DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-083, December 2, 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 1489, Dec 3-9, 2009 Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 [sometimes first airing] Thu 1300 WRMI 9955 Thu 2000 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WBCQ Area 51 5110-CUSB Fri 0200 WRMI 9955 Fri 1230 WRMI 9955 Fri 1530 WRMI 9955 Fri 2130 WWCR1 7465 Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [Dec 5, 12, 19 only in 2009] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 1900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 6170 Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1230 South Herts Radio 5835 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Sun 2000 WRMI 9955 Mon 0600 WRMI 9955 Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Tue 2000 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0800 WRMI 9955 [sometimes first airing] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 1930 South Herts Radio 3935 Wed 2000 WBCQ 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ABKHAZIA. 9495, R. Abkhazia, Georgia. News in Russian of Radio Rossii, also heard on //5930 & 6160, 7200 & 7230 Yakutsk and 9840 Europe sites on 23/11. Local Abkhaz news in Russian 0430-0447 observed on 9495//9535, on 26/11 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony 2001D and ant Folded Marconi 16 meters), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. KOREA DPR/IBB: On 7100 kHz on Nov 8th from 1800 UT was heard Radio Ashna (to AFG) and also Voice of Korea in French. Nov 7 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Nov 19, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) IBB on 7100?? R. Ashna in Dari at 1730-1830 is scheduled on 7560 and 9445 via Thailand, 9335 via Kuwait. Hmmm, 9335 is also a VOK frequency, supposedly finished at 1750. Could there be an off-air relay involved, unheard of these days? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ALASKA. Digital Aurora Radio Technologies (DART) on 4845 kHz I can receive DART experimental DRM station WE2XRH Delta Junction, Alaska on 4845 kHz at *1745-1800*, *1805-1817* and *1819- on Nov. 19, only by data service (MOT Slideshow), there is no audio. First noted on Nov. 18 at 1815UT by Japanese DXer Mr. XYZ_Orz in Akita. PERSEUS, dream shot and MOTimage: http://drm.mediacat-blog.jp/e45681.html de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So the big Alaska DRM experiment has begun. 4845 could be a problem for Brasil and Mauritania if used at earlier times. And anyone who has tried to monitor Nouakchott knows there is ute QRM close by. Note this is around or somewhat before current sunrise in AK. Anyone come up with a full test schedule or at least frequency authorization list? (Glenn Hauser, OK, Nov 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NDXC continued monitoring DART on 4845 kHz, but not able to receive it during Nov. 20 to 23. Nov. 24 at 2010UT, DRM signal can confirm, but interference of RT Mauritania is terrible and does not do the label indication. Nov. 25 at 1735, Only ID by terrible QRM of OTH via Hainan. http://ani.atz.jp/BCL/files/Spark_3_4845kHz.bmp in Akita. at 1800. ID:421 http://ani.atz.jp/BCL/files/Spark_Korean_4845kHz.bmp in Akita. at 1907. ID:A26834, http://n-1.at.webry.info/200911/article_31.html by A. Ishida in Near Nagoya. s.off at 1920 UT. Nov. 26, Not received. I think from reception condition and seem to be the low power transmission (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Nov 27, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA [and non]. Drita, there is something important which I want to tell you. At the end of Radio Tirana's transmission in English, no contact information is ever given, no postal address, no e-mail address. They only say, "Good-bye from Tirana." So, if the English section does not get mail from listeners, this is the reason why. I would not have found you if it were not for Ullmar Qvick. Wouldn't it be a good idea to give postal and e-mail address at the beginning and end of the program, as most shortwave stations do? I have noticed that most of the news in English is given by one woman. I would like to know her name. Thanks you very much. I shall be sending regular reports. All the best, (Tim Hendel, AL, Nov 25, via Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, DXLD) Radio Tirana English Program, the woman is Klara Ruci. Her email address is radiotirana-english @ hotmail.com You may write directly to Klara. She is a very nice lady. All the best from lovely sunny warm Tirana, (Drita, ibid.) That is certainly a good idea, Tim. I would also like to repeat my suggestion made long ago, that it would be better to put the English language schedule at the end of broadcasts rather than at the beginning. There, it `holds up the works` and is always the same for 1-2 minutes (once the changes were made). Yes, it would be helpful to know which one or two frequencies are in use for the current broadcast, at the start, but not the whole schedule at that time. This could be combined with a standard closing also giving contact info. (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) R. Tirana English at 1945 check Nov 26: about equal signals on 11635 and 7465, both in clear but undermodulated, 1947 news. The next English at 2100: Klara Ruci finishing standard 2-minute opening reciting entire English transmission schedule until 2102, then OM with news: 7430 clear but undermodulated, while // 9895 was sinking into the noise level, exacerbated by overload from PPP on WWCR 9980. I assume in Laporte it`s the same way and he is proud of all the trouble he causes. 7435, R. Tirana in Albanian music at 2153 Nov 27: quite distorted modulation as happens too frequently from Shijak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two more stations move onto R. Tirana frequencies! See ROMANIA; SWEDEN ** ANDORRA. SI LI HEM DE BUSCAR ASSASSÍ A RADIO ANDORRA, ÉS EL GOVERN FRANCÈS --- ENTREVISTA // SYLVAIN ATHIEL // NOVELLISTA ANDRÉS LUENGO, ANDORRA LA VELLA És la història d'un crim. D'un assassinat, per ser més precisos: hi ha una víctima, un botxí i un testimoni mut, que només al final del drama recupera la veu i el vot. Posem-hi noms: el cadàver és el de Radio Andorra; els successius governs francesos, des d'abans fins i tot de la posada en marxa de l'estació, al 1939, assumeixen el poc grat paper del dolent de la pel.lícula; i el poble andorrà és el convidat de pedra d'un episodi que amenaçava de caure en l'oblit. . . http://www.elperiodicdandorra.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=16&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=664854&idseccio_PK=253&h (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Interesting about the turbulent history and demise of R. Andorra. Google will translate Catalan (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. Caribbean Beacon is normally later than nominal 2200 switching from 11775 to 6090, but Nov 27 at 2159, DGS already audible on 6090 mixing with VOR IS and DRM from both sides, quite a squeeze job, Ismaning, Germany from 6085 and Jünglinster, Luxembourg, also in German, from 6095, while VOR is 285 degrees from ``Armavir`` at 21-23 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA [non]. Is LRA36 off the air again from 15476? The last report I have seen of it was Oct 29 heard in Brasil, as in DXLD 9-079, and it`s been even longer since Maurits Van Driessche in Belgium has reported it in BDX, mid-September? But he`s mainly into MW. I strained to detect even a carrier, Nov 26 at 1937, but nothing; nor 15345 from Bs As, so anyway, propagation not favorable (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. QSL R. AM 16-20, Mar del Plata, 1620 kHz, personal e- mail verie in 39 days, v/s Ana Ester Apezteguia, her QTH: anitaester47 @ hotmail.com (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Nov 26 via BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 5415-USB, R. Continental, BA, 2044. Víctor Hugo Morales with play by play soccer match Boca vs San Lorenzo. QRK 4. Nov 29 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. 4810, Armenia Public R., Yerevan. Good strength and clear signal of speakers in Arabic 1910, 10/11 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW (FRG8800 with 80m. long wire) [but is that the same setup at this DXpedition log?]: Ellalong in Hunter Valley, NSW, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) 4810.00, 1857-1905 28.11, Armenian/Arabic first relay from the Home Service of an interview in Armenian, 1859 IS, National Anthem and ID in Arabic: "Yerevan", then full ID, frequency and website, news about Belarus, QRM from occasional Russian utility calls; 34333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ASCENSION ISLAND. Dear Glenn, I thought I'd share an update regarding mediumwave broadcasting on Ascension as the present available info seems to be out of date. After a few recent enquiries I received the following confirmation on the 20th November from Penny Peters of the VT group on Ascension : Ascension Radio (Volcano Radio) is no longer operating on 1602 kHz but has moved to 1638 kHz. Dxer Mauno Ritola received information from another source that 1638 kHz may be silent at present due to MW antenna problems. Patsy Moyce from AIG Enquiries confirmed that the BBC local service is no longer broadcasting on AM 1485 kHz. I trust that the information may be of interest (Gary Deacon, Fish Hoek, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, Nov 27, http://www.capedx.blogspot.com DX WORLD OF RADIO 1489, LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, An update in connection with my previous email regarding Volcano Radio, Ascension Island : I received confirmation this evening from Russel Yon c/o the U.S. Base on Ascension Island that Volcano Radio is not operating on mediumwave at present. The station is broadcasting on 98.7 FM but there is uncertainty regarding future MW operation. See email below: From: Russell Yon To: 'Gary Deacon' Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 8:33 PM Subject: RE: Radio Ascension (ZD8VR Volcano Radio) enquiry Hi, Just to confirm that Volcano Radio only operates on 98.7 FM. 1602 and 1638 kHz frequency has been deleted due to changes in contractual work and antenna usage. I don't know if and when we will operate in the AM Band again, I might be able to confirm this at the end of the year. Regards, Russell. (Gary Deacon, Fish Hoek, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, Nov 29, ibid.) ** ASCENSION. Re the financial crisis here previously reported: The issue is now being raised in Parliament and the House of Lords. On November 12 Baroness Taylor of Bolton said in response to a written question: The decision by the Ascension Island Government to remove a variation in the Ministry of Defence's annual property tax liability, which had the effect of almost doubling the tax payable, is still in dispute. Discussions are still ongoing to resolve the issue and we await the outcome of the HMRC-led study, supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, into tax arrangements on Ascension Island. On the same day Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead said: In line with government policy on the overseas territories, it is not envisaged that Ascension Island will receive budgetary support or grant aid but that it should remain self-financing - that is, with costs met by those using the island. The Ascension Island newspaper reports that the Ascension Island government commissioned the tax expert from HM Revenue and Customs to advise them; he visited the island last month. They are now in the process of issuing redundancy notices to some Government employees (Mike Barraclough, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2368.5, R. Symban, Marrickville. Steady loud noise but good strong signal for Greek style music program 1115 on 12/11 (Gavin Hellyer, Ararat Vic (Yaesu FRG-8800, 80m Longwire, 30m Loop NSEW 6m High, Yaesu FRT-7700 ATU), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) Test transmission 11/11, 80 watts; got the call at 0740 to spread the word. Good level in Peakhurst, went through to 12/11 to 2300 with the test broadcast of just Greek music (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW (ICOM 8500 Degen 1121, EWE antennae), ibid.) Strong 0900 with usual Greek music, thanks to Johno tip. Subsequently received an Australian native birds QSL, which also featured an upright and pulchritudinous species. If you catch one, however, it will likely keep you in a cage! 11/11 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Drake R8A, Icom R75, Dipole), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) So only for a couple of days this time. Why not turn the transmitter on and leave it on? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) Radio Symban 2368.5 very shortly will go to air with minimum 400 watts for the time being, then to 1 kW (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW [QSL manager], date written unknown, SW DX Report, Dec Australian DX News supplement via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) QSL: (Marrickville), Radio Symban, 2368.50, Australian native birds postcard (complete with topless bikini babe) with full details handwritten on back in 18 days (Wayne Bastow, Dec Australian DX News supplement via DXLD)) ** AUSTRALIA. 11980, Nov 25 at 1603 news in English about violence in Thailand, Hajj underway at Mecca, AMA enticing in new doctors; Oz accent which fits since it`s R. Australia, ID at 1605 and ``Fora Radio`` from ABC Radio National and RA. Recent new frequency? New to me, anyway, and our best bet for RA during the 16-17 hour only, 317 degrees via CVC Darwin. After 17 we can go back to Shepparton 11880, 50 degrees more USward. 11980 had rapid clix on hi side believed from DCJC 11930 jamming spur. RA better on 13630 than 13690, Nov 26 at 0632, and on 19m better on 15160 than 15240 with Future Tense show about audiences turning their backs on Aussie films, causing a decline in its movie industry. 13630 is 50 degrees from Shep, while 13690 is 353; 15160 is 65, 15240 is 30 degrees, so those azimuths fit with observation. Enid is about 70 degrees, just a bit beyond the Samoas, so these are the ideal RA transmissions to Oklahoma, and cutting right across the USA from Nogales to NYC: 00-02 17715, 02-05 15515, 08-14 9580, 17-20 9580, 20-22 11660, 22-24 15560. While a few days ago I found RA incoming well after 1600 on 11980 via Darwin, it was barely audible Nov 28; instead, 9710 via Shepparton was best, on 30 degree beam toward Alaska, 1605 opening Margaret Throsby interview show, but first playing Greensleeves (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Radio Guía Internacional No. 7 - Radio Australia. La Emisora Australiana está cumpliendo en el mes de Diciembre 70 años de existencia. Por tal motivo, la presente edición de Radio Guía Internacional es dedicado a esta importante emisora internacional, que a pesar de los avances de los medios tecnológicos de comunicación como el satélite y la internet, aún emite por la onda corta a zonas remotas de nuestro planeta, donde un pequeño receptor a pilas tiene un valor incalculable para estar informado. Pueden escuchar ó descargar el audio en el siguiente link: http://radioguiainternacional.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-11-28T15_58_54-08_00 (Jorge Garcia Rangel, Radio Guía Internacional, Productor, Club Diexistas de la Amistad, Barinas, Veneuela, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good; it`s about 6 minutes long (gh) RADIO AUSTRALIA CELEBRATES 70 YEARS --- 1 DECEMBER 2009 http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200912/2759189.htm Radio Australia, the ABC's radio broadcaster to the Asia-Pacific region, has celebrated its 70th anniversary. A special event was held Tuesday evening at Radio Australia's headquarters in the city of Melbourne. The ABC's managing director, Mark Scott, has reflected on the changes seen at Radio Australia over seven decades. Mr Scott says Radio Australia has transformed over the years in both its technology and content. Radio Australia was founded during wartime to "push a Government line", he said, but then "transformed into a truly independent public broadcaster, broadcasting the best of Australia to the region, the best of Australia to the world, and having a profound impact in those countries who have received our services." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) And linx to a couple of audio reports re; I believe RA was to have a special anniversary webpage, but I don`t see any link to it on above page, strangely enough (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Just received a letter from George of CVC Australia stating that currently they are both on SW and online, however in the first quarter of next year CVC will become exclusively online media with live web streaming. From that I understand that SW broadcasts from Australia will be discontinued. Alles Gute und vielen Dank für Eure regelmäßigen Infos (Thomas Drescher, Nov 27, via Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Real news? 73 wolfie (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) News to me, if true. Now will ABC try and get the Darwin station back?? (Glenn, ibid.) I'm not a friend of all these evangelical fundamental missions in Moslem countries like Near and Middle East, Central Asia, but I've my doubts that internet-ONLY will work on large areas for the religious missions in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Let's wait and see. I would like it much, to have Darwin site on return to the fold. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Frequency change of CVC International in Chinese: 0400-0600 NF 17690 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg, ex 15250 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) broadcasts marine weather information, routine forecasts and warnings, via HF radio transmitters at Charleville in Queensland (Callsign VMC) and Wiluna in Western Australia (Callsign VMW). Warnings are broadcast on the half hour, every hour from both sites. VMC, Charleville broadcasts routine coastal weather forecasts for South Australia at 0200, 0600, 1000, 1400, 1800, 2200 CST VMC frequencies 2201, 6507, 8176 & 12365 at night (1730 to 0630 CST); 4426, 8176, 12365 & 16546 during the day (0630 to 1730 CST) VMW, Wiluna broadcasts routine coastal weather forecasts for South Australia at 0300, 0700, 1100, 1500, 1900, 2300 CST VMW frequencies 2056, 6230, 8113 & 12362 at night (1930 to 0830 CST); 4149, 8113, 12362 & 16528 during the day (0830 to 1930 CST). (The Fountain of Ute, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) Inconveniently subtract 9.5 hours for UT. At least they don`t mess with DST in that wacky zone. I believe VMC is in Qsld, and VMW in WA, so they just picked the times for SA weather info (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. B09 schedule for only remaining English news bulletins on ORF International: M-F 0709-0713 on 6155 13730; repeated at 1309-1313 on 17855; and Tue-Sat 0009-0013, 0039-0043, 0109-0113 on 7325. Note that the ORF website shows the SW schedule as valid only until 31 Dec 2009 (Dave Kenny, Dec BDXC-UK Communication, via DXLD) After 0100 is supposed to be on 9820 instead (gh, DXLD) ** AZORES. Possible FM DX to North America: see PROPAGATION ** BAHAMAS. Nassau, MORE 94.9 has RDS reading ``MORE 94 FM``. 97.5 there reads ``LOVE 97 FM`` (Sept/Oct FMedia! Via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar, Dhaka, on Nov 17 still heard at 1615-1620, 25332 (Bernard Mille, Bailleul, France, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) ** BELARUS. [continued from TURKMENISTAN, q.v.] The BLR national (1st) programme is now heard daytime all days of the week on 6010, 6040, 6070, 7235 and 7280. Very good audio on 6040 and 7280 (these two off for maintenance Thursday 26 Nov until 1256), shallow audio on 6010, 6070 (and also on 279) and very shallow audio on 7235. No signal on 6080, 6115 or 7210 during daytime. An FMing blob, maybe from 6010, but with no counterpart on 6020, is heard on approximately 6000. Evenings usually no propagation from BLR at my location (Olle Alm, Southern Sweden, Nov. 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. VRT Radio 1 was heard to announce on 19 Oct that Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal would cease all SW broadcasts from 25 Oct. Reason given was that the number of listeners to these broadcasts, which were beamed at S Europe, did not justify the cost of hiring the transmitters (Chris Stacey, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BERMUDA. THE BERMUDA STORY - SHIP BROADCASTING On two previous occasions, we have presented information about the radio scene on the island of Bermuda, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America. On this occasion, we continue in our Bermuda series and we tell the story of radio broadcasting from passenger liners that have been associated with Bermuda. It is the story of three passenger liners, all built in islandic Europe. These ships were named: Empress of Britain, Monarch of Bermuda, and Queen of Bermuda, and each ship was noted on air back in the 1930s with radio program broadcasting. The Empress of Britain was launched by the Brown Shipyard at Clydebank in Scotland on June 11, 1930. This large passenger ship, owned and operated by Canadian Pacific, replaced an older ship with the same name. At the time, it was described as a very modern passenger liner, designed for winter cruising, and with a radio receiver in each cabin. It was touted as the world’s most economical fuel consumer per horsepower hour, burning 356 tons of fuel oil each day. It was so large that it had a clearance of just seven and a half inches on each side as it traversed through the lock system in the Panama Canal. The Empress of Britain plied the Atlantic on numerous voyages, and occasionally out in the Pacific. On one occasion, this ship crossed the Atlantic, from Halifax Nova Scotia in Canada to Southampton in England with just forty passengers on board. However, these passengers were King George 6 & Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, together with their royal entourage. On September 8, 1939, the Empress of Britain arrived at Quebec at the end of a quick voyage across the Atlantic. It was commandeered for navy service, painted with camouflage paint, and used as a troop carrier back to Europe. On what became its last voyage, it was attacked off the coast of Ireland by a German long range bomber on October 26 in the following year, 1940. Next day, it was attacked by a German submarine, and early in the morning of the third day, it sank upside down in 500 ft of water. Our second ship in this feature presentation was the Monarch of Bermuda and it was built at the Vickers Armstrong shipyards in England for passenger service between New York and Bermuda, a voyage of just forty hours each way. Three years later, the Monarch of Bermuda received accolades for the rescue of passengers and crew from another passenger ship that was on fire off the coast of New Jersey, the Morro Castle. Towards the end of the year 1939, this ship was also requisitioned for navy service and it was in use as a troop carrier across the Atlantic. In 1946, it resumed its peace time role and it carried war brides from Europe to Canada. During the following year, the Monarch of Bermuda was gutted by fire while it was undergoing re-fitting for further passenger service. The burned out shell was moved to Southampton where it was rebuilt and renamed New Australia. This ship made its first voyage to Australia, filled with English migrants in August 1950. Subsequently, this ship was involved in a collision in Torres Straight north of Australia, it was then bought by a Greek company, modernized, and renamed Arkadia for use as a cruise ship. However, eight years later, it was sold for scrap in Spain. Our third passenger liner in this feature was the Queen of Bermuda and this ship was also built at the Vickers Armstrong shipyards in England and launched one year later again after the previous ship. It was taken into passenger service in the Atlantic. In August 1939, the Queen of Bermuda was requisitioned by the British navy, converted into a merchant cruiser, and taken into service in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In 1961, the ship was completely rebuilt for passenger service, but five years later it was withdrawn from service, taken to Scotland, and scrapped. Now, what about the matter of radio broadcasting from these three notable passenger liners? The Empress of Britain was described in the 1930s as the most active ship broadcaster during that era. It was on the air with music programs mainly, under the British callsign GMBJ. Program broadcasts from the Empress of Britain GMBJ were relayed off air by NBC in the United States, as well as by national networks in Canada, England, and Australia. This ship was often heard in radio contact with the marine radio station in Bermuda, and some times with spontaneous radio broadcasts for whoever might be listening. The Monarch of Bermuda was often heard in contact with Bermuda Radio and New York Radio during the 1930s, and it was noted also with occasional spontaneous radio broadcasts and with relays to local mediumwave stations in the United States. This ship operated under several consecutive callsigns, such as the English registered GTSD, and the Canadian registered VTSX and VQJM. Likewise, the Queen of Bermuda was also often heard by North American DXers in communication traffic with Bermuda Radio and New York Radio. This ship was also noted occasionally with program broadcasts, and it was on the air under two consecutive Canadian callsigns, VPTG and VQJP. And what about QSL cards acknowledging the reception of radio broadcasts from these three passenger liners? We have never seen any, although it is possible that they do exist somewhere. Maybe some of these exotic QSL cards, if they do exist, will turn up one day in some old QSL collection in North America, or perhaps even in England (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan script Nov 15 via DXLD) BERMUDA ON SHORTWAVE On three previous occasions, we have presented the story of radio broadcasting on the island of Bermuda, out there in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America. In our program today, we present the final episode in the Bermuda story; and it is Bermuda on Shortwave. We go back to the year 1927, and that is when we find the British amateur broadcaster, Gerald Marcuse, on the air with his rather famous shortwave station G2NM. He would sometimes play musical records over the air, and sometimes he would just chat in amateur radio style with whoever would join him in any part of the world. On several of those earlier occasions, Marcuse talked with an amateur radio operator located in Bermuda, and he also played music recordings over the air. The amateur radio operator in Bermuda, whose name and callsign are no longer known, would receive these programs from England on his own radio receiver, and he would then re-broadcast them live for the benefit of other amateur radio operators in the Caribbean. These spontaneous radio broadcasts were the very first attempts at radio broadcasting in Bermuda; and that was in the year 1927. Six years later, a communication station was installed at Hamilton in Bermuda and it was given the primary callsign ZFA. This new station, with a power of 1.5 kW, was officially inaugurated in November 1937, and this special ceremony was broadcast live on 10055 kHz under the secondary callsign ZFB. This shortwave programming was received off air and landlined to Radio City in New York for re-broadcast over local mediumwave stations throughout the United States. Throughout the years, running from 1933 up to around 1939, international radio monitors in the United States reported hearing occasional special shortwave broadcasts from Bermuda. This programming was transmitted by Radio Bermuda under the callsign ZFA on 5025 kHz, ZFB on 10055 kHz, or ZFD on 10335 kHz. On each occasion, the purpose of the shortwave broadcasts was for onward relay on mediumwave in the United States, and sometimes in Canada. During the same 1930s era, radio programming was broadcast on shortwave from the three passenger liners associated with Bermuda, as was mentioned in Wavescan last week. These ocean going passenger ships were the Empress of Britain, the Monarch of Bermuda, and the Queen of Bermuda. Radio listeners at the time declared that the Empress of Britain was the most active with radio broadcast programming, under the callsign GMBJ. Each of these ships was noted in the United States with occasional radio programming, usually for re-broadcast in the United States and occasionally Canada, though sometimes the shortwave programming was simply spontaneous for whoever was listening. The programming relay for NBC in New York was received by the maritime communication station WOO, located at Ocean Gate in New Jersey. Interestingly, at the beginning of the year 1938, the radio world was surprised by the release of a news item stating that a powerful new shortwave station would be constructed on the island of Bermuda. For a whole year, there were occasional mentions of this projected new shortwave station in the radio magazines in the United States, and sometimes elsewhere. The news information never indicated who was behind this project, nor what its purpose would be, though it could be speculated that the coverage area could be the United States. The various printed references to this station stated that it was a new facility, that it would be a powerful shortwave station, and that it would be installed on Smith’s Hill in Bermuda. The final known news release about this station indicated that it would be on the air in November 1939, and that it would broadcast news bulletins on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We would ask the question today: Why would anyone construct a powerful shortwave station on an island and have it broadcast just three news bulletins each week? Needless to say, the project never materialized. Do we hold any QSL cards from Bermuda? Yes, just a few, like almost half a dozen. * 1958 Mediumwave ZBM1 with 250 watts on 1235 kHz Postal Card * 1961 Communication ZFD48 4 kW 10385 kHz Color photo St George’s Harbour * 1996 Maritme ZBM 1.2 kW 2582 kHz Letter Also, 2 QSL cards from British amateur G2NM, before and after his historic stint at Empire Broadcasting. However, we also hold half a dozen picture postcards showing the three passenger liners that were associated with the island of Bermuda and were involved in international shortwave broadcasting; the Empress of Britain, the Monarch of Bermuda, and the Queen of Bermuda (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan script Nov 22 via DXLD) ** BERMUDA. On tropo VHF DX --- I am told there are two channels in Bermuda which have been heard around Cape Hatteras: "Bermuda in Hatteras. NC was coast guard on 156.8 and 157.1 MHz" Additionally, a ham (VP9GE) sometime in the not distance past had 144 MHz contacts with Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. So when Bill's red blobs seem right from east coast, it pays to look! (Bob Cooper in New Zealand, Nov 29, WTFDA via DXLD) Tried for them on TV but problems with Boston off the back of the antenna. But now that problem no longer exists will be more alert when conditions merit turning the antennas toward [no mans land, so to say] the ocean (Roy Barstow, Cape Cod MA, ibid.) Bermuda also has continuous Weather on 162.400 if that channel is open in your area. Call sign ZBR. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) ** BIAFRA [non]. 15665, International Voice of Biafra [sic] via WHRI Greenbush. Strong clear signal of speakers in English dealing with the history of suffering of the Biafran people. 1942, 7/11 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW (FRG8800 with 80m. long wire) [but is that the same setup at this DXpedition log?]: Ellalong in Hunter Valley, NSW, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ?? There is no WHRI in Greenbush. You mean Furman. V. of Biafra International, another Friday still on 15665 via WHRI, Nov 27 at 1901 in opening anthem, VG signal for the weekly one-hour broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. NIGERIA [sic], The R. Biafra semi-clandestine broadcast from London via VT communications, 1900-2000 on 12050, may have ceased. I have not heard the transmissions for several weeks and the web site does not appear to have been updated since the end of September (Dave Kenny, England, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) Now that you mention it, I see that transmission no longer appears in B-09 HFCC (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4787.8, 26/11 1120 UT, R. Emis. Ballivián, San Borja- Depto. Beni, Spanish, sign-on, ID, mx´s, talk OM, S-3, RFA 4451.0, 28/11 2302 UT, R. Santa Ana, Sta. Ana de Yacuma-Depto. Beni, Spanish, mensajes para la comunidad, ID, S-4 (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Quillacollo, Bolivia, 17º 23' 00. 65" S, 66º 15' 49. 60" W (2x)Sony ICF-2001D / Lowe HF-225E Dipolo - LW 26m - RGP1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3310, R Mosoj Chaski, 27.11., 2255, talk in Quechua, música andina, ID; O=2 4409.8, R Eco, 25.11., 2245, political info, Reyes mentioned; O=2 4796.4, R Lípez, 27.11., 2315, political information, many IDs; O=2-3 [It seems I am the only one to bother putting the accent on the I, after research indicating that was correct, but I have never heard it myself. Would someone please confirm from the `many IDs` whether it is pronounced LEE-pess or lee-PESS --- gh] 4865, R Logos (presumed), 27.11., 2305, rel px, co-channel QRM Brazil stn; O=2 5580.2, R San José (presumed), 26.11., 2230, música andina, no announcements; O=2 5952.5, R Pio XII, 25.11., 2305, talk; O=2 6134.8, R Santa Cruz, 26.11., 2220, adv., ID, time anns, political info on presidential elections; O=2 (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, Dec 1, Bavarian DX-Camp, which took place from 24.11. to 29.11.2009, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany; Antennas: several Beverages in all DX-relevant directions, Antenna length: 200m to 500m, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4914.98, Radiodifusora Macapá with Portuguese ident & time check 0530 24 Nov. Other 60m Brazilians at this time on 4864.85, 4885.03, 4985, 5035 and 5045 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – As frequências de ondas curtas da Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), estão inativas no momento. Conforme a apresentadora da emissora Maria Eli, a estação faz revisão técnica dos seus transmissores. A Guarujá também está construindo novos estúdios (Célio Romais blog Nov 30 via DXLD) Notably 5045, etc. ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – Conforme informações de Édison Bocorny Júnior, de Capão da Canoa (RS), a cidade de Camboriú (SC) recebeu concessão para transmitir na frequência de 5940 kHz, em 49 metros. A concessão consta no Plano Básico de Distribuição de Canais do Ministério das Comunicações, mas o nome da emissora não é conhecido (Célio Romais blog Nov 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5970, Radio Itatiaia, Belo Horizonte, 0730-0745, Nov 28, tentative with Brazilian music. Portuguese talk. Radio-drama. Poor. Weak in noisy conditions. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – A Rádio Inconfidência, de Belo Horizonte (MG), informou que está operando com potência reduzida em 6010 kHz. Ela está fazendo manutenção em sua antena. A informação foi publicado no Twitter do Renato Uliana, de Guarulhos (SP). (Célio Romais blog Nov 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) 6009.95, Radio Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, 0700-0725, Nov 28, local folk music. ID at 0720. Audible after Cuba 6010 sign off at 0700. Fair signal but slight QRM from weak unidentified station on 6009.81. Possibly Colombia’s LV de tu Conciencia (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 6185, R. Nacional da Amazonea [sic], Brasília with OM announcer in Portuguese with IDs as "R Nacional" and many mentions of Brazilia and São Paulo. Peppy latin music and then into Portuguese talk by OM, and continuing with more peppy music on the "Madrugada Nacional" programme (I heard this several times: 'early morning?, what do they consider 'evening'? :) SIO 4+44 0218-0243 23/Nov (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ?? Local midnight is 0200 UT during Brazilian summer time, altho not affecting all of Amazônia, so as far as the DJ in Brasília is concerned, it is already madrugada (gh, DXLD) The Dec 2 cut-on time for RNA Brasília, blasting away drumming played by XEPPM MEXICO on 6185 was: *0637 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MEXICO ** BRAZIL. [and non] [Re MEXICO, q.v., clash times of RNA against XEPPM on 6185] BTW, timeanddate.com lists the following mostly western and northern states as NOT observing DST this summer: Amazonas, Pernambuco, Bahia, Sergipe, Pará, Paraíba, Ceará, Amapá, Alagoas, Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí, Maranhão, Acre, Roraima, Tocantins --- Amazonas??? Doesn`t matter, RNA really comes from Brasília, where they care nothing about what time it is in their service area (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9565.07, Super Radio Deus e Amor, Curitiba, 0620-0704, Nov 28, usual Portuguese preacher. Some religious music. ID at 0703. Weak but readable. // 6060 - weak under Cuba (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. A Super Radio Deus é Amor em 9585 kHz às 0817 UT apresentava forte distorção no áudio e gerando sinais espúrios em 9420 kHz com larga amplitude até por volta de 9450 kHz. Uma nova particularidade dos ruídos elétricos aqui, após às 0000 até às 1100 os ruídos aumentam em todas as faixas assim durante a madrugada e até o amanhecer fazer DX principalmente nas bandas acima dos 41 metros é impossível (Jorge Freitas, Brasil, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. On some nights, RHC inbooms on 11760, but not Dec 1 at 0625; instead, hardly any signal to bother 11765, David Miranda evangelical empire, heard him wailing from ZYE726, SRDA/R. Tupi, Curitiba, per Aoki 10 kW at 20 degrees and off the air [not] at 03-09 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite different in Brasil: Amigo Glenn, Realmente a SRDA continua chegando muito bem em 11765 kHz e atualmente a RHC, em 11760 kHz, mesmo com seus 100 kW não a tem inteferido. Um abraço, (Adalberto M. Azevedo, Barbacena - Mg - Brasil Membro do DX Clube do Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. 11815, R. Brasil Central, Nov 25 at 0633 ID making it unnecessary to check // 4985, but did so anyway as on my way to there on second receiver; Goiânia much better on 11815. The best/only Brazilian on 25m as 11780 had not cut on yet, and not much from 11925v. 11815, R. Brasil Central singing ID as soon as I intuned, Nov 27 at 0620, then TC for 4:22 at 0621, song, fair signal and similar one from R. Bandeirantes 11925v. Looked for other 25m Brazilians, and on 11895, a rippling SAH between two weak signals. At 0631 one of them was identifiable as REE in Spanish, so the other is likely as listed in Aoki: ``11895 R. Legião da Boa Vontade, 0700-0200 1234567 Portuguese 1 336 Porto Alegre RS B 05109W 3003S`` perhaps on air an hour earlier due to DST. 1 means 1 kW, and 336 means its azimuth, USward so helping the low power a bit. 11780, RNA popped on mid-song at 0636 with huge 250 kW signal compared to the others. This station shows no finesse about proper sign-ons. By 0700, 11815 and 11925 had improved considerably (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 11735 ** BRAZIL. 11925.07, Rádio Bandeirantes, São Paulo, 0600-0615, Nov 28, Portuguese talk. // 9645.31 - both frequencies weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BULGARIA. 7400, Nov 25 at 0635, ME music with repetitive chanting, making me wonder if it`s something other than R. Bulgaria, the only thing scheduled here, in German during this semihour. Well, my characterization must be misguided, as program schedule at http://bnr.bg/sites/de/Pages/ProgramScheme.aspx shows ``Bulgarische Volkskunst`` after the Nachrichten. 15700, R. Bulgaria, Nov 28 at 1430 ID in Bulgarian and into folk music show called ``Chardota`` or something like that, sounded Roma. Much better than // 11700. I was going to keep listening to it, but first a bit more bandscanning, which sidetracked me to another music feature on R. Martí; see CUBA [non]. The Sat 1430 semihour on RB is worth a weekly revisit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, RTB is doubtless the reactivated station here, but tough copy against Cuba 5025 splash. Dec 1 at 0622, definitely in French talk, mixed with music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Someone asked me a while ago if CHNC 610 New Carlisle QC has gone off AM in its switch to FM. I'm hearing it on AM tonight. (Same with CKDH Amherst NS, on 900, which I heard last week in Newfoundland). (Saul Chernos, Ont., NRC-AM via DXLD) Do they ever ID? I hear them most nights, but no ID at TOH. If they do, what time and how? Regards, (Sig, Norrkoping, Sweden (Andersson Sigvard, ibid.) Sig, Canadian stations are only required to ID with call letters once a day; and some barely do that. Some ID with call letters every hour. I`m not sure if there is a rule to says when they HAVE to use their calls to ID or not (Paul B Walker, Jr., IL, ibid.) Sig, I have no idea as to how they ID. I have a couple of dominant stations on 610, and CHNC is behind them. Since I haven't 'needed' it for years, I've just let it go when I hear French there, as there's nothing else even remotely close by - and it loops east from me. Here is a web link for audio. http://www.radiochnc.com/live.html - listen live, but not working this morning http://www.radiochnc.com/pour-nous-ecouter.html - list of frequencies http://www.radiochnc.com/programmation.html - programming (Saul Chernos, ibid.) ** CANADA. CINF-690 & CKAC-730 --- Above stations are from Montreal as far as I can tell and running //. Why? (Roy Barstow, Old Cape Cod, MA, Nov 27, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Noted the same here. At times they do //. I dunno why (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) I believe they're only // overnight, when they're carrying the "Souvenirs Garantis" ("Guaranteed Memories") oldies network that's heard 24/7 on a bunch of Corus-owned FMs across Quebec. French-language AM is essentially dead in Quebec at this point. Radio- Canada moved most of its transmitters to FM over the last decade or so, and the commercial players followed suit. There are all of three French-language mainstream AM stations left in Quebec's big cities: CHRC 800 in Quebec City is barely hanging on as a sports station owned by Les Capitales du Quebec, the minor-league baseball team there. Corus' CINF and CKAC are the only ones left in Montreal. During the day, CINF is all-news and CKAC is all-sports, but most of the talk programming that used to draw big audiences to AM has migrated to an FM sister station, CHMP 98.5. At night, it's evidently barely worth the trouble to keep the transmitters on the air, hence the low-budget simulcasts with Souvenirs Garantis. (I think it's actually a simulcast with CHMP-FM, which is in turn a Souvenirs Garantis affiliate late at night when the talk is over.) The only reason CINF and CKAC are left on AM at all is that Corus already has the maximum number of French-language FMs in town, so it can't flip them to FM like it did with its other AMs around the province. Here's a link to the latest Montreal radio ratings (scroll down to see the Francophone portion): http://www.bbm.ca/en/Top_Line_Radio_Reports_-_Montreal_PPM_wks_48-8_English.pdf CINF doesn't even crack a 1.0 share, and CKAC is rated lower than any of the French-language FMs except for Radio-Canada's "Espace Musique" on CBFX 100.7. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ** CANADA. Facilities changes: ON, Oneida Reserve ``Eagle Radio`` 89.5 is NW of Port Stanley, west of St. Thomas, SW of London. It is unlicensed, has no call letters, is $tereo, and is similar to stations in Cornwall 97.3 and Tyendinaga 105.9. Its website does not mention its parameters, but they are believed to be 450 watts h,v; 46 m, for 10 km primary coverage radius (FMedia Sept/Oct via DXLD) ** CANADA. The low powered CFRX is back on the air again with 1 kW on 6070 kHz. This shortwave station was off the air for two years, while new equipment was obtained and installed. After it was re-activated, electronic problems occurred and the transmitter was shipped back to New York for refurbishing. It has since been re-delivered to Toronto and re-installed at the mediumwave location. The signal nowadays is quite weak in the United States due to a beam orientation for listeners in Canada. Signal fade in can be heard best around sunrise (Adrian Peterson, Indianapolis, AWR Wavescan script Nov 29 via DXLD) I disagree; CFRX has quite a good signal for only 1 kW. Are we really off-beam from it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Aha, I caught CFRX mentioning the still applicable but suppressed CFRB call letters just before ``Newstalk 10-10``, Nov 28 at 2237 on 6070, then ads. As for the SW call, CFRX, forget it, never to be spoken. CFRX lux out with little co-channel QRM much of the time, despite not being protected by DOC or RCI at HFCC. But this hour is worst, a fast SAH of some 10 Hz and audio under, probably Romania in Spanish at 247 degrees. VOA English via Thailand USward at 18 degrees could also be a grayline problem here at 22-24. Not to mention ELWA Liberia, 5 kW non-direxional until 2300, if active? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6070, CFRX (CFRB), Toronto. 1142-1148 November 28, 2009. Very strong, clean and on-frequency signal with news item on an arrest at the Toronto Humane Society after someone discovered a mummified cat in the trash; traffic report; ad string; "NewsTalk 10-10" slogan. Still strong at 1235 recheck (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s a big scandal; also heard about it on CBC (gh) ** CANADA. 15190, very weak crienglish.com mentioned at 1454 Nov 25, // and synchronized with 15230 via Sackville, so presumably a spur from that strong signal about to sign off. On 15190 mixing with open carrier producing SAH of approx. 