DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-086, December 22, 2009 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1492, Dec 23-29, 2009 Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [usually first airing] Wed 1930 South Herts Radio 3935 Wed 2000 WBCQ 7415 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 [pre-empted until January 9?] 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 Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Tue 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/ http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALASKA. “KNLS IS FAMOUS ALL OVER CHINA” World Christian Broadcasting operates shortwave station KNLS in Alaska, which is a member of NASB. The station broadcasts to Asia in Russian, Chinese and English. Recently, WCB sponsored a tour of China. Thirty-one persons visited the Chinese cities of Beijing, Xian, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. WCB President Charles Caudill described a very interesting experience he had on that trip which highlights the importance of shortwave radio in China: “A few weeks before leaving for China, I was contacted by e-mail with an invitation to speak for the worship service of one of the underground churches. I emailed back that I would be honored to bring the sermon. I was contacted shortly after that by someone who said she was my contact person and that she would also be my interpreter. She explained that she would meet [my daughter] Kelly and me in the lobby of our hotel and that we shouldn't try to come to them. No problem. We didn't have the address. We still don't. “At the agreed upon time, a young lady, talking on her cell phone, walked directly to me and called me by name. That's not too surprising since I was the only American man in the crowded lobby. We took a cab and rode for almost an hour. She asked the driver to stop a few blocks from our destination. She did not want the cab driver to know where we were going. We walked those several blocks and were told we were near the building where the church meets regularly. We walked by another building to make sure we were not being followed. After a cell phone call, the lobby door opened and we took an elevator to one of the top floors. Another cell phone call got the door to the apartment opened. We walked into a room that was set up for a worship service – song books, Bibles and study materials. “Why all of the clandestine moves? Remember, what we were about to do is illegal in China. The participants could be subject to arrest, or even worse. The authorities probably would not have done any violence to Kelly or me because we were foreigners. They simply would have sent us home. “For years we have wondered about the reception of the KNLS signal in the large cities of China. Our monitors tell us the signal is being received, but that frequently the signal is jammed. We were also concerned about the relatively small amount of mail we receive from this particular city. At the same time we realize that it is illegal to write to us. And now that emails are monitored by the Chinese government, many of our listeners are even afraid to send emails to us. “So, when I asked the question at the beginning of my talk, 'How many of you are familiar with KNLS?' I was surprised when more than one half of those young people raised their hands with smiles on their faces. Two of them even spoke out and said, “KNLS is famous in [their city.]” Afterward, a patent attorney, one of the leaders of the congregation, told me that the statements made during worship were true. He said, “KNLS is famous all over China.” He said that he listens every day and is a great fan of [KNLS announcer] Edward Short. He expressed surprise that Edward is American and not Chinese. He was amazed that someone other than a native Chinese could display such excellent use of their language.” (Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Source not given, but evidently the PR department of KNLS. ``Frequently the signal is jammed`` --- really? We have not noticed any regular ChiCom jamming upon KNLS, i.e. CNR1 or Firedrake co- channel. There are, however, as we have outpointed before, some instances where thru poor frequency management, KNLS has been on the same frequency as the China/Taiwan radio war! The current Aoki list, which keeps close track of ChiCom-jammed frequencies, does not show that on any KNLS Chinese or other language channels. Are KNLS claiming to be jammed as badge of honor, to stir up sympathy and financial support; or is it maybe shortrange groundwave jamming DX monitors could not hear? The only `religion` the ChiCom seem interested in jamming is Falun Gong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MADAGASCAR ** ALBANIA [and non]. Noted some interference from China Radio International at 2100 affecting Radio Tirana's English transmission on 7430, with CRI being on 7425. Modulation still very shallow, with doesn't help with beating interference (Chris Lewis, England, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It was hard to find a frequency without co-channel interference, so may have to put up with adjacent-channel. Or do you a better replacement in mind for this transmission? There are certain 6 and 7 MHz frequencies R. Tirana cannot use for technical reasons, whether they are clear or not (gh, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. 7245, Rádio Nacional Angola (very tentative), 2305, 12.12.09, in Portuguese. Woman with occasional man talking. The signal was quite poor with significant fading, but there were occasional Portuguese words heard. Definitely not a tonal language. (CNR 2 via Beijing in Mandarin is the other thing on at this time per schedules) (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, ICOM R 75, Eton e1, Grundig S 800 & G5, Kaito 1103; Alpha Delta Sloper, Flextenna, EWE, attic mounted Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) 4949.8, Rádio Nacional de Angola, 2347-0016 Dec 13, man with talk in Portuguese followed by vocal selection. Time pips at 0000 followed by nice ID and news by a man announcer. Music fanfare, canned ID and music programming followed at 0005. Poor and somewhat over modulated (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) 945, RNA-Serviço Internacional, Mulenvos, 2117-2136 17 Dec, vernacular talks, African music, Portuguese at 2200, pops; 42431, QRM de France. 4949.8, RNA-Canal "A", Mulenvos, 1922-1954, 20 Dec, Portuguese, football news, short African light music interlude prior to "Programa Desportivo", a relay from sister channel "Rádio 5"; 44433, adjacent utility QRM, fair modulation level this time. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Maurits, Have you tried for LRA36 lately? I have not seen any reports of it for several weeks and suspect it is off the air again. 73, (Glenn to Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Dec 20, via DXLD) No, nothing, Glenn, on 15476, LRA36. But Mexico was good in the 49 MB!! 73, (Maurits Van Driessche, ibid.) ** ASIA [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA RELEASES WINTER OLYMPIAD QSL CARD DECEMBER 2009 Radio Free Asia announces its 31st QSL card that is scheduled for distribution for all confirmed reception reports dated January 1 to March 31, 2010. This QSL card commemorates the 2010 Winter Olympiad in Vancouver, Canada which will be held February 12-28, 2010. The Games have always brought people from around the world together in peace to respect universal moral principles. The card shows an adaptation of the graphic of Radio Free Asia’s Olympic pin, as created by RFA’s Brian Powell, which was originally used for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This contemporary version adds a winter cap incorporating the Vancouver 2010 color scheme. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at http://www.rfa.org RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org, and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to: Reception Reports Radio Free Asia 2025 M Street NW, Suite 300 Washington DC 20036 United States of America. Upon request, RFA will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker (via Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) The QSL illustration shows a PANDA in a snow cap. Come on, how about something Canadian this time? (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2355 kHz, New Station & site?? I spotted this item in the aus.radio.broadcast forum today. QUOTE Congratulations to the Greeks in Sydney 2368 kHz; seems to be working nicely. I can hear it on the Gold Coast at night a little too good. 2355 has been heard at whisper levels compared to the Greeks here. So congrats to Craig Allen. Craig's has the much more pleasant audio quality. So we now have the ABC on 2310, 2325, 2485 at night from Alice. With Greek programming and Craig's bible readings on the HF Domestic Scene. Any updates, boys, post `em here please (Station X) END QUOTE Now the ACMA site gives the following locations for this frequency from this owner. 131 Waratah Crescent FANNIE BAY Benson Street Rosslea TOWNSVILLE Broadcast Site CRAIGIEBURN ARN STL Rx Site ST HELENA ISLAND Broadcasting site Burton Road PARALOWIE Land at rear of Lot 1 42 Giffard Street SILVERWATER 4274 West Swan Road WEST SWAN I hear nothing from my location so far, but given that the news item poster lives in southern Queensland I'm postulating that the transmission might be from: ARN STL Rx Site ST HELENA ISLAND, which is located in the Brisbane area; but I could be wrong. Coordinates for the above site are: 27 22 44S, 53 14 04E - This is site for some of Brisbane's MW stations. The owner lives in Western Sydney, so could the test site be in Silverwater, Sydney? I haven't seen any DXer reports thus far. At the coordinates below there is a loaded vertical antenna. -33.830735 151.045425 as seen with the GE Jan 20, 2007 image. At 1100 UT on Dec 13th on 2355 nothing heard. More investigation required. We would be interested to hear what others are hearing or know of this domestic broadcaster which I assume is still in test phase (Ian Baxter, Australia, Dec 13, shortwavesites yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) Well, after some communication with Peter Tate in Queensland apparently it WASN'T Craig Allen that briefly appeared on 2355 kHz recently. BUT it appears that Craig is close to getting on air on his other frequency of 3210 kHz which is a NVIS antenna with 1 kW. There are apparently some issues with regard to mains power at the end of a long powerline run. Perhaps when the power issues are resolved we could expect the station to appear on air in 2010. The transmitter site is listed for St. Marys in western Sydney, but I note on the broadcasting licence that there is no precision information associated with it, so one can't be specific about its location. The coordinates point to an industrial area of St. Mary's & of course GE & Google St. View show nothing. Maybe the Sydney ARDXC guys know more? Hopefully more news to report re this planned radio station (and shortwave transmitter site) next year. Regards (Ian Baxter, Dec 17, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 9580, Radio Australia at 1815 tune-in with 70th anniversary program looking at RA history, highs and lows, ending with numerous recorded greetings to 1830. Good Dec 19 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, Eton E-1, Sony AN-1 antenna, listening from car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Thought you might like to know about today's Radio Australia program about the history of Radio Australia. It includes some phenomenal historical recordings. I listened to it via the WRN. 11:00/12:00 UTC Radio Australia: English News, Correspondents' Report, Talking Point (59.00 minutes) Best (Charles Harlich, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So was that on Talking Point? Must have been excerpt from longer show. Looking for it on RA website I don`t find any specific topix listed. Access to RA anniversary stuff: http://blogs.radioaustralia.net.au/70/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Didn't anybody hear it? Last night there was an extremely strong signal on 6080 at 1150 and identifying as ABC Local Radio with T/C's for WAST. Then an awful klaxon sound. Realised it was a Cyclone Warning for "Lawrence" which made a landfall on WA coast. Kept repeating text of warning both from Weather Bureau and State Emergence Service (SES). Program was for NW Western Australia and i/d as ABC Local Radio NW Western Australia. At 1220 advised that an Update was due at 1315 and until then resumed normal programming from Perth, presumably. Suspect it was relayed from Shepparton off satellite as 6020 was equal strength. Signal was perfect, 555 with little QSB. Doubt it will be there tonight as there has been no update on local news so storm may have been downgraded (Robin Harwood VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Radio Monitor SWLR-KS001, Dec 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RA 6080 from Shep is normally scheduled 14-21 only (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) Well, it must have been a one-off transmission because it was not there on the 22nd. Press reports now state that the storm has moved inland and damage was minimal, although thousands of cattle at one station were wiped out. Looks as if RA makes senders available if there is a significant major disaster is about or already has happened, probably if local senders are unavailable through damage (Robin Harwood VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Radio Monitor, SWLR-KS001, Dec 23, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 6230-USB, VMW, Wiluna, Western Australia. 1239-1251* December 20, 2009. Male marine forecast, mention of Western Australia and Western Standard Time, then "... end of transmission from VMW for this part of the programme." Off. Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Programa especial desde Australia == SONDERPROGRAMM Reenvío a ustedes comunicación de Esther Neufeld sobre transmisión de la HCJB en alemán desde Kununurra el día 25 de diciembre. Saludos, Eduardo Peñailillo B. P.S.: La señora Neufeld no me supo indicar hacia dónde estará destinada esta transmisión; sólo que se emitirá desde Australia. De: Esther Neufeld Asunto: Programa especial desde Australia Fecha: miércoles, 16 diciembre, 2009, 7:39 pm Estimados amigos radioescuchas, les envío cordiales saludos desde Radio HCJB - Die Stimme der Anden - desde Quito Ecaudor con el anuncio que en el día 25 de diciembre (el 78 aniversario de Radio HCJB) habrá para los intersados DXistas un programa especial Alemán de Horst Wiese, transmitido por las antenas de HCJB-Australia en Kununurra en la frecuencia de 15340 kHz a las 1500 UT. Que tengan una felíz Navidad y que la Paz de Dios llene vuestros corazones! (Esther Neufeld, Dec 16, via Peñailillo, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Subject: [INTRUDER ALERT] new OTH --- 7000.0 +/- 20 - 40 kHz, new OTH Radar with 3 pulses(sweeps)/sec - sounding similar to Codar HF-Radar - weak signals with QSB - audible every afternoon and evening in Germany - Bearings from the German PTT were showing Far East, possibly Australia. Can you help me with further infos or observations? If we can get the exact location, I will ask our PTT for an official complaint. 73 from (Wolf, DK2OM, INTRUDERALERT mailing list Dec 20 via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) One of the hardware gear at AUS, VK OTHR South Bruny Island, Google Earth 43 23'58.33"S 147 12'58.54"E (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** AZORES. 828, Antena 1 Açores, Monte das Cruzes, Flores, 1225-1306 (!), 21 Dec, local program with Portuguese songs, announcement at nearly 1230 introducing an Antena 1 sports program relay from Lisboa right afterwards, then more music until 1300 when they joined Lisboa again for a news bulletin; 24432 at best of course, adjacent QRM de E 837. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 1540, ZNS1 Radio Bahamas, Nassau, New Providence. 0122- 0130 December 18, 2009. Nice Junkanoo/soca version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by female singer, replacing the lyrics with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, visits every island town..." Brilliant! (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see USA for disclaimer ** BAHRAIN. 9745, R. Bahrain, 0512 26 Nov, ad, talk in Arabic (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 9745, R. Bahrain, 1202 10 Nov, Koran singing, under CRI, 21431 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, ibid.) ** BANGLADESH. PRIME MINISTER INAUGURATES 1000-KILOWATT MW TRANSMITTER OF BANGLADESH BETAR AT DHAMRAI Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally launched 1000-Kilowatt MW transmitter of the Bangladesh Betar by pressing a button at the Super power Transmission Centre, Dhamrai near Dhaka on December 09, 2009. She was talking to local people in a video conference after inaugurating the newly installed 1000-kilowatt medium-wave transmitter. The prime minister understand the need for building a science and technology based modern Bangladesh free from hunger and poverty by implementing the "Vision 2021". The Prime Minister said her government, after assuming office through a free, fair and credible election on December 29, is working relentlessly to build a self-reliant Bangladesh through implementing it election pledge. She said apart from bringing down the prices of essential commodities, her government has undertaken various programmes for self-employment of the country's young generation. Information Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury briefed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the transmitter, its utility and on the whole of the installation project. Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad, members of parliament, high officials of Bangladesh Betar including Md. Mahbubul Alam, DG, Bangladesh Betar and a large number of local people were present on the occasion. Project in a brief: - The project ended in June 2009. - To strengthen the MW radio broadcasting of Bangladesh Betar, Dhaka by replacing the 36 year-worn out valve type 1000KW Medium Wave(MW) transmitter by a new solid-state 1000KW MW transmitter. - Efficiency of the new transmitter will be much better than the existing one. 95% area of the country will be covered by this high quality transmitter. - The new transmitter has the energy saving provisions which will be helpful to avoid huge electricity consumption. - The new modern solid -state transmitter is compatible to future DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) broadcast. - A generator of 1500KVA is included to meet power failures. - Cost (revised) about 350 million (BDT) . (Source : Bangladesh Betar website) A photo of the inauguration is also available at this link : http://www.betar.org.bd/events.html Mohammed Riad Hashmi, S21TC from Dhaka, Bangladesh informs about the make & model No of the transmitter: Thomson S7HP TMW 21200 Deatils about this transmitter: http://www.grassvalley.com/products/s7hp Freq is 693 kHz (This is a replacement transmitter) An old Thomson press release from DX Listening Digest April 19, 2008: THOMSON SUPPLIES SUPER POWER MW TRANSMITTER FOR NATIONAL SERVICE ENHANCEMENT IN BANGLADESH Las Vegas (National Association of Broadcasters Convention — Booths SL106/SL2120) April 12, 2008 — Bangladesh Radio (BETAR) has ordered 1000 kW radio transmitters from Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) to upgrade its existing broadcast network for nationwide coverage. As a large percentage of the Bangladesh population is located in rural areas, AM radio is very often the only way to reach and inform them. Thomson's low-power medium-wave transmitters have already been installed by BETAR radio stations across Bangladesh and the new super power transmitter from Thomson will be used to transmit and relay national radio programs throughout the country. "Radio is the cheapest and most versatile medium for reaching out to the grass root level and is still the most widespread communication media in Bangladesh," said BETAR (Radio) Chief Engineer Shekh Ruhul Amin. "The efficiency of the new high power transmitter from Thomson will greatly increase our network efficiency meaning we will be able to use it to broadcast to 95% of the country. In addition, thanks to its energy saving capacities, the new transmitter from Thomson will help BETAR to reduce electricity consumption" BETAR, the Bangladesh government owned national radio network has played a pivotal role towards developing the country's information networks since its creation in 1938. This year BETAR will go on air with a powerful new 1000 kW S7HP transmitter from Thomson based in its Super Power Transmitting Station at Dhamrai. The decision to choose Thomson's solutions for this strategic medium wave project was based on the transmitter's high performance, technical compliance and compatibility with DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) solutions. "Thomson's 1000 kW S7HP transmitter is the only transmitter in Bangladesh through which national programs will be transmitted and relayed by other stations," said Patrick Montliaud, Senior Vice President of Thomson's Integration and Networks Solutions business unit, within the Systems division. "This transmitter will be the heart of Bangladesh BETAR (Radio) and we are proud to be the solution provider for such an important national project." About S7HP The S7HP transmitter line is Thomson's answer to the needs of high quality analog and DRM LW/MW performance from 300 kW to 1200 kW and more. Built exclusively on digital processing techniques, S7HP is equipped with the advanced modulation technology and intrinsic flexibility needed for the complex modulation schemes of digital modulation techniques. The S7HP holds the world's record for output power in DRM mode vs. analog/PEP capability. The transmitters feature reduced floor space design combined with full access. Customers esteem the easy, low-cost installation, operation and maintenance of this transmitter line (via Steve Whitt, UK, MWC via DX Listening Digest April 19, 2008) ---- (via Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ Dec 17, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar. 1155-1205 December 20, 2009. Tune-in to tail end of sitar, then a very convenient "Bangladesh Betar..." by man, subcontinental fill music, time sounders 1200 into Bengali female talk, man from 1203. Very strong, impressive signal (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4750, Bangladesh Betar – Shavar (Tentative), 1222, 12/20/09, in Bengali. South Asian style music with male announcer. Music and language sounded more South Asian and on a morning with Indian regionals rolling in, rather than Indonesian language or music (RRI Makassar also on this frequency.) Poor (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, attic mounted Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BARBADOS. Duvidas --- Tenho lido diversos logs de emissoras caribenhas, que são possíveis devido a propagação transequatorial que ocorre normalmente entre outubro a março .. Tenho lido artigos para começar a compreender o fenômeno. Gostaria saber se é possível sintonizar essas emissoras aqui no estado de SP ou apenas nos estados do Sul do Brasil? Alguém já sintonizou aqui no estado de SP? Há muito tempo atrás, quando eu nunca tinha ouvido falar nesse assunto, me lembro que estava na garagem de casa ouvindo o Pionner DEH-425 com antena externa (aquelas Olympus telescópicas pretas), sintonizado em 93.7 USP FM e por volta de 2230 UT entrou uma emissora com talk inglês, músicas diversas e permaneceu por volta de 10 minutos e depois sumiu. Isso foi em Janeiro, pois me lembro que estava em férias. Pode ser alguma dessas emissoras ? 73, (Adriano Mansette, Americana-SP, Dec 18, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Prezado Adriano, Ainda hoje a 0100 UT (ou seja 23 horas de 18/12 aqui) voltei a ouvir as emissoras de Barbados aqui em São Carlos, 100 km a noroeste de Americana. Já há vários anos venho relatando a escuta destas emissoras aqui em minha cidade, talvez não tenha visto. Emissões do Caribe já foram sintonizadas em outras partes do estado de São Paulo tambem. Nossa localização parece ser favorável às emissoras de Barbados. As escutas de hoje se deram com boa qualidade depois de uma ausência de recepção desde o fim de Novemvbro. O Horário indicado para tentar ouvir é entre 2300 e 0200 UT, mas pode ser um pouco antes ou depois destes horários. Voce poderá tentar as frequencias de 90.7, 92.1, 92.9, 94.7, 95.3, 100.7, 98.1, 96.9, frequencias estas onde já ouvi emissoras de Barbados aqui em São Carlos ou em outros lugares de São Paulo. Um abraço, (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos SP, ibid.) ** BELARUS. 6155, Radiostation Belarus – Minsk , 2204–2215, 12/09/09, in English. Short news items separated by the same bumper, 2110 ID, full schedule and postal address, start of informational program. Programmers were hired from Radio Moscow. Good (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, ICOM R 75, Eton e1, Grundig S 800 & G5, Kaito 1103; Alpha Delta Sloper, Flextenna, EWE, attic mounted Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Belgica: RTBF Cierra las emisiones --- El amigo y colega Yimber Gaviria participa de esta noticia cuya fuente es Mundo DX de la Asociación DX Barcelona. Reserven más lugar en vuestros archivos históricos... Habrá más emisoras internacionales que se despiden pero no apaguen la radio de onda corta. Saludos (Rubén G. Margenet, Argentina, Dec 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) Viz.: La emisora de expresión francesa de Bélgica, RTBFI, anuncia que el proximo 31-12-2009 cerrará las emisiones por onda corta. Actualmente emite por 9970 KHz y por el sistema digital DRM emite los martes y jueves por 9925 KHz. Este es el anuncio en su página web: "Al igual que otras radio europeas, RTBF ha decidido dejar de emitir sus transmisiones en onda corta a partir de diciembre 31 de 2009 a las 23:15. Usted puede seguir escuchando RTBF International: En Europa y el mundo a través de streaming de Internet, y escuchar a demanda todos los canales de radio de la RTBF. En África por Satélite (PR3) y en FM en Kinshasa, en 99.2, con el apoyo de la Comunidad francesa de Bélgica. En onda media (621 kHz), incluyendo la costa y en las regiones vecinas (300 km alrededor de Bruselas.") Fuente: Mundo DX - Asociación DX Barcelona http://adxb-mundodx.blogspot.com/2009/12/rtfb-cierra-las-emisiones.html (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, via Margenet, ibid.) RTBF International confirms dropping shortwave RTBF International has confirmed that its shortwave transmissions [currently on 9970 kHz] will cease as of 2215 UTC on 31 December. Transmissions will continue on the mediumwave transmitter in Belgium on 621 kHz, on FM 99.2 MHz in Kinshasa, and via the AB3 satellite in Africa. It’s not clear if the station will continue to use the Hotbird satellite in Europe, as the website only says that listeners in Europe can listen via the Internet, either streaming or on demand. (Source: RTBF website)(December 21st, 2009 - 12:53 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, Thimpu is operating and appears to be *0030 sign on (not confirmed) and sign off 1500*. I hear the station best at 0100 past fadeout 0200 with very distinct Dongza format and language. I am sure this is the old transmitter or the 50 kW at much reduced power. Keeping in mind that this is already December, going by previous years signal should be very strong, if it is 50 kW. Also hear it around 1000 till about 1100 when it is swamped by adjacent stations, which again indicates much less than 50 kW, Dec 07 (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. As noted last Friday Dec 11, V. of Biafra International was missing from WHRI 15665 at its previously scheduled time of 19-20 UT. As 1900 approached on Dec 18, I checked the WHR and VOBI websites. At WHR, VOBI is now nowhere to be found; checking the Angel-1 and Angel-5 schedules, other things are shown Friday during this hour (and surely not both of them are really on same frequency at same time!). Their own website http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm still shows 15280 Fri 20-21 UT which was used only briefly sometime last year. They do have an audio file for Dec 11 which I belatedly started listening to, in case there be any explanation. After many minutes of anthems and the usual sign-on routine, they finally got to the anti- Nigerian `news`, and at that very point the file started hiccuping, buffering, even backing up and repeating itself. This was on their own clipstream player rather than downloading first for an external media player. During the first quarter-hour, at least, nothing at all said about any change in their schedule. Or for that matter, anything at all about their schedule, but they gave up on that some weeks ago as the frequency kept being changed. I listened until the same announcer switched into Igbo. At 1900 UT Dec 18 checked 15665 anyway and it was off the air. Perhaps Angels 1 and 5 cancel each other out? Axually, a great deal of the WHR SW schedule on their website is imaginary. It makes sense only to go on the air when they have paid programming, instead of WHR-produced fill, but why do they claim otherwise? So are VOBI done for? We might look around for a replacement transmission in the 19-22 UT period this Friday, but if any, they aren`t saying. So far, no reports of it received. And we shall see whether a Dec 18 audio file be forthcoming. Not as the final hour of UT Dec 18 was ticking away, nor at 1617 check Dec 19, nor at 2330 Dec 22 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Noted in Florida 2330 to 2345 on December 16th: 4451.127, Radio Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma still on at 2345 73s (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.8, R. Eco, Reyes, 2252-, 18 Dec, Castilian, talks; 15331. 