a female in comments.* This in parallel with 7435. Noted music briefly at 1005, then comments from a male. This signal was threshold. 7435, Voice of Vietnam, (tentative) 1000-1030 Sept 17, Noted a weak signal here with a female in comments.* This in parallel with 9635. Noted music briefly at 1005, then comments from a male. This signal was just a little better than threshold. *I could hear the individuals talking, but the audio was too weak and muffled to identify any details or even the language? I had a Vietnamese friend a few years ago, but he spoke English when I was around, so my ability to identify Vietnamese is limited, especially when I can't hear the comments. Note the "tent" flag which means Tentative - I am not sure of anything on this logging. Considering the language again, they could be broadcasting in another language besides Vietnamese? Since I can't find a listing for these broadcasts, I don't really know what language VOV has schedule now? (Chuck Bolland, Watkins Johnson HF1000, NRD545, 26.32N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Radio Nacional de la RASD is still on 6297, Sept 16 at 0644 with music and presumed Hassania talk; fair with utility QRM too close on low side, so should have stayed on 6300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, CVC Voice Africa, Lusaka, Sep 13, 0330 - English with religious program, peaking from 0400-0415 with more religious talk, jingles, sound efx, inspirational music, pops. Fair (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828.0, Voice of Zimbabwe, Gweru, Sep 13, 0330 - poor peaking to almost fair signal at 0400, talk by OM in heavily accented English, African pop music. Strong CODAR. Perhaps Sackville should invite the Gweru technicians over to calibrate their transmitters? (Brandon Jordan, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Brandon, Interesting log! If my memory serves me correctly, I believe for at least several years now this frequency of 4828 has always been observed with just non-stop music. Usually with African pop High-Life music, just as you noted, but without announcements or IDs of any kind having been reported. Your log represents a major change if they continue to actually have announcers as you heard. Then maybe they will finally give an ID? Of course 3396 also has musical programming, but it is presented by DJs and at 0300 they have a nice ID in English. Thanks for sharing your logs! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, to Brandon, cc to DXLD) Hi Ron, Definite English talk heard that night, or at least some of the words were in English although I wasn't able to pick out an ID from it. Best signal from them since last Spring, conditions are definitely improving lately. If I catch them again with a decent signal, and talk, I will be sure to record a clip. Now if I could only get Zimbabwe to QSL one of these years (decades), I would really be in business. 73, Brandon (via Ron, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. OFFICER DECLARES FOREIGN RADIO STATIONS "AT WAR" WITH ZIMBABWE | Text of report by London-based Zimbabwe independent Short Wave Radio Africa website on 16 September There are two main excuses that ZANU PF has been using as reasons that the Global Political Agreement has not been fully implemented - the issue of the 'sanctions' and the so-called 'pirate' radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe. The regime's public criticism of 'pirate' stations has become more vocal of late, and even senior army senior army chiefs are accusing the stations such as SW Radio Africa and Studio 7 of treason, through their "asymmetrical warfare". Lieutenant-General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, the Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, told a study seminar of army officers in Harare on Monday that foreign-based radio stations are at 'war with Zimbabwe' and told the soldiers to remain on guard against such things. He was addressing soldiers attending a five day seminar on 'low intensity operations and asymmetric warfare' at 2 Infantry Brigade Headquarters in Harare on Monday. Online blogger Denford Magora quotes the army chief as saying: "Our country is undergoing asymmetric type of war where all means are used to achieve set objectives by our detractors. Zimbabweans must be aware and clearly understand that war is not only about guns and bullets. Zimbabwe's detractors are using some NGOs and pirate radio stations to spread false and hate messages that will lead to rioting, despondency and eventually cause war." The Zimbabwe Times newspaper reports Sibanda saying it was imperative for army officers to be on guard and equip themselves with knowledge of different types of warfare that can be waged against a country by its enemies. The general accused foreign governments of funding this 'campaign' to reverse Mugabe's land reform programme. Another army official, Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba, said: "There are so many instruments which are used in asymmetric warfare and we, as the Two Brigade, were tasked to equip our army officers with knowledge so that they do not only protect the country with guns." Journalist Angus Shaw said this is part of the new scenario where ZANU PF is trying to find blame for the non-implementation of the GPA. He said although Sibanda is generally considered a 'moderate man,' his latest statements show that he is now parroting what people are saying within the higher echelons of ZANU PF. Observers say the regime's extreme opposition