4.5 Hz, presumably R. Africa; it sped up momentarily as one of them must have varied. See also EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Reply to UK [non] below: Andy, you hit the nail on the head. At the same point I would also like to point the same thing. When I was at RCI the technical staff in Sackville had a list of what audio is fed and at what time, but there was one case I remember in 1991 when by accident instead of RCI French going to Africa, Radio-Canada's afternoon went out instead. It lasted for about 10 minutes when the Sackville technician realized there was a traffic report from SRC's Montreal studio being broadcast. At the same time I know for a fact that some of the "staff" technicians within CBC/SRC of which RCI technicals fall into the same group have very low morale. A guy I know who works for the CBC in Toronto told me many times, that he goes in and does what he has to do and leaves. And said that, why should I go out of my way to help the corp.? Many of the staff RCI technicians feel the same. What can you expect if they don't know from one year to another if they will be funded. Also Andy made a good point: to most people Russian and Ukrainian sound the same. Just as Mandarin and Cantonese, Spanish and Portuguese, or Dutch and Afrikaans. And unless someone picks up on how different they sound, a mistake could be made (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) > When I worked at the BBC in the 1970s, it was made clear than > engineers are engineers, not linguists. In this case Glenn should describe his experiences further. What I had in mind were experiences that nobody cared when a problem (i.e. wrong program audio on air) had been pointed out to them. Actually it does not matter at all where the cause is, but control room staff would presumably not be affected by a possible decision to close down the shortwave operations. Thus I referred to Sackville specifically. And in this case certainly nobody needs to be a linguist, since what they had on air by mistake was VTC's channel identifier. Not just for one day, but at least for a week or so, and apparently it were indeed Glenn's caustic remarks that finally sounded the alarm. Imagine this in domestic broadcasting. Somebody I know would now comment that elsewhere "heads would have rolled" for this. > I remember being told in the 1970's at BBC Monitoring of one > occasion when some BBC transmitters briefly relayed Radio Kiev in > Ukrainian instead of BBC Russian And did heads roll? I'm not sarcastic. About the same time a GDR program appeared on a WDR frequency, because another transmitter they used as audio source went off while tropospheric reflections were present, thus the co-channel Inselsberg transmitter came in and got relayed. I had to note that this is still a sensitive topic for WDR engineers, and they still feel that they had the enemy on air, not the colleagues. The other way round the Wiederau transmitter once briefly relayed RIAS because the audio circuits had been mixed up when switches had been made for maintenance work. It has not been mentioned if this was a complete exchange, thus the other way round Hof got to relay Radio DDR 1 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The HCJB/VTC/Montreal/Sackville affair in early November was nothing compared to the FULL MONTH last March that Sackville was broadcasting Turkish instead of scheduled English from Ankara. I reported on this extensively at the time. Despite repeated complaints directly to Montreal, Sackville and to Ankara, it took that long to do anything about it, as the buck kept being passed. I blame Ankara most, as they were the originator and should have raised hell about it as soon as they were aware of it, from me. I can`t say they were the client, or paying for the time, as it was an airtime exchange with RCI; another reason for not really caring. But the Sackvillains made it clear that as long as they had the `right` feed circuit into the transmitter, it didn`t matter that it was the wrong language (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Analog TVDX from CKVR, CHBX: see MEXICO [and non] ** CHAD. 6165, Radio National Tchadienne a solid signal with highlife music 0544 24 Nov. In the clear until RN Bonaire's return 0557 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6165, RD. Natle. Tchadienne, Gredia, 1303-1416, 29 Nov, French, newscast, vernacular, talks; 24342, stronger QRM de HRV at 1400 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHECHNYA. The Chechen Republic. Grozny. [whew; machine translation] --------------------------------------------- Continuation of construction of powerful stationary broadcasting station: The aerial - mast of the bottom feed(meal) in height of 95 m is mounted 20.11.2009 Now on 30-th site of. Terrible construction powerful is conducted Stationary broadcasting station under the Federal target program "Restoration of economy and social sphere of the Chechen Republic (2002 and The next years) " Input of object in operation is supposed in 1-st quarter 2010. Now the aerial - mast of the bottom feed(meal) in height of 95 m is already mounted. As 2 transmitters "TRAM 50", by capacity 5 kW [generally are mounted 50 kw - VR], working on frequencies: 657 kHz and 1287 kHz. It is made. Test inclusion of the transmitter 657 kHz on an equivalent of the aerial. + foto http://chechnia.rtrn.ru/news.asp?view=12143 (Victor Rutkovsky, Ekaterinburg / "open_dx" via RusDX Nov 29 via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [and non]. Chechen presidential advisor suggests “Radio Caucasus” In order to counter extremism in the North Caucasus and prevent young people from joining Islamist radicals, the Russian government should set up a special Caucasus Radio where experts on the region could freely discuss even the most difficult and sensitive problems, an advisor to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov says. Timur Aliyev, who also works as a journalist, made this proposal to a session on “inter-confessional and interethnic dialogue in the media at a Nalchik forum on “The Caucasus: Tradition and Modernization” that attracted officials, journalists and specialists from across that region and from Moscow as well. His comments came after other participants highlighted the extent to which the media, both regional and Moscow-based, are failing to win the “counter-propaganda” battle with Islamist and nationalist groups, either because the former are unwilling or unable to discuss many subjects or because the latter are better positioned to appeal to the often alienated young. Read more from GeorgianDaily.com http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15869&Itemid=72 Related story: Georgia mulling Caucasus broadcasting http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/georgia-mulling-caucasus-broadcasting Andy Sennitt comments: With both Georgia and now Russia contemplating a new Russian-language radio channel for the Caucasus, the existence of the RFE/RL North Caucasus service, and Radio Liberty’s recently- inaugurated broadcasts to the Abkhazia and South Ossetia breakaway regions of Georgia, it looks as if a full-scale ‘media war’ is on the way (December 2nd, 2009 - 10:43 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Netework blog via DXLD) 2 Comments on “Chechen presidential advisor suggests “Radio Caucasus”” #1 Kai Ludwig on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 16:37 Actually such a station already exists: Voice of Russia’s “Kavkas” program which goes out, amongst other frequencies, via a high power longwave transmitter on 171 kHz. This is the former “Chechnya Svobodnaya”, renamed in 2008 since it now considers the whole region. #2 Andy Sennitt on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 16:47 Indeed, but according to the report, Mr Aliyev believes that the existing station is failing to win the “counter-propaganda” battle with Islamist and nationalist groups, so he is suggesting that something needs to be changed. He is especially concerned about reaching young people, which the Kavkas programme is presumably not doing, or at least not sufficiently (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Taiwan Strait, 1500-1530, Nov 29. “This is the Voice of Taiwan Strait”; program on Sunday only, “Focus on China”; news item about the Chinese pop star Zang Tianshuo being sentenced on Friday by the Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court to six years in jail for inciting a group to violence, which resulted in a street battle that left one person dead and three injured; pandas “Wang Wang” and “Funi” were flown to Australia (Adelaide Airport); promo for China (“Have you ever been to China?”); etc.; light AIR QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TAIWAN [non] ** CHINA. Beibu Bay Radio, 5050 at 2325z, in Vietnamese, grayline path from Nanning, listed as only 15 kW at 225 (off the back to NoAm). No sign of WWRB at this time. (29 Nov 09) (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, Drake R8B, sloper & ALA330s, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, when does WWRB start up on 5050? It`s available from 21 to 05 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, all over the place between 5 and 7 MHz Nov 24 at 1411-1413, approximate ranges: 5180-5230 5360-5410 - higher pitch than all the others, from different site? 5440-5490 5810-5840 6550-6580 - weaker, making bandwidth seem narrower than 50 kHz 6770-6820 6950-7000 Axually I was tuning from the higher to the lower ones. CNR1, mostly as jammers, Nov 25 at 1424 in // on 7295, 7365, 7385, 7525, 7535 playing ``Exodus`` theme on piano. Not to give the DentroChinese any ideas about escaping from a horribly overcrowded and human-rights-abusing nation. Asia-Pacific on R. Australia today at 1525 on 9590 concluded with a report on how Falun Gong adherents are persecuted, imprisoned, killed and their organs harvested; some have been granted asylum in Australia, organs intact. Think of this whenever you hear Firedrake jamming Sound of Hope; it`s not just nice idle entertainment. Firedrake, Nov 25 at 1417: good on 8400, nothing on 9000, poor on 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is anyone else getting the Mideastern [sic] music on 11300, weak here. 1720 CST (Mark Knowlton, Green Bay WI, = 2320 UT Nov 24, UDXF yg via DXLD) Yes, weak with fade here near Toronto Canada as well at 2350Z/1850 EST. Continuing to monitor (Bob Wylie, ibid.) Same here, either jamming or someone`s on the wrong frequency; that's AFI-3 main channel. 1830 cst, still s4 (Mark Knowlton, ibid.) Hi there, Indeed a Chinese AM broadcast noted on 11300 kHz AM??? Reported here S9 with fading on 11/25/2009 1000 UT in the Netherlands (Martien, PA3HBY, ibid.) Hi there, Chinese transmissions stopped suddenly at 1004 UTC during music transmissions (Martien, PA3HBY, 1003 UT Nov 25, ibid. I had a het on 11300 so I figured perhaps some powerhouse broadcast station was imding [? sic] my rig, but when I added every attenuator in the rig I could still hear it (Chris, N0SYA, 1420 UT Nov 25, ibid.) Firedrake, of course. Reported on this frequency some months ago, but not lately. I must start checking it again. Firedrake Nov 26 at 1412: about equally fair on 8400, 9000, 10210. Not heard on 11300, where we heard it months ago, despite being on an important aero comms frequency, which was again being reported by UDXF monitors Nov 25-26 around 2320-2430, -1004, 1420, tho they didn`t know what it was. Don`t blame us, the ChiCom will say --- we just jam Sound of Hope wherever it appears. Yeah, right. 9355 with a deep mix of YFR and Chinese, Nov 26 at 1954, first the YFR IS mixing with ads(?) in hyper Mandarin, then a bit of classical music. 1959 YFR introducing Romanian hour, and tried to make out the Chinese ID, but no go. Since this is the same frequency where WYFR has previously been heard mixing two of its own programs in the 06-07+ UT period, Italian/English and Portuguese/Spanish, first suspicion was that RTI programming via WYFR had suffered the same fate. No SAH, as signals were zero-beat as far as I could tell, also making them seem from one transmitter, like the WBCQ case on 15420, see USA. At 2029, still the mix but Chinese definitely on top, more so than earlier, a clue that it`s not all from one transmitter. At 2057 tried again to unravel this. Chinese even more atop, and very slight fading which could be slight difference in frequency, or propagational. At 2100, as WYFR switched to Spanish, 5+1 timesignal and clear ID we abbreviate as ``CJKT``, or ``ZRGD`` if you prefer, so it`s CNR1, and thus separate from Okeechobee! So strong and steady, could it be via Sackville? No, it`s another of their damn jammers, as the only Mandarin really scheduled on 9355 at 17-22 is RFA via Saipan at 300 degrees, of which nothing at all was audible here, unlike, we can only hope, in xenophobic China, where any words at all from its largest co- dependent trading partner must be blocked from the delicate ears of the people. No sign of China on 19m, just Australia, Nov 26 at 0636, so expected 16m to be dead, but instead found good signal on 17740 with exotic repetitive music, at 0639 announcement in Chinese; also slightly weaker 17710 with CRI English, Voices of Our World, the Thursday feature interviewing a Westerner who teaches MBA courses in Beijing. Seems quite a selective opening, but these two are listed from quite different sites: 17710 Beijing, 500 kW at 193 degrees; 17740 Xi`an, 500 kW at 190 degrees, with CRI Chinese. Searched for other signals on 16, and found much weaker Chinese conversation on 17550, which is CNR1 from Beijing, 100 kW, 251 degrees. And a trace of something on 17880, likely CNR1 jamming of RFA via Saipan. Interesting that at 0643 I found 17710 coincidentally synchronized with same program via Sackville on 6115. 11855, at 0658 Nov 27, CRI prélude music, 0700 opening in Chinese, good signal. Figured it was direct, but really via Cërrik, ALBANIA, 310 degrees, same azimuth as R. Tirana via Shijak site to NAm. Firedrake Nov 28 at 1427: good on 9000, better on 8400 and just barely audible on 10210. Why does relative reception of the big 3 FD channels vary so much? Firedrake Nov 30 at 1525: 11300, 10210, 9000, 8400, all // around S9+10, but sounding slightly stronger on the lower. Firedrake Dec 1 at 1426: fair on 9000, poor on 8400, 10210; possibly a trace on 11300. Firedrake Dec 2 at 1351: nil on 8400, poor on 9000, very poor on 10210, just barely audible on 11300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. CNR1 Beijing, 5030, still audible in Chinese as late as 1520 Dec 2 eased by weakening Cuba 5025, and usual fast SAH which I can only assume is Malaysia Sarawak, always underneath. // 4460 CNR1 not audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Venezuela upset about QRM on 770: see VENEZUELA [and non] ** COLOMBIA. Re: Radio Nacional is available on a live audio stream from their website at http://www.radionacionaldecolombia.gov.co I recorded them starting their broadcast day at 0558 local time (1058 UT) this morning, so if you want to hear the stirring Colombian national anthem in stereo hear the clip at Interval Signals Online http://intervalsignals.net And can anyone tell me the title of that fabulous dancing music on the last 2 minutes of the clip? (Dave Kernick, Oct 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was unable to identify the old cumbia Dave was hearing. Sounded like Tomás Burbano or Edmundo Arias. This music is seldom to be heard on Colombian stations save Radio Nacional where they are paying some attention to "Colombian cultural heritage". Outside of Colombia, the cumbia is heard in many local mutations, but the really old and traditional style one is cherished by Radio Nacional de El Salvador, which as its Colombian counterpart also has reliable streaming audio (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Nov 29, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. 5910, Nov 28 at 0634, timecheck for 1:36 and Marfil Estéreo ID; this time had to strain to make it out, weaker than usual; also the area can get desensitized by super signals from WWCR on both sides, 5890 and 5935. 5910, during the previous hour had been BBCWS via South Africa --- see UK [non] --- but at 2321 Nov 28 that was gone tho it did run past 2300, and instead hearing ``Bésame Mucho``, slow song which would seem too hot for an evangelical station, as romantic human love can detract from mandatory love of God, but it must have been Marfil Estéreo nonetheless, as after a couple of segués to other tunes, typical announcement with time check at 2333. Since this was in, I also tuned for the other HJDH, its sibling station on 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia --- a messy pileup there at 2325; think I heard some Brazilian and some Chinese, but mainly a wavering audible het plus some music. What`s on 6010 at this hour, per Aoki? CNR 11, Baoji in Tibetan, 100 kW, 255 degrees, active? R. Bahrain, 5 kW, non-direxional, 24 hours and really rare in NAm R. Free Asia, via UAE in Tibetan, plus ChiCom CNR1 jamming, natch R. Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, Brasil, 5 kW, 122 degrees R. Parinacota, Putre, Chile, 1 kW, non-direx 24h; but active? Voz de tu Conciencia, Puero Lleras, 5 kW, N-D, 24h, active? XEOI, Núcleo Radio Mil, DF, 250 watts, N-D, 24h [1 kW: see MEXICO] Earlier Nov 28 at 0700, Brian Alexander in PA measured: 6009.95, Radio Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, 6009.81, Possibly Colombia’s LV de tu Conciencia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. RNW makes programme for Colombian hostages Radio Netherlands Worldwide is making a special Spanish-language radio programme for hostages in Colombia. It’s a co-production with the Colombian radio network Caracol by journalist and former hostage Herbin Hoyos. In the programme, families and friends will send messages to their loved ones who have been taken hostage by the guerilla movement FARC. The programme will be recorded tomorrow, Tuesday 1 December, in RNW’s Hilversum studios. Parts of the programme will be broadcast on 5 and 6 December via shortwave, satellite, partner stations and the Spanish website www.informarn.nl. The complete programme will be broadcast on Caracol Radio in Colombia on 6 December. The radio programme, a one-off co-production, will consist of live music, interviews with former hostages and a round table discussions with a number of guests. These will include Lloreda Mora (Colombian Ambassador to the Netherlands), Jan Besterbreurtje (chairman of the Latin-American Business Council) and Edwin Koopmam (journalist and Latin America specialist). There will also be interviews, including one with a former lieutenant of the Colombian army, himself a former hostage. Herbin Hoyos Herbin Hoyos was taken hostage for one year by the FARC at the beginning of 1994. After his release he began the programme ‘Las Voces del Secuestro’ (the voices of the abduction) on the Caracol network. For 15 years these radio programmes have provided a means for families and friends to send messages to those in captivity (November 30th, 2009 - 17:24 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 2 Comments on “RNW makes programme for Colombian hostages” #1 SRG on Dec 1st, 2009 at 13:50 So the part of this program will be carried as segments within regular broadcasts of RNW Spanish, right? I didn’t get it why they had to record such a broadcast in the Netherlands… #2 Andy Sennitt on Dec 1st, 2009 at 14:54 Because we can’t afford to send a whole team of people to Colombia (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 2859.82, Radio San Carlos, 0100-0150*, Nov 26, 2nd harmonic. 2 x 1430v. Spanish pops/ballads. Brief Spanish announcements. Abruptly pulled plug at 0150. Fair signal. Also heard at 1115-1135 with lively Spanish music, promos, announcements, talk. ID at 1123 & Spanish ballads (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CROATIA [and non]. /IRAN, 3985v, Croatian Radio hat nachts einen Gesellen auf der gleichen Frequenz, IRIB Kamalabad in Arabisch um 2130-0300 UT. Die Perseus Juenger koennen ja mal exact nachmessen: IRIB even xxxx.00, aber Deanovec die ueblichen 70-100 Hertz Versatz irgendwo bei 3984.93 kHz an meinem E1 Schaetzeisen (Wolfgang Büschel,k Nov 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) ** CUBA. 1140, Radio Musical Nacional, unknown site. 0140-0155 UT December 1, 2009. A pretty solid signal, way better than what mostly has been a pathetic 590 of late, with the usual violin-intensive classical music. A Rebelde, and maybe other(s) occasionally fading up. 1620, new station, Radio Rebelde, unknown western Cuba site. 1126-1138 UT November 28, 2009. Male with references to territorio nacional, 26 de julio, Cuba, revolucionario, etc. parallel the 1180 kHz out-of- synch transmitters (5025 off at this check, on later in the day recheck), then sports roundup, including clip of an unidentified US English lady, mentioning a "Morgan Johnson" with man translating in Spanish. Very good signal, trouncing WRNP, Gulf Breeze, FL. And 1510+ (10:10 a.m. ET), mixing equally if not a bit over WNRP. Daytime reception would confirm this is from western Cuba, and an independent transmitter from what David Crawford is hearing on east coast Florida (as there was no trace of it daytime here). This thing just appeared. They could have at least bookended the band with Enciclopedia here. And again, good and easily dominating 1620 at 0045+ December 1, 2009, parallel signal sick 5025. DISCLAIMER FOR ANY 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 above 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 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC on 11800 kHz around 1210 on Nov 25th, Spanish program with typical Cuban music, 35433 on a clear channel (Robert Foerster, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Have stopped noting RHC 6140 language usage every night, as lately it has been consistently in English at least until 0700, as Nov 25 0644 check during music, but much weaker and undermodulated compared to 6060 and 6010; while 6150 and 6120 were in Spanish. Nov 25 at 1407, RHC missing from 6110 amid all the Asians, and still missing at 1428 when I confirmed all three 25m channels were running, so not a blanket power outage; but at 1609 check 6110 was back, with usual weak and isolated daytime signal. The heavy DentroCuban-style noise jamming is back on 11600, Nov 25 at 1601. Again we have no idea what they could possibly need to jam there, following Spanish from Czechia and Slovakia during the previous hour. Of course, if R. República snuk in a new transmission, it would not be on any public schedule. Not checked again until 1912, and the jamming is *still* running, against nothing else audible. If the DCJC ever heard anything suspicious on frequency, that would be enough to set off jamming forevermore. As soon as I mention that 6140 has been consistently in English at 05- 07, RHC switches it to Spanish, just to keep us on our toes: Nov 26 at 0611, interviewing some Brazilian guy speaking Spanish with quite an accent, // 6150 and 6120. Meanwhile, English on 6060 and 6010, except on 6060 only, heavy audio mixture from the Spanish service, slightly under, but about 65-35 percent. At 0612 English announcer mentioned Sen. Feingold`s call for the abolition of RTV Martí --- that should get him a lot of DentroCuban votes. To confuse matters further, at 0621 the Spanish service was translating someone speaking in English. The 6060 mix was still going at 0644. It`s always something. Also checked 25m, and 11760 Spanish was inbooming as it has been lately in the nightmiddle, with MUFs holding up, 0629 in ``Revista de la Noche, de lunes a sábado, una manera de saber``, i.e. one way to find things out --- yeah, just what the Commie government wants you to know, like topic-A, the Five Heroes, yawn. S9+25 but along with it a big hum. Then at 0647 rechecked 6150 and 6140 and they were hummy too, but not this bad. Narrowband audio on 6120 made hum less noticeable. 11600, there it is again, heavy DentroCuban jamming noise against nothing detectable at 2033 Nov 26. I am rather sure it was not there earlier in the hour when I tuned by the frequency. RHC Nov 27: at 0544, 6140 in English this time, phone ringing audible in background, but not so on // much stronger 6060 or 6010. At 0650 science editor Arnie Coro ending Breakthru, still phone ringing on 6140. Altho not so an hour earlier, now 6060 has Spanish service mixing in as it did 24 hours earlier. 11760 very strong at 0640 in Spanish also with the big hum it develops around this time. Equally huge signal with hum and whine on 11532 from spy(?) transmitter overriding and hetting WYFR 11530. 11532 was mixing with 11760 to produce a leapfrog on 11304 which included RHC audio, fading in and out. 49m things had changed at 0711: 6140 now in Spanish // 6150, 6120 with news sounder. Least hum on 6150. 6010 off, audibilizing LA music, presumably Mil rather than Conciencia; 6060 still on in prolonged English and still with Spanish crosstalk under. 0614 Isabel García (is she still also head of RHC English?), talking about the current military exercises, ``Bastión 2009`` to be prepared for US invasion, admittedly not on a very big scale this year due to current economic situation. 6110 missing again at 1422 Nov 27 --- nothing to separate the best and the worst of US international broadcasting, VOA 6105 and Harold Camping 6115. Maybe 6110 is not opening now until 1500, for there it was at 1508 with Cuban music. 11600, free of jamming at 1510 Nov 27 when weak signal from presumed Prague in Spanish was there, but DCJC noise wall was back at next check 1630, evidently against nothing. More jamming news at USA: WRMI (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC anomaly survey Nov 28: at 0610, 6140 in English, Ed Newman (not Noonan as Ken Zichi guesses), phone ringing audible in background. Much stronger // 6060 and 6010 with no phone audible, and at this time 6060 did not have Spanish service audio mixed in either! Cuba does its best to make enemies, not just of the US but of other Latin Americans --- like jamming the innocuous media/DX show La Rosa de Tokio produced in Argentina, UT Sat Nov 28 at 0614. Strong rapid jamming pulses were disrupting this on WRMI 9955, altho not a wall of noise. Try again when it`s scheduled 24 hours later, UT Sunday 0600- 0700. 6110 had been missing before 1500 the last few days, but Nov 28 it was back as early as 1357 in music show (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6110, Radio Habana Cuba. 1148-1151 November 28, 2009. Strong with Spanish, parallel 6180 (local) and 9600 (strong, but noisy -- almost a jamming sound -- but maybe self-induced). Local but hummy 6150 in parallel by 1236, but gone at 1303 check (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any English from RHC at 2030-2130? No English before or after 2100 Nov 28 on: 11730, 11760, 11770, 11800, 13770, just Spanish. DCJC grinding on 11600 at 2059 Nov 28, against what? I tuned aside momentarily to check DW on 11605, and when I went back to 11600, the jamnoise was gone, or almost. With BFO there was a bit of hash, possibly a spur of something unID (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 15120 et al., Sunday Nov 29 at 1335-1350, En Contacto, RHC`s Spanish DX program which I find a lot more enjoyable than DXers Unlimited featuring Coro`s limited obsessions with homebrewing, etc. Mid-feature this week was Para los Principiantes, answering question from one of their many DentroCuban listeners, what are DAB and BLU and is a special receiver necessary to receive them? Answers were unsatisfactory. Just pronounced ``digital audio broadcasting`` without explaining what it is and that not only do you need a special receiver, but have to be in a country where that mode is in use, on VHF, not HF, such as UK. BLU defined as SSB but not really explained nor answering the receiver question. See also SPAIN. The usual jumbled-up situation later on Sunday morning, tnx to the sporadic Aló, Presidente relays. At 1509 found big open carrier on 13750, a frequency used only for Hugo, so they were QRX for him, but after no modulation except weak phone ringing, it finally cut off, giving up at 1540*. While 11760 was in Esperanto as scheduled at 1509, RHC Spanish frequencies were missing: 11730, 11800, and I think 13680: in skirt of CRI via Canada 13675, something there but unseemed // RHC music on 13770. Also open carrier on 11690. Nothing on other A,P channels 12010, 17750. At 1540, when 13750 went off, 11690 still open carrier. At 1545, 11760 had reverted to RHC music // 6110, but 11730 and 11800 still absent; as was 11680 which other days carries RNV during this hour. But: see VENEZUELA [non] RHC Dec 1: at 0630, 6140 in English, usual weak modulation with phone ringing in background compared to loud and clear // 6010 and 6060, the latter also without Spanish mixture which was previously the case (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11705.00, dicker Träger und 1000 Hz Ton schon um 1144 UT. 1158:26 UT VOA Tinang-PHL, sehr dünne, S=3. "This is the VOA, signing on", Yankee Doodle. Erst um circa 1203 UT kommt auch Cuba auf die Schwingung. Spanisch, wahrscheinlich mit dem Venezuela Programm 12-13 UT. Cuba S=9-10dB, darunter verschwindet die VOA PHL heute ganz. Am Perseus sollten beide fast "auf den gleichen Strich gehen". Die weiteren Cuba Aussendungen um 1200-1215 UT heute am 2. Dez. 9600 S=9+20dB 11760 S=9+20 dB, deckt BBC Oman zu. 11800 S=7-8 13770 flattrig S=8, in Spitzen S=9 15120 flattrig S=9+10dB 15360 S=8-9 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Bauta-Corralillo location --- Hi , Wolfgang! In one of your blogs I found http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15224431 with a picture of transmitter site of Bauta-Corralillo, Cuba. But now it's impossible to open it. Would you be so kind to send this photo to me? Thank you in advance (Lev Lytovchenko. Canada, Dec 1, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Good morning, you mean rather these snaps ? Tall 5 curtain antennas at 4 x 8 dipols square format http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15224483 http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/15224483.jpg http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27103642 http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/27103642.jpg http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27103631 http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/27103631.jpg 22 57'01.00"N 82 32'44.00"W Yahoo Maps picture cut in the center http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=22.950278&lon=-82.545556&z=17.2&r=0&src=yh MS Virtual Earth + MS BING Beta in the lower left corner http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=22.951476&lon=-82.545038&z=17.7&r=0&src=msl http://wikimapia.org/#lat=22.950648&lon=-82.5457227&z=17&l=5&m=b 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Corralillo? Meaning Arnie Coro`s little place? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. I axually listened to R. Martí on Saturday morning for more than an hour and conclude it`s getting a bum wrap as merely ``la emisora propagandística norteamericana`` as R. Nederland always calls it along with RFE/RL. 15330 was inbooming as usual Nov 28 at 1436, well atop the DentroCuban jamming, tho as time went on the relative jamming level built up. RM was telling the story of ``Doña la Negra`` [sic: see below], a Veracruz washerwoman with a wonderful voice discovered by Agustín Lara, and went on to be a big singing star. It seems the Mexicans had no qualms about nicknaming people by their race. A string of at least a semidozen names made up her birth monicker; I never caught them all, but started with Marieta. It also seems she was too pre-Internet to get any significant Google hits. Excerpts of her singing were playing continuously along with the narrative, but we never got to hear a complete song uninterrupted. She was obviously Mexican, Jarocha to be specific, but show also dealt with Cuban influence upon her music. After a scandal-free life, she died on 19 Dec 1982. At 1452 moved on to another singer, a sonero, whose 90th birth anniversary is current, Bartolomé Moré (sp? a.k.a. Benny, or Barto). 1459 cut to R. Martí theme and ID, as if the program were interrupted, and the name of it was not outroed. 1500 starting Resumen Semanal, this week on a Thanksgiving theme, with interviews made at the Miami International Book Fair; at 1535, when I tried 13820 but found jamming worse there, while 11930 was buried, it was Robert Fleming, ``an enormous gringo`` who wrote a book after walking from one end of Cuba to the other, to get to know the common people and found them very hospitable, tho wondering why he didn`t hire a car. After 1600 continued with more from the MIBF. All this was very well-produced and enlightening, not hard-line exile propaganda at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see MEXICO ** CUBA [non]. INTERFERENCIA A RADIO MARTÍ --- LA HABANA, Cuba, 1 de diciembre, (Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez, http://www.cubanet.org) – Desde hace dos meses las trasmisiones de Radio Martí por la frecuencia de 1370 [sic] Mega Hertz, banda de 22 metros, son desplazadas cada día por las de la emisora Radio Católica Mundial en horarios de la tarde en la zona norte occidental de la provincia Habana. Esta frecuencia de Radio Martí es la única captada sin apenas interferencia oficial en dicha zona. A partir del mediodía la transmisión de la emisora católica se superpone a la de Radio Martí, impidiendo total o parcialmente su audición por uno y hasta quince minutos intermitentemente. La emisora no sólo ocupa esta frecuencia sino prácticamente todo el espectro de la banda de 22 metros. Varios radioescuchas de Radio Martí han confirmado la situación a este reportero que además la ha comprobado personalmente. corrientemariana2004 @ yahoo.com Fuente: Cubanet http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y09/diciember/01_N_3.html CubaNet no reclama exclusividad de sus colaboradores y autoriza la reproducción de este material siempre que se le reconozca como fuente (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, Nov 30, DXLD) NOTA: Creo que a nuestro amigo cubano se equivocó en la frecuencia, ellos estan en los 13820 KHz y no 1370 MHz para la onda media. Para frecuencias de Radio Marti ir a: http://www.martinoticias.com/frecuencia.aspx (Yimber,ibid.) Don`t you believe that barely-legible schedule. It`s updated ``3/5/09``, meaning March, or May? And is labeled spring-summer, including such currently unused frequencies as 11845. Of course, WEWN is not on 13820; it is on 13830 at 17-24 (also 13-15 on 13835). Would not be surprised if in Cuba 13830 does overload, as it`s aimed at 155 degrees, and it could be the transmitter which has plus/minus 10 kHz spurs, putting one of those right on top of RM. However, the last we noticed, that was on the 15610 English transmitter instead. We don`t hear WEWN `covering the entire 22 m band`, not that strong on 13830 usually. However, it`s interesting to note what the Cuban listener does NOT mention: the DentroCuban Jamming Command, always blasting away on 13820 itself, and impeding RM to varying degrees even here. Does this mean the jamming is totally ineffective within Cuba, even close to Habana, or he`s afraid to mention that? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Lemme ask Arnie something - why is his Radio Habana Cuba using jamming to keep its citizens from hearing United States based radio stations? Everybody has a right to hear different points of view, so what's the Cuban government afraid of? (Richard Clifford, south of Boston MA, USA, ODXA yg via DXLD) A Reply to Senor Richard Clifford Posted by: "Prof. Arnaldo Coro Antich" coro@enet.cu Tue Dec 1, 2009 3:52 pm (PST) Senor Clifford: If your country is the target of continuos terrorist actions that that has killed and injured more than 3500 Cubans and stations payed for and operated by a foreign country are used to provide instructions to those terrorists.. . What would the leaders of Mr. Richard Clifford nation will do? Standby in contemplation? Just watch what is going on and do nothing? Protest to the International Telecommunications Union for violation of the Radio Regulations? Or... Would they decide to protect their citizens from the aggression ... Senor Clifford, for your information, there is a radio war going on... it began "officially" on the 21st Day of March of 1960, and "unofficially" a little earlier. The "official" war was started by the Voice of America "special" programs against Cuba... the "unofficial" by Radio Swan, the CIA station about much has been written about...Radio Swan was part of the Bay of Pigs invasion plan ... Again for your information "Operation Pluto" organized, payed, supervised and also assumed as a total defeat by the US Government after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in April of 1961... Just one example of the terrorist anti-Cuban programs broadcast from Miami, Florida... against a nation that the United States of America is " not at war as required by US law ... with a Congressional declaration of war " Heard by yours truly... not once but several times: A complete set of instructions to saboteurs on how to derail trains with "simple equipment" that can be moved along the tracks without any reason to be suspect... I always wonder what the USA, Canada, Germany, France ... and other NATO countries will do if a country targets them using highly directional super power broadcasts to send such content providing specific instructions on how to destroy their national infrastructure, and as " collateral damage" cause many deaths and injuries... And by the way.... you might benefit Mister Clifford from an English Language Spelling Class.... I seem to understand that " Lenme" [sic], should mean maybe " Let me "... Signed (Prof. Arnaldo Coro Antich, Havana, Cuba, 1 December 2009, [all sic], ibid.) ** CYPRUS. 11670-11695, loud OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Nov 26 at 1421. Also 13885-13915 at 1426; 12050-12075 at 1533, vs WEWN on one edge, 12050, Russian on 12070, i.e. DW via Woofferton. 11040-11065, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Nov 28 at 1417. Please keep them this far out of SWBC bands. 12460-12485, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Dec 2 at 1410, mixing with CODAR on the hi side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA. SADDAM HUSSEIN ORDERED RFE ATTACK IN PRAGUE Sunday, November 29, 2009 “PRAGUE (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein ordered his secret agents to attack the Prague headquarters of U.S. run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to end broadcasting to Iraq, a Czech intelligence service spokesman said Sunday. The attack was ordered by the then Iraqi leader in 2000 and Iraqi intelligence agents planned to use weapons including rocket propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles and submachine guns, spokesman Jan Subert told Czech TV Nova. ‘Saddam Hussein ordered his intelligence to violently disrupt Iraqi broadcasting of the Radio Free Europe and for this operation he provided significant financial means,’ Subert told the station.” Full story at http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE5AS26720091129 (via Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The whole story sounds very fishy to me. Why didn't they make their finding public back then when it would really matter? Why did it come out only now? It's likely that Czech Republic hosted a CIA secret prison or was complicit in some other ways. And now they are looking for a good excuse. Czech Republic was already investigated by EU through its Committee on Legal Affairs. Here's a more detailed report from RFE/RL itself: http://www.rferl.org/content/Czech_Intelligence_Reveals_Iraqi_Plot_To_Attack_RFERL/1891512.html (Sergei S., ibid.) Check out the final paragraph of this Deutsche Presse-Agentur report, dug up by Kim Andrew Elliott: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/297003,czech-intelligence-saddam-ordered-prague-attack.html (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) ** CZECHIA. English broadcast on 7355 kHz. Identified by Radio Prague IS at 2354 UT (27 Nov 2009), close-down after one fanfare. Should have been on 7345! SINPO 35322. Mistake or permanent change? 7345 is free, at least here in the middle of the target area. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, > Boulder, CO, USA, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Eike, No, the B-09 schedule has Prague on 7355 at 2230-0230, then 7345. Probably to avoid Tunisia and then India on 7345 thruout this period, supposedly (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, ibid.) Looking at Radio Prague's website at the moment and noticed a link to a page with QSL cards for 2010. These cards are based on famous Czech writers. So apparently shortwave will continue after all? (Jon Pukila, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, Dec 1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Astute observation! But could have been planned long ago, or on a contingency basis, or they will just use them to `verify` webcasts if anynetizen want them. How much longer will we have to depend on rumors and speculation about R. Prague`s fate? As I outpointed earlier, their skeds have expired at yearend before, merely because some changes were expected in relay deals, calendar-year contracts expiring, etc. (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) [SW WILL continue but on a reduced schedule, more via relays than from Czechia itself – details already in dxldyg and next DXLD] Radio Praga anuncia sus nuevas QSL's para el año 2010. Después de todos los rumores, después de que su esquema ponga como validez 31-12- 09, encuentro esta noticia y realmente no sé qué pensar. Aquí va el enlace si no pueden ver correctamente el mensaje: http://www.radio.cz/es/static/qsl/tarjetas-qsl-2010 Por cierto el parlamento checo está en estos días con la aprobación del presupuesto para 2010, donde evidentemente está la partida para la radiodifusión checa (Tomás Méndez, Spain, Dec 1, noticias DX yg via DXLD) ** CZECHIA. Winter B-09 schedule of Radio Prague until Dec 31, 2009: CZECH 0030-0057 on 5930 7355 0230-0257 on 6200 7345 0330-0357 on 6200 7345 0930-0957 on 11600 21745 1030-1057 on 15700 21745 1200-1227 on 11640 17545 1330-1357 on 6055 7345 1630-1657 on 5930 15710 1830-1857 on 5930 9400 2030-2057 on 5930 9430 2200-2227 on 5930 9435 ENGLISH 0100-0127 on 6200 7355 0200-0227 on 6200 7355 0400-0427 on 6200 7345 0430-0457 on 9855 0800-0827 on 7345 9860 1000-1027 on 9955 RMI 1000-1027 on 15700 21745 1130-1157 on 11640 17545 1330-1357 on 9850 WOF Fri/Sat DRM 1400-1427 on 11600 13580 1500-1527 on 9955 RMI 1700-1727 on 5930 15710 1800-1827 on 5930 9400 2100-2127 on 5930 9430 2230-2257 on 5930 7355 2330-2357 on 5930 7355 GERMAN 0730-0757 on 5930 7345 1100-1127 on 7345 9880 1300-1327 on 6055 7345 1300-1327 on 9850 WOF Fri/Sat DRM 1600-1627 on 5930 1730-1757 NF 7285 SIN, ex 9805 FRENCH 0700-0727 on 5930 7345 0830-0857 on 9860 11600 1430-1457 on 11600 13580 1730-1757 on 5930 15710 1930-1957 on 6200 9430 2300-2327 on 5930 7355 RUSSIAN 0500-0527 on 5980 9855 1230-1257 on 6055 17545 1530-1557 on 5930 9450 1900-1927 on 5830 DB SPANISH 0000-0027 on 5930 7355 0000-0027 on 7420 ASC 0030-0057 on 9955 RMI 0130-0157 on 6200 7355 0300-0327 on 6200 7345 0530-0557 on 9955 RMI 0900-0927 on 11600 15255 1030-1057 on 9955 RMI 1500-1527 on 11600 13580 1900-1927 on 6200 9430 2000-2027 on 5930 9430 2130-2157 on 5930 9435 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) As always, there are several additional bonus relays in Spanish and English via WRMI, never on R. Prague`s own schedule as they could be replaced at any time (gh) ** CZECHIA [non]. R Prague German via Sines relay in B-09. Betreff: Radio Prag --- Sehr geehrter Herr xxxx , die deutsche Redaktion von Radio Prag plant einen kleinen Test zur regelmäßigen Sendung 1730-1800 UT. Da wir nach der Zeitumstellung noch nicht die beste Frequenz gefunden haben, wollen wir in diesen Tagen die Frequenz 7285 kHz, 41-Meter-Band ausprobieren. Da Sie zu unseren Stammhörern gehören, hätten wir an Sie die Bitte, diese Frequenz um 1730-1800 UT einzuschalten und uns einen Sendebericht zukommen zu lassen. Wir wären Ihnen sehr zu Dank verpflichtet! Mit freundlichen Grüßen (Ihre Marie Pittnerova, Radio Prag marie.pittnerova @ rozhlas.cz Nov 26 via from Siegbert Gerhard, Frankfurt/Main, Nov 27 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) After 1630-1657 on 11690 kHz, changed to 1730-1757 UT time slot on 9805, but was not satisfied with the channel yet. Now, they will test Sines Portugal on 40 mb 7285 kHz at 1730-1757 UT a few days ... 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Nov 27, ibid.) Ausblick, vor[!] der Sendung. Subject: Re: Radio Prag; Testfrequenz 7285 via Sines Jetzt um 1715 UT - vor der Sendung - ist der Kanal 7285 kHz leeeeer. Auf 7280 kHz ist 100%ig VoVietnam Hanoi-Sontay in Vietnamesisch zu hören. S=8-9 mässig. Auf 7290 kHz ist Vatican Radio in Französisch Richtung Libanon, Syrien, Jordanien, Egypt mit S=8-9, eher S=9 zu hören. Die machen aber dann um 1730 UT dicht. Um 1750 UT wird dann hier auf 7290 Moskau mit seiner 1000 Hertz Startprozedur beginnen. 7285 ist theoretisch eine sehr gute Wahl. Gruss (Wolfgang, Nov 27 via DXLD) Test Report of Radio Prague transmission in German language via Sines, Portugal relay, on new 7285 kHz at 1730-1757 UTC, November 27th, 2009. Dear Mrs. Marie Pittnerová, dear Mr. Ing. Oldrich Cip, 1729:40 UTC Exciter in Sines Portugal starts on air. 1729:46 UTC full power-on, short 1000 Hertz control tone noted. 1730:04 UTC Start of Radio Prague program. Signal strength S=9+zero dB 1740:00 UTC Sines signal dropped down to S=7-8 and deep fades. 1748:00 UTC til 1757:03 UTC signal increased to S=9+30 dB, whistle tone of Mali disappeared subsequently. Noted an interesting report of Czech BRANDY production by private distilleries in southern Moravia, like plum and apricot liquors. Delicious. 1757:03 UTC cut off transmission at Sines, Portugal. - - - But noted with accompanied interference WHISTLE tone of RadioTV Malienne, Bamako transmission on odd 7285.89 kHz. Annoying 900 Hertz tone and some signal fades down to S=7-8 strength. Propagation is UNSETTLED at this hour, like in same manner from same region, like nearby REE Madrid service, Spain on 7275 kHz at same time slot. Adjacent channel 7290 kHz is free from 1730 UTC to 1746:50 UTC, later time Voice of Russia starts opening procedure with 1000 Hertz tone, S=9+zero dB. Adjacent channel 7280 kHz fair signal of Voice of Vietnam Hanoi-Sontay in Vietnamese language, only S=7-8 signal level. Let's say, 7285 kHz channel selection is excellent, e x c e p t the annoying whistle tone originate from odd frequency Bamako, Mali outlet. Latter hopefully - let's hope - not every day! Regards (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. OZ - Special event station 5P15COP will be active on 160-6 metres SSB, CW and digital modes on 7-18 December from Sjaelland (EU- 029) during the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will be held in Copenhagen. QSL via OZ5BAL, direct or bureau. Further information, including detail of the relevant certificate, can be found at http://www.5p15cop.dk [TNX OZ1JTE] (425 DX News 28 Nov via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5010, R Pueblo, 24.11, 2255, Bachata-music, ID; O=3 [get it early, as believed to sign off by 2400 --- gh] WORLD OF RADIO 1489 6025, R Amanecer (presumed), 24.11., 2327, talk in S; O=2 (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, Dec 1, Bavarian DX-Camp, which took place from 24.11. to 29.11.2009, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany; Antennas: several Beverages in all DX-relevant directions, Antenna length: 200m to 500m, HCDX via DXLD) The 1 kW shortwave station, Radio Amanecer HIAJ in Santo Domingo is back on the air again and has been heard in many areas of the United States and Europe. Their operating channel is 6025 kHz and their beam orientation is approximately west (Adrian Peterson, Indianapolis, AWR Wavescan script Nov 29 via DXLD) 7DA, BTW (gh, DXLD) 6025.06, Radio Amanecer at poor level 1040 past 1200 UT 21 Nov with considerable side splatter with gospel songs, Spanish spoken programming and few identifications. Extremely pleased to hear this as usually well past my bedtime but I stayed up especially! (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6025.088, R. Amanacer, 1213 nice singing ID jingles by women at 1213 tune/in, then into soft religious sounding song. Good signal but with some 6020 Australia slop QRM. (26 Nov) Perseus SDR with ARR preamp T2FD antenna for 60 meters, 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) 6025.04, Radio Amanecer Internacional, 2320-2355, Nov 27, Spanish religious talk. Religious music. ID. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6025, R Amanecer, Santo Domingo (tentative). December, 02 Spanish 0249-0305 male and female talks, Spanish pop music. Weak, 23222. 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Santiago, HIGP 88.1 RDS: ``PRIMERA`` (Sept/Oct FMedia! Via DXLD) ** EAST TURKISTAN. Re 9-082: You're right, I catch Kashi/Kashgar from time to time here myself, though it seems like it's inevitably a marginal signal in a non-English language. This is first time I've had English reception good enough to get off a report; I've had some success getting TX sites on CRI QSLs, so we'll see (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHINA. Frequency change of China Radio International in Russian: 1600-1657 NF 6025*KAS 100 kW / non-dir, ex 6070 to avoid WYFR in Punjabi. *co-channel Radio Romania International in Srbian from 1630 (DX Mix News, Blgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) right, no `e` needed (gh) 4500, China, PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi (tentative). December, 02 Mongolian (listed) 0232-0243 instrumental music, short male talks and pop music. 23222 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non non]. HCJB Quito planned via new mountain transmitter at Mt. Pichincha on 6050 kHz, with 10 kW of power and in directions of 18 and 172 degrees main lobe. Schedule probably Mon-Fri 0000 Woarani, Mon-Fri 0030 Cofan, Sat/Sun 0000-0030 Sp Sat/Sun 0030-0300 Quichua, Mon-Fri 0100-0500 Sp, Sat/Sun 0300-0500 Sp. 0830-1130 Quichua, 1130-1500 Sp. 1900-2400 Sp (HCJB, Nov 24 via BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) 6050, HCJB. 1229-1236 November 28, 2009. Clear and good with HCJB time sounders at 1230, "La Voz Cristiana" ID, soft Spanish Christian vocal. Still via Pifo, or Mt. Pichincha now? The signal seems on par with previous Pifo logs (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. Nov 28 I was prepared to catch HCJB sign-on via Chile, 11920: at 2243 open carrier; 2245 opening in Portuguese but no mention of CVC, right into Kulina, where its only radio speaker was reading from Chapter XXI of something I could not catch, not Matthew. Good steady S9+20 signal, no modulation problem on 11920, but nonetheless, accompanied by distorted FMy spurs at 11900.0 and 11940.0; the // audio was unmistakable, sounding much lower than the still strong S-meter reading of S9+15 on the extras at 2251. Nothing to bother on 11900, but at 2256, 11940 REE IS was getting mushed just before its sign-off. At 2300, HCJB Global introduced Portuguese service, and reconfirmed its ignorance of what time it is in Brazil by claiming it was at 2000- 2145 `hora oficial de Brasília` = 2300 UTC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O programa DX HCJB saiu da grade de programação da emissora, tendo em vista a falta de verba. Entretanto, ele poderá voltar, a partir de janeiro de 2010, conforme asseverou a apresentadora Ingrid Winter, em mensagem enviada ao colunista (Célio Romais blog Nov 30 via DXLD) who was a contributor to it (gh) ** EGYPT. 6270, R. Cairo, English to Europe but also USward beyond at 330 degrees, Nov 27 at 2203 sufficient modulation, YL talking about schools in Congo, recipe, 2209 on an Egyptian film director. No QRM a tall (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 2250-2301*, Nov 26, African choral music. Sign off with National Anthem at 2258. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, weak carrier producing a SAH with Sackville spur from 15230, Nov 25 at 1454; see CANADA. 1518, no carrier on 15190. 1546 open carrier, and still at 1558. Presumably R. Africa failing to modulate, as nothing else known here at these times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6090, Voice of Amhara State, Addis Ababa, 0324-0335, Nov 14, Oromo (tentative) talk, local pop song and, tent. ID at 0327 as “Radio Amhara”, good with weak UNID in the background till 0329, then fair-poor when AWR came on the channel with powerful signal (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. On 6890 kHz at 1550 UT Horn of Africa songs, at 1600 UT ID in vernacular "Edo Fana" and the slogan [accent?] is on 2nd "a" and from 1600 UT with QRM from KNLS in Russian (presumed) observed and after 1850 UT, Nov 6th (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Nov 19, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, 2045-2101*, Nov 29, Euro-pop music. Amharic talk. Sign off with National Anthem. No sign of 9 MHz frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7165, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitters, *0356-0431*, Nov 27, sign on with Horn of Africa music and ID announcements. Talk in listed Tigrinya at 0400. Fair signal but hit by noise jammer making for poor reception after 0400. Good signal on // 9560.58v - varying between 9560.27-9560.77. Listed for Mon, Wed, Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 9560.6, R. Ethiopia, Geja Jawe, 1443-1502, 28 Nov, Arabic, local songs, traditional music, ID at 1500; 33432, adjacent QRM; \\ 7165 better, no QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY, Frequency change for Voice of Oromiyan Liberation Front: 1600-1630 NF 11760 WER 500 kW / 135 deg Su/Tu/Th to EaAf in Oromo, x 11805* *to avoid Radio Liberty in Russian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. ITALY? 7610.06, Radio Amica presumed the weak music station here at 0404 21 Nov, under a noisy transmitter hum. Audible past 0610 but no verifiable detail. Will keep trying for this (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. 6170, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat, 1144-1214, Sat Nov 07, Finnish/English, Finnish pop songs, ID's, DX-program at 1200 in Finnish, good at the beginning with Voice of Russia in Chinese in the background, but fair after 1205/1210 because of the propagation (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) And coming up this Fri-Sat too, Dec 4 2100 for 24 hours (gh) ** FRANCE. QSL, R. Sawtu Liinjila relay, Issoudun, 9655 kHz, personal e-mail in 6 weeks, v/s Charles Mbayanga (Senior Technician), his QTH: mbayangacharles @ yahoo.fr (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Nov 26 via BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) religious, a.k.a. CAMEROON [non] ** FRANCE [and non]. 11830, often hearing Portuguese between 06-07, which is RFI via SOUTH AFRICA, in Luso accents, so not confundible with the Brasilians on band; a regular since it`s 330 degrees also USward. But Nov 27 at 0700 there was rapid SAH and double audio echoing in another language; mentioned Allah al-Akbar until one of them went off at 0702. What`s RFI doing promoting any particular religion?? Charitably, it may have been a clip of someone interviewed during newscast in scheduled Hausa, as the pious think they have to make that clear before saying anything secular! Explaining the overlap: Meyerton stayed on beyond its scheduled 0700 close, when 11830 reverts to Issoudun, 500 kW at 170 degrees until 0730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI has reinstated a page with schedules for its programming in French, found at http://www.rfi.fr/contenu/20091123-grilles-programmes-rfi though the referenced schedules are still the "Spring/Summer 2009" versions. There is also a new document about RFI, in English, at http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/images/119/Presentation_RFI_Anglais.pdf which says RFI has 35.6 million regular listeners, including 25.2 million in Africa, 5.8 million in the Middle East and the "Maghreb" countries of northern Africa, 2.3 million in South America, 0.9 million each in Europe and Asia-Pacific. North America doesn't even merit a mention in RFI's geographical breakdown of its radio audience (Mike Cooper, GA, Nov 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. MAJOR PROBLEMS FOR FRENCH DIGITAL RADIO Rapid TV News, Pascale Paoli Lebailly, 29 November 2009 http://www.rapidtvnews.com It seems France's private radio stations are refusing to enter into the country's digital transmission plan. The question being asked is whether this point-blank refusal means the end of digital terrestrial radio (DTR) in France. Originally announced for implementation by Christmas 2009, then re-scheduled for summer 2010 in Paris, Marseille and Nice, the French launch of DTR seems once again at a low ebb. Last week, a release from the Bureau de la Radio, which looks after the four major national private broadcasting groups, questioned the whole business model of DTR. RTL, Europe 1, NRJ Group and NextRadioTV (RMC & BFM) argued that the cost of the project is not compatible with the business model of radio media, and doesn't create sufficient positive conditions to plan their launch of DTR (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Is DTR the same as DAB, and not DRM? ** GERMANY. 5980 / 6005 --- Kall testet auf 5980 kHz, bei Sonnenfleckenrelativzahl 31. Hoere gerade einen Test aus Kall auf 5980 kHz mit dem selben Audio wie auf 6005 kHz. Bei mir kommt dieses Signal etwas staerker rein als das auf 6005 kHz. Etwas Gleichkanalstoerungen durch Radio Martí aus den USA (denke jedenfalls, dass es Radio Martí ist) (Stephan Schaa, Germany, A-DX Nov 21 via BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) Die Bundesnetzagentur hat 5980 kHz auch angemeldet. 5980 kHz 0600-1200 UT JUL 20kW 0=non-dir antenne 975 - 975 VM8/8/120/3 fuer Zonen 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, und 37N. 18 Scandanavia 19 Russia, N of 60 deg N, 30-50 deg Ea 27 UK, France, Benelux 28 Central & Eastern EUR, not Baltics 29 Baltics, Russia, CIS south of 60 deg North & west of 50 deg East. 37 Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia Jetzt um 1017 UT nix mehr auf 5980 kHz aufzunehmen, dafuer 6005 kHz mit S=9+10dB, der olle Pleite Gabriel Saufkopp im Interview. Die Ionosphere ist in diesen Tagen sehr unruhig und zerklueftet. Es wurden ja ganz zarte Sonnenfleckchen gemeldet (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 21) 5980 Hamburger Lokalradio mit Kurzwellen-Kleinsender. Das Hamburger Lokalradio wird kuenftig auf Kurzwelle auch einen Kleinsender mit nur 1 kW Leistung auf 5980 kHz einsetzen. Dies geschieht vom Standort Krekel bei Euskirchen, von wo seit 2008 bereits das Euskirchener Radio 700 mit ebenfalls 1 kW auf 6005 kHz sendet. Ab dem 01.12.2009 will man, zunaechst versuchsweise, taeglich zwischen 1000 und 1200 Uhr UTC auf 5980 kHz aktiv werden. In den letzten Tagen wurde der Sender bereits mit dem Programm von Radio 700 getestet. Insgesamt hat die Bundesnetzagentur fuer die Frequenz 5980 kHz eine Sendezeit von 0600 bis 1200 Uhr UTC autorisiert, die am 24., 25. und 26.12.2009 ausgenutzt werden soll. Im Kurzwellenbereich sendet das Hamburger Lokalradio sonst ueber die Anlagen der Media-Broadcast im Wertachtal bei Buchloe (Bayern), wobei eine wesentlich hoehere Sendeleistung von 100 kW zum Einsatz kommt. Seit April 2007 laeuft diese Ausstrahlung jeweils am ersten Sonntag des Monats von 1000 bis 1100 Uhr UTC auf 6045 kHz. Neben den Anlagen der heutigen Media-Broadcast nutzte das Hamburger Lokalradio zeitweise auch den jetzt stillgelegten Kurzwellensender in Ulbroka (Lettland). Die Abstrahlung erfolgt ueber einen zweiten SK1 Sender mit 1 kW Leistung an einem Breitbanddipol, so dass dann zwei verschiedene Antennen mit gleicher Leistung \\ aus Kall On Air sind. Dies sehr praktisch fuer Direktvergleiche. Moeglicherweise gibt es noch eine dritte Abstrahlung ab Krekel demnaechst ... Mehr dazu dann zu gegebener Zeit. [later] Jedenfalls gibt es einen dritten Breitbanddipol ;-) - und fuers 75m Band ... uuups ;) Beste Gruesse, (Christian (radioeins von RBB meldet in seinen Radio-News; via Christian Milling-D, Radio 700, A-DX Nov 22, ibid.) Dazu ein Auszug aus dem aktuellen Sendeplan: Hamburger Lokalradio Kurzwellendienst auf 5980 kHz Programmplan fuer die Testphase Dezember 2009. Alle Zeiten in UTC. Dienstag, 01.12.2009 10.00-12.00: "50 Jahre Deutscher Rundfunk". Zeitdokumente zur Rundfunk-Geschichte (Feature). Freitag, 04.12. 2009 11.00-12.00: "Von der Schelllackplatte zur CD". Ein Technikmagazin von und mit Peter Schuett. Samstag, 12.12.2009 11.00-12.00: Radio Nostalgie mit dem Schwerpunkt "Schlager rund ums Radio". Das Hamburger Lokalradio sendet sein Testprogramm im Dezember ab 1.12.2009 auf der eigenen Kurzwellenfrequenz 5980 kHz. Die Sendungen werden ueber die Sendestelle Kall-Eifel mit 1 kW Sendeleistung europaweit ausgestrahlt. Als Antennentyp ist die Telefunken A-189 vorgesehen. Die Sendezeit ist wie folgt: Taeglich von 1000-1200 Uhr UT Sonderprogramm zum Weihnachtsfest: 06.00-12.00 Uhr UT (24.12., 25.12., 26.12.) (Christoph Ratzer, Austria, OE2CRM, http://www.a-dx.at Nov 22, ibid.) Have just been monitoring 5980 kHz this morning and heard a weak German speaking OM underneath Radio Martí at 1010 UT. The programme seemed to be recordings of possibly wartime speeches (in German) with commentary. The signal slowly improved and by 1130 was stronger than Martí (Martí were // 6030 kHz also). Sign-off came at just after 1200, didn't catch any ID, but frequencies were given, followed by silence. SIO at 1200 here was 243 using a Sony ICF2001D and short wire/ATU. Cannot be certain it was Hamburger Lokalradio, will monitor future broadcasts. 73's (Nick Rank, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Report from Switzerland, 1000 UT. Im Auftrag von Christian Milling Gesendet: Dienstag, 1. Dezember 2009 10:59 Betreff: [A-DX] 5980 aus Kall On Air Das Hamburger Lokalradio ist On Air. Kommt hier in Bern gleichstark wie die 6005 an, O=4 ----- Original Message ----- From Kiel at 1040 UT From: "D. Kähler" Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 11:04 AM Subject: AW: [A-DX] 5980 aus Kall On Air O=3 in Kiel Northern Germany. 100 to 80 Hertz BUZZ. Hamburger Lokalradio SW Service on 5980 kHz (Kall Krekel transmitter) http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=kall+Krekel&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=20.808164,57.084961&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Krekel+Kall,+Euskirchen,+Nordrhein-Westfalen&ll=50.478039,6.523036&spn=0.002571,0.006968&t=h&z=18 Re 5980 / 6005 in parallel at 1000 UT. In Stuttgart both same strength level of S=6, but 6005 kHz broadcast had more modulation PUNCH. Started ahead of Marti Greenville co-channel. Hamburger Lokalradio fade-in on odd 5980.10, wandered to 5980.075 and had accompanied annoying 75 Hertz BUZZ tone, at 1100 UT settled 5980.00 kHz even. S=8-9, report of Berlin politics history of Jan 31st, 1933 year. But also noted a like pips beacon [every second] on 5979.37 kHz nearby, at 1110 UT. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via DXLD) - hier in Kopenhagen 5980 ein bisschen schwacher als 6005 - und NICHT // Ungefähr SIO 353 um 1140 UT. English: 5980 is a bit weaker than 6005 here at 1140 UT, and they are not in // - about SIO 353. 73, (Erik Köie, Denmark, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. RADIO MAYAK MORNING SHOW FROM DRESDEN "The Russians are back in Dresden, Königsbrücker Straße 88": From Nov 30 to Dec 5 the morning programme of Radio Mayak, running 0500-0800 UT, will be broadcast completely (except news/weather/traffic) from a studio in the Dresden seat of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk: http://www.mdr.de/presse/regional/6883101.html "Back" because this building, used as broadcasting house since 1999, is a former military barrack to which only a TV studio has been added: http://www.mdr.de/unternehmen/standorte-programme/137668.html http://www.albertstadt.sachsen.de/inhalt/archiv08/mdr/377.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 25, dxldyg via DXLD) Thanks, Kai, for bringing this up! I guess I'll have to try to listen to that. Not that I enjoy Mayak's trash-talk format or station's morning host Sergei Stillavin who is going to Germany. But my father used to live at Königsbrücker Straße 88 back in the beginning of 1970s. He worked as a civilian specialist contracted by the Soviet military. He still remembers the tram they'd take to the Dresden Art Gallery, the long bridge over the river they'd pass on their way and lots of wildlife coming to the area from Dreisdner Heide... In his blog the host Sergei Stillavin is inviting locals to stop by the studio during those live broadcasts. The visitors will be welcomed to participate in the program. Those interested should write an email to stillavin [at] bk [dot] ru. He asks to please make sure to enclose your cell phone number. Last March R. Mayak already ran a week of live morning shows from Frankfurt [am Mine]. Supposedly the whole thing was sponsored by Opel. I'm not sure who is underwriting it this time (Sergei S., IL, ibid.) See also RUSSIA Here is a report with photos and a TV piece that aired on Monday: http://www.mdr.de/sachsen/dresden/6883018.html I fear being in Dresden during the morning is too much trouble at present. Otherwise... The street basically still looks the same, a reconstruction project is at present subject of a controversial debate whether the street should be expanded to four lanes, leaving only small sidewalks, thus essentially making way for cars at the expense of anything else. Some of the old Tatra trams are still in service, too, but now they are disappearing rapidly, being replaced by new Siemens trains. And occasionally I walk over the mentioned bridge, since a good ice-cream parlour is located at its northern tip. I guess you know it, but others will perhaps find it interesting that Vladimir Putin lived from 1985 to 1990 in Dresden as well, as KGB agent. And three years ago he shocked everybody there by just leaving the hotel and going to a bakery shop for breakfast. Two bodyguards accompanied him, but this was really all. A reporter caught Putin reading his very newspaper, and they made the PR stunt that from now on they will deliver a copy to the Kremlin to keep Putin informed. I just tried to find anything about the broadcasts from Frankfurt am Main, but to no avail. In all likelyhood likewise a studio of Hessischer Rundfunk had been used, but HR was not interested in giving Radio Mayak any publicity, much unlike Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had a chance to listen to show this morning. The project is mostly underwritten by Volkswagen. In the beginning there were some major technical difficulties (tiny, phone-like voice, bothersome echo and one rather long interruption). They said they toasted some of their equipment yesterday so that's the reason for the problems. It took them about 40 min. to fix everything. As I expected they did say "Vnimanie! Vnimanie! Govorit Germania!" (Attention. Attention. This is Germany speaking). It's a quote from an old Soviet children's rhyme. Just like my father 40 years ago, the hosts were surprised to see the rabbits near the studio. Their report about visiting Wolfsburg was pretty interesting, too. The rest of the show sounded like usual Mayak's trash. Some parts were really offensive. (Not a word critical of Germany, of course. - Such things aren't tolerated in mainstream media in today's Russia.) I can confirm that R. Mayak is still using its old interval signal on top of every hour. It goes on once or twice. One of the rumors is that Putin personally defended KGB headquarters in Dresden against the crowds with a gun in his hand. Supposedly KGB building survived unlike that of Stasi's. Putin will be carried by major Russian state radio stations tomorrow, December 3 A few days ago I found a rather weird Soviet cartoon about the Berlin Wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyIF_C2h6rc The political message is not unique but the cartoon technique is bizarre. Here's a more traditional stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsf3CeBE0rc (FRG is depicted from 1:22). Of course, it's very different today. It's as if GDR took over FRG twenty years ago. Russian media reserves its critical words for the US and UK. Yes, it was Hessischer Rundfunk last time, according to Stillavin's blog. 73! (Sergei S., IL, Dec 2, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. As I was noting the Cuban jamming on 11600, also noticed DW on 11605 at 2059 UT, via RWANDA at 115 degrees, Sat Nov 28, outroducing ``Wort zum Sonntag``. Hmmm, do they have Words for Friday, Saturday or any other day that any of the multitude of religions observed in Germany may consider holy? How about strict separation of church and state (including public broadcasting). Asking for trouble, otherwise. Or does WzS embrace all religions now? Website has archive of last six shows, unclear to me from the unfamiliar abbrs. whether they all be somehow Christian, but they sure look native German: Wort zum Sonntag | 14.11.2009 Von Pfarrerin Lucie Panzer Wort zum Sonntag | 21.11.2009 Von P. Hans Peters SVD Wort zum Sonntag | 28.11.2009 Von Pfarrerin Lucie Panzer Wort zum Sonntag | 31.10.2009 Zum Reformationstag Wort zum Sonntag | 07.11.2009 Von P. Hans Peters SVD Wort zum Sonntag | 24.10.2009 Von Sr. Dr. Aurelia Spendel OP Linx go to full scripts, not audio, if one wants to investigate further. Today`s is obviously Christian from a ``Reverend``. I got to those by searching, but this page does have audio linx: http://www.dwelle.de/dw/0,,2954,00.html?id=2954&x=14&y=10 These sermonettes are nothing compared to the live complete church service Sundays at 0905 UT on DW, apparently either ``Evangelical`` or ``Catholic``, and that`s all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Es ist Deutschland hier, as Guido Westerwelle put it (when a BBC correspondent asked him on a German press conference to answer in English; frankly, I consider Westerwelle's refusal as reasonable, just the style left something to be desired). And in Germany the public broadcasters are required to devote airtime to the Protestant and the Catholic Church for free. This includes a requirement to broadcast complete church services. Deutschlandfunk for some time did this by way of G.722 phone connections (7 kHz mono audio), which says a lot. What may be a surprise: Such live broadcasts of church services on Sunday mornings took place on Radio DDR as well. The reasons are one of the things still needing further research. And concerning the other religions: Südwestrundfunk broadcasts every first Friday of the month the "Islamic Word", a program decision that brought them under fire from various sides: http://www.swr.de/contra/-/id=7612/nid=7612/did=1983650/mpdid=1983652/1cgjfqd/index.html Pfarrer = priest and Reformationstag is a Protestant feast. No, the Südwestrundfunk broadcasts (which also includes specials for Jewish feasts) are an exception (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Deutsche Welle to leave Astra 1H/1L: see INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** GREECE. 3257.98, Harmonic of Greek Pirate, maybe Anatolis Kilkis, 2245-2255, Nov 21, mostly Greek popmusic with distorted audio and utility QRM, 34333 heard // 1629 MW (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) ** GREECE. VOG on 15630 instead of scheduled 15650, with Greek music, Nov 25 at 1436. Have they finally caught on to the clash with Miraya FM via SLOVAKIA after 1500 on 15650?? Or was this just a mistake? VOG has always registered both 15630 and 15650, one of them necessarily wooden, so it`s easy enough for them to shift. What would happen at the previous switchover time from 15650 to 15630, circa 1555? Nothing: kept right on going on 15630. See also SUDAN [non] Rats: tho VOG was on 15630 the day before, clearing 15650 for Miraya FM via Slovakia to Sudan from 1500, on Nov 26 VOG was back on 15650 at 1437, and making usual fast SAH atop Miraya after 1500. 15630 must have been an error rather than ERA finally coming to its senses. John Babbis notes 15650 resumed too, and has translated a VOG program schedule showing that at 14-15 weekdays on 15650 and 9420, the Greek music show is called ``Hello, Patriots``. VOG again on 15650 instead of excursion to clear 15630, Nov 27 at 1500 atop Miraya FM for Sudan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. SELECTED PROGRAMS AT THE VOICE OF GREECE Day UTC Frequencies (Greek u.o.s.) CYPRUS, A SWEET COUNTRY (History, Civilization, and Tradition of Cyprus) MON 0005-0105 7475 9420 12105 GREEK IN STYLE (Comments in English for the Third-Generation Greek Listeners and Foreigners Who Love Greek Music) MON 0105-0205 7475 9420 12105 SUN 1105-1200 9420 15650 SMELLS GREEK (Recipe of the Week) MON 0205-0235 7475 9420 12105 SUN 1300-1330 9420 15650 IN ILINES, THE BILINES (Flow of the Spoken Word) MON 0235-0250 7475 9420 12105 SUN 1330-1345 9420 15650 WHERE AND WHY (Origin and Development of Greek Words) MON 0250-0300 7475 9420 12105 MON 0915-0920 9420 15630 MON 1600-1605 9420 15630 TUE 1600-1605 9420 15630 WED 0915-0920 9420 15630 WED 1600-1605 9420 15630 THU 0915-0920 9420 15630 THU 1600-1605 9420 15630 FRI 0915-0920 9420 15630 FRI 1600-1605 9420 15630 GREEK COFFEE (Live Broadcast Information) MON 0700-0900 9420 15630 TUE 0700-0800 9420 15630 WED 0700-0900 9420 15630 THU 0700-0900 9420 15630 FRI 0700-0900 9420 15630 THE POSTMAN (Contacts With Greeks Everywhere) MON 0930-1000 9420 15630 WED 0930-1000 9420 15630 THU 0330-0400 7450 7475 9420 THU 0930-1000 9420 15630 FRI 0330-0400 7450 7475 9420 FRI 0930-1000 9420 15630 SAT 0330-0400 7450 7475 9420 TRAVELING WITH ART (Touring the Beauties of Greece) MON 1105-1200 9420 15650 TUE 0212-0300 7475 9420 12105 THU 1105-1200 9420 15650 FRI 0212-0300 7475 9420 12105 HELLO PATRIOTS (Greek Music) MON 1400-1500 9420 15650 TUE 1400-1500 9420 15650 WED 1400-1500 9420 15650 THU 1400-1500 9420 15650 FRI 1400-1500 9420 15650 TINY GREECES HELLO (Daily Incidents of Expatriate Listeners) MON 1510-1600 9420 15650 TUE 1510-1600 9420 15650 WED 1510-1600 9420 15650 THU 1510-1600 9420 15650 FRI 1510-1600 9420 15650 SAT 0212-0300 7475 9420 12105 LIVE LINE (All Types of Greek Music With Your Views and Dedications) (Mon: Marina Chantzi With Artistic and Modern Music) (Tue: Father George Afthinos With Local Traditional Folk Music) (Wed: George Papazacharias With Good Greek Music and Comments) (Thu: Peter Dourdoubakis With Rebetika, Folk, Traditional Songs) (Fri: Elias Voliotis-Kapetanakis With the "Music Promenade") (Sat: John Tzouanopoulos With Old and Modern Folk Songs) MON-FRI 2015-2200 7475 9420 665 SAT 2005-2245 7475 9420 665 GREECE IN THE FIRST PERSON (Political Commentary With Nick Amanitou) WED 0212-0300 7475 9420 12105 SAT 1405-1500 9420 15650 PEOPLE OF THE WEEK (Comments About Notable Persons) SAT 0405-0500 7450 7475 9420 SUN 0300-0400 7450 7475 9420 STORY OF A WEEK (Events of Greek History in the Coming Week and Beyond) SAT 0600-0700 7475 9420 SUN 0005-0100 7475 9420 12105 GOOD LUCK/IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME (Interviews With Greeks Who Have Distinguished Themselves) SAT 2245-2300 7475 9420 SAT 2300-2400 7475 9420 12105 (John Babbis, MD, Nov 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What a pity they don`t availablize English versions of some of these besides mostly-music GIS! There must be millions of Greek heritage abroad who no longer speak the language fluently or at all; or when that happens, they`re no longer Greek enough to matter? Note that on Nov 25, 15630 was being used at least in the 14-16 UT period instead of 15650 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Glenn: This was on Voice of Greece's web site and I put it through Google and Babel-Fish Translations. John Babbis GOOGLE TRANSLATION: "Greek in style" Music hourly emission with Greek songs and comments in English on Greek third generation not familiar with the Greek language and foreigners for listeners who love Greek music. The selection of music and texts of the broadcast writes Marina Chantzi and show the ANDRIANNA Petratou and Angela prices. The program is broadcast every Sunday at 13.05 Greek time, for Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from the frequency 9420 KHZ and the Middle East and the Indian Ocean from the frequency 15650 KHZ. The program is broadcast at times, every Monday at 03.05 Greek time of the frequencies of 9420 and 7475 KHZ for Europe and North America, from the frequency 7475 KHZ in the Atlantic Ocean and from the frequency 12105 KHZ for N. America, Panama G., N. Atlantic and Africa. BABEL-FISH TRANSLATION: Greek in style"? Music horal emission with Greek songs and comments in the English language for Greek third generation that does not know well the Greek language as well as for their foreign language speaker listeners that love the Greek music. The choice of music and the texts of emission writes Marina [Chantzi] and presents him [Andrianna] [Petratoy] and [Antzelika] [Tims]. The emission is transmitted each Sunday in the 13.05 hour Greece, for Europe and Atlantic Ocean from the frequency of 9420 kilocycles and for the M. East and the Indian Ocean from the frequency of 15650 kilocycles. The emission is transmitted in repetition, each Monday in the 03.05 hour Greece from the frequencies the 9420 and 7475 kilocycles for Europe and V. America, from the frequency of 7475 kilocycles for Atlantic Ocean as well as from the frequency of 12105 kilocycles for the N. America, the [Z] of. Panama, the N. Atlantic and Africa. (via John Babbis, DXLD) Glenn: Right now at 1535, 15650 is the Voice of Greece with woman in Greek on "Tiny Greeces Hello," preceded by Greek music at SINPO 35343; nothing on 15630 or 9420. Another station in the background. Same old inattentive engineer yesterday. 15650 went off at 1547 UT and now at 1553 UT, 15630 comes on with SINPO 45444; quick switch from the 105 degree to the 285 degree antenna (John Babbis, Nov 26, ibid.) ** GREECE. Re 9-082: Glenn, Just to be pedantic, as I have mentioned in the past, Radio Filia is actually on the standard European channel of 666 kHz - not 665. I wonder why ERA and other Greek sources persistently quote the wrong frequency of "665". Its been over 30 years now since the European channel spacing was changed, resulting in the move from 665 to 666. I can't think of any other European broadcasters that are still erroneously quoting their pre-1978 frequencies all these years later! Maybe John Babbis could maybe ask his contacts in ERA about this. You would think that if nothing else the ERA engineering / frequency schedules ought to get it right (Dave Kenny, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Dave, was hoping some pedant would point this out again, hi. Could it be that also in Greece superstitious types consider 666 an unlucky, beastly number, not to be mentioned even if it be transmitted? (gh) ** GREECE. 9420 unID, what sounded like Qur`an chants. Any ideas? 0720 on 22/11 (Alex Wellner, Bondi NSW (JRC NRD535), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) My bet would be Greece, but dunno why they would have Koran (Craig Seager, ed., ibid.) Close? But no cigar. ERT has lovely Greek Orthodox music on Sunday mornings, which this was (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 3815, Kalaalit Nunaata Radioa/Groenlands R, Tasiilaq, 2208-2215*, 26 Nov, Danish, news (presumed), jingle with CW sign at 2215 & abrupt closure; 25331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder what the CW said (gh) ** GUATEMALA. Amigo Glenn, Esta semana estive lendo no DXLD, que você apresentava notícias sobre a Rádio Verdad. Porém, recebi hoje, um E- Mail do Sr. Edgard Madrid, com novas e mais atuais informações, falando que já está com os módulos de saída do transmissor e assim existe a possibilidade da emissora voltar ao ar em mais alguns dias, com baixa potência (280 Watts). Espero que desta vez, os reparos sejam providênciados e cheguemos ao capítulo final desta longa novela. Veja abaixo a íntegra da menssagem do Sr. Edgard Madrid. Um abraço, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil Membro do DX Clube do Brasil, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ----- Original Message ----- From: Adalberto To: Edgard Madrid Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 12:18 AM Subject: MÓDULOS EN MANO Apreciado Adalberto (y otros amigos): Les tengo una gran noticia, para usted y otros amigos de Radio Verdad: Ya tengo en mis manos los dos módulos del transmisor de onda corta (uno reparado, y el otro sin reparar). También tengo en mis manos los transistores que compramos. Gracias a Dios. Ahora, estoy esperando que venga el técnico el próximo martes, para revisar la base del transmisor y ver si funciona el primer módulo reparado. Si Dios quiere, podríamos salir al aire como a media semana de la semana entrante, pero, probableme con sólo 280 watts, hasta que reparemos el otro módulo, con el cual se logrará toda la potencia. Que Dios le bendiga. Édgar Madrid (via Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Says he finally has on hand the transmitter modules, one of which has been repaired, and the transistors which had been purchased. Expecting the technician to come in on Tuesday to check things out and get them working. Could be on the air by the middle of the following week (early December) but running only 280 watts. So keep an ear on 4052.5. (However, the tech has stood them up time and time again, promising to show up but does not.) (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. I was surprised to see that there was an Oklahoma connexion with La Voz de Atitlán, ex-2390, and several shots of the station and the area we once visited in this film on OETA: ``A'plas: The Story of Father Rother --- The story of a missionary priest from [Okarche, a little town between Enid and OKC], Oklahoma, who was martyred in Guatemala in 1981.`` I caught part of it before and it repeats at 0330 UT Nov 30. Okies at least can see it Sunday night at 9:30 [and 24 hours later on OETA OKLA]. Don`t know if it is available any other way, but should be in shortwave broadcast history archives. I can`t find anything further about it on the OETA website; search funxion is ridiculous; nor at PBS, but it might be showing up elsewhere on individual PBS stations, sooner or later. Will see if I can catch contact info on credits. [Later:] the credit font was so small it was difficult to read, but the main guy behind this was Diego Colombi, © 2009 at Savannah College of Art & Design. Final notation was that in 2007 a committee was formed to make Fr Rother the first saint from OK, with gory justification. Searching on the director`s name plus Rother you can get plenty of hits, topped by this story about it in the Oklahoma Gazette: http://www.okgazette.com/p/13028/a/4964/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=LwBEAGUAZgBhAHUAbAB0AC4AYQBzAHAAeAAslashAHAAPQAxADMAMAAyADgA (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 7125.01, Radio Conakry fair but steady from 1752 tune-in till past 1900. Popular music across the hour, animated talk in French 24 Nov (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, Radio Guinee, 2215-0014*, Nov 25-26, French talk. Afro-pop music. Some rustic local music. IDs. Abrupt sign off. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7125, Radio Guinee, 2300-0001*, Nov 28-29, French talk. Afro-pop music. ID. Sign off with short melody on marimba. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** GUYANA. GUYANA SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTER TO BE RELOCATED Stabroek News, Guyana, November 29, 2009 http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/stories/11/21/interior-residents-to-hear-radio-again/ The National Communications Network (NCN) is revamping its shortwave transmission system that will see the return of radio signals to interior locations and nearby countries. NCN Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Sattaur told Stabroek News that the process is being facilitated by the relocation of the company's radio transmitter at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara. The company has since set up a new location at Canal Number Two Polder, West Bank Demerara. The Ogle Airport had requested that the company relocate its transmitter to facilitate the expansion process. Ogle CEO Anthony Mekdeci, when contacted for comment, explained to this newspaper that the transmitter penetrates the obstacle clearance limitation surface in the after take-off flight path of the expanded runway at Ogle. He further stated that Ogle is currently a Visual Flight Rules only airport but once the transmitter is removed it would become an Instrument Flight Rules Airport and would be able to accommodate aircraft at night and during any weather condition. Meanwhile Sattaur told Stabroek News that the relocation process should be officially completed before the end of the year. He said the company will use the relocation opportunity to revamp and modernise shortwave radio, making it more powerful on the air. It has also moved to procure new equipment for this purpose. The new move means that people in interior locations would again hear radio and at different periods of the night countries close by would also be able to listen to NCN. The shortwave system was down for some time and so service to those locations were suspended (via Kim Elliott, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) No frequency was mentioned (also via Mike Terry, Nov 29, dxldyg via DXLD) I'll be looking forward to seeing Guyana back on the air; would the SW frequencies remain the same? (Steven Wiseblood, TX, ibid.) Who knows? Was on 3291v, and before that 5950 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. Pacific DX report for Nov 27th, 2009: Leaving Kona 1610: 2 TIS stations noted here. One was a continuous female giving a www site and a phone number, while there was another station which may have been an airport TIS. Today, by the way, while driving up Kilauea volcano, I heard nothing on 1610. Rather the Volcano TIS there was on 530 only (Walt Salmaniw, HI, IRCA via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. EL MUNDO ENTERO PODRÁ OBSERVAR ELECCIONES El TSE garantiza que el actual proceso se desarrolla con la mayor transparencia y calidad que se haya visto en el país. 24.11.09 - Actualizado: 24.11.09 01:43pm Tegucigalpa. El proceso electoral que se desarrolla en Honduras podrá ser observado por el mundo entero a través de internet, mediante una plataforma que mostrará en tiempo real las partes sensibles del mismo, informó el secretario del Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Enrique Ortez. Ortez aclaró que cualquier persona que tenga acceso a una computadora y servicio de internet podrá conocer el avance del proceso en la recepción del material electoral, el escrutinio de los votos, la transmisión de resultados, el escaneo de las actas y lo que pase en 15 centros de votación, ingresando a http://hondurasvota2009.com Con esta innovación, el TSE garantiza a los hondureños y al mundo entero, que el actual proceso se desarrolla con la mayor transparencia y calidad que se haya visto en el país. Además, el máximo ente electoral ha implementado un novedoso y preciso sistema de transmisión de resultados preliminares, que permitirá realizar la declaratoria del candidato presidencial ganador en las siguientes dos horas tras el cierre de las urnas. "Antes de que cante un gallo vamos a tener un nuevo presidente", recordó el secretario. El magistrado solicitó a los ciudadanos que denuncien los delitos en contra de las elecciones y para ello contarán con un sitio web en donde podrán realizar sus denuncias de manera anónima. El TSE se ha encargado de blindar las elecciones generales para que no exista duda de que han sido transparentes y libres. "Lo único que nos queda es que el hondureño asuma su deber patriótico para que estas elecciones sean las más votadas en la historia de Hnduras", dijo Ortez a Radio América. Según el funcionario una vez que el pueblo a partir de su derecho de autodeterminación legitime el proceso electoral, la comunidad internacional estará obligada a acoger nuevamente a Honduras en su seno. El TSE convocó el pasado mes de mayo a 4.6 millones de hondureños para elegir a las nuevas autoridades que gobernarán el país durante el período 2010-2014. Fuente con enlaces: http://www.elheraldo.hn/Ediciones/2009/11/24/Noticias/El-mundo-entero-podra-observar-elecciones (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, Nov 25, DXLD) Webcams at polling places ** INDIA. AIR PLANS FOR LIVE COMMONWEALTH DRM BROADCAST By: Anita Iyer 26 Nov 09 16:27 IST http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/air-joins-drm-live-commonwealth-broadcast MUMBAI: All India Radio would be carrying forward its association with Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) by live broadcasting the 2010 Commonwealth games to be held in Delhi. [when, exactly?? gh] AIR is contemplating to have seven and half hours [per day??? - gh] of live broadcast during the games. In a recent meeting with DRM Chairperson Ruxandra Obreja and Project Director Vineeta Dwivedi earlier this month, Information and Broadcast minsiter Ambika Soni had reportedly stressed on the need for affordable DRM receivers for quick and efficient take-up of the technology. The ministry believes DRM can become a good tool to start new digital broadcasts for national and international audiences. Currently, AIR has a regular DRM service of 8 hours of daily DRM SW broadcast. Analog Devices India senior program manager Subrahmanyam believes it is the right time to launch DRM from the Commonwealth perspective. “There is very limited internet connectivity in India, so getting scores or data about Commonwealth games on radio is a feasible option. Equipped with DRM, listeners can get instantaneous data on radio. This transmission can be available not only on MW and SW bands but can also be transmitted over longer distances. So AIR broadcast can be transmitted outside the country as well.” Through DRM, the data on Commonwealth games would be transmitted on a digital radius rather than the conventional AM mode. “The transmission being digital is lesser prone to errors, interference, external noise etc. Apart from the audio, you can also get the data on Commonwealth games with feature like Journaline on DRM device.” One of the major impediments for DRM plans in India is the absence of DRM devices in the country. “Today AIR has only one SW transmitter modified for DRM in the country so; the manufacturers are hesitant to commence production unless the numbers of transmitters increase. Manufacturers are also gauging the risk involved in terms of investment of resources if AIR gives up on DRM transmission. They need to be assured that the DRM transmissions will continue for them to step into production.” Manufacturing the devices in India would reduce the device price as importing it increases it cost in Indian markets. The current DRM transmission for AIR broadcasts the same content owned by AIR for its AM transmission. This restricts the need for consumers in Indian markets to buy DRM digital radio when conventional AM radio is available at a much lower price. Subrahmanyam points out that compared to the receivers that existed in Phase A, the prices have been cut down by almost half its original cost. “In phase I, the receivers were costly at 800 dollars, in Phase II the prices came down to almost half at 350 dollars and the target for 2010 is to have receivers costing around 80 dollars. For Indian markets, the target is to make it available at Rs 2000-3000.” Talking about the Indian market, Subrahmanyam foresees, “The potential in India is immense because the number of radio listeners in the country is huge. But it completely depends on the content; it has to be interesting and compelling for consumers to buy this product. Indians would prefer DRM as it would provide stereophonic sound on SW band and tuning option for stations from other cities.” DRM also plans to work in tandem with FM radio broadcasters and have conceived DRM+. It is an extension of DRM 30 (which functions up to 30 MHz) to cover the VHs regions. “With DRM +, radio broadcasters can transmit from four stations instead of the current one from a given frequency. So, your licensing cost becomes 1/4th, production and content cost remains more or less the same but the advertising revenues increase with the number of stations.” DRM has approached the Information and Broadcasting Ministry who might consider migration of FM frequencies on DRM+. DRM+ technology is suited for countries of India, Brazil, Russia, China because of geographical location and larger population can be covered with lesser number of transmitters. Compared to last year, AIR started regular transmissions on DRM mode regularly in January this year. With increase in number of transmitters, AIR will start having a wider coverage. AIR has elaborate plans for transmission in the next five years to cover the complete country and DRM has an important role to play (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Nov 26, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4790, UNID AIR, 1340-1434*, Nov 07, mostly talks in some local language, local music, English news from New Delhi – weak-poor with local noise, heterodyne, CW QRM. (It seems AIR was as a jammer for Azad Kashmir R on the same frequency, but there were not any signs of that Pakistani station on the channel). (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4820, AIR Kolkata, My Indian regional QSL no. 14, this time by e-mail received from animesh37 @ rediffmail.com at this station 65 days after I sent a postal report to the station, reporting the early Mahalaya special programme on Sep 17: “hi mr. peterson, ur report is corresponding with our log. thank u for listing to our station. expecting more reports from u. Mr. animesh chakraborty, superintending engineer, all india radio: kolkata”. Highly appreciated! (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4850, AIR Kohima, 1300-1407*, Nov 25. Program “schedule highlights for today and tomorrow”; 1340-1400 usual local news and sports news in Hindi, followed by same items in English; pulsating noise started at 1355; first time I have noted this QRM; suddenly off. [non]. 4850, AIR Kohima, off the air Nov 26 with random checks between 1310 to 1500. 4850, AIR Kohima, 1355, Nov 30. News in English with major item about tomorrows start of the Hornbill Festival; weather; 1400 ID: “This is All India Radio Kohima”; special address by the Governor of Nagaland, Nikhil Kumar, on the eve of the anniversary of the state of Nagaland having formally been inaugurated on December 1, 1963 and for the start tomorrow of the Hornbill Festival http://www.hornbillfestival.com/ 1407 hard rock music show “Live Wire”; suddenly off at 1408. Had been off the air for the last two days Portion of the speech by Governor of Nagaland posted to “Files > Station Sounds”. [in the dxldyg; text of it:] http://www.morungexpress.com/frontpage/38697.html (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems to be a pattern to go off at 1408, Ron. 27th same time into Youth Vani programme. You seem obviously getting very good reception for all that distance!! 