DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-072, September 22, 2009 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1479, September 24-30, 2009 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1200 WRMI 9955 [new] Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUBS? Fri 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Fri 2028 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat] Sat 1330 WRMI 9955 [new] 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 9330-CUSB? Wed 0700 WRMI 9955 [or new 1480 starting here?] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? 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. Re 9-071: 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.) Regarding the Abkhazia logs from down under, the times shown must be local New Zealand time. At 0300z the path, over 10,000 miles, is all daylight. At 0300 New Zealand time the sunset terminator is at New Delhi, about 2400 miles from Abkhazia. A very good catch for 5 kW ND in a crowded band (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The times for the NZL reports of 9495 are indeed UT. I have heard this frequency myself at other times of the year around 0400 UT (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, New Zealand, ibid.) 9 MHz is after all not exclusively a darkness-requiring band (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I guess, all these are longpath reception, about 22,000 kilometer distance. When I look into GEOCKWIN map I see a distance of approx 2000-2500 km from NZ towards east to the grey zone close to Polynesia, and all night dark on its way far via Easter Island, Ecuador, Bonaire, Madeira, Cyprus. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Has Abkhazia been logged in NAm or SAm? (Jerry Lenamon, ibid.) ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHANISTAN'S WAR - WAGED ON THE AIRWAVES U.S.-Backed Radio Stations Compete With Taliban Messages in Remote Regions Where Illiteracy Is High KALAGUSH, Afghanistan, Sept. 20, 2009. By Mandy Clark http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/20/eveningnews/main5324643.shtml (via Artie Bigley, DXLD; and via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) Direct link to 2:14 video with audio: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5324854n (gh, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. US LAUNCHING TAILORED RFE/RL RADIO BROADCASTS, MULTIMEDIA, TO AFPAK REGION | Text of report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) website on 18 September US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said at an RFE/RL event that "the profileration [sic] of extremist propaganda by the Taleban needs to be dealt with head-on." "We need to go beyond traditional diplomacy," he said. "In the tribal areas along the border, radio is the primary means of receiving information, so I'm pleased that RFE is expanding its broadcasts into the Pashtun areas of Pakistan." Holbrooke spoke at an RFE/RL reception in Washington, DC's Newseum marking the launch of a new initiative to broadcast six daily hours of programming to Pashto speakers along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Holbrooke said RFE/RL's mission of "surrogate broadcasting" is vital to helping solve the problem of "the world's greatest communications nation being out-communicated by people who stand for repressive activities." RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin noted that RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, locally known as Radio Azadi, is the most popular radio station in Afghanistan. "This new initiative to the volatile tribal areas is smart power at its best," said Gedmin. "Building on the success of Radio Azadi, our additional programming will feature a wide range of news, politics, and culture that will reach deep into the Pashtun heartland via radio, SMS text messaging, video, and the Internet." Following Holbrooke's remarks, a group of experts spoke on a panel titled Fighting Hate Radio Along the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border. The panelists included author Gretchen Peters (Seeds of Terror, 2009); United States Institute of Peace Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan J Alexander Thier; and Radio Azadi Director Akbar Ayazi. Susan Glasser, Executive Editor of Foreign Policy and The Af-Pak Channel, moderated the discussion. Thier and Peters said the Taleban are adapting to the media era and have developed increasingly sophisticated strategies to win hearts and minds. Ayazi agreed, but argued that "young people are tired of violence and extremism." He said outlets such as Radio Azadi and other independent media that provide open forums for debate "are creating a culture of tolerance" that is anathema to Islamic extremists. If there is one issue vital to the stability of Afghanistan, according to the participants, it is corruption. "As long as there is no independent commission set up to explore corruption at the highest levels of the Afghan government, the international community gains nothing by supporting one set of criminals over another," said Peters. Thier, who was in Afghanistan during last month's elections, was asked who won the vote. "Nobody," he said. "The process was deeply flawed by the allegations of fraud and it remains to be seen what kind of legitimacy the government will have." About RFE/RL's New Pashto Initiative: RFE/RL will launch a new 6-hour RFE/RL Radio Azadi radio program for Pashto speakers in the dialect of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. Radio Azadi already reaches a significant number of Dari and Pashto speakers with its nationwide programs -- the most popular in Afghanistan -- with a weekly audience of 7.9 million adults. Content will be tailored to local news and events, in line with RFE/RL's mission as a 'surrogate broadcaster'. RFE/RL will also establish a new SMS service for news distribution and will upgrade security for its journalists. The first RFE/RL programs are expected to go on the air later this year. Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, Washington, D.C., in English 18 Sep 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) US INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING: WHERE DUPLICATION KNOWS NO FRONTIER. NOT EVEN THE PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN FRONTIER Holbrooke "pledged that he wasn’t going to set up his own broadcasting networks, as they’d lack credibility. 'A lot of this can’t be done in American voices, we understand that,' he said. Instead, the administration should help sponsor local radio — the primary communications medium in Afghanistan and much of Pakistan — and explain the u.S. message in relevant ways. 'The key is Pakistanis themselves, and [the U.S. should] support them any way we can, in the media area and however else.'" Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent, 17 September 2009. "Holbrooke voiced the confidence that the broadcast in local language would help advance public debate and counter extremist propaganda in democratic Pakistan’s Western areas. ... We are not going to set up American broadcasting stations, this is an open part of the international network (providing) the means of communication to the people of Pakistan. We look forward to them (the service) contributing to the public debate in this democratic country Pakistan, which is so important to all of us,' he said." Associated Press of Pakistan, 18 September 2009. "'This is obviously where RFE and RL come in. We need to explain in open American supported radio stations and other media why we’re in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Why we are there as friends and not as invaders or occupiers,' said Holbrooke." WashingtonTV, 18 September 2009. (kimandrewelliott.com; for linx to each story above see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=7357 via DXLD) The reports are confusing and contradictory, but was Mr. Holbrooke suggesting that RFE/RL is not an American radio station? Credibility is essential to successful international broadcasting, and credibility begins with a station being upfront about its own identity. Mentioned nowhere in all these reports is that for the past three years, VOA's Deewa Radio has been broadcasting to the same frontier region, in the same Pashto language. And contrary to bogus characterizations that VOA limits itself to news about crop yields in Nebraska, Deewa reports extensively about events in its target region. And, so, in one of the most difficult parts of the world to get news out of, and one of the most difficult to transmit news back into, in one of the most difficult language groups from which to recruit journalists, US international broadcasting will be dividing it resources between two stations whose efforts will largely overlap. No wonder the United States is being "out communicated." Make no mistake. The new RFE/RL service, in the tradition of RFE/RL's gutsy journalism, will do a very good job. But VOA's Deewa Radio is also doing a very good job. Together, they could achieve the excellence required to compete amid the improving domestic media of the Middle East. One might think that USIB has reached its nadir of organizational inefficiency. I'm afraid, however, the downward slope might continue. Don't be surprised if Urdu is RFE/RL's next language service, authorized by members of Congress oblivious to the already formidable efforts of VOA's Radio Aap ki Dunyaa. USIB is subdividing itself into oblivion. Posted: 19 Sep 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** ALASKA. LISTENING IN ~ KNLS ALASKA with Darren Rozier KNLS (New Life Station) is owned by World Christian Broadcasting. Its inception was 30 years before a radio signal was broadcast from a transmitter. The founders, Lowell & Earline Perry, went to a meeting in 1950. In 1956 they concluded that shortwave was the best way to get the gospel out to the world. Their research continued until 1976 when the World Christian Broadcasting Corporation was founded. In March 1977 Lowell and two companions chartered a private plane to look for a transmitter site. They were looking at somewhere in the Caribbean. However, as they flew over the area, the plane exploded killing all three occupants. The work continued despite the death of its visionary. Within six years the WCBC had established its first station at Anchor Point, Alaska. Today they broadcast for 20 hours a day in English, Russian and Mandarin. Lowell’s widow Earline is still the station’s most enthusiastic supporter. KNLS first signed on in 1983. At the moment a new transmitter site in the Indian Ocean is being developed with programmes planned for Europe, Africa, South America, Western Asia, India and the Middle East (Arabic language programmes are planned for this area). Watch this space! [axually on land! in MADAGASCAR --- gh] You’d be forgiven for thinking that this station was another religious narrowcaster, with some scary-sounding preachers characteristic of some other American Christian broadcasters. However, KNLS prides itself on being a normal-sounding station for normal people, with an uplifting message. In fact, I think it has something for everyone, whether you’re inclined to believe in God or not. The features include Postcard from Alaska, Cookin’ Americana, Safe Harbour, Life Well Lived and Proofs from Earth. All these are mixed with some familiar songs from the 80s to today. I don’t think another such station exists on the shortwave dial. In order to do a feature on this station I had to cheat. KNLS’s transmissions are not audible in the UK as they are directed west from Anchor Point, landing mainly in China and Russia. If you have a more powerful radio you may be able to pick up some faint wafting from Anchor Point, but I used the Internet! Saturday 1st August --- The tagline is “from the top of the world - current music, news and the good news”. They spend the first minute or so running through what features are coming up in the next hour and the artists providing the music. I think perhaps they spend a little too long on this. Maybe trailing ahead to three features and a couple of the songs is enough. After a while your brain can switch off. *Song - Second Chance by Shinedown. *Feature on stamp collecting. An actor who recently died (I didn’t catch his name) helped contribute to the Stamp Committee who decide what stamps should be issued. This was a fast-moving feature with audio clips - some from the actor himself. The actor grew up in Gary, Indiana (where the Jacksons come from) in a working-class family. He was said to be an example of an American success story. *American Highway - Highway 64 runs across the Southern border of Tennessee and passes a number of historic civil war sites. There was talk of the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. Confederate troops were successful on the first day and they thought the battle was won. However, Union troops made a comeback. The Confederate ranks were split and the regiments got mixed up. This battle is still commemorated today. [also thru Enid, no C.W. here --- gh] *True Stories from the Bible in Contemporary English - a short story from the book of Daniel. The story is in Daniel chapter 6. *Song - Prayer for the Dying by Seal. Above: KNLS transmitter building in summer *Unnamed feature - Years ago Americans were much closer to the dead. Now they want to keep as long a distance as they can from them. In some places there are now drive-thru funerals where people can just drive past to pay their respects to the deceased. Chris, a minister in Madras, India shows compassion to the sick and dying and ministers to all: Christian, Hindu or Muslim. *Advert for free bibles from KNLS in the Easy-to-Read English Version. *Song - Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. *DX Corner - Carl Mann presents Radio History for Beginners. He talked about President Franklin Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats, an old American radio programme, a president who knew how to use the radio. A clip was played of one of these Fireside Chats with Roosevelt rallying his country to war when USA entered World War II *Advert for the feature “Plugged-in Movie Review”. Parents need to be sure that their teenagers are watching uplifting stuff. *Song - White Flag by Dido. *Profiles of the New Testament - The Bible book of 2nd John. When the apostle John wrote the letter that comprises 2nd John he was an old man. He wanted to encourage those who were struggling in their faith. He also wanted to warn of the dangers ahead. *Song - Lost by Coldplay. *Feature on a man called Travis Lynn. He’s been in prison and on drugs and ended up on the Teen Challenge rehabilitation programme. He said he was lifted up emotionally and spiritually. He completed the programme and ended up joining the staff of Teen Challenge. *Profiles in Christian Music - with Dale Crow. Song: Glory & Honour by Keith Lancaster. *Creation Moments - with Ian Taylor. One of God’s strangest creations is the mud skipper. It’s a fish which can go on land and dig burrows. Some species can even climb trees. They absorb oxygen through their skin and store water in their gills. They can also take in air directly. *Times, frequencies and goodbyes. *Song - Break Even by The Script. Right: Transmitter control console 1980s This looks like a lot to pack into an hour’s broadcast, but the features are not normally any longer than two to three minutes. It’s a fast-paced format designed for the short attention spans of our time. I found it to be an interesting and uplifting listen, what with all the horrors and depression we hear about in the news every day. Sunday 2nd August --- “This is Alaska calling. The music of our time & the message of all time”. *Song - Shattered. *Health and Medicine - A new report from an American health trust says more than 1 in 4 American adults are obese. The situation has worsened over a short period of time. 32% of the residents of Mississippi are obese. This is the highest figure in the USA. The slimmest state is Colorado, with 21% of the adult population being obese. *Postcard from Alaska (America’s last frontier) - Glacier Bay National Park in South East Alaska, where you can see thousands of seagulls! The Park Superintendent is Tommy Lee (a female Tommy, so definitely not the same Tommy Lee from American heavy rock band Motley Crue). Tommy tells us that you can see bears on the shoreline. They’re not hunted in the park so they are quite tame. Most will just carry on undisturbed if they come into contact with human activity. They sometimes ban camping in areas where the bears are. Tommy said it’s easier to manage people than bears. You can also see mountain goats near the shoreline in early spring before the snow recedes. They’re not bothered by humans either. Outside the park area, if a bear hears the sound of a boat, it will leave, but only if it’s been hunted. *True Stories from the Bible in Contemporary English - The story of Daniel continued from yesterday. It can be found in the book of Daniel, ch 6. *Song - Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. *Direction - A man once went on a skiing trip. He tried learning to ski, but fell over each time. Three guys tried coaching and encouraging him, but he got into a bad mood and he hasn’t tried to ski again in 30 years. Perfectionists are intolerant of their own limitations. They often get depressed and they’re never relaxed. They get into safe, comfortable, boring ruts. The world doesn’t end if you mess up. Thank God for mistakes. They let you learn. If you were perfect, life could be dull and they’d be nothing left to learn. Don’t be paralysed by your fears. Whatever you want to do well will be done over a process. At the end of Jesus’ life it appeared his career was over, then he was resurrected! Give God the same chance with yourself. *Song - (Cheesy 80s pop. Artist and title unknown). *The English Express - with Dick Brackett. Dick was once a salesman in a liquidation sale where even the shop fixtures and fittings were for sale. Everything had to go - lock stock and barrel. This saying comes from when people used old time guns. There was a barrel (the long bit at the front), a stock (the frame) and a lock (which held the gunpowder, the flint and the hammer). The gun couldn’t work without all three. If you have something lock stock and barrel, you have it all and there’s nothing else left. Dick invited listeners to send in English expressions for analysis. *Song by Pat Benetar. Bridal Veil falls near Valdez [another caption] *Hebrews chapter 11: the Hall of Fame for Christians - with Bill Young. *Song by The Fray. *The Uplift Programme - There was once a ship lost in a deserted sea. One man survived and ended up stranded on a desert island. He built himself a hut and did his best to live a subsistence existence. One day his hut caught fire and burned down. With nothing left he sank into a deep depression. However, the very next day, he saw a ship on the horizon and he was rescued. He asked “How did you know I was here?” They said “We saw your smoke signal”. God can bring a blessing out of what seems to be a curse. *Profiles in Christian Music - How many friends do we have? What about enemies or people you don’t enjoy being with? Love them with the love of the Lord. Song - I Love You With The Love Of The Lord by David Spayler. *Proofs from the Earth (Bible archaeology) - with Professor Bill Hemble. Talk of a stone lion in Jerusalem and Hittite art. Some proof of the historical accuracy of the Bible. *Times, frequencies and goodbyes. *Song - You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. Monday 3rd August --- *Song - 22 by Lily Allen. *Entertainment News - Michael Jackson’s death. One newspaper headline said “Jackson dies - almost takes the Internet with him”. Because of the amount of Internet traffic on the day he died Twitter had to disable part of its search and save facility. Wikipedia also had to temporarily suspend some of its services. *American Highway - In Chicago there’s a trading floor where millions change hands every minute. It’s the Chicago Board of Trade and it was established in 1848. Inside it’s very noisy, but there is order to it all. Traders are assembled to do business and make contracts. One floor deals with agricultural products. The other floor deals with finances like bonds. The CBT has visitors from over 100 countries and many languages are spoken on its floors. *True Stories from the Bible in Contemporary English - There’s a promise in the book of Jeremiah that the Jews would be set free from Babylonian captivity after 70 years. *Song - Show Me What I’m Looking For by Carolina Liar. *Prayers for Monday - Story of a large lawn tractor avoiding a birds nest in the long grass. The driver was going along when all of a sudden this bird kept swooping down trying to attack the tractor. When the driver found the nest, he went round it and let it be. This is a demonstration of God’s care for us. *Song - Downtown Train by Rod Stewart. Above: Lucy Grant hosts English Hour. Paul Ladd- sport & Mailbag. Marcy Bryan- entertainment, business & religion. Fred Osterman, also President of Universal Radio & editor of DXing.com [captions] *DX Corner - Presented Fred Osterman. There’s an initiative to get shortwave radios out to impoverished people called Ears to Our World. The Grundig FR200 is self-powered with SW down to 3200 kHz so that local and tropical stations can be received. It has a built-in reading light. There’s a plan to get these radios out to Sudan in 2010, but this is dependent on the political situation there at the time. *Song - I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me by Expose. *God’s Passion for Humanity - with Bill Young. There are many questions asked about the seeming contradiction between God’s love and God’s judgement. Bill used a typical family illustration: God disciplines all he loves and punishes those he accepts as children. forgives our selfish and sinful behaviour. Christ died that we might be forgiven *Song by T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake. Right: Matanuska Glacier east of Palmer along the Glenn Highway *Special Report - Tax cuts are hurting rehabilitation programmes across America. One man, whose name was Kelly, said if it wasn’t for one of these programmes he would probably be in custody. He has gang tattoos in the corners of his eyes, now hopefully he’ll graduate in May. Now funds have gone in Tennessee the probation service may be cut. As a result the police may go back to using scare tactics, saying things like “this is your last chance”. When kids are around other offenders it reduces their chances of getting out of the cycle of crime. Violent crime has been going down since these rehab programmes have been running. Wendy Thurston a probation officer is concerned that she won’t be able to provide an individual service when the budget cuts take effect. *Profiles in Christian Music - The old Irish proverb goes: “bricks and mortar make a house, the laughter of children makes a home”. Song - They are the roses (referring to children). *Creation Moment - The brain has a master clock that releases chemical signals. Your blood pressure and body temperature has a one-day cycle. Some other bodily cycles take 7 days and others 28 days. We have a wonderful God. *Times, frequencies and goodbyes. *Song - Four In The Morning by Gwen Stefani. I find this station not only different, but a refreshing change. I like the way that it doesn’t foist Christianity on its listeners, but talks about God in a real and relevant way and, as I said earlier, even if you’re not of the Christian persuasion, KNLS still makes interesting and refreshing listening - and the music’s not half bad either. Give it a listen & tell me what you think. KNLS has an unusual QSL policy, offering a special QSL card at the beginning of each broadcast season. Only 200 special cards are awarded each season. Each card is individually numbered and features a full colour photo of Alaska. Current English schedule: 0800-0900 UTC 7355 KHz; 1000-1100 UTC 6890 KHz; 1200-1300 UTC 7355, 9780 KHz; 1400-1500 7355 KHz. [sics] Postal address is Station KNLS, Anchor Point, AK 99556, USA. Email: KNLS @ aol.com All photos from the KNLS website: http://www.knls.org/ My e-mail address, as usual, is listeningin @ bdxc.org.uk 73s and happy listening, Darren. (Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Tuned in R. Tirana 13640 in English, just in time to hear them saying goodbye and brief theme music at 2026-2027* Sept 21, but not before I read the S-meter at 9+20, no QRM or QRN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon silent again on 6090, Sept 20 at 0558, but maybe not for a week this time, as DGS was back on 11775 at 1300 check, never with any local ID at hourtop or anywhen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, 18/9 1915, Radio Nacional A. San Gabriel, talks and songs, weak, fading (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36 audible for second day at about same insufficient level, but incomparably better than nothing. If only my line noise level would abate! Sept 18 at 1902 with bits of music; still audible with more music at recheck 2035 when no QRDRM was to be heard, so has Greenville finally ended its test run without respect for the only SW station in Antarctica? Inconclusive, as 15470-15480 was usually pretty weak here, unlike in targeted Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA [and non]. Whenever LRA36 is in on 15476, I check how its nearest neighbor General Pacheco is doing downband and downlatitude. 15345v, RAE making big het with RTM Morocco, and the het pitch wavering slightly, due to the ancient unstable transmitter RAE uses, Sept 17 at 1922. Mixture of French from RAE and Arabic from RTM. RAE has been persuaded to participate in HFCC, so will these collisions finally become avoidable from B-09? RTM still does not. As an example of how feeble the ``100 kW`` transmitter at General Pacheco is, Sept 20 at 0152 I noticed a het registering about S6 on 11711v, obviously R. Nacional, but no audio readable. Meanwhile, the following other SAm signals were inbooming on the same band: 11780 Brasil S9+18, 11920 HCJB S9+18, 11665 CVC S9+12; from closer in LAm, RHC 11760 & 11690 S9+20. And per Aoki, 11711 is even supposed to be aimed usward at 335 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. 15350, Sept 18 at 1338, fair signal from self-assured preacher in S Asian language, sounds like Malto to me ;-\ -- Axually, that`s per Aoki, Gospel for Asia via Wertachtal, 250 kW, 90 degrees at 1330-1345 Malto on Thu & Fri; Meitei on Mon/Tue/Wed; Kinnauri on Sun & Sat. Unfortunately, Malto is missing from EiBi`s language list at http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/readme.txt but maybe due to spelling variations as in the case of the other two. The gospel huxters will never rest until every conceivable minority language group gets preached at and given a chance to ditch their original religion, or better yet, become rational (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RADIO AUSTRALIA CELEBRATES 70. In December, Radio Australia will be celebrating its 70th Anniversary! RA wants its listeners—both long-time and new -- to be an integral part of the festivities. Here’s how you can join in. RA invites your personal written and audio contributions about your relationship with Radio Australia. Your essay and/or statement should include some or all of the following information: ** How long have you been listening to Radio Australia? ** How do you hear RA? - shortwave, the Internet, World Radio Network, partner station, etc. (any or all of these and when/how) ** Has this changed over the years as RA placed increasing emphasis on delivery platforms other than shortwave? ** What in your opinion sets Radio Australia apart from other international broadcasters? ** Has Radio Australia taught you things about Australia and its way of life you would not otherwise have known? ** What can Radio Australia do to ensure that you continue listening to our broadcasts? ** Have you have any anecdotes to tell us from your time as an RA listener? (For instance, did you turn to RA for coverage of a specific event; do you have fond memories of your favourite presenter, newsreader or programme? It would be preferred if contributions were written or spoken in your own style in a personally coherent, story-like, “conversational” form, and not as a series of answers to the above questions. Those who are able and willing to do so should feel encouraged to record their message and attach it as a MP3 file along with the text of their message. Occasionally, long-time listeners are moved to send RA “scanned” attachments of ancient QSL cards, photographs or other “historical” bits and pieces which makes them feel particularly and personally linked to RA. Such material would be warmly welcomed. RA will have a 70th Birthday website which will feature these written and recorded contributions. Portions of the recorded contributions will also be used on-air. RA looks forward to contributions from our listeners in Asia, the Pacific and around the world. Past and present RA listeners in the US, Canada, Europe and Africa are warmly encouraged to participate as well. Emails should be sent to: radioaustralia @ radioaustralia.net.au For those who still put pen to paper the postal address for contributions is: English Service 70th Birthday, Radio Australia, GPO Box 428G, Melbourne, 3001, Victoria, Australia (via John Figliozzi, NY, Sept 17, dxldyg via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. 6155, R. Austria International had not been heard for a few nights around 0500 but assumed it was lack of propagation. Wolfgang Büschel reports that the transmitter at Moosbrunn site was instead down for some maintenance. But definitely back at 0530 Sept 18 in German, sufficient. I keep missing the 0508v M-F token news in English, still there? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. RADIO BANGLADESH WEBSITE & LIVE AUDIO STREAM Bangladesh Betar/Radio Bangladesh have recently revamped their website at http://www.betar.org.bd --- now it's all in English and offers much more information than previously. There's also a live audio stream labelled "Bangladesh Betar Live", however this appears to be some sort of special test stream at the moment, as programming seems to be predominantly music, with the occasional speech programming in the form of Bengali drama. It never breaks or pauses at (or near) the top or bottom of the hour, just plays straight on through, and no ID's heard (David Kernick, England, Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN [non]. An earthquake was reported yesterday in NE India, however the AIR stations on SW were noted as usual. However BBS Bhutan from the epicentre of the earthquake is missing this morning on 6035. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Sept 21, dx_india via DXLD) 6035 in unrecognizable language, Sept 22 at 1318, bits of music, and too weak by 1330, tentatively BBS. On same channel is PBS Yunnan, Kunming, a.k.a. Voice of Shangri-La, but the latter puts out spurs on 6028 and 6043, and I could detect no trace of those. 1400 English for Bhutan is too late here until possibly in winter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry Glenn, I should have reported sooner about the situation on 6035. For several weeks now the PBS Yunnan spurs on 6027 and 6043 have been noticeably absent. Completely gone! Seems they finally adjusted their transmitter. I can occasionally hear PBS Yunnan on 6035 from about 1230 to 1300 in Vietnamese. Also on 6035 from *1300 to 1330* is the BBC in Bahasa Indonesia, effectively covering them. Recently when I have heard PBS Yunnan, I was unable to detect any hint of BBS underneath them. We can only hope that this winter will bring about a better chance for BBS reception! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Before this gets out too far, please add this to the BHUTAN item in my latest log report, or remove it: ** BHUTAN [non]. Re 6035 at 1318-1330 Sept 22 which I tentatively logged as Bhutan, Ron Howard explains that Yunnan has fixed the spurs on 6028 and 6043, so the absence of them does not mean it was not Yunnan. However, since the signal dropped at 1330 it was even more likely to have been BBC in Indonesian which covers Yunnan at 1300-1330 even tho it is 140 degrees from Singapore. He has not been able to hear Bhutan at all lately under Yunnan. Furthermore, in dx_india, Jose Jacob reports that BBS 6035 was missing following an earthquake epicentered there Sept 21, and I have not yet received any reports from the area that it was back by Sept 22 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. 17520, Friday Sept 18 at 1859 JBA WHRI sign-on with Onward Christian Soldiers, World Harvest Radio`s in-your-face, we- will-convert-you-by-force-if-necessary theme tune invoking the Crusades, presumably to be followed by VOBI for the second week on this reactivated frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.95, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 1014 improvement in signal tolling of church bells. "entonces en la vida católica..." into orchestral music 13 September. 1033 ments of Argentina, Riberalta, Lima good signal. 