4716.5, R. Yatun Ayllu Yura, Yura, 2244-2259, 18 Dec, Quechua, Indian tunes & songs; 35422. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.8, Radio Eco, Reyes, Beni, 2316-2325, 19-12, música de flauta, canciones, locutor. 14321. (Méndez) 4716.7, Radio Yura, Yura, 2313-2320, 19-12, canciones bolivianas, locutora, comentarios. Señal muy débil. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 3364.95, R Cultura, Araraquara, SP, 0012, Fr Dec 04, Portuguese full ID with frequencies and mentions of Araraquara. Preceded by male and female talks and interviews, religious content. Signal peaking at 2212 local transmitter time. Regularly heard in recent weeks (Graham E. Bell, Cape Town, South Africa, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) 3365, R. Cultura, Araraquara SP, 2222-2236, 17 Dec, religious propaganda & songs to match; 45333 (!). 4865, R. Verdes Florestas, Cruzº do Sul AC, 2256-2315, 17 Dec, religious news followed by songs in some live show in Cruzeiro do Sul itself; 45422, occasional USB QRM. 11925.2, R. Bandeirantes (why are this and certain others marked *=inactive in the WRTH 2009, 2010?), São Paulo SP, 1917-1932, 17 Dec, "Serviço Bandeirantes" news magazine, with ads, traffic infos & evgen [?] music; 35444. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Carlos` full report on Brasil, many more logs plus other countries appeared in the dxldyg (gh) ** BRAZIL. 6135, R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP, 2153-2208, 19 Dec, "Encontro DX", full ID & frequency announcement, TS and into the usual religious propaganda program "Com a Mãe Aparecida"; 55444; \\ 5035, 9630, 11855 all good. 9675, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista SP, 1934-2005, 19 Dec, infos, songs, rosary at 2000; 34432, but very good at 2000, with no adjacent QRM. Bad modulation. 9819.5, R. 9 de Julho, São Paulo SP, 2145-2158, 19 Dec, Portuguese music program "Caravela do Fado"; 33442, QRM de CHN 9820. 11815, R. Brasil Central, Goiânia GO, 2222-2250, 20 Dec, oldies prgr "Bons Tempos", brief news bulletin at 2230; 45433; \\ 4985 stronger, but fluttery this time. The conditions have been the other way round at this time, which is normal, with 25 m signals being weak and/or fluttery at 2200+. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - Desde Capão da Canoa (RS), Édison Bocorny Júnior informa que a Rádio Congonhas, da cidade mineira do mesmo nome, tem tido boa sintonia, nos últimos dias, na freqüência de 4775 kHz. Entretanto, segundo ele, o sinal está distorcido. A sintonia ocorre a partir do anoitecer. A emissora também tem sido monitada, em Porto Alegre (RS), pelo Paulo Roberto Peres Michelom (Célio Romais blog Dec 14 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5940, Voz Missonária (tentative), 0132-0203 Dec 9, after vocal selection, canned ID by man announcer but somewhat overmoduated followed by another man with Portuguese talk. Religious talk at 0148 and some choir vocals. Possible ID at 0200 followed by ballads. Poor to fair but steadily improving. Noted again on Dec 12 at 0350 with Portuguese religious talks at fair level. I’ve seen reports for Radio Melodía, Perú on this channel at this hour but unheard by me (Rich D'Angelo, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A., Ten-Tec RX- 340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 5940, R. Voz Missionária (Presumed), Camboriú SC, 2257-2317, 09 Dec, religious propaganda, songs; 23431, QRM de V of Russia in Portuguese until 2200, then in Russian. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5940.01, R Paz no Valle, Camboriu, Dec 19, 0509, Portuguese sung ID & preaching, fair but slight het from presumed R Melodia 5939.22 [PERU] (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5940.01, Voz Missionária, 0015-0035, Dec 20, Portuguese talk. ID at 0020. Announcements. Promos. Contemporary Portuguese religious music. Portuguese preacher. Voz Missionária ID and mention of Radio Paz no Valle. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) BRASIL, 5940, Voz Missionária, Camboriú, Santa Catarina (probable), 0752-0800, 20-12, portugués, locutor, programa religioso: "A Igreja de Deus". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Colegas. Segue respostas as nossas dúvidas a respeito da localização e potência dos transmissores da Rádio Voz Missionária. O contato como podem ver abaixo é do Sr. Luiz Carlos Machado que me respondeu através desse gentil e-mail. 73 Assunto: Gideões Missionários da Última Hora: Local dos Transmissores da Radio Voz Missionária em 9665 kHz e da Voz Missionária em 5940 kHz Prezados Senhores. Sou participante de um grupo de radioescutas e estamos com uma dúvida que gostaria que os senhores nos tirasse: Onde se encontra os transmissores das Radios Voz Missionária em 9665 kHz e 5940 kHz? Qual a potência de seus transmissores? Qual a direção das antenas de cada uma delas? Informo que moro em Feira de Santana no estado da Bahia e o sinal da Radio Voz Missionária em 5940 khz tem chegado até aqui com um sinal que varia entre fraco a moderado e moderado na frequência de 9665 kHz. Meu blog como radioescuta http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 Atenciosamente, (Jorge Freitas, Dec 12, to RVM via Cumbre DX via DXLD) De: Gideões Missionários da Última Hora contato @ gideoes.com.br De: Luiz Carlos Machado luizgideoes @ hotmail.com Ola, Jorge Freitas, Tudo Bem? [sic:] A EMISSORA RADIO VOZ MISSIONARIA, SÃO 3 FREQÜENCIAS 25 METROS ESTÁ LOCALIZADA NA CIDADE DE CAMBORIU SC ( OBS: ESTA, ESTÁ FORA DO AR , MAIS VAI ENTRAR NO AR ATÉ MES DE JANEIRO DE 2010 ) 31 METROS FREQUENCIA 9.665 POTENCIA 10.000 WTS NO MOMENTO ESTÁ LOCALIZADA NA CAPITAL DE TODOS OS CATARINENSES FLORIANÓPOLIS SC - (OBS ATÉ JANEIRO DE 2.010 ESTE TRANSMISSOR VAI TRANSMITIR DIRETO DE CAMBORIU SC) 49 METROS FREQÜENCIA 5.940 POTENCIA 10.000 WATS ( OBS ESTE TRANSMISSOR JA ESTÁ TRANSMITINDO DIRETO DA CIDADE DE CAMBORIU SC - ATÉ JANEIRO TODAS ESTAS FREQUENCIAS ESTARÃO FUNCIONANDO EM CAMBORIU SC UM ABRAÇO DE SEU AMIGO (Luiz Carlos Machado, Diretor, Dec 18, via Freitas, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 5990, Radio Senado, Brasília DF, *0928-0938, Dec 17, abruptly on at 0928 with Brazilian ballads. Opening Portuguese ID announcements at 0930. Rooster crow at 0931 and talk. Strong. Very good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 10000, Observatório Nacional, Brasília, 0157 15 Oct, good in Portuguese; also 0350 16 Oct, good to excellent (Richard W Parker, Pennsburg PA, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) At least I think an underlined day of the month means it was Oct instead of Nov in the log listings column, but never explained. Seldom reported from NAm or at these hours, a tough catch vs WWV/H (gh, DXLD) 10000, PPE Observatório Nacional, Brasil. 0117-0122 December 18, 2009. Time announcements in Portuguese every 10 seconds (:03 mark) followed by a single time sounder; announcement by a she/he-male begins with "Observatório Nacional" each time. Very weak WWV present. Best copy to date (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. RNA, Brasília, Dec 17 already on at 0636, 11780 // 6185. A few minutes earlier at 0631, 6185 was still clear for XEPPM music, so cut on sometime in the interim (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MEXICO RNA, Brasília, at 0640 Dec 19, 11780 on the air with open carrier only, so checked 6185 and it was also on but already modulating music atop XEPPM. By 0643, 11780 was // in violin with guitar accompaniment. During the OC I could also hear Pastor Pete Peters as WWCR 5890 was overloading and making a harmonic in the FRG-7; along with DGS 5935 mixing with WEWN fundamental on 11870. I checked these on the YB-400 and found them much stronger, which doesn`t compute unless they depend on internal receiver circuitries` harmonic-suppression capabilities. There seemed to be a threshold effect on the FRG-7 as the WWCR audio would surge in and out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL: 9645.3, ZYE957 Radio Bandeirantes (presumed); 2310- 2321+, 16-Dec; 2M discussion in Portuguese with many ments of Brasil & Brasília. SIO=3+33- till 2313 when strong RHC Cuba IS came up on 9640 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW + 86 ft. coil dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Glenn, Sobre o seu comentário a respeito da Radio Bandeirantes, 9-085: ""BRAZIL. 11925, R. Bandeirantes, SP, Dec 14 at 0708 with 5:08 timecheck, report on Copenhagen demonstrations with constant music bed indicating they are not serious about purveying news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)"" A Radio Bandeirantes é uma referência em notícias aqui no Brasil. Sua programação jornalística sobre os diversos assuntos sempre é mais confiável e mais imparcial que as demais emissoras. Provavelmente no horário que você escutou a programação jornalística de peso ainda não tinha começado, prova o horário de sua escuta. A Radio Bandeirantes tem em sua grade muito pouco de música, a não ser durante as madrugadas. Sempre a estou ouvindo e sempre observo boas coberturas dos assuntos do momento no mundo e não foi diferente com a Cúpula em Copenhague durante a sua programação a partir das 1000 UT. Um abraço (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had dismissed RB as a news station because they were playing music under the news for dramatic effect, or just to liven it up? You don`t hear serious news stations in English doing that, NPR, CBC, CBS or BBC, for example. But Jorge assures us that RB is a serious and reliable news source, better than other stations. Later in the morning they don`t play much music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [non]. Esta mañana (13 de diciembre) pude captar la señal de TDF en 17875 KHz con las pruebas DRM para Brasil, estas se estan realizando desde 8 al 17 de diciembre entre las 1300-2145 UT. Presentan una mezcla de emisoras como Radio Nacional da Amazonia, Radio MEC, Radio Extra, Radio Nacional Rio de Janeiro. Pueden escuchar un audio en: http://www.goear.com/listen/540b3d7/DRM-para-Brasil-desde-TDF-Guyana-Rafael-R. (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, Conexión Digital Dec 20 via DXLD) Station heard on the clip is Radio Nacional do Rio, FM. Sounds like a lo-quality webcast; or did the original sound better? Interesting they are putting Brazilian stations on these tests (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BULGARIA. 15700, R. Bulgaria, Friday Dec 18 at 1448 with hauntingly beautiful choral music, Bulgarian announcement, 1452 to different folk music involving YLs shouting and clapping, accordion-like accompaniment. This semihour is often good for music variety from RB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After sending several signal reports to Radio Bulgaria recently, I received an English schedule but no QSL or confirmation of my report. Anyone else had this recently? (Darryl Jones, ODXA yg via DXLD) Radio Bulgaria requires 6 reception reports to obtain a QSL card that will verify all 6 reports on one card. Hope this helps, 73 (Mick Delmage, AB, Dec 15, ibid.) They should at least explain the policy with the first non-QSL (gh) ** CANADA. My web search for media news revealed that Radio Canada International is conducting its Roots National Challenge: "Radio Canada International is looking for original productions, in all styles, that present a story about your roots or lack of. Avant- garde, sit-com, short docs, all styles are welcome in video, animated shorts, photo essays, anything that shows the story in a visual form!" Looking further into the contest, I noticed that the rules include this about eligibility: "Contestants must be 18 years or over at the time of entering the contest, be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident." An example of why Glenn Hauser has dubbed the station Radio Canada Internal. Posted: 20 Dec 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** CANADA. CKZU-CBU, 6160, 2347 English, 333, Dec 14, YL interviewing an OM via a Phone Call. OM on flu vaccinations, OM with an ID CKZU 2350 (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you heard an ID for CKZU consider yourself extremely fortunate, as even CBU IDs are hardly ever heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHILDREN'S RADIO CJEU 1670 AM ON THE AIR FROM QUÉBEC CJEU is a Canadian radio station broadcasting French-language children's programming on 1670 kHz AM. CJEU is licensed to Gatineau, Québec, next to the capital Ottawa. The first test transmissions were reported heard in many parts of North America on December 10. The license is held by Fondation Radio-Enfant, a non-profit educational agency, and the station identifies as "Radio Enfant". CJEU operates 24/7 at a power of 1 kilowatt both day and night. The radio not only aims its programs at children and youth, but the programs are also made by children to some extent. The station is located at Atelier Radio Enfant Inc, Studio de la Maison de la culture, 855 boul de la Gappe pièce 310, Gatineau, Québec J8T 8H9, Canada. CJEU can also be contacted by email or by phone at +1-819-243-6226 (DXing.info, December 12, 2009 via DXLD) 1670, CJEU, Gatineau QC; 2203-2223+, 14-Dec; Xmas & other songs by children's chorus in French; Radio Enfant spot in French by child at 2216. Mainly under WTDY & WFSM, but = at times. Some IBOsssss from 1680, so LSB helps a lot. QC #25. Per a post on http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=158503.0 the transmitter is on rte 148 near Gatineau QC (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW + 86 ft. coil dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wish them good luck! The fact that someone applied for that very specialized type of licence and moreover in French for the Gatineau- Ottawa market is very audacious in my opinion. In part because Gatineau is not Montreal and frankly, I couldn't imagine my children listening to an AM broadcast unless they have friends in it or they personally are involved. Nevertheless, I find the concept indeed interesting. I went to learn a bit more on their website. The "Radio Enfant" foundation is currently running the station. They originally asked for a broadcasting license 4 years ago. This is more a kind of a communitary radio station made by the youth and for the youth. Their target audience is ranging from 4 to 18 years old. They mostly run on solid donations from public funds and even within the private among others, Astral Media which is a major player among private radio, TV and displaying [billboards?] in Canada. The idea came from Michel Delorme who's well known in communitary radio world as the AMARC founder: http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=EN If you wish to see the license details: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2007/db2007-89.htm Their website is: http://radioenfant.ca/ Check for their web stream on the upper right "Écoutez la radio" (Sylvain Naud, QC, Dec 16, Realdx yg via DXLD In case you're trying for newcomer CJEU on 1670 tonight, don't bother - they're off the air tonight. This is the first time I've found them off since I first heard them a week ago. Excellent - another chance for me to try for KNRO; but what rotten luck that both KNRO and WFSM run Fox Sports, making it hard to tell them apart. The other west coaster, KHPY, is near-impossible from here, due to their directional pattern. But who knows, something interesting might pop up (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, 0327 UT Dec 18, ABDX via DXLD) Good evening Glenn, some news from here in Belgium. I`m hearing for the first time on 1670 kHz at 0757 UT, CJEU, Gatineau QC, 20/12, French kids singing and nice ID. Good reception for one hour. So all the best for you and you family, happy Christmas and Newyear 2010. 73, (Maurits Van Driessche, Perseus sdr and several antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BLOG OF MEDIA GURU FROM MONTREAL GAZETTE PAPER. [Gatineau is the metropolitan name for the former Hull, Quebec, on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River from Ottawa] http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/12/21/radio-enfant-1067fm/ December 21, 2009 - 4:45 am| Posted in [25]Montreal, [26]Radio A new radio station has snuck onto the airwaves in Montreal. It's calling itself "Radio Enfant" and transmitting on 106.7 FM. It's an initiative of two schools, and is operating over the holidays until the beginning of January. It's a low-power transmitter, so the signal is very weak, but I could pick it up for most of a late- night walk downtown after hearing about it on the Radio in Montreal group. Radio Enfant recently launched a station in Gatineau at 1670 AM, at a CRTC-approved 1,000 Watts of power. It decided, apparently on its own, to start something up on 106.7FM in Montreal, after learning that this frequency was vacated by Aboriginal Voices Radio, which decided to surrender its license for CKAV-FM-10 on that frequency. The only thing is that, unlike the Gatineau station, Radio Enfant hasn't been issued a CRTC license to operate a radio station in Montreal. It says it's planning to apply for one (or has already applied, but the CRTC hasn't released that application yet), but that's kind of backwards, and means the Montreal stations are technically pirates. Fortunately, Radio Enfant isn't interfering with any existing stations. Boom FM, a station in St. Hyacinthe on 106.5 FM, still comes in fine (which is good, because it's an Astral Media Radio station, and Astral is a funding partner in Radio Enfant). There are no stations in the area at 106.9 - but there are in Trois Rivières, Sherbrooke and Ottawa that basically cancel each other out here. Short URL for this post: http://blog.fagstein.com/?p=7893 (via Dan Say, BC, Dec 21, DXLD) ** CANADA. 106.7 local RADIO ENFANT (cf. Kevin Redding) DEC 20, 2120 EST [0220 UT Dec 21] - as I came back from the movie theater, heard this one strong enough to knock out another country music pirate (according to Scott Fybush) with no sign of semi-local WIZN. A flea powered RADIO ENFANT (cf. Kevin Redding) from a nearby school with kids saying poems about Xmas and talking endlessly about their own feelings related to Christmas. They played one song regarding a French legend dealing with the little mouse. Very strong around Le Marché Central area, but lost around the Saint-Laurent suburb to a C&W which was a true pirate! Logged in car with a friend driver. (BC-car-QC) As for 106.7, well, it appears we have one pirate in my area, one with country, besides the LEGAL flea-powered Radio Enfant. The one with country was still quite strong, which kinda rules out WIZN which is weak and unreliable on a good car radio, but still can be considered or could be considered BEFORE as a "SEMI-local" which is exactly what it was. I think the C&W station is a pirate as well, as there are spots of my area where WIZN isn't heard at all (unless there is tropospheric enhancement), yet that C&W oddity was alive and kickin'! Another pirate on 107.7, Jewel, never any call-letters, just MoR easy vocals, now with your Xmas classics from today and yesterday. But are they all pirates? Yesterday, Jewel was weaker than they usually are (I heard them for the 1st time two years and a half ago), maybe the tropo-scatter conditions were almost inexistent, which is not unusual for this time of the year! This report is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu, DXing from Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), QC using his Sanyo MCD-S830 AM- FM boombox along with the tunable passive PK AM loop, his Sangean CST- 818 CST / PK LW loop combo, but also his Grundig G5 ultralight with the same PK longwave loop. May the good DX be with you! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, UT Dec 22, condiglist yg via DXLD) More on this. I spoke with the gentleman operating the Radio Enfant transmitter in Montreal. According to him, they have permission from the CRTC to run their temporary station until early January. They actually have two different transmitters; one located in the Plateau area of the city and the second transmitter in Ahuntsic, the north- central area of the city. This second transmitter has not been activated yet. Aurel indicated that the signal faded as he headed to the west end of the island of Montreal, giving way to WIZN FM in Vergennes, Vermont which he believed had switched from Classic Rock to Country. Well, WIZN, known as The Wizard, is still classic rock. The country signal that Aurel was hearing is what seems to be a "real" pirate; a signal discovered on December 12th on 106.7 MHz by Steve and Janice Karlock, hosts of the International Radio Report on CKUT-FM. They decided to head out to try to direction-find the source of the signal on 106.7 MHz playing non-stop country music with no IDs or station breaks. This station continues to broadcast non-stop as of today, December 22nd. Steve and Janice tracked the source of the mystery transmission to an area in Kahnawake, Quebec, the Mohawk native reserve southwest of Montreal, also home to the legal station CKRK K-103 on 103.7 MHz. Steve and Janice reported on this signal on the Int. Radio Report on December 13. We also posted this information on the Radio in Montreal Yahoo Group here in Montreal. To date there has been no further information forthcoming on this country music station which continues to broadcast around the clock on 106.7 MHz. We have no idea if anyone from the CRTC or Industry Canada in Montreal is even aware of the existence of this signal. The signal is very strong predominantly in the south-west sector of the island of Montreal and off the island to the south-west which seems to be the source of the transmission. In the north, central and east sectors of the island, the Radio Enfant signal on 106.7 MHz is dominant. I personally find it fascinating that this mystery country music signal that has been broadcasting continuously for at least 11 days now with seemingly no concern from either the CRTC or Industry Canada. (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Dec 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) For `Aurel` above, read `Bogdan`, who for some reason uses the e-mail account of his father(?), causing endless confusion, ``aurel wrote…`` (gh, DXLD) Hello, I could hear it very weakly here at home on the edge of Rosemont and St Michel; difficult to listen to but audible on my Tecsun pl-600 on 106.7 FM with some music this morning. I'm going to work on the plateau today; will bring along a portable receiver and try for it as I get closer to the plateau (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal, Canada, ibid.) ** CANADA. An interesting paradox: CBC Radio One is hard to hear in Sackville --- Years back, CBA / 1070 originated in Sackville; the transmitter was later relocated to Moncton. Now that CBA has left AM, being replaced by CBAM on FM (AM on FM; go figure) on 106.1, it's hard to hear in Sackville. So the CBC wants to add a low-power directional FM transmitter (50 watt) to the Sackville complex. Spotted this in Scott Fybush's Northeast Radio Watch for the week, http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html (caution...this edition will be overwritten in a fortnight if you don't get to this right away...) (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) No, past issues are archived, easily reached (gh) ** CHINA. OTH radar ranges, approximately, not bothered to log lately, but did so Dec 16, presumed from here: at 1442, 6470-6495, 6870-6915; at 1444, 5430-5480, 5180-5230, and sounding different from the others, 5365-5395: this pulsing had a higher pitch and a somewhat slower rate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 16 at 1450: poor on 8400, 9000, nothing on 10210 or 11300. At 1608, poor with flutter on 9685, and 8400 = 9000 also still audible. What`s on 9685 to jam? Latest Aoki has the answer: BBC Uzbek via Singapore at 1600-1630 only. Thus the ChiCom violate the sovereignty of Uzbekistan, butting in to a broadcast from one country to a third country (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake. Dec 17 at 1542 on 8400, 9000 and 11300; // and against SoH. Also // on 7415 (getting ready for RFA 1600 sign on?) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11300, 17/Dez 1920, Firedrake Chinese on Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH, also heard in 9000 and 8400, moderate signal. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Dec 18 at 1426: 8400 poor, 9000 JBA, 10210 zilch, 11300 fair. Firedrake Dec 18 at 2211: poor on 9000, not audible on 8000, 10210 or 11300, but might have been on some higher ones had I sought them out. Dec 19 at 1434: 11300 poor with flutter, 10210 JBA, 9000 zilch, 8400 fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7510, China helping Korea? 2112 19.12 with Firedrake QRMing the Korean station underneath, but seems that problem is from the same ...carrier !!!! (no co channel-QRM unless it was 100% in synch). But at 2124 the Korean station was in the clear! (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102, 1103, 108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000; Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Korean station is, per Aoki: ``7510 Open Radio North Korea 2100- 2200 1234567 Korean 300 65 Yerevan-Gavar ARM 04511E 4025N ORNK b09`` (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) Firedrake Dec 20 at 1423: just barely audible on 8400; nothing on 9000, 10210 or 11300. Firedrake Dec 21 at 1440: fair on 8400, nothing audible on 9000, 10210 or 11300. Firedrake Dec 22 at 1517: nothing audible on any of the Big 4: 8400, 9000, 10210, 11300. Should have checked them earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4750, Voice of China, Nanning, 1642-1656, 20 Dec, Mandarin, talks, music; 25432; \\ 4460, 4800, 5030, all better. No sign of Bangladesh on this channel. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5050, Beibu Bay R, Nanning, *2241-2305, Friday Dec 04, xylophone type instrument with brief tune-up. This seems to be a regular event prior to each transmission which gets under way at 2258 with similar music. Four short pips and one long on the hour followed by usual multilanguage sign on. The format differs. Some days light oriental pops, other days interviews / reports with regular IDs as “Bei-bu wan zhi sheng” with accent on the “bu”. Signal strength has improved over past month relative to earlier reception. Not sure if this is propagation conditions or transmitter (suspect the latter). (Graham E. Bell, Cape Town, South Africa, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) 5050, Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio, 1445-1551, Dec 15. Even though I have not reported on this in a while, it is routinely heard with mostly fair reception. In Vietnamese with EZL pop songs; English heard: “B-B- R”, “Top Music”, “B-B-R news”, “B-B-R weather” and “This is Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio”. Several months ago Mark Schiefelbein pointed out to me that the ID had in fact changed from the original “This is Beibu Bay Radio”, so not sure just when the change occurred. Good catch, Mark! Happy to hear they now use English IDs more than just at the ToH and BoH. They also give IDs in Vietnamese for their numerous FM frequencies and seemed to mention FM for Laos and Thailand also; light to moderate QRM from AIR Aizawl. // 9820 (poor/QRM). Website http://www.bbrmedia.com/ does not seem to be updated very often. Am pleased to see that the Voice of Strait never did return to 5050 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6040, China Business Radio, Beijing. 1215-1222 December 20, 2009. Presumed the service with long, seemingly commercial string, fast-paced ChiCom female reading items with lots of short field reporter audiobytes. Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I do not find CNR-2 Business Radio scheduled on 6040 at this time; however, VOA Chinese via Thailand is, and is of course jammed. That is normally with CNR1 rather than 2, so I suspect you had that if not VOA. Hoever, CNR2 is shown on 6040 at other times, in WRTH and Aoki (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CHINA. 