73 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1602, Nov 25. In English with an address to the nation by the Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan on the eve of National Law Day; speech // 4920, 4970, 5010, 5050 (Aizawl was in the clear with almost fair reception, as Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio had already signed off), 9425 and 9470. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article54845.ece?homepage=true After the address, played easy listening popular music (song by Andy Williams, etc.); 1629 sign off announcements in English and Hindi; off the air at 1630. 4990, AIR Itanagar, 1502-1511, Nov 25. In English with the review of the activities of Parliament (mostly dealing with workers issues of wages, medical compensation, etc.); // 4920 (QRM), 5010 and 5050 (QRM) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Scanning AIR G.O.S at 2255–2325 on 27/11/2009 [sic] SE Asia Service: 6055 from Khampur was fair with Carnatic Music (Nadaswaram) followed by Panorama programme on medical tourism in India. At my location Jamshedpur, 9705 and 13605 only produced hash. Called up my business associate in Singapore (also a SWL) to check out 9705 and 13605. He too reported negative whereas 6065 was very strong with him. He couldn't monitor for long as he needed to leave for office by 8.00am (SGT). (Ashok Satpathy, 0707 UT Nov 27, dx_india yg via DXLD) ergo, the monitoring was really on UT Nov 26! (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Vividh Bharati program is heard during last two days on 6090 kHz at 0830-1200 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india via DXLD) About 6090 kHz, for the 3rd consecutive day, yesterday (25 Nov 2009) also AIR was noted testing at around 0830-0930. This time the External Service in Indonesian was broadcast. At around 0830, test tones were heard on 6100 first and later on 6090 kHz. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, ibid.) AIR noted yesterday 26 Nov 2009 also on 6090 with Vividh Bharti programs at around 0830-1200. This is the 4th consecutive day it was heard. These are regular tests. Look out also on 6100. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, ibid.) ** INDIA. 6280, All India Radio, Bengaluru. 2020-2030* November 28, 2009. French, with Indian pop vocal, female closing ID. Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. 9690, AIR Bangaluru at 1425 in English. “Press Review” reporting on this week’s meeting of presidents Obama and Singh in Washington. English is scheduled 1330-1500. Fair Nov 27 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, BC, listening portable on an Eton E-1 and Sony AN-1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9690, AIR GOS in English, Nov 28 at 1422, talking about air pollution in Indian cities. This frequency always has a hum on it, not so bad as to drive away listeners, but wouldn`t a little filtering take care of that? Site listed for this 1330 sesquihour to SE Asia is Bangalore. 13710, AIR GOS to SE Asia, Monday Nov 30 at 1444, mailbag show, final call to someone who has been listening since the 1970s, mentioned this very frequency and will send QSL. Gave quick yahoo.com.in address once so I couldn`t catch it all, along with Box 500. Better signal on 13710 than hummy // 9690, except 13710 faces the DentroCuban leapfrog, 13770 RHC over 13740 CRI relay, producing Spanish audio and fast SAH, 1446 to music. Calling the mailbag ``Faithfully Yours`` hints they are not interested in hearing from the non-targeted USA, where no one uses that expression in closing a letter. FY appears at several times during Monday broadcasts including 1430 on these plus unchecked 11620; next chances to hear it: Mon 1830 on 11935 9445 7550 7410 6180; 2120 on 6180 7410 7550 9445 11620 11715. Those need to be confirmed as AIR publish no programme schedule. Are there any other airings, e.g. in the 2245-0030 broadcast? Checked for further airings of AIR GOS Faithfully Yours, the mailbag on Monday, Nov 30: at 1830, none of the frequencies were audible, especially 9445 only 5 kHz from center of Greenville DRM still running. At 2130, however, most of the frequencies were just barely audible, best, if you can call it that, on 9445; sounds like same program as until 1446 on 9690, 13710, OM announcer speaking directly to listeners, finished at 2135 and on to music. Some days, 9445 is quite listenable around this time. Tnx to Ron Howard for p-mailing printed copies of AIR`s home and external service frequency schedules. Unfortunately, this is ALL the latter says about axual program content: ``In each language service, a composite programme is presented consisting of a news bulletin, commentary, press review, talks on matters of general and cultural interest, occasional feature programmes and documentaries, Indian classical & light classical music (vocal and instrumental music) as well as music of the area concerned``. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR VBS, 9870, Nov 25 at 1421, two men demonstrating a laughing duet, then discussing it in Hindi, VG signal unlike 9425 National Channel, just barely audible and even less so Aligarh 9470 which still seems normally unblobby. 9870 and 9425 are both 500 kW Bengaluru, at 335 and 18 degrees respectively, making all the difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [non]. 12005, Nov 27 at 1437, one-word-at-a-time missionary haltingly speaking unknown language, kinda reminds me of HCJB`s Kulina, but this is for S Asia, one of numerous unknown languages on the Gospel for Asia schedule via Wertachtal, GERMANY at 1330-1530. Per Aoki, Thursdays and Fridays at 1430-1445 it is Konyak. Per EiBi`s exhaustive language list at http://www.eibispace.de/dx/README.TXT --- ``KNY Konyak Naga (India - Assam, Nagaland: 0.1m)``. If only all the Konyax in OK knew about this opportunity to convert to Christianity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. AIR Panaji B (Vividh Bharati) has at last changed its frequency to 828 kHz from 1539 kHz. The power is 20 kW. This is due to co channel interfernece from the Radio Aap Ki Duniya and VOA group of stations (programs) on 1539 kHz (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india via DXLD) Does AIR Cuttack at 972 kHz too have a similar frequency switch plan? VoA Radio Aap Ki Duniya at the same frequency (from Tajikistan?) messes up the reception in large parts of eastern India where a lot of Oriya listeners reside. Thanks (Ashok Satpathy, Nov 25, ibid.) During meetings with officals of AIR Cuttack, I was told that in their primary coverage area, 972 kHz is not having problems with co channel interference from Radio Aap ki Duniya. Copy of my article on visit to AIR Cuttack is available at: http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/art/cuttack.pdf (Jose Jacob, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia in English with pop music heard at around 1045 on Nov. 25th on 9525.9 kHz. Good modulation and no heterodyne as no one uses 9525 kHz at that time (Robert Foerster, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.9, VOI still there, Nov 29 at 1304, but just barely modulated, sounded like English but cannot be positive. [and non]. 9525.9, VOI, Dec 1 at 1343, S9+18v carrier but just barely modulated and could not even tell if there was yet another Tuesday co- produxion with RRI Banjarmasin. Also yet another Spanish 2-way SSB intruder below it circa 9522.5. 9525.9, VOI modulation somewhat better Dec 2 at 1356 in English giving website http://www.voi.co.id Fairly weak het from Kashgar 9525.0 cut on at 1457, so could still hear VOI at 1501 transitioning from Malay back to English, program summary for today`s date, 1502 news starting with something about villages in Bali, 1503 cut off, clearing CRI English, the weak signal left (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET [and non]. Re 9-082, AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1488 --- The SHR webstream has been down again for about 3 weeks. We have moved servers and it should be back this weekend with WOR at the usual times scheduled. Live Stream: http://209.51.162.171/south_herts_radio Some shortwave from us to be relayed by other clandestine stations very soon. (Sharing airtime). Still try our QRP transmissions for WOR.. > Wed 1930 South Herts Radio 3935 (76 meter band) > Sun 1230 South Herts Radio 5835 (52 meter band) WOR and more on demand (anytime) via listen again http://www.southhertsradio.com/again.html IRRS stream and recommended stations webstreams / pirate and clandestine relays http://www.southhertsradio.com/tuner.html (Gary Drew, Nov 24, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. World of Radio PODCAST via WRN Woooohh, I have finally found the podcast link: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English -- All audio files are downloadable, in MP4 format (that is actually AAC+ V2) with 16 kbps, 44 kHz, mono. So, when you go to podcast link http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/ you'll see last shows available for download. For example "World of Radio recorded by WRN on Sat, 28 Nov 2009" is at: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/downloadProgramme/17120/MP4_16/0.mp4?rss=1 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Nov 29, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. DEUTSCHE WELLE TO LEAVE ASTRA 1H/1L The two DW radio channels on Astra 1H as well as DW TV on Astra 1L will be taken off at yearend: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,4136,00.html The radio channels on Astra 3A (23.5 deg. East) will disappear as well. These are no official relays, just feeds to cable nets operated by Kabel Deutschland. This cable distribution itself is not encouraged by DW either, it merely results from the circumstance that DW radio is transmit on Astra 1H within the ARD bouqet for which ARD requires cable relays to be complete and unencrypted. The TV signal on Astra 1L is a rebroadcast of the Hotbird signal by SES, run through their Betzdorf teleport in Luxembourg, without ARD being involved, thus also no domestic cable distribution in this case. So for DW distribution in Europe only Hotbird 8 will remain. The Media Broadcast mux that DW uses here is from the shortwave side also interesting for a signal labelled "RNW 4", containing two mono channels of 64 kbps each (at least that's what the charts say). This must be a feed to shortwave sites, especially for program audio like Arabic that is not officially distributed in Europe. It could be in use to feed Radio Dabanga to the Wertachtal transmitters, too. Beyond that this Hotbird feed could also be the source for relays on further satellites, serving transmitter sites outside the Hotbird 8 footprint. It is thus well possible that Arabic is followed by Spanish on one of the two audio channels, thus going on the air when the Kigali transmitter that carries RNW Arabic (btw, I think it is RNW's first use of this site) stays on longer than scheduled (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Radio aboard cruise ships --- Thought that I’d mention the radio situation on-board our ship, the Amsterdam. Last night, I noted the door to the radio room (with a “restricted, no entry” sign on the door) slightly ajar, so I stuck my head in and said hello. The radio officer, is not really a radio officer at all, but an IT specialist. This explains his puzzled look when I asked whether or not they still had HF radio on board. The answer is NO! Not even as a back-up. Everything’s satellite (and he showed me the rack of satellite equipment). Otherwise, there’s VHF on the bridge, but nothing else --- and this is on a vessel specifically designed and launched in 2000 for deep sea voyages (including around the world cruises). Sad, indeed! (Walt (one day out of Honolulu) Salmaniw, Nov 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 15410, R. Farda not too enjoyable Nov 26 at 1439 due to heavy long/shortpath echo. Three different sites are scheduled for this at 11-16: 14-16 is Skelton, UK, 300 kW at 95 degrees. I wonder if the German sites earlier would have had LP echo: 11-12 100 kW, 85 degrees from Biblis, 12-14 100 kW, 77 degrees from Lampertheim. Echo could also be caused if two sites were simultaneous by mistake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) via Germany, 9760 NF, Radio Farda, *0400-0410, ex-9585, Nov 26, opening ID announcements in Farsi. Mid-Eastern pop music (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** IRAN [non]. Subcarrier broadcasting --- CA, Los Angeles --- there are now three Farsi (Persian) SCS Services in LA, along with KRIN 670 AM. One of those was founded by the father of an FMedia! Correspondent, K.L., who is at odds with his son over distribution of the special radios. K.L. wrote, ``I was evicted form my condo of 20+ years due to my being `marked` as an al-Qaeda terrorist! Just because I was an Iranian-American ham radio operator and had several antennas on my balcony. I have been living in a hotel for the past seven years.`` He also reported, ``Radio Sedaye Iran has been on SCA for over 10 years. Persian Radio started on SCA three months ago. Since I do not have a tunable SCA (either 67 or 92 kHz) anymore (all my possessions were thrown out when I was evicted), I do not know whether each are on 67, 92 or not, as well as which LA FM station is providing the transmissions. Additionally, my parents were the ones that evicted me (under pressure from the condo neighbors). I had transferred ownership of condo to my parents (so my neighbors could not harm me financially) three monts before being evicted. . . Sorry about my mentioning my own problems. I never realized being a Shi`ite Moslem, born in Iran, that I have to deal with discrimination.`` (FMedia Sept/Oct via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Saddam Hussein ordered RFE attack in Prague: see CZECHIA ** IRAQ [non]. ‘SADDAM TV’ BEGINS BROADCASTING IN IRAQ A mysterious station called ‘Saddam TV’ began broadcasting on the first day of Eid al-Adha, which is also the anniversary of his 2006 execution. Broadcasting from an unknown place, Latifa TV channel started airing Saddam Husain’s different pictures and voice records last Friday. The so-called Saddam Channel’s first broadcast happened on the first day of Eid al-Adha and the third anniversary of Saddam’s execution according to the Islamic calendar. One of the Saddam pictures shown on the channel aired with a banners says “draw your swords.” Mohammed Jarboua, An Algerian man in Syria who is claimed to be the channel’s chairman said “the Saddam channel is for Iraqis and other Arabs who long for his rule.” Mr Jarboua also claimed the channel broadcast from Europe, but did not give any details citing the security concerns of the workers. (Source: World Bulletin) (November 30th, 2009 - 14:54 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) WTFK? ``in Iraq`` -- does that mean terrestrial; or really on some satellite? (gh, ibid.) Nilesat and Arabsat per: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=7880 (gh, 7 minutes later, ibid.) ** ISRAEL [non]. 1287 kHz frequency change - the reason for ? Speculation: channel could be freed for IBB Kuwait's new 600 kW MW propaganda mouthpiece against Iran: KWT - Radio Sawa or Farda, Kuwait City (600 kW - moved 3 x 200 kW Harris units from former Kavalla-GRC relay site) - planned first to start in end 2008, then in August/September 2009 ...). IBB Kuwait registered with ITU Geneve on channel 1386 kHz, but latter covered still by strong Iranian RIB 1 / V of Rebellious Iraq, Ahwaz (400) - V of Rebellious Iraq: ID "Sawt al Iraq al tha'ir" (wb, Nov 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 13850, Israel R., Tel Aviv. Fair but big fades in Persian 1527 on 12/11 (Gavin Hellyer, Ararat Vic (Yaesu FRG-8800, 80m Longwire, 30m Loop NSEW 6m High, Yaesu FRT-7700 ATU), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) Tel Aviv? When they had English, always IDed as from Jerusalem (gh, DXLD) Kol Israel's only remaining External Service, in Persian, is now 1500- 1630 (-1600 Friday and Saturday) on 11595 and 13850, excellent reception of 11595 here at 1500 November 25; 13850 not as strong with some fading (Mike Barraclough, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** JAMAICA. Es report: S. TEXAS > JAMAICA, times CST, 28 NOVEMBER 2009 1711 94.1 RJR 94-FM Kingston, "You're tuned to ROAD ROCK on 94-RJR-FM" "RJR News", ID, "Smart shoppers shop at SINGER with "The BIG-94" 1718 92.1 Kingston, "Hitz 92-FM" hip-hop 1722 94.9 RJR, Coleyville/Mandeville //94.1 1728 93.7 565-6784 telephone number; hard-core reggae/pop/hip-hop, Caribbean accented M 1731 89.1 KLAS-FM, Montego Bay; horse racing results, "If it's sports it's on KLAS 89-1 SPORTS RADIO" 1737 97.1 Kingston; "Kool 97-FM" "KOOL HOUSE PARTY", reggae, ads, promos, "Just COOLIN" "December to REMEMBER" concert 73's and gud DX, Steve/AB5GP (Steven Wiseblood, Boca Chica Beach, TEXAS (2 miles from the GULF of MEXICO), 25:55N 97:13:30W, Roadmaster VRCD400-SDU AM/FM$ car stereo FM-6 YAGI at 15 ft, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** JAPAN. Loran C station in Minami-Torishima Island closed According to the Press Release of Japan Coast Guard, Loran C station at Minami-Torishima (Marcus) Island, located about 2000 km southeast from Tokyo, closed operation at 0000 UT on December 1. The station, constructed in 1963 by USCG, transferred to Japan Coast Guard in 1976, is one of the Northwest Pacific chain of Loran C system, using 213 m high antenna (24.17N 153.58E) with the power of 1800 kW on 100 kHz. Another 4 stations - Niijima Island, Tokachibuto (Hokkaido), Gezaji (Okinawa), Pohan (Korea) are continuing operation, but the service areas have been reduced by half. 8 operating staff will withdraw from the island in March 2010 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Axually, since it`s so far from the mainland, I`m sure this counted as a separate radio country, but too late now! Hams may still activate it. LORAN-C programming is rather repetitive and uninspired (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGESET) ** JAPAN [non]. JAPÃO VIA ANTILHAS HOLANDESAS – A NHK World transmite duas emissões diárias de 30 minutos, com programas produzidos e apresentados por brasileiros que residem em Tóquio. Vão ao ar, entre 0230 e 0300 e das 0930 às 1000, no Tempo Universal, no canal 9660 kHz, que é via retransmissor localizado em Bonaire, nas Antilhas Holandesas. Nos últimos dias e meses, entretanto, tais emissões não são captadas por grande parte dos ouvintes brasileiros. Problemas técnicos ou falta de propagação? Não sabemos! Enquanto isso, os ouvintes brasileiros que não precisam acordar cedo devem se contentar em ouvir uma emissão em espanhol, que vai ao ar, entre 0500 e 0530, no Tempo Universal, em 6195 kHz (Célio Romais blog Nov 30 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11960, Amman presumed, Nov 27 at 0623 with Arabic discussion, fair. Scheduled 0500-0715, 500 kW, 350 degrees, but so is CNR Beijing at 00-09, 100 kW, 37 degrees, unheard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. 4760.01, 0245-0310, INDIA, 25.11, R Kashmir, Leh. English news heard // AIR Lucknow 4880 and AIR Jaipur 4910, 0300 Own programme of Kashmiri songs, 13121, QRM Tajikistan 4765. 4950.03, 1715-1743*, INDIA, 28.11, R Kashmir, Srinagar. Vernacular / English Kashmiri folksongs, vernacular announcement, 1730 English news heard // AIR on 4800, 4880, 4910 and 5010. But at 1735 R Kashmir continued its own programme and did not relay the news in Hindi. Instead it had news in Kashmiri (presumed) and signed off with a song; 25343 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Nothing extracontinental making it on 60 m, but 75, 90 and 105 m had fair signals from here at 1325-1331+ Nov 29: 3985, 3912, 3480 with noise jamming against S Korean clands; 3320 and 3250 in Korean; 2850 in non // Korean (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 6285, Voix du Korea [sic]. 1154-1156* November 28, 2009. Comatose Korean choral vocal, French female closing ID and frequencies, carrier off. Good. Parallel slightly weaker 9335 and 9850 (very poor). WRTH09 says beamed to Latin America, I guess for many the Haiti and French Guiana listeners with shortwave radios and long antennae (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via JSR Tokyo, Nov 25 at 1404 with English as usual on Wednesdays, starting with the case of Kazayuki, born 8/22/51, abducted on 3/9/70 at the age of 18. YL talking over sad piano bed, no QRM at all. 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via JSR JAPAN, in English this Friday, Nov 27 at 1402, M reading numerous headline stories from Kyodo about North Korea, relations therewith, etc. He has a very heavy accent; if I could not speak a foreign language any better, I would not put myself on the worldwide air with it, but probably a volunteer for the cause. No QRM, and signal at least as good as NHK with its much better English on 5955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. Last couple of nights, I've noticed that instead of English on 9580 at 0200, KBS World Radio is broadcasting in what I'm assuming is Korean. Will have to check and see if it's shifted in time one hour - KBS schedule shows 9580 in Spanish at 0100. No Korean on 9580 according to KBS' schedule. Cheers (Rich NT2W, Potsdam NY, Nov 24, ODXA yg via DXLD) Closer look last night - it's really not KBS, it's China Radio International. I think KBS is still there, but completely clobbered by CRI. CRI English at 0100 to Chinese (not Korean as I asserted) at 0200. CRI 9580 is on the World English Survey at that time (Rich, Nov 25, ibid.) KBS on 9580 is sked in Spanish before 0200 and then English at 0200. CRI on 9580 is coming from Cuba, so definitely a problem! (Harold Sellers, BC, ibid.) Per Aoki, KBS at 00-02 on 9580 is direct aimed 81 degrees toward S America, so you can`t really expect to hear it at all in NAm, even without CRI aiming 10 degrees up the east coast from Habana. We outpointed the collision already some time ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. 4770.00, *0300-0330, CLANDESTINE, 25.11, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, via Salal Al-Din, Northern Iraq. Kurdish opening announcement, mentioned "kHz" twice, Call to Prayer and talk, jammed by Iran 33343. Jammer still heard at 0500-0510* on 29.11 after the station signed off at 0500* (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Since the Tamil Tigers were no longer audible on 11510, at 1455 Nov 27 I tuned up to 11530 for V. of Mesopotamia via Ukraine, for some neat Kurdish music, which was cut off abruptly without apology or announcement at 1500 sharp, time to QSY to 7540, unchecked; and do they expect the Kurds to know where to tune next? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. See ISRAEL [non] ** KYRGYZIA. WRTH 1993 mentioned also these shortwave entries: 6080, 7105, 7205, 7325, 9650, 9695, 11695, 11820, 11895, 11905, 12050, 15265, 15405, 15420, 15450, 15490, 15535, 17685, 17745, 17775, 17815, 17825, 17840, and 21505 kHz. Maybe a fake? But Anatoly Titov should know the truth (Wolfgang Büschel, Nov 21, SW TXsite, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) Frunze/Bishkek as far as I could find out never had a site for international broadcasting. All assignments for this site were disinformation (Olle Alm, Sweden, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, ibid.) Thanks Olle. I'd heard it mentioned/rummured during the 90's (probably from yourself) that this was the case. Good to have this reaffirmed again. So to all those with old Radio Moscow QSL's with Bishkek as transmitter site (often seen in the 80's) on card and logging/counting this as another radio tranmitter site / country QSL'd : "think again ... It's a dud" (Ian Baxter, Australia, Nov 23, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, ibid.) ** LAOS. 7145, LNR Vientiane, 1254, Nov 27, Khmer at tune-in, amazingly clear &strong, have never heard this so well since I first spotted them here 3 years ago. Then continued in French 1259, ID, frequency announcement and news preceded by "principaux titres". Very unfortunately signal went downhill again with hams butting in occasionally. English noted opening 1328 and closing as early as 1353 followed by Lao until 1400 carrier suddenly off. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 11965, Nov 26 at 1944 hilife music, // 11860, undermodulated, 1948 talk in presumed Hausa as B-09 scheduled from V. of Africa, instead of 11995 where we heard it well into November in prolonged A-09 schedule usage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, RTV Malagasy, Antananarivo, *0230-0303, Nov 27, presumed Malagasy. S/on with up-beat, folk-like music; followed by a variety of continuous music; choral, ballads, pop-like; until 0256 when instrumental loop (IS?); choral anthem at 0258; then ID at 0300 into acoustic music; fair in reduced carrier USB (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5010.00, 1730-1855 28.11, R Nasionaly Malagasy, Ambohidrano. Malagasy announcement, folkmusic, radioplay and Afropop, only audible in USB and AM, but not in LSB, best after AIR Thiruvananthapuram signed off at 1742*: 35333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5952.19v, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1504, Nov 28. New frequency for them! In vernacular; news from RTM News Center, followed by commentary; reciting from the Qur’an; ID; pop music show till 1533 tune-out. Bothered by het due to station on 5955; best in LSB; seemed to have a slight drift. They probably moved away from ex: 5964.92v due to persistent heavy QRM (e.g. today I found a very strong CRI in Russian on 5965.0). Was able to hear the usual 6049.60v (“Suara Islam FM” ID at 1525) and 7295 (Traxx FM in English with Dean Martin singing “That’s Amore” at 1535). 5952.19v, Klasik Nasional via RTM, 1600, Nov 29. 1+1 pips; choral National Anthem (Negaraku - Lagu Kebangsaan Malaysia); ID “Radio Malaysia Klasik Nasional”; singing “Klasik Nasional” jingle; RTM news headlines in vernacular; reciting from Qur’an. Reception before 1600 was mostly poor due to adjacent QRM, but after 1600 was fair to almost good. Much better here than on ex: 5964.92v. Sei-ichi Hasegawa in Japan actually heard this earlier than I did. He confirms them on 5952.2, at 0845, on Nov 27, which seemed to be their first day here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5952.2 NF, Klasik Nasional FM (via RTM). 1242-1248 November 28, 2009. Something here very weak, way post-sunrise in Clearwater, so doubt Radio Pío XII, Siglo Veinte, Bolivia, but what else? Well, it's this as per Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, DXLD, he measuring it at 5952.19. Ex-5964.92V (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5964.93v, Klasik Nasional via RTM, 1603, Dec 1. After being on ex: 5952.2 for only three days, they have returned to their former frequency. What happened? Just an error? Heard under DW (in English), with news in vernacular; 1605 distinctive singing “Klasik Nasional” jingle. Their absence on 5952.2 for Nov 30 and Dec 1 were also noted by Sei-ichi Hasegawa in Japan and Martien Groot in the Netherlands. Thanks fellows for your feedback! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.72, Info FM (presumed) via RTM, Kajang, 1003-1025, 28 Nov, Malay, talks; 14441, adjacent QRM de EQA 6050 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Would that have to be long-path? If HCJB was still audible at that hour, it would be darkness onward almost to Malaysia (gh, DXLD) 6049.60v, Salam FM via RTM, 1610, Dec 2. In vernacular; announcer talking over background music; reciting from the Qur’an; singing “Salam FM” jingle (the same one that Alan Roe [Teddington, UK] heard back on Sept 24, after 1700, on 9750); on air phone call; pop music; suddenly off at 1629; clearly parallel 6175 (under CNR1) and 9750 (under NHK, as PBS Nei Menggu had already signed off). Earlier had a clear ID for “Radio Suara Islam FM” at 1552, so Salam FM probably started at 1600. If this continues to be their schedule, it is a major change, but certainly needs more monitoring to see exactly what their full schedule is now. Pleased to have caught this, as it is my first reception of them! Audio file posted at dxldyg “Files > Station Sounds” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM via RTM. November, 30 English 0825-0836 pop music and male talks in every music break. At peak 34322 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, V. of Malaysia Kajang, 1137-1206*, Nov 28, Mandarin. Ancr with talk & pop-like music; "Voice of Malaysia" ID and jingle at 1156 followed by filler muisc; 1+1 pips at ToH with ID and announcer in (Presumed) Malay; "surf" music bit at 1204; talk and ballad at 1206 when pulled-the-plug; poor-fair; much improved by ToH. (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Scott, Thank you for the observation of their actual sign off time on 15295. Interesting to note that Aoki lists 11885 as 1000-1200 in Chinese, whereas 15295 supposedly continues on from 1200 to 1400 in Indonesian (not “1200-1400 English” in DXLD 9-080). Recently I have been checking 15295 shortly after 1300, but they are certainly not broadcasting then. So your observations and mine seem to confirm that 1200 to 1400 is just a phantom schedule (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, ibid.) The Voice of Islam heard in English with signals of 33433 at 0850 on Nov. 30th on 15295 kHz. Identification and news at 0900 suffers from interference on 15300 kHz, where the Firedrake is active until 0900, then leaving RFI in the clear. That's all for today. I will switch over to Voice of Malaysia now and listen to their fine music on the Chinese service on 15295 kHz. Reception is excellent. 73s and good DX (Robert Foerster, Germany, 1056 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 7285.9, R. Mali, Kati, 1234-1327, 29 Nov, vernacular, tribal songs, random FM frequency announcements in French, then played one of their usual jingles for 2 minutes (!) as if something got stuck, TC and news in French; 45444; \\ 9635 a little bit worse (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, Nouakchott poor level 1806 with apparent French news 24 Nov. Carrier good but audio quite muffled nowadays (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Mauritanie heard yesterday, Dec. 1st, with French reports about development projects at 1813 with fair signals on 4845 kHz. Modulation a bit weak but good audio. When I checked 7245 kHz this morning, Dec. 2nd, a carrier was on at 0945 and still is there while I am writing this. The modulation is extremely weak. Signal strength and general propagation (Mali also heard on 7285.9 kHz) could indicate Radio Mauritanie as a possible source (Robert Foerster, Germany, 1056 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ALASKA! QRDRM ** MEXICO. RADIO STATION DIRECTOR FOUND DEAD | Text of press release in English by Paris-based media freedom organization Reporters Sans Frontieres on 26 November The body of José Galindo Robles, the head of Radio Universidad de Guadalajara, was discovered at his home in Guadalajara, in the western state of Jalisco, on 24 November, after it was noticed that several days had gone by with no word from him. His body was found wrapped in a blanket and with the hands tied with cable. The prosecutor's office said the cause of death was a "deep contusion and fracture to the skull." "This is sad news and, as is so often the case, it comes from a country that has been bled dry by organised crime and drug trafficking," Reporters Without Borders said. "We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Jose Galindo, who had received Mexican and Latin American prizes for his work as a journalist." The press freedom organisation added: "With murder motive yet to be established, we urge the authorities to consider the possibility that it was connected to his work. He was sometimes very outspoken and he was committed to defending human rights and the environment." Generally known as "Pepe Galindo," he had received various prizes at the Latin American Radio Biennals. In 2004, he was awarded the National Prize for Environmental Journalism for a report about the impact of the pollution of the River Santiago, Mexico's most contaminated river, on the inhabitants of El Salto and Juanacatlan (in Jalisco state). Even if it remains to be established whether Galindo was killed in connection with his commitment to the environment, it is certainly the case that environmental journalists are being increasingly targeted. In a report published on 17 September, Reporters Without Borders highlighted the dangers for journalists who expose environmental problems. The western hemisphere country where journalists are most in danger, Mexico was ranked 137th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Galindo's death brings the number of journalists murdered since 2000 to 57. Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres press release, Paris, in English 2359 gmt 26 Nov 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MEXICO. MÉXICO PIERDE A PIONERO DE LA RADIO SILVIA OTERO EL UNIVERSAL DOMINGO 29 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2009 obit Pionero de las telecomunicaciones en México, el nombre de Joaquín Vargas Gómez está asociado a la visión de un empresario que apostó a la Frecuencia Modulada (FM) en la radio cuando nadie creía en su desarrollo, y abrió nuevos espacios en la televisión al fundar MVS Comunicaciones. Don Joaquín, quien falleció ayer a los 84 años, en el Distrito Federal, creía firmemente en que “los buenos ratos hay que fabricarlos, porque los malos llegan solos”. Hombre exitoso e innovador, es considerado un forjador de la radio en México. . . Fuente: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/173295.html Antecedentes de la empresa [lots of info about networks, formats] Fuente: http://is.gd/56Unp (both via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, DXLD) ** MEXICO. GRACIAS A TODOS, "RADIO MEXICO INTERNACIONAL" Estimados amigos todos, Quiero expresar mi más profundo agradecimiento a todos y cada uno de ustedes por su presencia y seguimiento al proyecto que nació el 12 de Diciembre de 2008, "Radio México Inernacional", señal por Internet. Les comunico que el próximo 12 de Diciembre de 2009, se suspenderá la señal que durante un año ha estado ininterrumpidamente por Internet; las condiciones económicas actuales que estamos viviendo me llevan a dar término a este proyecto que inicié con mucho anhelo de recordar a nuestra desaparecida "Radio México Internacional". Los costos de operación de la misma de momento no me son costeables, por lo que he tomado la lamentable decisión de dar término a este proyecto. Les agradezco a todos sus correos de incentivo al arranque, y durante estos meses. Quiero reiterarme como su amigo y mantenerme a la orden de todos ustedes. Reciban un fuerte abrazo y hasta una próxima. 73´s, muchos DX, Fraternalmente, (Antonio Martínez, XE1A, 27 Nov, noticias DX yg via DXLD) Tnx for trying (gh) ** MEXICO. Checking out the English programs from XEDA, Imagen, the best or only way to hear English from the DF, online: Program grid at http://www.imagen.com.mx/contenido/40/ indicates several time shifts, now updating our MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR: The weekly LIVING IN MEXICO is now Sat 1300-1400 and Sun 1600-1700 UT. IMAGEN NEWS Con Ana María Salazar: Mon-Sat 1130-1200; UT Mon, Tue 0500-0530; UT Wed-Sat 0430-0500. Direct link to audio stream; don`t forget the final / --- http://www.imagen.com.mx/audioenvivo/ If you hear Spanish at first, don`t give up: most of the commercials, PSAs within the English shows are in Spanish! I listened to Living in Mexico on Nov 29; it`s really a weekly roundup of material previously aired on the daily show. WTFK? This is a webcast-only `log`. Also two months` audio available on demand: http://www.imagen.com.mx/programa/ana_maria_salazar/15/ Ana María Salazar`s original Facebook page is filled up to 5000 capacity, but said she has opened another, with lots of discussion. Also: amsalazar on twitter (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1290, XEDA, Radio Trece, DF; News, OM with “XEDA 12-90 AM” & YL with “Radio Trece”, W/F 0801 30/11 (Barry :-) Davies, England, MWC yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. MÉXICO TAMBIÉN TIENE SU EMISORA DE BICENTENARIO http://www.radio2010.imer.gob.mx/ La Radio Veinte-Diez como la llaman los amigos mexicanos. En 2010 nuestro país conmemorará 200 años del inicio de la Independencia y 100 años del comienzo de la Revolución, por ello, la Comisión Organizadora de estas celebraciones diseña y ejecuta un gran programa para que todos los mexicanos conozcan el pasado y reflexionen sobre él. . . Pagina web: http://www.bicentenario.gob.mx/ Enlace relacionado: Nace la Emisora del Bicentenario (Colombia) http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com/2009/07/nace-la-emisora-del-bicentenario.html (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 540 SS -- Been trying the last couple nights, tonight was better than before, and I heard the word Chihuahua; they also have a nice little jingle between the songs. Maybe that helps ID it? Nothing decided yet but I`m leaning towards XENVA2, hmmm .1 kw? that doesn't sound right -- O well, back to the radio. Dean-0 (Dean Wayman, location unknown, 0411 UT Nov 27, ABDX via XLD) It`s XEWA. There is no other XE on 540 that I know of that can make it to Nebraska. Here's something to remember about XE stations. XENVA is used for XE Nueva or new XE station. Its like a station that has a CP to be built. It doesn't exist. XENVA stations are paper place holders for the Mexican version of the FCC. Log XEWA. There is a 99.9999% chance that is it (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid.) Warning: Lists containing the callsign XENVA2 should not be taken seriously. "XENVA2" was an abbreviation used for CPs (or applications) in some old inaccurate database many years ago (I assume the "NVA" stood for "nueva"). These listings got copied into other databases, and a few veteran DXers were embarrassed after thinking they had heard these stations. Offhand I can't think of any of these "XENVA2" listings that ever became a real station. Offhand I might guess you are hearing XETX [Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihua2]. They get out well, and frequently run the jingle "La Ranchera de Paquime" between songs. 73, (Tim Hall, CA, ibid.) Dean, I think you may need a good reference for Mexican stations. I don't believe that there is an XENVA2. If you have a singing ID between songs, perhaps it is this which I have heard here in IL a couple of times. 540, XETX, "La Ranchera de Paquimé", Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chih. I do think that the likely Mexican on 540 for you would be XEWA but they'd be // 900 I suspect. W radio is mostly talk,and streams online if you want to have a listen. However, XETX should certainly be possible for you. Here's a decent Mexican list: http://mexicoradiotv.com/frec_am.htm (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) I didn't think about them. I still think it`s more likely that it`s XEWA. I hear them at times here in Tennessee. XETX, not yet (Kevin Redding, ibid.) Dean, to listen to XEWA "W Radio" webstream, this works and gave the proper time so I know it is live. http://www.wradio.com.mx/player.aspx (Neil Kazaross, ibid.) Thanks for all the info Gents! Based on the info I now have, I pretty sure it's XETX. Even though they are somewhat low power, they fit the direction, and the webstream for XEWA doesn't sound like what I heard. Lots of music with the jingle between every couple songs, then about TOH and BOH commercials and maybe some short news clips? 540, XETX, Nuevo Casas Grandes Mex. 3900 W Day, 700 W night, 976 miles (Dean Wayman, O'Neill NE, Tecsun PL 600, 4 foot homebrew loop, also heard on Kaito 2100 with 16 inch loop, And a 1950's Zenith Model K 615 with filter magnet antenna. Between 9:00-12:00 central, 3 nights, ibid.) That is a nice catch. The reason I say that, is that XEWA SLP, SLP, Mexico runs 150 kW and They really can put out a smokin` signal. It was an easy one when I lived in Arizona. XETX could be easy also. Nuevo Casas Grandes is on the other side of the border from Columbus, New Mexico. The only hospital in the area is on the US side and lots of Mexican women go to the hospital in Columbus to deliver their children. Columbus is also known being the last place in the contiguous 48 states of the USA attacked by a foreign army. [yes Alaska and Hawaii have been attacked but they were not states at the time]. Pancho Villa took off from Nuevo Casas Grandes and attacked Columbus, NM with 500 men. This happened on March 9. 1916. Enough rambling, XETX in Nebraska is pretty doggone good (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid.) Thanks, I didn't believe it myself with that low power; I figured it had to be a 150 kW but the stream is just different, and the high power one is to my south. I was getting this from the SW. I'm going to keep checking it now and then; I could still be wrong. I liked the history lesson too! Dean-0 (Wayman, ibid.) Dean, what you've described hearing sounds nothing like W Radio's web stream and sounds lots like XETX. The have a sung jingle ID if I recall. I wouldn't bet on 700 watts; many many of the less than super powered Mexicans in smaller cities don't use night power, or leave day power several hours past sunset. I spent a night in Nogales AZ 20 odd years ago and not one station in Nogales, Sonora dropped power at all for night. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) ** MEXICO. 4800, Nov 27 at 0720, very weak music with CODAR, then YL announcement, too weak to be certain it was Spanish. Presumably sporadic XERTA operating at very low power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Re COLOMBIA above, Aoki listing R. Mil power as 250 W: Hola Glenn: espero tengas un magnífico domingo. La potencia nominal y real de XEOI es de 1 kW y no de 250 vatios. El transmisor es un Elcomm-Bauer de 1990. Saludos, (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, Nov 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEQM, 6104.8, audible at peaks as it faded up and down, Nov 26 at 0619, music with Motown flavor, 0623 DJ with someone on phone in Spanish. The het from something on 6105.0 was even weaker, fortunately; and far enough away from big signals Anguilla 6090, CRI Sackville 6115 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, R. Educación was granted almost 25 minutes of freedom from QRM, Nov 30: tune in at 0624 with ``Pennies from Heaven`` and then several other great songs from the Thirties, all performed in English. After YL DJ back-announcement, RNA Brasil cut on at 0644, covering XEPPM. Kept cutting on and off a few times, then stayed on, ruining next song, ``Ghost Riders in the Sky`` by Vaughn Monroe. I am counting the days until February 15 when Brasília goes off DST and RNA signs on an hour later (except 24 h on UT Sundays). Then we shall have a full four weeks until March 14 when USA goes on DST unlike Mexico, whence we would have to stay up an hour `later`, to benefit from this expanded window 0620-0745v UT. Of course, if Vatican is not too strong, we may still listen to XEPPM before 0620, in day- to-day variations, and once over the hump in early January, Vatican steadily weakens with earlier sunrises in the North. Sunsets will already start inching later from early December. BTW, timeanddate.com lists the following mostly western and northern states as NOT observing DST this summer: Amazonas, Pernambuco, Bahia, Sergipe, Pará, Paraíba, Ceará, Amapá, Alagoas, Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí, Maranhão, Acre, Roraima, Tocantins --- Amazonas??? Doesn`t matter, RNA really comes from Brasília, where they care nothing about what time it is in their service area. 6185, R. Educación Dec 1 at 0637 with classical string music, bothered by intruding ute bursts on lo side from around 6180, somewhere between tweeting canary sounds and machine gun; alternating three different rates, slow, fast, and faster until 0642. At *0645 sharp onpops RNA Brasília covering up XEPPM with 4:45 timecheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Cf. my previous report under CUBA [non] of Radio Martí with a feature on ``Doña la Negra``. No wonder I could not locate her under that name. Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla in the DF explains, ``Hola Glenn: la cantante que refieres era conocida como "Toña la Negra" Toña es el sobrenombre que se les da a las Antonias por tanto "Toño" a los Antonios, y efectivamente aquí no hay problema por decirle a alguien "negro" incluso no siéndolo del todo. Saludos, Julián``. Wiki says her full name was Maria Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Alvarez. Making nicknames, diminutives like that smax of Russian influence (Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This must have been the woman they were talking about on R Martí. Not pre-Google really. Ask Google for toña la negra + vera cruz + agustín lara and you´ll find more. Toño and Toña are colloquials for Antonio and Antonia (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, ibid.) ** MEXICO [and non]. Tonight`s sporadic E [still analog] DX: IDs from: XEFB-2 Monterrey (Teleactiva upper right) XHBC-3 Mexicali "N" news and ads XHP-3 Puebla (TV3 logo) XELN-4 Torreón ("4" logo and time/temp upper right) XEZ-3 Zamorano (Text ID upper right 1701 CT) XHTV-4 DF (4tv upper right) XHLGG-6 León (Multimedios star logo upper right) XEPM-2 Cd Juárez (tucanal) XEWO-2 Guadalajara (TVT) XHLGT-2 León (cdc upper right) XHLEG-4 León ("4" logo and "Mexico 2010" upper left) CKVR-3 Barrie ("A") [A being the name of a network; how original] CHBX-2 Sault Ste Marie (Sault ads) The new "TV3" logo is indeed XHP. A few pictures of tonight's Es are on the Forums: http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?p=10570#post10570 (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Nov 24, WTFDA via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITES MAKE SWITCH TO "ROMANIAN" | Text of report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website on 28 November Chisinau: In a sign of growing rapprochement with neighbouring EU- member Romania, Moldova's government has changed the language signs on all of its websites from "Moldovan" (MD) to "Romanian" (RO), RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. The Moldovan Constitution states that the official language of the country is "Moldovan", although most linguists say the language spoken in Moldova does not differ enough Romanian to be considered a different language. The new pro-Western government has said it will try to amend the constitution in the future to remove the "Moldovan language" concept. The term "Moldovan language" was coined by the Soviets after they annexed what is now Moldova from Romania at the beginning of World War II. They also imposed use of the cyrillic alphabet in the new Soviet republic, to differentiate it even more from the Latin-writing Romania. Romanian President Traian Basescu has said that Moldovan leaders from previous governments have requested a translator during official meetings with their Romanian counterparts, despite speaking essentially the same language. Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, Washington DC, in English 28 Nov 09 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MONACO [non]. Trans World Radio UK, 9800, 30 Nov 09, 0804 UT. Very good reception of religious programs in English, with the 324 degree beam from Monaco falling across North America, well past target zone 27. British and American OMs. I don't recall logging TWR before. 45 minute audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?y3jmjjtbzwh (Terry Wilson, MI, Ten-Tec RX-320D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA [and non]. 4830, Mongolian Radio, 1329, Nov 26. Assume in Mongolian; patriotic sounding music; 1336-1341 American talking about Mongolia in English, with woman translating; followed by orchestra music and back to Mongolian; clearly // 4895; both weak (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4830, Mongolian Radio. In Mongolian with TC and choir native songs // 4895 at 0115 on 26/11. Voice of Mongolia in Russian via V of Russia facilities was heard with new data: on Tuesdays 1645-1655 on 5900, 5995, MW 1089 Caucasus site - heard on 24/11 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony 2001D and ant Folded Marconi 16 meters), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) I confirmed that Mongoliin R., Mörön on 4895 kHz relayed MR-2 on Nov. 28 at 1115 UT (ex relayed MR-1). Current sked: MR-1 at 2200-1500 4830-Altay and LW 164, 209, 227 MR-2 at 2300-1500 4895-Mörön and 7260-Ulaanbaatar (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. 1141 kHz, RTM-"A", site?, 1444-..., 30 Nov, Arabic, talks, traditional tunes & songs, phone-ins; extremely weak audio; 24452, adjacent QRM de ESPAÑA 1143. DF = eastern Morocco. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DXLD) Another from off-frequencyland: unid 15341 1130 ut 02 12 2009 --- Can anyone ID the station on 15341 playing Arabic sounding music? No signals listed 1 kHz off frequency many thanks (Dave G8SZX http://www.g8szx.co.uk BDXC yg via DXLD) Morocco as I have reported a number of times. Main victim is HCJB Australia on 15340 (gh, DXLD) 1 kHz Odd from Nador Morocco 15340 RTV MAROCAINE 0900-1500 daily Ar 250kW 110deg Nador MRC RTV in direction of NE/ME, NoEaAF, Saudi Arabia etc. [Aoki Nagoya list] http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.041128&lon=-2.919585&z=13.5&r=0&src=msl MRC Medi I Nador LW 171 SW 9575 kHz / RTM 15340/15345 kHz 31 and 19 mb antennas at Google Earth 35 02 42.10 N 02 54 38.90 W http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp?cx=508132.149947754&cy=3878037.04559881&proj=32630&mpp=0.75&pic=-1&prov=-1&stac=-1&styp=CO 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Maroc in Arabic heard all day long on 15341 kHz, as, for example, at the moment, 1052 on Dec. 2nd. This results in a more or less strong heterodyne tone, depending on who is on the regular 15340 kHz spot (Robert Foerster, Germany, 1056 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985.0, Myanma R., 1438, Nov 25. Nice indigenous music, but spoiled by the jamming of N. Korean; earlier (1400-1430) Shiokaze had been here in English, which is what the jamming was really directed at, but it continued on to disrupt Myanmar (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. Re 9-082: ``5005.000, Radio Nepal? Someone here at 1032 with S9+20 carrier, but almost NO audio. Barely perceptible talk by a man, and that's it. Best in LSB with a carrier, about 980 Hz on the high side (measured on the FT-950). 23 Nov (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT- 950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t quite understand why you list it as 5005.000, then. See also INDIA [and non] bandscan (gh)`` Hi Glenn, To clarify: I meant that what I presume to be Nepal was on 5005.000. There's another station (carrier) 980 Hz on the high side, so I had to use LSB. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) Old studio building of Radio Nepal (published in latest issue of Jhankar, newsletter of Radio Nepal) http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/rn_old_bldg.JPG (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. / PHILIPPINES: On Nov. 24th, the Voice of Russia was absent from the usual 9720 kHz around 1100. Instead, excellent signals were heard from the RNW relay in the Philippines in English, noted with 45544 at 1038. Voice of Russia back the next day (Robert Foerster, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNW can`t justify one frequency in English for NAm, but Nov 26 at 2107 it`s on two frequencies in Dutch, 17605 and 17810, running one or two words apart, depending on the length of the words, in a deliberate asynchronism of modulation peaks to even out electrical consumption at Bonaire. How does that convert to savings on the power bill? This makes it impossible to employ frequency diversity with two receivers, unless you are an echo-enjoyer. These semihours are at 170 and 90 degrees respectively, so for quite different targets, tho about the same very good level here, far offtarget from both. 9895, VG S9+22 signal Nov 28 at 2213 with Arabic music, soon pausing for announcement in Arabic as ``Huna Amsterdam`` and e-mail arabic @ rnw.nl Kept a receiver running on this the rest of the hour and it was nothing but music, breaking every quarter hour or so for same announcement. Amsterdam? What became of Hilversum; has it been absorbed into the metro, or they figure no Arab will recognize Hilversum as the historic radio city of the Netherlands, whence RNW still operates, or is this particular service really coming from studios in Amsterdam? What studios? The Dutch taxpayers are paying for hours of musical entertainment for the Arabs they cannot get elsewhere? It was mostly pop vocal, so possibly had an underlying message, but I doubt it. RNW has gone to the trouble of reviving its Arabic service on SW, presumably with loftier goals. At 2257 the music seemed to go into some kind of loop; at 2259, 9895 switched to RNW carillon IS, and then opening in Spanish, claiming to be via Greenville! But the 22-23 hour on 9895 is scheduled as via RWANDA 325 degrees, so also defacto Arabic to North America. I tuned away to other things at 2300, assuming Spanish would really follow and there must have been a site switch, but at recheck 2302, 9895 was off. Kigali 9895 must not have cut off the Arabic feed on time. But why would RNW feed any Spanish at all to that site? RNW Spanish on 9895 via Greenville does not really start until 0000. During the previous hour, it`s on 11655, as I soon found at 2302. I had first noticed 11655 at 2248 with continuous tone test, and wondered what would ensue. By 2336 the co-channel IBB transmitter on 11655 had overtaken RNW Spanish, Udorn, THAILAND at 30 degrees. That does not start until 2330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was wondering about this already when the broadcasts started. As had been mentioned here, the former incarnation of RNW's Arabic service was widely known in the Arab world as "Hilversum". And to my knowledge "Huna Amsterdam" means literally "Here is Amsterdam", so this branding is really contrary to reality. It would be interesting to hear about the considerations behind this (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Steve Lawrence/Low Power AM/FM and much more on this week`s Happy Station Show 0200 UT - A few minutes of my interview with Steve Lawrence. The full interview will air on the January 7th 2010 edition of the show. 1600 UT - Happy Station looks at two low power stations in the US one of which has started to carry the Happy Station Show. KDX http://www.kdxradio.com and KENC http://www.kencradio.com which recently was taken off air by the FCC. Saturday's show for Tawa, Redwood & Wellington in New Zealand will feature a classic Happy Station clip from 1970 with Tom Meijer. The webstream of World FM 88.5 can be tuned at http://www.worldfm.co.nz at 0900 UT. Sunday for Indonesia, jazz from Thailand. 1305 UT. Regards, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, http://www.pcjmedia.com Nov 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This week`s Happy Station Shows are now uploaded: 0200 UT - Steve Lawrence teaser for the first show of 2010 1600 UT - HS looks at low power radio in the US Goto http://www.pcjmedia.com and click on archives Starting this week Happy Station for New Zealand will also be uploaded. The NZ shows will be available after 1000 UT Saturdays. A reminder that next week my guest is Dody Cowan (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Nov 26, ibid.) Over the next two weeks I'll be doing an unscheduled test of a LIVE Happy Station. We`re in the middle of working out a few gremlins we have in the studio. I was wondering if it is possible that someone could record the show as it's going out, just a few minutes. And then send me an mp3 of how it sounds? Let me know (Keith Perron, Nov 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? Just to let you all know KBTC FM in Waco, Texas will start to carry The Happy Station Show starting December 14th. Having worked a graveyard shift many years ago I find it fun to be back on in that slot. Time: 1:05 am Mondays [CST = 0705 UT] Frequency: 94.5 fm website: http://www.kbtc.com The station is owned by Kennelwood Broadcasting Company, Inc. and carries programs from ABC Radio, Westwood One, and Talk Radio Network (Keith Perron, Nov 29, ibid.) Do they webcast? (gh, DXLD) Hi Everyone, It’s my pleasure to inform you that the first Happy Station show for 2010 with be with American singer Steve Lawrence. One of Steve’s early hits was Go Away Little Girl and Poor Little Rich Girl. Hits with Eydie Gormé, his wife include This Could Be The Start Of Something Big and We Got Us. The latter of which won a Grammy in 1960. If you`re not too familiar with Steve or Eydie, check out their website http://www.steveandeydie.com/ During the show I will be airing a few recordings Steve sent that have never been released commercially. Steve and Eydie will be celebrating their 52 wedding anniversary this December. Air date: Starting January 7th, 2010 (this show will be repeated to all other target areas) (Keith Perron, Taiwan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've had a few listeners who send me IRCs. But here in Taiwan we cannot use them. The ROC is not a member of the Universal Postal Union. For example, all international mail sent out of the ROC must got a 3rd country first. For mail to the Americas and Pacific, Japan is the transit point. For all other areas Singapore (Keith Perron, Nov 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) More ChiCom persecution (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. Perseus allowed lots of MW stations to be IDed in Finland: http://pudxk.blogspot.com/2009/11/stop-press-lem281-nz-log.html (via Mauno Ritola, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI absent from usual good AM signal on 11725, at 0619 Nov 27, while DRM was roaring 13725-13730-13735, but 11725 was back at next check 0633 with Victor Borge misplaying scales and other musical comedy bits, the discussion topic apparently being music education. 6170 atop annoying VOR in Chinese, Nov 27 at 1416, woman reading steamy story of seduxion involving a butterfly-like woman, Clara, set in Manáus, Jan. 7, 1904 as in outro at 1421, ``Scent of Butterflies``, with fado music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey: still no trace of them (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Nov 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. The Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust website has reported that the new FRCN Kaduna 200 kW MW transmitter was commissioned at the Jaji Transmitting Station on 12 November 2009. Report mentions no frequency but presumably this is the transmitter donated by Japan earlier this year and is for FRCN Kaduna Ch 1 in Hausa on 594 kHz? (Alan Pennington, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Anyone hear it? ** NIGERIA [and non]. Re 9-082: Report mentions ``die Texte`` --- does that mean it was in DRM, a visual log? (gh to Wolfgang Büschel, via DXLD) Non, no, 'Texte' means the presenter/locutor spoke in English, and - probably - in Arabic. But 11770 heard on a single day, Nov 23rd ONLY. wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120.95, VON, 1706, Nov 25. In English and talking about protecting Nigerians (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15121, Radio Nigeria; 1720, 25-Nov; English feature on climate change & Nigeria's role; ID as RN -- not VoN -- at 1725. SIO=3+43+, created huge het on 15120 (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx to tips from Ron Howard and Harold Frodge, VON on 15121, Nov 25 at 1935, poor signal in accented English M&W discussion of something. Nothing to het on 15120 at this time, but makes two different hets against REE/CR 15125 and WYFR 15115. Would this be VON`s brand-new transmitter, since the old one did not shift off-frequency like this? This English transmission is 17-21 per EiBi. See also UNIDENTIFIED 15121 Altho it was close to 15121 earlier on Nov 25-26, VON apparently back to 15120.0, as very weak carrier was measured Nov 26 at 1941, like another very weak carrier on 15190.0 from Equatorial Guinea, unfavorable propagation today. Per Aoki, nothing else scheduled on 15120 at this time, and I also see that the DRM I heard previously around 15120 was not Nigeria testing, but WAZ-Nachrichten from Nauen, Germany scheduled at 15-16 only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Re 9-082: Abuja on test soooon --- Unquestionable the Thomcast - Thalès engineers will test all three new transmitters as well as three antennas at the new high power transmitter center Abuja on all meter bands, like in 5.9 to 21 MHz range extensively. wb. (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Nov 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. USA. [Pirate]. 6925-USB, WEAK Radio, at 2210 UT in English, Nov 25. WWV parody ad, mix of music from psychodelia to hardcore thrasher. M with canned IDs. Very strong, sio-555 at start, but quickly faded into the noise by 2240 (Eton E1, M W Bryant, Louisville KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. What I reported Nov 23 about these two stations is no longer operative. It remains to be seen whether they will keep changing from day to day or whether I will try to keep up with them. Nov 24 at 2030 UT, KGYN-1210 Guymon back up to usual good groundwave signal level, instead of inaudible. Nov 25 at 1915 seems gone again. Nov 24 at 2054 UT, KEOR-1120 Sperry is again IDing as `Hot 1340` KJMU Sand Springs; SAH from KMOX skywave already showing up. It must cut considerably into KEOR coverage area long before LSS this time of year. The continuing saga of KGYN 1210 Guymon: Once again the afternoons of Nov 25 and 26, no signal here on groundwave, unlike the day before, so once again either off the air, very reduced power, or on night pattern with eastward null in the daytime. KGYN 1210 Guymon: Nov 27 at 2046 UT caradio was at one of the regular hotspots for AM reception in western Enid. At first, nothing but very weak traces on 1210, then KGYN fades in with ``US Country 1210 KGYN`` ID and then fades back down. Never reached normal sufficient level when on 10 kW non-direxional daytime groundwave, so this was skywave, at reduced or direxional-west power. Nov 29 at 2045: only weak traces of something on 1210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. Former SW station operator from Okarche promoted for sainthood: See GUATEMALA ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3315, R. Manus, 1402-1404*, Nov 28. In English; NBC sign off announcement with frequencies and “On behalf of the National Broadcasting Corporation, wishing you a good evening”; National Anthem. 3365, Radio Milne Bay, 1354-1359*, Nov 28. DJ in English with phone numbers and mentions a program on Sunday afternoon; pop song; 1359 went to a test tone. 3385, R. East New Britain, 1306, Nov 28. In Tok Pisin and English; DJ with pop island songs; played number one hit of the "top 10", which was number one for two weeks in a row now; 1320 start of the “Late Night Music” show, also with pop songs; off the air at 1348 re-check; almost fair; decent day for PNG (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.5, Ondas del Huallaga, 26.11., 2240, música andina, ID; O=2 4746.9, R Huanta 2000, 24.11., Quechua talk, mx andina, ID; O=2-3 4790, R Visión, 26.11., 0655, "programación de la iglesia Pentecostal", ID, QRGs, phone number in Chiclayo, audible till 0830 (!); O=3 4950.1, R Madre de Dios, 25.11., 2210, huayno-mx, ID; O=2 4955, R Cultural Amauta, 25.11., 2220, local nx, ID; O=2 4965, R Santa Mónica, 25.11., 2225, adv., tent. ID, audible under CVC Lusaka; O=1-2 4986.8, R Manantial, 26.11., 2305, huayno mx, rel px, clear ID, also: "Voz Cristiana, la Radio del Perú", drift from 4991?, audible only this day; O=3 6173.9, R Tawantinsuyo, 26.11., 0015, talk, ID; O=2 (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, Dec 1, Bavarian DX-Camp, which took place from 24.11. to 29.11.2009, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany; Antennas: several Beverages in all DX-relevant directions, Antenna length: 200m to 500m, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 5940, R. Melodía, 0150, 11/28/09. Peaking F-G signal with sideband splatter at times. Romantic ballads. Melodía ID at 0200 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA-100 85' Loop, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) Seldom reported lately; has it been inactive, or sporadic? Looked for it at 0202 Dec 1, nothing but a very weak carrier on 5940, and WWCR 5935 splash a problem. Also reportedly varies frequency (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 6019.30, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0457-0515, Nov 29, Spanish talk. Announcements. Government mandated National Anthem at 0501. Lite instrumental music at 0503. Spanish religious talk at 0504. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** PERU. 6175, 30/11 2343, RADIO TAWANTINSUYO, ss nx sobre eleições locais. OBS OM ID COMO RADIO CUZCO, PROVALMENTE RETRANSMISSAO ATRAVES DE TAWANTINSUYO. NAO MENCIONOU ESSA, SOMENTE RADIO CUZCO, 34343 (IVANILDO GONÇALVES DANTAS, MOTORADIO PF76AC ANTENA T 25M, NAVEGANTES SC, Brasil, dxclube pr yg via DXLD) caps [SIC] ** PHILIPPINES. 17770 25/11 0237 FILIPINAS, Radio Pilipinas, noticiario em ingles com noticias de varias regiões do Pacificio, ID 0248 "Radio Pilipinas Overseas", 35433 Receptor : Sony 7600GR, antena de carretel 5 metros do receptor. 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos SP, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES [non]. 11715, Tagalog talk with music bed, Nov 28 at 1524; RVA via VATICAN; low rumble het KJES off-frequency but well atop it until latter started gaining at 1530, with chorus audible. Catholix via Catholix vs Catholix! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. 11905, Nov 25 at 1430, PRES IDs in English and Polish, then into Slavic language; quite good signal but with echo. Scheduled as Belarussian via Woofferton, UK, 125 kW at 75 degrees, but could just as well serve all the White Russians in Oklahoma, if they only knew about it. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Dec 1 at 1353 interviews at a noisy party about director of a film ``My Father, the Iron Curtain`` to be on BBC et al. in Europe; was program International Focus, implying it`s always about the cinema? 1357 closing with postal address at 00977 Warsaw, e-mail english.section @ polishradio.pl then song in Brazilian until cut off at 1359:30. Portuguese? Did their finger slip on some menu instead of adjacent Polish? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. RDPI back to normal Nov 25, around 0640, only fair on 7345, rather than super-signals on erroneous 9455, 9855 as 24 hours earlier; see RUSSIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA [and non]. Frequency changes of Radio Tirana as from November 20: Italian at 2001-2030 UT 6155 kHz replaced by 6000#kHz tx2 antenna S-01 non-dir. # but covered now by recent RRI Bucharest Ukrainian service / SNR Romania change to co-channel 6000 kHz at very same time slot too. New BAD NEWS occurred tonight on Radio Tirana's Italian channel 6000 kHz at 1800 UT, - but maybe started also yesterday night, when I was away on our local ham radio get-together monthly meeting of DARC Ludwigsburg local club. Being collision due to other frequency managers not able to do coordination correctly. Registered in September, 6090 kHz Ukrainian service from RRI Bucharest, Romania: 6090 1800-1830 29SW TIG 100kW 30degrees Ukrainian ROU RRO Seemingly on November 23, RRI Tiganesti-Saftica 100 kW unit replaced 6090 kHz by 6000 kHz, at the very same co-channel as Radio Tirana in Italian language service at 1800-1829 UT. On 6090 kHz the only service I could hear was YFR in undoubtedly Czech language from England relay (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 24 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Recent changes by RRI Bucharest/SNR in B-09 season Saftica 100 kW tx unit Aromanian to Macedonia 1530-1556 UT new 6125S (x6105S) Serbian to Serbia and Montenegro 1830-1856 UT new 5955S (x7440S) 2030-2056 UT new 6200S (x6155S) Ukrainian to Ukraine 1800-1826 UT new 6000S (x6090S) 2000-2026 UT new 6000S (x5960S) http://www.snr.ro/ Nov 24 via BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) http://www.radiocom.ro/business/servicii/Broadcasting/Broadcasting-Radio/ "Pentru transmiterea programelor de radiodifuziune externa se utilizeaza o retea formata din 6 emitatoare de unde scurte instalate in cele trei centre de emisie de la Tiganesti (3), Galbeni (2) si Saftica (1)." So, at the Overseas station Tiganesti +1 = 3 transmitter erected there, also the DRM unit with Transradio-Telefunken Berlin digital mode modulator. But two 250 kW transmitters contains Galbeni site in Eastern Romania, and a single minor 100 kW unit at Saftica location, latter which is the 'germ cell' of Romanian SW service after WW II; once broadcast clandestine communist "Radio España Independiente" with tiny 18 kW of power (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 25 via DXLD) See ALBANIA Frequency changes of Radio Romania International: Aromanian 1530-1556 NF 6125 TIG 100 kW / 210 deg, ex 6105 to avoid CRI Russian Serbian 1830-1856 NF 5955@TIG 100 kW / 270 deg, ex 7440 2030-2056 NF 6200#TIG 100 kW / 270 deg, ex 6155 to avoid R. Belarus German @co-ch Voice of Vietnam in Vietnamese #co-ch Radio Bulgaria in German Ukrainian 1800-1826 NF 6000*TIG 100 kW / 030 deg, ex 6090 to avoid WYFR Czech 2000-2026 NF 6000*TIG 100 kW / 030 deg, ex 5960 to avoid CRI English *co-ch Radio Tirana in Italian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Recently, R. Mayak was very much in the national news due to a sad event. One of its famous (or infamous) hosts Roman Trakhtenberg, 41, had a heard attack and died during the live broadcast. Supposedly, the weight loss medicine was to blame. The full English report can be found here: http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=30361 (Sergei S., IL, ibid.) See also GERMANY ** RUSSIA [and non]. RDPI managed not to transmit 3-4 hours beyond schedule Nov 25 on 9855, re-clearing Vladivostok for V of Russia, 0627 with Jews` harp music feature. // 9840 Petropavlovsk/Kamchatskiy. Conveniently only one sesquidekaHertz apart, it`s easy to compare the two signals. This time they were almost same level, but 9855 maybe a few dB stronger, offset by being slightly distorted compared to 9840, which was quite atop R. Rossii Moscow site co-channel. At 0638 this UT Wednesday both were in slow clearly-enunciated Russian, evidently language lesson within the English service, making it even more Russians vs Russians on 9840. EiBi et al. show one other frequency for VOR English to NAm until 0700*, 12030, but nothing audible there around 0630, tho English neighbors BBC 12015 and DW 12045 were well heard, via Ascension and Rwanda respectively. Just try finding the VOR English frequency schedule on their website, now that they have messed with it again! All I could find was the program grid at http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule confirming that Russian by Radio airs during the 0630 semihour Mondays and Wednesdays. Check of VOR WS in English to NAm, Nov 27 at 0556, story being told expressively, so Audio Book Club? No, the grid at http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule shows ``VOR Treasure Store`` and no A.B.C. anywhen on the schedule anymore [BTW, MS Word spell checker approves anymore as one word, but not anywhen, before any modification on my part]. 12030, 9855 and 9840 all // and synchronized from DVR sites. 12030 marred by CODAR pulses at the rate of two per second; some nights 12030 is not propagating at all. VOR WS in English to NAm check Nov 28 at 0615: 9840 tho with some co- channel under from R Rossii, better signal than // 9855, and no signal this time from 12030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Most evenings around 0200 UT I get good reception of VoR on 6240 kHz. Regards, (Martin Gallas, Jacksonville IL, Nov 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) via MOLDOVA / PRIDNESTROVYE ** RUSSIA. Seems like the Voice of Russia website is currently mid-way through a re-vamp at http://english.ruvr.ru Their programme schedule grid is now at http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule however I haven't yet located any links to their frequency schedules. There are also no links to their live streams, however these can still be accessed via http://ruvr.ru/onair.php?lng=eng Also links to archived programmes don't work resulting in "404 - File Not found" errors. Some languages are still using the old style web pages, but I guess that these will change in time (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t get it: why do some stations keep messing with their websites, fixing what does not need fixing. I have seen numerous public radio websites in the US go from original and user-friendly to clonic nonentities (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Was just checking out the new website for VOR. My question is why is the Russian government keeping VOR? It's a total waste of state funds. The few times in the last maybe 4 months I tuned in they sound just as boring as they did 20 years ago when the wall came down. In the section "About us" it states VOR is one of the top five broadcasters. You've got to be kidding. Who tunes into VOR for news? The audience figures on the website site seem a little strange. VOR is as important as Voice of Korea. Who listens? Dare I say only DXERS (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well said. When I started listening to foreign radio (Radio Prague during the uprising - forty + years ago), there was little else in the broadcast field. Now, 2009, multi channel satellite broadcasting, internet Radio (and a cultural change of attitude) - I think even the VoA's listenership in the English Language is a lot lot less than it was (maybe cos Wilis Conover isn`t on!), so what chance has VoR, or many of the other stations got? (Keith Bradbury, UK, ibid.) Well, in some sense VoR is a social service enterprise that provides a place of employment for older well-deserving people. That's why many language services don't even have SW or MW presence anymore. VoR being in a top five world stations is actually a somewhat humbled statement. - Just a few years ago VoR used to claim to be a number three. Keith, what do you think of RT's programming? 73! (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) RT = Russia Today, the video/satellite TV equivalent; I`ve never watched it (gh, DXLD) While I`m not a big fan of VOR, if you can`t find anything that is not boring on this 24-hour English schedule, then may I suggest the problem is with you and not VOR. Have you any interest in culture, or music, for instance? DXers would not be interested in it, as it`s still `too easy` to hear and they stereotypically have no interest in any programming. http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I'll chime in a bit here too. VoR, IMHO, has some excellent music programming, as well as nicely produced cultural and historical documentaries. And -- given its geopolitical importance -- it's not a bad idea to hear their perspective on international issues. Add to this that the shortwave signal they put into North America (intentionally, btw) makes the audio quality better than average. An observation if I may? We SWLs and DXers are a funny lot. We complain bitterly when a station ceases broadcasting to us; however, when one continues to do so we also complain bitterly, it seems (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) I am glad VoR expanded its schedule in English this spring to NAm. I have them on a lot more now. There news is interesting but I too really like the music shows. Thank you VoR for keeping and expanding your international broadcasts. And as for sounding like they did 40 years ago, not quite but I like consistency! Now bring back the old signature tune! (Andy Reid, Ont., ibid.) If I want to find out something about Russian culture RT does a much better job than VOR. The point I was making is would VOR be missed? When you compare it to VOA, BBC, RA, or RFI. The WS of VOR could vanish and no one would care. VOR today sounds just like it did 20 years ago. RT I find does a far better job at reporting on Russia and the Russian view of international events. As for VOR languages. To keep most of the languages is just a waste of state funds. I mean, to keep languages like Finnish and Swedish? VOR has had 20 years to turn from cold war broadcaster to a major international voice. In fact, I would say that when it was Radio Moscow, it sounded less like a Mickey Mouse station. Have you heard the jingle they play on the hour? What did they do go to a super market and buy a CASIO keyboard? When I said boring I meant the presentation style. Except for a few exception like Estelle Winters. Other stations have modernized the on air style and examle would be the BBC, RFI and the VOA. But when I hear VOR today it sounds the same as from the hundreds of transcription tapes I have from the 80s (Keith Perron, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. Here is a video that gives a real impression of the current working conditions at Voice of Russia. Perhaps a bit lengthy, especially for those not understanding German (which also means missing how the commentator does not really like his new workplace, but at least now has the Kremlin in sight), but I think still worth to see for a real impression: mms://media.ruvr.ru/German/Jubilei_0001.wmv Does anybody know other radio stations with such small, congested rooms? One hears that the German service will in the next few weeks again get a new studio, after using the current cells for less than five years. Probably live news reading will resume once the new studio is operational. It has not been explained why, but I assume here the announcer can operate the studio himself which is apparently not possible with the current installation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DOWNLOAD link [76.9 MB]: ftp://ftp.ruvr.ru/Video/German/Jubilei_0001.wmv (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. Observed Radio Rossii news in Russian at 0600 UT on 5930, 6160, 7140, 7200, 7230 kHz (here were three stations one in Dutch and two "echo" in Russian), 9495, 9840 kHz, and after 0614 UT, there were two programs: Radio Rossii 4 on 5930, 6160, 7230, 9495, 9840 kHz and presumed program "2" or Radio Sakha on 7140, 7200, 7230 kHz. So maybe on 7230 kHz there are two transmitters, one to replace 7345 kHz. Maybe the Russian DXers in Siberia will help for more exact info. So the schedule of Radio Rossii on SW is not so simple. Nov 6-9 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Nov 19, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27 via DXLD) [another version:] Radio Rossii News observed on Nov 23rd at 0600 on: NoWestern sites 5930 and 6160; Yakutsk on 7200 & 7230, and maybe on 7140; Abkhazia 9495 and Europe 9840 kHz. So, Radio Rossii on SW is not so simply showed only with 9840, 12075, 7310 and 5905 khz! (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, RusDX Nov 29 via DXLD) 9840 vs VOR, q.v. ** RUSSIA [non]. 9525, New station or program called "Echo Kavkaza" in Russian // 9780 heard on 26/11, but heavy QRM from Voice of Indonesia on 9526 with programs till 1801 in Arabic, ID in English; from 1802 in Spanish, from 1830 in German, from 1900 in French (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony 2001D and ant Folded Marconi 16 meters), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) So were you hearing Kavkaza during this entire span? As reported some time ago in DXLD, it`s a new RFE/RL service, from outside (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6185, IBRA Radio (presumed) via Krasnodar, 1518-1545*, Nov 25. Played some Middle Eastern type music along with conversations in assume scheduled Turkmen; weak, but clear with the signal improving by sign off (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re: ``R. Rossii via `Armavir` is scheduled on 6005 at 18- 20. Glenn`` Beware: This transmission is arranged by VGTRK, but not for Radio Rossii programming. Instead 6005 is provided as foreign service of GTRK Agydea from Maikop and Kabbalkteleradio from Nalchik (Kabardino- Balkaria). The latest put perhaps no longer valid schedule I know is GTRK Agydea = Mon 1800-1900, Fri 1800-1900, Sun 1900-2000 and Kabbalkteleradio = Wed, Thu, Sun 1830-1900 each. Note that the programmes from Maikop present pieces in Agydean, Arabic and Turkish while Nalchik offers programmes in Karachi-Balkar and Cherkassiyan (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 25, dxldydg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In summer season usually on Armavir 7325 kHz channel, but never registered. Wb (BC-DX Nov 27 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Mayak morning show from Dresden: see GERMANY {and non] ** SAINT HELENA. THE RADIO SCENE ON ST HELENA OK, so let us resume in this edition of Wavescan the St Helena story again; and we go back to the beginning; that is, the beginning of wireless and communication history. In the year 1886, the first telephone service was introduced into Jamestown, St Helena. Three years later, a submarine cable link from Capetown in South Africa came ashore at St Helena; and during the following year, the underwater cable system linked the Atlantic terminals with England via the West Indies. The first and only wireless communication station on St Helena was installed back some 90 years ago, and the only locatable entry for this unit lists the callsign as BXH. It would be presumed that this was a British government wireless station and that its purpose was for communication with nearby shipping and for the transmission of weather reports to England. Electricity generation and distribution was installed in Jamestown for the first time in 1953; and up until that time, there were very few radio receivers on the island, all battery operated. The international submarine cable system had been installed by the Eastern Telegraph Company, and in 1934, a large new conglomerate took over, known as the now familiar Cable & Wireless. In 1965, a government radio station was installed on St Helena with the high towers for transmission and reception located at Prosperous Bay Plain and Deadwood Plain. To the islanders, the usage of this station seemed to be a bit of a mystery. Twelve years later, the station was closed and the personnel left the island. There was also a weather radio station located on St Helena and it was on the air under the British callsign GHH. This station operated with a 1 kW Racal transmitter and an inverted V antenna system. Jamestown Meteo was in use for the teletype transmission of weather information to England on two shortwave channels, 6824 & 9044 kHz. The reception of station GHH was reported occasionally in Europe and in North America, and a few QSLs have been received. There is one prepared QSL card from station GHH in the Indianapolis QSL Collection. Before the regular mediumwave broadcasting service was introduced in 1967, there were at least five attempts at amateur radio broadcasting on the island of St Helena. The very first attempt at radio broadcasting took place in the year 1958 when Percy Teale obtained a temporary license and made a one-time broadcast to a public meeting in the Cinema Hall in Jamestown. Soon afterwards, Mr. A. J. Davies assembled a radio transmitter from electronic parts that were imported by Percy Teale from England and he too made a few amateur radio broadcasts. Another notable amateur radio broadcast was made by Mr. Freese from the Arts Club in Jamestown; this event took place on January 3, 1960. Soon afterwards, Mr. Bill Stevens went on the air with scheduled musical programming and his broadcasts were in response to listener requests. Then there was “The Ham of Half Tree Hollow”, another amateur radio broadcasting station that was noted on the air on January 27, 1962. It should be stated that all of these attempts at amateur radio broadcasting on St Helena pointed out the fact that there was indeed a real need for the introduction of a legitimate radio broadcasting station on the island. Just four years later, such a station was installed and inaugurated. Since then, both FM and TV have been introduced to the Saints, as they call themselves. Actually, TV was introduced before FM, and it was in 1994 that the Cable & Wireless facility imported equipment from England and launched an island-wide TV service. They are on the air these days with three TV channels in the PAL system, identified as Channels A, B & C. Programming comes in via satellite and island wide coverage is obtained via transmitters located at Head O’Wain & The Depot. Talks regarding the introduction of an FM service began in the year 2003 and a license was obtained during the following year. Test transmissions began from a private home soon afterwards and the first regular transmissions from the new station began on January 3, 2005, under the slogan, Saint FM. One week later, the official opening of the new station was celebrated. These days, Saint FM is on the air island wide from three different locations, with the main transmitter listed at 250 watts and two relay transmitters at 30 watts each. In addition, the programming from Saint FM in Jamestown St Helena is also heard on relay via satellite in Ascension Island, as well as on Tristan and in the Falklands. That’s as far as we can go in this edition of Wavescan in the story of radio broadcasting on St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. Next week we plan to conclude this short series of topics with the story of mediumwave and shortwave broadcasting in St Helena (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan script Nov 8 via DXLD) ST HELENA ON MEDIUMWAVE & SHORTWAVE You will remember that last week here in Wavescan we presented two major features regarding the wireless and radio backgrounds on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. In this edition of Wavescan, we conclude the St Helena story with a presentation of the entire panorama of radio broadcasting, both mediumwave and shortwave, on this isolated and fascinating volcanic outpost that is home to 5,000 people. We go back to the year 1967, which is actually quite late in the story of radio broadcasting in many other countries around the world. On March 11, test broadcasts were initiated by the personnel at DWRS, the Diplomatic Wireless Relay Station, that had been established on St Helena by the British diplomatic service some two years earlier. These broadcasts, using a modified transmitter at the DWRS outpost, were radiated on 1511 kHz in an endeavor to ascertain the likely coverage area for a regular radio broadcasting service on the same mediumwave channel. A little less than a month later, an announcement in the local newspaper stated that a new mediumwave station, the first official broadcasting station on the island, was under construction at the Country Senior School. The equipment for this station was made available by the Diplomatic Wireless Relay Station and their personnel performed all of the technical services for this new facility. The original studios were installed in a building on the campus of the country school. A regular broadcasting service was soon introduced, though these broadcasts were described at this stage as test broadcasts. Programming consisted of Schools Broadcasts on Fridays with entertainment programs and announcements on Saturdays. The Government Public Works Department constructed a new building for the transmitters and erected towers for the antenna system. Two communication transmitters were modified for this new broadcast service, both older Marconi units manufactured around 1944 and rated at 450 watts each. In addition, a 350 watt shortwave transmitter was also co-installed with the two mediumwave units. A special ceremony was conducted on Christmas Day, Monday December 25, 1967, for the official inauguration of this new radio broadcasting station with the island governor presenting the opening speech. Radio St Helena was now officially on the air, with 500 watts on 1511 kHz. The first known distant monitoring of this new mediumwave broadcasting station was in South Africa a few months after the station was officially inaugurated. Soon afterwards, control of the station was transferred from the country school to the Government Information Office in Jamestown. Studios were established in a building known as The Briars, then The Castle, and finally out at the transmitter location in Pounceys. The operating frequency was changed to 1548 kHz in October 1978, and two new Harris Gates transmitters at 1 kW each were installed in 1993. Radio St Helena is recognized in the international radio world for its annual shortwave broadcasts and interestingly, they have used three different transmitters for this purpose. Back in the year 1970, Radio St Helena conducted a lengthy series of test broadcasts, running from August to December. Their own 400 watt transmitter was tuned to 6100 kHz, and also 11830 kHz, for these propagation tests with programming beamed to Ascension Island. However, due to the low power output of this single transmitter, these broadcasts were heard in Ascension Island on only professional radio receivers. In fulfillment of a request from a radio club in Scandinavia, Radio St Helena presented what was intended to be a one-time-only shortwave broadcast beamed to Europe on Friday October 6, 1990. The special programming was presented live by Radio St Helena mediumwave on 1548 kHz, and it was received off air at the nearby Cable & Wireless facility and re-transmitted on 11092.5 kHz LSB, lower side band. At the time, C&W operated an old 1.5 kW Redifon shortwave transmitter with a folded dipole antenna under the callsign ZHH for communication with shipping. This unit was in occasional use, on average about once a week, on the frequency 11092.5 kHz. However, through the work of Scandinavian DXers, John Ekwall and Jan Tunér, a second similar broadcast was arranged two years later; same procedures, same shortwave channel though this time in the USB mode, upper side band. Similar annual broadcasts followed each year up until 1999, though the year 1995 was missed out. The entire three hour program on October 14, 1994 was relayed live to local listeners on distant Ascension Island by local mediumwave Volcano Radio. Announcements were made in advance that the 1998 broadcast would be the last, but just one more was squeezed out of the old and ailing shortwave transmitter the following year. After the 1999 shortwave broadcast, the C&W transmitter was finally retired, removed, and sold locally for scrap. However, through the efforts of Robert Kipp in Germany, international radio monitors around the world rallied to the cause and an entirely new set of equipment was procured abroad, shipped to St Helena, and installed at their transmitter facility. Thus, the annual shortwave broadcasts from Radio St Helena were re-introduced on November 4, 2006. For the eleventh occasion, the once-a-year shortwave broadcasts from Radio St Helena were on the air just last Saturday evening, November 14, 2009. Highly prized, very special QSL cards have been issued for each of these shortwave broadcasts, and the Indianapolis collection holds eleven of these cards. The international radio world is very grateful for the efforts of those who have been involved in these once-a-year shortwave broadcasts from St Helena. How nice it would be if other exotic locations around our planet could be encouraged to enter into similar projects, and places of interest could be, for example: Some of the small islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and maybe elsewhere. And perhaps, some of the smaller countries that were earlier on the air shortwave, but are no longer heard on the shortwave bands (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan script Nov 15 via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio Saint Helena Day monitored in Germany: The reception conditions here in the Frankfurt area were poor again this year. The RMRC Chat, which I was monitoring, showed mostly poor to no reception in almost all of Germany during the RSD program to Europe. Now and then someone would post a message that the reception was a bit better for a few minutes, but I did not have any report of good or "armchair" copy, except, at times, from Sweden, Russia, Japan, and India. As a receiver, I used an old Yaesu amateur radio transceiver with very good SSB-filters. The RMRC and I used a 100 meter long wire as outdoor antenna and an antenna tuner, which was grounded fairly well. In spite of the problems, I was able to identify about eight songs, and that was "much better" than in 2008, when I could only ID two songs from my home QTH. There were a few moments, when I could < almost > understand what the male presenter (to Europe) was saying. I did not hear any of the program to North America or any other target area (except Europe). Signal description: At 2240 a SINPO of 2 5 3 4 1. At 2340 a SINPO of 2 5 3 4 1. [but, this was the NAm portion – gh] On the RMRC Chat, some people thought that the beam antenna at RSH may not have been pointed in the proper direction or turned at the proper time. There is NO indication that this may have happened. A few people still complain about the "modulation". What they mean is the "bandwidth" of the modulation. The amateur radio transmitter that is used for RSD has, most likely, a smaller audio modulation bandwidth than the old commercial transmitter that C&W used back in the 1990's. Even using the equalizer in the studio at RSH, the audio bandwidth is still quite small, and the filters in the receiver at the QTH of the DXer have a real job to do. Even with a good SSB-receiver, if there is almost no signal, then there is almost nothing to copy or for any audio processing device to enhance. Back in 2006 and in some years of the 1990's, we did have "armchair" copy here in Europe. During a RSH-test in 2007, I was on Karmoy island in southwest Norway, right on the Atlantic coast, at a huge amateur radio club station, the RSH signal absolutely pinned the S-meter of the big amateur radio transceiver, when we were using a vertical antenna for 160 meters or a multi-band beam antenna. RSH will make every effort to find the best time and date for the RSD 2010 program to Europe (Robert Kipp, Langen, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) MANY THANKS for YOUR comment about (not) hearing RSH in comparison to (not) hearing BBC Ascension. With your permission, I would like to quote your comment and also to translate it into German and use it in an article that I hope to write by 03. December. I quite often really wonder what sort of reception many listeners expect from such a low-powered DX-station. The fact that RSH broadcasts in USB also means that the listener needs a receiver with good SSB-filters and tuning (like pass-band width and pass-band shift). A good antenna, earth system, and a few sunspots are also quite helpful. On 14. November, there were no sunspots at all. There were times in the 1990's when we had armchair copy of RSD. That is not the case just now, but the propagation will improve in 2010. Also, there seems to be too little appreciation for the amount of extra work that the RSH team, led by Gary Walters, has in preparing the RSD programs. RSD is a complete "extra" for the RSH-team and means voluntary overtime before, during, and after the RSD programs. The QSLing is also a lot of extra work. It seems that many people have forgotten all these things, when they make some of their comments on RSD. Hope you had a pleasant Thanksgiving Day and weekend, and with best 73, (Robert Kipp, Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15250, BSKSA, Riyadh. English program with call-ins, discussion about the dangers of lightning. Abruptly off 1156, but back with increased strength 1159, ID as “Radio Jeddah”, TC for 3 o’clock & then news in English, 28/11 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Drake R8A, Icom R75, Dipole), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 15435 already on the air at 1457 Nov 25. Quite a big signal at start, and it`s so bad now that no Arabic can be heard mixing underneath as used to be the case. Bothering Farda via Skelton as far away as 15410, and also, but less so, BBCWS English via Cyprus on 15420 at 1516, which altho weaker than Farda, must be in a lesser pocket within the non-linear Riyadh noise envelope. By 1547, 15435 had faded considerably. Now it`s certain two of those transmitters are suffering this terrible malady, yet will not be put out of their misery by the incompetent Saudi engineers(?), as exactly same pitch buzz heard on 11785 at same time 1457. Earlier in the 1400 hour I had searched 13m for Saudi signals including ex-buzz on 21505, but nothing but Spain, Libya audible. 