to private radio stations shows that they understand how important radio is for providing access to independent news and information to all Zimbabweans. It also indicates they have no interest in freeing the media and that the only media they want is one that they can completely control, such as the ZBC and the Herald. Shaw also said ordinary Zimbabweans are hungry for proper information and are frustrated with the subversion of the state media. The journalist said: "There is nothing but hate speech on the ZANU PF controlled media and there is now a smoke and mirror situation where just like the sanctions issue, they are trying to find excuses about why they haven't moved forward with the constitution commission, media reforms and democratic reforms in general, plus the restoration of law and order." Source: SW Radio Africa website, London, in English 16 Sep 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 720 kHz: KDWN has seemed much less a bother this year than in the past, so I have been hearing a variety of low level things here at max. dawn. Yesterday, I was sitting here at 1330 and, way in the mud, I heard what just had to be the VOA "Yankee Doodle" interval signal. I heard it TWICE. The first time, I couldn't believe my ears, but the second time --- In any case, there is nothing in PAL for a VOA outlet. I do notice a VOR outlet in Kamchatka, though, and I know that VOA buys time on some VOR Far Eastern transmitters, so that is my best guess. Anyone ever heard this?? (John Bryant, Orcas Island, WA, USA, Winradio G313e and various Ultralights, Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops, Sept 15, IRCA via DXLD) I checked the VOA website and didn't see anything listed on 720. I went so far as to find the pdf of the VOA program guide, which lists affiliates in the Pacific region. Affiliates are local stations that carry VOA programs at times. Nothing listed there either. That leaves at least two possibilities: something relatively new that isn't listed on the VOA website yet - or - a domestic station that happened to be running an ad or promo or whatever that included a few bars of Yankee Doodle (Bruce Portzer, ibid.) Unfortunately, I turned off the SDR before 1330 as well. I did go back and review the Perseus files I have from other mornings, and of the 8 or 10 I have at that time period, nothing on 720 that sounds like Yankee Doodle. This morning, there was the split on 720, presumably from the North Korean, producing quite the het. Sorry I can't be of more help, John (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) Thanks to Bruce, Chuck and others for checking out my Yankee Doodle on 720. It must have been a commercial, as Bruce suggested. If I had only heard it once, I'd think that it was my over-active imagination, but since it was repeated about 3 or 4 seconds later, it musta been coming from the headphones :>) (John Bryant, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. IRCA Crew, Last night at 0000 and 0100, I recorded an SS pirate on 1710. According to what I have read; there's a Mexican- programming pirate here, but this one made mentions of Cuba, Radio Reloj and Radio 26 (Veinte y Seis). Anyone know about this, please? (Charles A. Taylor, NC, Sept 16, IRCA via DXLD) Pirate Stations on 1710 --- IRCA Crew, I heard Radio Mil with 5 w sign/off at 0020. I also am hearing what appears to be Radio Enciclopedia // to 530. 73, (Charles WD4INP, NC, 0030 UT Sept 17, ibid.) What Radio Mil? You mean 5 watts? How do you know that? Could two DentroCuban MW stations be putting a mixing product on 1710? 1710 also has been the location in the past for Radio Martí, cheap receiver-produced image explained as: 3 x 1710 = 5030. 5030 + 2 x IF 450 = 6030. But RM would not be mentioning or IDing as any Cuban domestic network. How is your reception on 6030 from Greenville, a transmitter you know well? (gh, DXLD) Reported sign-off of 5-watt Radio Mil-1720 this morning at 0020 to IRCA. No one seem to be interested. Ultra-light radios are the new thing, not DX! Perhaps some DXLD listener will take an interest in Radio Mil and where it is located. Also, Radio Enciclopedia Popular outlet on 1720 // 530 kHz noted nightly. Arbitrarily assigned 530 outlet callsign CM53. Seems to me a Dentro Cuba Jamming Command transmitter set up to counter Radio Martí. I suppose when Radio Martí is on 530, CM53 will go to Radio Rebelde programming (Charles Taylor, NC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Were these on 1710 or 1720, or did they change? (gh, DXLD) Glenn, I meant 1710 kHz for Radio Enciclopedia Popular with unknown location. NOT a spur nor mixing product. Also Radio Mil (5 w as announced at shut-down). (Charles (Cholly if you wish) Taylor, NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4920 with a bit of weak music at 1220 Sept 16, QRMing CODAR. I suppose Tibet is more likely than AIR Chennai or RRI Biak, listed in Aoki, but presumably inactive. Only other significant extracontinental 60m frequency audible was 4750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5775-5825, at 1215 Sept 16, presumably OTH radar rapid clix from China, weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6010, 1339-1357 Sep 10. Weak with talk in unID language and music, sounding Asian or Himalayan (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Tibet? UNIDENTIFIED. 