7295, CNR1 jammer against VOA, DEC 5, 1346 - Commercial sounding Asiatic station, talk in Chinese, never any music and sounded like a never-ending block of commercial ads. Poor-fair with flutter but nothing in the way of really deep fadings, poor overall. Occasional QRM from a ham using a nearby frequency. SINPO 23532. Best shortwave DX in a while! Thanks to Glenn Hauser on CumbreDX for having helped me to ID these guys! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, UT Dec 22, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 9675, CNR-1 (via Beijing), 2310, Mandarin. Grab-bag format of promos, ads, presumed news at 2330, etc., easily atop co-channel R Cancao Nova with a religious sermon. Armchair signal. // 9710 (via Shijiazhuang) also noted with solid, fade-free S9+10 signal (plus several other weaker //s). Good. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. MI NUEVA VIDA EN RADIO INTERNACIONAL DE CHINA "…nada es verdad ni es mentira; todo es según el color del cristal con que se mira". --- Ramón de Campoamor El periodismo en México, aunque apasionante, suele ser ingrato y lleno de sinsabores: se sacrifica a la familia y los amigos, se descuida la salud y la alimentación, y se pone en peligro la vida en algunas coberturas riesgosas. Todo con el afán de informar. Pero también brinda oportunidades únicas, y a mí me ha regalado una de las experiencias más importantes en mi carrera como reportero: viajar a Beijing y trabajar en Radio Internacional de China (CRI). Y aunque tengo poco más de dos meses laborando en el moderno edificio de la avenida Shijingshan, en el barrio de Babaoshan, aún hoy me parece un sueño. Entrar a las instalaciones de CRI es como entrar a la ONU: hay decenas de expertos extranjeros, que colaboran para que la señal de radio e Internet pueda ser escuchada y consultada en 59 idiomas. Ello me ha dado la oportunidad de conocer a personas de Pakistán, Sudán, Israel, Italia, Brasil, Estados Unidos, India, Nepal y Turquía, entre otros países, con los que he podido intercambiar impresiones con mi inglés e italiano elementales. Sin duda, una vivencia enriquecedora. El Departamento de Español de Radio Internacional de China no es como las redacciones mexicanas de medios de comunicación, donde el bullicio y el estrés es el pan de todos los días. Por el contrario, mis colegas chinos son apacibles y tímidos, pero creo que se han adaptado a mi efusiva forma de ser, the mexican style, como lo definen algunos amigos extranjeros. Debo decir que estoy sorprendido. No sólo he encontrado compañeros jóvenes, cálidos e inteligentes, sino también muy profesionales y con un excelente nivel de español, que les permite hacer locución de alta categoría y traducir al idioma de Cervantes las maravillas de su cultura. Su buena formación universitaria y juventud, me han dado el caldo de cultivo perfecto para explotar todas las posibilidades del periodismo. Y explico el porqué. Desde que llegué a Beijing no he hecho otra cosa que asombrarme con su cultura, comida, tradiciones y arquitectura, mezcladas con lo ultra moderno. Es una urbe cosmopolita que da la sensación de estar en un gran jardín, llena de flores y lagos. Sin embargo, la imagen que se tiene del país asiático y su capital en el exterior, difiere mucho de la realidad. Así que un día le propuse al profesor Hu Min, director del Departamento de Español, iniciar un proyecto con los compañeros más jóvenes y con menor experiencia, en el cuál, a través de relatos periodísticos, le contáramos al mundo hispanohablante el trajín cotidiano de la ciudad. Así nació "Crónicas de Beijing", un programa que refleja el día a día de los principales actores de la metrópoli: las personas comunes y corrientes. Y el proyecto comienza a dar frutos. Mis jóvenes colegas, traductores de profesión y periodistas en ciernes, asimilan todos los días lo poco que puedo enseñarles sobre el oficio reporteril; a cambio, me enseñan, con gran paciencia, todo sobre sus costumbres y su lengua. Varios de ellos han realizado, por primera vez, entrevistas a embajadores, empresarios, artistas y personas comunes (que no menos importantes). Y ahora, los radioescuchas e internautas podrán disfrutar las narraciones de mis compañeros, a través de las ondas hertzianas o el ciberespacio. Y créanme, lo van a disfrutar. Por supuesto, no todos los integrantes del Departamento de Español de CRI son novatos. También hay un buen grupo de profesionales curtidos por la experiencia de haber sido corresponsales en España, México y Argentina, que hablan y escriben el español mejor que muchos de mis compatriotas. De ellos intento aprender algo todos los días. Esa combinación de maestría y juventud genera una programación de gran calidad, que viaja por la onda corta y el Internet a todos los rincones de América Latina, España y Guinea Ecuatorial, y a aquellas zonas donde el castellano es la lengua principal. Y con estas líneas quiero hacer un reconocimiento a la labor que se realiza en una de las emisoras de Estado más importantes del mundo, y que, además, es mi nueva casa: Radio Internacional de China. Fuente: http://espanol.cri.cn/861/2009/12/17/1s190176.htm (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. RFA PRESIDENT: ARTICLE 19 APPLIES TO ASIA, TOO. "As the world marks the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, the principle of Article 19 - the right to 'seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers' - still eludes billions in Asia. Throughout the continent, governments severely restrict free speech and expression - muzzling reporters, jamming international broadcasting signals, and using every means within their power to thwart public debate. After two decades of global progress, press freedom in this and many parts of the world has worsened, according to Freedom House's most recent index. This silencing has its price. Last year, before Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma, the official state press waited a full 24 hours after international broadcasting services had already broken news of its imminent landfall to warn the Burmese people. Nargis left an estimated 140,000 dead and millions in dire need of humanitarian aid. The survivors had to rely mainly on outside broadcasters such as Radio Free Asia, The Voice of America, and the BBC to find medical care, food, and clean drinking water." Radio Free Asia president Libby Liu, Huffington Post, 9 December 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) The 1975 Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the Helsinki Accords, had specific language about radio jamming, and put the Soviet Union on the defensive regarding its jamming activities. A similar accord in Asia might have impact on China's intensive jamming of international broadcasts and blocking of websites. Posted: 11 Dec 2009 (Kim Elliott, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, 2220-2228, 19 Dec, Castilian, talks; 23431, QRM de CHINA. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 2859.8, R. San Carlos presumed, 2 X 1429.9, Spanish peaking above the local noise level at a quick monitoring check 0102 UT Dec 20. I moved to what I thought would be a quieter location but by then, 0115 nothing was audible, nor back at the first location (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 3350, Radio Exterior de España, Cariari, 0552-0600*, 20-12, canciones, comentario "Encuentro audiovisual, Instituto Cervantes", A las 0600 cierre: "Nos despedimos de nuestros oyentes en Centro América y sur de Norteamérica hasta las 12 Tiempo Universal, 6 de la mañana en Centro América, en que volveremos por 9675 kHz banda de 31 metros y 15170 kHz banda de 19 metros, Radio Exterior de España". 45444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC late-night/madrugada Dec 16: at 0744 the Spanish frequencies 6150, 6120 had quite a hum. 6120 also with co-channel under in Dutch which must mean it`s not from Netherlands but is from R. Nederland. During this hour it`s via guess where? Vatican! 266 degrees to SW Europe, NW Africa. RN is on 6120 from 06 to 11, changing sites from Nauen to Santa Maria di Galeria, finally Wertachtal and with a beamshift at 0900. But I digress. RHC Spanish also audible weaker on 11760. English was on undermodulated 6140 and very good 6060. Both still in English at final check 0813. A secret extra airing of DXers Unlimited had started at 0748. Now there are ``85 ways to enjoy radio``. I assume tracking down all the mistakes RHC makes and all the disruption DentroCuban jamming causes are not two of them. Item 1: IBOC and DRM. There was no jamming of DXers Unlimited. Yet the first airing anywhere of WORLD OF RADIO 1491 which went on WRMI 9955 at 0800 this UT Wednesday, had equally strong modulated jamming pulses disrupting my every word. Tnx a lot, Arnie! If I am going to be jammed anyway, to make it worthwhile, I include this week news of an anti-Castro blog run by Huber Matos of La Voz del CID, http://patriapuebloylibertad.blogspot.com I am a bit peeved that some of my fellow DXers/SWLs have criticised me, a victim of excessive Cuban jamming (and they are too whether they know it or not), for not taking it lying down. Bringing up the subject pales by comparison to axually carrying out massive jamming against fellow broadcasters. Yes, Arnie never talks about jamming on DXUL, so that gets him off the hook? Yeah, right (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I’ve been reading the back and fourth between you and Coro. Coro is showing his true colors. This nice guy picture of himself that he puts on air is just that, a picture. As far as I’m concerned he’s just a two-faced opportunist. I remember working with him at RHC and I always found him overbearing and a bore. As I’ve said to many people before if you tune this week to his show, wait 4 weeks you will hear the same crap again. His political view are nothing more than someone stuck in 1959. I remember what I said to him once back in 1992. I said “Arnie. Stop! You know as well as I do if the US gave you an American passport you would take it right away”. If was at the point we never really talked again. LOLOL! Do I care? No! Not at all. I think we should be more insulted if he says “we” work for the CIA. I know for a fact he has been saying that I’m now part of the anti-Cuba group. I’ve never been anti-Cuba. The revolution is a failure. Who’s to really blame? Personally I think Fidel is not to blame, but more the people around him. Fidel is just very idealistic. But I’ve always thought that it was the scum around him that turned Cuba into what it has become. People around him? Oh! Let’s see! Coro comes to mind. Regs, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Of course Happy Station Show is jammed. Like you I also work for the CIA (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ODXA yg via DXLD) He jests, lest someone take this remark seriously (gh) Glenn: Yes, Cuba continues to jam "anything they want" even Marti, VOA espanol, etc., with no consequences as to the ITU, IBB, BBG, etc., not doing anything about it. My suggestion is similar to the one posed by you on a WOR sometime back. I do hope the ITU takes into account Cuba and PRC's intentions and holds them accountable for jamming preventing people of those nations affected from hearing the truth broadcast about their countries. Happy Holidays, and 73's, (Noble West, TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I note that Prof. Coro had mentioned that RHC is a member of The ITU! If this is the case, why does the Good Professor insist on not turning off his "Wall Of Sound" against nothing in particular? It seems RHC has a common habit of not playing by the rules of the ITU. 73's, (Noble West, TN, ibid.) Noble, I can tell you first hand the ITU is nothing more than more than an organization of bureaucrats. Having dealt with them a few months ago, you get nothing but long winded answers which mean nothing. Bill Whitaker at the VOA told me they have informed the ITU about jamming (or [deliberate interference??] as the ITU calls it) many times, but it seems that it just gets lost in the paper trail (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Hi Everyone, Just got signed up here. I've been reading all the back and forths. I know my opinion means nothing, but what the hell, here goes. 1. Jamming: This is a huge problem. The question is why do certain countries jam foreign broadcasts? Simple! If you look at the states that jam foreign radio, China, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Iran, and the DPRK, it has to do with not being secure. The governments of these countries are not by any means stable. So they see foreign broadcasts as a threat. I know it's silly and it is. If these countries stopped jamming foreign radio, maybe the money that's spent, could be used to fix their social problems instead of putting blame on other nations. As a program provider who has a show that airs on WRMI, it's annoying. I mean, does the Cuban government see Happy Station Show as a anti- Cuba evil force that wants to overthrow the Communist Party? Maybe in their mind they do, because the show is airing over a station that does air some anti-Cuban programs. But the vast majority of programming is not anti-Cuba at all. Just a few examples would be DX Partyline, Baseball Mexico, World Of Radio, WRN's hours or Happy Station. If they choose to jam WRMI, to me it means they are insecure. If I hear something on air that I don't like, you know what I do? I tune away. It's that simple. It would be interesting if, let's say, the US started to jam RHC. If that ever happened the Cubans (government) would be saying stuff like this goes against human rights to freedom of expression ect ect ect ect ect. Many people have said that Cuba (government) does not want the embargo to be lifted or to have the anti-Cuban programs off air. Everyone knows that as soon as the embargo is lifted, change would take place in Cuba. The won't have any more reason to go on with the anti-US propaganda anymore. As with jamming, they do it because in some way it keeps them in power. One footnote that you might find funny. As you know, here in the ROC (Taiwan) we have a number of stations that direct anti-communist programming to the PRC (China) which is jammed. But yet the anti- Taiwan programs directed to us from China are not jammed. Why? People here including the ROC`s government will tell you it's the best comedy radio if you want to have a good laugh. 