15435, BuzzSKSA, Nov 26 at 1531, now with some talk barely audible under, presumably Arabic. Same buzz pitch weaker with no audio on 11785 at 1536 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BSKSA has apparently reactivated 9714.9 kHz for the Holy Koran Service. Heard this morning, Dec. 2nd, at 0930 with Koran singing. This frequency was widely use in 2006, but has not been heard for a long time. Signal strength not too strong, about S 3 (Robert Foerster, Germany, 1056 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. 6100, Nov 27 at 2154, presumed Balkan music making fast SAH with RCI Viva in French which was on top. Still same mix at 2204 when International Radio Serbia should have been in English, and RCI was changing to Mandarin. Not to be confused with CRI in Chinese, also scheduled at 2200 from Kunming. Going by the `book` rather than reality, CRI and RCI may pretend IRS is not there since it does not participate in HFCC, to everyone`s detriment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. WEWN inaudible and presumably off the 12050 air (it did have a fair signal in Spanish on 11550), facilitating hearing something on 12045, Nov 28 at 1413, YL in English mentioning meter band more than once, then apparently reading a Bible story with extra expressiveness. Poor signal with flutter. Must be FEBA via UAE as scheduled 14-15 in several S Asian languages, per Aoki, except Saturday it is supposed to be a quarter hour each of Malayalam, Konkani, Urdu and Kashmiri, but this was in English, a very rare language for this station, supposedly only on Sundays at 1400-1430. Of course one gains nothing about the world of reality by hearing them in English, whenever that may be (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Re 9-082: I had to look around for R. Slovakia English to North America, missing from 7230 at 0100. // 9440 marginal to fair and no prop a few times. I found them on 6040. Nice signal on 11/24. Last time I heard hem over 7230 was on 11/19. A few days I`ve had poor signals on R. Slovakia, Prague at 0100. Also no show V. of Vietnam 01-04 on 6175 [via CANADA], English at 0100, 0230, 0330; and no show IR Serbia English to NAm 0130 on 6190. They are all back (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 25, by p-mail, typed by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Winter B-09 schedule of Radio Slovakia International: ENGLISH 0100-0127 on 6040 9440 0700-0727 on 13715 15460 1730-1757 on 5915 6055 1930-1957 on 5915 7345 GERMAN 0800-0827 on 5915 6055 1430-1457 on 6055 7345 1700-1727 on 5915 6055 1900-1927 on 5915 7345 FRENCH 0200-0227 on 6040 9440 1800-1827 on 5915 6055 2030-2057 on 5915 7345 RUSSIAN 1400-1427 on 9540 13625 1600-1627 on 5915 6055 1830-1857 on 5915 9485 SLOVAK 0130-0157 on 6040 9440 0730-0757 on 13715 15460 1630-1657 on 5915 6055 2000-2027 on 5915 7345 SPANISH 0230-0257 on 6080 9440 1530-1557 on 9445 11600 2100-2127 on 9460 11610 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, Solomon Islands BC, Honiara, 1114-1245, Nov 07, English (BBC WS relay // 11895, 9740, etc.), very weak at the beginning, but poor and even slightly better after 1215, local noise and RTTY QRM on 5022 (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) 5020.00, 1150-1305 28.11, SIBC, Honiara. English male voice fading in and out (the carrier was heard already at 1050), 1200 relaying BBC with World news on the hour heard // BBC 17830. On 29.11 the weak carrier was noted at 1040, but the station had faded out at 1157 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 18770, WWRB second harmonic with Brother Scare broadcast, reported earlier Nov 26 at 1510 under USA heading, still/again propagating by sporadic E at 1926 check, fading in and out from S2 to S7 peaks. Two frequencies for the price of one might compensate for coming on the air one sesquihour late. WWCR`s pdf program guide for November still shows Brother Scare 7 days a week at 1500-1900 on 13845, but Nov 28 at 1515 there was DGS instead, and at 1540 PMS; only fair signal with no Es help from this direxion. Too bad, as it`s Sabbath when BS would have wanted as many outlets as possible, such as WBCQ on 15420-CUSB earlier than usual other days of week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. After listening to RHC`s En Contacto [see CUBA], I tuned on to 17595, and there was the tail end of REE`s DX program, Amigos de la Onda Corta on 17595, Sunday Nov 29 at 1352 with propagation outlook for December, wrapped up by 1355. This reminds us that in an incredibly stupid move, REE rescheduled that show this season so it conflicts with RHC`s DX program every Sunday morning. No excuse, since EC has been at that time forever. The only other airing left on REE, UT Saturdays 0605, is also inconvenient in Europe and the Americas, except Baja California Norte, Alta California and Yákima, where it`s 2205 local Fridays, if they can get any frequency. 15385, REE Sephardic service on Mondays only from 1425, caught closing Nov 30 at 1454 with echo, longpath? YL finally has correct frequency announcement for this, 15385 instead of 15325 as claimed for months! But now she says repeat at 0115 UT Tue to South America is on 11795; 0415 Tue to North America on 9650. Original B-09 schedule UT Tue 0115 was for 11780, and previously announced as such, ignoring clash with Brasília, so maybe have really shifted to 11795. If not, they should have. [Later:] I did check at 0115 Dec 1, but no reception from Europe on 25m. 11780 big signal from RNA and could not hear anything under it; nothing audible on 11795 either; a bit of Brasil also on 11925v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 9925, with S Asian music, Nov 26 at 1952, quite strong but with heavy flutter. Turns out to be R. Farda via Iranawila at 324 degrees, 1930-2130; however not much was audible by 2030; MUF got `em? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA [and non]. 6005: Almost five stations in range 6000-6005 at 0105 on 25/11. SLBC on approx 6004 in English, another approx on 6000 in English [CUBA?], 6003 in Korean plus No. Korea noise jammer and more 1 or 2 radios all whistling and rumbling. SLBC in English better heard on 9771 but with crash start at 0100 and s/on at 0110 and rap music, at 0112 a lady read a programme parade etc. 15745 is not heard here at this time and season here 26/11 7190 SLBC, Ekala. Hindi with ID and songs from 0030 and after 0120 also heard on 26/11 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony 2001D and ant Folded Marconi 16 meters), Dec Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) 15745, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Colombo, English service of Sunday morning show is heard from 0100 instead of 0330 (Shinichi Shiraishi, Sendai, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA [non]. IBC Tamil resumed shortwave today. 0000-0100 from Germany as before [so on 6045 via Nauen]. Another Glenn Hauser exclusive: There will be some IBC Specials to Sri Lanka (live coverage of a conference) November 25, 26, 27, 1000-1300 UT 17560, 1300-1400 11510 kHz. November 27, 1400-1500 UT 11510 kHz; 1500-1800 6225 kHz (it`s been rather hastily arranged) (WRN UT Nov 25, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Sir, Thanks for the info. Today morning we listened it with good reception 444 on 6045 at 0000-0100 UT. The following special broadcast is Called Martyrs' Day special. Could you please send the WRN website details? For Contact: (Jaisakthivel, 59, Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam, Chennai-600106, India Visit: http://www.dxersguide.blogspot.com http://www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 0710 UT Nov 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBC Tamil on 17560 at 1000-1200 UT: the reception is good and clear. SINPO rating 34333. Mostly Tamil songs were played without announcement (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, india, 1200 UT Nov 25, ibid.) Probably 17560 Dushanbe TJK? 11510 covered by terrible Abis Egypt signal co-channel? 6225 from Tashkent-UZB? 6045 from Wertachtal instead (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, 1010 UT Nov 25, ibid.) But Radio Cairo is not supposed to be on 11510 before 1330. And perhaps they do not use it all; at least I do now after 1330 not hear anything else than on first check around 1315: A somewhat distorted signal of what could well be Tamil songs. I guess all the special frequencies (perhaps merely tests, since they just put out their usual music carpet?) will be transmitters in Uzbekistan. At least 11510 apparently not originates from within Germany, and 6225 is very unlikely to do, since to my knowledge the German telecom regulation authority never permitted such a frequency in the 48 m maritime band for broadcasting. And yes, 6045 has been registered as Nauen but was until Nov 3rd in use from the Wertachtal plant instead. This shows one more time that HFCC registrations are not necessarily the ultimate authority (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) 11510, IBC Tamil (presumed), randomly from 1311 till gone by check at 1401 (assume 1400*), Nov 25. Non-stop music and songs; sounded subcontinent and probably Tamil; no announcements heard; certainly not live coverage of a conference, but still good listening; weak, but in the clear. Thanks to Glenn for the advanced tip! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CRI Russian Radio Kitaya were on 1115 UT on 17560 instead of IBC Tamil?! (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, Nov 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Instead of IBC Tamil (26-11-2009)on 17560 at 1000-1130 UT carry the Russian language programmes (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, HCDX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Voice of Tigers - Pulikalin Kural – IBC Tamil IBC Tamil just now become on air on 17560 at 1200 UT. But the Station identification said “Pulikalin Kural – The Voice of Tigers”, So it is not IBC Tamil! In 1990, the Pulikalin Kural started in Jaffna, whereas it withstand from various attacks over it. 23 times it get attacked but still to service again. When the people lost their lives on May 16, the Voice of Tigers had also stopped its service. Voice of Tiger also live stream on http://www.pulikalinkural.com/ http://www.votradio.com/live/live.html They also broadcast in satellite. The details follow. Name: NTR- Tamil Satellite: Eurobird 9 Frequency: 11919 Polarization: Vertical Symbol Rate: 27500 Fec : ¾ Shortwave frequency IBC Tamil at 0000-0100 UTC on 6045 (via Nauen, Germany) November 25, 26, 27, 2009 1000-1300 UT on 17560 KHz, 1300-1400 UT on 11510 kHz. November 27, 2009 1400-1500 UT on 11510 kHz 1500-1800 UT on 6225 kHz (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, Nov 26, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11510, IBC Tamil (or is it the Voice of Tigers?), 1312-1322, Nov 26. Non-stop music and songs; sounded subcontinent and probably Tamil; different format today; 1322-1326 heard conversation, but too weak to tell anything about the language; no possibility to ID; back to music. Re-tuned at 1347 to hear series of speeches till suddenly off in mid- sentence at 1400. Thanks again to Glenn for the tip! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11510, the ``IBC Tamil`` transmission, Nov 27 at 1423, fair and fluttery, somewhat weaker than 11530 V. of Mesopotamia for Kurdistan. 11510 had music with a heavy bass drum double beat, 1429 brief announcement in presumed Tamil and more music. Next check at 1455, it was already gone. Jaisakthivel in Chennai was also monitoring this but tells DX Listening Digest that it lasted until 1458, then 6225 from 1500. He says it was really Voice of Tigers, Pulikalin Kural, with revolutionary songs dedicated to LTTE head Prabakaran, i.e. the overtly clandestine service revived, despite, or rather because of, LTTE`s defeat. The earlier frequency today, 17560 at 1202-1258 was just film songs without any announcements. Sites are unclear, but had been registered at same or nearby times as: 6225 Tashkent, 11510 Almaty, 17560 Dushanbe. This was the final day for these special broadcasts, not for testing, so will they lead to more such transmissions? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6225, Voice of Tigers - Pulikalin Kural, 1500-, Nov 27, Tamil revolutionary songs dedicated to LTTE Head Prabakaran. At 1505 UT News were read by OM. Most of the news concentrates on Sri Lanka, 32332. 11510, Voice of Tigers - Pulikalin Kural, 1400-1458, Nov 27, Tamil revolutionary songs with the revolution talks by OM, 33433. 17560, Voice of Tigers - Pulikalin Kural, 1202-1258, Nov 26, Tamil film songs with out any announcements. It’s like a test broadcast, 33232. (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, www.dxquiz.wordpress.com, dxldyg via DXLD) The Tamil Tigers` specials expired Nov 27, as nothing heard on 11510, Nov 28 at 1418 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, SRTC, *0236-0430*, Nov 26, abrupt sign on with Arabic talk. Qur`an at 0237. Talk. Short music breaks. Abrupt sign off. Fair to good. In the clear except for occasional weak HAM QRM. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7200, SRTC, Al-Aitahab, 1520-1530, 27 Nov, Arabic, prayer; 55444 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 15650, Miraya FM via IRRS Milano via Rimavská Sobota, SLOVAKIA, fortuitously in the clear Nov 25, as ERA Greece [q.v.] was using its alternate 15630 instead of 15650 as early as 1436. Remains to be seen if deliberate change to avoid the collision ongoing for weeks, or just a mistake at Avlis. We outpointed long ago that such a shift would benefit everyone, but IRRS has not been concerned about 15650 causing any trouble in target Sudan. Unfortunately, this date Miraya too weak to make anything out of it here. Listened intently for the sesqui-minute-late timesignal at 1501:30, but not heard altho weak talk could be detected. At 1514, Miraya had improved a little as could hear a YL in seeming English, and Greece remained on 15630 for the rest of the hour; we hope thru 1800 as it previously had after 1555. SRS was much better on 17745 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Slovakia, 15650, Miraya 101 FM, *1459-1512, Nov 26, sign on with African music. Time pips at 1500:30, IDs and English news. Gave mirayafm.org website address. Into Arabic at 1511. Poor, difficult copy mixing with Greece on frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SUDAN [non]. After finding Miraya FM in the clear altho hardly audible on 15650, wanted to compare it to Sudan Radio Service which competes for Nubian audience at same time: much better on 17745 via Sines, PORTUGAL, Nov 25 at 1502, non-English, sorta-Arabic, with usual annoying produxion echo to impair readability. Hmmm, perhaps EDC computed that if they broadcast each word twice, even if overlapping, they would be getting double their money`s worth? 17745, Sudan Radio Service via PORTUGAL, Sat Nov 28 at 1505, M&W discussion about the importance of registering to vote, with usual heavy echo imposed on speech but not on music bits interspersed. Sounds like something out of Washington. O, I said that before, but so did they about registering to vote, an obsessive topic with SRS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Sines, Portugal, 17745, Sudan Radio Service, 1510-1600+, Nov 28, tune-in to English “Lets Talk” program with talk about Sudanese elections. IDs. Into Arabic talk at 1527 along with local African music past 1600. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SUDAN [non]. 11865, BBC via Limassol. Dafur [sic] Salaam program. Good strength and clear with mentions of Dafur and Sudan in Arabic- like language. 0512 11/11 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW (FRG8800 with 80m. long wire) [but is that the same setup at this DXpedition log?]: Ellalong in Hunter Valley, NSW, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 13800, R. Dabanga via Dhabayya [UAE]. Good clear signal with mentions of Dafur [sic] and Sudan in Arabic-like language. 9830 and 13840 not heard. 0507, 11/11 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW (FRG8800 with 80m. long wire) [but is that the same setup at this DXpedition log?]: Ellalong in Hunter Valley, NSW, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) Fair and readable but with het. type noise in probable Arabic, 0450 on 12/11 (Gavin Hellyer, Ararat Vic (Yaesu FRG-8800, 80m Longwire, 30m Loop NSEW 6m High, Yaesu FRT-7700 ATU), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SWEDEN [and non]. I heard only Radio Sweden in Russian and Swedish on 7465 kHz, instead of registered 6065/5850 channels. 6065 1930-2000 28E,29,30,39N,40 HB 350 70 RUS RSW TER 5850 2000-2030 27,28,36-39 HB 500 190 SWE RSW TER Radio Sweden - Teracom - used 7465 kHz at least from 1930 to 2130 UT, Nov 21. They hit Radio Tirana outlets, as well as WWCR from USA at 2100-2130 UT too. From 2130 UT Radio Sweden changed to planned 5840 kHz. Comparison: At same time Cërrik Albania outlets of China Radio International were loud and clear on 5960 English and 6185 in Arabic, both S=9+25dB. From 2100 UT noted R Tirana program on 7430 kHz, but very, very weak. From 2130 UT onwards R Tirana in Albanian on 7435 kHz, also very weak signal noted here in Germany. But maybe better signals heard in far away U.K. & IRL, as well as in NoAM on 9895 too. MUF is low tonight, about 5.2 MHz for 1000 kilometers distance. It will be a hard time - HF propagation wise - in December 2009 til mid February 2010 ... Albanian service this morning on 7390 kHz about fair to good signal S=9 to S=9+10 dB here in Germany. Propagation increased - Sunspot figures about 31 today, and 19 tomorrow. It seems, therefore, that the new frequencies are clear of the interference that had occurred on the previous ones, this being due to other frequency managers not able to coordinate correctly. See Radio Sweden schedule in Russian and Swedish. http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID=2103&Artikel=593232 I see only 5850 kHz scheduled on website at 2030 UT, but R E A L L Y Radio Sweden is heard on 5850 and 7465 kHz too, tonight Nov [20th, 21st] and 22nd. S=9+10dB signal in Germany. At 2135 UT RT in Albanian, surprisingly strong on 6165 kHz, here in Germany S=9+15 dB, and also \\ 7435 kHz, S=7-8, but my location is on the MUF skip zone unfortunately on 40 meterband. 7465 kHz was again covered also at 2000/2100 UT by Radio Sweden in Swedish, as well as Russian at 2030 UT, and co-channel WWCR from USA from 2100 UT. I don't understand the frequency occupation politic of Teracom Sweden and about their behaviour of occupying 7465 kHz channel (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 20/23 via DXLD) 9490 at 2028 Nov 29 in Swedish, so very likely R. Sweden. Yes, then from 2030 in English, news by Bill Schiller at 2032, magazine of several feature reports including 2046 toxic denims. Loud and clear, might as well be a North American service, but really only for Africa, 320 degrees from Madagascar. Hey, it really is a North American service too tho they will never say so: the 320 azimuth from Talata exits Africa where Algeria and Morocco meet the Mediterranean, across Iberia, ultimately transiting our continent from Blanc Sablon to Superior to Cheyenne WY, i.e. only 7 degrees away from Enid (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What luck, heard R. Sweden on both 9360 and weaker 9400, Dec 2 at 1459 with IS, ID and opening Swedish, both from Hörby, 125 and 100 degrees respectively. And --- both bothered by splatter from WWRB/Brother Scare on 9385, so neither really listenable. In this area you have to be careful to match the spurs/splash with 9385 or 9370 whence WTJC also makes a mess (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, Back again on SW with strong carrier and weak low sound: on 23/11 at 1805 in German // 12085 and in Russian from 1700 only on 9330 on 25/11 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony 2001D and ant Folded Marconi 16 meters), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) See USA: WBCQ ** TAIWAN [and non]. Re 9-082, CHINA, Re: Voice of Taiwan Strait in English --- I believe this article was already posted on dxld back in 2005. It's a good read for those interested in Strait broadcasting. http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=141&paper=2102 I liked this part: Taiwan used the mind-numbing program in the 1980s to send coded messages to its spies in mainland China. But like many Taiwanese propaganda broadcasts, it could also be picked up locally. To the surprise of many at the government-run Radio Taiwan International, the show soon developed a cult following among Taiwanese. Listeners, particularly former soldiers, started sending fan mail saying how much they enjoyed it, how it made them feel like secret agents and how they'd deciphered the code. "I'd think, how absurd," said Chen Hsiao-ping, a 25-year veteran at the station. "Here I am reading this stuff, and I don't even know what it means. How could they possibly understand?" (Sergei S., IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RE: Cross-Strait relations Hi Sergei, Thanks for the good read. Interesting to note just how much the cross-Strait relations have actually changed, as exemplified by the following two stories. Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA “Taiwanese businesses are, and have been for some time, the major investors on the Mainland, and there are estimates that up to 5% of Taiwan’s population lives at least part time on the Mainland. The Mainland is by far Taiwan’s major trading partner. . . http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2009/0709/iar/iar_searchingconsensus.html “Taipei, Nov. 3, 2009 (CNA) The passenger load factor on direct cross-Taiwan Strait flights averaged 93,000 travelers per week in the last two weeks, which was twice that on the charters that previously flew the routes, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) reported Tuesday. . . http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1098190?=eng_news&cate_img=35.jpg&cate_rss=news_Business (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN [and non]. 9474.87, Voice of Russia Spanish Service good on this split-frequency 0427 23 Nov with identification & talk about Colombia. Also heard on // 6135. Time is later than the Aoki listing I have (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) From Voice of Russia's engineering schedule, Nov 6th: South/ Central America Portuguese 0000-0100 11605 TDF French Guiana 250 SoAM 0000-0100 9965 Yerevan-ARM 500 SoAM 0000-0100 7290 Samara 500 SoAM 0000-0100 7210 Moscow 500 SoAM 0000-0100 6135 Dushanbe-TJK 1000 SoAM Spanish 0100-0600 9965 Yerevan-ARM 500 SoAM 0100-0300 9880 TDF French Guiana 250 SoAM 0100-0200 7300 Moscow 500 SoAM 0100-0300 7290 Samara 500 SoAM 0100-0600 7280 Krasnodar 500 CeAM 0100-0600 7210 Moscow 500 SoAM 0100-0200 6185 St.P. 800 SoAM 0100-0600 6135 Dushanbe-TJK 1000 SoAM 0200-0600 9475 Dushanbe-TJK 500 SoAM 0200-0600 7335 TDF French Guiana 250 CeAM 0300-0600 6185 St.P. 800 SoAM - extended to 0600 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** THAILAND. Radio Thailand in Burmese with news and pop music on Nov 25th until about 1158 on 7235 kHz, when the VOA carrier from the Marianas comes on (Robert Foerster, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9725, Radio Thailand from 1421 tune-in to 1430 s/off, just running repeated English IDs for HSK9, Radio Thailand World Service. English is scheduled 1400-1430, so perhaps they had a programming problem today. Fair Nov 27 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, BC, listening portable on an Eton E-1 and Sony AN-1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9680, R. Thailand, 0020, 11/28/09. English news by YL. Tourism ad for Bangkok. Peaked at 10/S9. Close down at 0030 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA-100 85' Loop, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 9535, Radio Thailand domestic service at 2040 in English. Man and woman with “National News” with final items about the activities of the King of Thailand. 2042 ID, PSA on saving energy, 2044 into “Global News” which was cut off in the first item. Pause, then bells and into Thai. This English newscast is sked only 2030-2045, definitely different programming than we usually hear on the overseas service. Good Nov 28 (Harold Sellers, Vernon BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Really? All I ever hear are really domestic relays, e.g. at 0030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15275, R. Thailand, Udon Thani. Tune in 0210 English fade in/out at 0215 had an advert for “Chevron, the power of human energy” 15/11 fair only (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW (ICOM 8500 Degen 1121, EWE antennae), Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 8743, 27/11 0025, Bangkok Meteo Radio, USB, weak/fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, an old ultralight, the Sony ICF-SW100 with my outdoor antenna T2FD 15 meters long, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 8743-USB, Bangkok Meteorological Station. 1236-1240 November 28, 2009. English female weathercast, into music box-like interval signal from 1238. Male ID 1239:40 and mention of kHz and (I think) MHz channels. Clear and fair (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6200, Xizang PBS-Lhasa, 1635-1700, Nov 25. In English; “Holy Tibet” program in progress (scheduled 1630-1700); news items about Tibet, dealing with amount spent per child on education, construction of new homes, winter tourism and air fares, etc.; “Tibet Tourism”, describing the beauty of the Clay Forest located in Ngari Prefect in western Tibet; traditional Tibetan music; almost fair. I was interested to hear the same program the next day via CNR-11 (Tibetan Service) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 6010, CNR-11 (Tibetan Service). Per Aoki, this is via Baoji-Sifangshan, which is not in Tibet, so I will be calling this “non” from now on. 1430-1500, Nov 26. IDs for “China National Radio”; // 7350 (heavy QRM); broadcast of the same “Holy Tibet” program in English that I heard yesterday via Xizang PBS-Lhasa. On most days 6010 has to contend with the jamming against Echo of Hope (VOH) on 6003. Best in USB (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. The Voice of Tibet heard with good signals at 1120, Dec. 1st on 15422 kHz. Their schedule lists this as "around 15420 kHz". No jamming noted (Robert Foerster, Germany, 1056 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Tajikistan, and CNR jamming per Aoki (gh) ** TRISTAN DA CUNHA [and non]. ZOE, Tristan Da Cunha still holds a strong fascination for me, including a few South African DXers. I am presently trying to obtain information regarding ZOE Tristan da Cunha for a possible post on my radio blogsite. I'm also hoping to include additional info regarding the station as well as an account from some of the fortunate DXers who managed to hear ZOE Tristan. I'm sure I was among many DXers who tried their best to hear Tristan's illusive signal during the time they were operating on 3290 kHz. Despite numerous attempts over the years I was not able to hear them although I know of three DXers from South Africa who did manage to receive and QSL Tristan. An original QSL would be worth preserving. I am at present trying my best to contact the relevant DXers / family members. South African DXer Graham Bell managed to track down the QSL collection of DXer Ray Cader who heard them from Noordhoek beach, south of Cape Town in 1971. The Tristan QSL was not found unfortunately so we're hoping to locate one from another source. The defunct SADXC did publish a photocopy of a QSL received from SA DXer Eddie de Lange who was fortunate to hear Tristan one evening back in '73 at his inland location of Hatfield, Pretoria. I will keep you updated if / when we happen to discover an original QSL from the station. BTW a few interesting QSLs /audio clips from the South Atlantic may be of interest at http://www.capedx.blogspot.com The latest post does not include ZOE Tristan yet but features a QSL and an audio clip from Volcano Radio, Ascension Island [q.v.] on 1602 kHz. The station was heard with a surprising peak at my previous QTH near Cape Town back in May 1979. Certainly a great consolation prize! 73, (Gary Deacon, Fish Hoek, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See Tristan da Cuhna article in DX Listening Digest 3-176, October 6, 2003 at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3176.txt 73, (Gary Deacon, Nov 29, ibid.) ** TURKEY. VOT, 12035, fair with IS at 1424 Thu Nov 26, end of English transmission. A semihour earlier, reception was too poor to copy Live from Turkey, and // 15300 is a loss colliding with France. But here it is for 24 hours only, starting 23 minutes into the file: http://www.trtenglish.com/trtinternational/Galeri/AudioMedia.aspx?MedyaKodu=8f2785e0-e386-4fa9-8798-1540689bf9d8&KategoriKodu=d2b66127-a908-46d0-9f57-38d404a5dca1&Dil=en Just a few characters would have sufficed for a unique file name. This time it was just the announcers conversing about life and stuff, avoiding overeating tho not a Thanksgiving special per se. As soon as I finished listening to the file, it was off to my own TG dinner (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15300, 28/11 1345, Voice of Turkey - Ankara English DX Corner, ottimo (Roberto Pavanello, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) So France no problem ** TURKMENISTAN [and non; see also BELARUS]. In DXLD 9-082 Carlos Gonçalves mentioned hearing a second audio in the background of BLR. At my location the background audio is that of Bolshakovo 1215, so a clear case of the Luxembourg effect. What is more intriguing on 279 is a 2 Hz SAH that is often heard in the late evening until sign off sometime between 2200 and 2201 (BLR off 2204) and then again later in the night. A carrier comes on at around 2245, but there is never any audio from 2300. When the Siberian stations are audible, the 2 Hz SAH is also there, but still with no audio on the unknown and usually stronger carrier. Since the 2 Hz SAH traditionally has been caused by TKM and no TKM audio is heard now, I am inclined to believe that the empty carrier is TKM with a permanent break in the audio feed. That would match the disappearance of 4930 and 5015 and maybe the general state of the country (Olle Alm, Southern Sweden, Nov. 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Re: 11980 ssb, Zaporozhje. Dneprovskaya Khvylya. 300 Watt of power. 0900-1200 UT. (Alexander Egorov-UKR, 'open_dx' RUSdx Nov 22 via BC-DX via DXLD) Sat/Sun only? (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Re 9-082: 11980, R Dniprovska Hvylia, 0751-0806, Nov 22 [Sunday], songs and talks, starting from 0800 President Yushchenko speeches. 25322 initially, then raised to 35333. Alexander Yegorov confirms the relay of UR1 by RDH at this time. Later, Mauno Ritola reported the close-down at 0857 that day, nice recording has been put to http://dxsignal.ru/audio/ueng.htm and see Ukraine section (Dmitry Mezin/Signal, Kazan, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Nov 25 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** U K. DAB in decline says UTV Radio: see DIGITAL BROADCASING below ** U K. SPECTRUM DAB OUTPUT NOW MOSTLY WRN INCLUDING WORLD OF RADIO Sout Al Khaleej, an Arabic speaking network based in Qatar which had been hiring many hours of daily airtime from Spectrum, has now launched its own DAB channel on Switch London. This means that most of Spectrum's DAB output, 17 hours a day at first glance, is World Radio Network English to Europe consisting of international broadcasters, US National Public Radio, and programmes such as Prairie Home Companion and Glenn Hauser's World of Radio on Saturdays at 0900. Something quite different on London DAB. This time may well, however, be open for other broadcasters to hire. Schedules: http://www.londonethnicradio.com/schedule/dab-mon.html (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? ** U K. BBC CHIEF PREDICTS SMALLER CORPORATION AFTER 2012 LONDON (AFP) – BBC director general Mark Thompson has predicted the corporation will become "smaller" in the future as all broadcasters go digital, with the BBC website likely to be cut back. In a speech late Thursday, Thompson said a review of the BBC's role after the national switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting in 2012 was likely to see "reductions in some kinds of programmes and content." The BBC, funded by the licence fee levied on all those in Britain who own a television, regularly comes under fire from rivals and other critics for its allegedly unfair dominance. Its review comes as all media are struggling to adapt to rapidly changing technology and markets, and some -- notably Rupert Murdoch's News Corp -- are pledging to end the era of free news online. Thompson said the BBC "should not respond to, let alone be cowed by, vindictive or groundless press attacks," saying there would be a "big black cultural hole" if it disappeared -- but acknowledged it must change. He said the world-famous British Broadcasting Corporation would focus on providing original content and on its priority areas of quality journalism, cultural, drama and children's programmes. "The point of the strategy review is to set out a template for a more focused BBC, a BBC that delivers better quality of higher value," he said. "It may point to a BBC which is smaller in some respects, but no less confident, a BBC which is even more capable of keeping that idea of public space alive and populated with wonderful things." Asked about the role of the BBC website, which provides news in 32 different languages along with access to archive material, television and radio programmes, weather forecasts and stock market data, he said it could be cut. "This is great valuable news about the world which can be used by the public here and around the world.... I believe in that," Thompson said, emphasising the importance of a service that is free to access. But he added: "Does it have to be this big, can we focus it more, can we make sure that everything on the website really does further the public purposes of the BBC? That's one of the things we're looking at." The strategy review is due to report early next year (via Dave Alpert, CA, DXLD) BBC MAY CUT DIGITAL AND RADIO SERVICES AFTER 2012 The BBC may cut digital and radio services after the analogue switch- off in 2012, according to the director general, Mark Thompson. The size and scope of the BBC has come under increasing scrutiny at the same time as other media organisations have been hit by declining advertising revenues. Mr Thompson said that the future of BBC's operations would have to include “reductions in some kinds of programmes and content" and an examination of the scope of its websites. He also suggested a higher proportion of the licence fee would be spent on original British content as opposed to expensive imports. . . Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6663816/BBC-may-cut-digital-and-radio-services-after-2012.html BBC'S INDEPENDENCE KEY FOR PUBLIC SERVICE: THOMPSON The BBC's independence is there not so that it can stand still, but so that it is better able to serve the public and, where necessary, better able to adapt and change. To justify its independence, the BBC must keep its side of the bargain. These remarks were made by BBC DG Mark Thompson in his speech Beyond 2012 – The Future for the BBC, given at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer Conference in London. . . Source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k9/nov/nov235.php (both via Jaisakthivel, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Strong and clear signal from BBCWS 15575 via Skelton at 1300 for the last couple of days, which makes it hard to believe this is at 90º, rather the opposite direction. 15420 from Mahé has been doing poor lately at this same time, altho is 270º, pointing more closely into us. 15575 tends to fade around 1340 UT. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Nov 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910, poor signal in African English with discussion of development, Nov 28 at 2228, continuing past 2230. Soon became obvious this was not spontaneous, but scripted. 2258 turned out to have been BBC World Drama, with produxion credits, 2259 regular BBCWS jingle and ID, 2300 starting news in The World Today. Did not recheck until 2321 when BBC was gone, Marfil Estéreo [see COLOMBIA] instead. What`s going on here? By pretending to be in Accra, Ghana, listening on FM, I found that BBC World Drama was running at 22-23 UT, specifically ``The Prison Graduates, by Efo Kodjo Mawugbe Broadcast Saturday 28 November 2009 at 2001 GMT [sic] Listen to The Prison Graduates Daniel Francis, David Gyasi, Richard Pepple, Wale Ojo and Mo Sesay This is the second of our two prize-winning plays from the BBC World Service and British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2009 - which won the English as a second language category. Efo Kodjo Mawugbe’s play was described by the judges as “imaginative”, “muscular” and “hysterically funny”. The play sees four men try to make their way in the world after being released from prison in Ghana. They explore their many options – only to choose the one that might have surprised them all. This is a surreal, post-colonial fable - whereWoza! Albert [sic] meets Samuel Beckett. . .`` http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2009/03/000000_world_drama.shtml As for the transmission, 5910 is supposed to be on at 2200-2300 only, 100 kW, 330 degrees via Meyerton, SOUTH AFRICA, so yet another African service also USward. Often happens that SENTECH doesn`t end a transmission right on time; or did BBC deliberately keep it on at least for the hourtop news until 2306? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Re: 9-082, CANADA: "I seem to recall that transmitter site staff at Sackville did not care in earlier cases, saying that they simply put on air what Montreal feeds to them and that anything else is not their business? Will some controller wake them up now, explaining that it are their very own job positions they put at risk with this attitude? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)" Not necessarily. When I worked at the BBC in the 1970s, it was made clear that engineers are engineers, not linguists. I imagine the contract/job description of the staff at Sackville contains some clause absolving them from responsibility for errors made in Montreal. If, for example, they are required to feed the audio from, say, the blue channel at a certain time on a certain frequency, and they do that, then they have followed the correct procedure. It is not the job of an engineer to identify individual languages. Having said that, some of the more experienced engineers will sometimes, on their own initiative, query situations that don't seem normal. Pride in one's work varies from person to person. But I cannot envisage a situation where the engineers would be held responsible for a mistake that wasn't of their making. You simply cannot sack a radio engineer, a technical position, for not being able to tell that a feed is in the wrong language. I remember being told in the 1970's at BBC Monitoring of one occasion when some BBC transmitters briefly relayed Radio Kiev in Ukrainian instead of BBC Russian, as both were using the same frequency for an SSB feed (this was before the days of satellite feeds) - one was on USB and one was on LSB. That mistake was made by an engineer at the transmitting station who inadvertently selected the wrong sideband, but to an untrained ear Russian and Ukrainian can sound quite similar. (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Nov 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWV loud and clear on 20000, Nov 28 at 1513, so it has to be sporadic E opening at less than 800 km. Not enough to inbring KOA aux on 25950, however, quickly sought (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET-BASED ENGLISH LESSONS FOR CHINA Now available for Mandarin speakers, soon for Persian Washington, D.C., November 25, 2009 - GoEnglish.me, a new, interactive Voice of America (VOA) Internet site, is available for Mandarin speakers learning colloquial American English. The site will soon be available for Persian speakers. The site is designed around 24 modules that represent a variety of everyday cultural situations. Each module has three lessons-beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Topics include "College Schedules," "Retail Shopping," "Apartment Hunting," "Greeting Friends," and "Going on a Hike." In each goEnglish.me lesson, students use a headset and microphone to converse with avatars about everyday situations in the United States. Each lesson has phrases and sentences along with short exams. The program bars students from progressing until their pronunciation and answers are correct. As students move from beginner to advanced, they hear more English and less of their own language. Users can register their ID and password on goEnglish.me and take advantage of the site's English lessons as well as blogs, forums, groups, and RSS feeds. "Today's technology gives our audiences worldwide the tools to learn our language in an entertaining way, using a variety of American accents and situations," said Rebecca McMenamin, director of New Media. "We wanted to give our audience a truly interactive experience when they learn colloquial American English." Initial promotion for goEnglish.me began in early November in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China with advertisements in Facebook. VOA Mandarin will give away T-shirts, posters, and handbills with two- gigabyte flash drives in on-air promotions and also send these items to U.S. Embassies. For more information, call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail askvoa @ voanews.com (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) But won`t this be blocked by the ChiCom too? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Re 9-082: 7575, no signal at all Nov 25 at 1416 despite good conditions from E Asia on many other 7 MHz channels. 24 hours earlier this had borne VOA Cantonese(?), and same hour days before that, in English. No English channel replacement found now in the 7.3-7.6 MHz range; we know VOA is pressured to cut back airtime for this useless language which hardly anybody understands. Perhaps IBB is following my suggestion to jump frequencies around unpredictably trying to escape ChiCom jamming, but it`s also a good way to lose desired listeners. 17895, at 1512 Nov 25, contemporary American YL singer (which one? I don`t keep up with that genre), poor signal; better at next tuneby 1549 when VOA Border Crossings host was greeting Christopher Lewis in England --- he is getting to be quite a well-known worldwide SWL entity via several stations as he takes the trouble to participate in mailbags, request shows and call-ins. Then hello to someone in Ghana, and playing a request from Indonesia. VOA starts 17895 as soon as Saudi stops, at 1500. Current usage, all in English is, but very much subject to change without notice: 1500-1600 100 degrees from São Tomé 1600-1700 350 degrees from Botswana 1700-1730 276 degrees from Thailand [why not just keep it Botswana??] 1730-1800 350 degrees from Botswana 1800-2000 90 degrees from Bonaire This produces four opportunities for VOA to interfere with itself by overlapping transmissions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for VOA Music Mix, it's actually VOA's only remaining 24-hour English-language service. Finding Music Mix at the recently redesigned VOA website is difficult --- it's here http://www1.voanews.com/english/programs/radio/64964082.html and I can't find any program schedule or information or how to listen via local affiliates. (There is a Listen Live! audio stream). (Kim Andrew Elliott, Nov 25, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) 13740, CRI English relay via Habana, with considerable QRM at 1427 Nov 26; heard voanews.com mentioned in Asian language, zero-beat as far as I could tell. CRI modulation conveniently lost for a minute but squeal continued, during ululating music from the understation. It`s VOA Kurdish via Wertachtal, GERMANY, 250 kW, 105 degrees at 14-15. 