9525-9550, DRM re 9-070: So it's a test arranged by some organization that cooperates with Media Broadcast (I have not seen a full explanation of this thing with WAZ content yet). This cuts down the list of possible sites to Nauen, Wertachtal, Jülich, Issoudun and, apparently of special interest here, Montsinéry. Btw, would the Pori [FINLAND] shortwave facilities still be available or has Digita given up on this? I have no related activities seen anymore after the tests with this nonsense from Walterboro, South Carolina, some time ago (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to Gordon McGregor, Canada, who sent a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GOOGLE BOOKS Have you heard much about "Google Books?" I vaguely heard about the new Google app but Bob Rankin wrote an article on them at: http://askbobrankin.com/what_is_google_books.html While I'm not sure how to download books from Google books, let alone read them (yet), I did a search on the generic term radio and got over 200,000 hits! That is a lot of books and magazine articles. I saw some QST's from the 1940's and a White's Radio Log from 1939. Hopefully someone can figure out how to read them. This may be a valuable tool (even beyond DX!). One thing that I did discover, is that you only have full access to the books that are marked "full view" and that you may need a downloader to grab them and display them in pdf format. "Radio" was reduced down to 24,000 books. Oh well (Dave in Indy Hascall, Sept 16, WTFDA AM via DXLD) The New York Public Library loves it. They say they go there first when they start doing any research. The only problem is there is no way to narrow the search to the books scanned in a particular library. And yes some books have a download link (George Magiros, ibid.) Hi George; There is a drop-down on Google Books and one of the options is "Full View." If a book is offered in full view, it should be able to be downloaded. I used Project Gutenberg for years, for Public Domain books but their offerings paled in comparison to Google Books (Dave Hascall, IRCA via DXLD) Google Book is great! Was there I found some old mags with articles about TV DXing, including one about a tin-foil antenna I mentioned in the forums a few months ago. Loved that the article writer never mentioned where he was in relation to some of his DX catches; and another article touting UHF over VHF. Also found genealogical records in Google books that helped me trace my wife's ancestry on her mom's side back to 1450s England, several public domain books covering Native American languages, some of Abraham Lincoln's writings, and loads of many interesting things. Most public domain items date back to 100 years ago and earlier, but worth it for some subjects :-) (Aaron Reed, from Brockton, MA, (21 miles south of Boston), WTFDA via DXLD) Google Books is awesome. I teach/research the late 19th and early 20th centuries and I can't imagine life without it. Tons of early telegraph/telephone manuals, full run of Electrical World, it goes on and on. I never tried to locate old radio stuff, but I'm sure it's there (Dave Hochfelder, Albany, NY, IRCA via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NASB SPONSORS HFCC/ASBU B09 CONFERENCE IN PUNTA CANA The High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC), held in conjunction with the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), took place at the Dreams Punta Cana Resort in Punta Cana, on the east coast of the Dominican Republic, from August 17 to 22. Just over 100 delegates attended from nearly 40 countries, plus about 28 family members and about a dozen Dominican broadcasters from local and national radio stations. It was hoped that the participation would be about percent more, but the world economic crisis has greatly affected many shortwave station budgets, so some stations were unable to send representatives, and others were forced to send fewer representatives than they normally send. Nevertheless, the overall turnout was considered a success given the current economic conditions. There were large delegations from China, Russia, Iran, the FCC and the IBB in the United States, and VT Communications from the UK, among others. The NASB was the organizer and main sponsor of the conference, with the government regulatory entity Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL) as co-sponsor. NASB associate members International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) and Continental Electronics sponsored the conference's coffee breaks during the week. Thomson Radio Broadcast sponsored the closing reception, and VT Communications provided the conference name tags. Both Thomson and VT Communications are also NASB associate members. NASB President Jeff White was the conference chairman. He was assisted by a staff including his wife Thaïs (NASB Assistant Secretary- Treasurer), Johanna Silva (who also worked on our NASB HFCC Conference Committee in Mexico City in 05), Adriana Brito (who is from Venezuela but is the granddaughter of famous Dominican baritone singer Eduardo Brito, for whom the National Theater is named in Santo Domingo), Pedro Estrella of Radio Discovery in Santo Domingo, and WRMI studio operator Javier García from Miami. The NASB sent WRMI's chief engineer José Raul Mena from Miami to Punta Cana for nearly a week before the conference began in order to help set up the Internet connections and other technical arrangements for the meeting together with the HFCC's technical guru Vladislav Cip, who manages all of the data processing for the conference, producing the collision lists, etc. After most of the delegates end their coordination work each day at around 5:00 pm, you can still find