2. RHC: This station has a place. But who is listening? In 2004 I attended a reception at the South African Embassy in Beijing and met with the Cuban Ambassador to China. When he found out I had worked at RHC in the early 1990s we got into a long conversation. He told me, and I quote, "RHC's only listeners are DXERS". In the 80s he had worked at the Communication Ministry in Havana and he told me about a study that was done on if RHC had any effect on the average SWL. The answer was no. Speaking personally. I have to say that every letter that I saw while at RHC, not once did I every see a letter from anyone other than a DXER. Even the few times I hosted Mailbag, every letter read was from a DXER. So you can say RHC is spending money that could go to its population so a few people can tune in. Now before anyone says I'm against DXERS, I'm not saying that. But honestly what is the point of keeping a station on air for those interested in the hobby. If RHC wants to make some impact and get "regular SWLs" or even non SWLs, they need to look at other forms of program distribution. How many regular people have ever heard of RHC in Canada or the US or in other parts of the world? How many people really care? 3. Glenn Hauser: I first started listening to World Of Radio years ago. Why do I listen? Simple, I want information on radio and communications that I cannot get anywhere else. The other reason is Glenn's personality. He speaks his mind and gives his opinion. My hat goes off to him. I don't agree with everything he says, but in a democracy, you`re not supposed to. He has "Chutzpah" and I respect that. Maybe if people in Cuba were able to have this, it would be a turning point. 4. Arnie Coro: Dxers Unlimited Dxers Unlimited Dxers Unlimited! Humm! What should I say. Well the show has been on for a long time. And I'll leave it at that (Keith Perron, PCJ Media, Taiwan, Dec 17, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) Welcome to the group, Keith. I'm one of the people who listens to all editions of Happy Station online (which reminds me, I'm an edition behind!). As well as jamming, we could also discuss CODAR, which is just as annoying to us SWLs. Cheers, (Harold Sellers, BC, ibid.) I have very strong views on jamming and the only organization that could do something about it, the ITU. As far as I'm concerned, the ITU is nothing more than a bunch of over-paid bureaucrats who do nothing. A few months ago I contacted someone from the ITU for an interview; it went in circles. In the end, I decided not to run the 17 minutes as it would have been a waste of airtime (Keith Perron, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Your dialogue with Arnie Coro re: jamming is fascinating! But not surprising. As an employee of RHC (which arguably makes him a Cuban government employee), I would only expect his (1) evading your question, or (2) justifying the (jamming) practice. It looks as though he's done a little of both. Your asking about jamming in general and of WRMI in particular, is extremely relevant to the SW hobby. But I'll also suggest RHC's frequencies sometimes double as Chinese Firedrakes. No longer living in North America, I can't confirm which signals are being blocked by RHC, but --- the station is well-received in Australia (on 49 meters especially), so much so, it would seem the multiple frequencies are over-kill and some are serving a secondary purpose. (Maybe the Cubans could drop RHC on any suspect Firedrake freq's and put on some nice Salsa?) BTW, I believe the "Cuban problem" is very similar to the "Chinese problem." Both have many transmitters on the air and I'm convinced neither the Chinese nor the Cubans care whether they are causing interference. (One of the biggest obstacles to hearing anything in Australia, IMHO, is whether a particular frequency is being "occupied" by a Chinese station.) As a sidebar: CRI recently solicited listener comments to its website, saying, "China wants to know your opinion." Do they take us as idiots? Forget that the Chinese government regulates the internet, censors "unfriendly" stories by "blacking out" BBC World and CNN, and that satellite dishes capable of receiving foreign broadcasts were seized after unrest in Tibet. Keep fighting the good fight for DX'ers (David Sharp, NSW Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Beyond the Cuban exile broadcasters and stations associated with them, I really haven`t seen any deliberate Cuban jamming on behalf of others. It`s more like sheer negligence. Good reception of RHC in Australia is not even intended, AFAIK. If you or anyone can match some RHC frequencies which `jam` on behalf of the ChiCom, etc., let us know. BTW, there has been *no* dialog between me and Arnie about this or anything. I would be glad to debate him directly and publish it but not much chance he would go for that. He won`t even apologize about jamming us, or pass the buck of responsibility, but tries to justify it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wolfram Heß, which some people considered as (East) German A. Coro, once simply said "he who jams is afraid of the truth". (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chemistry in Cuba --- ``I don't believe in the everlasting properties of Tetrafluoroethylene...AKA "Teflon" Dupont's trademark ...because it will eventually burn up into flames, and by the way the smoke it produces is very dangerous to health! Signed Arnaldo Coro Antich`` To clear up an absolutely critical point to the continued existence of the planet: TEFLON(R) is not tetrafluoroethylene; it's polytetrafluoroethylene. In my opinion, the most destructive thing on radio in recent times has been OTHR, rather than jammers (Harold Frodge, MI, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you include the Soviet woodpecker, maybe, but more recently the OTH radars we hear from Europe, Asia, are not that strong, generally avoid broadcast bands, unlike the concentrated megawatts of ChiCom and DentroCuban jammers on certain narrower bandwidths (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Glenn, Arnie did not like this letter where I continued to press for AM frequency listings. Do you remember this argument? PS. I was living in Luleå at the time; Martin Ljung was born in Luleå and his continued usage of the unusual Luleå accent made him popular in the rest of the country. The end of my letter refers to his reply, where he said that AM frequency info was too boring /"me aburre"/ to be dealt with on his DXUL show (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I do; a wealth of info he could provide about domestic Cuban broadcasting, but refuses to do so, perhaps fearful he might reveal something classified? Henrik attached his 1951 CMQ QSL which also listed a SW frequency; not too clear but I think it was COCQ on 9825. Among other Cuban SW stations in the pre-revolutionary 50s was COCO, IIRC just above 9000 kHz (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Estimado Arnie: En 1953/54 comenzó a funcionar, en forma experimental, la TV en mi país. Entonces el humorista Martin Ljung, oriundo de esta ciudad, emitía por radio, (y a nivel nacional porque no había sino una sola cadena radial estatal en mi país en aquella época) un "chascarillo" diciendo que Suecia ya podía alistarse para exportar y dar a conocer la tecnología de la televisión a Cuba. Curiosamente no mencionó ningún otro país. No descubrí nada de ironía en su chiste, por lo que tenía que haber sido el efecto de prepotencia mezclada con ignorancia. Los que disponíamos del World Radio (TV) Handbook sabíamos que en Cuba ya existían varias cadenas, la CMQ, la Azul, la Oriental, la de El Mundo. Concluí que no era bueno vivir en la ignorancia. Así que desde entonces me interesan esos detalles que a otros les aburren. Atte., (Henrik klemetz, 11 March 2007 to Arnie Coro, via Henrik, Dec 18, DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Progreso: la emisora de la familia cubana --- Las voces de los más afamados artistas, narradores, periodistas y locutores se escucharon por su frecuencia radial. Un gran desfile de estrellas cuando toda la programación se hacía en vivo. Rolando Álvarez Estévez Que una emisora radial cubana se haya mantenido en el aire por espacio de ocho décadas, constituye un acontecimiento que merece el reconocimiento de todos los que amamos la radiodifusión en Cuba. Como el propio desarrollo de Radio Progreso ha demostrado, no cabe duda que los radialistas que la vieron nacer en aquel local situado en la calle Monte 139, entre Ángeles e Indio, en La Habana, habían sembrado la semilla de lo que hoy día se reconoce como la emisora de la familia cubana. El día 15 de diciembre de 1929 se oyeron las señales de una emisora que se llamó en sus inicios, y hasta 1931, El Progreso Cubano, en la citada dirección, para después ser ubicada a un costado del Centro Gallego, hoy Teatro Nacional, por la calle San José. . . (Fuente: Cubarte) http://www.cubaperiodistas.cu/noticias/diciembre09/15/01.htm (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** CUBA. Early Saturday morning I caught a Radio Reloj outlet on 1020 under KDKA. The ticking and the CW "RR" really made it. Any idea of calls and location? I see some "hits" on Google mentioning 1020 Reloj but couldn't see where it was narrowed down to a call. ULR #199! Only one more for 200 and about 585 or so more to catch Rob Ross!!! :) 1020 Cuba 12-12 0505 CM?? / ?location? "RR" CW and ticking, F u/KDKA. Never heard this Reloj relayer. Any idea of calls / location? DH-IN E-100 barefoot. TIME UTC! 73, (Dave Hascall, Indianapolis, IRCA via DXLD) Hi, I asked this from R Reloj a while back, and according to them, one of the listed local stations is relaying their program; they didn't tell/know which one. See the logging at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem239log.dx As far as call letters go, I'd forget about them in the case of national networks like R Reloj; they're not used, or even if you hear one, it is most likely the main station on some other frequency. I doubt whether individual Cuban transmitters are even issued call letters anymore; it is becoming a thing of the past, and in the WRTH you see a huge amount of stations listed under the same calls. 73 (Mika Mäkeläinen, Finland, ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. 9955, WRMI, Thu Dec 17 at 0633 with WORLD OF RADIO a sesquihour earlier than it airs on UT Wednesdays. Still with DentroCuban jamming pulsing, but the ratio of WRMI signal to Cuban noise was better this time, and I could axually understand what I was saying; maybe WRMI is using the NW antenna again which has a lot more gain USward. Same type of modulated pulsing jamming was blaring away on 9810 and 9825 against nothing, frequencies used much earlier in the day by Radios República and Martí, respectively. At 1228, however, 9955 seemed free of jamming as the Thu [not Fri! as I said originally] 1200 broadcast of Frecuencia al Día was upwrapping, 1229 WRMI ID, and into En Camino, a religious program. I think the jamming is worst at 13-15 UT when Radio Cuba Libre used to be on months ago. If jamming be absent in the 12-13 period, but don`t count on it, this could also audiblize WORLD OF RADIO Tuesdays at 1200, Fridays at 1230; Wavescan Tuesday and Wednesday at 1230 --- and if the November 1 WRMI schedule we have has not changed in the meantime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6220, Radio Habana spur – Quivicán, 0213, 12/13/09, in Spanish. Man with long declaratory speech. As good as // farther up (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, ICOM R 75, Eton e1, Grundig S 800 & G5, Kaito 1103; Alpha Delta Sloper, Flextenna, EWE, attic mounted Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ?? Farther up, where? 6220 should be a leapfrog of 6060 over 6140, another 80 kHz up from there (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 11760, Dec 17 at 2146 RHC in Creole, audio breaking up like a computer problem, while 11770 etc., were in Spanish, more or less OK. This of course does not match the official schedule on website showing Spanish also on 11760 at this semihour. Following my remarx about why does RHC run so many // frequencies on 49m, one of them has moved to 31m! 9600 ex-6140 at 0649 Dec 18, Prof. Arnaldo Coro in English about the drought in some central provinces. This certainly makes sense propagationally, as 11760 is often audible past local midnight as it was tonight, in Spanish; and 9600 had an excellent signal. It`s called frequency diversity. Final check at 0746 found that had switched to Spanish, probably at 0700. The `official` sked on website still shows 6140 to ``Chicago`` at 00- 05 Spanish, 05-07 English, 07-11 Spanish, so it remains to be seen if its entire span has been switched to 9600, if this was just an experiment, or what. Noel Green in England also heard 9600 this date as late as 1030 in Spanish. [later rechecking the `official schedule` sent out by e-mail, it already showed 9600 in Spanish at 23-05; so it`s only after 05 that is new for it] Nothing but DentroCuban Jamming Command`s wall of noise on 9955, Fri Dec 18 at 1420 during scheduled repeat of The Happy Station on WRMI, produced by a former RHC employee; as usual, jamming cleared up after 1500 during R. Prague relay. In my previous report I referred to Frecuencia al Día being on WRMI Friday at 1200; I meant, Thursday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Re 2130+ on 11760 in Creole, above] Are you sure, Glenn, not French? Here are my observations on 11760 at 2130-2200 UT 29/11 30/11 02/12 04/12 06/12 08/12 13/12 14/12 15/12: French 03/12 : Spanish I didn't check on 17/12, but I'm surprised to see that RHC was in Creole. However, RHC's schedule is so curious (JM Aubier, France, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I see one version of schedule does show French at 2130. I listened for a while and it did not sound like proper French to me, thus conclusion it was Creole. So it was a negative assumption rather than a positive one. The audio breakup did not help. Meant to check it again today but missed it. Did you or anyone? Checked 11760 Sunday Dec 20 at 2130: English! The zillionth plus one plea for The Cuban Five; finally 2133 opening French, yes, not Creole. (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) RHC is putting in a strong signal on 9600 today (Dec. 18). Heard when tuning the 9 MHz band at 0845, and still on air at 1030 when with Música Popular de Cuba (in Spanish) and // to 6150. That one is also still propagating at 1030 (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re previous report of RHC expanded schedule on 9600 instead of 6140: later rechecking the `official schedule` sent out by e-mail, it already showed 9600 in Spanish at 23-05; so it`s only after 05 that was new for it. But next night, UT Dec 19 at 0530 check, no 9600, back on 6140 in Spanish // 6120, 6150. This increases the probability that op had neglected to change 9600 to 6140 at 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There was no trace of Cuba on 9600 today at 0730+ (Dec.19). I don't think this has anything to do with lack of propagation as I hear Bonaire via 9885 (D. Welle) and 9660 (NHK Portuguese at 0930). 