17580, VOA French, 1928 Nov 26, with heavy long/short path echo; 94 degrees from Greenville at 1830-2000, but almost twice as far as Nashville or Vandiver, LP is closer to only 38 Mm than 39, but I`ll take it. No such problem with Greenville 15580 tho also directly off the back, in English at 2105 starting VOA Music Mix hour, on Thursdays dedicated to Top 20 with Ray McDonald for the week ending Nov 28 --- but, but, how does he foresee the future of how things will rank on Nov 27 and 28?? Before any music, recitation of pop stars` birthdays this week, including septuagenarian Tina Turner. Since the current Top 20 are of no interest to me whatsoever, I then tuned to equally excellent 7465 WWCR for the rest of the hour, Rock the Universe, from the doo-wop era. 15580, VOA English news of Africa at 0602 Nov 27, 0605 into Daybreak Africa. Good signal, normally none at this hour. It`s Botswana at 03- 07, 350 degrees. VOA`s Korean service plays some good old American music, such as Stephen C. Foster, Nov 27 at 1443 on 9555, 21 degrees from Tinang so also USward, Old Folx at Home, O Susannah, My Old KY Home to 1451, then explaining what Kentucky is, I assume. 11525, VOA World News Now, Nov 28 at 1521 about Black Friday; poor signal, not noticed here before, a recent change? Listed as Tinang, PHILIPPINES, 283 degrees. R. Martí: see CUBA [non] 5835, VOA sports at 2226 Nov 28, its usual position in their news wheel, 2235 non-sports news, poor signal, whence? 21 degrees USward from Tinang, PHILIPPINES. 7220 much better with same // 5835 at 2240. And I do mean same, as also 21 degrees and synchronized; at the moment saying that Honduras is holding elexions ``today`` --- meaning Sunday Nov 29, but it`s not ``today the 29th`` for another 7+ hours in Honduras, 6+ hours in Washington, so how can they justify calling this day before ``today`` just because the service is intended for next-day Asia? 24 hours from now, would VOA say the elexions were ``yesterday`` instead of ``today`` while the polls are still open? See also NETHERLANDS [non] 11655. VOA Spanish service, Sunday Nov 29 after 1300 was presenting the Billboard Top 20. Since all(?) these songs are in English, what`s the point of doing this on the Spanish service? Very good on 9885; recheck 1332 as I hit 13715, just dead air, then after a good many sex, both started playing some jazz, to fill the hour? Also on weak // 15590. VOA gets serious about real programming in Spanish only on weekdays. VOA English is still active on 7575, Jazz Hour, fair Sunday Nov 29 at 1311. During this hour it`s TINIAN at 279 degrees. 15770 in uncertain language, 1500-1505 Dec 1, mentioned Washington DC a couple times, but did not hear any VOA jingles or ID. Nevertheless, it`s VOA in Hausa at 1500-1530 only, 100 kW, 350 degrees from BOTSWANA. No more collision here between WYFR and RDPI both in Portuguese before 1500 as in A-09 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes of Radio Liberty in Russian: 1800-1900 NF 7435*LAM 100 kW / 055 deg, ex 5820 to avoid WYFR Polish 2000-2100 NF 9840 LAM 100 kW / 055 deg, ex 9405 *co-channel China Radio International in Italian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** U S A. WTWW progress report: Awaiting power 480V. Utility poles and 3 transformers are on the property. Holes for new utility poles have been drilled. Steps on the antenna poles will be finished today (Tuesday Nov 24). Concrete for the antenna guy anchors are scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday Nov 25). John McClintock and I picked up from Kintronic Labs, the matching transformer and transmission line yesterday (Monday Nov 23). Business office plans are moving ahead. I meet Monday (Nov 30) with the plumber and electrician to begin a check of the septic tank, water lines and electrical needs. Slightly behind schedule; not an uncommon problem with new station construction in an unstable weather season. Frequencies have not been determined yet but the HFCC filings can be expected [9480 day, 5755 night]. The last two construction projects are the utility hook up and the stringing of the antenna wire. It is nice to be near the end of the road on transmitter 1 construction. Setting antenna poles Main electrical distribution circuit breakers box under construction Putting steps on antenna pole (George McClintock, President, Leap of Faith, dba WTWW, Nov 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those are captions of new photos he attached, no doubt to be added to website but as of Nov 30, http://wtww.us/pages/construction-as-of-november-21-2009.php has nothing visible there yet (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEWN in English, 13835, Nov 25 at 1433 with heavy quick echo, as in long/short path simultaneously, the former being some 39 Megameters. I don`t see how backscatter could explain it instead. Next WEWN English frequency, 15610, exhibited the same at 1515. Also noted from WWCR 15825, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR missing again another morning from 13845, Nov 25 at 1432 altho 15825 was propagating well enough. Just the WEWN 13835 spur mushing up 13845. Still no WWCR on 13845 at 1556 check. But on with PMS at 1902. At 1446 paid more attention to 15825, with long/shortpath echo, ad something about inspirational money, back to black gospel music show which replaced Tony Alámo as soon as he was convicted last summer. About the same distance as WEWN, another 39 Megameter long-path catch vs 1 Megameter short-path. 13845, WWCR-2 back on the air this morning, Nov 26 at 1426 with PMS, VG Es-enhanced signal audiblizing the whine. Also VG on 15825 with black gospel music show. Ergo, see WWRB harmonic log. With HF sporadic E causing WWCR to inboom on 13845 and 15825, it`s time to look for 18770, the second harmonic of neighboring WWRB, Nov 26 at 1433 --- but nothing there, since 9385 is not yet on the air. Wake up, Dave! Sleeping in late for Tnxgiving? Checked night frequency 3185 but inaudible there too. At 1509 noticed that 9385 was finally outsending TOM, so checked 18770 again, and there it was, at 1510 with Alex Scourby`s ponderous Bible reading on the Brother Scare broadcast. Bookkeeping the adjustments for airtime lost vs paid for must be a hassle. See also SOUTH CAROLINA 9385, WWRB already on with Brother Scare, Nov 29 at 1306 tuneby, only fair as not yet built up to huge daytime signal. So the transition from 3185 to 9385 can occur as early as 1300, or as late as 1530, depending on when Dave gets around to it. Make that as early as 1200, the ``official`` change time per FCC and HFCC. See also CHINA: 5050 Would WWCR be testing on 60m this Saturday evening? No, on regular 3240, Nov 28 at 2304 opening Golden Age Radio Theatre, with a Duffy`s Tavern from 1951y to be followed later in hour by The Haunting Hour (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This past weekend's WWCR "DX Block" had some oddities in it (UT Sun, 11/29/09, 0300-0400). Instead of the "Australian DX Report" at 0300, last week's "DX Partyline" was aired, and followed by the correct current "DX Partyline" at 0315. Then, instead of the current "World of Radio", #1488, which *had* been previously aired on WWCR (such as on 12160 kHz earlier that same local day at 1730 UT), they played WoR #1487! I don't know why WWCR doesn't count their "Ask WWCR" program as part of the "DX Block", since it directly precedes at 0245 UT, but the new #305 is worth listening to because it discussed their new testing on 4775 and quotes some DXers we all will recognize. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Direct audio download link: http://www.wwcr.com/ask-wwcr_305.mp3 Brady Murray with Dr Jerry Plummer, only about the tests on 4775. They played some clips of 4775 as heard various places, explained specially-designed QSL will be sent to those providing p-mail addresses, but never explained WHY they were testing on that or 4755 before, or if they would be using them futurely. Nor quoted any comments telling them they should stay off Latin American stations` 60m frequencies. As always, closing says they want no attachments to their main e-mail address, but the clips must have been attached to the 4775 address. 13845, WWCR-2 missing again Nov 30 at 1443, tho propagating sufficiently on 15825. Possible scenario: TUN/DGS/PMS no longer can afford/want to buy out that transmitter 24/7, so WWCR offered part of the time to Brother Scare. He`s currently buying 4 hours a day at 1500-1900, but now TUN wants even less, so it`s off the air part of the time. Except: at 1529 Nov 30 it`s still off the air during the BS portion, and Israel in Persian 13850 unperturbed. Missing yesterday from 13845, WWCR was back Dec 1 at 1400 with DGS, only fair signal with no Es help (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Some serious problems at WBCQ Nov 26, possibly because it`s a holiday and no one is paying attention: 15420-CUSB at 1931 had not only the preacher, but equal mix with rock music, such as Ringo at 1936. Might have been clash from another station, except the rock was also on CUSB only, so mixing in from the single WBCQ transmitter. Did not listen continuously but on repeated chex heard only music, no announcements or IDs as to original source of it. Could be studio op had it playing for his own pleasure, unaware it was going on the air along with the gospel huxter whom no one in his right mind would want to pay attention to. Same situation at 2027 when the preaching had switched to the anapaestic Fence Lake NM one. 2104 ditto, and presumably lasted until 2200*. As soon as I first heard this, checked 9330 and 7415 for WBCQ to see if the music was from there, but not: a different preacher in // at 1935. Except it was not 9330, but exactly on 9333.0, CUSB! Finger slipped on frequency keypad? Figured the old transmitter might be analogically tuned. At 2000, 9333 still on the air starting WORLD OF RADIO 1488, // 7415. But they cut it off sometime between then and next check 2027 when 9333 was gone. Since WBCQ had anomalies on Nov 26, I checked again on Nov 27: 15420- CUSB with NM preacher, before 1900 usual big collision with BBCWS in English via South Africa, then in the clear, and no second rock music audio from WBCQ today. 9330 checked shortly after 1800, `BCQ not on yet but a weak signal, presumably Syria. At 1859 WBCQ was again on 9333-CUSB instead of 9330! ID and 1900 infomercial, VG signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9333 USB, U S A or PIRATE. WBCQ (or more likely pirate relay), 1930- 2001, 11.27.09, in English. "Money Talk" with rants against current economic system and older country music agreeing with his views, 2000 WBCQ ID, start of ""The Last Roundup" with an "e mail special", abruptly off at 2001. In the mean time, 9330 was an open carrier until about 1937. The schedule at wbcq.com shows "Money Talk" on 9330, 1800 - 1900 and the USB only leads me to believe this was a pirate retransmission (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA yg via DXLD) Not at all. It`s no pirate. As I reported on Nov 26 and 27 it was WBCQ itself on 9333-CUSB, off-frequency for some reason, with its scheduled programming. Very strong signal here as usual. I notified Allan Weiner about this yesterday, so we`ll see if they get back on 9330. WBCQ is always on USB on this frequency (plus some carrier). If the schedule shows Money Talk at 18-19 instead of 19-20, that`s only because it had not been updated for standard time. The carrier on 9330 until 1937 must have been Syria which is normally blocked by WBCQ when it is on 9330. Syria has hardly any modulation. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Thanks for the update. I hadn't seen your earlier report of WBCQ on 9333. If WBCQ was trying for CUSB, they didn't succeed because it was straight USB on the two radios I tried it on (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA yg via DXLD) WBCQ uses 9330 only on weekdays at 1900-2000+, so after hearing it on 9333 instead, Thu-Fri Nov 26-27, we had to wait until Nov 30 to recheck it. At 1900: back on 9330.0-CUSB opening Money Talks. Mark Taylor says there was no carrier when he was hearing it on 9333, and we can`t go back to recheck that now, but there is definitely a much reduced carrier now on 9330 as usual. I don`t think that`s coming from Syria, but to be sure checked again at 1956 after Syria is usually off, and same as before. At 2017 neither WBCQ nor Syria to be heard, tho Frecuencia al Día was running on 7415. After some 14 months of occupying an `available time slot`, WORLD OF RADIO was replaced by something else on WBCQ, Monday Nov 30 at 2300. This leaves WOR on WBCQ only at 2000-2030 Tue/Wed/Thu on 7415; UT Fri 0100-0130 on 5110v (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1489, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Seems WRMI is having antenna problems again on 9955. UT Wednesdays supposed to be on NW antenna, but nothing audible at 0630. Very weak at 1530 with DX Partyline, and 1630 new WORLD OF RADIO 1488, which should have first aired at 0800 whether anyone could hear it. At 1606 could barely tell if Jack van Impe was preaching. Then Jeff White replies to our inquiry: ``Glenn: Yes. The transmitter was kicking off, and we discovered it was because of the northern antenna. It works fine going south. Not sure why yet, so we're back to using just the southern antenna while we investigate. They're working on it today. Jeff``. WRMI`s NW antenna still out of commission. Nov 27 at 0550, weak Spanish on 9955, presumed Praga as scheduled, and no jamming audible. However, at 1440 nothing but jamming on frequency during scheduled Happy Station Friday repeat in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. KVOH, 17775, Nov 25 at 1551 at S9+22 level, distorted hymnsinging in Spanish. That explains why its extremely distorted spur circa 17920 was already heard when I bytuned at 1549; 1554 faded up audiblizing whine and could make it // 17775 music. 17920 intermittently overridden by much louder utility bursts in some digital mode, as if to say, ``Get offa my frequency!``. Matching spur on 17630 weakly detectable at 1552 hashing up CRI English via Mali // 13740 Cuba during Chinese pop song. Looked for another KVOH spur 145 kHz up but 18065 not making it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC, at 1305 Nov 29 mentioning WHGT Christian Radio and its website, http://www.whgtchristianradio.org/ That`s an FBN affiliate on 1590 in Pennsylvania ``operating on very low power``. NRC-AM Log 2009 shows it with 15000, 5000, 1000, 500 or 58 watts, depending (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How about none of those power levels :D Since VerStandig (the previous license holder who lost its tower site) donated the station to the church that will run FBN programming the station has been running about part-15 power on a STA that it doesn't have a full transmitting site yet. Last distance test I did the signal barely got 2 miles, even close by power lines overrode the tiny signal. If I remember correctly somebody in DXLD years back actually fox-hunted the signal to that church in Chambersburg. The end plan after changing its city of license to Maugansville, MD is to have a 15,000 watt day/58 watt night facility about 5 miles west of Greencastle, PA (Travers, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTJC, 9370 again putting out noise spurs above and below, but don`t seem quite symmetrical, Dec 1 at 1346 peaking around 9342 and 9398 (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It`s now 18 days since Bernie LaZar Hoffmann, a.k.a. ``Tony Alámo`` was sentenced to 175 years in prison for child sexual abuse, and he`s still welcome to pretend to evangelize on WINB, easily recognized mumbling Dec 1 during one of his three weekdaily hours, 1347 UT on 9265. Appropriately, in a recording which could be 25+ years old, he was talking about ``convicting you``, altho he may have meant ``convincing`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Tony Alamo, WINB: You may also be amused to know that on my morning jog a few days ago I came across some leaflets scattered on the sidewalk that appeared to be printouts of this PDF: http://www.alamoministries.com/false_accusations/LouisTackwood.pdf He's not on AM/FM radio in Springfield MO, so far as I can tell, so perhaps he has at least one local MW/SW DXer fan? best, (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, Nov 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9265, `Tony Alámo` still on WINB, 9265, Dec 2 at 1353 as he started to sing ``Mister DJ``. O, how we shall miss him, but when? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13570, WINB, Nov 26 at 1942 with Musical Memories, the same one I heard several days ago on WWCR, and now it really is Thanksgiving. QRM de CODAR swishes, and also persistent ute beeping 2-3 kHz on low side. Usual slightly unstable carrier from WINB itself. WINB schedule shows Martha Garvin`s MM Tue at 8 pm and Thu at 2:30 pm EDT. But there is no EDT now, duh! Must mean EST as that fits for 1930 UT Thu, the other meaning 0100 UT Wednesday when on 9265 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Long story on the Hal Turner case; used to be on shortwave: RECORDS SHOW FEDS USED ULTRA-RIGHT RADIO HOST FOR YEARS Last updated: Sunday November 29, 2009, 9:21 AM BY MIKE KELLY AND PETER J. SAMPSON The Record STAFF WRITERS They called him "Valhalla." But it was more than a nickname. For more than five years, Hal Turner of North Bergen lived a double life. The public knew him as an ultra-right-wing radio talk show host and Internet blogger with an audience of neo-Nazis and white supremacists attracted to his scorched-earth racism and bare-knuckles bashing of public figures. But to the FBI, and its expanding domestic counter- terror intelligence operations in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Turner was "Valhalla" — his code name as an informant who spied on his own controversial followers. Turner's clandestine past was confirmed this past summer when he was jailed on charges that he made threats on his blog against three federal judges in Chicago. In court after his arrest, federal prosecutors acknowledged Turner's FBI ties but downplayed his importance and even described him as "unproductive." But an investigation by The Record — based on government documents, e- mails, court records and almost 20 hours of jailhouse interviews with Turner — shows that federal authorities made frequent use of Turner in its battle against domestic terrorism. As Turner took to his radio show and blog to say that those who opposed his extremist views deserve to die, he received thousands of dollars from the FBI to report on such groups as the Aryan Nations and the white supremacist National Alliance, and even a member of the Blue Eyed Devils skinhead punk band. Later, he was sent undercover to Brazil where he reported a plot to send non-military supplies to anti- American Iraqi resistance fighters. Sometimes he signed "Valhalla" on his FBI payment receipts instead of his own name. His dual life of shock jock and informant offers a window into the murky realm of domestic intelligence in the years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks — in particular, the difficult choices for the FBI in penetrating controversial fringe groups with equally controversial informants. . . [much more] http://www.northjersey.com/news/Records_show_feds_used_ultra-right_radio_host_for_years.html (via Mike Cooper, GA, DXLD) ** U S A. How low can you go and how early and still expect to propagate to Europe? 5745, WYFR 44 degrees in Arabic from 1900, just barely audible here at 1951 Nov 26; maybe it`s better there as we are close to 90 degrees offbeam (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA [and non] ** U S A. In somewhat recent times, several shortwave stations in the United States have been closed, and new ones are opening. Here is a summary of these significant events:- Stations closed WHRI Indianapolis [sic] Indiana; 2 transmitters @ 100 kW moved to WHRA Greenbush, Maine & WHRI Cypress Creek, South Carolina KAIJ Dallas Texas; facility demolished a while back KTBN Salt Lake City Utah; 1 @ 100 kW removed and installed at Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla KWHR Naalehu Hawaii; 1 transmitter at 100 kW transferred to T8WH Palau, South Pacific [KWHR had two transmitters --- gh] WBOH Newport, North Carolina; removed from service, Oct 31, ailing 50 kW transmitter [earlier than Oct 31 --- gh] WMLK Bethel Pennsylvania; 50 kW, currently off the air due to equipment damage WJIE Upton Kentucky; all four transmitters still in place, but inactive WWBS Macon Georgia; closed at death of owner some time ago, and apparently abandoned WHRA Greenbush Maine; closed recently & dismantled, frequencies transferred to WHRI New shortwave stations KNLS Anchor Point, Alaska; additional 100 kW transmitter installed [you mean three instead of two? No sign of a third yet; or two instead of one? That was quite a while ago --- gh] Leap of Faith Radio, Lebanon Tennessee; may be already testing on air [WTWW; not yet; see above --- gh] WJHR Milton, Florida; It is planned that this station will operate only in the SSB mode, Single Side Band, and the project seems to be a transfer of a Construction Permit for an earlier shortwave station that was planned for Pensacola in Florida. We should also note that the projected callsign, WJHR, is already in use for two stations elsewhere, on AM & FM. [Really? Separate FCC AM Query and FM Query checked Nov 29 do not get any results on WJHR --- gh] KIMF Pino [sic] New Mexico; seems to have been deleted before it was constructed KTMI Albany & Lebanon, Oregon; They stated that they were ready to begin operations, but apparently they have been deleted [Yet frequencies for KTMI are still registered in FCC B-09 schedule --- gh] (Adrian Peterson, Indianapolis, AWR Wavescan script Nov 29 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1860 kHz AM at 2308 Nov 28, with ham news bulletins, sounding like one-way broadcasts rather than two-way contacts, since, well, that`s what they are. Could hear some zero-beat SSB QRM, and occasional hets, presumably from hams not too pleased with this weekly, er, broadcast on 160m, even tho it may be legal like W1AW. 2313 had story of pirate Raymond Frank bust in Austin TX, the one who claims FCC has no jurisdixion in the Republic of Texas; courtesy Amateur Radio Newsline. At 2316 Don Carlson in NV credited a bunch of sources (not including DXLD), but including something in Australia, ``W-one-A``, unaware that it`s WIA, for Wireless Institute of Australia, their equivalent of ARRL. Local ID as ``Gateway 160 [meter] Newsletter, on WA0RCR, Westville, Missouri``. ARNL, ARRL, RAIN, TWIAR reports rotate on no particular schedule, from Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning. Next segment was from RAIN. Signal is clear and steady with occasional slight fades, just as good if not better than KMOX, and with no IBOC sidebands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Paul Dobosz passes along the following tidbit: World War II destroyer USS Cassin Young (DD-793)/NTTH will be on the air again this Saturday, as will WWII Victory ship SS American Victory/KKUI. Both ships will attempt to communicate with KSM, as they did last Saturday. But this Saturday they will also attempt to contact each other. Both ships will be using their original radio equipment which has been restored to operation. Beginning at about 1700 GMT both ships will call KSM on ITU global calling channel 3 for the 12 Mc band, 12552.0 kc. NTTH will use a working frequency of 12453.5 kc (primary) or 12423.0 kc (secondary). As always, when in communication with either ship, KSM will key all HF and MF transmitters to give the greatest number of listeners the best chance to hear at least one side of the exchange. KSM will also announce the working frequency to be used by the ship(s) to give listeners a chance to listen for them as well. KSM will begin its Morse press broadcast at 1800 GMT as usual but will interrupt the broadcast to answer calling ships if needed. Otherwise the KSM "wheel" will be heard on all HF transmitters. KSM will send the traffic list at 2100 GMT and high seas North Pacific weather at 2130 GMT as usual. KSM press and weather RTTY broadcasts will begin at 1900 GMT as usual. KSM Frequencies (in kc) CW: 426, 500, 4350.5, 6474.0, 8438.3, 12993.0, 16914.0, 22445.8 RTTY: 8433.0, 12631.0 For more information about USS Cassin Young see: http://www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/usscassinyoung.htm For more information about SS American Victory see: http://www.americanvictory.org/ (MARE Tipsheet Nov 26 via DXLD, and in advance on the dxldyg) ** U S A. Maritime weather log --- Another USCG station on 2670 kHz. 2670 USB, USCG Long Beach-Los Angeles 30 Nov 09 0507 UT s/on with ID, weather by man, ID at 0509:40 and off. Good to hear them even though they're a local (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo CA, ABDX via DXLD) There used to be a lot of USCG axion on 2670. It that a scheduled two- and-two-thirds minute broadcast, or sporadic as needed? (gh, DXLD) I think these are fair game here. 2670 USB, USCG Group North Bend OR, 27 Nov 09 0606 tuned in to marine weather read by a man. Heard small craft advisories. Off with ID at 0612. New. 2670 USB, USCG Group Port Angeles OR, 27 Nov 09 0615 weak male reading weather but too weak to really understand much. New (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo CA, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. 6224-USB, Dec 2 at 1506, WHW283 calling various vessels(?) by name rather than callsign. Brief check-ins, always responded to with ``if you have nothing else, I`ll talk to you in the morning``. Was not certain of callsign since op slurred it, could have been ``three-eighty-three``. He was too close to the mike or something, distorting, but no accent. Most of the captains replying had Spanish accents, and much weaker signals, and `283 greeted them by their mostly Spanish names. Some calls went to: at 1508, Queen Mary (not, I assume, the original one), 1510 Veracruz, 1511 Santa Mónica. The last one did not reply and shortly afterwards WHW283 quit. In next few minutes did hear a few inter-ship(?) contacts, including funny cartoonish voice, jajajajajá; 1519 some whistling. Googling on the callsign I got one significant hit, http://www.city-data.com/towers/other-Port-Isabel-Texas.html listing a whole bunch of stations, few of them HF, including this: ``400 Washington St (Lat: 26.087861 Lon: -97.206083), Type: Building, Overall height: 3 m, Call Sign: WHW283, Licensee ID: L00001942 Assigned Frequencies : 4.12640 MHz, 6.22540 MHz, 6.22840 MHz, 156.350 MHz, 156.450 MHz, 156.800 MHz Grant Date: 01/25/1999, Expiration Date: 03/17/2004, Cancelation Date: 04/23/2004 Registrant: Texas Gulf Trawling Co Inc, Po Drawer Ae, Port Isabel, TX 78578`` The 6.22540 MHz listing apparently relates to a reference frequency 1140 Hz below it which is the way to report SSB logs, 6224.0 kHz and could also be on 6227.0. Oops, grant expired 5.8 years ago! Outdated info on this page? Looks like a daily 9 am CT net (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New FM stations: KS, Dodge City, *89.1, 57000 watts, v, 206 m, Dayspring Ministries of Concord Baptist Church, 59 km. Location is considerably west of town, with more service to Garden City KS. It is there to avoid interference to KVDC *88.7, with its transmitter north of Dodge. [Not to mention eastward, Wichita`s public radio KMUW already on 89.1, which certainly does not need any more QRM from gospel huxters in same or neighboring states --- gh] NM, Ruidoso, *89.3, 25000 h,v; -64m, d-a, with 25% power 80 degrees, Eastern NM University, 13 km estimated coverage. [Presumably another KENW *89.5 relay, not just a translator but full power like *98.7 KMTH Maljamar; noisy Ruidoso is very hi elevation, but mountains around it are even higher resulting in computed negative height above average terrain and incredibly small coverage for that much power --- gh] Format changes: NM, Shiprock, KFDC *90.1, not on the air, but will have ek, ethnic with a mix of music, a farm report and youth talk show, and Navajo announcers. It`s slated to be on the air in 2011. On air: NM, Pine Hill, KTDB *89.7 is programmed from a computer, with announcers doing the music intros in the Navajo language, conveying to listeners to the FM signal and online that they are hearing a culturally native station, which is owned by the Ramah Navajo School Board. NM, Zuni, KSHI, *90.9 gets out less than 15 km, and is totally dependent on a computer that holds up to 27,000 songs. ``Gone are the days of turntables, cassettes and cart machines. . . There are no volunteers at KSHI, and it has been a while since anyone has asked to volunteer there. For most Native radio stations, it is a frustrating challenge to locate people in the community who have the resources to volunteer their time to help in the stations` daily operations. Most Native staitons are located in an economically distressed area, and finding volunteers is difficult,`` said Camille Lacapa of the NFCB, who visited the NM stations. TV on FM (or FM on TV?) --- IL, Chicago, WLLL 87.7, ``or whatever they call it. It`s got a tremendous signal, but highly directional. They protect Milwaukee, Channel 6, which is no longer on the air. My new caradio, a Pioneer, does not get it because the radio only tunes down to 87.9. That radio is really selective. I can hear stations on 105.3 and 105.7, even though we have a local station on 105.5. Today, KFUO- FM 99.1 Clayton MO (St Louis) was coming in, and I was driving around listening to classical music (R. W., Valparaiso IN) [must be Roger Winsor, longtime FM DX enthusiast there --- gh] NY, New York --- dance-formatted `Pulse 87`` WNYZ-LP (87.7) has returned to the air after telling listeners that technical troubles knocked the station off the air in late October. The TV-on-FM signal has seen success building an audience --- 831,000 last month, according to Arbitron`s PPM. But Mega sought Chapter 11 protection in August. Off the Air --- WY, Cheyenne, 95.5 --- the FCC busted pirate Michael Stugelmayer, who ran the station form the attic of his apartment. It`s taken the FCC since 1993 to stop Stugelmayer`s eclectic programming, which included jazz on Mondays and Thursdays, and alternative rock and hits from the 1980s on other weekdays. He features an ``electronica`` show on weekends. The Casper Star Tribune reported that the bust had ended Stugelmayer`s goal of starting a career in broadcasting. [So what was the NAME OF THE STATION??? Looks like he already had quite a career --- gh] (Sept/Oct FMedia! via DXLD) New station: NM, Reserve, *91.1 100 watts h & v, -229 m, Cochise Community Radio Corp., 4 km estimated coverage radius (Bruce Elving, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CP, I assume, not just application (gh) ** U S A. 99.5 WCRB in MA to be off the air tonight Tonight Classical 99.5 WCRB will be changing from a commercial station owned by Nassau Broadcasting to a non-comm, owned by WGBH. It's been reported that at midnight, or possibly before, the station will go off the air. It will then come back on in the morning as WGBH's "All Classical 99.5," possibly not using the WCRB call letters anymore except for the top of the hour. Since I've already heard WJBR, WBAI, WRVE, WEVJ, and WJCX, I expect my only new log will be W258BH Sandwich, MA (actually on the WCIB tower in Roy's backyard in Falmouth). (Jeff Lehmann - N1ZZN, Hanson, MA FN42NB, Sangean HDT-1X, Yamaha T-85 APS-13, Nov 30, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. WHRB 95.3 FM Harvard Radio Broadcasting WHRB is thrilled to be preparing for our upcoming Winter Orgy Season! We will once again celebrate and provide our listeners with a close and well-curated examination of some phenomenal composers, performers, genres, and eras of music. To adapt to Harvard's new academic calendar, and hold true to the WHRB tradition of holding Orgy Period during exams, this year our Winter Orgy Season will take place from December 1st through the 22nd. There will also be highlighted Orgies and special programing taking place in January as well. While the dates have changed, the content has not. Listeners can expect a broad spectrum of musical marathons including the complete works of Frederic Chopin, a celebration of the works of jazz legend Dr. Yusef Lateef, Record Hospital's 25th anniversary, the music of Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval, music from the jazz greats of Kansas City, and many other exciting Orgies. We are excited as ever for the upcoming season, and hope you tune in to share in this great tradition. - Kevin Burrows, Program Director The Program Guide for December, January, and February is available in PDF Format. http://whrb.org/programs/decjanfeb200910.pdf The HTML version will be available soon. (WHRB website Dec 1 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ** U S A. PETITIONS FILED WITH FCC CHALLENGE KFUO-FM SALE By Sarah Bryan Miller ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 12/01/2009 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/610D876E6404D80C8625767F00168198?OpenDocument At least three petitions challenging the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's proposed sale of radio station KFUO-FM to Gateway Creative Broadcasting have been filed with the Federal Communications Commission. One group of petitioners, the Committee to Save KFUO-FM, is made up of local members of the synod. Another, the Radio Arts Foundation, is a new nonprofit entity formed around the core of the old Radio Arts Board, which sought to buy the station from the synod. Both those petitions cover essentially the same points. One is whether Gateway, which has considerable debt and has run at a deficit in recent years, is financially qualified to buy the license under either the terms of the agreement or FCC rules. Another is whether the synod and Gateway filed the necessary "material terms," items required by the FCC that include promissory and security notes. A group calling itself Citizens of Metropolitan St. Louis and Citizens of the United States of America also filed a petition. It is unclear if the petitions will delay the sale of KFUO, St. Louis' only classical music station. The time frame for FCC consideration is indefinite. "The FCC has to review all the allegations that are made," said attorney David Oxenford, who is working with the synod group. (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. 1690.05, FLORIDA, WPTI814, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo. 1538-1550 UT November 28, 2009. Still spewing a massive, somewhat overmodulated signal with continuous NOAA Weather Radio KHB32 relay (synthetic lady followed by synthetic male forecasts), save for the very rare local "You're listening to WPTI814, 940 A-M" male insert (please update). Since David Crawford can hear this on sunset greyline from Titusville -- about 128 miles distance -- surely it can be heard far away elsewhere, local co-channel notwithstanding. Never bothered to measure it until today, but it is slightly off-channel on the high side (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See CUBA for disclaimer ** U S A. Arizona has many of these low power unlicened stations; some are on the air and some of them are now off. I have been in Arizona now for 5 years and I have heard 7 low power stations while driving around Arizona. For those of you that were in Flagstaff for the IRCA convention in 2008 we drove by KBXZ-1650 The Fox Sports station. KBXZ has been on the air now for several years and they even have ads. We also had a tour of K-Jack-1680 at Northern Arizona University. At this time Prescott has a low power station on 1640 that is heard here in Prescott Valley. Here is a link about KBXZ-1650 and the FCC. http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-260037A1.html I was in Flagstaff the first part of October and KBXZ was on the air so the letter from the FCC did not get them off the air for long (Bill Block, Prescott Valley, AZ, Dec 1, IRCA via DXLD) I guess that they were off in September when I passed through Flagstaff on the way to Albuquerque. I wonder if I could ever hear them in Southern California if for some reason KFOX went off the air??? (Mike Sanburn, ibid.) ** URUGUAY. Sarandí 6045 & 6125 SODRE R. Uruguay, inactive again since at least last weekend (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila, 1006, Nov 26, vernacular. M & W announcers with talk in unID language; poor but audible until 3947- LSB ham net s/on a few minutes later, with your host "Bob" and a dogpile of op's just dying to talk about their rigs, local weather and sister's gout; as they do every day I've tried for Vanuatu since mid- October; do these people EVER take a day off? (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, Port Vila. November, 30. Vernacular, 0809-0820 male and predominating female talks. Weak, 24222 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. 7435 with mass in Latin, Nov 26 at 1939, fair. That means it has to be WWCR, WEWN or Vatican, but it`s VR scheduled on this frequency, only at 1940-2030, to Egypt and Turkey to Oman and Yemen. EiBi shows 1940-2000 portion is Rosary to ME, then Italian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6175, 28/11 1012, VENEZUELA, RADIO NACIONAL, CARACAS, YL música sobre a cultura da bulraia [Bulgária?], OM ID ``aquí Radio Nacional de Venezuela``, 34443 (IVANILDO GONÇALVES DANTAS, MOTORADIO PF 76AC, ANTENA T 25M, BAIRRO SAO DOMINGOS SC NAVEGANTES, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) 1) This is supposed to be on 6180 at 10-11, but I am not going to get up at 4 am to be sure. 2) it is via CUBA, not stated (gh, DXLD) Ivanildo, Ouço ela por aqui em 6180, hoje o sinpo 33232. Sds (Geraldo Pietragala, Nov 29, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Sunday Nov 29 looking for Aló Presidente, which RHC B-09 schedule claims is on the air between 1400 and 1800 on 11690, 12010, 13680, 13750 and 17750 --- see CUBA, 13750 was on with nothing but phone ringing at 1509-1540*. Did not check again until 1800 and found all five of those frequencies now running with YL speaking at the moment rather than Hugo; 13750 best by far, 12010 a distant second and the others weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. DENUNCIÓ DIRECTORA DE RNV, HELENA SALCEDO EMISORA COLOMBIANA VIOLA ESPECTRO RADIOELÉCTRICO EN EL CENTRO DEL PAÍS --- Dec 2 Las emisoras colombianas no solamente están llegando a la frontera, como parte de la violación al espectro radioeléctrico que adelanta el Gobierno colombiano, la penetración del espacio venezolano está avanzado a zonas centrales. Prensa Web RNV 29 Noviembre 2009, 02:23 PM Escuche declaraciones de la directora de RNV, Helena Salcedo (Mp3 1min 10seg). Haga click para escuchar el audio (Número de descargas: 145) Las reiteradas denuncias sobre la violación del espectro radioeléctrico venezolano por parte del Gobierno de Colombia, toma mayor fuerza con la interferencia de la señal 770 AM de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, Región Central, en Valencia, estado Carabobo, por parte de una emisora colombiana. Así lo denunció Helena Salcedo, directora de RNV, al llamar la atención sobre este tema y su vinculación con la instalación de siete bases militares en Colombia, así como la creciente presencia de grupos paramilitares en el país. Durante la transmisión del programa Punto y Seguimos, Salcedo comentó que recientemente recibió una grabación de RNV Región Central, en la que se reseña la denuncia de una ciudadana venezolana, quien alegó que cada vez que se cae la señal 770 AM, en Valencia, inmediatamente es interferida por una emisora colombiana. Las emisoras colombianas no solamente están llegando a la frontera - alertó - como parte de la violación al espectro radioeléctrico que adelanta el Gobierno colombiano, la penetración del espacio venezolano está avanzado a zonas centrales de mayor volumen poblacional. Esta acción, a juicio de la directora de RNV está orientada "a disminuir la autoestima de la Fuerza Armada venezolana, con mensajes que pasan por el tamiz de un laboratorio que tiene la componenda de los Estados Unidos". Frente a este escenario, insistió en su llamado de atención, ya que la presencia de esta emisora colombiana en el centro de Venezuela agudiza más la inseguridad en nuestro país. Fuente: RADIO NACIONAL DE VENEZUELA http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=114380 (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) NOTA: Deacuerdo a la frecuencia que mencionan debe tratarse de RCN Radio en 770 kHz en Bogotá, y de que ellos no mencionan cual emisora es. El espectro radioeléctrico no le pueden colocar una muralla y listo, No! recordemos en los 530 KHz con las emisiones que tiene Radio Enciclopedia bloqueando a Radio Visión Cristiana o en los mismo 1620 KHz tratando de interferir a la emisora de las Islas Vírgenes Americana con Radio Progreso. Aunque no se ha visto reportes de los colegas de Venezuela, sobre esta asunto (Yimber Gaviria, ibid.) This is nonsense belligerence: Colombia has been running 100 kW on 770 for a long time. Surely there was originally some coordination in frequency allocation, so it should not be anything new to Venezuela. Almost every MW frequency is in use by both of these two adjacent countries, so there is bound to be `border violation` overlapping interference. The only way to minimize it would be to use direxional antennas `protecting` each other`s country, but is anybody doing this in South America? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. 9635, V of Vietnam, Hanoi. Good strength signal but mixed with two others to the extent that Vietnamese is almost unreadable. Iran in Chinese is the likely culprit. Also heard at 0046 with weaker signal but no cc. 2310 8/11 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW (FRG8800 with 80m. long wire) [but is that the same setup at this DXpedition log?]: Ellalong in Hunter Valley, NSW, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) Large signal with Viet announcements. 1058, frequencies, mentions of Hanoi. IS 1059, TS 1100 then ID etc. Recent new frequency, 28/11 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Drake R8A, Icom R75, Dipole), ibid.) Home service in Vietnamese. Very good reception of what sounded like a parliamentary session at 0943, 9/11 (Dennis Allen, Milperra NSW (Icom R75, Realistic DX-160, longwire and a dipole), ibid.) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. R. Nacional de la RASD isn`t always there on 6297: no sign of it Nov 26 at various chex between 0600 and 0645; meanwhile Cairo`s distorted Arabic still strong on 6290 at 0645. Now scheduled until 0700, 315 degrees USward from Abis, and with latest sunrises imminent, holds up all the way till 9 am local. Altho R. Nacional de la RASD was missing in the morning of Nov 26 at 0600-0645, 6297.1 had some music in the evening at 2056, much weaker than Cairo on 6290. Have not been hearing R. Nacional de la RASD lately in the 06-07 hour as previously, altho did get 6297.1 at 2056 Nov 26. Seems they are now signing on an hour later, if not just a Friday thing: Nov 27 at 0708, Qur`an in their inimitable style, and VG S9+20 signal, incomparable to Cairo since 6290 thence closed around 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6298, 25/Nov 2325 ALGERIA, Nat. R. of Sahara Arab D Rep., Spanish, desde Rabouni, com 20 kW, OM talk, som fechado, a frequência há muito tem sido informada com desvio da informada na lista Aoki, a lista EIBI informa 6297 kHz, mas aqui a melhor sintonia foi em 6298 khz, às 2326 música em vocal de crianças, 2330 OM volta a falar com forte sotaque árabe, dificultando o entendimento do espanhol falado, 25432 (Jorge Freitas, Brasil, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hi Jorge, Your comments about 6297-6298 lead me to make a point, which I hope will be clear after translation. Although it may sound better on 6298, when reporting a station it is the carrier frequency which matters. I just heard it today, and as usual it is closer to 6297. Perhaps 6297.1 or 6297.2. I have not used your 1103 but looking at its specifications, I think it should be possible to determine the frequency more accurately. At least to 1 kHz or perhaps a fraction of a kHz. If you switch to the SSB mode on a known accurate frequency (such as WWV on 15 MHz or most major broadcasters, unlike RASD), and zero-beat the SSB fine tuning, then if you switch to the frequency in question you should be able to determine whether it is on the exact frequency entered or not. If not, stepping up and down 1 kHz would show whether it is off to the high side or the low side, producing lower and higher pitches. I use this technique all the time with the YB-400, as the FRG-7 only has analog readout which is not precisely accurate. I hope this has been of help. 73, (Glenn to Jorge, via DXLD) I am publishing this since the same advice should be useful to others (gh) Glenn, Obrigado pela dica, deu para entender. Vou passar a usá-la. Um abraço (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12º 15' 1.57" S 38º 58' 40.30" W, Degen 1103, Antena Dipolo 16 metros Balun 4:1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA [and non]. /GERMANY, 9430, CVC Lusaka mixed or under Radio Farda via Wertachtal which opened with vgd signal at 0400 15 Nov. Farda also on 15690 Sri Lanka vgd & 9585 Lampertheim fair (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, 36.11.70 S, 174.56.70 E, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CVC, 9430 at 0445z, 100 kW at 315 in English via Lusaka with a powerhouse signal, strongest on the band at this time. (29 Nov 09) (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Tx, Drake R8B, sloper & ALA330s, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9505, Nov 28 at 2206 sorta British accent encouraging men not to beat their wives, unless in self-defense, like she`s coming at you with a knife. Good advice, soon justified by bible citations. Fairly good signal from the Nigerian service of 1Africa/CVC at 315 degrees from Lusaka, ergo also to North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9505. #1 Africa/CVC International, Lusaka. 2054-2201* November 29, 2009. Thanks Glenn Hauser log, local level with "One Africa" magazine tech talk past top-of-hour by English man and woman (maybe white Rhodesian or South African accents?), Urban pop vocals, mostly Afrocentrique light news items. Brief gospelspeak at 2157, into weird telco-like tones from 2201. Carrier gone at 2210 recheck. Never any overt ID save for a couple of "Christian Voice" references, and that apparent magazine title (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, RTZ, Nov 26 at 1946, very nice regional music, good modulation and audio frequency response too unlike so many other third-world transmitters. Strong enough to muscle Cuba 11730 aside with no problem. Recheck at 2002 in case English news appear at this alternate time to 1800, but just heard a mention of habari and back to music. Tempted to keep listening instead of bandscanning, but duty called (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11735, Voice of Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1755-1900+, Nov 27, looking for Zanzibar but only heard a strong open carrier past 1900. No audio heard. But on the air at 1929 check past 2005 with local music and Swahili talk. No English heard. 