12 September: 1000 "Radio San Miguel ....onda corta" into...flauta andina, TC "..y 12 minutos" 1027 strong echo chamber effect for local announcement, orchestral bridge "también en Bolivia..." 11 September. Thanks help by John Herkimer and David Sharp! (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, US, Icom 746Pro DL [Modified by Dallas Lankford], Noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4860, Radio Boa Vontade, ????, Brazil, many identifications from 1030 UT Sept 13, announcement: “na comando na esperanza…Super Radio Boa Vontade….”, 25532 (Arnaldo Slaen, in a DX Camp in Villa Loguercio, small town near Lobos Lake, to 120 km to South/West from Buenos Aires City. The DXpeditionars : Miguel Castellino, Hector Goyena & Arnaldo Slaen, Receivers: Two Degen 1103, Antenna: an active antenna and a longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BRASIL – Desde que a Super Rede Boa Vontade de Rádio, de Porto Alegre (RS), reativou a freqüência de 6160 kHz, em 49 metros, um sinal espúrio da estação também tem sido ouvido na freqüência de 4860 kHz. A mistura de sinais foi notada pelo Édison Bocorny Júnior, em Novo Hamburgo (RS), e também por ouvintes na Argentina e Europa. BRASIL – Após algumas semanas fora do ar, a Rádio Imaculada Conceição, de Campo Grande (MS), voltou a ser ouvida em 4755 kHz. A emissora católica foi monitorada, em Capão da Canoa (RS), em 19 de setembro, pelo Édison Bocorny Júnior. BRASIL – Em Pontes e Lacerda (MT), José Moacir Portera de Melo tem captado, desde 13 de setembro, a Rádio Capital, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), em 6070 kHz, em 49 metros, emitindo programação religiosa da Igreja Pentecostal Deus é Amor. De acordo com ele, ao que tudo indica, a programação é feita no próprio Rio de Janeiro (RJ) e não em cadeia com a Voz da Libertação do missionário David Miranda, que é produzida em São Paulo (SP). BRASIL – Apesar de anunciar durante vários momentos do dia que transmite em 11785 kHz, a Rádio Guaíba, de Porto Alegre (RS), continua fora do ar em tal canal de ondas curtas. O anúncio é feito pelo experiente locutor Rui Strelow. Já o locutor do Correspondente Guaíba, Milton Ferretti Jung, permanece sem apresentar o noticiário, após enfrentar problemas de saúde (Célio Romais, Panorama @tividade DX Sept 20 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5778, approximate center of blob, big nasty extremely distorted FMy spur Sept 18 at 0544, wailing preacher, surely David Miranda, and caught mention of program name `A Voz da Libertação`. Still presumed to be badly mistuned 6060 R. Tupi, Curitiba PR, or spur from that. Have yet to see any other reports of this from NAm, but a regular here, and probably equally so earlier in the evening if that be more convenient (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9645.3, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo SP, 2133-2146, 16 Sep, football program; 33442, adjacent QRM. 9665.13, R. Marumby, Florianópolis SC, 1403-1426, 17 Sep, religious propaganda; 24442, co-channel QRM. 9675, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista SP, absent for quite a while, 2126-2206, 16 Sep, religious propaganda prrogram "No Coração da Igreja", songs, advertisements and A Voz do Brasil at 2201; 45433, but distorted modulation. 9695, R. Rio Mar, Manaus AM, 1116-1218, 16 Sep, mass,..., talks; 33443, adjacent QRM de NIGERIA 9690 and deteriorating fast. 9819.8, R. 9 de Julho, São Paulo SP, 2138-2204, 16 Sep, infos in program "Momento Pastoral" followed by A Voz do Brasil at 2200; 44433, adjacent QRM. 11895.96, R. Boa Vontade, Ptº Alegre RS, 2038-2047 (!), 18 Sep, religious propaganda program, song; 15431; blocked by the VoA's carrier preparing for the 2100 broadcast in French Creoule to the Caribbean, and while that the Brazilian sitgnal could still get through though (better on L or USB) with decreased readability (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11735 with Brazilian Portuguese dominating over North Korea for a change, but making lo het with it, Sept 21 at 1401 full Rádio Transmundial ID, giving ZY- callsigns (ze-úpsilon [sic; see below]) for several frequencies including this and one on 50 m, but fading prevented detailed copy, peaking S9+12. 1403 opening program ``Bom Dia, RTM`` tho it`s already 11 am there. Believe it or not, this had much better signal than 250 kW Brasília on 11780, and no other Brazilians audible on 25m at the usual spots. No doubt also the source of the het I was hearing later in a previous day against Zanzibar. Aoki says this is 50 kW at 60 degrees from Santa Maria-Camobi site, 0800-0200 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I'd say it's both RTM 11735 *and* R.Brasil Central 11815 that put the strongest 25 m band signals, and, yes, better than that of the state owned station on 11780 (or 6180v); the only exception might be their R. Senado channel on 5990. By the way, letter y is referred to as either "i grego" or "ípsilon" (not úpsilon). 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Yet another Sackville leapfrog to add to the stable: 6045, Sept 19 at 0522 in Vietnamese, the 6175 VOV relay transmitter saulting over the 6110 transmitter carrying NHK at 0500-0530 only, another 65 kHz downward. The fundamentals were very strong, audiblizing the parasite. There should be another one on 6240 in the other direxion, this one with NHK English audio, but did not notice it. After 0600, of course, 6045 becomes an intentional frequency with KBSWR relay, but then with none others to overleap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6070, no signal from CFRX at 0519 Sept 19; usually VG even in the nightmiddle, and so was Sackville, so suspect off the air. Back, however, at next check 1239, phone conversation about home improvement, aluminum vs vinyl? With fast SAH, presumably North Korean carrier. Interesting to compare signals from Toronto and Sackville only 25 kHz apart, and CFRX wins! Sept 20 at 0605, CFRX 6070 had louder modulation and at least equal signal to KBSWR in Spanish on 6045. CFRX runs 1 kW non-direxional(?), and RCI has 250 kW at 60 degrees to Europe, but normally VG here. Of course, Toronto is considerably closer. CFRX had been missing about 24 hours earlier. It was also still on around 1230 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Peter Anthony Holder on Happy Station: see NETHERLANDS [non] I check the 6 MHz band most days between 0600/0700 UT, and the 250 kW of KBSWR via Sackville 6045 is usually well heard and at good strength. But there is no trace at all of CFRX 6070 or of CKZN on 6160+ at this time. The latter was tentatively heard just one morning when it so happened that their frequency had changed and a het could be heard. When I check for the whereabouts of Gander Oceanic they are usually to be found on 5 MHz frequencies or even lower at this hour. Maybe this is due to my northerly location and Glenn`s in the south? (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CANADIAN BROADCASTING HISTORY WEBSITE http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/ A nice and interesting site with lots of info. on Canadian broadcast outlets (Karl Zuk N2KZ FN31eh, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CHAD. 7120, RD. Nationale Tchadienne, Gredia, 1333-1446, 16 Sep, French, communiqués, vernacular at 1400, talks, tribal tunes, Arabic heard at 1630; 35343. It was observed on 15 Sep sign/off at 2119. Normal operation is simply "normal" by their standards, i.e. silent on one day, audible the next day, and schedule seems to follow suit (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New 7119.97, 1815-1940 17.09, Rdif. Nationale Tchadienne, Gredia Arabic/French comments, 1837 African pop music and more comments. CWQRM 24333. Not heard on 4905 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, from Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with a 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Have been hearing 7120 kHz for a week at least from about 1600 UT, sometimes a bit earlier, past 1730 UT. Today the 18th heard a clear ID at 1700 UT for Radio Chad in Arabic into news at 1700 UT preceded at 1659.30-1700 UT with their drumbeats. SIO 333 some days 444 on Icom R71 with 40m dipole (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Sept 18 via BC-DX Sept 20 via DXLD) 7120 also on air at 1955 UT Sept 18 (wb, ibid.) 7120, 18/9 1837, Radio Dif. Nat. Tchadienne, reports in French, good (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7119.95, RNT, 1910-2001*, Sept 18, Presumed with French talk. Instrumental music. African tribal drum music. Abrupt sign off. Threshold signal at 1910 tune-in, improving to a weak but readable level by 1925 but in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7120, 19/9 1810, R. National Tchadienne, Chad, talks, songs, fair to good (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: Drake R8; Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD 15 m long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7119.95, RNT, 1925-2002*, Sept 19, Presumed with Afro-pop music. French talk. Tribal drums. Abruptly off with Afro-pop music. Weak but readable at tune-in. Improved to a fair level by 1945 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CHILE [non]. DOCUMENTAL RECUERDA EL SONIDO DE “ESCUCHA CHILE” Miles de horas de transmisión hicieron del espacio radial, transmitido desde la capital rusa, un hito histórico y el programa de radio más oído en la dictadura. Volodia Teitelboim y José Miguel Varas fueron claves para su continuidad, que ahora llega al cine. Se escucha la voz de Volodia Teitelboim que sale de una radio a pilas de onda corta con un cable de cobre como antena. El escritor habla del golpe militar ocurrido hace un par de horas, de la muerte de Salvador Allende, de La Moneda en llamas. Se lo imagina, su voz tiembla. Es la noche del 11 de septiembre de 1973. Se oye el inicio de la Canción Nacional. El biógrafo de Pablo Neruda y Vicente Huidobro volverá al día siguiente. Teitelboim estaba en Europa y “Escucha Chile” nació en Radio Moscú -la radio estatal de la ex Unión Soviética-, el día que Augusto Pinochet se tomaba el país. El programa duraría 17 años, y sería escuchado por miles de personas que deseaban comunicarse con sus familiares, que querían saber cómo el mundo reaccionaba ante el desastre político local. El escritor José Miguel Varas llegó a ser su director. Millones de horas de transmisión que hicieron historia, y que ahora reviven en un documental.. . http://www.lanacion.cl/noticias/site/artic/20090916/pags/20090916190643.html (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Evidently this documental is not a radio program itself, but a film, tho never explicitly stated in this article! (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. WORKING AT CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL --- By Keith Perron I have been very fortunate the past 20 years to be working in a field that for me is not just a job but also a passion. And that passion is radio. Since 1993 I’ve had a chance to work in both domestic and shortwave stations in Canada, Cuba, Europe and Asia. And each has been a fascinating experience. The most recent was when I moved to China in February 2001 to take a position at China Radio International. My duties were (1). Host afternoons five days a week from 2 to 5 p.m on CRI’s Domestic Network (2). Create two new weekend shows, one was jazz the other was a world music show, and finally; (3). To create a new programme for distribution overseas for broadcast on local AM and FM stations that was called Real-Time China. Talk about a challenge! When I agreed to work at CRI I told them it was only for one year; well that turned into six years. I also told them that under no circumstances were my programmes to be used for propaganda purposes and that I was to have total creative control over them. To my surprise they agreed. This didn’t mean they didn’t try, but they knew I would walk if they did, so they always backed off. As I was thinking about what to write, I thought I would tell you the kind of schedule I had. My days would begin at 5 a.m and end at 7 p.m five days a week. I know that sounds like a crazy schedule, but this is what happens when you have your hands in so many pots. For six years I think I spent more time in a studio that I did in my apartment. But I have to say, for me this is OK as radio is the only job I ever wanted to do. Working at CRI always had its challenges. The big one was from the censors. I must have spent 99% of my time arguing with them. One area that caused a fight was over Real-Time China, the daily news magazine programme that I created. They wanted me to have the show recorded 48 hours in advance before it was broadcast. How can you do this with a current affairs show, I asked? They told me it had to be done as to make sure the content was PC. But after a few days I found a way to get around this. For six years I gave the censors a show that had already been broadcast and changed the date, - the programme that was transmitted was different. During my live shows on the domestic side in the room next to the studio was a censor who was there to hear everything I said and played to make sure I was PC. After two weeks I realised something was wrong. So during a long piece of music I stepped out the studio for a smoke and started talking to the censor who was there to monitor my show. To my surprise he could not speak or understand English. This led me to all kind of fun after that. I would say hello to my censors on air and ask him how his tea was and wave to him through the studio window and from time to time play a song for him - he would always wave back. Something that I did every year in March during the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress was to play a song for the entire happy communist. I would say something like “It’s that time of year, the communist party is at the Great Hall Of The People for their annual party meeting, so let’s dedicate to all ‘Let’s Get The Party Started’ with Pink”. LOL. No one ever said anything. The vast majority of censors at China Radio International see it as just a way to make money and that’s it, except for a few hardliners who wished the Cultural Revolution had never ended. After I left CRI at the end of 2006 I’ve been working as an independent announcer/producer and freelancer and relocated back to the Republic of China (Taiwan, ROC) where I continue to produce programmes for shortwave like the Happy Station and soon my company will launch a second show. People have asked me if I will ever return to Canada. To be honest I have to say I don’t think this will happen. I have not lived in Canada full time since 1993 and to go back would just be too much of a hassle. Asia is where my life is now; Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan are my homes. I’ve been back to Canada a few times, but the feeling is strange. The last time I went back was in 2007 and I felt like a foreigner in my own country, which is a very strange feeling. Even though my Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese sucks big time, I’ve never felt out of place or have been made to feel like a foreigner. My close friends in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan called me ‘the egg”. Why? White on the outside and yellow on the inside. I know people that might get upset at that because it’s not exactly PC, but who cares? I don’t! I normally reply how do you want me? Sunny side up? Scrambled? Or hard boiled? (Photo) Main CRI building, Beijing http://www.chinaembassy.org.in/eng/mt/jyjs/t61112.htm (Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake scan. Sept. 18. 0145-0200* and *0205, // 13970, 14430 and new 14970. At 0235 heard 13970 and 14430, but not 14970. VOA (via Thailand) on 15150 jammed with just CNR-1 echo programming till 0200* (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Sept 18 at 1313: 8400 fair, 9000 very poor. Firedrake Sept 19: at 1242, very poor on 8400, merely poor on 9000; none heard on 10-11-13-14 MHz channels, but at 1308 came upon FD too on 15425, aside unID weaker carrier hetting from 15427, surely today`s frequency for V. of Tibet via Tashkent, per Aoki at 1300-1330 also 15427 but varying 15422-15429, not to be confused with VOT via Dushanbe on 15412-15422. 15795, Sept 19 at 1303 mixture of Indian music and Chinese talk, i.e. AIR Mandarin service via Bengaluru, and CNR1 jamming, as the ChiCom control freaks will not even allow neighboring India to speak to Chinese people, while CRI has numerous broadcasts in Bengali, English, Hindi, Mandarin and Tamil totally unimpeded to India. The paranoids in Beijing also have no sense of fair play whatsoever, and this also applies to all their international relations, trade and otherwise. Firedrake Sept 20 at 1245, poor on 8400 and 9000. Not only does the CRI relay via CUBA on 9570 in the mornings hash neighboring Australian frequencies 9560 and 9580, but exactly the same kind of noise accompanies no doubt the same dirty transmitter in the evenings when it is on 9580: Sept 20 at 0205 the hash could be heard around 9570 and 9590. In fact, I was not hearing the CRI relay via Albania on 9570 at all, so it`s ChiComs vs ChiComs! Both 9570 and 9580 are in use 0100-0300. Serves the damn jammers right. see also SPAIN Firedrake Sept 21 at 1320: fair on 8400, nothing on 9000. No higher ones heard, tho I keep looking for the new one Ron Howard uncovered, 14970 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 720, CNR-2/China Business Radio, 1327-1344, Sept. 20. Thanks to tips from Walter Salmaniw and John Bryant, was able to hear this on my first attempt. Weak under a US station, but was clearly // 6065 and 6155, with CNR-2/China Business Radio programming in Chinese. Heard before my local sunrise. Per http://www.asiawaves.net/mediumwave-700.htm Alan Davies indicates that “a number of transmitters operate as a synchronized network” here, from “multiple locations”. An earlier check at about 1300 did not find them, so they must have only a brief opening to hear them. Firedrake scan. 0121-0138, Sept. 20. // 14430, 14970 (this new one continues to be heard) and 17470, all against SOH. At 0225; // 13970, 14430, 14970, 15150 and 17470 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1205, Sept. 21. In Vietnamese; Chinese language lesson (learning the Chinese traditional greeting: "Ni Hao" [pronounced: Nee HaOW], etc.); mostly fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. I enclose a Chinese clip (probably in Mandarin?) from 7435 kHz, recorded Sept 18th up to 2330 UT. This appears to be a closedown. I cannot find any matching listings either in the AOKI updated website or anywhere else. Do you have any idea about who this might be? (I will try Alan Davies as well, but he is busy some times of the year and might not be available). Reasonably good Asia-Pacific signals today. I was looking for Beibu Bay Radio on 9820, but all I am getting is CNR2. I have seen 9820 listed as a // to 5050 for Beibu; perhaps that is not correct. Guangxi at least is scheduled for some hours on 9820, do you have any updated info on Baibu-9820? Good DX! Best regards, Geir Stokkeland, Stokkeland, N-6390 Vestnes, Norway, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very strange. I checked 7435 kHz last night at 2300 and there was only VOV. Maybe China by accident on wrong frequency? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Sept 22, Realdx yg via DXLD) Geir, I agree your clip sounds like Mandarin. Vietnam just started a new service on 7435, apparently in response to Beibu Bay Radio, and it seems that China has expanded its usage on that frequency in response. They were already reported clashing at 11-12. I don`t have anything new about 9820 other than the info in Aoki (Glenn to Geir, via DXLD) ** CHINA. 9705, presumed V. of Pujiang, Shanghai, 1210-1232, Sept 18, Mandarin. W announcer with talk; pop-like ballad; M & W announcers at 1220; sounded like "live" speech; ballad at 1228 thru BoH; no discernible ID noted; fair-fading by tune out (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aoki shows this as in Chinese/Amoy, 15 kW, 182 degrees at 1130-1600, but colliding with PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, East Turkistan until 1230 in Kyrgyz, 50 kW, 247 degrees. One of quite a number of listings showing conflicting China broadcasts, but are both of them really on the air? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Dear Listener, Next week, Radio Guangdong will be celebrating the Peoples’ Republic of China’s 60th anniversary. This special newsletter is to draw your attention to this upcoming event and the plans we have in store for our listeners throughout the world. For many years the English service of Radio Guangdong, in collaboration with WRN, has been bringing news and views from this Southern Chinese province to our worldwide audience. The colourful shows features various film stars and celebrities from the region as well as people from outside of China who have decided to make Guangzhou their new home. To highlight the 60th anniversary, WRN will be broadcasting a variety of special mini feature programmes from Radio Guangdong throughout the week of September 26th – October 3rd. These shows will bring you even more of the Cantonese sounds and flavours and will no doubt leave you wanting to know more about this very special place. Catch an opportunity to win an iPod nano and other great prizes during Guangdong week on WRN! Send an e-mail to rg@wrn.org and tell us where you live and what you think about “Guangdong Today”. The broadcast times of “Guangdong Today”: On WRN English for Europe: Saturday 1800 European time / 1700 in Britain and Ireland Saturday 2145 European time / 2045 in Britain and Ireland On WRN to North America: Saturday 1200 Eastern / 0900 Pacific time Sunday 2030 Eastern / 1730 Pacific time On WRN to Africa and Asia Pacific: Saturday 0015 Universal time / 1115 AEDT Saturday 1600 Universal time / 0200 AEDT Saturday 2045 Universal time / 0645 AEDT Sunday 0800 Universal time / 1900 AEDT (WRN Newsletter via DXLD) If these are ``mini-feature programmes``, just how long are they, less than 30 or 15 minutes as implied by above sked? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Comments to Honolulu Star-Bulletin story about new CRI relay: What the heck is Salem thinking! Is money that bad that they have to sell airtime to communist China? A monkey can throw on some nitche music and do better with ratings. There were many other better things that they could have done with the signal Where are the good radio programmers? A dying breed. Open the door for communist propaganda. They might hide it but dont think for a minute that is programming is not regulated by the oppressive murderous Chinese government. Shame on you Salem. Christians? Nope, sellouts! --- Sellout Radio, USA, Sept 4 Jesus, now we got commie propaganda coming in via local radio stations! I admire everything Chinese except for the government, which is an organization of utterly corrupt gangsters, fascists and mass murderers. China Radio International is a mouthpiece of that government. You don't need a degree in international relations to figure that out. What we have here is an American media corporation giving oral secks to the corpses of Mao and Stalin, all in the interest of profit. --- Buddha is my co-pilot, Honolulu, HI I just returned from a trip to several Asian countries and was very impressed with the English-language version of both Al-Jazeera TV and CCTV-9 (from Beijing). It is about time we came out of the dark ages and start to show these different news sources here. If you are interested in government propaganda and lies, read this book: “Official Lies: How Washington Misleads Us” (Hardcover) by James T. Bennett and Thomas J. Dilorenzo. --- KaLahuiHawaii, Honolulu, HI (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 2980, Radio Vida Nueva, 0550-0640, Sept 20, 2nd harmonic of 1490. Spanish religious talk. Spanish religious music. Spanish ballads. Promos, jingles. ID. Poor. Weak but readable. Occasional peaks up to a fair level (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** COLOMBIA. AUDIO HISTORIA DE LA RADIO COLOMBIANA Hola Colegas, Les envío un enlace donde se encuentra un audio sobre la historia de la radio colombiana; fue realizado por un periodista (ahora Senador) llamado Edgar Artunduaga. Él ha trabajado en cadenas como Todelar, Caracol y RCN; hasta el año pasado fue director de Radio Santafé. Además tiene algunas "bien ganadas" emisoras de FM en el Huila, su tierra natal, otorgadas por su defensa a un gobierno colombiano anterior que entró un elefante a la Casa de Nariño; bueno, por lo menos no ha sido la Mano Negra que actualmente reside alli. El material sonoro es único. Buen DX (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Sept 18, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CROATIA. Hello from Croatia! I am Ivan Huziak from Karlovac, Croatia and from 1999 till end in 2002 I was listener of Communications World, a popular weekly Voice of America program about electronic media and international broadcasting by Kim Andrew Elliott. I listen to your show via WRN on Hot Bird satellite, Saturday 0800- 0830 UT. Current Voice of Croatia frequencies are at: http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=186&tx_ttnews[cat]=126&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=18551&tx_ttnews[backPid]=185&cHash=fbd03c307d Translated: http://www.translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.hrt.hr/index.php%3Fid%3D186%26tx_ttnews[cat]%3D126%26tx_ttnews[tt_news]%3D18551%26tx_ttnews[backPid]%3D185%26cHash%3Dfbd03c307d&sl=auto&tl=en&history_state0= Regards, (Ivan Huziak, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. [see USA for disclaimer] 840, CMCW Dobleve, Santa Clara, Villa Clara. 1020-1033 September 21, 2009. Long, echoing phoned report from Honduras (shocker), CMCW ID at 1033. Mixing with another Spanish station, not parallel Progreso and not sure if even Cuba (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. LAS EMISORAS DE NUMEROS. http://www.amontoya.com/blog/?p=53 http://www.amontoya.com/blog/?p=54 (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) General article about them, including how some Atención messages from Cuba were decoded (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. According to http://www.fiu.edu/~/cubanspies4398.html the jamming activity has a code name "Titan," for what it's worth. Not much (Charles Taylor, NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Titán has also been used to refer to one of the RHC transmitter sites (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Glenn, Last night, local WECU-1570 Winterville (NC) was off air. In the mix was Radio Progreso. Before I could log it, I moved (inadvertently) to 1620. Heard Radio Progreso there, too. Positive ID at about 2302 EDT. Logged it as CMBQ4, unknown location. Likewise, positive ID on Radio Progreso-1710. Logged it as CMBQ5, location unknown. Last night was a Cuban night. As I said, I logged 530 as CM53. DCJC station. Doubt that it has a callsign any more than the jammers on 6030. BTW, one morning at VOA Greenville, I was fixin' to tune transmitter GA2 on 9565 for Radio Martí. On Drake R-8000 monitor receiver, several carriers came up on 9565, dead on frequency and then began to bubble (Charles Taylor, NC, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now, about Radio Enciclopedia on 1710 kHz. I am satisfied that this is a transmitter site mixing product. 1710-530=1180 kHz. Go figure. The 1710 mix must not be more than perhaps 25-50 W. Bet 530 is tuned into Radio Rebelde's Bejucal (?) transmitter site (Charles/Chollie Taylor, NC, Sept 18, ibid.) see also UNIDENTIFIED 1710 Also note nightly Radio Enciclopedia Popular on 1710. 530+1180=1710. A mixing product at Bejucal transmitter site (?), La Habana. Maybe 10 - 25 watts (Charles WD4INP Taylor, NC, Sept 21, IRCA via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC 1401 UT Sept 19 on 15360 --- Glenn, Is it my imagination or is RHC running super wide on this frequency today? I was listening to whatever was on 15350 and RHC is killing them. Using my AR-3030 on the narrow position - no help. 73 (Sean Welsh http://www.ve3oz.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sean, I did not notice anything like that when tuning around earlier. Checking at 1456, seems normal. Could be you were benefiting from a `pipeline` out of Cuba and the signals were enhanced? (Glenn to Sean, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes, I have come to the same conclusion. Checking around the 17m and 20m amateur bands, I noticed a few Caribbean stations that were a bit louder than the norm, however this pest on 15360 was at least 7.5 to 10 kc wide on both the 3030 and 7030+. Thanks for taking the time to write back. I caught you e-mail just as I came back in from an assessment as to how to position another antenna that does not favor the south. Regards, (Sean, ibid.) Wonder what you were hearing on 15350? Per Aoki, it`s Gospel for Asia via Wertachtal, which on Saturdays at 1400 is in Yerukala, another language we had never heard of, but the gospel huxters sure have! (gh) ** CUBA. RHC musical frequencies observation Sept 18 at 0531: Spanish on 6060, 6120 and 6140, probably JBA 6000, items on two major obsessions, héroes and béisbol; while English was on 6010 only. For the non-native speaker, I should explain once that ``musical frequencies`` really has nothing to do with music on them. The expression alludes to ``musical chairs``, a game in which a group of people walk around a set of chairs while music is playing --- except there is one more person than chairs, so when the music stops abruptly, they all rush to sit down, bumping hips, and one of them gets no seat or lands on the floor. Thus the match between people and chairs, or languages and frequencies is constantly changing and unpredictable. RHC check at 2050 Sept 18: all in Spanish on 13760, 11800-very distorted and crackly, 11770, 11760, no English on 11760 as allegedly scheduled, and listed // 17660 inaudible. At 2130 noticed that 13790 was also on the air, in Spanish of course. RHC Sept 19 at 0524: 6140, 6120 and 6000 in Spanish; 6060 and 6010 in English translating remarx of Puerto Rican singer Ol`ga Cañón who is in Habana for a Sunday concert at Plaza de la Revolución, on the very same stage previously occupied by Pope John Paul II!! Alex Silva`s English version left something to be desired. He said she said that ``Cuba is open to the world``. Ha ha, please remind the DentroCuban Jamming Command about that! At 1358 noticed RHC echoing on a single frequency, 13720. This is the leapfrog of 13760 over the open carrier on 13740 about to start CRI relay in English; and the echo must have come from extreme overload by the unsynchronized audio from the other transmitter site on 13680 and/or 13780. RHC, UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0558: DXers Unlimited had Arnie Coro with studio-quality audio on his voice for a change! He had previously claimed that he always did it from the studio rather than phoning it in from home, and the degraded audio only on his voice was intentional filtering to make it more intelligible over SW transmission. We found this strange, as none of the other RHC announcers were so lucky. Show was running late, at 0559 Item 4: Ask Arnie in which he gave a superficial explanation of why RHC streamed audio runs behind SW audio on 11770 as monitored in Italy; and propagation, saying that we need solar flux of 80 or 90 to perk up the bands in the daytime. Who can remember when it was typically that high? Sigh. As to frequency usage, it was once again jumbled. I first tuned in to 6140, which was in English this time, but 6060 absent, and English also on 6010. 6120 and much weaker 6000 were in Spanish. At recheck 0604, 6060 was back on as an additional English channel. Sept 20 at 1450 on 13780 announcer was mentioning a special event at 2 pm [1800 UT], on TV and satellite, no doubt the big concert for peace in Habana, but if also on SW, I was too late to catch details of that. Any Esperanto this week? No, that minority language continues to be even more expendable than Guarani or English, as 11760 was still in RHC Spanish at 1502 and 1522, now in the secret midday SW service // weak 13760, and 13780 was still on with big open carrier. At 1539, 11760 still modulating // ever-distorted 11800 but 13760 was OC, and // 11690 JBA under RTTY an echo apart from 11760. By 1548, 11690 had switched to Aló, Presidente from VENEZUELA, q.v. for more about that. At 1551, 13760 was modulating RHC again // 11760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA [non] 11760, UNIDENTIFIED at 2216-2245, Spanish, Heard live concert recording. All music was in Spanish. Later, OM announcer. Couldn't get a station ID. Most likely R. Habana Cuba. This is their frequency but it's not listed in AoKi. RHC is notorious for playing "horario musicales" (musical schedules). Possibly could be R. Rebelde who also uses 11760. G signal with little QRN. RECHECK at 2336 and Sta was off air. NEWSFLASH! This just in from Glenn Hauser's log: ``Sept 20 at 1450 on 13780 announcer was mentioning a special event at 2 pm [1800 UT], on TV and satellite, no doubt the big concert for peace in Habana, but if also on SW, I was too late to catch details of that.