Vladislav working in his data processing cubicle until nearly midnight, or sometimes even later. Well-known Dominican broadcaster Rodolfo Espinal – who originally suggested having an HFCC in Punta Cana – assisted the NASB conference committee and worked as a liaison between the NASB and INDOTEL, the Dominican Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Tourism. NASB Board members Brady Murray and Glen Tapley; George Ross of member station KTWR in Guam; Jerry Plummer of member station WWCR in Nashville; and Terry Borders of member station WEWN were also present and were part of the FCC delegation headed by Tom Lucey. Other members of the U.S. delegation included Dave Hultsman of Continental Electronics; John White of Thomson Radio Broadcast; and Russ Erickson and Duane Williams of the IBB, as well as Arto Mujunen of the IBB's Helsinki office. The speakers at the opening session of the HFCC/ASBU Conference included Jeff White, President of the NASB; Rodolfo Espinal, who delivered a message from the President of INDOTEL; Dr. Virgilio Cedano, the Dominican Republic's Vice-Minister of Tourism in charge of the Eastern Region, which includes Punta Cana and is the most rapidly- growing tourist area in the country; and HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip. (See the texts of the opening remarks by Espinal and Cip elsewhere in this issue of the NASB Newsletter.) The conference delegates spent five days coordinating their frequency schedules for the B09 season, which begins in October of this year and goes until March of 10. The usual negotiations took place between the various country delegations to try to reduce interference from one station to another. There was some discussion about the future of shortwave on a worldwide scale. James Serpell of Christian Vision announced that CVI has decided to cease operations at its Julich, Germany transmitter site at the end of the A09 season. He cited as reasons for the closure financial considerations and "the changing patterns of how people are using media." HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip noted that although many large international broadcasters have reduced or eliminated their shortwave broadcasts due to budget cuts and in favor of new media such as the Internet, the shortwave bands are still crowded, and there is no danger of shortwave broadcasts disappearing in the near future. So worldwide frequency coordination is still very much needed. At the Plenary Session on Friday morning, it was announced that the deadline for the collections of B09 season operation data is October 5, and that the tentative location for the A10 HFCC/ASBU conference is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the beginning of February 10. Jakarta, Indonesia was the other possibility for the B10 conference, but some people were concerned about safety in the wake of the recent bombings of two tourist hotels in Jakarta. So far, there are no volunteers to host the B10 Conference in August of next year. Also at the Plenary, the Group of Experts mentioned that a layman's guide to the new HFCC collision lists would be available on the HFCC website within the coming weeks. There was some discussion about the advisability of including schedule information from non-members in the HFCC/ASBU frequency lists. Some of these schedules include a lot of “wood” (i.e. listings for transmissions that are not actually on the air), and there was concern that these stations would be getting a “free ride” from the HFCC since they would be getting their schedules included in the coordinated lists, but they are not paying membership fees to the HFCC. As non-members, they would not take part in the coordination conferences, so there would be no way to negotiate with them at the conferences regarding any collisions that they might be causing or involved in. In effect, they would be notifying everyone else that they plan to use certain frequencies at certain times, and it would be up to the HFCC/ASBU members to avoid these frequencies at these times, which is not the spirit of frequency coordination, This situation will continue to be discussed, but for the moment it was decided that a text list of non-members' schedule requirements would be distributed to members during the conferences. The Group of Experts also mentioned that there is a new HFCC language code list, and that members should be encouraged to include language information and the design frequency of their antennas in their requirements. They also discussed developing a list of specific Internet requirements for future conferences, in view of certain limitations on the hotel Internet systems at this and other previous conferences. Continuing with items discussed at the Plenary, it was reported that an audit of the HFCC budget by Bernd Friedewald showed that all but one member had paid their membership fees, and the financial report was approved by the membership. One new application had been received for associate membership in the HFCC by the BBC. Oldrich Cip noted that the BBC had been among the original members of the HFCC in the early 1980's, but it had been basically replaced in more recent years by VT Communications, which took over the former BBC shortwave transmitter sites. Now the HFCC rules permit associate members, and it seemed quite appropriate that the BBC should become an associate member. A half-day forum about DRM -- Digital Radio Mondiale -- took place on the afternoon of August 21 , and many Dominican national broadcasters participated in that