11735, Voice of Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1750-2058*, Nov 28, continuous local Mid-East style music. Local drums at 1858 and possible news in Swahili at 1859 followed by more local music. Swahili talk at 2000. Phone-talk. Sign off with National Anthem. No English heard. English previously heard on Saturdays but not today. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe politicians cannot grasp that they don't control foreign broadcasts (updated). http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=7872 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4820.76, randomly from 1331 to 1540, Nov 28. Fairly sure there was a station here that was very weak, but noticeable, as it was causing a het for Tibet on 4820.0 that I have never heard before; best in USB. Did not seem to be AIR, but who? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6000 kHz English news at 0100 [from Cuba], mixing with an Afghan Service, surely now Kabul though it`s one of their old old frequencies. Give me a day or two to verify!! (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, Nov 24, dx_india yg via DXLD) I am afraid this is V of Turkey in Turkish, Emirler as scheduled 01- 03. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Oklahoma, ibid.) There was a typo. Hi. now (should have been NOT) Kabul though its one of their old old frequencies. What a single letter can do. No luck today to ID Turkey on 6000 kHz; SLBC 6005 too strong and splattering as well. Holy Tibet! SLBC's modulation makes me puke! (Victor G., ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Heard the song Lying in the Arms of Mary, by the Solomon Brothers on 6005 KHz SW at 0909 UT today. Followed by jingle which I think said Radio Veronica. It sounded Dutch and was very weak. Maybe someone else can confirm? (Gary Deacon, UK, Nov 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello! I think you maybe have heard Radio 700 ( http://radio700.eu ) from Germany broadcasting with 1 kW?! They play this kind of music. 73, (Stephan Schaa, Germany, ibid.) When I visited http://radio700.eu/ I saw that webstreaming of shortwave service (6005 kHz) is not available aon the internet at the time being: "Kurzwellendienst zur Zeit nicht über das Internet empfangbar" But, the webstream is OPERATIONAL (mp3, 80 kbps, mono): http://streamserver.funkhaus.info:8310/listen.pls Stream Status: Stream is up at 80 kbps with 2 of 50 listeners (2 unique) Listener Peak: 50 Average Listen Time: 1m 12s Stream Title: RADIO 700 - Kurzwellendienst 6005 kHz Content Type: audio/mpeg Stream Genre: Schlager Oldies Shortwave Kurzwelle Stream URL: http://www.radio700.am 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL making a nice showing Nov 25 at 1400-1401 with usual V/CQ marker on CW, beating against slightly unstable Russian 6075 carrier, and the Chinese radio war. 6074, tuned in late and feared had missed 8GAL V/CQ marker on CW, Nov 26 at 1400, but it did not start until about 1400:40 and lasted about half a sesquiminute, vs Chinese broadcasters on 6075. 6074, a day without 8GAL, Nov 27 at 1359-1402. 6074, Nov 28 spanning the 1401 minute, 8GAL V/CQ marker just barely audible under Chinese radio war on 6075. BTW, just before the hour as I was intuning, noticed some other CW circa 6085, not just a marker. 6074, 8GAL V/CQ CW marker not heard Dec 2, checked at 1359-1401, just 6075 Russia and China broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6500-7235, very wideband pulsing noise Nov 25 at 0641, unlike anything heard before, possibly local but not the time to go traipsing around the neighborhood with the portable. No new household devices have been installed. Could be an OTH radar gone wild; anyone else notice? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. A station with continuous Arabic music, maybe Egyptian style, heard Nov. 24th from around 1240 until 1308 on 7220 kHz. No ID. or talk, and abrupt sign-off in the middle of the music, maybe a test transmission. Good modulation and pleasant audio, increasing signal strength about S 3 to 4 (Robert Foerster, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe `ADM`` from UAE. Vietnam and V of Russia, Khabarovsk could also be on 7220 at this time (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7275, het of about 100 Hz at 1528 Nov 30, between two carriers with no detectable modulation; the stronger one went off at 1529:30, as if intentional end of transmission, but no schedules show anything ending around that hour on 7275, just CNR1 Beijing thruout; KBSWR is also non-direxional on 7275 extensively, but supposed to be in a break from 14 to 16. Of course, one or both could have really been N American AM hams (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9560, Nov 25 at 1521, discussion in English about power of women vs men, voiced-over in Chinese; good, but perpetual het from off-frequency Ethiopia. Figured it would be easy to uplook later, but the trouble is, two Chinese broadcasts are scheduled during this hour: CRI via Kashgar, East Turkistan, 100 kW at 174 degrees, and RCI via Yamata, Japan, 300 kW, 240 degrees. Judging from subject matter, more likely the latter. If both are really active, I bet there is a nasty collision in south Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9584.68 kHz noted hetting 9580 channel, 0140 UT on Nov 22. Maybe R Globo Brazil or 9581v PBS Radio ng Bayan 2300-1100 Filipino 0.5 ND Quezon City-Marulas PHL DZFM wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ll go with Brazil (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 11735 with unbroken tone test, Nov 27 at 0556 continuing past 0600. It`s on both sidebands, so not two stations hetting. Nothing scheduled here per Aoki, EiBi, HFCC. North Korea is taking a break from 11735 between 04 and 07. R. Transmundial, Brasil, Aoki shows with an 0600-0630 broadcast Sat & Sun only but this is Friday, otherwise off between 02 and 08. Whatever it was, gone at 0618 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11888-USB, intruder, Nov 28 at 2244, intermittent 2-way conversation in tonal Asian language, and still some time after 2300. Much like what we frequently hear on 11789.9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11901, 2-way Spanish SSB intruding, Nov 27 at 0627, distracting me from Brazil/Spain on 11895 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 15106, very weak carrier, Nov 30 at 1450. At 1521 was getting het from 15105 BBC in English, weak with some audio, 7 degrees via SOUTH AFRICA. Can`t find anything to account for the 15106 carrier. I also heard some much stronger SSB Spanish 2-way around 15102 but never got a fix on it, distracted by this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Besides Australia on 19m, one other very weak signal measured on 15121.1, JBA modulation, Nov 26 at 0635, suspect V. of Nigeria which was heard around 15121, some 11 hours earlier. New transmitters and antennas have been installed at Abuja and should be testing on air shortly; but it`s hard to believe brand-new equipment would be ~1 kHz off. Ron Howard measured it at 1706 Nov 25 on 15120.95, but this was definitely on the hi side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17757.5, Nov 25 at 1444, 2-way Spanish SSB intermittent, much too close to big WYFR 17760 signal in English. Perhaps these intruders are in its skip zone, and/or hoped WYFR would mask them from detexion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I`m very disappointed MT dropped your column. My issue went astray in the mail system and arrived with November same day. I`ve sent a card out with my comments. NOT everyone has the I-net or needs it. A family member is on the dialup as they use it randomly. I know others who have computers but aren`t on line due to security concerns (prying eyes, spam, pop-ups, attachments, worms, etc.) and they have lives --- not chained to the machine. Since Pop Comm is under new ownership, is there any possibility of going there? (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, Oct 30) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ PASSPORT TO WORLDBAND RADIO 2010: DEFINITELY NOT November 28: Thanks for your many kind and helpful comments, which have touched us greatly. Alas, although the long-term future of IBS’ activities continues to be mulled over, there will definitely be no printed 2010 edition of Passport to World Band Radio. At this juncture it appears nearly as certain that online options aren’t going to be feasible, either. Nonetheless, the Japanese-language (only) Blue Pages for 2010 will be offered within Japan, as in the past, by ohtaket@kyp.biglobe.ne.jp later this year. For equipment issues, Passport readers have increasingly been visiting Passport equipment maven David Zantow’s webpage for up-to-date equipment news and expert advice. ________ By now many have heard of Harry Helms’ recent and all-too-early passing. Harry left a long and distinguished legacy of radio activities, including a comment within this thread. But one role he played has had to remain in the shadows for decades. Now that there is no chance he can suffer untoward consequences, it can finally be told. Years back, when we were just starting out, we gave a somewhat negative review to a receiver from a major electronics organization. Their corporate reactions were varied and decisive, including reportedly firing the engineer responsible, redesigning part of the receiver . . . and acting towards us in ways arguably worthy of a dimestore novel. As usual we held fast, but their obviously negative impression of us was given valuable credibility, as a respected consumer testing publication had given high marks to the very same receiver that we had found to be flawed. Obviously, one of us had to be wrong. At the time Harry was employed at that electronics organization’s headquarters. Shortly after he left to pursue other activities, he discreetly informed us that their legendary CEO’s private opinion was surprisingly at odds with the corporate stance. In the CEO’s exact words, as Harry put it, “Magne was right.” There was much to appreciate about Harry, but for us, just starting out, those three encouraging words earned him instant hero status. —Larry Magne (from http://www.passband.com/passport-to-world-band-radio%C2%AE-in-limbo/ [plus 133 comments as of Dec 2, via DXLD) MWOFFSET.TXT UPDATED 2009-11-29 The file at http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt has just been updated. A big "Thank you!" to all offset reporters. Updates and more offsets are welcome! 73, (Günter, mwc yg via DXLD) Includes offsets of some SW stations too (gh) QSL Cards VALUABLE In recent time, several QSL cards have brought very high prices on Ebay. A QSL card issued on Pitcairn Island for the amateur radio station that was in use for a short while with the relay of broadcast programming back to the United States in 1938 sold for $402. This card was printed with the two callsigns PITC and VR6A, and the letter Y was added in red ink, thus making the amateur callsign into VR6AY. Two QSL cards acknowledging the amateur station AC4NC in Tibet in 1940 sold for very high prices. One was bought at $3,800 and another at $3,000. China: And while we are talking about high prices, the New Zealand DX Times reports a very high price for postage on a QSL card back in the middle of last century. The card was from station XPRA and the postage was marked at $2,300,000.00. This exorbitant figure is of course in Chinese dollars, as they were at the time, and it reflects the impact of runaway inflation (Adrian Peterson, Indianapolis, AWR Wavescan script Nov 29 via DXLD) UNION OF ASIAN DXERS Re 9-082: I would also be glad to see you revive UADX. I still have your old mimeographed bulletins somewhere (Glenn to Victor Goonetilleke, dx_india via DXLD) Glenn, The idea of UADX revival is to see whether we could get a group to concentrate on certain targets research them. Loggings to a reflector as it`s great help to others but if we can research things? For that you need a core group who is willing. Also share experiences, techniques. Remember the old days before DX-ers had access to frequency counters, when you even came up with the piano chords to find the frequency of the heterodyne and read the frequency! Those were lovely days, Glenn. Ha! hang on to those old mimeographed history memorabilia!!! Sadly I haven't got a single Ceylonese SWL Club bulletin. If you have any, state your price NOW!!! Regards all round (Victor Goonetilleke, ibid.) ABOUT QRZ INDIA NEWSLETTER Hello! Please find latest issue of QRZ India Newsletter featuring 21st anniversary of BCDX Net India in the following link: http://news.qrz.co.in/Volume1%20No4%2027%20November.pdf Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India Telefax: + 91 40 2331 0287 Tel: + 91 40 6516 7388 Cell: + 91 94416 96043 http://www.niar.org Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ READING INTERNATIONAL RADIO GROUP The next meeting of the Reading International Radio Group will be on Saturday December 5 in Room 3, Reading International Solidarity Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading at 2.30 p.m. The meeting will finish looking at unofficial political radio broadcasting in the UK, have a report on the Dutch Offshore Radio Day, look at the history of radio commercials in the UK, as well as other current and historical radio related items and audio extracts including some Cold War Iron Curtain stations. All are welcome. For more information email me or phone 01462 643899. The following dates have now been booked for 2010, all in Room 3: Saturday February 27 (N.B. This meeting has been rescheduled from the previously announced date of February 6) Saturday April 10 Saturday June 5 Saturday July 24 (Mike Barraclough, WDXC yg via DXLD) RADIO WORLD LIVE WEBINAR DECEMBER 8 On Tuesday, December 08, 2009 at 12:00 noon Eastern time [1700 UT], Radio World will present a live Webinar. Please be our guest from your desktop or laptop for a stimulating 60 minute discussion about the most important technical trends that will affect radio broadcast engineers, managers and owners in 2010. We have assembled a panel of radio's thought-leaders along with our editor, Paul McLane and contributing editor, Skip Pizzi. A unique aspect of this Webinar is that you the attendee will help determine the specific topics to be discussed when you register. Don't miss this rare opportunity to learn more about radio's most pressing technologies for the 2nd decade of the 21st century. Join us free of charge. http://www.media.qualitytech.com/client/new_bay/2009_1208/177993/launch.htm (I have registered for this, might learn something - Mike) (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS See also ASCENSION, TRISTAN DA CUNHA ++++++++++++ LEM286 - The Howl Raiser of 2009 Just for your information: http://lem286.blogspot.com/ 73 / (Ilpo Parviainen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fun stuff WORLD OF HOROLOGY See BRAZIL, MEXICO +++++++++++++++++ LANGUAGE LESSONS See MOLDOVA ++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ NEW METHOD TO ORDER WELLBROOK LOOP ANTENNAS Wellbrook Communications, the manufacturer of active loop antennas that have consistently received top ratings in PWBR, has redesigned their products page at http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/antennashop They have also added PayPal as a secure payment method and are accepting online orders. I have been interested in Wellbrook products for some time, but didn't want to face the problems inherent in their previous methods of payment (check denominated in Pounds Sterling, telephone call to their London-based dealer, or the unacceptable risk of an unsecured online email order). I'm not a routine user of PayPal, but I decided to try the process. My ALA100M arrived via registered mail 19 days after the order was placed, and all seems to be in order with the transaction. Initial tests of the ALA100M have been very favorable, especially on 7 MHz and below. The noise reduction on longwave is outstanding. I'll report more after my experiments with various sized wire loops are completed, but I wanted to post this to notify others that a more secure payment method has been added (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, Nov 30, NASWA yg via DXLD) VK5VKA'S COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER AND RADIO SCANNER NEWS The latest models in HF (Shortwave) Communication Receivers, Radio Scanners and HF (Shortwave) Portables! http://homepages.tig.com.au/~vk5vka/rxnews.htm (via Richard, Nov 25, DXLD) Looks useful and up to date, linx to other sites with reviews, promotion, but we tried the link to ATS-909X coming out early next year, and got a Google translation of the Italian Appuntidx blog, nothing about that radio (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) RECEIVER COLLECTION SDR mottagare i all ära, men visst är det tjusigare att vila ögonen på dessa tingestar : http://www.qrz.com/db/w9evt På något vis drabbas man av lite "vill ha begär" :-) (mvh, Bernt-Ivan Holmberg via NORDX) From this web site you can read the following: George Ulm, W9EVT was born in the Free City of Danzig in 1930. In the mid-1930s he moved to Chicago with his family. After W.W.II, he produced some of the first convention exhibits for the Radio Parts Show in the Windy City. His business later expanded to world’s fairs and conventions such as the CES in Las Vegas and Chicago. George is a Korean Conflict veteran, taught electronics in the Navy Air Corps, developed and put on air the first two meter amateur repeaters in the mid west. George has lived in Mexico, Europe, Africa and Australia with ham calls associated with each part of the world. In the early 1960s he purchased an apple and cherry farm on Washington Island, WI. At retirement he decided to raise antennas on the property instead of fruit. He lives there year round with his wife, Susan, his dogs, Ivan and Bosun and a very talkative African Gray Parrot, B.B. Fantastic Estate web page at: http://www.greengate-wibb.com/HamRadio.html You have to check out all his pictures at http://www.qrz.com/db/w9evt (Thomas Nilsson, ed., SW Bulletin Nov 29 via DXLD) MICROWAVE RELAY STATIONS -- Local History: Relay Race -- Shalersville, Richfield towers are links to 1949 cross-country marathon By Mark J. Price, Beacon Journal staff writer POSTED: 05:00 p.m. EST, Nov 22, 2009 Strange-looking silos loomed above Ohio's farmland in 1949. Built on hills about 25 to 30 miles apart, the concrete-and-steel towers offered unobstructed views of one another. Engineers chose the locations carefully, calculating the curvature of the earth to determine a clear path. Workers cut down trees and sheared off slopes to ensure that nothing would get in the way as the unusual trail meandered over the horizon. Sixty years ago, Ohio was in a relay race. The marathon began in New York, hurtled toward Chicago and ended in San Francisco. From coast to coast, Americans would soon enjoy live pictures on network television. The so-called ''TV superhighway,'' made up of microwave relay stations, would beam programs nearly 3,000 miles in a fraction of a second. . . http://www.ohio.com/news/71042107.html Glen[n], I don't know if you would be interested in this story. It is of particular interest to me as I was part of the crew that serviced the 3 towers west of Toledo and 1 in Indiana from 1958 to 1967. 73 (Charlie Hinkle W8CFO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I would! I haven`t seen such towers, all-concrete; why was that necessary, or just because a concrete company got the contract? Did they think the heavy equipment, diesel generators etc., had to be on top near the antennas? In the west the microwave relay towers I did see were self-supporting steel lattice with quite a wide base. Since many were situated on mountains or at least high terrain the towers themselves did not have to be so high (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The main reason for this type of tower was to minimize the loss between the repeater equipment and the antenna. This was because of the use of rectangular waveguide and delay lens antennas. The development of circular waveguide which had less loss and the horn reflector antenna allowed the use of self-supporting towers and equipment located in one story buildings on later routes. The flat terrain of this area was also a reason that higher towers were required. Spacing between towers was about 25 miles. The Bryan, OH tower was the tallest in this area and is about 200 ft. high. The towers I am familiar with had the radio repeater equipment room about 100 ft. above ground level with two power rooms located just below it. Rectifiers and batteries were located in the power rooms. The emergency engine-alternators were located on the ground floor. They were actually gasoline engines using white gas (kerosene) for fuel and were rated at 20 kW. Some of the steel towers in this area were over 300 ft. high and the spacing between towers was increased to about 35 miles. The following link has more info on these towers http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/index.html 73 (Charlie W8CFO, Pioneer, OH, ibid.) FCC CHAIRMAN SPEAKS ABOUT FUTURE SPECTRUM SHORTAGE Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1685 - November 27 2009 FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski still maintains that there is a looming spectrum crisis, but he now appears to be trying to calm the waters a bit. This, after several weeks of increasing alarm from broadcasters over FCC talks about reclaiming some of their spectrum for wireless broadband services. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has more; -- In an interview Friday, November 20th for C-SPAN's Communicators series, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski expressed his view there are many ideas being offered as to what the commission could do to address the need for more spectrum. He stated that his agency has not decided anything about which ideas were the best. Genachowski also repeated a point he made earlier in the week at a press conference, which is that this is a long-term planning issue for the nation to deal with. Genachowski admitted that his agency does not operate on impulse, noting that it has historically taken the FCC between 6 and 13 years to reclaim spectrum. He said the FCC would be looking at government and commercial spectrum, but that there were no easy pickings on the spectrum chart, and hard choices will have to be made. And he did have a rather dyer [sic; pace, Pat] warning. He stated -- and we quote: "We know the problem is coming. It's not coming next week; it's not coming next month; it's not coming next year, but it is coming." And added Chairman Genachowski, the FCC has to start coming up with the policies to address it now. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- While ham radio was never mentioned by the FCC chairman, the big question for the service is how much of our spectrum, especially in the microwave region might come under consideration for possible reallocation in the years to come (B&C) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See ALASKA!, ANGUILLA, CZECHIA, INDIA!, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MAURITANIA, NEW ZEALAND, NIGERIA, ROMANIA Word of the Day from Downunder --- Craig Seager wrote on the Christmas Gifts 2009 in latest Australian DX News: ``And finally, for the DXer who has everything.... DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) for shortwave is probably be destined to become a dead duck within months, but maybe you just can't resist owning one of the very few receivers of this type on the market, which will be a talking point in years to come as it sits silent as the tomb in your shack`` (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL RADIO: Kevin Ryan The B09 shortwave broadcast schedule started with the clock change at the end of October and even though there are no new entrants on the schedule, a number of the committed DRM supports have maintained or increased their digital broadcasts. A few ‘wooden’ listings such as RTE on 252 kHz LW have been removed as there is little chance that RTE will actually carry out any DRM broadcasts in the near future. The HCJB transmissions from Pifo in Ecuador have disappeared as the dismantling of this iconic transmitter site reaches its conclusion. HCJB have moved some services to the CVC transmitter site in Chile who broadcast daily from 1800-2000 in DRM to Brazil on 17860 kHz so perhaps HCJB Engineering will resume their test transmissions from this location. Here are some of the highlights together with some of my most recent loggings. I am currently using a Technisat Multyradio with a loft antenna for the majority of my DRM listening and the Himalaya DRM 2009 usually provides excellent daytime reception of the BBC-DW services from a telescopic. BBC-DW This has to be the flagship DRM service that has re-vitalised shortwave from the BBCWS for Europe. The B09 schedule relies heavily on 1296 kHz for Continental Europe and 3995 kHz from 1600 (Skelton) and Sines Portugal from 1900 to 2300. The Skelton signal provides superb reception so it is a shame that it is not used throughout the evening period. There are another two hours from Skelton in the morning from 0600 to 0800 UT before Sines takes over on 9610 and 13810 kHz. DW programmes are frequently transmitted in stereo while the BBCWS is usually in mono. At times I have noted that the BBCWS is using stereo but I have tried to tell if this is truly a L+R setup with different audio on each channel. Radio Romania International Now that the RRI has refurbished its transmitter sites it has increased the number of hours using DRM, adding broadcasts in the morning from 0530 in Russian (6175 kHz), 0600 in French on 6100 kHz, 0630 in English on 6020 kHz and 0700 in German on 6025 kHz. This seems to be two DRM enabled transmitters at Tiganesti, both using 90 kW as indicated by the two services at 1900 in Italian and German. There is English again at 1800-1830 from Kvitsoy in Norway and from 1800 to 1856 direct on 6030 kHz. Figure 1: The RRI web site lists another DRM service at 2130. [note: the figures do not axually appear in the pdf --- gh] Polskie Radio This station seems to have gotten their scheduling slightly wrong in moving their English service (I assume they want to target the UK & Ireland?) from Wertachtal in Germany to Woofferton. I tuned to 6130 kHz at 1800 for their 60-minute English programme to find the signal being swamped by an analogue station on the same channel. [Ha! VOR from Moscow to UK, Iran in Swahili, and TWR Swaziland at 312 degrees are all scheduled on 6130 at that hour --- gh] The 3975 kHz transmission in German at 2030 is from Skelton; that, of course, delivers a superb signal to the UK. Voice of Russia The Voice of Russia is on the air in DRM from 0200-0600 to Asia (a difficult catch on 15735 kHz) from Komsomolsk-na-Amure that is located just north of Japan. DRM to Europe from 0700 to 1900 UT and again from 2000 to 2300 come from Taldom near Moscow and Bolshakovo in the Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland. English is from 0700 to 0900 UT on 11635 kHz (not just the one hour listed on the DRM web site) and from 1500 to 1600 on 9675 and 5905 kHz. The morning transmission usually provides good reception, but in general, DRM transmissions from Russia are poor, at bit rates higher than the 14.06 kbps that they use for the Russian language segments. I think that the Russian transmitters are locally modified redundant units left over from SSB or jammer duties. According to the latest DRM newsletter, Russia is moving forward quickly to replace their analogue services below 30 MHz with DRM that is ideally suited to covering vast land masses with just a few transmitters. Figure 2: Check out the Russian DRM web site via Google translation for an insight into developments in that vast country. Spain Both the domestic (RNE) and the external services (REE) are now using DRM. REE is on the air from 0500 to 0900 UT daily with a powerhouse signal on 9870 kHz. Programmes are in Spanish but there have some enjoyable music from time to time. Figure 3: Translate this site and you fill find a lot of information on DRM in Spain. RNE has fired up their 100 kW transmitter near Madrid (Arganda, that also had some shortwave senders a few years ago) on 1359 kHz. It is likely that they modified the 600 kW AM transmitter to be DRM capable. I can hear 1359 kHz but so far have had difficulty decoding it. Figure 4: The Arganda coverage map – sky wave propagation will widen this area after dark. Portugal RDP Internacional uses DRM from Sines (the DW site) at weekends on 9815 kHz from 0930-1100. Good reception in the UK but not very interesting! Bulgaria BNR and Radio Bulgaria have embraced DRM with some enthusiasm. The domestic Horizont HS-1 service is in DRM for 24 hours per week in a rather complicated schedule. On Saturday and Sunday the 0700-1000 UT service gets extended by 30 minutes to carry the English EuraNet service on 11900 kHz. BNR has opted for a low bit rate to ‘punch’ the signal through and it seems to work. Radio Bulgaria has 30 minute slots from 1730-2000 in various languages including English at 1830 on 9700 kHz. Getting Started with DRM It is difficult to get started using DRM due to a dearth of affordable receivers. I initially relied on a PC-based system to decode the DRM signal. The receiver was a Tatung TMR7602 (equivalent to the Sangean ATS 803A) that I purchased way back in 1989 together with a maintenance manual. I have added an IF converter board to the receiver that down shifts the 450 kHz IF to 12 kHz so that the data signal is within the operating range of a standard PC sound card. The board was made by Sat-Service Schneider http://www.satschneider.de/DRM/DRM.htm who offer several variants for both 455 kHz and 10.7 MHz IFs. You just need to be sure of the IF frequency of the radio before parting with your 25 Euro. Then you need to check if somebody else has successfully modified your radio to output 12 kHz signal using this board. Check out this link: http://www.drmrx.org/receiver_mods.html Figure 5: The DRM converter is tiny and comes with a good instruction sheet. The other part of the decoding process is a PC running either the DRM Software Receiver (£40 depending on the exchange rate) for Windows only or the DREAM open source decoder for Windows and Linux. You will find a link to a compiled (ready to run) version of DREAM for Windows on the Sat-Schneider web site. I have found that you need a PC running at about 1 GHz to have any chance of the software running. If you are a Linux fan, then you are expected to download the various source packages and compile your own version of the software. To put it mildly, this is a nightmare! Every version of Linux is different and I seemed to always get an error at the very last hurdle. The latest version of the Dream software does provide analysis of almost all the services and parameters in a DRM30 signal. The next stage is connecting the receiver to the PC. I favour using the MIC-In connector as it is a bit more sensitive and setting the level using the Windows audio controls. If you are having trouble setting the audio level, then here is a tip that may solve this problem. Windows XP has two places where you can configure the audio and they are not always in sync. First of all, check the audio controls accessible via the control panel and if this does not seem to be having the desired effect then look at the audio volume controls on the Quick Start menu. If all of the above sounds like a nightmare, then you will have to buy a DRM capable receiver. At the moment, the Technisat Multyradio is available from UK suppliers: Conrad-UK has it for about £163. Best to search via Google to find the rather complicated URL the gives the details for this unit. The Himalaya DRM 2009 is available through suppliers in the EU http://www.k-po.com/HIMALAYA-DRM-2009.2.html priced at 249 Euros plus shipping that should be about another 10 Euros. The Morphy Richards 20724 seems to be out of production. This is a shame, as their second version of the firmware was rather good and they had plans to add an external antenna connection in the mark 2 model. We all continue to wait for news of the Uniwave di-Wave 100 but the promised second production run has failed to materialise. Hopefully this model will not go the way of the Roberts MP40 receiver and become a broadcasters’ collector piece. You may find some of these radios on eBay and also keep an eye out for the Digital World Traveller that connected via USB to a PC although I would caution that Microsoft has tightened up on USB connected devices from Windows XP SP2 onwards, a development that knocked my USB- connected DAB radio for six! Log for November 2009 Frequency UTC Broadcaster Tx Parameters Audio 5790, 1500 BBC-DW A10 – 16/16 QAM 18.44 kbps Mono 5895, 1800 RRI B10 – 16/64 QAM 20.96 kbps Stereo 6015, 1505 TDP Radio B10 – 16/64 QAM 20.96 kbps Stereo 6060, 1510 Vatican B10 – 16/64 QAM 20.96 kbps Mono 6065, 1800 RRI B10 – 16/64 QAM 20.96 kbps Stereo 6085, 1515 BR5 B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.46 kbps Mono 6095, 1035 RTL Radio B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.46 kbps Stereo 7325, 1115 V of Russia B10 – 16/16 QAM 14.06 kbps Mono no SBR 9610, 0830 BBC – DW A10 – 16/16 QAM 18.44 kbps Stereo 9675, 1600 V of Russia B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.30 kbps Mono 9780, 0815 Sat/Sun REE B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.46 kbps Mono 9815, 0930 RDP A10 – 16/16 QAM 18.36 kbps Mono 9870, 0920 RNZI B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.08 kbps Set to Mono but No Audio 11635, 0745 V of Russia B10 – 16/64 QAM 17.46 kbps Mono 11900, 1000 Sun BNR Digital A10 – 4/16 QAM 14.76 kbps Mono 13810, 0900 BBC-DW A10 – 16/16 QAM 18.44 kbps Stereo More information on other aspects of digital radio next month. But, until then enjoy Christmas (Kevin Ryan, Monintoring Matters sample e- zine http://www.monitoring-matters.com/pdf.pdf via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DAB IN DECLINE, SAYS UTV RADIO (In the UK there is increasing reaction against the government's proposal to switch off analogue signals in 2015 and replace with a digital platform. Here is one example - Mike) Radio Today 1 December 2009 (UK National Radio) talkSPORT owner UTV Radio has responded to the announced by the Digital Radio Development Bureau that the cumulative UK sales of DAB digital radios have reached 10m. But UTV Media GB managing director Scott Taunton tells RadioToday.co.uk that figures indicate that annual DAB digital radio sales growth has actually gone into reverse, and it could take 60 years to convert to digital radio. Scott says: "If there are still 120m analogue radios in circulation, which industry RAJAR figures show, it means that after ten years of DAB less than ten per cent of UK radios have been converted to digital." UTV, which pulled out of the industry body RadioCentre last month, released a statement pointing out that in 2008, 2.2m DAB sets were sold, but in 2009, to date, only 1.3m sets have been sold. They also highlight that FM radio sales will outnumber DAB 3 to 1 in 2009, excluding sales of FM radios within mobile phones, demonstrating the ongoing popularity of analogue receivers. Scott continues: "Radio listeners have spoken. Today's disappointing DAB sales announcement is a resounding 'no' vote for the government's proposal to switch off analogue signals in 2015. Whilst cumulative sales of 10m digital sets prove that DAB is here to stay, there are 120 million analogue radios currently in circulation in the UK. At this rate of sales, it would take up to 60 years to convert them all to digital. "DAB is an important platform for radio, but I hope these figures will act as an wake up call for policy makers and Parliamentarians who have yet to realise that its best role is as a complementary platform for FM and AM, not a replacement." http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5421 The Digital Radio Development Bureau has responded to these claims at http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5425 (via Mike Terry, Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) Here in Taiwan, when DAB was introduced, it was rather funny. In Taipei, for example, every starting [sic] went to DAB and the government announced that by 2012, analogue AM and FM would be switched off. That was in 2005. Now in 2009, only one station stayed on DAB; all the rest stopped because of reaction by the public, having to invest in new radios. The minister who was involved in making the switch to DAB was fired and plans to make the switch in 2012 were scrapped. At the moment, DAB in the long term won't come. Companies that make DAB radios like Sangean and others have so much stock, it's not funny. On DRM for a moment, both Sangean and Datong did have plans to come out with a DRM receiver, but they both told me because of what happened with DAB in Taiwan, they are worried that if they came out with a DRM radio, the same thing would happen. The Datong sales rep told me a few weeks ago. They are keeping an eye on DRM, but since no major broadcaster has made the switch it, would not be a good business move to come out with a radio. Datong and Sangean define "major broadcaster" as Voice Of America, Radio France International, China Radio International and NHK World. They said that it's true, some European broadcasters are using DRM, but not enough to justify making the radios (Keith Perron, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTR See FRANCE ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HDTV getting a lot of letters to the editor complaints in NY Daily News. Inconsistent signals, no shows, 1-3 stations max --- this right in the heart of Manhattan and line of sight with Empire State Building! Complaints printed on unstable signals both with converter box (a few have overheated, Connecticut Post article three weeks ago) and *new* HDTV sets. Even in Manhattan, rabbit ears top of set placement very, very critical. Get one, lose two or more (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, Oct 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12 VDC ANALOG & DIGITAL PORTABLE TV, DX QUALITY I keep seeing this Prism 7" LCD portable unit advertised at various retail outlets. http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/shop_product_detail.jsp?filterBy=&skuId=481217&productId=481217&navAction=jump&navCount=3 CVS has it on sale this week for $79.99 with CVS card (lowest price I've seen for this unit). It includes rechargeable battery, AC & car adapter, remote control and input for external antenna. Not much info available through the CVS website, but online reviews through retailers like Walgreens, Target, Amazon, etc. sound promising. Any WTFDA member with a review on this unit? (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, Nov 23, WTFDA via DXLD) I bought one of these units this afternoon at CVS for $79.99. The clerk warned me not to buy it as customers had been returning them because "they don't work." She said she took one home and hooked it up to cable and it still didn't work. I suggested that the problem was likely with the antenna and that I thought the included rod antenna probably wouldn't do much. When I hooked it up at home it scanned 35 "channels" of which two are local analog LPTVs. All "full power" stations that I can regularly get on the Zenith box scanned in without any problem including channels 11 and 13 which can have problems at times. I'm going to keep it. The stations scanned in including Topeka and Kansas City with some stations from KC located 65-70 miles away. No tropo this afternoon so I can't say anything about DX. If Wichita is in tomorrow morning or tonight I will give them a try. KWCH-19 is usually in most days at some time from Hutchinson (CBS station for the Wichita-Hutchinson market). Saw a Haier earlier at Target for $129. CVS said the regular price for this unit is also $129.99. Like some of the Acurian HD radios that flooded eBay when they "didn't work," I think there is a chance that a lot of these will have the same fate and could be available soon to bid on. Speaking of Acurian, my third STB also failed. It was in daily service on a Samsung HDTV set with a built-in ATSC tuner that didn't perform as well. I have put the RCA ATSC-11 back on and hope it lasts longer. The other Samsung is hooked up to a Toshiba DVD recorder which is used as an STB as well. Will provide more information about the tuner when some out of area stations show up (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, ibid.) Dave, Thanks for taking a chance with the Prism 7" LCD unit. You said your scan picked up 35 channels. Was this with the built-in whip antenna or with your outdoor antenna connected to the Prism's antenna input? And, does it require an auto channel scan to locate stations OR will it allow you to enter the RF channel number manually? Also, any kind of signal meter included? Thanks (Steve, Indy, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ LUXEMBOURG EFFECT ON LONGWAVE: see BELARUS, TURKMENISTAN FM DX FROM EUROPE TO NORTH AMERICA Recently doing research on how one would get from North America (St Johns, Newfoundland - say) to 'Europe' on 2 meters/144 MHz. The Irish ham group established a trophy decades ago for the two stations connecting across the Atlantic first (144 MHz or higher); using terrestrial modes (tropo, Es, MS, Aurora). Have posted at this moment two extensive files, a third is in their hands waiting approval at http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/transatlantic Essence here is that there are Azores FM stations, one of which looks very promising for EE [double-hop sporadic E skip] into most any location from St John`s down to Miami; 90.5 MHz on Terceira Island, 22 kW from 3400 feet with a clean shot at ALL of you in North America. Read the posts (open to non-members), especially the third (when it gets posted). This (90.5; Antena 1 with I believe a web fed parallel service) should be the first European FM station for most members here (Bob Cooper in New Zealand, Nov 27, WTFDA via DXLD) 90.5 is semi-open here but FM not my priority. I would much rather pick up the low-power TV in Bermuda [q.v.] than pick up FM in Europe. Different strokes for different folks. Even if it was a first to me it would ho-hum. If the conditions were good to Europe i would give it a shot and if i did pick up Europe it would still be ho-hum. To me the fact that it can come about would be good news to others who enjoy FM and that would just show them that it can happen and to go for it (Roy Barstow, Old Cape Cod MA, ibid.) 90.5 is the best shot but hardly the only one; see what folows: Located on a significant elevation above the western side town of Santa Barbara, 3300+ feet at the tower base, are 90.5 (22 kW), 101.1 (only 400 watts; Radio Club de Angra) and 104.4 (Radio Horizonte; 1 kW). The communications central for this island is paved road to the top (called Serra do Cum). There are no (known) FM stations on Flores but west of Terceira and certainly 'in the way' for any direct ducting are São Jorge (FM 107.2), and Faial/Pico (FM 100.2). 90.5 on EE seems reasonable and at 22 kW and the 3300+ antenna height it (Antena 1) should get out very well (Bob Cooper in New Zealand, Nov 29, ibid.) THE SOLAR TSUNAMI November 24, 2009 NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft have provided evidence that Solar Tsunamis are real. The NASA report 'Monster Waves on the Sun are Real' says Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar tsunami." Years ago, when solar physicists first witnessed a towering wave of hot plasma racing along the sun's surface, they doubted their senses. The scale of the thing was staggering. It rose up higher than Earth itself and rippled out from a central point in a circular pattern millions of kilometers in circumference. Skeptical observers suggested it might be a shadow of some kind-a trick of the eye-but surely not a real wave. "Now we know," says Joe Gurman of the Solar Physics Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Solar tsunamis are real." "Tsunami waves can also improve our forecasting of space weather," adds Vourlidas, "Like a bull-eye, they 'mark the spot' where an eruption takes place. Pinpointing the blast site can help us anticipate when a CME or radiation storm will reach Earth." Read the full NASA report with pictures and movies at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/24nov_solartsunami.htm Thanks to George Boorer ZL3PN for spotting this item. (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/november2009/solar_tsunami.htm via Mike Terry, UK, Nov 26, dxldyg via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was initially quiet. An increase to quiet to unsettled with some isolated high latitude active periods (as well as a single minor storm period at high latitudes) occurred on 25-26 November. Activity returned to quiet levels for the remainder of the period from 27-29 November. Solar wind observations from the ACE spacecraft showed the onset of a co-rotating interaction region mid- day on 24 November, which was followed by the onset of a high speed stream. The high speed stream continued through 25 November with peak velocities around 470 km/s, and slowly declined on 26 November. The high speed stream was associated with the extension of the southern polar coronal hole as observed in solar EUV imagery. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 02 - 28 DECEMBER 2009 Solar activity is expected to be predominantly very low with just a slight chance for brief periods of 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 background levels through the period. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet for 2-4 December. An increase to quiet to unsettled levels is expected on 5-6 December due to a recurrent high speed stream. Activity levels are expected to be predominantly quiet for 7-17 December, followed by another increase to quiet to unsettled on 18 December, again due to a recurrent high speed stream. Quiet levels are expected to predominate for the remainder of the outlook period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Dec 01 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 Dec 01 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Dec 02 70 5 2 2009 Dec 03 70 5 2 2009 Dec 04 70 5 2 2009 Dec 05 70 8 3 2009 Dec 06 70 8 3 2009 Dec 07 70 5 2 2009 Dec 08 72 5 2 2009 Dec 09 72 5 2 2009 Dec 10 72 5 2 2009 Dec 11 75 5 2 2009 Dec 12 75 5 2 2009 Dec 13 75 5 2 2009 Dec 14 75 5 2 2009 Dec 15 75 5 2 2009 Dec 16 75 5 2 2009 Dec 17 75 5 2 2009 Dec 18 75 8 3 2009 Dec 19 75 5 2 2009 Dec 20 75 5 2 2009 Dec 21 75 5 2 2009 Dec 22 75 5 2 2009 Dec 23 75 5 2 2009 Dec 24 74 5 2 2009 Dec 25 73 5 2 2009 Dec 26 72 5 2 2009 Dec 27 71 5 2 2009 Dec 28 70 5 2 (SWPC Dec 1 via WORLD OF RADIO 1489, DXLD) ###