6140 is on air, and still propagating at 1045. Instead there is Chinese-Mandarin on 9600 at weak to fair level - possibly XJBS Urumqi at 1030 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) 6140 on again in English today (December 20), noted at 0817 starting DXers Unlimited with Arnie Coro (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, ibid.) Aha, another secret airing in wrong hourpart (gh) 6140.00, 1020-1040 Sunday 13.12, R Habana Cuba, Quivicán, Spanish announced to North America, Cuban songs, 45444. Wertachtal not in use this Sunday [for other stations] (Anker Petersen, on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Where do you get the site info for a particular transmission, that it is not Bejucal or Bauta? No HFCC info; Aoki and WRTH just say Habana without trying to distinguish among the three sites, but the separate entry for transmitter operator Radio Cuba, in WRTH, says Quivicán is the one with 250 kW transmitters while the other two are mostly 100 kW, some 50 kW. It`s risky to guess powers based on strength, but when I hear 6140 it unseems 250 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6140, Radio Habana Cuba; 0412, 12-Dec; M in Spanish re Capitalistas, etc. S20; // 6120, SIO=3+33-; // 6110, SIO=443; // 6060, SIO=534- None carrying the Telefono Ring-a-Ding Service (neither was 5025 Rebelde with English pop music). (Frodge-MI) 9600, Radio Habana Cuba; 2321. 16-Dec; W in Spanish; played Cuba Socialista song. SIO=422+ with strong xmtr hum -- USB helped. Not // 9640 RHC.(Frodge-MI) 9640, Radio Habana Cuba; *2314, 16-Dec; On with anthem after IS from 2313. W in Spanish with ID into commentary. QRM'd Brasil on 9645.3. During IS, heard W in Spanish & dog barking! but no phone ringing (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW + 86 ft. coil dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9640 is the Mesa Redonda alternate program (gh) DentroCuban Jamming Command against WRMI, 9955: Dec 21 at 0658 some WRMI music mixed with roaring, whines, rather than bubbles, but WRMI losing out. Before 1500 the usual wall of noise, no WRMI audible, but at 1504 jamming abated to pulsing; WRMI still stuck on SSE antenna, too weak to read R. Prague during Sunday mailbag segment. UT Monday Dec 21 RHC observations: at 0706, 6010 still on the air with English. Normally closes circa 0700, and now there is QRMexico --- way to go, XEOI! RHC English was much stronger and louder on 6060, and much weaker and softer on 6140. As I was listening to 6140 at 0708 it abruptly converted to Spanish, becoming // 6120 and 6150; and 6010 English still on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC, 6150, Dec 22 at 0614, Coro on Hurricane Gustav damage, in Spanish // 6120, while English was on 6140, 6060, 6010 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ISRAEL [non] ** CZECHIA. 270, CR, Topolná, UH, 1317-1416, 21 Dec, talks, reports, pops; 34343, adjacent NDB QRM; it became wsorse towards 1400. This is usually simply not audible at midday. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA. Radio Prague Visit --- Hi Glenn, Returned to the UK on Friday 11th December after a nice relaxing visit to Prague, Czech Republic. Before I went, I arranged to visit the Czech Radio/Radio Prague. I was given a tour of the radio by Pavla Horakova, host of Mailbox at Radio Prague. I also saw the program being recorded in the studio, which I have to say are extremely modern and well maintained. I also had the opportunity to meet with Editor in Chief Gerald Schubert and Director Miroslav Krupicka, and the next day Mr. Oldrich Cip. While at Radio Prague, it was clear to see that the staff are concerned about the shortwave service, and it was also clear that a lot of work has gone into efforts to preserve it. From what I gathered in conversation, it seems that Radio Prague will still have a presence on shortwave. One of the suggestions was that use of relay sites nearer to target areas would be employed, thus reaching the audience with better signal, and effectively maximizing the resources available. When I asked directly about the future of the transmissions, I was told that the current transmission schedule remains in effect until Feb 1 2010. While at the radio, I also saw the recently remodelled/renovated part of Czech Radio, the historic building. A wonderful job has been done in restoring the building to its glory, right down to window frames and door handles. The original Paternoster lifts are in place working, it was quite an experience jumping on and off the lift! This shortwave listener thanks everyone at the radio for their time and hospitality! (Chris Lewis, England, Dec 16, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. The official COP15 webcast which is going to transmit the meetings and make podcasts shortly after the meetings is at: http://www2.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/intro.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=cop15 (Kurt Aerenlund Pedersen, Sabro, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) Watch the call to action on climate change - and raise your voice at http://www.youtube.com/user/Cop15 select your language and raise your voice on the channel for discussing climate change (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) Welcome to the website “Copenhagen Climate Change Conference” at http://www.5p15cop.dk/news.php A website made to introduce the special event Hamradio station 5P15COP. We want you all to show your interest in the global environment by working this special call sign in the days for the Copenhagen Change Conference. The Conference will take place Dec 07 to Dec 18, 2009. We invite all radioamateurs world wide, to take a short break from a busy day, and let us know that you also care about the environment by contacting our Ham radio station. As the name of the Conference indicates, you could say the goal is to save our planet. Or at least make it a nice place to live. We think this is a very good and very important matter, so you should think of this website as a little, but serious attempt to be a part of the global movement. Many many people before us have made a big effort to make a difference: We would like to meet you in as many bands and modes as possible, but you will of course receive our QSL card after just one contact (5P15COP via Erik Koie, Holte, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD, and before it was over on dxldyg) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319 (USB), AFRTS, 1445-1450, Dec 18. “Travel dot Com” show; “You are listening to the American Forces Network”; Dr. Joy Browne call-in show. Heard daily with usually fair reception; // AFN Guam on 5765 (USB) which was about equal strength (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also see Hawaii ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Jeff, How`s R Discovery coming along? Still to be on 4780? When? Someone has been hearing a weak unID on 4830 evenings, not that, would it be? (gh to Jeff White, via DXLD) I think Discovery will still be on 4780. We have to form a foundation which will be the licensee, so that's what we are working on now. There's a certain amount of bureaucracy everywhere in the world when it comes to putting a station on the air (Jeff White, FL, Dec 16, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So looks like it will not be on by yearend (gh) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5010, Radio Cristal Internacional, 2310-2350* Dec 14, nice program of lively Dominican vocals hosted by a man announcer with Spanish talk sometimes over the end of the songs. Off suddenly after a song. Poor to fair (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) 5009.92, Radio Cristal Internacional, 2330-2359*, Dec 17, tentative with LA music. Talk. Very weak-threshold signal. Too weak to catch many program details (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) It so happened I was looking for this during the preceding semihour that day but could not hear any trace of it. Reconfirms early sign-off circa midnite UT (gh, OK, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025.02v, R. Amanecer, 0238-0330*, Dec 18. Conversations in Spanish, along with on-air phone calls; IDs for “Radio Amanecer Internacional”; religious songs; mostly poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6025, R. Amanecer, Stº Domingo, 2346- 19 Dec, Castilian, phone-ins during some religious propaganda program; 34432, adjacent QRM. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EAST TURKISTAN. 4330, China, PBS Xinjiang, Urumqui. December 20, Kazakh (listed), 0206-0220 2 male and female talks, string instrumental music selections alternating short female talks, 0218 Chinese style music. When talks, some distorted, overloaded audio, 35233 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) China - Xinjiang PBS Kirghiz language programme is well heard Dec 18 at 1055 on 9705 with some QRM from a digital type signal on about 9702. Their parallel 7295 is also audible, but weaker. Some nice local music is currently being aired through the hour and time pips. This service signs on later than the others and , as a result it is not often heard (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 6050.00, 0415-0445 13.12, HCJB, via Pichincha. Spanish hymns, 0425 ID and mention of Ecuador, promos, religious talk, ID and TS 0430, more religious talks and hymns 34333 (Anker Petersen, on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 6050, HCJB ID at 1159 Dec 17, 3+1 timesignal, continues what sounds like live morning show in Spanish. Fair signal with constant het from Malaysia on low side. Perhaps HCJB is a bit weaker now: it ought to be with lower power and NVIS antenna. We can only assume by now that this last HCJB transmission from dentroEcuador is emanating from the Mount Pichincha site ex-Pifo. Let the jets roar thru what used to be Vozandes airspace (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6050, HCJB, La Voz de los Andes, 0900-1000, 20-12, programa en idioma indígena, probablemente quechua, identificación: "La Voz de los Andes", mencionan "San Lucas, capítulo, versículo...", locutor, a las 0929 identificación por locutora: "HCJB", a las 0930 señales horarias de la emisora, canciones, comentarios. 35433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15295, HCJB ID, music, talk, singing in Portuguese at 1830 3 Nov, 34333 (Walter F Marchant, Kings Lynn UK, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) I was thinking this transmission had closed down permanently earlier than that, but trouble finding anything definite about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. LITHUANIA, Updated schedule of HCJB Global via Sitkunai from Dec. 6: 1530-1628 3955 100 kW / 079 deg to EaEu Ru/Chechen Sun, ex 1630-1728 1630-1728 3955 100 kW / 259 deg to EaEu German, ex 17-18 on 3955 WER (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 6860, Radio Cairo (presumed); 1933, 13-Dec; M&W alternating comments. Very distorted. Cairo listed here in Russian -- could be (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW + 86 ft. coil dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, RNGE/"R. Bata", Bata, 1926-1946, 17 Dec, Vernacular, African pops menu; 55433. 6250, RNGE/"R. Malabo", Malabo, 1530-1642 18 Dec, Castilian, newscast, African pops, children songs in Castilian; 43442, adjacent utility QRM. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, Radio Nac, Malabo, *0537-0610, Dec 18, 19, abrupt sign on with Spanish talk. Radio Nacional ID. Good. Heard Dec 18 & 19 at the exact same sign on times (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6250, RNGE, Dec 22 at 0612 YL in Spanish, poor with deep fades, newsy sounder. 0621 much better mentioning the estadio in Brazzaville, presidential elexions[?!], phone interview, then ute QRM starts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R Africa, 2135, 12/16/09, English. Several sermons, one almost undecipherable due to tape quality, including Tony Alamo with a show from early 2008 (per Google of show number). Two canned IDs with different mailing addresses heard, one in Accra and one in Lagos. Solid signal, but over reception dependent on the quality of the source material. Mostly good. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 15190, Radio Africa, 1348-1408, 18-12, locutor, locutora, comentario religioso, canciones religiosas, identificación: "Thank you for listening to Radio Africa", "Radio Africa, radioafrica @ myway.com". 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, 1543- 1600, 18 Dec, vernacular, talks, many refs. to Eritrea; 35433. It was blocked at approx. 1600 by some [ETH?] jammer. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. 9560.44v, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitter, 1815-1836*, Dec 18, Presumed. Tune-in to talk in listed Tigrinya. Horn of Africa music. Fair signal but constantly varying between 9560.30-9560.45. Very weak on // 7165. Listed for Mon, Wed, Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Voice of Tigray Revolution, *0257-0303 Dec 14, IS to 0259 opening echo effect ID by a man announcer in presumed Tigrinya language. Brief flute music followed by another man with a second ID and news. Fair to good signal and in the clear until Radio Taiwan International opened at 0300. Then they were of equal strength. //5980 was poor (D´Angelo/FCDX-PA) 6030, Radio Oromiya, 0400-0430 Dec 14, once Martí jammer cleared frequency, noted with woman and man announcer with news in Oromo language. 