event. There were presentations by DRM Consortium board members Horst Scholz from Deutsche Welle and Ludo Maes of TDP, and from DRM Commercial Committee Chairman Michel Penneroux from TDF in France (“DRM – A Strong Reference for Digital Radio in the Dominican Republic”). Speakers also included Geoff Spells of VT Communications (“An overview of the International Technical and Regulatory Situation”) and Antonio Reyes of Christian Vision in Santiago, Chile (“Experiencia de CVC Chile Utilizando el Formato DRM en sus Transmisiones de Onda Corta”). Special DRM transmissions were directed to Punta Cana for the event from Radio Netherlands in Bonaire, CVC in Chile, TDF in French Guiana and Radio Canada in Sackville, New Brunswick. The new Uniwave consumer DRM receiver was demonstrated, and all of these special transmissions were picked up, along with a DRM broadcast from Vatican Radio as well. Well-known Dominican broadcaster Teo Veras attended the forum, and he expressed the hope that at least one large Dominican broadcasting organization might initiate a shortwave service in the foreseeable future. Anyone who would like a copy of the PowerPoint presentations by Michel Penneroux, Geoff Spells and Antonio Reyes at the DRM workshop should send an e-mail to Jeff White at radiomiami9@cs.com, and we will be glad to send them to you. [report on Radio Discovery: see DOMINICAN REPUBLIC] Conference participants also had time to enjoy a bit of the local atmosphere in Punta Cana, the most popular tourist area of the Dominican Republic. The conference hotel has one of the longest free- form swimming pools in the Caribbean, as well as an attractive beach. There were optional tours on Wednesday to Cap Cana, currently the largest residential and tourism development in the Caribbean; and Thursday to Punta Cana Resort, which was the first tourism development in the Punta Cana area in the 1970's and owner of the Punta Cana International Airport – the world's first privately-owned international airport. At the Punta Cana Resort, the tour passed by the homes of celebrities such as Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias. At Cap Cana, the group was met personally by Ellis Pérez, Cap Cana's Vice President for Communications and Public Relations, who was formerly the Dominican Republic's Minister of Tourism and for many years a broadcaster at Radio Universal, one of the country's major radio stations. On Saturday, August 22, there was an optional bus tour to the Dominican capital city of Santo Domingo. About half of the conference delegates participated. The tour visited the old colonial zone of Santo Domingo where the oldest cathedral in the New World is located, the Columbus Lighthouse where the remains of Christopher Columbus are believed to lie, and it included lunch in a well-known restaurant that's inside a natural cave. The HFCC/ASBU B09 Conference officially ended on Saturday evening back at the Dreams Punta Cana Resort with a reception and group dinner sponsored by Thomson Radio Broadcast. The open-air reception was held at the edge of the beach, and it included a Latin trio playing live music. The dinner was held in the Bordeaux restaurant with a second- floor view of the beach at night, and the menu included cream of corn soup, black angus tenderloin and a chocolate dessert with vanilla ice cream (Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ REVIEW OF THE ETON E1 - XM AM FM Satellite Receiver By Stu Forsyth - Dubai NEW ZEALAND DX TIMES PAGE 43 SEPTEMBER 2009 When you live on the 6th floor of an apartment block, radio reception is not easy, and my AOR 7030+ was not suitable for DXing here. When we went home last year for our summer break, the radio went with us and the search for a new set began. While doing some investigative work for Frank Glen I came across the Etón E1 XM on the Grundig/Etón website. It seemed to be what I needed. I bought one from eBay for around $300 US and I took delivery of it last Easter. It is no. 03007. As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I understand nothing of the technical side of electronics so I shall not bother to try to go beyond the basics. The set is 33.4cm wide, 10cm high and 6.5cm deep. It weighs 2.7kg without the 4 D cell batteries inserted. It covers 100 – 30000 kHz and 76 – 90 or 87 – 108 MHz, as well as 2.3325 – 2.3450 GHz (satellite reception). I do not have a satellite antenna. The set has a 1m whip antenna, which works well and also has a ‘viewing angle fold out panel’, which allows the set to be placed on the table at an angle of about 30 . The front panel has four knobs on the left – Squelch, Treble, Bass and Volume. Next to these is the speaker. Sound quality is very good. Beneath that is a fold out door, behind which hide the battery insertion point, a reset button and a knob for adjusting the contrast of the screen display. On the right hand side is the screen itself, beneath which there is a number keyboard – perfect for tapping in the desired frequency as well as the ‘Select’, ‘Store’, ‘Delete’ and ‘Tag’ keys – should you wish to store your frequencies in one of the 500 memory channels available To the right of this are 4 more buttons: DX, Time, Seek and T. Scan. To the right of the screen there is an array of buttons dealing with which band you want to listen on, VFO activation, Memory or Country channels. The biggest knob is given over to tuning (either fast or normal) and also one for pass band tuning. On the left hand end of the set there is a line in and line out plug (the latter works very