`` Thanks Glenn, this is definitely what I heard. Btw, it was a great concert. I've listed two resources about the event below. Euronews: http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/20/havana-hosts-huge-concert-for-peace/ BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8265177.stm Thanks Glenn, I was pretty positive that this was RHC and also that it was something real special. For one, there was a good amount of musical variety. References were made by both performers and announcers to Cubano, Italiano, Portugal, Habana Cuba, and Porto Rico. I was about to do some internet research when I decided to check your logs first. Where better to start a DXing inquiry than with GH! (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas, NV USA, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor, ABDX via DXLD) Tnx, Richard. Despite Aoki listings, RHC normally runs until 2300, not 2200 on 11760, and R. Rebelde has not been on any SW frequency except 5025 for years. I was listening to R. Martí`s report about the concert after 1300 Sept 22, giving the impression that opposition elements were involved in it. On Sunday afternoon it must have been really live, not a recording (gh, DXLD) RHC is sometimes JBA on 17660, but Sept 21 before and after 2100 it was very good in Spanish instead of scheduled English. RHC leads the way with another groundbreaking innovation: three transmitters within 10 kHz! Sept 22 at 0547 I found 6060 missing, but instead on new 6006 in English, big signal like // 6010 and of course making a big het unless you tuned to one side or the other. Furthermore, much weaker RHC Spanish was still on 6000. 6006 must be punch-up transposition error instead of 6060 and apparently also from same site on 6006 and 6010 as they were exactly synchronized. English also on 6140, Spanish also on 6120. If RHC stix to 6006 it will be bad news for BBCWS in English and its would-be listeners, 0300-0700 via Ascension, also 0200-0300 via Seychelles, per Aoki. Noel Green in England also heard Habana on 6006, hetting BBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Habana Cuba noted today (Sept. 22) in English on 6006 // 6010 and 6140 and causing a severe heterodyne with BBC ASC 6005. There was no transmission audible on 6060, and so it seems fairly obvious what has occurred! I could still hear the het at 0800 when German station Radio700 was using 6005 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC English hours have been extended, past scheduled 0700* to North America, heard on 6060 as late as 0852 one day 0930 the next. May be targeting Africa as asking for reports from there. Argentina also comes on 6060 at 0900 (Bryan Clark, Mangawai, Northland, RNZI Mailbox Sept 21, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, English has been running way past 0700 on this and other 49m channels. RHC has also been reported about to start an African service with new antenna, but as usual nothing specific announced about any such broadcasts. Wonder how late 6 MHz holds up in Africa from Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. Hello DXers, BBC Arabic just announced that they have a break down at their MW transmitter (500 kW) located in Cyprus for the MW frequency 720 covering the eastern Mediterranean. First announcement was around 1320 UT. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319, 18/9 1930 AFRTS, reports, weak, USB (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whenever you hear AFRTS on 4319 (or 12579?), take a moment from your elation at catching this exotic remote island and the possibility of a QSL, to think of the plight of the Chagosians who were unjustly expelled from their homes in order to accommodate the strategic USAF base. Their story is covered in a current Book TV hour on CSPAN-2, final repeat this weekend at 0900-1000 UT Monday Sept 21. Should have live webcast, but ondemand not (yet?) available. Details: http://www.booktv.org/Program/10554/Island+of+Shame+The+Secret+History+of+the+US+Military+Base+on+Diego+Garcia.aspx ISLAND OF SHAME: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE U.S. MILITARY BASE ON DIEGO GARCIA David Vine talks about the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and the 2000 residents of the island who were forcibly exiled from there by the Americans and the British in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Diego Garcia is a launch pad for aircraft used in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Professor Vine spoke at Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco. David Vine is a professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. For more, visit: http://davidvine.net. Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Author said ALL proceeds from book go to assist the Chagosians` legal efforts to regain homeland ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Re August 4 report of R. Cristal on 5010: Hola Apreciado Dino. Estuvimos haciendo algunos ajustes en el transmisor; a mediado de agosto el oscilador sufrió la quema de tres resistencias por una descarga eléctrica y nos dejó fuera. Espero que nos lleguen en esta semana. Te estaré avisando. Saludos Cordiales, Dario Badia (Dario Badia: Owner and General Manager, Radio Cristal Internacional) Via: Dino Bloise, Frecuencia Al Día, Miami, FL, USA, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess this implies they were on the air until mid-August. Usual schedule, I thought was signing off around 2400 UT, tho, right Dino? (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3280, La Voz del Napo (Tena), 0951-0959, 9/22/2009, Spanish. Local music with talk by woman between selections. Poor signal with fading (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, E1, Attic Mounted 90' Random Wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB, Pifo. *1858-1910+ September 19, 2009. A check around 1845 had a weak carrier only here, apparently HCJB warming up, then a big signal with audio and full power up at 1858, with Spanish gospel program in progress and concluding, Spanish ID and HCJB time sounders at 1900, into another Spanish preacher. Excellent level on the Sony 2010 with 200-foot random wire. Audio was threshold on Krueger’s barefoot ICF-7600GR and Bishop’s Kaito KA1103. [Mullet Key] (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9360, R. Cairo, Abu Zaabal, 0004-0016, Sept. 19, Arabic. M announcer with news; W announcer with disco-like music intro at 0009; talk & music bits; fair-good with 9370-WTJC slop (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Cairo, 7540, with 100% readable signal!!! UT Sunday Sept 20 at 0220, American-accented YL with news of Africa, good modulation. RC`s newscasts start at :15 past the hour, when else? 0223 ID in passing, repeating headlines, mentioned it was the ``west coast service`` on 7535. The 0200-0330 broadcast may be a `west coast service` in the sense that it is at a more convenient prime time in PDT, 7-8:30 pm and is the second of two English sesquihours to NAm, after 2300-2430 on 11590, but the 11590 is really the one aimed at the WC, 330 degrees, while 7540 is aimed at the east coast, 315 degrees. Furthermore, 11590 is for CIRAF targets 6 and 7, i.e. W and C USA, while 7540 is at 7-9, i.e. C & E USA plus Maritime Provinces. Either the listings or the transmissions are reversed, opposite of what they ought to be! And she still hasn`t heard about the shift to 7540 made months ago to avoid Romania on 7535 before 0200! She spoke quite informally, asking for reports evaluating whether listeners could barely hear her or not. Also now is the time to make suggestions about new program subjects, as changes are made in December (not January?) and July. Address given as P O Box 550, Cairo, and `zip code 11511`. Another hint that she is an American, as the term ZIP code properly applies only to American postal codes, originally standing for Zone Improvement Program. Need to recheck the box announcement as PWBR `2009` mentions two others, and WRTH mentions one other, but they agree on the postal code. Careful to write EGYPT in large letters, as otherwise your p-mail may wind up in the DLO on Long Island, where it is apparently not a valid US ZIP code. 0225 on to press review, 0231 YL pop music singer in Arabic, 0239 another talk feature. Reception weakened somewhat and next program at 0301 was ``--- in Egypt``. Meanwhile, Arabic service on 6290 remained stronger but as usual, heavily distorted, not assisted by the speaker yelling at 0234 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Egypt, regularly heard until 0700z here in Europe (6290 kHz, 1900- 0700, ERTU General Service in Arabic to Europe) can also be heard a bit weaker on the first harmonic 12580 with reasonable modulation and signal. Best regards (Tobias, Germany, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. x 2 = second harmonic Today we had here in eastern Germany again a nice, almost summer-like day, perhaps the last one for this year. Thus I took the opportunity and went out to the meadowland with the radio, wondering how much time has passed since I did this the last time before. Here are the results: [starting with] Radio Cairo in Arabic after 1500 on 15080 was a badly FM-ing signal. I first believed it to be a spur and searched in vain for the fundamental. And what was this on 15255, at 1510 monotonous talk from a studio room with quite a lot of reverb, followed by a song, then some talk by two gentleman recorded with a reporter kit (lots of mic handling noises) but not appearing to be a real interview? Eibi lists this as Radio Cairo in Albanian (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. EGYPTIAN RADIO AND TELEVISION UNION BOOSTS AM RADIO SIGNALS WITH NEW THOMSON DRM TRANSMITTERS FROM GRASS VALLEY Amsterdam, The Netherlands (IBC — Stand 1.D11), September 10, 2009 — The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) has placed an order with Grass Valley™ for two Thomson TMW 2050D 50 kW medium-wave digital transmitters and complementary antenna systems to upgrade its existing AM radio broadcast network and ensure reliable regional coverage. The new Thomson DRM transmitters and antenna systems, which are now being installed in Cairo, Egypt, will be on the air in October 2009, with Grass Valley engineers providing complete design, installation, commissioning and training services. The installation required a special antenna design due to limited space available. ERTU has used Thomson transmission technology since 1969. "Grass Valley is committed to advancing DRM technology for AM and FM radio providers by continuing to invest considerable resources in the future of radio broadcast technology," Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of Grass Valley. "Broadcasters like ERTU will see significant improvements in their terrestrial service by using our latest generation of radio transmitters and antennas and that's why we continue to sell many such systems around the world." By installing the new technology, ERTU will realize a significant reduction in operational and maintenance costs, thanks to the Thomson systems' innovative design and configuration of its internal system components. Thomson antennas provide high-efficiency to ensure that programs arrive at the given coverage area with the lowest possible energy consumption at the broadcasting site (Press Release via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) WTFK? Are ERTU REALLY going to run these in DRM, in a land where there are close to ZERO DRM receivers? Or are the transmitters merely DRM- capable and can really be run indefinitely in ancient analog --- still an improvement over the old ones, if the status of ERTU`s SW transmitters be any guide? (gh, DXLD) I'm 100 % positive that it ain't DRM transmissions; my guess is that these transmitters will be located either in upper Egypt as the listeners there used to complain about not receiving the ERTU networks in the clear, or in Sinai closer to the borders of Israel as the problem exists there. But as you said, Glenn, mainly the media is leaning on FM in Cairo and the main cities here, but apart from these areas the FM coverage is very poor so MW is the only option. DRM is out of the picture completely as no one in Egypt would pay such huge amount of money - compared to the salaries - to tune in to local radio stations, provided that ERTU is really thinking of using DRM which I really doubt. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wouldn't surprise me, Glenn. I recently went to the Uganda Broad. Corp website and saw info about how they've installed new digital studios etc and the same thought crossed my mind, "FM is just taking off in Uganda. How many people there have DRM receivers?" (David Sharp, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Continued under DIGITAL BROADCASTING Hello DXers, while being in Cairo for a short visit , I noticed a new FM station testing on 92.7 MHz, around 0700 UT playing nonstop traditional Arabic music. sounds like Cairo will be having a new FM station soon. ERTU did the same pattern of playing nonstop traditional Arabic music while testing on 88.7 MHz, before launching Radio Masr (Radio Egypt), the latest FM station in Cairo. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Sept 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, *0458-0520, Sept 18, sign on with Afro-pop music. Spanish announcements. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 5005, R Bata heard from 0502 tune with nice S3 signal - local dance music, some C&W and occasional man in Spanish. Signal faded almost instantaneously between 0530-31 in the middle of a C&W vocal - might have been transmitter problem as this station has been heard fairly well until 0600 as of late - R Bata has an unstable transmitter on many nights with unpredictable sig levels. SINPO 34333 with QRM from WWV/WWVH, but overall one of the best nights for R Bata - until 0530. To minimize the WWV QRM, I used the Perseus filter offset by shifting the 3.8 kHz filter width up by 0.4 kHz (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, UT Sept 18, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa, Sept 18 at 2044 comparing to VON 15120 [see NIGERIA]: 15190 S9+18, gospel music louder than 15120, prayer in African accent now undermodulated with rumble; 2045 greetings from another preacher with American accent who did not identify himself, nor was there any introduxion, which apparently he was expecting the affiliate to make, far beyond the capabilities of this one. 2128 gospel music, very distorted now, as Panamerican Broadcasting has no requirements at all for minimum technical standards from its clients (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** 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) The Voice of Eritrea program archives on the Maihabar.org web site are the same program as noted via R. Ethiopia 7165 kHz on Saturday, 9/19 at 0400-0430 UT. ID "Ezi Dimtsi Eritrea" (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. CLANDESTINE (?), 7165, Voice of Peace & Democracy of Eritrea or R. Ethiopia?, Geja Jawe, 1455-1611, 19 Sep, vernacular, talks & music, announcements (+ID?) at 1500, jammer after approx. 1610; 35322 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6890, Radio Fana, *0255-0310, Sept 18, sign on with IS. Opening ID announcements at 0300 & vernacular talk. Horn of Africa music at 0305. // 6110 - both frequencies fair. 6890, Radio Fana, 2005-2101*, Sept 19, Horn of Africa music. Tribal chants. Short ID announcement at 2101 and off. Weak in noisy conditions. Better on // 6110 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6890, Radio Fana, 2040-2101*, Sept 18, Euro-pop music. Vernacular talk. ID at 2101 & off. Weak. Slightly stronger on // 6110 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7110, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1609-1630, 19 Sep, vernacular, talks, HoA music & songs; 35433; \\ 9704.2 (worse) under QRM. 7175, R. Xornimo (=Freedom)?, Addis Ababa, 1547-1600, 17 Sep, somali (?), talks; jammer at 1600; 45343 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7165.04v, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitter, *0358-0431*, Sept 18, sign on with Horn of Africa music. Opening ID announcements at 0400 & talk in listed Tigrinya. Some Horn of Africa music. Fair but slowly drifted up to 7165.21 by sign off. This frequency is usually stable. Listed // 9560 not heard. Mon, Wed, Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) Sep 17 UT afternoon this channel of R Ethiopia was around 7165.30 with slow drift upwards. Listed 9560 was off. On Sep 18 at 1700 UT R Ethiopia was noted on 7165.0 and around 9559.3 so it seems they switch the available transmitters at GJW (R Ethiopia HS/FS, VOTR, Fana, etc.) to suit the necessary jamming purposes when required (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 19 SEP 2009, 7165, Radio Ethiopia, Geja Jawe; 1321z slow guitar strumming with vocals, talk by M in E African language. Fair at times, slow fades, still in 1503z with announcements by W in English. African language, brief reggae-type filler music, then by M in language, Sept 19 (Steven C. Wiseblood, Brownsville TX, (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach, GULF of MEXICO), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9559.6. R. Ethiopia external service, Geja Jawe, 1211-1225, 21 Sep, Somali (presumed), local folk music, talks; 25332. 9704.2, R. Ethiopia home service, Geja Dera, 1152-1227, 21 Sep, vernacular, local pops; 24332, adjacent QRM de NIGER 9705. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.182, Radio Ethiopia. 2037-2100* September 21, 2009. Pop-ish Ethiopian vocals with that nice Horn of Africa touch, presumed Amharic male announcer from 2057, vocal anthem 2059. Noting making it on any possible parallels. Clear and good. No trace of the oft-reported Niger on 9705 variable (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. WR INTERNATIONAL Up and running --- Just to let you know that WR International is on air as usual this morning at 12257 kHz until 12:00 UK time. Until 08:00 BST a computer playout system is in use, live output is from 08:00 BST until 12:00 BST. [0700-1100 UT] Also on the internet with the radio Destiny system in stereo visit our web site for details http://www.wrinternational.co.uk you can also listen via shoutcast search for WR International at shoutcast.com or the url is http://radio.wrinternational.co.uk:8003 You can contact us during our transmission at radio @ wrinternational.co.uk or sms text message to +447539441912. Happy listening if you choose to, have a good day (Dave, WR International, Sept 19, bclenws.it yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. PIRATES. 6870, Playback International, 0000-0010, Sept 20, IDs at 0001 and 0005. Pop music. Very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7550.54, Radio Amica, 2340-2400, Sept 19, Euro-pop music. Techno-pop dance music. Italian ID announcement at 2348. Weak but readable. Occasional peaks up to a fair level (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** FRANCE. RFI Spanish service, 17630 via GUIANA FRENCH, Sept 18 at 2059 music already on, timesignal approx. 9 sex late! Timecheck as 11 pm, into news; so apparently not on strike today. I hope no one`s job is to manually produce a timesignal as that`s one thing better automated, tho still imperfect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** 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, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and in advance on the dxldyg ** GERMANY. Re CVC closing down Jülich at end of A-09 season: Was heisst denn "ziehen sich zurueck" genau? Meines Wissens sind die nicht Mieter, sondern haben in einem Anflug von Groessenwahn den ganzen Krempel von damals noch T-Systems gekauft. Selber genutzt haben sie die Anlage kaum, das ganze "operative Doing", wie es so schoen im Managersprech heisst, wurde ja weiterhin von T- Systems oder diesem Mediadingenskirchen-Nachfolger gemacht, die die Anlage weiterhin an Bruder Treppe oder die Volksfront von Judaea vermieten. Gruende seien finanziell und die veraenderte Nutzung der Medien durch die Verbraucher. - Faellt denen aber frueh auf (Martin-Elbe, Germany, http://home.wolfsburg.de/elbe/ (A-DX Sept 17 via BC-DX Sept 20 via DXLD) Kai in dxld: "There are still Wertachtal and Nauen, and if both sites run out of capacity (something that indeed happens at peak hours) there are still Issoudun and Fontbonne, run by companies of the group Media Broadcast belongs to now." Ja so wird es sein, die 18 Sendestunden taeglich werden sorgfaeltig auf Nauen, Wertachtal und Issoudun verteilt werden koennen. CVC hatte ja nur 10 Stunden Richtung russisches Asien und Ukraine belegt (Wolfgang Büschel, A-DX Sept 17, ibid.) ``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 Sosedkin- USA, dxld Sept 17)`` And Sergei indeed asks the right question: The end of the A09 season is not at yearend but already in less than five weeks. CVC took over at Juelich only on New Year's Day 2008. And I understand that the deal is different from Darwin and Calera de Tango in as far as the actual operation was still done by Media Broadcast. I fear that the most likely scenario is now a complete demolition of the station. This would have happened anyway without the CVC deal which in fact was a rescue action. If it now really happens: It could be that Media Broadcast takes away the transmitters for spare parts, as they already did at Zeewolde (Flevoland). The background of all this is DW's retreat. They pulled out of Juelich already in 1996, and it was understood that this would be the end of the site. Instead it survived by selling airtime to other customers. Now Wertachtal and Nauen had to survive the very same way. And selling enough airtime to keep all three sites was just impossible. Don't be concerned. There are still Wertachtal and Nauen, and if both sites run out of capacity (something that indeed happens at peak hours) there are still Issoudun and Fontbonne, run by companies of the group Media Broadcast belongs to now. Maybe the original Juelich know- how could soon be needed to save Issoudun as well (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 17, dxldyg via BC-DX Sept 20 via DXLD) The current doorplate of the station: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rundfunksendeanstalt_J%C3%BClich_-_Christian_Vison_(7629).jpg Nice view of this place (the entrance is at the tip of the southern curtain leg): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12191778 More curtain glory: http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/6020813 http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/829119 Station visit in 2002: http://www.darc.de/distrikte/g/50/juelich2002.html Another view of the transmitter hall (from which three or four transmitters had been removed before handing the site over to Christian Vision), at the far end on both walls two plate-modulated transmitters from 1968 that had been left while all other rigs had been removed to make way for ten new PDM transmitters after 1985: http://www.deutsches-drm-forum.de/Juelich.jpg (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) or looking at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzwellenzentrum_Jülich (Peter Kruse, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. A "Snapshot" of Deutsche Welle reception in Northern Australia. I have just spent a week in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia on holiday. While there, I had a listen to your transmissions to Oceania and the results are attached. Your transmissions were at convenient times to listen, mostly 0600- 0800 am and 0600-0800 pm local time. At times reception from Trincomalee and Kigali was very impressive, much stronger than I ever here back in New Zealand. Conversely, reception from Bonaire was not as good as in New Zealand which is to be expected. Sept 11-16, DWL German service. 9855 kHz via Bonaire-ATN, 0800 / 0855 UT. Sinpo 45333. 15650 kHz via Trincomalee-CLN, 0800 / 0900 / 0955 UT. 55434 to 55444. 5905 kHz via Bonaire-ATN, 0900 / 0955 UT. 35332-3. 7330 kHz via Trincomalee-CLN, 2000 / 2100 / 2150 UT. 3-44333 to 55444. China Radio International is very strong + and -5 kHz until around 2155 UT some days, other days it is not heard at all. 9875 kHz via Kigali-RRW, 2000 / 2100 / 2155 UT. 15231 / 55444 / 55434. 5955 kHz via Trincomalee-CLN, 2300 / 2350 UT. 15221 / Not heard English Service 17525 via Komsomolsk-RUS. 0000 / 0055 UT. 25231-2 (Barry Hartley, Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 18 via DXLD) Deutsche Welle in Russian, at 1450 on 11915 (Woofferton), with German lessons referring prominently to Cologne, making me suspect that this is in fact old stuff from their Cologne days, who knows when recorded and how many times repeated since. The studio audio had way too much reverb, a problem that was not unknown for DW's Cologne promises. In the studio I saw they had put up additional acoustic walls to get rid of the problem. And after 1530 I noted DW in German on 17840 with a programme about literature, via Sines and aiming at the Middle East. Not just a second ahead of 6075 (I guess taken directly off Hotbird, as opposed to additional VTC-internal distribution for Rampisham) but also considerably better here (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15700 at 1413 Sept 21, DW jingle and Russian ID under open carrier making 2 Hz SAH. Most likely explanation is that Bulgaria failed to drop carrier immediately at usual handover time 1400. Its programming is just taking a one hour break before resuming in Bulgarian at 1500; perhaps in Plovdiv they don`t see the necessity of closing down completely for DW to squeeze in its Russian hour on same via Woofferton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. A MEDIUM WAVE PILGRIMAGE TO CENTRAL EUROPE Our summer tour this August was to Berlin and Copenhagen, with some more cities and castles in between, and a trip to Southern Sweden (Malmö, Lund, a Viking village and a couple of coastal resorts) just to say we have been up there! As far as radio is concerned, my idea was to check what is still audible on medium waves, after so many station closures and power lowerings. I wasn't interested in real bandscans, but I just jotted down which stations were automatically tuned in by the Sony/Ford 6000 CD. After all, this is the way “ordinary” people use their car radios, just pressing the “up” and “down” buttons and listening to the stations which come out. The findings were grim. In Munich it was just on3radio on 801 and the two Deutschlandfunk frequencies 153 and 207; going north east to Dresden at times also Luxembourg on 234 and on 270 the Czech Radio, which in Dresden itself came out also on 639, along with MDR Info on 1044, the Voice of Russia on 1431 and still DLF on 153. From Dresden to Berlin it was a unique experience: only long wave stations! DLF 153, Czech Radio 270 and Poland 225, which from there onwards became a trustworthy travelling companion. Around the Grafenwöhr Training Area AFN popped up on 1107 (Vilseck), and also at times there was the Voice of Russia on 1323. Once so rich of MW signals, Berlin had just the Voice of Russia on 693, a DRM signal from DLF on 855 and Deutschlandradio on two frequencies, 177 and 990 – but, a bad sign of the times, neither was mentioned on top of the former RIAS building in Hans-Rosenthal-Platz, but only 89.6 and 97.7 (which is DLF). The RIAS emblem is still there. Small FM note: both BBC World Service on 90.2 and NPR Worldwide on 104.1 have very good coverage areas, about 100 km around Berlin the former, and 60 km the latter. Another sign of the times: I heard the Voice of Russia on 693 on a Saturday morning to 0900 GMT with “A Christian message from Moscow” - not so common prior to 1989 on Radio Moscow! Photo: The former RIAS, now Deutschlandradio Kultur, building in Hans- Rosenthal-Platz, Berlin. [It seems all the photos are original by the author and not available elsewhere than in the original BDXC article] In the Copenhagen area and in Southern Sweden, one could count on 177 and 225 (in some places only Poland!), while 1062 from Denmark and 1179 from Sweden were very good, but not always on the air. Moving west to Nyborg, three signals added to these, NDR Info on 702, the DRM test from Kalundborg on 243 and yes, the BBC on 198. And we went back to Germany, with 702 from Flensburg and DLF 1269 from Neumünster, and still DLR 177: in Italy this frequency is rather difficult, and I was surprised at such good coverage. The 6000 CD scanner stopped on DLR even though this radio, as you may know, doesn't tune 1 kHz steps on LW/MW, so 177 must actually be heard on 180 kHz. And at the hotel in Lübeck it was the only LW signal to push its way through the usual electrical noise. By the way, in Lübeck a hi-fi shop had for sale a magnificent Grundig Satellit 1400 Professional, identical to mine! Around Kassel, after enjoying the British Forces Broadcasting Service for 300 km from Hamburg (BFBS 1 on 97.6 from Visselhövede then 93 from Braunschweig, with a BFBS 2 on 95.2 from Fallingbostel), it was time...to change Army, and the American Forces Network came out on 873, there were also DLF on three frequencies (207, 549 and the ubiquitous 153), Voice of Russia on 1323, France Inter on 162 and hr- info on 594 (which, if DX reports are right, I won't find next time I get there). Photo right: The famous Funkturm in Western Berlin, near the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg offices and studios, from where the first German broadcast was aired. Wikipedia states that the Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Radio Tower Berlin) is a transmitting tower in Berlin, built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad") and is one of the best-known points of interest in the city of Berlin. It stands in the Berlin trade fair ground in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. On September 3, 1926, the radio tower was inaugurated on the occasion of the third Große Deutsche Funkausstellung (Great German Radio Exhibition). The tower is now a protected monument, with restaurant and observation platform. The tower is built as one large steel framework construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower. The 150 m high and approximately 600 metric ton radio tower was originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m, and observation deck at a height of approximately 125 m. The radio tower is probably the only observation tower in the world standing on porcelain insulators. It was designed as the support tower for a T-antenna for medium wave, and the insulators were intended to prevent the drain of the transmitting power down through the tower itself. However, this was impractical, because visitors would have been vulnerable to massive electric shocks, so the tower was later grounded via its elevator shaft. On 22 March 1935 the first regular television programme in the world was broadcast from an aerial on the top of the tower. Since 1973, the radio tower has been used as relay station for amateur radio, police radio, and mobile phone services. The last complete renovation took place 1987 in honour of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin (SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REPORT with Stefano Valianti, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GLORIOSO ISLAND. [Re 9-071:] FT/G, GLORIOSO ISLAND (Update). The FT5GA team is now active. The team had some antenna problems at first due to windy weather conditions and a faulty contact on a WARC Spiderbeam (which was fixed). Indications seem that all three stations are now on the air. Most stateside stations report that the FT5GA signals are very weak and propagation is not helping. Activity has been on all bands and the CW/SSB modes with some RTTY. Operations will last until October 5th, per the Web page at: http://glorieuses20 08.free.fr Bob, N6TV, has reportedly put on his Web site some propagation tables (by bands and area) calculated by Dean, N6BV, and they are available at: http://www.kkn.net/~n6tv/ft5ga_prop.pdf QSL Manager is F5OGL: Didier Senmartin, P.O. Box 7, F-53320 LOIRON, FRANCE. Online log is available at: http://www.clublog.org/charts/?c=FT5GA (The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 926, September 21, 2009, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) Asunto: [RGSUR] GLORIOSO: FUERTE EN 80 metros --- Anoche SABADO hasta un rato antes de la medianoche LU fue una muy grata sorpresa escuchar 5-9 en SSB a FT5GA. La expedición desde la Isla Glorioso llamaba en 3775 y escuchaba en 3805 con pocas estaciones sudamericanas respondiendo. Para quienes trabajan con potencia resultó muy cómodo hacer el QSO. En mi caso sin potencia me costó porque no entendía la última letra de mi indicativo y por esa razón casi lo pierdo, hasta que finalmente dijo YANKE (esperemos el log on line). Entre las 2310 y las 2345 LU [0210-0245 UT Sept 20] insistió con SUDAMERICA y después se fue perdiendo cuando en Glorioso comenzó a salir el sol. Hoy seguro volverá a estar. Aquellos que optaron anoche por ir al cine o salir a cenar SE LO PERDIERON, pero hoy tendrán revancha. ESA ES LA HORA para SUDAMERICA EN 80 (Carlos Almiron, LU7DSY, bbdxgroup, 20 Sept, via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 12.9 1956, Tasiilaq with KNR-relay. USB. Closedown at 2110 so it seems the use summertime and the automatic start up of the transmitter is a few minutes fast. The station is definitely ca. 20 Hz below nominal frequency. O=1-2 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 20, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. -Conakry, 7125, R. Guinée, Sonfonya, 2119-, 17 Sep, vernacular, talks; 35343, but very weak modulation. 