well with my digital recorder). Two antenna switches offer internal or external choices. There is a plug for the external antenna. This is a PAL male type plug for unbalanced 50 – 75 ohm input. This is a major drawback in my case, as all of my connections are usually of the BNC variety. This however can, and will be, changed in time. Next down is the power input plug. This is 9v DC at approx 1 amp – the central conductor is positive. Finally we have the external speaker – 1.25 – 3 watts for a 4-8 watt speaker and then the headphone socket. Stereo reception is available for FM only, otherwise it is mono. Stations are tuned in via the keypad or the tuning knob. At the bottom of the screen there are 5 buttons with their purposes displayed immediately above. AGC comes as Slow, Fast or Auto. Three filters are offered 7, 4 or 2.3 kHz. The latter is very effective when used in conjunction with SSB. Pass band tuning comes next – this is a very effective tool and I have used it to good effect. The next button is labelled AM and offers straight AM or AM synchro – this works in much the same way as it does on the AOR 7030+. Finally LSB and USB is available. The Etón E1 then has all the bells and whistles found on the better sets. Extras? Yes, there are lots of extras in terms of what is available in the menus. For example, at the push of a button you can change from 10kHz to 9kHz intervals on MW, change your FM band depending on where you are, set the radio’s time and time zone. You can set alarms, activate snooze and adjust for daylight saving. There are many other figures I could put into this article, taken from the manual – none of which I understand, so I won’t! How does it work?? My answer is - well. I have not had the opportunity of hooking it up to a longwire or EWE to give a more accurate picture. However, once I am able to get out on the balcony (in temps of 40 +!) and get away from my wireless router and laptop, it functions well. Its use is quite instinctive, the set is sensitive. I have used it mainly on SW and am pleased that you can type in the desired metre band and go straight to it, for example. On MW it also drags in the signals. It doesn’t appear to greatly overload in the face of very strong local signals. Selectivity is good, and the filters, combined with SSB and PBT makes it possible to isolate signals from a jumble. I am pleased to have bought it and would have no hesitation in recommending it to other DXers. It is good value for money, but if you want top notch, then look at the recently reviewed Palstar R30 for example (Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ UK QRM UPDATE - RSGB COMPLAINS TO OFCOM The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) has written a formal letter of complaint to the UK regulator Ofcom about the non-compliance of EMC regulations by the Comtrend Power Line Adaptors being used by BT. The letter points out that independent tests commissioned by the RSGB show that these devices exceed EMC limits by as much as 40dB at some shortwave frequencies. The full letter can be read on the RSGB web site (pdf format) at http://www.rsgb.org/news/pdf/letter_to_rtb.pdf Ofcom field engineers are now understood to be checking that interference is "6 dB above noise floor" before they will investigate a complaint. RSGB were apparently informed that a three-month trial of this 6 dB limit would be carried out in April, May and June 2009, but it appears that Ofcom has now extended the trial unilaterally. A contributor to UKQRM has stated that the parameter of 6 dB above noise floor has no standing in current UK EMC law and that no agreement has been reached with RSGB to implement it. I understand from recent discussions on the UKQRM forum, that BT are looking to use a WiFi system to distribute BT vision in future. It isn't ready yet but the hope is that it could eventually replace the dreaded Comtrend adaptors which cause such severe interference on shortwave. Further information on this issue including advice on reporting the interference see the UK QRM web site at http://www.ukqrm.org - also linked from the club web site http://www.bdxc.org.uk (Dave Kenny, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; NEW ZEALAND; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ UNIDENTIFIED 9525-9550, CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++ VHF VERSUS UHF FOR THE BEST DTV Re 9-070, OKLAHOMA: KWTV and KWTV, twice the channels Glenn, Thanks for posting the update for KWTV. Interesting. KMBC-DT which started out on channel 7 and was to move to channel 9 settled on channel 29. Oddly enough, their sister station KCWE-29, is now on channel 31 where their DTV has been all along. And KMCI-38 is on channel 41 and KSHB-41 is on channel 42. But that's a different story. Anyway, I haven't seen either of the KWTV's since you first mentioned this situation. I will keep checking. I know it is more difficult to get local channels 11 and 13 than the UHF DTVs. I still have not noticed any problems with DTV reception from Kansas City (60-70 miles) when there have been storms. And we get them just like you do in Oklahoma (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That is very interesting, Glenn. Is high-band VHF really that much inferior to UHF for DTV; or is it those puny ERPs of the VHF DTVs? I think some of the problem is the power (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Sept 16, WTFDA via DXLD) I have seen both of them here, but not since channel 39 went back on.? Are there really two KWTVs?? Or is one KWTV