7125 ditto, 0945-1545, 18 Sep, vernacular, talks, folk tunes, African pops program in progress at 1520; 35443; extremely weak modulation. The signal is really nice, I mean the carrier, but its content leaves a lot to be desired - I don't know how on earth why they don't fix it (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. Comments on KHCM 880 with CRI relay: see CHINA [non] ** HONDURAS. 3250, Radio Luz y Vida, San Luis, 1106 "Radio Luz y Vida, Muy Buenos Días`` into long instrumental version of National Anthem, 12 September (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, US, Icom 746Pro DL [Modified by Dallas Lankford], Noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Things are heating up again, with the return of Zelaya to the Brazilian embassy, so how about some hot news direct from the country? Ha! 3250, presumed Radio Luz y Vida, just playing music around 1140 Sept 22. The gospel huxters probably want to stay out of the fray, and never dealt with real-world news anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 1386.00, AIR-Gwalior, 1247 [Sept 18?], competing with co- channel NZ and a few other stations, but generally dominating with Indian film music and talk by a man in lang. Very good on peaks, hard to believe listed 20vkW transmitter power, sounds much stronger (David Sharp, NSW Australia, Sept 19, NRD-535D +other receivers, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4760, 19.9 1700, Two unIDs with identical programmes. Didn't get ID for the station with closedown at 1700 but in ID “you are tuned to …”, probably AIR Leh with cd. A weaker station continued for some time more, maybe AIR Port Blair. Unfortunately I couldn't find any schedules on the Internet (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 20, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio special transmission for "Mahalaya" was noted on following channels: Date : 18th Sept, 2009 [sic! it was 17 Sept UT] Time : 2230-2335 UT SW 4760 - Port Blair 4820 - Kolkata (co-channel PBS Xizang) 4835 - Gangtok 4880 - Lucknow 4895 - Kurseong 4940 - Guwahati MW 603 - Ajmer 621 - Patna A 648 - Indore A 657 - Kolkata A 666 - New Delhi B 675 - Chattarpur 711 - Siliguri 729 - Guwahati A 747 - Lucknow A 756 - Jagdalpur 801 - Jabalpur 810 - Rajkot A 819 - New Delhi A 846 - Ahmedabad A 909 - Gorakhpur 918 - Suratgarh 954 - Nazibabad 981 - Raipur 1008 - Kolkata B 1026 - Allahabad A 1044 - Mumbai A 1125 - Tezpur 1242 - Varanasi 1260 - Ambikapur 1314 - Bhuj 1386 - Gwalior 1395 - Bikaner 1404 - Gangtok 1476 - Jaipur A 1584 - Mathura 1593 - Bhopal A Arun Ray, VU3ORN informs that private FM channel Big FM was also carrying this special transmission on 92.7 MHz. ---- (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) India celebrating Mahalaya --- Dear Glenn, Quite a few Indian stations signed on early at 0400 am Indian Standard Time last night and celebrated the Mahalaya with recitations in Sanskrit. I tuned in and heard the following early birds: 4760, AIR Port Blair, 2250-0015 (fade out as usual), Sep 17-18, Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc. until 2359, then own programme of songs, 25232. 4810, AIR Bhopal, *2255-0030, Sep 17-18, Urdu (?) ann, Vande Mataram hymn, ID "Akashvani", string music and songs, special early morning programme, but not // 4940 etc., 45343. 4820, AIR Kolkata, 2240-2359, Sep 17, Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc. Continued 0000-0030, Sep 18, with own programme of talks, advs and songs in Bengali (?). QRM Xizang PBS, 32332. 4835, AIR Gangtok, *2228-2355, Sep 17, Hindi ann, Vande Mataram hymn, ID: "Akashvani", ann 2229 Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc., 25232. [SIKKIM and q.v.] 4880, AIR Lucknow, 2258-2359, Sep 17, Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc. Continued 0000-0030, Sep 18, with own programme of songs, 35343. 4895, AIR Kurseong, 2350-2359, Sep 17, Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc., QRM Mongolia, 34433. 4910, AIR Jaipur, 2300-2359, Sep 17, Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit // 4940 etc. Continued 0000-0030, Sep 18, with own programme of string music and choir songs, 35343. 4940 AIR Guwahati, *2227-2359, Sep 17, Hindi ann, Vande Mataram hymn, ID: "Akashvani", 2229 Mahalaya special programme in Sanskrit with singing recitations by man, woman and choir and string music heard // 4760, 4810, 4820, 4835 and 4880. Continued 0000-0030, Sep 18, Own programme of songs, 35433. 4950, R Kashmir, Srinagar, 2305-0040, Sep 17-18, Own early Mahalaya special programme in Kashmiri (presumed) with singing recitations and many talks, 2340 web address, popular songs from Bollywood, heterodyne, 34333. The other AIR stations signed on at ordinary time. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mahalaya program heard in Denmark [another version, summarizing] I also listened in Denmark and heard following AIR SW channels carrying the Mahalaya programme from 2229-2359 UT (0359-0529 IST) this morning: 4760 Port Blair SINPO 25232 4820 Kolkata 32332 4835 Gangtok 25232 4880 Lucknow 35343 4895 Kurseong 34433 4940 Guwahati 35433 But I also heard 4910 Jaipur at 2300-2359 UT with Mahalaya programme // the other six stations. At 2359 they all started local programming. In addition the following stations were heard with early broadcasts: 4810 Bhopal heard from sign on *2255-0030 with a different, local programme of songs and string music, SINPO 45343, not in // with the others. 4950 Srinagar heard 2305-0040 with a different, local programme of recitation, talks, mentioned webaddress, and songs sounding more in a Bollywood style, SINPO 34333, not in // with the others. Obviously Bhopal and Srinagar used this occasion to broadcast their own programmes. The other AIR stations signed on at the usual times. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Danish SW Clubs International, Denmark, playdx yg? via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR IS at 1319 Sept 18, 1320 some chanting in unison, 1321 Hindi announcement with frequencies in kHz. Some other station interval signals could be spruced up or exoticised by adding a drone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, It so happened I was also listening at the same time. Just after the interval signal, announcer said “Vande Mataram”; then plays the National Song of India, “Vande Mataram” (your “chanting in unison”), which can heard at http://odeo.com/episodes/1880543 9425, AIR, 1455, Sept. 18. Another Friday without the “Vividha” program. The change seems to be permanent. Now only on Monday and Wednesday in English, with Tuesday and Thursday “Vividha” in Hindi (1435-1500) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rarely get readable signals from transpolar India here on 60m, so very pleased Sept 19 at 1233 to hear English news of India on 4920, AIR Chennai, averaging S9+10, and over CODAR; 1234 to Hindi, ads? Best extracontinental signal on band, grayline fits, better than 4750 or 5030. So not Tibet, which was my guess as 4920 music source a few days ago. At 1429 on 11585, more Indian music past 1431, then announcement with hum. This is the Sindhi service via Delhi (Khampur?) site. Certainly not DRM, which Aoki says was in use until Sept 11. Checked 9425 at 1431 and found AIR news in English, flutter, 1435 back to music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA [and non] ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bengaluru - National Channel, 1446, Sept. 21. the Monday “Vividha” program in English; playing EZL music; comments on the end of Ramadan and the start of the nine days of festivities for Navratri, with three days devoted to the worship of Ma Durga (Goddess of Valor), Ma Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) and Ma Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1235-1315, Sept. 22. EZL love songs in English; “Heart to Heart” show; a rare local ID with frequency given in only meters (60.36); mentions the show is on from 6:05 to 6:45 PM (IST); Shillong phone number given to call in with music dedications for an upcoming program and gives area code to use if calling from outside Shillong; fair. [non] 4990, AIR Itanagar, noticeably off the air at 1413, Sept. 22. Could only hear a good signal from PBS Hunan. 5050, AIR Aizawl, 1353, Sept. 20. Pleasantly surprised by their fairly strong signal today. At times actually heard above Beibu Bay Radio (China). Mostly non-stop EZL songs (almost sounded religious); 1430 “This is All India Radio. The news read by . . “; 1435 sports news (both in English); 1440 into Hindi. Usually this is far underneath Beibu Bay Radio (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. On Friday 18 Sept 09 AIR Delhi was noted on 4865 instead of 4860 for the evening broadcast. On Monday 21 Sept 2009 AIR Delhi was noted on 5105 instead of 5015 signing off at 1835 UT parallel to 666 kHz MW. At the same time on 4860 only a carrier was heard, no audio. An earthquake was reported yesterday in NE India, however the AIR stations on SW were noted as usual. However BBS Bhutan from the epicentre of the earthquake is missing this morning on 6035. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Sept 21, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3324.999, 14.9 1955, Unid RRI with time signal just before warta berita. Probably Palangkaraya with early start. QSA 1-2 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 20, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3325, 12.9 2030, RRI Palangkaraya quite strong (QSA 3) but lousy audio. Announcements. The only Indonesian I heard during Ramadan this year! (Jan Edh, Sweden, ibid.) 3976.057, 8.9 1550, RRI Pontianak with keroncong. QSA 2-3 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, ibid.) 3976.06, 12.9 1730, RRI Pontianak with close down ceremony and ID, QSA 1-3 (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, ibid.) 3987.034, 10.9 1555, RRI Manokwari with good night music. Extended time due to Ramadan? 1-2 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, ibid.) 3995.026, often, 1540, RRI Kendari. Closedown at 16 with Rayuan Pulau Kelapa. O=2 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. I heard RRI stations on the following frequencies in the period 1200-1300 UT. 3325, Palangkaraya (presumed, buried by R. Bougainville, PNG). 3345, Ternate (presumed, heard when R. Northern PNG was absent). 3960, Palu, 3976 Pontianak, 3987 Manokwari, 3995 Kendari, 4750 Makassar and 4925 kHz Jambi (the strongest of the regional stations by far; it wasn't as strong last year). RRI Jakarta on 9680 kHz was very strong all day from opening at 2200 to after 1300 UT. During the middle of the day, it was the only station audible on 31 meters. On Wed 16 Sept I tuned in to an English programme at 0810 UT called "KGI" which was celebrating 20 years on air. It ended at 0830 when Indonesian resumed. This year I didn't hear RRI Nabire around 0800 because of RNZI's strong DRM transmission on 7285 kHz at that time. Last year while in Port Douglas I was able to hear RRI Sorong on 9743 kHz around 0800, but this year there was a Chinese language station on the frequency (Barry Hartley, Australia, Sept 18, Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 20 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4925, RRI Jambi, 1335, Sept. 21. In Bahasa Indonesia; EZL pop songs and ballads played; ID and mentions of Jambi; fair signal till 1408 tune out (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 9680 with Qur`an, Sept 20 at 1250 mixing at 4 Hz SAH with something in Chinese. Per listings, must presume Qur`an station is RRI domestic service relay, versus the PRC/ROC radio war, with RTI attracting mandatory CNR1 ChiCom jamming. RRI obstinately insists on staying on that ruined frequency. Meanwhile, could not detect even a carrier on 9525v at 1316 when the VOI English service should have been airing. Tuned in 9680 at 1310 Sept 21 to hear a nice ballad atop the CCI, 1312 clear ID as Radio Republik Indonesia, Jakarta, then to open carrier at S9+20 which remained on when checked at 1335, 1350, 1416, 1431, 1455, off at 1500*! Was that a sign-off announcement back at 1312? No Qur`an today. Perhaps at Cimanggis they are not kept informed about widely variable end of programming times, so leave the 250 kW burning just in case. Or just following orders to run it until 1500, modulation input or not. Meanwhile, VOI on 9524.9 was back on the air after missing yesterday, and modulation greatly improved tho still not up to par with some hum, Sept 21 at 1318, economic news by M with good intelligibility, S9+20. 1324 to W who is harder to understand, with Indonesian Wonders about arts and culture, but could not figure out specific topic today. 1335 a novelty song, 1350 soprano with a familiar western popular classic I could not quite place, 1357 ruined by CRI carrier and prélude on 9525.0. So I retuned as soon as CRI was finished at 1457, and found still good signal from VOI, classical flute music, 1458 jingle, VOI English ID, 1459 transition announcement in English that Malay was finishing and English about to resume, pompous ``sound of dignity`` slogan, 1500 opening English with usual three-frequency announcement which one would be entitled to assume means three frequencies at once rather than only one of the above, since they say ``and`` rather than ``or``; right into news. I knew this would end only in frustration, so merely switched on the BFO to clarify when the carrier would be cut off abruptly. Today it was 1508:50* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525 VOI OM chanting good signal sio 444. 1710 UT (Mark Davies, Isles of Anglesey UK, Sept 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST 9524.9, VOI, Sept 22 at 1335 with distinctive voice of guy from RRI Banjarmasin via phoneline, also at 1352 saying bye2 at end of script but then continuing to converse with Jak YL host. G signal but with flutter, undermodulated and hum. Another regular Tuesday co-produxion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.88, Voice of Indonesia, 1323-1344, Sept. 22. In English; usual Tuesday joint banter between RRI Jakarta and RRI Banjarmasin; commentary about G20 meeting; gives RRI Banjarmasin frequency (95.2 MHz); “Today in History”; President and First Lady held open house at their private home to mark Idul Fitri (holiday ending Ramadan) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Glad to see that you were also listening to the Tuesday VOI programming. Was interested to note their story about the President’s open house was almost verbatim from the following story: http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-president-and-first-lady-open-their-doors-to-public-for-idul-fitri/331005 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [non]. AUSTRALIA . Re 9-071: ``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)`` Scheduled 0400-1000 daily, Indonesian. Their young presenters usually tend to talk with more informal Bahasa Indonesia words as heard in many Jakarta FM stations (Tony Ashar, West Java – Indonesia, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. "The Boat That Rocked" is slated for its US theatrical release on November 13, under the new, stunningly imaginative title, "Pirate Radio" (Chuck Albertson, Seattle, Wash., Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A trailer for Pirate Radio, the slimmed down US version of The Boat That Rocked, has now appeared. It focuses heavily on Philip Seymour Hoffman: http://www.iconvsicon.com/2009/09/21/richard-curtiss-pirate-radio-new-image-and-trailer-debut/ (Mike Barraclough, UK, Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see from the writeup the boat has been shifted to the Middle of the Northern Atlantic (Keith Bradbury, UK, ibid.) Here's my review of the preview trailer for Pirate Radio movie. A spoiler alert for those who intend to watch the trailer! :) The evil British bureaucracy seeks to control the music tastes of the UK's young generation. But an idealistic American challenges their authoritarian grip on the European airways. He sets up a ship-based radio station filled with rock-n-roll and free love. And he has fun doing that. The older Brits in suits are really angry with him. But the younger Europeans finally know what it means to have fun. Will the government prevail or not? (Sergei S., ibid.) ** IRAN. 6205, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2021-2030 September 19, 2009. Clear and fair-to-good level with Farsi vocals and Farsi classical interludes, English man with ID, anti-US rhetoric. No parallels audible or located. [Mullet Key] (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15200, Sept 20 at 1327 piano music, whence? 1330 two or three chimes and announcement definitely in Japanese, choral anthem, somewhat distorted, but abruptly off at 1332* in mid-announcement. WRTH A09 update has the answer: VOIRI, Sirjan site which is scheduled in Indonesian until 1330, then supposed to switch to 15555 for Japanese, and where I might have heard them from 1332 if propagating. Just another instance of the Iranians unable to coordinate program and transmitter switching properly. Aoki, however, claims the 1230-1327 on 15200 is in Malaysian, meaning Malay? which is extremely similar to Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reminder that Iran is back on standard time now that Ramadan is over, UT +3:30 instead of +4:30. This should have little impact on SW scheduling, except for possible mixups (and they don`t need a time change for that!), especially since Iran does not broadcast any Farsi, home or external service, on SW. That would be like RNW not broadcasting in Dutch, or VOA in English --- oops, better not give them any ideas (Glenn Hauser, OK, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. ÉIRE, 846, R. North 846, Carndonagh, 2216-2306, 16 Sep, English, country & western stuff; 32432, adjacent QRM, but observed on the 18th at 2220 when reception was a lot better despite the co- channel DRM QRM. Now, is this a legal station or a mere pirate one? (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. A reminder that the All Ireland Football Final is this afternoon (Sunday 20 Sept). The RTÉ website is still showing these shortwave frequencies for the relay of the Finals to Africa: 7265 1300-1700, 17505 1300-1700 and 12050 1430-1630 (though they were unheard here for the Hurling Final on 6 Sept) (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1330 UT 17505 audible here, not sure if 7265 is on, there are at least two other stations on that frequency (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Yes, 17505 is also audible here in the NW of England, but at weak strength, though enough to tell it's parallel to 252 LW. There's only local noise on 7265 (Noel R. Green, 1401 UT, ibid.) 17505 & 7265 kHz cannot receive in Japan. 12050 sign-on at 1425 Repetition of IS of the chime and ID as ".....World Radio". Sports broadcast at 1429, but the condition is very poor (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, ibid.) 17505 fair strength and clear with excitable commentator on Kerry v Cork // RTÉ 1 on 252 longwave. 12050 barely audible here from 1430 UT tune-in, but enough to tell it`s // 17505 when it fades up slightly. 7265 not audible at all here. Seems they have the right feed at the transmitter site(s) this time (wherever that is?). (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, ibid.) It would have been useful to check whether any pair or all three of the frequencies were synchronized, since one is fairly sure 7265 must be from Meyerton. But now we must wait another year (gh, DXLD) 17505 under threshold at 1305 UT, only tiny carrier noted. 17505 at 1500 UT S=2-3, deep fades, typically characteristic on Rampisham or Woofferton reception on 16 mb here in southern Germany - like dead zone. 12050 squeezed between VOR Samara 12055 to NE/ME and NHK Singapore Kranji 12045 in Japanese, latter both stronger than RTÉ. Only S=2 tiny, seemingly from Meyerton-AFS site or ASC ??, but not from U.K.! 7265 is from Meyerton AFS [=RSA], but no propagation into Europe in our summer, at afternoon (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) 17505 poor here at 1527, with hyped up announcing. Nothing on 7265, but not surprised at that. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. 15785.24, Galei Zahal with football discussion of Haifa vv Bayern Munich match on Champions league, S=5-6 fair signal at 0810 UT, Sept 17. 15785.42, Galei Zahal, at 1600 UT, Sept 18, S=6 signal. 6973.00, Galei Zahal, S=6-7 signal at 1840 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 18, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 20 via DXLD) After a few days varied to 15778 (gh) 6973, Galei Zahal with remarkably good signal here on 9/19 at 0236 tune with what sounds like Argentinian guitar instrumental/vocals and YL announcer to 0300, then into what sounded like news by YL at 0300- 0303. Man and more music at 0303. Man at 0304.5-5 and more Argentinian music. I thought I was listening to LRA-36! SINPO 35333 – best heard here ever. I had heard them a few years ago but at much weaker sig strength, usually just over barely audible. One wonders if the recent Argentinian government protest to Iran over their new Defense Minister who is suspected as being the ring leader of the terrorist attack against the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires has anything to do with this somewhat unusual program --- or if the increase in sig lvl is due to an antenna swing away from Europe towards S. America?? Stranger things have happened on SW (Bruce W. Churchill, Fallbrook CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6973, 19/9 2307, Galei Zahal, Israel, songs, good (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: Drake R8; Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD 15 m long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21 SEP 2009, 6973, Galei Zahal, Tel Aviv-Yavne; 0112z light romantic vocal music, W in Hebrew at 0125z, Fair signal with low noise QRN, 9/19 (Steven C. Wiseblood, Brownsville TX, (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach,GULF of MEXICO), Radio Shack DX-399, 150' center fed LW, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. Israel clock change Sept 27 / yearly day off --- http://www.iba.org.il/world/ "Israel sets clocks back September 27 --- Israel moves to winter time on September 27. At 2 a.m. (Israel Time), on the night between this coming Saturday and Sunday, clocks will be moved back one hour, to 1 a.m." As usual, Israel Radio will be off the air for Yom Kippur. Reshet Bet, which has the shortest time off the air, will be off (all times UT) 1405 Sun Sept 27 - 1700 Mon Sept 28. On Monday from 1615 to 1657 various over-the-air tests (studio/tone) will be run. Of course, for direct shortwave, all that's impacted is Persian (Farsi) to Iran. I'm not sure what WRN will run as a replacement, for its rebroadcasters. [later:] BTW, I found out that for the missing broadcast on Sunday, WRN plays the Kol Israel broadcast from earlier in the day (Doni Rosenzweig, tri-state-area, Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. VINTAGE AUDIOCLIP: ITALCABLE --- Some old id. ann. of ITALCABLE available here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/7696040.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, noticias DX yg via DXLD) That sure brings back memories --- a multilingual voice marker from a point-to-point station (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. Ciao! Radio Ukraina International ha iniziato a programmare la intervista che abbiamo rilasciato durante la nostra visita all'emittente lo scorso mese di Agosto, pertanto la potete ascoltare direttamente in onda, nel servizio Inglese, al sabato. Oppure potete ascoltare l'intervista in onda dopo il 14 minuto nel programma del sabato "Hello from Kyiv A1" cliccando il link : http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=780 Dario Monferini & Roberto Pavanello Radio Ukraina International is transmitting from mid September in the program "Hello from Kiew A1" the saturdays the interview we have had in mid August in the English Service, you may listen in the short wave service: ENGLISH 00.00-01.00 7.440 ; 03.00-04.00 7.440 ; 06.00-07.00 9.945 ; 08.00-09.00 9.945 ; 12.00-13.00 11.550; 14.00-15.00 7.530 22.00-23.00 7.510 or just listening the real audio program "Hello from Kiew A1" clicking the link http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=780 the interview starts after the 14 minute of the program with Tetiana Stechak. [*13:23-18:05* really -- gh] Good listening ! (Dario Monferini & Roberto Pavanello, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Entire show is now 40 minutes long, absorbing the time formerly occupied by the defunct DX program (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. 9595, R. Nikkei at 1315 Monday Sept 21 English lesson with useful phrases such as ``my head aches``, ``ringing in my ears``. R. Nikkei has different language lessons around 1300 UT; Tuesday Sept 22 at 1306 on 6055 was hearing lecture in Japanese explaining various phrases in German such as ``Die Frauen sind selbst-ständingen geworden`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3925, Radio Nikkei (Nemuro), 0945-0955, 9/22/2009, Japanese. Non-stop classical music. Good signal with occasional ARO interference (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, E1, Attic Mounted 90' Random Wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Moog? Great images of: Radio Nikkei - Nemuro SW TX site. My thanks to Wolfy in passing on this link from: Takahito Akabayashi http://www.iwatas.net/kouiki/housou/sw-nemuro/sw-nemuro.html This SW TX site is also viewable on Bing Maps 43 17 49N 145 33 49E Thanks to Wolfy for the correct coordinates. Regards (Ian Baxter, shortwavesites yg Sept 22 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. KOREA D.P.R. 11679.79, Pyongyang with soldier chorus - to take fright of KRE power ... at 1310 UT, Sept 20, S=4-5 signal (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see BRAZIL 11735 ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9560, UT Sun Sept 20 at 0206-0210 surprised to hear the AER DX report voiced by Pedro Sedano, with news about HCJB`s imminent closure, R. Discovery having been on 4730 but no mention of next frequency 4780; RNV`s new SW site in Guaríco state, instead of Guárico, item about LRA36. This was a segment in KBSWR`s half-hour Spanish broadcast via Sackville. VG signal here, per Aoki at 277 degrees, i.e. somewhat north of due west. It might be more useful to aim it toward CAm, at most azimuthwise, Mexico, or is it for all the Latinos residing in California right in the boresight? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 7540, 18/9 1957-2000* Denge Mezopotamia, clandestine, end of broadcast, off at 2000, good (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.94, RTV Malagasy, 0325-0355, Sept 18, talk in listed Malagasy. Short breaks of instrumental music & local Afro-pop music. Poor signal. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 5009.95, RTV Malagasy - Antananarivo in presumed French, 9 / 7, 0308- 0324. W&M unclear talk and announcements with some music breaks at times; heard better in SSB with NIR 12; strong static crashes & fast QSB; Poor / very poor (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy. Equipment: JRC NRD 525; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; Intek PS- 35 5 ampere feeder; JRC–NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Yaesu YH – 77 STA stereo headphones; Zoom Corp. H2 handy digital recorder MP3 & WAV files; Oregon Scientific radio controlled clock; Interkart framed wall board political world map (1: 46,400,000); the DX Edge-Xantek Inc. (daylight-darkness desk world map), NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.6v, Sept 22 at 1314 pop music vocoder-altered, 1315 announcement, lite het from 6050, presumably remnant of HCJB. This off-frequency is Radio Asyik FM via RTM as often reported by Ron Howard, CA, but seldom audible here. Still detectable at 1348 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But at 1400 changing input to: 6049.60v, R. Suara Islam via RTM, 1520, Sept. 22. Glenn was fortunate to catch this during a day of good reception. In vernacular with news, ID (“Radio Suara Islam FM”); EZL songs Audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?vjgmomdwuj9 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also very nice your catching Malaysia today! I found most Asian stations today were doing much better than normal. Should be a very good DX season! Wish you good listening! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7130.001, often 1545 unID but most likely Kuching, Sarawak. Very weak audio but decent carrier. Closedown usually just before 16 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 20, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 9635, R. Mali, Kati, 1202-1235, 21 Sep, French, Malian light music & songs program; transmitter on/off several times, and off most of the observed. slot; 55444. This is currently putting better audio than \\ 7284.56v which is a little bit distorted, but both are very strong. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 783, R. Mauritanie, 2202-..., 17 Sep, Arabic, talks on the Ramadan, ID, Arabic music & songs; 54444, QRM de España. The situation on 4845/7245 remains unchanged, i.e. total silence (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4803.00, 0445-0455, UNID, 19.09 XERTA, Cd. de México (tentative) Spanish talk - XERTA off frequency 4805 ? 15221 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Nominal is 4800, ex 4810 some months ago, but never 4805. Wilkner reports it on 4800 after 1000 on Sept 17 and 20, viz.: (gh) 4800, XERTA, Radio Trans. seems to be back with very poor signal and irregular schedule, OM weak en español 1030 on 20 September; 1012 music, rooster crow cart, very weak 17th September (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, US, Icom 746Pro DL [Modified by Dallas Lankford], Noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010.00, Radio Mil, 0953-1005, Sept 18, Spanish talk. Spanish ballads. Ads, promos. ID at 0957. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** MEXICO. 6104.75, XEQM, Candela FM, Merida, 0540-0555, Sept 20, Spanish talk. Local ballads. Poor. Weak in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** MEXICO. [See USA for disclaimer] 810, XEMQ Yóol Iik, Mérida, Yucatán. 1940-2010 September 19, 2009. What a catch! Initially tuned in to a weak, seemingly Spanish signal that was slowly ruled out as not parallel any audible Cuban networks or images from Tampa Bay Hispanic stations. Finally, decent enough copy between 1959-2010 to get a confirmed parallel to 6105.8. This would have likely gone in the books as an unidentified, if not for 6105 relaying Yóol Iik today. Definitely the best catch of the day, and probably one of the best ever from Ft. DeSoto. [Mullet Key] 1060, XEEP Radio Educación, México, DF. 1110-1130 September 21, 2009. ID at 1116, into unusual a cappella female vocals. Big carrier on 6185, but no audio being fed, assuming it was Educación. Sometimes the shortwave is parallel to 1060. 1190, XECT “Contacto 11-90”, Monterrey, Nuevo León. 1132-1150 September 21, 2009. Tune-in to commercial string with peso prices, “… en contacto… en contacto… Contacto 11-90” and back to commercials, then Spanish vocals of the non-Tejicano variety. Bubbled down in the mix of stations. Best via USB to avoid the ever-present and off- frequency WBSL, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on 1189.95 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, FL, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, XEOI Radio Mil, México, DF. 1910+ September 19, 2009. Nearly local level in passing with Spanish pop vocal. [Mullet Key] 6105.8, XEQM Yóol Iik, Mérida, Yucatán (relaying XEMQ, see 810 entry). 