and the other KWTV-DT or one even KWTV-TV?? (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, IBID.) High-band VHF does work in some applications. It defiantly does not work in urban areas. Power is not as much of a problem as is multipath and noise. In large urban areas, (Detroit, Toledo, etc.). VHF High-band does not work well, especially with lossy antennas such as rabbit-ears or pancake antennas (which were sold as an easy way to receive DTV). Out in the country, (Lima OH), it works very well and viewer reports support this. The biggest problem with reception does not come from fringe viewers, but from people living in the city, especially in the shadow of structures reflecting RF. In the case of channel 8, there are viewers that can see the tower but can't get the signal. However, after replacing cheap antennas with something like the AntennaCraft Y5-7-13 solves the problem. I think this best represents the problem. In Toledo, viewers 7-14 miles west of the tower farms have problems getting the signal. However I get the signals 62 miles away. Here we don't have as many problems, (as the town is not as built up like Toledo), but we have a few people with issues. Yet, in Lucas and Wood counties people see Lima 8 just fine. UHF does seem to be more forgiving on small antennas, as expected due to the element size. However the urban problem does exist. For those on the list that have measurement equipment, a good test is to take a small antenna and connect it to a device that reads signal level and BER/SNR. Rotate the antenna, and you'll note that signal levels can remain high, while the SNR will dive to undecodable levels. The big difference for regular viewers is that in analog you could see noise and ghosts, and sometimes the interference didn't bother you that much. (We had viewers that watched out old analog signal under terrible conditions). In digital, multipath, noise, and anything distorting the signal causes loss of signal. It's hard to explain to people got your analog station for 50 years why a new and improved digital station can not be received. :( Just a few thoughts from the trenches (Frederick Vobbe, W8HDU, WLIO-TV Lima OH, ibid.) 1 - I think Fred Vobbe hit the nail on the head. 2 - I think Danny is in large part right about power. It's hard to imagine WLS being able to penetrate computer noise with an entire 4.75 kW ERP. (BTW the FCC approved WLS's request to change their channel allotment from 7 to 44 today. They've still got to file an application to modify their DTV permit to specify 44 instead of 7, and they've got some construction to do before they can actually move to a new channel.) 3 - I think Fred is especially on-target about viewers buying unreasonable antennas. I don't blame the viewers -- they should reasonably expect that if an electronics store (or even the Wal-Mart electronics department) is selling an antenna, it will work in their neighborhood and will receive all channels. Some of these "flat" antennas do not stand a chance at VHF. 4 - I believe DTV-into-DTV co-channel interference is a bigger problem than analog-into-DTV. High-band VHF is crowded; there's a greater chance of DTV-into-DTV co-channel in this band. I suspect this is part of WLS's problem; there's another DTV-7 up in Grand Rapids. 5 - Channel 9 and 39 are both KWTV-DT. They seem to be one of the few stations that asked the FCC to let them keep the -DT suffix (if they'd taken no action the FCC would have automatically changed them to KWTV). DTV seems to have brought to an end the days when every broadcast transmitter had a unique callsign. Already, Distributed Transmission Systems have allowed for one DTV license, with one callsign, to simultaneously operate multiple transmitters on the same channel. More recently, DTV Replacement Translators allow for one DTV license, with one callsign, to simultaneously operate multiple transmitters on *different* channels. KWTV's channel 39 is currently a Special Temporary Authority. The FCC can pretty much do whatever they want with regard to callsigns there. I suspect if they end up running both 9 *and* 39 that one of the two will be licensed as a Replacement Translator. I'm hearing rumors to the effect that WTVF's Replacement Translator on ch. 50 here has received a STA for waiver of the power limit -- it seems possible the FCC will authorize the reactivation of pre-transition facilities as translators (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) I need to chime in on GH's post and the responses. Where I live at, there has always been at least one high-band VHF digital -- KTHV (12) "11-n" was the first DTV on air in Little Rock. 'THV is a high power (55 kW at 518.7m HAAT) transmitter but receivable here on just a CM4228 and (later on) my old Jerrold 4 element VHF/FM logperi. The problem was that on the fringe (in rural SE Ark) I would have interference from distant thunderstorms or those in the path between my location and the Shinall Mountain transmitter site. Also I had man made interference from the microwave ovens, and occasional switching of electrical appliances (such as the washing machine switching cycles). While KTHV was paged with dropouts, UHF DTV's KARK, KLRT, and KATV (after relocating to Shinall Mtn) were more reliable. This spring I installed a Winegard YA1713 log-Yagi which has decent gain and F/B ratio for the 7-13 channels. The new antenna has reduced some of the interference on KTHV. However, both the public TV stations I receive locally -- KETS 7 "2-n" Little Rock, and KETZ 10 "12-n" El Dorado