1910-2010 September 19, 2009. Very good copy with Mayan dialect(s) talk by man, lots of Spanish phrases and numbers peppered in; commercials; mostly Spanish vocals. Frequency approximate due to receiver readout limitation. [Mullet Key] (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Fall is now the best time to hear VOM in English at 1030- 1100 on 12085, due to the grayline (Kevin O`Donovan, Farmington NM, KBSWR Worldwide Friendship Sept 19, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? If you mean to NM, it`s not exactly grayline at 3:30-4 am MST. That might apply further east around sunrise as it is around sunset in UB. Also, the grayline mode is not so significant on higher frequencies like this, rather than MW and tropbands (gh, DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 1144, RTM-"A", site?, 1516-..., 17 Sep, Arabic, talks; 34443; fair signal but unreadable due to noisy & very weak modulation (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. R. Nepal English broadcasts air on 5005 at 02315-0230 and 1415-1430 (Kevin O`Donovan, Farmington NM, KBSWR Worldwide Friendship Sept 19, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Theoretically, but 5005 has been missing for at least a sesquiyear, as mentioned occasionally in DXLD, tho it may have been detected now and then with an extremely weak signal (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Here are the Happy Station Show for September 17, 2009 0100 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_09:17:09_st_0100.mp3 1500 UT: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-happy_station_09:17:09_st_1500.mp3 All shows at: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/The+Happy+Station+Show Next week our special birthday show for Bob Thomann. This program will air to all regions: September 24, 2009 0100 UT 1500 UT September 25, 2009 0700 UT Frequency: 9955 khz Americas September 26, 2009 1000 UT Frequency: 88.5fm New Zealand September 27, 2009 1305 UT Frequency: various Indonesia Peter Anthony Holder on Happy Station On October 1st, 2009 my guest will be Peter Anthony Holder. Many of you may not know that name but for 20 years he hosted Holder Tonight on CJAD in Montreal, 5 nights a week from midnight to 3am. In August CJAG fired Holder with a list of other on-air personalities. But Peter is back. Not on CJAD but with a whole new project. I first met Peter back in the early 1990s at the time he was news reading and hosting some programs with Radio Canada International. He did this for almost 8 years while hosting his own show at CJAD. So tune in October 1st to hear stories about chickens and video tombstones This interview will be used for all regions, but other than that each Happy Station will be different. Oct 1 0100 UT SAm, 1500 UT NAm 9955 Oct 2 0700 UT West Coast NAm 9955 Oct 3 1000 UT 88.5 FM – NZ Oct 4 1305 UT Indonesia Various FM/AM (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Holder was also on SW tnx to CFRX relaying CJAD until early August, as I reported a number of times in DXLD (gh, DXLD) The next Happy Station's Tribute To DXers will be October 15, 2009. This program will be a conversation with Bob Zanotti. I've known Bob for a while and normally when we talk over skype and email our conversations go on and on and on and on. We talked about his early days in radio at Radio Sweden and CKGM in Montreal and how he joined SRI. To the final days of SRI and everything in between. We also discussed some very personal things, which he has never talked about publicly about the last days he spent at Swiss Radio International (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It seems to me that in the US to give a tribute to someone usually means that this someone is already dead. Like in this sentence: "Tribute To The Troops - Honoring Our Fallen Soldiers." Or A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Or A Tribute to Michael Jackson. Keith, are you doing that on purpose?! Please be a little more sensitive. - You know some of us are still alive. And strange as that might sound we are still listening to SW. 73! (Sergei S., ibid.) What you wrote made me laugh. Sensitive? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Tributes are not just done for "someone is already dead" as you put it. Film makers who are alive get tributes. Musicians who are alive get tributes. Outstanding people in communities who are alive get tributes. DXers who have provided international broadcasters with information on signal strength in different regions who are alive get tributes. And BTW the US Military and other militaries give tributes to solders who are very much alive (Keith Perron, ibid.) Thanks for your clarification, Keith! I guess you are right. But before posting my initial comment I did a google search on giving a tribute to someone and it kept pointing me to mostly dead people. Considering the rapid decline in DX-population worldwide may I suggest a more sensitive way of conveying the same thought? Why don't you say, "Happy Station Celebrates DXers and Their Hobby" (or "their achievements" or "their contribution to world peace" or something like that)? These days you can never err on the side of sensitivity. A bit of positive spin won't hurt. 73! (Sergei S., ibid.) Also if you are going to do a tribute, it can be appreciated more by live recipients than dead ones, so don`t put it off (gh, DXLD) see also TAIWAN ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. TRANS WORLD RADIO BROADCASTS CONTINUE FROM BONAIRE DESPITE TOWER REPAIRS The ministry of TWR (Trans World Radio) across the Caribbean and South America is to continue unaffected during essential repair of their transmission towers on the island of Bonaire. Due to the harsh, salty environment of the island, parts of the transmission towers had rusted extensively and had to be replaced. The cost of replacing the towers would be over £600,000, so the team on Bonaire were keen to replace the individual braces, at a tenth of that cost, before the situation worsened. The transmission towers help the station broadcast across a vast area covering Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana and Cuba [on 800 kHz AM]. (Source: inspiremagazine.org.uk)(September 22nd, 2009 - 15:45 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. DST of UT+13 starts next Sunday Sept 28, so relays of domestic programmes will be one UT hour earlier on RNZI (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI Mailbox Sept 21, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) One would expect some non-domestic relays to be affected as well, as RNZI can hardly broadcast two programs at once. Looking at RNZI website, I see that they now have Pacific news in Hindi, UT Fridays at 1955-2000 when the frequencies are 11725 and DRM 11670-11675-11680. This strixe me as new, but WRTH 2009 is no help as it has no details of this and a semidozen other foreign languages on RNZI. No doubt the Hindi is a token gesture to Fiji occupied by Indians and causing ethnic strife there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey, 1114-1326, 16 Sep, vernacular, talks, French at 1200, news bulletin, vernacular 1300, talks & music; 34443, adjacent QRM de ETHIOPIA 9704.2 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, 18/9 1948, La Voix du Sahel, talks, fair (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, 19/9 2215, La Voix du Sahel, Niger, vernacular talks, fair 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: Drake R8; Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD 15 m long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 945, R. Kebbi (presumed), Birnin Kebbi, 2141-2154, 20 Sep, vernacular, talks, seemingly on the Kor`an; 33442, QRM de FRANCE. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6089.97, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 0813-1015, 16 Sep, vernacular, talks; 33442, decreasing QRM de AIA, DRM QRM at 1000 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6089.8, 19/9 2320, Radio Kaduna (presumed), Nigeria, vernacular, Ramadan extended schedule program mentioning Allah and Islam, fair, QRM dr Scott, better in LSB. (4770 off) (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: Drake R8; Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD 15 m long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 15120, VON, decent S9+15 signal twixt REE 15110 and WYFR 15130, Sept 18 at 2042 YL with economic report in English; some hum and modulation level not commensurate with strength, but at least it was not distorted and just about 100% readable. Already off at 2056 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120, VoN at 1640 with Africa Hour in English. Very big signal but poorer modulation and transmitter hum. Sept 19/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, Racal RA17C, 7-30 MHz Log Periodic, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VON, 15120, Sept 21 at 2010 in English about the end of Ramadan; clear modulation but not enough of it and signal also significantly weaker than neighbors Spain 15110, WYFR 15130, which would occasionally splash spikes onto 15120 that Nigeria was unable to offward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. QSL: Voice of Nigeria 15120 kHz Report French service, sent by letter, reply with email voixdunigeria @ yahoo.fr in 23 days. NO IRC. Broadcasting House, P.M.B. 40003, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, Sept 17, playdx yg via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925-USB USA (pirate) WEAK Radio/Pig Radio. 2033- 2057* September 19, 2009. Huge local signal, surely groundwave. Tune- in to “Pig Radio” ID, fake commercials for Eat N’ Run (the “run” being what you get as a result of the “eat”); “… beware of White Trash noise…”; McDonald’s new Big Motherfucker sandwich; “WEAK, Weak Radio” ID into psychotic vocals. At 2057, the Looney Tunes theme (Th-th-th- that’s All, Folks), reverb ID and plug pulled. Spot-on frequency. Extremely well-produced. [Mullet Key] (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTHERN MARIANAS. Remarkably good signal of FEBC via Saipan at 1435 on 9465, first thought it is a transmitter in Europe. They broadcast a recording of a lively sermon in Russian, indeed sounding genuine, not being a studio fake with artificial reverb (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Svenn Martinsen has published details of this project on the Garry Stevens Pirate/Free Radio Message Board. This includes links to their website and a YouTube video. Foreningen Bergen Kringkaster has succeeded in leasing the LKB/LLE former Bergen Kringkaster/Broadcasting Station at Erdal for a period of 10 years from Askøy Kommune. They have recently applied for a test license involving 3 mediumwave frequencies and shortwave. More at: http://members7.boardhost.com/PirateRadio/msg/1253272960.html (Mike Barraclough, Sept 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LKB/LLE/LA1ASK Bergen Kringkaster Here is a real radio project-on a non-profit basis: You will find the LKB/LLE/LA1ASK Bergen Kringkaster project on the web here: http://radioenthusiasts.blogspot.com/ http://www.bergenkringkaster.no http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC8sl4gc48k http://dxlc.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/bergen-kringkaster/ In addition to the original set-up for 890 (20 kW) and 1115 kHz (1 kW) there are 3*250 watts old MW transmitters on the site ex 1466/1466/1484 kHz plus at least 4 vintage Military transmitters but we are unsure if they can be brought back to life. Current antenna set-up: Longwire/Windom. We plan to put up smaller and slimmer new masts, for "T" with top loading. Plus 4 old Shortwave transmitters. We plan a Museum/Nostalgia station along the lines of Village Radio, Tauranga, NZ, 1368 kHz. http://radio1xt.bravehost.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Radio_1XT And later?! We hope to get on the air, and have recently applied for a test license involving 3 MW frequencies and Shortwave. Currently doing ham transmissions on LA1ASK Sunday mornings at approx. 0800 BST onwards on approx 3725 kHz. Reports welcomed, QSLs issued. Are there any qualified engineers and radio interested people out there that would like to come over to assist us? CV please to post @ bergenkringkaster.no or PO Box 100 N5331 RONG Norway. Membership enquiries to Bergen Kringkaster association welcomed to same addresses. Visits to site by appointment. SvennM, Broadcast Coordinator/Editor, LKB/LLE (Svenn Martinsen, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. HSFB notables --- Heard on an Eton E-1 and 150 foot wire 9/18: 1210 KGYN Guymon, OK 1958 [CDT = 0058 UT Sept 19] with Guymon Tigers HSFB. NEW (Kevin Redding, Crump TN, 0141 UT Sat Sept 19, ABDX via DXLD) Implication being that KGYN violated its FCC license by failing to go to nighttime direxional pattern protecting Philadelphia, just so it could have better local coverage of a stupid ballgame (gh, DXLD) ** PALAU. Hello Glen[n], still alive, even if I haven`t been too active lately. I got a QSL from a station which has not been too much in focus. Many thanks for all good bulletins!! PALAU; received a QSL from WHR / Palau T8WH 9930 kHz of a report on reception Nov 29 2008, over 11 months. QSL card World Harvest Radio Enginering (Torre Ekblom/Finland, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. I heard stations on the following frequencies in the period 1000-1300 UT. 3205 (irregular, not daily), 3220, 3260, 3275, 3290 (irregular, not daily), 3315, 3325 (irregular, not daily), 3335, 3345 (irregular, not daily), 3365, 3385 and 3905 kHz (irregular, not daily). Radio Central on 3290 (when it is there) seems to stop modulating abruptly at any time, but carrier can stay on for hours unmodulated. I didn't hear the Catholic Radio Network on 4960 kHz or Radio Wantok Light on 7325 kHz, a frequency now usually occupied by strong international broadcasters. While I was in Port Douglas, Queensland, I briefly listened to PNG stations in the local morning, after I woke up, which was around 0600 to 0700 am local time, 2000-2100 UT. As it was already local daylight, conditions were deteriorating rapidly. So I heard these frequencies, which is only a brief snapshot. 3205, 3260, 3275, 3325 R Buka, 3335, and 3345 kHz R Northern Popondetta (Barry Hartley, Australia, Sept 18, Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 20 via DXLD) 3385, PNG-NEW BRITAIN, R. East New Britain Rabaul, 1041, Sept 15, Tok Pisin. W announcer with ad; island music & talk; poor-fair; hampered by ute QRM (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX- 350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) TADIL-A? 3334.971, 13.9 2020 Quite certain of Radio Wewak, PNG. Fade out at 2030, O=1-2 (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 20, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3335, 12.9 2000, East Sepik, Wewak announcements and then ”South Sea Island music”. QSA 3 (Jan Edh, ibid.) 3335 at 1223 Sept 19 with island music, guitar and singing, just above CHU 3330 pips still JBA, and improving slightly, 1229 pause and more such music but no announcement. Surely Radio East Sepik, Wewak, the best non-Tennessee signal on 90m; traces on a few other PNG channels, notably 3385. Abatement of my neighborhood line noise was short-lived, again bothering the higher bands, but not so much 90m, and several PNG signals audible Sept 22: 3385 was best at first check 1143 with island music, clear of any TADIL-A ute QRM. 1223 choral music, then talk in Pidgin. No IDs heard from any of these, but surely R. East New Britain. 3335 was second best at 1143 but exceeded 3385 at 1228 with instrumental music; at 1253, 3335 better than 3260, vocal music running past 1300. R. East Sepik. 3260 at 1228 with ``All of Me`` by Skeeter Davis, 1230 talk; 1235-1252 chanting and drumming reminiscent of native American. R. Madang (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.60, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco continues to be logged each morning at 1000, music, OM DJ, but CHU slop; need 746 IF notch. 4790, Radio Visión Chiclayo 0930 Echo chamber effect ID and frequency by om "Radio Visión en Perú..." "Las Palabras de Dios..... las gente libre" 14 September; Radio V. en las casa de Dios" ID 1055, 12 September. 4824.51, La Voz de la Selva, Iquitos 1020 to 1050 seems to have switched format to covers of pop music, some traditional, even cover of Tom Petty, 18, 19, 20 September 4857.392, Radio La Hora, Cusco 2345 full ID by om ...en la Republica de Peru... 14 September. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, US, Sept 20, Icom 746Pro DL [Modified by Dallas Lankford], Noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4835.44, R. Marañón, Jaen, 0228-0234, Sept 18, Spanish. Easy-listening Spanish music with brief announcer between selections; canned ID at 0232; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX- 350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 9720, Sept 22 at 0520 chanting, at first thought Tunisia, but not at this hour and not // 7275. Listening more closely, includes glorias and alleluias --- so it`s Radio Victoria with wacky evangelist David Miranda. Haven`t heard this frequency in longtime, as WYFR normally dominates from 9715, but no sign of it tonight, as `skip was long`. While the 31m channel which used to be off-frequency is now on- , 9720.0, the 49m channel still puts a big het on CRI 6020, as it did at this time, but enough signal from Perú to // it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. 6170.4v, PBS Radyo Magasin DZRM Quezon City, 0800-1300 UT. The biggest surprise was hearing what was causing a heterodyne of about 400 Hz on RNZI, 6170 kHz from about 0900 UT. When RNZI closed at 1058, I heard music until 1100 and the canned announcement: "PBS, Philippines Broadcasting Service", D(call sign I missed) and then speech in Tagalog and music that seemed to last some days until after 1200. Best on 13 Sept. By then, BBC and Voice of Vietnam on 6165 kHz and Suara Malaysia on 6175 kHz were overpowering PBS, so I couldn't tell if or when PBS closed (Barry Hartley, Australia, Sept 18, Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Sept 20 via DXLD) ** POLAND [and non]. Radio Vatican on 5885 and 7250 in Polish had at 1425 a report about Solidarnosc etc., wrapping up as "Radio Jasna Gora for Radio Vatican". Radio Jasna Gora is a Catholic station with ties to Radio Maryja. When Radio Maryja was on shortwave via Russia they relayed also some Radio Jasna Gora programming, the other way round both stations now seem to share some FM frequencies. Makes me wonder if Radio Jasna Gora differs significantly from the infamous Radio Maryja. Their apparent cooperation with Radio Vatican makes this question relevant (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. 15560, RDPI opening Abraço da Madeira show, Sun Sept 20 at 1311 with VG signal; upbeat announcer said it was from Funchal studio. Every little island should be so lucky as Madeira to have a weekly two-hour worldwide SW contact show courtesy of the mother country. But is there an equivalent from the Açores? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 11735, RRI at 1747 UT with DX/Mailbag program and mention of Listeners Day on November 1, 2009. S/off with IS at 1756. Excellent Sept 19/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, Racal RA17C, 7-30 MHz Log Periodic, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 279.00, Radio Rossii, 1158 [Sept 18?], Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk?, Russian, canned ID by a man, brief talk by a woman, pips to 1200, chimes, into news. Very good and peaking at an amazing S9+30 dB. Running parallel to weaker 234 kHz (Arman xmtr site?). (David Sharp, NSW Australia, Sept 19, NRD-535D +other receivers, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7140, Radio Rossii (Yakutsk), 1007-1013, 9/22/2009, Russian. Talk by man and woman. Poor but steady signal. No parallels noted (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF-SW7600G, Attic Mounted Random Wire (90') and Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST V. of Korea has also been reported still in the hamband on 7140, but not in Russian (gh, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1440.00, BSKSA-Dammam, 1452 [Sept 18?], absolutely powerhouse signal and peaking at local level. Absolutely blowing everything else away with what sounded like a news magazine or current affairs program (with many phone-in reports) and male announcer in- studio. Time pip at 1500, ID by man (David Sharp, NSW Australia, Sept 19, NRD-535D +other receivers, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. At 1520 the Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had the buzzezin buzzing the buzzes from the Buzzan on 15435. Will they ever bother to fix this? And // 15225 was perfectly clean (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also around 0700, BSKSA is regular on 17730 and // 17740, with their extreme hum on the first channel. You have wondered some time ago how this can continue for such a long time. I agree it's extremely annoying on the radio from far away but I am convinced they don't hear it close by. Why? It's an FM hum (probably synthesizer instability), not audible on a good AM receiver with both sidebands equally strong. Only when the ionosphere selectively dampens one or the other sideband (or if they would switch their monitor rx to FM or detune/offset the frequency), the hum becomes audible and annoying. Radio Polonia has had such issues for a long time, making listening awful many years ago. Best regards (Tobias, Germany, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. Dear DXers, International Radio Serbia recently expanded its shortwave broadcasts with a 30-minute show in Serbian to AUSTRALIA at 2130-2200 UTC on 7230 kHz, via BIJeljina, Bosnia, 250 kW, 100 degrees. Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: A09 INTERNATIONAL RADIO SERBIA (updated schedule) 0000-0030 9675 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees NCAm SERBIAN MON-SAT 0000-0100 9675 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees NCAm SERBIAN SUN 0030-0100 9675 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees NCAm ENGLISH MON-SAT 0100-0130 9675 BIJ 250 kW/ 325 degrees NoAm ENGLISH 1800-1830 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu RUSSIAN 1830-1900 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu ENGLISH 1900-1930 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu SPANISH 1930-2000 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu SERBIAN SUN-FRI 1930-2030 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu SERBIAN SAT 2000-2030 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu GERMAN SUN-FRI 2030-2100 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu FRENCH 2100-2130 6100 BIJ 250 kW/ 310 degrees WeEu ENGLISH 2130-2200 7230 BIJ 250 kW/ 100 degrees Au SERBIAN BIJ = Jabanuša near Bijeljina, Bosnia [YABANUSHA, BEE-YEL-YINA] (via Lekic, ibid.) ** SIKKIM. 4835, AIR Gangtok (presumed), 1346-1407, Sept. 22. Subcontinent music; ads; clearly in Hindi; 1355 seemed to be the news; best in USB due to QRM from 4830. Probably my best reception so far! A good day for AIR regionals! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALILAND. R Hargeisa 7145 has been off a few days, transmitter problems or switch to another frequency? 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. APPLICATION TO MAKE USE OF 18 UNUSED MEDIUMWAVE FREQUENCIES IN SOUTH AFRICA An application has been submitted to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to have mediumwave frequencies re- designated from commercial to open. This would pave the way for stations such as Radio Veritas to apply for a mediumwave licence. There are 18 unused mediumwave frequencies that are locked as commercial. Radio Veritas’ Father Emil Blaser said, “If they change the allocation from commercial to open then there would most likely be many community radio stations that might like to bid for those frequencies.” (Source: eyewitnessnews.co.za September 21st, 2009 - 15:26 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 17485, Sunday Sept 20 at 1457 DTK already on with Brother Scare, good clear modulation, better than he deserves or gets from WWRB. This not supposed to start until 1500, but I expect the stereotypically precise German operators at Jülich are demoralized, knowing their jobs will last only another month; so why not burn up a little extra transmitter time for the Last Days Prophet of God? Signal remained good at spot chex during following hour tho aimed oppositely at 160 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. In a total failure of frequency management, both of REE`s frequencies in French at 2000-2100 have collisions: Sept 18 at 2051 was getting about equal levels on 11620 from REE in French, and AIR with Indian vocal music during English broadcast. Per Aoki, Bengaluru switches at 2045 from 120 to 325 degrees as it changes from Hindi to English. 11620 is of course a very longtime AIR channel, and if it were not for Spain in the way, would have been the best one audible here. 9690, the other REE French channel, at 2053 was mixing with RRI closing English broadcast from 2030, // 9765-colliding with Spain/Costa Rica, weakest 11810 with ACI from Spain/CR 11815, and best 11945 in clear. REE`s French broadcast is fortunately M-F only, if it cannot be on clear frequencies. 9690 // 11620 confirmed as REE with ID and address at 2055 closing. These are aimed in the second quadrant at North Africa and Mideast, while RRI is aimed in the fourth quadrant NW toward UK and NAm. 9690, Sept 20 at 0156 surprised to hear the REE IS where there is no REE transmission scheduled; but it was just an admission that Noblejas was about to relay CRI, as there followed a decent interval of silence at 0158, then 0200 CRI IS and sign-on in Chinese. REE, 15385 already on with open carrier at 1415 Monday Sept 21, 1420 starting IS, 1425 theme and opening weekly Sephardic semihour, once again not on 15325 as announced and in some schedule versions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 4960, SAO TOME, VOA Pinheira, 0303, Sept 19, Arabic. M with news with mentions of Sudan & Ethiopia; "Affia Darfur" ID at 0309; fair-good (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. Sudan Radio Service via Sines on 17745 was strong after 1525, the first signal I came across when tuning the 16 mb upwards. Will continue after a Public Service Announcement which turned out to be something about who will get as many seats in some election. Followed by talk in terribly accented English, almost impossible to understand, some decision about some place that is "not in South", SPLM, MLD, whatever; it was impossible for me to make out what was their topic. At 1531 programming continued in Arabic. Strong signal but bad audio with lots of artifacts, as if transferred at a low bitrate (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. ``Ragged audio`` on 738 kHz: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** TAIWAN. 9635, 19/9 2219, Voice of Hope, Taiwan, songs, Chinese talks, good (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: Drake R8; Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD 15 m long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What`s this? O, you mean Sound of Hope, per Aoki on 9635 during this one hour only, 100 kW from Tanshui, and *jammed, so was it really CNR1 you were hearing? Cf. VIETNAM also new on this frequency. 9635*Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 2200-2300 1234567 Chinese 100 325 Tanshui (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. New Show coming in 2009 --- Is there much news from the Asia/Pacific in North America? Do you think listeners would be interested? With the founding of PCJ Media a few months ago I'm looking to expand our output to include a weekly news magazine focusing on the Asia/Pacific region. Launch date: TBA early 2010 [sic] Time: TBA Show name: This Week In The Asia/Pacific Host: Michael Woodward Producers: Keith Perron & Johan Bakker Running Time: 29 min Production base: PCJ Media (Taipei) (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Sept 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1305 UT we have two excellent M-F programs: Asia-Pacific on R Australia, 9580 et al., and Dateline Pacific on RNZI, 6170. Among other times (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yes, I know. I hear these two programs here. My idea was to have a different focus. To have stories that touch more on human rights and more documentary in tone (Keith Perron, ibid.) Good; there can never be too much programming about human rights, unfortunately, and there is too little tnx to the influence of China and other allied or unallied enslaved countries (gh, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4765.05, Tajik R. – Yangiyul in vernacular, 9 / 19, 0025-0034. Local chorus chant; M / announcements between chant; then W / talk with brief local music breaks; M / talk; better heard in SSB with moderate QSB & rustle; poor / almost fair with NIR 12 (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy. Equipment: JRC NRD 525; Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; Intek PS-35 5 ampere feeder; JRC – NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Yaesu YH – 77 STA stereo headphones; Zoom Corp. H2 handy digital recorder MP3 & WAV files; Oregon Scientific radio controlled clock; Interkart framed wall board political world map (1: 46,400,000); the DX Edge-Xantek Inc. (daylight-darkness desk world map), NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 15275, R. Thailand, 0041, Sept. 18. In English with fair to good reception; local ads (“Bangkok Airways”, etc); “ASEAN Focus”; “Sports News; “Take On Thailand”; “Upcoming Events”; “Weather Flash”. This is a relay of “Radio Thailand English Language Service broadcasting live from FM 88”; chimes; bell rung 8 times; “The time is now 8 AM in the Kingdom of Thailand”; played the mandatory 8 AM choral National Anthem (Phleng Chat); 0101 into Thai Audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?xij2fcpiotm (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It seems that like most free hosting sites, mediafire has a hidden agenda, as instead of playing it wants to scan my PC for errors (gh) ** TIBET [non]. CHINA, 15375, BUZZ meant at RFA Tibetan service, but noted as usual only the CNR1 jamming ahead, S=9+10dB, 1325 UT Sept 20, broad band signal like the Saudi Arabia type, covers 15362.6 to 15384.7 kHz. 15412, Voice of Tibet, 1300-1400 UT via Dushanbe Orzu TJK, tiny S3 signal, 1330 UT, Sept 20, - and 2000 Hertz heterodyne signal of Chinese jammer on even 15410 kHz. UAE [tentative] UNID Tibetan service on new 15430 kHz, S=4-5, seemingly Voice of Tibet via Al Dhabayya formerly on 17750 according to AOKI list at 1330-1400 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. See ITALY [non] ** U K [non]. Came at 1445 [WTFK?] across a programme with pop songs and wound up female DJ, frequently mentioning Azadi. What's this? Aha, listed as BBC in Dari via Oman. Not exactly the programming style I would have expected from them. And at 1523 I landed on their Arabic service, via Cyprus on 15790, with a phone interview that sounded as if the host had a controversy with the partner, frequently interrupting him (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What was the first frequency? (Glenn to Kai, via DXLD) 9810. Ooops, and first I overlooked something: At the same time on the same frequency Romania is listed, too, in Arabic. So it is no surprise that the programming did not exactly sound BBC-like, and thus in all likelihood it was indeed Romania. Is really the BBC on from Oman at the same time, as listed in Eibi? If so a clash in the target areas would certainly be to expect. I hope this is the only big mistake I made when compiling the notes I took on a restaurant bill after 3 AM, in a "now or never" manner (Kai Ludwig, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. ANTI LICENCE FEE FEDERATION 10 Torbrex Road, Carbrain Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire Scotland G67 2 JR Tel No 01236 724630 Dear Glenn, I have decided to form the Anti License Fee Federation. This is following the recent scandal of MPs` expenses claims at the Westminster Parliament, London, England, and in the light of this current worldwide recession. With people being made redundant and joining the ranks of the unemployed people in the UK, I have the desire to see the ALFF becoming a major pressure group in the UK to persuade Prime Minister Gordon Brown and any future government elected to power following any general election, that it is about time to rid this country of the TV license fee that is used to fund the BBC. My view is, why should the people living on all forms of state benefit from unemployment to incapacity benefit for health reasons and pensioners below the age of 75 be burdened with having to pay a TV license for the pleasure of funding the BBC just to watch TV? The people living on state benefit could redirect that money for more pressing needs and pensioners who retire at 60 or 65 should get a free TV license instead of having to wait until they are 75 years of age. In my view, no UK government or even a French, German or a Republic of Ireland has the divine right to tax people for the enjoyment of watching TV to fund state TV and radio services like the BBC. Yours sincerely (Colin Watson, PRESIDENT, ANTI LICENCE FEE FEDERATION, undated P-mail postmarked 14th Sept, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC - The History of Radio Comedy 13 chapters... mp3 ready to download. http://www.sadena.com/BBC-Radio/BBC%20-%20The%20History%20of%20Radio%20Comedy/ (Horacio A. Nigro, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC RADIO 4 TRYING OUT "SERIES CATCH-UP" CAPABILITY FOR ON- DEMAND LISTENING There's a potential policy shift in the works that would benefit those of us who listen to BBC Radio's domestic services online. Radio 4 generally has a given program available on-demand for only one week, at which time it becomes unavailable. If you visit the Radio 4 website at least once per week, and only listen to a weekly series, this isn't an inconvenience. However, if your listening is more sporadic, and you don't always visit the website every seven days or less, you can miss out on some excellent programming. For some Radio 4 series, the BBC has temporarily added the capability to listen to *all* episodes to date for a current series beyond the one week deadline. There's also an online survey regarding the usefulness of the "catch- up" option. One series that's heralded as part of this trial is "A River Runs Through It", a three-part documentary on the Jordan River, but since the documentary is being presented on three consecutive days, it already makes sense that all three episodes would still be available (since the 3rd episode aired this past Wednesday). See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mk82m for more details regarding the trial - look to the bottom of the page (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Sept 18, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. THE ORIGINAL EMPIRE SERVICE FROM ENGLAND As was promised in “Wavescan” last week, we are planning to present the story of the BBC Empire Service that was on the air from their historic shortwave station located at Daventry in England. This is a very long and interesting story, too much for one edition of “Wavescan”, so we shall present today, the earliest beginnings of the Empire Service that was launched on shortwave back in the year 1927. The story begins with the amateur radio experimenter, Gerald Marcuse, who was born into a family of German migrants who settled in the English county of Surrey. He was born in the year 1886, and given the name Eugen (Oigen) Gerald Marcuse. Even though his first name was Eugen, nevertheless he was always known as Gerald, probably because his middle name sounded more English than his first name. Very early in his life experience, Gerald Marcuse developed an interest in wireless communication and in his mid teens he began to experiment with various forms of wireless apparatus in the early 1910s. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1914, there were nearly 1,000 licensed amateur radio operators on the air in England, and who knows, perhaps almost as many who were unlicensed. Five years later, when events settled down in continental Europe, amateur radio activity was again permitted, and Gerald Marcuse also re-activated his interest in this area of activity. He was granted the British amateur experimental callsign G2NM. This was in the era when radio broadcasting was in its very infancy. The famous early broadcasting station, 2LO was inaugurated at Marconi House in London in 1922, though later in the same year it was taken over by the British Broadcasting Company, which later became the well known BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation. Three years later again, station 2LO was re-located onto the top of Selfridges Store in London with an increase in power from the original 100 watts up to 2 kW. In those days, amateur radio experimenters were encouraged, perhaps even expected, to transmit radio broadcast programming, usually on mediumwave, but sometimes on shortwave also. Many prominent radio amateurs in England in that era also became quite prominent in the opening field of radio program broadcasting. During the year 1927, Gerald Marcuse, G2NM, made successful contact with an amateur radio operator living on the island of Bermuda. This trans-Atlantic communication grew into regular communication and the Bermudan radio operator often re-broadcast the voice communications, and sometimes radio programming, from England to other amateur radio operators in the Caribbean. From these interesting beginnings, grew the concept of radio broadcasting on shortwave, perhaps even to the entire British Empire and Marcuse applied to the licensing authorities for a permit to broadcast regular programming. The official permit granted approval for Marcuse to broadcast speech and music for two hours daily, on 23 and 33 meters with a power limit of 1 kW, for an experimental period of just six months. Interestingly, a similar concept was developing in Australia and the shortwave communication station located at Pennant Hills, near Sydney in New South Wales, launched its first Empire Broadcast on September 5, 1927. Although this program was beamed specifically to London, it was nevertheless also heard in many other countries around the world. Just six days after the successful Empire Broadcast from Australia on shortwave 2FC-VK2ME, Gerald Marcuse launched his successful Empire Broadcasts on shortwave in England. The introductory program from amateur station G2NM in England was a concert program beamed to Australia on September 11, 1927. The Marcuse version of the Empire Broadcasts were on the air almost daily for almost exactly one year. In a reciprocal gesture, when the Third Empire Broadcast from Australia was beamed to England, Gerald Marcuse relayed the programming over his own shortwave station and beamed it back to Australia. Likewise, the Anniversary Day broadcast presented over station G2NM in England was received in Australia and relayed on shortwave by the Pennant Hills station VK2ME. Anniversary Day commemorates the establishment of the first permanent British settlement in Australia. The almost daily Empire Broadcasts from station G2NM, located at Caterham in Surrey, England, were heard widely throughout the world and highly appreciated in Australia. Many QSL cards were issued to verify the reception of these broadcasts, and later QSL cards issued by Gerald Marcuse at his amateur station G2NM acknowledged the fact that his station had broadcast the first series of Empire Broadcasts from England, five years before the BBC inaugurated its own Empire Service. It is apparent that the original broadcast license issued to Gerald Marcuse for just six months was extended for an additional similar time period. His broadcasts of the original Empire Service ended during the era in which the BBC was beginning work on their new big shortwave station located at Daventry in the Midlands. A few years later, Gerald Marcuse, G2NM, was elected as the President for RSGB, the Radio Society of Great Britain. The next story in this short series regarding the BBC Daventry will feature the very first BBC shortwave station (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan script for broadcast Sept 13, via DXLD) ** U K. A recent BBC1 One Show report about the Skelton transmitting station and wartime radio is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yu8DDBq3ws Some comments by Russell Barnes on the item: http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?p=271841 Trouble is, bit of it was a wee bit misleading. We never broadcast to the 'Home Front' from Skelton, or, indeed, on short-wave - unless the home front was in Libya, or Portugal, or the Americas, or Occupied Europe, or wherever... I thought, for the sound effects, they might have played the famous 'V'-Victory bongs that we did broadcast, and of which sound clips are available on the BBC archive. - And I was edited (as I expected)! The bit I had prepared on the 'Cold War' was cut out, as was the bit where I talked about HF broadcasting from Skelton today. It was 'Skelton Lite', for soundbite TV. Regds, (Russell W. B., G4YLI) Russell Barnes's Flickr webpage includes photo albums of BBC Rampisham, Droitwich, Daventry, Skelton and Kirk O'Shotts, the Daventry and Skelton albums have been added to this month: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russell_w_b/sets/72157603792430482/ (Mike Barraclough, England, Sept 18-19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBC TURKISH ENDS SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS! Dear DXers, My friend informed me that this weekend (Sunday evening) BBC Turkish will stop broadcasting on short waves! As of Monday, 21. September 2009 BBC Turkish will air its programmes only on FM affiliates, satellite and the internet. 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. The IBB Greenville DRM test prompted by HCJB is still ongoing, as DRM buzz reading S6 to S9+5 audible 15470-15475- 15480 at 2009 Sept 21. No trace of LRA36 now, nor at earlier check 1905 when it would have been unimpeded, even by my hi local noise level which for reasons unknown, like some neighbor unplugging a touch lamp? had abated, while large band of T-storms from mid-MO to central OK made heavy almost continuous electrical noise as crashes overlapped on lower bands, especially MW. Not much of a het on 15345v either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Deewa Radio noted around 1430 on 9380, via Udon Thani, with tirade by a male and female journalist about Pakistan and Taliban. And after 1500 there was VOA in English on 12150 via Iranawila, with ridiculously booming news, followed by a magazine that had not this exaggerated bass, perhaps from a studio with condenser mic, as opposed to the RE20-equipped news booths. Around 1500 observed Family Radio via Tbilisskaya (Russia) on 12065, listed as Urdu, long monologues and rather bad audio quality with lots of reverb (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AFGHANISTAN [non] ** U S A. QSO with Ted Randall new time on WRMI 9955 is UT Tuesday 0200-0400, not UT Monday as previously reported; per WRMI updated schedule grid as of Sept 12. This and other changes have been made in latest Sept 19 version of DX/SWL/MEDIA programs at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI, 9955, testing NW antenna instead of SSE antenna, UT Friday Sept 18: at 0158 frequency seems vacant, no jamming either, altho WRMI had been audible at *2359 Sept 17 in English. But at 0159 strong S9+20 carrier pops on, and from 0201 YLs with Your World Your Way infomercial. I still have no idea what they are selling, MEGO. Remained good at outset, but at 0302 recheck had faded out completely, or rather below jamming level which had meanwhile appeared even tho WRMI programming was not in Spanish and not anti-Castro! WRMI is also running NW antenna UT Monday 0200-0400 for QSO with Ted Randall, and testing UT Wed & Fri for Wire Light a.k.a. Cheetah Radio a.k.a. etc., etc. No doubt it varies, but checking WRMI evenings to note when 9955 fades out: UT Sept 20 it was good during an English religionist between 0130 and 0145, but gone at next check shortly after 0200. These are both scheduled on the SSE antenna UT Sundays. Surprised to hear an old WORLD OF RADIO, 1465 from a quarteryear ago, concluding at 1542 Sunday Sept 20 on WRMI 9955, instead of current 1478. Jeff White says it was glitch in the automation and should not happen again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Thanks. Tonight (Sunday) we'll be on the northern antenna from 10 pm-12:30 am Eastern. Then on Tuesday and Thursday nights of this coming week, I am going to try going north [317 degrees] at 8 pm Eastern until 4 am. [= UT Wed & Fri 0000-0800] (Jeff White, WRMI, Sept 20, ibid.) Glenn: Any observations would be welcome as to what reception is like when the transmission starts at 0000 and what time the signal fades out. Thanks (Jeff White, WRMI, Sept 21, ibid.) WRMI tried the 317 degree antenna across NAm in the evening, UT Wed Sept 23 instead of the usual beam at this hour of 160 degrees across Cuba, Caribbean, South America. At 0003 signal was fair and somewhat atop heavy DentroCuban jamming even tho it was in English. At 0047 check in Spanish about the same; at 0104 in Italian with Studio DX, VG S9+20 signal and no jamming audible. It was expected to fade out at some point before switching to the other antenna at 0800, after the 0700 airing of WORLD OF RADIO. {It had faded out by 0400, but was again audible at 0600 and past 0700 for WOR S9+15!} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955, Tue Sept 22 at 1153, AWR Wavescan with Bangladesh DX report, Mr Dolar spelling out contact info, then Jeff White with some music of the world, fair signal on SSE antenna, clear of jamming --- until 1158 when the DentroCuban Jamming Command cut on, completely blocking WRMI, as if they were expecting Radio Cuba Libre still to be airing at 12-14. The latest program grid dated Sept 12 instead shows R. Prague/Praga. Checked the webcast at 1355 and instead heard Frecuencia al Día with concluding item this week, report originally from Univisión about a radio station in Washington state that broadcasts in Mexican Indian languages. So are other DX programs axually appearing weekdays in the 12-14 UT block before WRMI becomes audible again on NW antenna from 1400 with yesterday`s R. Prague program in English? The grid does show some variations on weekends, a new broadcast of WORLD OF RADIO Saturdays at 1330; Wavescan Saturdays 1300; Frecuencia al Día Sundays at 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From WRMI schedule grid updated Sept 22 in the M-F 11-14 UT period, DX/SWL programs: Mon 1130 Frecuencia al Día, 1300 La Rosa de Tokio Tue 1100 WORLD OF RADIO, 1130 Wavescan, 1330 Frecuencia al Día Wed 1100 Frecuencia al Día, 1130 Wavescan Thu 1100 Frecuencia al Día, 1200 WORLD OF RADIO [NEW], 1230 Wavescan Fri 1100 Frecuencia al Día, 1130 WORLD OF RADIO, 1300 Happy Station (via Jeff White, extracted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe the 11-12 block is the same, but 12-14 was formerly all Radio Prague. Now it`s only partly Praga. However, the DentroCuban Jamming Command does not care and keeps jamming 12-14+ and this is on the 160 degree antenna (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I've just done a new updated chart (attached), which shows 12- 1400 and a couple of other changes. Note new program Saturday 2300- 2330, La Voz de la Asociación, which is short for La Voz de la Asociación de Veteranos de la Bahía de Cochinos Brigada de Asalto 2506. Try to abbreviate that one! (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ, 9330-CUSB, since WORLD OF RADIO was carried here last Friday in addition to 7415, checked Sept 18 at 1900: infomercial cut to ID, cut to WOR 1478 opening, cut off after I said `8`, cut to another ID and off the air. Meanwhile reception on weaker 7415 was somewhat better than it had been previously for WOR. After missing a few days, WBCQ again left 9330-CUSB on the air another half hour at 1900-1930* for WORLD OF RADIO 1478, on Tuesday Sept 22. Signed off after a SW promotion/ad? so no Amos & Andy this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Allan Weiner announced that a show called "Nobody Important" hosted by "Ken" will air Monday, September 21 at 2300 UT on WBCQ 7415, and again on the following Monday. The show's content would appear to be religious in nature. A new show, "Coffee Time With Barbie," premiered Thursday, September 17, at 2330 on 7415. Barbie from Monticello previously appeared on Jennifer Weiner's show "867-5309" and proved to be an entertaining and popular storyteller. A prototype of Barbie's show appeared on Monday, September 7 at 2300 on 7415, and listener response was encouraging enough for Barbie and Jennifer to start up a regular live half hour talk show. The premiere also featured live video from the Monticello studio via the web site ustream.tv. Allan also mentioned on his show this week that starting next week, "The Best of Aroostook Watchmen" will run Wednesdays at 2300 on WBCQ 7415. This is a right wing talk show, produced by Jennifer Weiner, that airs live Monday through Saturday mornings 1130 to 1230 UT on Allan's WXME AM 780 in Monticello. Jennifer tells us that Aroostook Watchmen is webcast live using the existing WBCQ webcast stream. The Tuesday 2300-0000 slot on WBCQ 7415 remains "available for purchase," and is currently running random rebroadcasts of Allan's show, noted here over the past several weeks (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, DXLDYG via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. At 0830 UT Sept 22 I came across a transmission on 11895 that appeared to be playing "interval" music usually associated with WYFR. The signal was weak at best, and the language not immediately identified. Aoki has this listed: 11895 FAMILY RADIO 0800-0900 1234567 Korean 100 2 Taipei TWN 12124E2509N WYFR a09 which seems correct. I don't see it listed by EiBi in his last Sept. 8 update though, nor in the A-09 HFCC public listings - although TWN does not take part in the HFCC. There was no trace of CRI English that is listed for this frequency (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Family Stations, Inc. Shortwave Schedule aired from Taiwan B-09 25 October 2009 to 29 March 2010 LANGUAGE UTC kHz TARGET Burmese 1100-1200 6220 Burma 1200-1300 11570 Burma English 0900-1100 9465 Philippines 1300-1400 11520 Indonesia 1300-1500 11560 India 1500-1600 6280 India Hindi 1600-1700 6280 India Indonesian 1100-1200 11550 Indonesia 1200-1300 11520 Indonesia 0000-0100 11865 Indonesia Korean 0800-0900 11895 Korea Mandarin 0900-1000 11565 China 0900-1100 9855 China Mon, Tues 1000-1100 9855 China Wed, Thur, Fri 1000-1100 9920 China 0900-1100 9545 China 1100-1600 6240 China 1100-1600 9280 China 1200-1300 11535 China 2100-2400 9280 China 2200-2400 6230 China 2300-2400 9540 China Russian 1500-1700 9955 Eu/CIS [note conflict with WRMI; Taiwan probably off-frequency, hetting -gh] Tagalog 1100-1200 11520 Philippines Vietnamese 1000-1100 9455 Viet Nam 1200-1300 7460 Viet Nam 1300-1400 7260 Viet Nam 1300-1400 9960 Viet Nam 0000-0100 11630 Viet Nam (Evelyn Marcy, WYFR Okeechobee, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC Morehead, 0018-0026, Sept 19, Arabic. Male announcer with Arabic talk & WTJC contact info at 0026!!; good; I rarely stop on this frequency during bandscans. When did WTJC start broadcasting in Arabic? (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite a while ago, but only in little segments, not matching the ones shown on their online sked (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 4910.00, 0455-0515 19.09, WWCR, Nashville, TN spurious signal 9980 - 5070 = 4910 English religious talk // 5070, 15111 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) This mixing product has been reported before altho maybe not from as far away as Europe. However, 9980 is supposed to be off the air from 0200 when the #4 transmitter with Pastor Pete Peters service moves to 5890; therefore there could not be a product on 4910 by this formula around 0500 unless for some reason on that date it was stuck on 9980 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WGBH WILL BUY CLASSICAL RADIO STATION WCRB September 21, 2009 03:01 PM By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/wgbh_will_buy_t.html Public TV and radio giant WGBH will buy one of the country's few remaining 24-hour commercial classical radio stations, WCRB 99.5 FM, station officials said today. WGBH officials would not disclose the price, saying that the deal had not been reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission. WGBH already operates the radio stations WGBH 89.7 in Boston and WCAI and WNCK on the Cape and islands. "It's a fabulous opportunity," said WGBH spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins. "It comes along rarely and we felt able to make the acquisition work financially and in every other way." The move comes less than two months after WGBH said it would lay off employees because of projected budget shortfalls in 2010. WGBH has seen revenues from viewers, corporations and foundations diminish. Hopkins said officials at WGBH had not yet decided on a format for 89.7, or how WCRB will interact with WGBH's own classical music programming, which airs most mornings. Asked if there could be more layoffs, Hopkins said it was too early to say what the change would mean for employees at both stations. WCRB, headquartered in Waltham, has a storied reputation in New England as "Boston's classical station." Broadcasting for more than 60 years, the station has 340,000 listeners weekly and is owned by Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP, a New Jersey company that owns 52 stations, mostly in the Northeast. Nassau purchased WCRB from Greater Media in 2006. Officials at Nassau could not be reached this afternoon. WGBH said it will finance the purchase by beginning a capital campaign donation drive called Keep Classical Alive (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. A BIT OF BROADCAST HISTORY GOES UN-NOTICED For history's sake I watched the final broadcast of the long running CBS radio and television soap opera "The Guiding Light" this afternoon. I had no interest in the characters or their long goodbyes, although the montage of the programs opening titles throughout its television history included some nice kinescopes. What struck me, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that this marked the end of 55 minute over the air networks television programs, and their associated five minute network news breaks. In the 1960's there were quite a few 25 minute daytime programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC. These would be followed by a five minute network newscast. I recall that the panel quiz "To tell The Truth" was fed at 3:00 PM eastern, and had a five minute news update at 3:25 by Douglas Edwards, before he would prepare that evenings CBS radio broadcast "The World Tonight." "Let's Make a Deal" at 1:30 PM Eastern on NBC, and "The Match Game" fed at 4:00 PM eastern on NBC, both were 25 minutes long, followed by a five minute newscast, often done by Floyd Kalber out of WMAQ-TV/NBC Chicago. There were many others. For years, CBS television aired the soap "Love of Life" at noon Eastern, followed at 12:25 with a five minute newscast by none other then Richard C. Hottelet.. Many CBS affiliates ran their own newscast or farm program at noon, and would delay the 12 PM soap until 1:00 PM. They would clear the 12:25 CBS 'cast, and run their own five minute public affairs program after the delayed soap at 1:25 PM to round out the half hour. As I said, there were others. Pauline Fredricks, on ABC comes to mind. I have not watched regularly scheduled daytime network television for decades. The only exception would be the CBS soap "The Young and The Restless" and that was on tape delay. I can't really say I watched it, but a former wife of mine is a fan, and I was banned from the replays as I had a habit of turning the exploits of Victor Newman and the residents of Genoa City into my own personal version of "Mystery Science Fiction 3,000." I was told to leave the room. But I noticed that the "Guiding Light" was over and done at 55 minutes past the hour. Closing credits, and production trade mark and identification all wrapped up at :55. Then on came Katie Couric with a CBS "Newsbreak." She announced at the outset, that this was the last one. She did about a one minute update, followed by an additional update, obviously recorded, of local news by one of the morning anchors of our local CBS affiliate KGMB. In effect, a five minute newscast, but in this case, half network, half local. The fact that Katie announced it was the final broadcast, and the fact that the "Guiding Light" was over and self contained in 55 minutes, leads me to the conclusion that this was the final programming of its kind on American over the air network broadcasting. No, "Today", and "GMA" do not count (Brock Whaley, HI for DX Listening Digest, Sept 18) ** U S A. The mystery station KJI955 is still active on 1640 kHz. The signal is strongest while passing by the sign on the George Washington Parkway in the Langley, Virginia area about where one sees the oxymoronic sign for the "George Bush Center For Intelligence." Although it's been reported in the past that the station has been used to report events such as a helicopter landing in Langley Fork Park (see DXLD 3223, December 12, 2003), I've never heard anything on this station except for a lady's voice saying "This is KJI955 broadcasting on 1640 kilohertz" over and over and over. The station is audible for five miles or so on either side of a certain Big Government Facility in Langley. This is another example of "your tax dollars at work." (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, DXLDYG via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New HAR Station on 1380 in Smyrna DE --- For months I've suspected that the Delaware Department of Transportation had put up a new transmitter on 1380 in the Smyrna DE area. They run their main transmitter out of Wilmington, WTMC, with HAR stations in Dover and Rehoboth Beach, all on 1380. Recently, 1380 has been MUCH stronger, even at night. No way the Wilmington station is putting that strong into Smyrna (at 30 miles) with 14 watts night power. The Dover station probably runs 10 watts, so it can't be them. FCC searches and listening to WTMC fail to turn up anything in Smyrna. Even this morning, WTMC is still only announcing transmitters in Wilmington, Dover and Rehoboth Beach. On my commute this morning, I notice a new antenna at exit 104 off Delaware Route 1, on the southbound ramp to Route 1. It is about 25 feet tall, with a loop at the top and about a dozen radials. I never noticed it before. I turned on 1380 and the WTMC programming was simply overpowering. As I drove south on Route 1 toward Dover, the signal faded and I began betting the echo effect, as the Dover outlet began to come in. I'm convinced that DelDOT has put a transmitter in Smyrna on 1380, with the transmitter at Exit 104 (South Smyrna exit) off Delaware Route 1. But I can't find it in the FCC database and DelDOT is not mentioning it. But that's not unusual. I sniffed out the Dover transmitter several weeks before it showed up in the FCC records and before DelDOT confirmed it (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, Sept 18, IRCA via DXLD) Won't show up in the AM Query, but in a separate search so that`s why you don't see it. The TIS search used to be real easy years ago (Paul Walker, NE? ibid.) I know that. I didn't look in the AM query, but in what the FCC advertises as the HAR database, but i wonder how complete it is. It's not as easy to use as the AM/FM database. The DelDOT website is useless in hunting this down as well (John Cereghin, ibid.) ** U S A. DISCLAIMER FOR ALL LW/MW ITEMS, INCLUDING ALL TIS; MIS; PIRATE; AND LPAM ENTRIES, OR ANYTHING THAT CAN BE LINKED BACK TO A LW/MW REFERENCE: No portion of the below may be reproduced in any format and/or redistributed by the National Radio Club and/or their editors without my expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly -- and we do mean swiftly -- denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded, provided this entire disclaimer is included once where any of the aforementioned items are first reproduced. All times/dates are in GMT unless otherwise indicated. NOTE: All logs appended with [Mullet Key] were made at Ft. DeSoto County Park, Mullet Key, Florida by Gerry Bishop and Terry L Krueger using Gerry’s Sony ICF-2010 coupled to a 200-foot random wire on rolled out on the flat scrub dunes, next to the remnants of a pre- Columbian Tocobaga shell midden I’d never noticed before. 940, FLORIDA (MIS), WPTI814, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo [NOT]. Still off the air. This was last heard September 9th with seemingly no audio or transmitter issues. [Mullet Key] 1200 / 1460, FLORIDA, WPTK, Pine Island Center / WNPL, Golden Gate (respectively). 1201-1210 September 21, 2009. Tune-in to “The new Fox Sports Radio 1200… we had to give you another stick… now also on 1460…” canned promo on 1200. Indeed, parallel to 1460, though mixing with others. 1440, MISSISSIPPI, WRBE, Lucedale. 0155-0201 September 20, 2009. Fair in the mix of stations with Mississippi State vs. SE Louisiana sports. ID at 0200, back to game. Listed as DA1, so I guess someone “forgot” to turn it off. The Bulldogs URL lists WRBE-FM (106.9 MHz) as the affiliate. A bonus for the team tonight. 1460, FLORIDA, WZNZ, “Queen of Peace Radio”, Jacksonville. 1210-1220+ September 21, 2009. No ID but presume the one, mixing with WPTK (see 1200 entry) and presumed WQXM, Bartow, Florida (Spanish Mexican format). English language priest with solo sing-song scripture recitation. I initially searched Relevant Radio’s URL but no 1460 entry, then checked the FCC dB for Florida stations, and cross- referenced the various station websites. Surely the one; mostly faded out a little later in the morning upon re-check. I didn’t know there is/was a Queen of Peace. So, surely there is/was also a King of Minor Cross-Border Military Skirmishes? 1600.017, SOUTH CAROLINA, WKZK “Sonshine 16”, North Augusta. 1048-1102 September 21, 2009. Suddenly popped up on presumed pre-sunrise power shift with promo for the syndicated “Yolanda Adams Morning Show with (Brother) Larry Jones”, Urban gospel (henceforth officially dubbed URG), into network news (possibly SRN) at the goofy time of 1050-1053, back to URG vocals, ID at 1100 for this and 103.7 FM. Off-frequency, with the het detectable pre-1048, but quickly confirmed the source thanks to the power and/or antenna shift. A busy frequency, with presumed WLAA, Winter Garden, FL up at 1102 in Spanish. I last logged WKZK a month ago in Gainesville, [US] Georgia, but if they were off- frequency then, it wasn’t apparent on the ICF-7600GR inside a hotel room. 1610, FLORIDA, Florida Dept. of Transportation, Manatee County. 1918+ September 19, 2009. Pleased to hear this one making it to southern Pinellas County – surely the northernmost of the two transmitters that Krueger discovered last week while in the area (located just north of SR-70 on I-75), and running the same female loop. Fair signal. [Mullet Key] (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Had a great time at the [Albuquerque] convention [see below] this year and on the way back home I see that KVNA-600 in Flagstaff is back on the air. The signal is very poor much like is was at the Flagstaff convention last year. Also KBXZ-1650 The Fox Sports station is back on the air (Bill Block, Sept 22, IRCA via DXLD) KVNA is operating with its licensed power, but from a longwire of only 185 feet, so that would account for a less then stellar signal. Checking the FCC database, no KBXZ is currently licensed (Paul B. Walker, Jr., ibid.) Paul, Last year at the IRCA convention we had a tour of KVNA-600 and we were told that they were operating with less than 1000 watts. It had been off the air but is now back on. The Fox Sports station on 1650 has been on the air for several years. They are heard all over Flagstaff and they even have ads. I went to the station and they told me they are part 15 station! Arizona has many of these 15 stations and even Prescott has one. And I know that they all have more power than they should have (Bill Block, ibid.) Thanks for coming, Bill!! When I went through Flagstaff on my way TO Albuquerque I didn't notice 1650 (but I did hear 1680 of course) Maybe they came back a couple days later. Flagstaff is the kind of town I could visit over and over (Mike Sanburn, ibid.) ** U S A. Monster signals into UK this morning --- KMOX at 0604 UT http://www.geocities.com/paulcrankshaw/KMOXloud.wav (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Sept 17, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. West coast - request KFI 'exact' carrier frequency Looking for someone on the west coast to get an accurate reading on KFI's carrier frequency. I'm comparing a couple directional antennas and would like to use the KFI carrier as a signal source. A number of years back KFI's carrier developed quite a 'wiggle' and was easily identified and seen (Argo) here on the east coast. For those interested see the story at http://www.w3eee.com 'KFI'. I'm seeing a signal that is from the west but can't tell for sure if it's KFI. The 'wiggle' has long since been repaired and there are a number of carriers close to 640 kHz. The one I think may be KFI is about 9.75 Hz higher than 640 kHz. Information on other possible west coast 'beacons' would be appreciated as well (Jay W1VD WD2XNS WE2XGR/2, Lowfer mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer (via Steve Ratzlaff, OR, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. IS AM RADIO STILL RELEVANT? by Randy J. Stine, 08.30.2009 WASHINGTON The golden age of AM radio it's not. From clear-channel powerhouses to small rural stations that still feature a grain report, the news for owners on the U.S. AM radio band is fairly grim. The economic recession has exerted a severe financial toll on many AM licensees, in a few cases forcing owners to take the drastic step of turning their stations off when they can't pay their bills and leading others to trim staff to minimum levels. The once-dominant method of broadcasting is struggling to remain viable in the 21st century, in the eyes of many observers. This article is the first in a series exploring whether the AM band is still relevant, its challenges, how its business models are changing and what might happen to it. . . [more] http://www.radioworld.com/article/86252 (via Paul Ormandy, ZL4PW, NZ, Sept 21, Ripple mailing list via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 6125, S.O.D.R.E. (relaying MW 1050, Radio Uruguay, Montevideo), at 2130 on Sept 19. Good modulation at last and decent signal, too but suffering some co-channel QRM. Propagation rapidly wiping it out. 6125, S.O.D.R.E. (retrasmitiendo OM 1050, Radio Uruguay, Montevideo), a las 2130 en Sep. 19. Buena modulacion al fin y decente señal, también; pero sufriendo algo de QRM co-canal. Las condiciones de propagación la barrieron rapidamente. Kenwood R600, randomwire 15 m long. 73 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 3945, presumed R. Vanuatu Port Vila, 1013, Sept 15, vernacular. Announcer with music & talk; weak under 3947-LSB chatter; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m, dipole dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, R. Vanuatu, 1200, Sept. 19. In English; pop song; DJ IDs all the songs he played; at 1202: “11:00 on Radio Vanuatu”, (I have often noted their timing as not very accurate); “Evening devotional from . . Church”; Christian religious sermon; more pop songs; sign off announcement mentions short wave and medium wave frequencies; Anthem; signed off a few seconds before 1220. On Sept. 20 checked at 1201; unable to hear them, so assume off the air. A different schedule for Sunday? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, Radio Vanuatu (Port Vila) (presumed), 0921-1001, 9/22/2009, Pidgin/English? Island flavored pop music with short announcements by woman. After 0930, long talk by man with occasional comments or questions by woman. Poor signal with fading, above the noise about 60% of the time. Occasional heavy ARO interference. Could not determine language used. My last log of this station was in 2006 (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, E1, Attic Mounted 90' Random Wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New 3945 is well heard mornings and evenings here around 1900 and from 0500, but local coverage is reported not very good, so possibly will move to a lower frequency. 3210 has been suggested (Bryan Clark, Mangawai, Northland, RNZI Mailbox Sept 21, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN [non]. 9900, Sept 18 at 1314-1315* VR IS, flutter, carrier remained on a bit past 1315. Aoki shows this at 1230-1313 only, in Chinese via Novosibirsk, RUSSIA, 111 degrees, i.e. right across China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Vatican in Italian on 9645 had at 1440 a programme with classical music, suffering a bit from the typical transmission quality of Santa Maria di Galeria, i.e. a bit narrow audio (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also POLAND ** VENEZUELA [non]. After last Sunday`s fake-out, I paid closer attention to Aló, Presidente frequencies via Cuba on Sept 20. No sign of them at 1423, altho RHC 13680, normally running until 1500, was absent as if the transmitter were being moved to an A,P channel. Mainly monitored 13750 which is the major A,P channel here and not used otherwise by Cuba. Finally at 1546 found a big carrier cutting on and off, 1547 joining Hugo in progress, but still going off and on at 1548. Meanwhile, 13680 now on weakly with // Hugo. Could also make him out on 11690, almost // an echo apart from 13750, but not on the other nominal channels 12010 and 17750. So it appears that the DentroCubans are no longer providing their own sesquihour prolog from 1400, but just turning on some transmitters whenever they get around to it. Did not check again until 1928, and found a different situation with Hugo still blathering against capitalism on these frequencies from best to worst: 12010, 17750, 11690, JBA 13680 but 13750 off the air. See CUBA for more observations during this period (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. New `East Sea` service of VOV-1 is supposed to be on 9635 until 1500, but no sign of it here Sept 19 around 1300, just CVC Chile (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. VOV, 6175 via Sackville, caught last few minutes of transmission UT Fri Sept 18: 0523 in progress, Vietnamese language lesson presented in English, even tho this is not during an English block --- so people listening this hour already speak Vietnamese!! Seems to be a regular aberration around this time, not sure on which days of week. At 0525, a useful phrase one must have on the tip of one`s tongue in Vietnam was ``the rabbit`s ear is inside the ink bottle`` --- perhaps some cultural background is necessary to understand its deep significance. No discernible sign-off, but 0527 cut to usual VTC guitar music fill until 0529 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.2, 18/9 2001, RASD National Radio, Clandestine, Arabic, news, good (Giampiero Bernardini, urban Milano, Italia, Drake R8; Icom R71E; TenTec RX321, T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. TANZANIA, 11735, R. Tanzania, Dole, Zanzibar, 1603-, 19 Sep, Swahili, news, talks; 44433, QRM de BRAZIL. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11735, RTZ noted off air from tune in 1757 to 1819 when they returned in Swahili with very good signal. Sept 19/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, Racal RA17C, 7-30 MHz Log Periodic, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWEAN RADIO STATION SWRA: 'WE WANT TO BROADCAST A LITTLE HOPE' We just need old media. We just need radio. We just need people to be allowed to listen to radio," explains Gerry Jackson, the founder of Zimbabwean radio station SW Radio Africa (SWRA). The western media's ongoing debate about the future of journalism and online media is amusing in comparison, says Jackson, who set up the station in the UK after being forced into hiding in Zimbabwe. After being granted the right to open Zimbabwe's first independent radio station in 2000, Jackson was forced to shut it down after just six days of test broadcasts. Undeterred, she moved to the UK to launch the station in December 2001 and now broadcasts a daily evening schedule, which are also available as podcasts. Repeated attempts by the Zimbabwean government to jam the station's signal have recently stopped, she tells Journalism.co.uk, which is just as well as the station doesn't have the funding available to get around it. "We're still being heard. We're clearly getting up their noses quite a lot at the moment. Even they realise that it would look really bad in terms of the unity government, but there is still a simplistic view that the opposition can shut us down," says Jackson. Within Zimbabwe independent media is a foreign, if not unheard, idea. There are laws in place that won't allow it, says Jackson, explaining that recent television phone-in programme was banned after achieving a media first for the country when it featured Movement for Democratic Change [MDC, the former opposition party] and Zanu PF politicians in the same broadcast. "They don't want people talking freely, they don't want openness. They get very cross with us. "They [Zanu PF] have always referred to us as a pirate radio station. My next line item in the budget is parrots, wooden legs and eye patches," she jokes. "There's no understanding of the free media - and that's been one of our hardest tasks - there never has been a Zimbabwean independent radio station. People don't really understand the concept and although we've been broadcasting for nearly eight years it's still only now beginning to sink in." . . . [more] http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/535830.php (via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DXLD) Note jamming stopped CLANDESTINE: 4880. SW R. Africa, Meyerton, AFS, 1659-1757, 20 Sep, English to Zimbabwe, IS (presumed), announcements, African songs, talks, news; 35221, so really tough to read, but it gradually improved to 45333, a rating observed at 1745. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 930 Arabic and warble --- Noted at 0528 UTC on 930 kHz - Arabic chanting and warble http://www.geocities.com/paulcrankshaw/930unid.wav Ken Baird had commented last night on the warble but this morning it was accompanied by Arabic chanting. Possibly the warble is a jamming signal. Ken has some observations on this at http://www.ayrshirehistory.eu/tadx/transatlantic_logs_september_2009.html (Paul Crankshaw, Scotland, Sept 17, MWC via DXLD) Was talking to Ken Baird earlier and he mentioned the warbling noise on 930 and I remembered I have been getting it the past few days as well and I thought it was local noise but it seems DXers in UK Norway are getting it as well the following recording was made at 0528 UT so most of the Euro mush would have been faded or going so this made me think it`s coming from the west as that`s where my flag is beaming, has anyone else heard this on 930 and any ideas what it is. Could it be a jammer from Cuba or Ven????? here is the warble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h82e3d7FWI&feature=channel_page (David Hamilton, UK, ibid.) Does anyone have any ideas about the source of the Arabic chanting and warble (not necessarily the same source but possibly related) heard here this morning. The warble has been heard for some time but I'm not aware of the Arabic being reported on. I did find a message on HCDX (7 Dec 08) from Albert Muick in Kabul noting what seemed to be the Koran being chanted on 930. But it seemed to be a one-off. Ken Baird 20 miles SE of me has posted some observations along with the text of Albert's message at http://www.ayrshirehistory.eu/tadx/transatlantic_logs_september_2009.html and this is my recording from 0528 UT today. At this time the greyline passes through France, Spain, Morocco and Nigeria, so is well to the west of Saudi Arabia. http://www.geocities.com/paulcrankshaw/930unid.wav (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Sept 17, IRCA via DXLD) Paul, The Wobbler on 930 is nearly perpetual and presumed by knowledgeable Florida DXers to originate from R. Surco, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. Probably not so the Arabic programming. I have heard this Wobbler almost any time I cared to tune in, sometimes at extreme levels. Of all those heard over the years, 930 remains the most frequent and strongest. Most of the others have subsided or disappeared, presumably as a result of decrepit equipment finally being repaired or replaced. My past investigations of the Wobbler are chronicled at my web site, link below (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida, USA http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 1600, USA. 1045-1055 UT September 21, 2009. Presumed Southern Baptist screaming preacher/healer with lots of “halleluiah, praise Jesus” and one very cool “The bacteria had gone from two to 2- million in one hour.” Would think the cure would be the other way around. Lost in the mix of others on 1600 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: Pirate Stations on 1710 --- Glenn, I heard Radio Mil-1710 announce 5 watts at sign-off at 0020. My receiver is a Drake R8B, not likely a mixing product. Radio Encliopedia Popular definitely on 1710 kHz. 4 carriers on 1720 (Charles (Cholly) WD4INP Taylor, NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Everyone, Radio Mil, the Mexican Rap station signed-off a few night ago at 0020: announced 5 watts. Recorder not running (Charles WD4INP Taylor, NC, Sept 21, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5008.3 / 5004.3, 1956+ September 20, 2009. Fairly weak carrier only, audible on the NRD-535 and ICF-R75. A check at 1948 on September 21: nothing on 5008.3, but virtually the same signal level carrier on 5004.3, surely the same source (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6425, melodic songs!!!!!!, 1045 UT Sept 13, transmisión in Korean!!!!!, announcement by female, 25442 (Arnaldo Slaen, in a DX Camp in Villa Loguercio, small town near Lobos Lake, to 120 kms. to South/West from Buenos Aires City. DXpeditionars: Miguel Castellino, Hector Goyena & Arnaldo Slaen, Receivers: Two Degen 1103, Antenna: an active antenna and a longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7887.0 at 2018 Monday Sept 21, 5-digit YL Spanish spy number groups with some hum and very weak Morse code audible in background. Tried to recognize a `DE CLA` ID but too much voice modulation, on huge S9+20 signal, the strongest by far of anything below 9385, and nothing like it on 7 MHz, with CHU 7850 and WBCQ 7415 pipsqueax by comparison. Cuban spies in the USA must use very insensitive SW radios requiring such RHC-level 250+ kW transmitters for this. Did not notice exactly when the final, final came, but open carrier stayed running long afterwards, off at 2047* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9600.4, again hearing that intriguing het, possibly XEYU trying to operate with peanutpower, Sept 20 at 0612 against 9600.0 station in French, i.e. Radio Bulgaria. At this time little else was audible on 31m, the best being a weakish WYFR on 9680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Anomaly on 9 MHz: at 0820 there was a dreadful digital mess between about 9718 - 9739 that was difficult to figure out. Possibly - tentatively - there could have been a DRMer on about 9730 and a non-DRM, but digital noise, on about 9736. Probably it was something similar that Kai Ludwig recently heard on 11995. Why are these transmissions operating in a broadcast band when there is kHz of empty space outside? (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Anomaly on 9 MHz: at 0810 UT a lady reading the same numbers over and over in what I think was the Russian language on 9840 USB. If she had a message I didn't hear it before tuning away. (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Noted at 1452 on 11995 a strong signal that sounded like an ARQ-mode utility station, although perhaps it was no ARQ. Any ideas about this intruder? Or perhaps just some broadcasting transmitter running amuck? (Kai Ludwig on a meadowland in eastern Germany, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 90.7 mystery possibly near Baltimore. http://bill.dxclipjoint.com/index.php?q=f&f=%2Fmystery (the first clip is a 10 minute long aircheck, and the second is a shorter 30 second ID clip.) I have good reason to believe this is a pirate station in Baltimore. However, I would like to figure out if this could be a legit station. They did not ID at the TOH so I have no clue if they are a more distant station. They were fairly strong and constant here in Elkridge, about what I would expect for an LP station in Baltimore. The announcer had a Caribbean English accent and it was hard to understand him at times. Due to my failing ears, I can not decipher the slogan he used in the second clip. Any help would be appreciated (Bill Harms, Sept 18, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Amigos: coloquei nos arquivos da lista do radioescuta o audio da gravação que fiz agora há pouco da emissora que transmitia em inglês em 95.5 MHz. acredito ser uma emissora de MontSerrat (Anderson José Torquato, Garopaba, Santa Catarina, Brasil, Sept 22, radioescutas yg via DXLD) This heralds the onset of the equinoxial trans-equatorial propagation FMDX season. It`s a screaming preacher with a Caribbean accent, with audience response, ending with ``in the name of Jesus``. According to Emisoras de FM, the exhaustive Caribbean/Central America/Mexico map book [which no one in Brazil ordered and], which also gives formats, it`s most likely Trinidad, i95.5, Port of Spain, The Tower of Strength, news-talk-religion with 25 kW. ZJB in Montserrat format is soca-reggae-chr, but of course that does not rule out some religion also at times but more likely on a Sunday than a Monday if that is the day you heard it. There are other 95.5 stations in English speaking areas: Anguilla, Saba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, but religion not mentioned in formats. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ A token of appreciation for the dean of DXers, at the autumnal equinox (Gerald T Pollard, NC, with a generous check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702; and an `Upper Mississippi River Basin` card from http://nature.org Nature Conservancy) Glenn, I see this is your last MT column [Oct issue]. There is less and less radio material in there. Much of the stuff they write about is just too specialized for my interests. Guess the timing is good. My last issue on the current subscription comes next month. Don't guess I'll renew. Thanks for your work on the column. It was always informative. Regards, (Alan Furst, Round Rock TX, Sept 21) I sold some equipment, FRG-100, etc. recently and thus had some money in my PayPal account. I thought of you! Thanks again for your excellent service (Rich Mitchell, to woradio at yahoo.com) I started downloading your pod cast (via the WRN site) on to my Sanyo internet radio --- nice way to enjoy the broadcast at times when being in front of the radio is not convienient. 73 (Sean Welsh, http://www.ve3oz.com Sept 19) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ IRCA, ALBUQUERQUE NM The towers of Albuquerque Here are most of today's photos. Most aren't labeled yet and the business meeting is about to start so I'll label them later. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcgibson55/sets/72157622287895203/detail (Dennis Gibson, WB6TNB, Sept 19, IRCA via DXLD) plus KKOB-770 studios Day 1 of the IRCA convention went pretty well. Radio station tours included KKOB (plus several other stations in the same building) and KALY. Both interesting in their own way. I know it was great to visit KKOB because KOB was my first verification... AND... address harvesting by Don Erickson for IRCA recruiting included my name. I wouldn't have heard about IRCA if it weren't for KOB. Bob Wien just finished a tough "DX Quiz"... the meeting room is still open with a lot of radio chat. Tomorrow, Transmitter site tours, IRCA Business Meeting, Banquet with guest speaker from KKOB, and the somewhat infamous auction to wrap up the day. Keep DXing and please, don't forget to report what you hear to the IRCA column editors. I'll be Editor-in-Chief for a while longer, and I NEED your support (Phil Bytheway, Opposite Ends Publishing Committee, IRCA via DXLD) I'm not sure but my first sample copy of DX Monitor many years ago might have originated with a KOB reception report as well!! The folks at both KKOB and KALY were very gracious for taking time out of their busy day to welcome us. 'Looking forward to tomorrow`s tower site trips, business meeting, banquet, and auction. Keeping the tradition of IRCA convention alive and well. 73 (Mike Sanburn, ibid.) IRCA Convention - Day 2 Day 2 was superb. First thing, Bob Wien led a number of cars on a several hour tour of local radio station transmitter sites. Although I went on a "shorter" tour with Doug Pifer, reports indicated Bob's tour was great! After lunch, many folks met in our meeting room to chat and otherwise share verification collections, pictures and just plain gab! Our annual Business meeting, conducted by Doug Pifer and myself, went well... no real issues were discussed since we reported that DXM was back on track with Lee Freshwater and myself keeping things going until Dan's crisis is over. The banquet, at the Golden Corral was great. Our guest speaker, from KKOB, told a fascinating series of stories about the history of KOB/KKOB. Regrouping at our meeting room, the TVA and RHA awards were presented along with a special "surprise" award for myself (thank you very much, you stinkers!!!) We then moved on to the annual auction with Mike Sanburn and myself bringing in nearly $350. for future Bookstore activities. The last auction item was a brand new CCRadio 2!! Room was "cleaned" up, group shots were taken and the convention wrapped up around 11:00 or so. A couple of sight seeing trips are planned tomorrow for those who are not leaving right away. Thanks folks.... I had a great time! (Phil Bytheway, Opposite Ends Publishing Committee, ibid.) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ 40 m: Intruder Watch with Perseus Hallo - on my website you'll find an article on how to do professional monitoring, observing the 40 m amateur radio band in respect to intruders: http://is.gd/3rODC The richly illustrated PDF (2 MB) also discusses the influence of "defending the band", based on VoAArea's coverage maps. Alas, the article has been written in German. But its general ideas should be easily understood by the most universal language: illustration. So you should give it a try. The reaction in Germany (and around) to this kind of professional monitoring were quite funny, and somewhat noteworthy to tell: * the article has been offered to the IARU-Club in Germany, namely the DARC, for publication: no reaction * no reaction also from the Swiss USKA, the Austrian ÖVSV (their respective IARU Clubs) * even no reaction from IARU's Region 1 band watch, which instead is doing "monitoring" with a 30 years old scanning receiver, noting the AGC voltage of 5 kHz channels as a sum (they even have published this stone-aged method just recently!) * Germany's biggest special interest magazine "Funkamateur" ("ham"), being distributed nationwide via newsstands, explicitly rejected the manuscript Thus, the article has had a side effect: it showed how - at least: German - hams conservatively are sticking to their brass. An interesting result also, if unintentionally revealed. If someone wants to translate the article: please feel more than invited! (73 Nils Schiffhauer, DK8OK via Perseus yahoo group, via SW Bulletin Sept 20 via DXLD) SHORTWAVEMUSIC // Return // 1 Oct 09 The SHORTWAVEMUSIC blog is back online with new material. Please visit us at our new home: http://www.myke.me Thanks, and enjoy. Best - (Myke D Weiskopf, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ HOW TO ABBR. KILOHERTZ AND MEGAHERTZ et al. Among the correxions I am constantly having to make to try to keep DXLD at a high editorial standard, unnecessarily eating up my time: abbreviating these two pervasive frequencial terms. People are always mixing up which one gets a capital first letter and which does not --- or they don`t realize that there is any distinxion. If you learn your metric prefices, you know that kilo takes a small k-, and mega takes a large M --- otherwise, m means milli (1/1000 instead of 1,000,000) so that little difference amounts to three orders of magnitude, and we sure are not talking about milliHertz, in these circles, anyway. Furthermore the abbr. for Hertz is Hz, not hz. So here are the correct ones: kHz, and MHz. The same should apply in all languages. The business about k- and M- also applies to other units such as Watts, capital W, so kW and MW. Further2more, frequencies below the FM band in DXLD are always given in kHz, not MHz --- the dot just adds to the clutter, and who needs it? Keeping all the frequencies in kHz also facilitates later searching, but if you don`t find some number as a kHz, you`d better search for it as a MHz in case one of those slipped thru. MHz is still appropriate if just referring generally to a band or frequency range, not a specific frequency. The abbrs. kHz and MHz, like all other physical terms, do not have a period after them. Further3more, please reduce clutter by NOT putting ``kHz`` after every frequency in a list of them. The first one is sufficient, and if you leave it off, everyone will know it`s kHz anyway. When you do put kHz after a frequency, please do not attach it to the number, but leave a space. Ditto for UTC, not after every single time, tho in this case it`s a good idea to specify if once just to be absolutely clear irrelevant local times are not increeping. Further4more, UT is all we need, not UTC, except when directly quoting something, or referring to stations broadcasting extremely accurate timesignals. The C means coordinated, and the difference between UTc (properly as subscript) UT1, UT2, etc. is insignificant for our non- precise scientific purposes, so just call it UT or Universal Time. Period. There are lots of other little editorial niceties which apply in DXLD and those who read it carefully will not need to be reminded of them. The closer your writing is to DXLD editorial conventions, the less work it is for your editor, who thanks you dearly (gh, DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY See IRAN; ISRAEL; NEW ZEALAND; LANGUAGE LESSONS +++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM see also ANTARCTICA; EGYPT; GERMANY; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INDIA; INDONESIA; NEW ZEALAND; NIGERIA; USA; UNIDENTIFIED 9718+ SOCCER ON DRM Hi Glenn, 2009-09-18 12:53 --- I have a bit of news that I thought might be worth sharing. On Friday August 28 before 1300z, I heard a strong UNID DRM signal on 6040. So I activated DREAM and tried to decode what's up. Contrary to any station received so far, there was no "MSC" (Main Service Channel) for audio but 2 separate data channels (see [screenshots were attached] DRM_WAZ_Nachrichten_6040kHz_2009-08- 28_1250z.png), one Journaline newscast with misc. German language news, and a second channel offering an "MOT Broadcast Web Site". I kept "listening" (decoding) for a few minutes and the result finally was an htm file consisting of a .gif picture and a text. It looked line this (see DRM_WAZ_Nachrichten_6040kHz_2009-08-28_1251z.png). The text says: 90elf = 90eleven, obiously a hint towards the eleven players in any soccer team. Yes, it's about soccer. The translation: 90eleven - Your Football (soccer) Radio Shortly to follow summaries from the premier league conference (*) and further reports on the games of the premier league. I haven't heard this after August 28 again so far. To explain the text content, you should understand every Saturday afternoon when most Bundesliga (literally: federal league) teams play, there are regular so-called "conferences" on German Public Radio (ARD), which is nothing but live reports from the different games all over the country and the reporters are always on the air whenever/wherever something relevant (in sports terms :-) happens. So my guess is they plan a wireless add-on service via DRM Shortwave (possibly) or maybe also MW/LW, who knows. I guess this was a test on a Friday (regular working day) to see how the system performs. My personal conclusion is that despite the relatively high data rates on the SDC (Secondary Data Channel), reception was pretty reliable and much less drop-outs occurred than on the usual more densely packed MSC. So let's wait and see whether DRM will further spoil the midst of the 49m band for "silly ball games" info. Another DRM story: I had not logged/heard any signal from RTL on 6095 kHz in a while. But on the day before, Thursday August 27 around 1446z, RTL was back on 6095 with their pseudo stereo music program and an additional low data rate Journaline service (see DRM_RTLradio_6095kHz_1446z_2009-08-27.png). Their Journaline text claims "the future begins - now and today: on MW 1440 kHz and SW 6095 kHz we broadcast our program also digitally in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). Every day from 1-5 and 9-18 hours [local time]. We're testing the future for you as early as now. More on DRM at www.drm.org." Well, I thought they have left the consortium and also discontinued their transmissions but seem to relaunch them occasionally in the local afternoons. MW is still regular all day but too weak here in SE Germany for proper decoding during the day in the non-winter seasons. P.S.: The time in the screenshots refers to local European DST = UTC+2 Best regards (Tobias, Germany, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM and DAB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IN AUSTRALIA [continued from EGYPT] and elsewhere Here in Australia, I am told the roll-out of DRM receivers is slow. And in country areas, where I am, we don't even have DRM yet. For city-dwellers, who want to listen in the car, there is an adapter available, which plugs into the MP3 input of any car radio. That is a good idea because it will take awhile before digital receivers are in all new cars. Personally, I fail to understand the DRM push, especially in Third World countries. It will take years for DRM receivers to have any impact and I'm not so sure it ever will. Think of places like India or China. How many radios are in use? How long would it take to replace them with digital-capable radios? I think it's all a pipe dream. In a similar vein --- my sister lives just 20-miles from Tampa. She and her partner have switched from free-to-air, to cable TV. I asked her why and the response was, "With all the trees around we got tired of having digital reception drop-outs. Easier to get the same stuff on cable (or satellite)." Digital technology is nice, but what's the point if the radio or TV signal drops out during fringe reception moments? I can guarantee you...first hurricane to hit the US and you'll find BIG reception issues with both digital radio and TV. Take care, (David Sharp, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You seem to be indicating there is DRM in Au cities, but I think it is a non-DRM form of digital audio broadcasting, is it not? (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Sorry for the confusion. I believe in Australian capital cities, they are using DAB+. However, the chief engineer of my station seems to think DRM will be used in country (rural) areas, due to reception problems (and he is progressing with my station's eventual digitization on the pretext it will be DRM). So, we may end up with two different standards here. Sorry for the confusion, as I had DRM on the mind. What I said about the digital receivers is accurate. A person high up in the auto industry says it will "be a while" before the roll-out of digital radios in cars. I am told the digital converter plugs in to the car's analogue radio MP3 input (though I have not seen these converters). (David Sharp, NSW Australia, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KWTV AND KWTV, TWICE THE CHANNELS [continued from 9-071; this item we posted has led to a VERY informative thread --- gh] Just some statistics that I have kept track of since 2001 when WLIO-DT went on. The majority of the small, budget antennas favor UHF reception, for obvious reason. The main reasons viewers provide for using small antennas is; a) recommended by PSAs, b) low profile, getting away from the traditional rooftop antenna. Personal comment: I think the public has gotten so used to Dish services and cable that antennas sometimes are forgotten. It seems to be a lost art, well, at least to some. :) 95% of the people that can't get our station are using rabbit ears. Several were located in basements more than 10 miles from the transmitter. The public sees the ads that say "52 dB Amplified VHF/UHF set top antenna, capable of 50 mile reception", and think that is their solution. The remaining 4.8% are pancake (RV) antennas, and Halo antennas that fit around the top of a satellite dish. Clearly, public education is needed. The way I have addressed it is to point viewers to clubs such as WTFDA, and toward other viewers in the area that "get it". Around here, a simple Y5-7-13 with a Antenna Direct DB4 will get most anything in the area. Oh, and what about the .2%? We had someone selling a little box that plugs into the wall outlet (power) and claims to use the house's wiring for an antenna. :) The only small antenna that has shown some promise has been the Winegard HD1080, which I recommend to people who have dish services, or live in apartments. It's small enough not to bother most people. But Doug is correct, some antennas, although they claim VHF reception, can't pick up signals dependably. In our community (Lima) there is a proliferation of cable (73.7% penetration), but out in farm country it's almost all antenna. Since transitioning to digital, the people that have a traditional yagi and panel or parabolic antenna are having no problems with reception. This includes 40 year old Channel Master antennas that are still up. In our case this helped us as WLIO-35(analog) to WLIO-8(digital) picked up viewers. Household that got cheap antennas are still struggling (and cursing). Viewers who have embraced the outside rooftop or tower antenna have been thrilled. A lot of people in our area are enjoying their TV more now that they can get us, and other stations out of town (Toledo, Ft Wayne, Dayton, Columbus). With these additional stations, and the multicasting streams, we've found that some viewers are dropping their dish and cable services for free OTA. Outside antennas also help with what people term low power stations. WLIO-35 (analog) was 661,000 watts. WOHL-35 (digital) is 9,000 watts. But the people who had outside "traditional antennas" are getting the digital signal in all the places where analog is received. Typically, we get about 30 miles radius from 9,000 watts at 525 aat. Furthest non-DX viewer is Bowling Green OH at 52.3 miles. Just to revisit the multipath situation for a moment, some of my fellow engineers in Toledo and Columbus are saying that the F.C.C. allow across the board power increases two and in some cases three fold. I don't think power is the solution. It stands to reason that if you have 5,000 watts ERP and have multipath at -3dB down from carrier hitting the viewers antenna, the power increase will still yield -3dB multipath, and still a problem with decoding. If any members would like a nice project to do after DX season, and perhaps something to help the hobby and the WTFDA, I really think a video on how to install a traditional antenna system would help. Who knows, it might make some money. Show selection of antennas, how to install it, position it, wire it to the set, amplifier, traps, etc. If you could provide a DVD, I think people would embrace something other than a sheet of paper or web page. Also, if you do antenna installs, make yourself known to the chief engineer of your local stations. I have a list of people in our area, and often when a viewer calls and needs help, I'll give them the names. Guys like you in the club are light years ahead of your box store salesman. If you just can provide an inventory list of what to buy, where to buy, and how to do it, that would be great! Make up a nice brochure as a club project with the club's name on it, and send it to TV stations, or make a PDF to post on their web site. If they want to put their logo on it instead of the club's name, then license the publication to the station for a donation to the club. Just a thought (Fred Vobbe, WLIO-TV, Lima OH, WTFDA via DXLD) Rather than quote many of the comments about the troubles many people seem to be having with VHF DTV reception, I'll summarize some of the issues and problems involved. Myth #1 "DTV does not work". Fact: while some people are having unforeseen problems getting reliable reception of digital signals, in some cases when they had enjoyed good analog reception, many others are getting good service from DTV (you don't hear about it, because they are not complaining), and others are getting better and more reliable reception from digital. The "victims" usually fall into three categories: - 1) people who had been tolerating AWFUL analog reception, with heavy ghosting and/or very snowy pictures, and the digital signal is not good enough for any picture. People in disadvantaged areas (e.g., Detroit proper, South Los Angeles, Chicago's suburbs) often fit this category, as they live in Faraday cages (brick homes with iron bars covering every window). - 2) People in smaller markets, where stations, aware that many viewers are using cable or satellite, and having to operate on a budget, have built digital facilities that never could cover the same area as their older analog plants did. - 3) People in places where DTV has brought a formerly unused band into use, like people in deep valleys that had depended on VHF-only, or people in former UHF-only areas with small or indoor antennas suddenly needing VHF capability (note WKYT's rush to get back on UHF). Myth #2: "VHF High does not work" or "has no advantages over UHF". Not as easy to dismiss as myth 1, however, Facts: - 1) Multipath is NOT a problem unique to VHF. With the possible exception of aircraft scatter, multipath is worse at UHF than it is at UHF. UHF does have the advantage over VHF at structure penetration and noise (both natural and artificial). VHF actually does offer the potential for greater distances than UHF. The problem with High VHF is that High VHF stations are running much less power than UHF, and, in some cases (the most problematic VHF high stations), drastically less power (in some cases, less than 1% of maximum). Part of the problem may have been caused by a misguided effort to get VHF stations and UHF stations on an "equal footing", like Class B FM stations are in a major market. The coverage areas were based on a hypothetical ideal (outdoor antenna at 30', no unnatural RFI sources within the TV bands), and the VHF power levels were calculated to cause LOS at the same distance as the higher power UHF level. The BIG problem is, not every OTA household meets the ideal, and the fact that a station is on VHF does not have an effect equivalent to running more power, rather an effect equivalent to being on a TALLER TOWER. Take the most famous VHF-High disappointment, WLS-7 in Chicago. Because they are in Zone I, and transmit from an "overtall" structure (the Willis Tower), they were only allowed 4.75 kW. 4.75 kW on VHF high from the Willis is NOT the same thing as 50 kW on UHF from the Willis - it is more like 4.75 kW on UHF from the Burj Dubai. Now, 4.75 kW is below the maximum of even a low-power digital on UHF (15 kW). But if one were to transmit a UHF DTV signal with 4.75 kW from half a mile over The Loop (i.e., as if the Burj Dubai were in The Loop), you would have a station that is hard to receive indoors throughout Chicagoland, yet would come in fine with an outdoor antenna in Chicago, it's suburbs, or out past Racine and Kankakee. In cities where VHF-high stations can run 10-30 kW, there are still problems, but not nearly as bad (Some complaints in Detroit and Toledo - but not nearly as many as in Chicago). In some rural markets, returning to the original VHF high is the way to go. Better reception through forests (especially needleleaf-tree type) and in ares with hills, and many residents already have outdoor VHF antennas aimed at the local VHF stations. The argument that "the problem on VHF high is not the lack of power, it is the noise" does not make much sense. If you increase the power, you increase the signal-to-noise ratio, so more power does help. I haven't read of many complaints of poor reception of KIII (8) in Corpus Christi (running 160 kW). So what to do about VHF-high? IMHO, first, get the "VHF orphans" in larger markets onto UHF, even if you have to hand out a few waivers of "bump" a Class A to another channel with the same coverage. Don't force VHF highs in mixed markets to move if they don't want to, and encourage use of VHF high in markets that are rural or beset with terrain or forestation issues. Then, allow VHF high stations a fourfold increase in power, which would be matched with increasing the field strength of the coverage curves by 6 dB (providing the same interference-protected area and must-carry area). This might be difficult to work out with Canada and/or México, however. As for VHF-low, that's a whole different ballgame. When you're on VHF low, you are like a 500-watt station near the bottom of the AM broadcast band. You may cover a good distance under ideal conditions, but you are at the mercy of man-made interference sources and lightning, even close to the transmitter. I have a 10 kW, 500' AAT, channel 5 DTV, 24 miles West of me. With my CM 3020 at 33', they come in fine, through a 220 degree sweep of the antenna from SSE through NNE, even with thunderstorms until a storm gets quite close, but NOTHING works with an indoor antenna to get DTV 5 anywhere in the house. Many people have not tried to listen to an AM radio or watch a VHF low analog (before 12 June) station with rabbit ears anytime recently. Lowband VHF analog and AM radio worked indoors before the late 1980's, when VHF-low had no interference from switching power supplies (for cellular and cordless telephones, personal music players, battery chargers, etc) or personal computers, but in 2009, most homes (and ALL offices and businesses) are packed full of RF noise. One is tempted to suggest that lowband VHF DTVs get a TWENTYfold increase in power, with a matching 13 dB field strength for the service contour (and since building penetration and noise are so severe for indoor, a 30[!] dB increase in the much-smaller city-grade curve). Personally, I believe the entire lowband should have been reallocated to a service using a more robust type of signal (e.g., 200 kHz slots of audio-only emission). Reallocating lowband would have also assured that all DTV stations could have been received with antennas of reasonable size (Robert Grant (N8NU), rg3d @ yahoo.com ibid.) A common "lake-effect" visitor here is WWNY-7 Carthage-Watertown, NY at 199 miles. With 25 kW it blasts in here often. At least as strong as WWTI-21 (also 25 kW). WHEC-10 Rochester at 100 miles (18 kW) seems just as, or even more reliable then when it was analog. While WHAM-13 has problems due to semi-local analog CKCO-13. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Grimsby, Ont., ibid.) DTV reception issues - UHF vs. H-VHF vs. L-VHF, myths The FCC, and some in the industry underestimated several things in the path to the DTV rollout: 1 - effect of multipath close in 2 - number of homes with one or more sets getting good reception with minimal indoor antennas (in fact they may have ignored those in homes where one set is on cable) 3 - the necessary power levels for both high and low VHF for digital to even approximate analog coverage. Each of those impacts folks who, like me, have had excellent reception of analog signals with rabbit ears at 5-10 miles from the transmitters, and suddenly lost the VHF stations and had marginal reception of some UHFs once the switch hit. I believe this all goes back to the prior budget cuts at the FCC and the simultaneous preference for lawyers and accountants there instead of engineers (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, 40:08:45N; 75:16:04W, Grid FN20id, ibid.) Au contraire, Robert. Here is my bit on this subject. Karl Zuk N2KZ The transition to digital television has come and gone and the results are in. When it works, it works well --- providing ghost and noise free pictures with an enormous full gamut of colors. The key phrase: ``When it works.`` It simply doesn`t. Over-the-air TV is used by three groups of viewers: People in cities without pay TV, people in rural areas beyond the reach of pay TV and a few people in suburbia who don`t want to pay for pay TV. I recently visited rural Michigan and the comments were universal wherever I went: ``Why did they turn off TV?`` Digital TV actually means no TV to many, many viewers. My family`s home in mid-Michigan is about 75 miles from the closest TV broadcaster. Previous to the transition we could see quite a few channels with varying degrees of snow and continuity. Because of our great distance from the origins of these analog broadcasts, weather and ionospheric conditions could change our reception wildly. Regardless of reception conditions, you could always see something. America has now turned off its analog broadcasts. One of Canada`s two major networks, CTV, has recently dropped its analog TV broadcasting from many outlying regions of Ontario. All that remains, in my area of mid-Michigan, are three distant channels all carrying Canada`s other TV network CBC. If you took the advice of broadcasters and bought a converter box or new digital TV you would be heading for the return counter. My top-of- the-line Zenith DTT901 converter not only did not work in mid- Michigan, it did not see any signals at all. Not one. Zero. The televisions in local bars, restaurants, hardware stores and the bakery were all turned off. The hair salon was OK. They had switched to DirecTV long ago. At home, I live about 45 miles from broadcast central: Manhattan`s Empire State Building. Only with a sophisticated outdoor antenna combined with a pre-amp can I bring in passable signals most of the time. My trusty VHF-UHF log periodic attic antenna, which has served me well for 40 years, is now inadequate and obsolete. Digital TV doesn`t seem like a one-for-one replacement for analog. Only under optimal conditions do we see digital anything. Informal viewing using portable receivers, or battery powered TV during blackouts, is now impossible. TV sound radios are now silent, as well. What have we gained here? Digital radio is not much better. HD Radio receivers, seeking digital radio signals, also require a solid signal to work properly. This is hard to achieve especially in moving cars or anywhere electrical noise is present (nearly everywhere!) Few receivers are available. Only one portable HD Radio has been offered, its reviews are marginal, and it only receives FM. Years after its introduction, HD Radio has stalled and its sails forever luff. Thank goodness analog radio broadcasts have not been turned off, as well! HD Radio is actually a full step backward. The ``compatible digital`` signals broadcast create great havoc with their analog mates and reduce reception coverage especially on AM. Professional two-way radios also suffer from digital deterioration. New York City`s police and fire departments wrestled with digital handi-talkie radios for years. It was the same old story. When they worked, they were perfectly clear (when they worked.) If the H-T`s signal faded or otherwise became corrupted nothing would be heard at the receiving end. This can really ruin your day if your life depends on solid communication. We could also talk for years about the sonic difference between vinyl records and CDs (and ultra-compressed iPods.) The only instance of digital success may be the improvement of DVDs and DVRs over analog VHS tapes! Should we abandon digital transmission? Not quite yet. We must remember that we are still in the infancy of the development of these mediums. Some recent improvements are especially encouraging. Verizon? V-Cast TV broadcasts, locally transmitted on former television channel 55, seem to lock with consistency while being viewed with handy hand- held devices. The British have refined their digital radio broadcasts achieving reasonable nationwide acceptance. Using fully-wired delivery, digital is hard to beat. Former shortwave enthusiasts delight in the crystal clear fidelity of Internet radio. Broadcasters should resign themselves to digital`s over-the-air shortcomings. It is very hard to compete with the incredibly robust nature of good old AM radio or analog NTSC TV. Noisy or not, analog gets the message through the most difficult situations. How I miss the good old days! Change is never easy! Bring back my old TV! (Karl Zuk, ibid.) Thanks to Fred at WOHL and WLIO, Lima, OH, I noticed about an hour ago when I received WOHL-DC-35, that he changed the PSIP. Now the PSIP includes the call letters. This sure makes confirmation of the station complete. Relating to the current posts regarding VHF vs. UHF for DTV, Trip just posted at AVS Forum that Cincinnati's ABC affiliate, WCPO, has filed to move from channel 10 to channel 22 (1000 kW ND @ 1000 ft.). WCPO recently installed a new top-mounted digital antenna for channel 10 and had a modest ERP increase. Apparently that didn't help much with reception issues (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, ibid.) I personally feel that 1 kW max ERP for UHF is not enough. I think the FCC should look into increasing the maximum erp for DTV. I guess there is one TV station in Ohio, not sure which one that is experimenting with 1.7 kW ERP. (-John L., ibid.) ?? I assume you mean 1000 kW and 1700 kW, or 1 mM and 1.7 MW (gh, DXLD) Re: [Tvfmdx] DTV reception issues - UHF vs. H-VHF vs. L-VHF, myths --- /geezer_mode ON Back when I started in the business, and when my brother (thirteen years my senior) dealt with the commission, it was staffed by engineers that looked at all the angles and considered the common sense things, such as what you spoke about. They considered things such as the implementation of IBOC and how it would affect neighboring countries, as well as consideration of home viewers/listeners. The new FCC is predominantly lawyers, and I think a lot of decisions are based on legal principles, not technical values. There is something to be said about doing something because it's good spectrum management rather than because one legally can. Oh well. The sad thing is that for most of us, the digital transition has been somewhat a pain for our local viewing. But most of us are intelligent enough to work around the problems and pitfalls. What depresses me is the calls I'll get from senior citizens who have watched our analog station for nearly 55 years and now loose their local news, sports, and weather. Sometimes I can help them, but most need a pair of eyes on site to fix their problem. Steve, after you mention adding the call sign on the PSIP, it made perfect sense to me to change it. I appreciate you mentioning that, and hopefully it does make it easier for not only DXers, but also home viewers. When I filed the applications for WLQP-18 (analog), and WLMO-38 (analog), there was thought to making them channel 9 and channel 10, diplexed into the channel 8 antenna with a whopping 400 watts. That idea was scrapped for more traditional LPTV 15 kW on UHF channels. However, 400 watts would still have a pretty good coverage on VHF, and I'm not sure there would be any reason for more power given no major network or cable carriage outside of the DMA. BTW, from time to time WLQP-18 (analog), and WLMO-38 (analog), will be coming on the air from the WLIO tower to keep their licenses intact. They have been shut down at the old site since all programming is on 8 & 35 in digital. I might watch Bill Hepburn's web page, and on days when things look good, turn them on with a test ID (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Millions of people are watching DTV, "It simply doesn't (work)", does not hold water (a detailed rebuttal, necessarily very wordy, has been sent to N2KZ). The station is WBNS, digital channel 21 (legacy/virtual channel 10), the CBS affiliate in Columbus. On the current FCC database (1305 EDT, 9-19) it is showing only as an application, not a CP. I am not aware of any 1700 kW test from WBNS, but it would not be impossible (STAs don't show up easily on the database). The request was based on the provision that they were entitled to serve the same area as the largest staion in their market area - which is WSYX. WSYX has a larger theoretical coverage because it uses VHF channel 13. Note that it has been my opinion that the theoretical coverage on VHF may be inflated, and that WSYX never enjoyed that theoretical coverage - they share the channel with WTVG Toledo, WQED Pittsburgh, and WBKO Bowling Green, Ky, and thus much of their coverage is ruined by CCI - WSYX has in fact petitioned to move to channel 48, which would also affect WBNS's argument that they need 1700 kW to match the largest coverage. I don't know if I disagree or agree with more than a megawatt of ERP on UHF. It would certainly help us DXers, and may offer some help in matters of indoor reception, fringe reception, and reception though terrain and forest. On the other hand, as one increases power on UHF beyond 200 kW, the Earth's horizon gets in the way, and coverage increases only very slightly (compare the coverage of WTVS at licensed 200 kW versus that of its 600 kW CP), and high power may increase interference from tropo (in my case, a good tropo opening can cause WKBD to be wiped out by 902 kW WCMH). In short, the VHF stations need a power limit increase A LOT more than UHF stations do. On UHF, the biggest problem with DTV, except in true fringe reception, is multipath. This became obvious to me when I got a DTV set in 2005. Before transition, I had seen in print articles and on TV warning about antenna issues, but stating that an indoor antenna would work within 20 miles and an outdoor antenna would be needed beyond 20 miles. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. I knew that people in urban areas (more multipath) would have more trouble with the transition than those (even using indoor antennas) in subrural areas. I called TV stations and newspapers to advise them about the multipath problem, and they all agreed with me that multipath was the bigger problem, but told me they would not mention multipath because the general public understood the concept of distance, but not the concept of multipath! Multipath is something that, for the most part, only the end user can to anything to mitigate (changing the TV room may work, attic antenna second, outdoor antenna best). In the future a two-end technology (mobile-DTV transmission tech at the transmitters and new fixed-use TV receivers using the technology as a backup) could help, but anything else that could deal with multipath would have huge (insurmountable) economic and political barriers (mandating master antennas - which had been voluntary but common before cable - in all apartment buildings and condominiums, mandating all new construction include outdoor TV antennas, switching the whole DTV system to a "cellularized" model [with many small transmitters for each service, one of which you should have a clear path to], etc.) On VHF high, multipath can also be a problem, but noise (especially when in combination with signal reduction due to structure penetration) is also a big problem, and increasing power is something that can be done at the transmitting end that would greatly reduce the number of viewers who are having problems with VHF high DTV reception. On VHF low, noise and building penetration are THE big issue (multipath exists, but is far less of a problem, "not there" when compared to noise). I could make WPVI (6) the most reliable DTV station in Philly - just increase ERP to 10 million watts! (an impractical solution, laughably so to anyone familiar with the science), but it would work :-) (Robert Grant, ibid.) Of course given that 80+% of households have at least one TV served by cable or satellite TV, clearly DTV works for all of those folks. But for over-the-air, within 15 miles of the transmitter, your chances are less than 50/50. Like someone said earlier- maybe it was Karl or maybe Robert - "...when it works, it works..." about sums it up. If some 5+% of households cannot receive DTV with comparable antennas to what they had good ( or even moderately passable ) reception of analog, that's still a substantial number, and one which doesn't take into account the households where secondary TV's are OTA. If I were of a mind to subscribe to conspiracy theories, I'd wonder if the DTV proponents, the FCC and the cable companies weren't all part of this as ultimately the cable companies are going to get more subscribers, even at their inflated prices and lack of service options (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) You point out a great misconception in digital, and power. This is very reminiscent of the time when all the class IV AM stations operating 1000/250 said they needed to have 1000/1000 to overcome night noise. 200,000 watts ERP (UHF) is typically a good level for most stations. Increasing the power might help punch through buildings a little better, but a poorly designed antenna on top of a set on ground floor is certainly not going to be able to be made better by a 3, 6, 9, or 12 dB increase in strength. To use an old catch phrase, it's not about quantity, it's about quality. Level is not too important (Frederick Vobbe, ibid.) DTV works great if there's no mulitpath. Otherwise explain why my Buffalo reception via rabbit ears disappeared completely when the analogs left - all 7 channels. I'm a seasoned DXer, not an average joe viewer. Sure the antenna is a bottom-of-the-line, but the fact is that antenna pulled in reasonable analog reception (some channels clear, some a bit snowy) - but will not pull in ANY digitals from BUF. So you can't blame it all on the antenna wrh (William R. Hepburn, Grimsby Ont., ibid.) Precisely one of my points - if DTV takes away formerly good, reliable analog reception with nothing else changing then the whole thing wasn't planned/designed properly (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Same could be said for IBOC, with licensing to a single manufacturer for transmission and reception equipment, or any number of services that have a hold over you. As I said before, this change was not something in the public interest, or where the population wanted it. It was driven by Congress as a way to generate $xx-billion from spectrum auctioning. Sadly, it's ruined the viewing habits of a lot of people. On the other side of the coin, stations that produce multiple streams are a blessing. In my area there is enough content from multiple channels to justify leaving cable. If only someone could broadcast Discovery, History, and Nat Geo over the air, I would be thrilled (and cut the cable). Getting back into TV DX has been great for me as I've discovered a lot of new content! :) (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) I have yet to see any secondary program on a commercial channel which was worthwhile. If it isn't repeating the primary or running weather, it's a mess - there simply isn't enough original programming. As for the two Publics I can watch, WHYY-12 manages to have a reasonable variety, as does WLVT-39 (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) I guess we have differing tastes. :) But RetroTV is a good sub for TV Land, and there are *some* news and weather subs that are good. But if there was a way to get Discovery, History, NetGeo, and perhaps RFD TV, I would drop cable 100% and go strictly OTA (Fred Fobbe, ibid.) Perhaps, but don't discount the market differences. Here's what's available here commercially: 3, 29, 57 - no secondary 6 - secondary is "Live Well", 3rd is weather 24/7 10 - secondary is weather 24/7, 3rd is Universal Sports, which seems to be off-minor sports 17 - secondary is "This TV" which is kid-oriented 12 & 35 are non-commercial. Both of 35's additional channels are multi-ethnic. 48 is religious primary, as are two of its subs; another is children's and the fifth is multi-ethnic. 61 is religious primary, as are one or two of the secondaries, and two others are children's oriented (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) No, I can't blame it all on the antenna. Without knowing what you have, and seeing what levels and integrity they have, it's hard to tell. Could be local noise, or cancellations occurring due to over the water propagation. The average user can't tell unless they have a pretty expensive test set. But I guess the point is, for something as basic as over the air television, should one have all these issues? DTV was born from spectrum auctioning of 700 MHz up, and the thought of reusing channels 2-13 for mobile radio services. These ideas were floated by lobbyists as early at 1988. DTV was never planned or designed from a technology standpoint; anything done was reactive to making it work. And to tell you the truth, two things scared me a lot. First was how quick COFDM was swept under the carpet. And the giant "check" in Reed Hundt's office at the FCC saying "payable to the US Treasury" had me feeling a little uneasy that we were going in the right direction for the right reason. But, it's here, and there is no turning back. So we might as well DX and play while we have it (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) ``Millions of people are watching DTV, "It simply doesn't (work)", does not hold water.`` So true, Robert. I've been watching DTV/HDTV since 2001, and I certainly don't miss analog TV at all. As I watch NFL football this afternoon in HD on a 60" screen and listen to the audio in DD 5.1 surround sound, I absolutely don't miss analog service. I don't recall any analog TV stations offering HD and DD 5.1 audio. Takes me back to the 60s and early 70s when my favorite music was offered on radio stations located at a distance of approx. 125 miles (WLS and WCFL, Chicago) and 200 miles (CKLW, Windsor/Detroit). Then the music was moved from AM to FM and then I could not listen to my favorite music from Chicago and Detroit stations on a daily basis. The FM coverage range cut the distance to 30-60 miles. I know this was not the result of a government mandate, but yet it did lead to some very different radio listening habits in a number of markets. Music listeners flocked to FM/FM stereo stations as they moved from AM to FM. Listeners preferred quality (stereo) over quantity (distance / mileage). In 2009, how many AM stations play music? Plus, relating to DXing DTV, a DTV station can provide a positive ID with just one or two seconds of signal. How many times have we all watched an unknown analog station for 59 minutes and then have the station totally fade out just before the TOH ID?? Plus, with DTV, you don't have to actually watch Jerry Springer, Judge __________ (fill in the blank with any name), etc. A DTV station with correct PSIP provides virtually everything you'd need to know about the station. Happy camper with DTV/HDTV (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Five Below Perseus SDR Blog Redesigned; New Web I've moved my Perseus SDR blog to a new hosting service and have given the blog a new look. I trust you'll find it easier to navigate and more pleasing to the eye. The search feature is improved and gives more relevant results, too. The topics section on the left sidebar is a work in progress, and will grow as I tag more of the past entries with categories. The new address is: http://fivebelow.squarespace.com Please update your bookmarks, RSS feeds, etc., as all new content will appear at this Web address. The previous location at Blogspot.com will manually redirect readers to this URL for 60 days, and then it will be disabled. 73, (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, Sept 20, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Guy, Thanks very much for posting the photo of the Perseus' waterfall display of the 738-Taiwan "ragged carrier." For some reason, the 738-Taiwan audio (on your Perseus SDR) in the MP3 clip sounds much more normal than the typical 738-Taiwan audio received here on the C. Crane SWP ultralight. Maybe the Perseus filtering removes some of the noisy components of the impaired signal. I posted an MP3 of 738- Taiwan's signal here this morning (of the same approximate signal strength as your MP3) in the Ultralightdx sound file site, which includes a definite buzzing sound in the background of the Chinese conversation. This buzzing sound doesn't show up on the other TP's, except of course for the North Koreans. 73, (Gary DeBock, ibid.) Hi Gary, Thanks for posting the MP3 of Taiwan's 738 audio as heard on your ultralight. Wow, I certainly haven't heard anything like that buzz on 738 over on this side of town! I'd suggest that maybe it's local QRM in your vicinity, but I know Bruce, Walt, and John have heard the buzzy audio too. That's a possibility about Perseus being more immune to the noise, but the three guys mentioned above all have SDR receivers too. I don't think there's anything special about Perseus compared to Bruce's SDR- IQ or John's WinRadio that would cause the buzz to disappear or be "filtered out". The noise blanker in Perseus works well and has two effective blanking widths, but I rarely turn it on. The noise reduction control is used more often, but I know I haven't tried it on Taiwan 738. 73, (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA http://fivebelow.squarespace.com ibid.) HOW NOT TO INSTALL AN AERIAL! http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/roguesgallery/view.html (via Mark Palmer, G0OIW, BDXC-UK via DXLD) REAL FULL OF JUNK, UNTRUSTWORTHY Regarding Glenn's recent note accompanying the past couple of World of Radio audio files, "Note: there is no Real version this week; does anyone really need it, altho the file size is much smaller than the mp3?" Real media audio files are indeed smaller and are optimized for applications such as voice, where high fidelity is not essential. However, the real audio format is proprietary and owned by Real Networks. Despite the vendor's move to open up the format, their RealPlayer application remains one of the best examples of Bad Software ever to appear on the stage. RealPlayer was notorious for doing all kinds of nasty things to computers it was installed on, including features akin to the worst adware and spyware, clogging up the computer's registry with all kinds of junk, installing all kinds of executable software in addition to their advertisement filled, bloated player, and being difficult if not impossible to de-install. It is because of this that I avoid at all costs anything encoded in the Real Audio format; I simply don't trust Real Networks and have no feeling that they won't pull such smarmy stunts in the future. Also, none of the software I use for playback and streaming World of Radio for WBCQ (i.e., on Area 51) supports the real audio format (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, Sept 19, DXLDYG via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels during most of the period with brief unsettled periods detected on 14, 17, and 20 September. ACE solar wind measurements indicated a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream was in progress during the period. Velocities ranged from 309 to 504 km/sec. IMF Bz was variable in the +5 to -5 nT range during most of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 23 SEPT - 19 OCT 2009 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels through the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during 23 - 25 September. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels during 26 - 27 September with a chance for brief active periods due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet conditions are expected during 28 September - 19 October. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Sep 22 1921 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Sep 22 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Sep 23 76 5 2 2009 Sep 24 77 5 2 2009 Sep 25 77 5 2 2009 Sep 26 77 12 4 2009 Sep 27 77 8 3 2009 Sep 28 77 5 2 2009 Sep 29 77 5 2 2009 Sep 30 77 5 2 2009 Oct 01 77 5 2 2009 Oct 02 77 5 2 2009 Oct 03 75 5 2 2009 Oct 04 72 5 2 2009 Oct 05 69 5 2 2009 Oct 06 69 5 2 2009 Oct 07 69 5 2 2009 Oct 08 69 5 2 2009 Oct 09 69 5 2 2009 Oct 10 69 5 2 2009 Oct 11 69 5 2 2009 Oct 12 69 5 2 2009 Oct 13 69 5 2 2009 Oct 14 69 5 2 2009 Oct 15 69 5 2 2009 Oct 16 70 5 2 2009 Oct 17 70 5 2 2009 Oct 18 72 5 2 2009 Oct 19 74 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1479, DXLD) ###