have issues with the interference mainly due to the lower power transmitters. I'm located 40 miles from KETS but approaching storms make the stations unwatchable due to dropouts. I rarely watch the AETN KETZ transmitter because of programming being 100% duplicated by KETS unless the Redfield-based AETN transmitter is off the air, or to check propagation. KETZ is even lower power (16.2 kW at 538m HAAT) than KETS (26.73 kW at 547m HAAT). I personally think that many stations were lured by lower operating costs (as in electricity) of VHF transmitters and did not anticipate the viewership blowback. Also many viewers unlike in the 1950's and 1960's when outdoor antennas were more in vogue with the general pubic were limited to rabbit ears and other stealthy antenna installations (attics, etc.) because of living in "restricted communities" and/or condos. Although the FCC's OTARD does preempt some restrictions for TV receiving antennas, many viewers chose not to fight their landlords and HOA's over installing antennas and take the paths of least resistance (cable, DBS, or indoor antennas). Another factor (related to the above paragraph) is that decent antennas are often unavailable in brick and mortar retailers. Sure, there are 42" LCD's and Plasma TV's at every major retailer, but try finding a high-gain VHF/UHF antenna or separates (save for Radio Shack which seems adrift these days). OTA TV reception has become a niche hobby for the DXing, hard-core HDTV communities, and those that either will not have cable (or can't afford it) while the general public (mainstream America?) regards these aluminum outdoor antennas as an ugly eyesore, or a relic not unlike seamed stockings or buggy whips. The folks that needed decent antennas to replace older worn ones were probably frustrated by their local retailers lack of selection and often purchased inferior and/or unsuitable products (the "pancake" antennas, stealthy, "low profile" antennas, or UHF only antennas--the later common in areas pre-transition when many areas had only UHF DTV transmitters) (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/KC5KBV Sept 17, ibid.) The comments on this subject have been interesting and informative. KWTV-DT39 was a common catch by tropo. KWTV-DT9 is now a common tropo catch, as are KOCO-DT7 and KETA-DT13. It looks like two channels might be the solution for some DTVs. I keep wondering about WFAA-DT8 DFW. After ten years of operating on channel 9, I wonder how many viewers had reception problems with the old channel 9 signal. And I wonder how well the new channel 8 signal is faring. I also wonder how well KFWD-DT9 is doing. The last time I saw KTVT-DT11, they were telling viewers of their morning news to re-scan at 1100, as changes were being made to their signal. Tropo has been so poor here lately that I haven't seen the DFW DTVs in weeks (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) Hi Danny; I don't know if it's power or what but in *my* experience, hi VHF majorly sucks compared to UHF! Before transition, my local WTHR 13, had its DTV presence on RF 46. On transition day they moved to RF 13. Before transition, 13 was my second most reliable DTV. After transition, my Zenith stops on RF 13 during a scan but the meter never gets above 1/3 of the way! Never a decode. This is at 13 miles, on rabbit ears. Another local, WISH 8, has its DTV on RF 9 (12 miles). I can get that one as long as the *UHF* part of the rabbit ears is turned a certain way and no one in the room moves. By contrast, I ALMOST can get WIPB 49 (RF 23) to decode at 40+ miles. Do understand that my setup is on the ground floor, on the opposite side of the house from the Indy antenna farm BUT Joe and Jane Retiree may be in the same boat as I and quickly get frustrated with DTV. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) In the West Palm market, Channel 12 moved to 13 Digital, and Channel 5 moved to 12 after being on 55 before the transition. For some reason, maybe power, the former 5 now comes in pretty well compared to 12 (now on 13). Distance is about the same, but there is a big difference in signal. Most of the West Palm stations moved their transmitters further south to get into the Miami / Fort Lauderdale market a few years back. I live on the Treasure Coast, but honestly the stations in West Palm are too far to get reliable signals 24/7 (Juan Gualda, Fort Pierce, FL, ibid.) > It looks like two channels might be the solution for some DTVs. WLS seems to believe so. While they have filed to move from channel 7 to channel 44, they have also filed to leave the channel 7 facility on the air as a "replacement translator". (at 4.75kw it would exceed the nominal limit for replacement translators by more than 10dB*) A number of other high-band VHFs have filed to operate DTV replacement translators co-located with their VHF transmitters (at powers within the existing limits, except for WTVF which is believed to have a STA for 100 kW on channel 50). Radio-Info boards are indeed reporting issues. Problem is, as you say WFAA never had a UHF facility. Stations like WHDH and KWTV had existing UHF facilities ready to simply turn back on, and had channels that were usable without interference concerns. -- * WLS's move to channel 44 will displace a LPTV. That LPTV has filed an application to take over WLS's old channel 7 facility, indeed at the same 4.75 kW WLS has requested for their Replacement Translator license. IMHO the LPTV stands little chance of success (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) ###