0411 there was music fanfare followed by woman talking. Jingle station ID at 0414 followed by a man talking with several clear IDs. After a few announcements, program of Horn of Africa vocals commenced. Very good reception; "best ever." (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) ?? Ron Howard in CA observed that the jammer did not go off tho still heard Oromiya (gh, DXLD) 6030, Radio Oromia, *0321, Dec 16 (Wednesday). Distinctive IS (xylophone) mixing with C&W music from Calgary till 0329; unable to make out language; 0332-0337 repetitive indigenous music; unable to confirm format after 0340. The Cuban jamming was not all that bad; Marti faded in for about one minute (very faint) and did not detract from R. Oromia reception at all. Reception was of course poor, what with the jamming and Calgary, but still a useable signal. So it might be possible to catch this on a semi-regular basis now? 6030, Radio Oromia (or is Oromiya the correct spelling?), 0324, Dec 18. Poorest reception so far. No problem from R. Martí or Calgary, but the IS was barely heard through the Cuban jamming (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1533-1619, 18 Dec, vernacular, talks, HoA tunes; 35433. 9704.2 ditto, same site, 1127-1206, 18 Dec, Vernacular, talks, music; 25432. This is often worse than on 41 m. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. RMI`s Oromo clandestines: see GERMANY ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Non-QSL: 15195, EOTC Holy Synod Radio (via TDP). My report (November the 2nd) sent to P. O. Box 7097 Los Angeles, California 90007 USA was ‘returned’ with ‘return to sender, unable to forward’ sticker after 3 weeks in transit (mail box closed). This address of “Los Angles, California 90007” was the one aired during the close of their transmission for this particular date. Several e-mails on their web site have yielded no response to my request for additional contact information (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. [sic:] Cupid go's dx again on 15.070 mhz saturday 19 december towards down under Because of the huge solar flare activity , the highest for this cycle 24 so far I decided to use my spare time saturday, to try again to make it towards downunder last broadcast was 7 november this was when the solarflux was 72 A and K index were also poor but suprising enough, i got a report from NEWZEALAND !! this was never in my thoughts, i was trilling when i got a letter from there. Unfortenly my big amp have failed , it looks that i can't fix it before saturday so i have to use my small amp this one will putting 150-200 watts into the 3 elements beam The beam is aimed towards central australia 70 degrees from my qth the broadcast starts on 09:00 utc and will end at 12:00 utc or maybe longer when there is a huge pile of response is coming up For those who got problems with the right utc time , check this http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_UTC.aspx Cupid radio 15.070 mhz AM mode start 09:00 - till at least 12:00 utc For this broadcast will be send out the special DX qsl card please inclose a photocard from the city were the signal is received drop this in the following mailbox adres Cupid radio P.o.box 9 8096 ZG Oldebroek Netherlands we were be also in the chatroom from iann in france, you can find it here http://www.easyshopdiscountzone.com/radio/pirate/english/ lots of pirates and listeners are here later that day it is posible if the propagation is good that the beam will be turned towards the states. we will be there then around 14:00 utc. Well happy days everybody, and a good 2010, greetings from the snowy cupid studio, rinus (via Roberto Scaglone, 2123 UT Dec 17, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Cupid Radio, 15070 at 0903 with rock songs, 0905 with Rinus making his first ID and short talks. Program consisted at most with old rocks. Re-tuned after a long stop for shopping at 1037 listening AC DC. Signal S3 at start with max to S7 at 1040 and 35544. Sad to hear that as 1140 he had to stop broadcasting (Zacharias Liangas, Dec 19, THS Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SCOTLAND EURO-PIRATE. 15070.3, Cupid Radio, 1455-1510+, Dec 19, ID. Rock music. Acknowledged listeners’ reports. Poor to fair. Occasional peaks up to a good level (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** EUROPE. On air for oldies --- Just to let you know that WR International is on air as usual this morning at 12257 kHz until 1300 UK time 1 hour longer today at the request of some of our USA listeners. Live output is from 0800 until 1300 GMT. Also on the internet with the Destiny radio system in stereo visit our web site for details http://www.wrinternational.co.uk you can also listen via shoutcast; search for WR International at http://www.shoutcast.com or the url is http://radio.wrinternational.co.uk:8003 Who knows we might even play a Christmas song or two, it can not be too early now. You can contact us during our transmission at radio @ wrinternational.co.uk or sms text message to +447539441912 it would be great to hear from you. Happy listening if you choose to, have a good day. Dave, WR International (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 1031 UT Sunday Dec 20, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** EUROPE. FRS-HOLLAND RINGING OUT 2009 NEXT SUNDAY FRS-Holland will again take to the airwaves over the X-Mas Holiday Season. December 27th FRS-Holland will be heard with a 5 hour broadcast starting at 0752 UT. Close down is at 1300 UT. Opposite to earlier reports FRS-Holland can be heard on 7685 // 5800 kHz. At 1300 UT all programs will be repeated on 7685//9300 kHz up till 1808 UT. The 9300 transmitter which replaces 5800 will be on air at approx. 1320 enabling our engineer to necessarily adjust the low-powered transmitter. Due to an Arab station using 7600 kHz in the afternoon, we have decided to use 7685 all day. During our October tests 7675 proved to be as good as 7600. If you have a blog or news site on the internet, please spread the details about our upcoming broadcast! Pxs will be presented by Jan van Dijk doing the German show. Dave Scott will be playing classic rock and has a few interesting radio related items. Hopefully Paul Graham will be hosting another classic FRS Golden Show playing great 60s/ 70s stuff as well as a feature on a landbased pirate radio station from years gone by. Peter Verbruggen will look back to what happened in the past on December 27th (Day Calendar) and plays a mix of 80s/90s/00s records in FRS Magazine. He will also host a 45 min. FRS Goes DX edition with the latest news from the wonderful world of wireless. Mike Anderson’s DX Welle will feature a mix of DX News and music. During the pxs we will read out November mail and New Year’s Greetings. There also is the Phrase that Pays. Programs will most likely commence at 0752 UT / 08.52 CET. From all of us at FRS-Holland a very Merry XMas and a healthy, prosperous 2010. FRS will be back in 2010 celebrating 30 years of SW transmissions. Address: FRSH, P. O. Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten in The Netherlands. Email: frs.holland @ hccnet.nl Free Radio Service Holland is an Independent and Free radio station broadcasting on SW since August 1980. Broadcasts are carried out in Dutch, German & English at an irregular basis on 48 & 41 metres. 73s, Peter V. (on behalf of the FRS staff), Dec 21, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** FINLAND. Scandinavian Weekend R most propably does not have Christmasday transmission this year (Alpo Heinonen/Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Rovaniemi, Finland, Dec 6, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) But the first Saturday should start 2200 UT Jan 1 (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. QSLs: 11905, Adventist World Radio via Issoudun, France transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) “Two African Maidens listening to a SW Radio” QSL card plus numerous other items in 40 days. V/s: Dr. Adrian Peterson. 13840, Radio Taiwan International via Issoudun transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) ‘Dendroblum – Orchid Flower’ QSL card. Reply in 20 days for an e-mail report. Also replied with schedule, postcard of Kenting National Park, and report forms (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. 21690, Sunday Dec 20 at 1818, RFI in French via GUIANA FRENCH, good signal. Was checking out Stewart MacKenzie`s Dec 18 report of an unknown station in an unknown country at 1808 in Spanish. Perhaps that should have been unknown language as well; RFI used to have Spanish at 1800 but abolished a few seasons ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 9580, Africa Numéro Un, Moyabi, DEC 5 2132 UT - start of the Africadanse program of contemporary African tropical grooves at an excellent level with minor choppy fadings. SINPO 55544. Better than usual here, especially at such a late time, perhaps due to a short run of solar activity on late November which still improved shortwave reception above 9000 kHz during the first days of December! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, UT Dec 22, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** GAMBIA. 648, GRTS, Bonto, 1842-1903, Vernacular, talks, newscast at 1900; 54433, QRM de ESPAÑA. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 5980.00, Hamburger Lokalradio (HLR), via Kall-Krekel (1 kW) (Cf. DX-Window no. 390), *0958-1200*, Dec 01, 03 and 04, Carrier signed on 0955 while R 700 on 6005 still was on the air, 0958 test tape: "Sie hören das Test Programm aus Hamburger Lokalradio" with accordion and ship horn blowing twice, 1000 ann, postal address, ID, Dec 01 story on the start of radio broadcasting in Germany in the 1920s, Dec 04 at 1001-1055 a funny talk about "Pubertet" (Puberty) with audience laughing many times, 1055 English male song with trumpet, light music, s/off with ID, ann 5980 kHz and ship horn blowing twice, 44333, QRM R Martí in Spanish. These tests continue throughout December (Harald Kuhl, Göttingen, Germany, via Dxplorer, and Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 13730 at 1430 tune-in Dec 20, open carrier except for occasional unID noises, 1431 start up Dr. Kathy studying Psalms CXIX, flutter and echo. This is the weekend-only Bible Voice Broadcasting due east via Wertachtal, GERMANY; I`d rather hear Austria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Jeff, [re USA: WRMI Wire Light no longer airing] So Cheetah Radio is also gone from DTK? Could you list the current RMI broadcasts still running there? (Glenn to Jeff White, WRMI, via DXLD) Glenn: Yes, Cheetah is also gone from Media Broadcast. We still have the two Oromo broadcasts from MB: Friday 1730-1800 (9660) and Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday at 1600-1630 (11730). (Jeff White, RMI, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. QSL: 15205, Adventist World Radio via Nauen, Germany transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) ‘Young Boy child listening to a Radio’ QSL card. Also received Greetings from Nepal Xmas Card, pocket calendars, reply in 42 days. V/s: Dr. Adrian Peterson (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. I guess this went by completely unnoticed? http://www.amrum-news.de/2009/02/18/radio-oomrang-geht-wieder-auf-sendungto/ Radio Öömrang, first shortwave transmissions in 2006 after Deutsche Telekom helped them through the bureaucratic jungle. Apparently annually since. On 21 Feb 2009 at 1600 on 15230, apparently to North America (they specify "time in New York"), "with five times more power than in 2008" and costing 300 Euro, so apparently Wertachtal 500 kW. I just came across this by way of googling for Radio Öömrang, prompted by an announcement that this time they have a temporary FM licence for the Amrum island. Never heard a word about it before (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mark calendars 21 Feb 2010! (gh) ** GERMANY [non]. 5945 at 0610 Dec 22, news in English detectable underneath skirt of RTI Spanish via WYFR 5950; 0611 DW ID, `cello riff, Newslink. This is 184 degrees via Woofferton, UK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DW OFFERS FULL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR INTERNATIOINAL MEDIA STUDIES --- Your chance at a full scholarship The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is awarding full-scholarships for Deutsche Welle Master's Program "International Media Studies" to ten applicants from Africa, Asia, Latin America or Eastern Europe (750.00 euros per month, plus tuition fees and travelling costs). Deadline for applications is April 30, 2010. The four-semester, full-time program offers a unique course program that combines the acquisition and development of practical skills in journalism with theoretical grounding. The program ends with a master's thesis and colloquium. Successful graduates receive a Master of Arts (M.A.). For further information about the Master's Program please see our website http://www.ims-master.de To contact the Master's Programm please mail to ims @ dw-world.de Catherine Joppart, Radio for peacebuilding, Africa http://www.radiopeaceafrica.org (via Sergei S., dxldyg via DXLD) That`s nice; since this announcement is in English, may we assume the coursework will be in English, and knowledge of German is not necessary? (gh, DXLD) ** GREECE. 12105, Radio Filia program relay via shortwave Avlis missing this morning. I assume due to the country wide strike of Greek journalists, a special program of Voice of Greece is heard on all three channels 9420, 12105, and 15630 kHz til 1000 UT. R Filia Voice of Greece (ERA 5) - Live Internet Radio. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. 9935, Xmas music in English, Dec 20 around 1415 such as Lennon`s ``Happy Christmas``, but war isn`t exactly over; a jazzy song in English spanned the 1500 hourtop, 1501 ID in Greek for Makedonias station, mentioned FM, 1502 news. HFCC claims this is a 250 kW transmitter at Thessaloniki, 315 degrees, but it seems to me this was changed years ago to one of the 100 kW at Avlis whence the other ERA SW transmissions emanate, and so shown in WRTH 2010; plus Aoki which lists 1100-1650, 100 kW, 285 degrees. Adjacent to VOA English 9930 via Sri Lanka (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815-USB, Kalaalit Nunaata Radioa at 2141 UT. Presumed this one with bits and pieces of woman's(?) voice till 2145, when went into what sounded like up-tempo instrumental music featuring woodwinds, nonstop for 15 minutes. At 2200 UT, male voice intermittently audible till 2209 UT, when a different voice perhaps the woman's(?) took over. Perhaps music at 2211 UT and nil heard after that. (Reported s/off is 2215v UT.) Extremely faint signal followed with great difficulty through local electrical noise and constant QRM from hams yacking aimlessly on 3818- LSB. This on Dec 11; no sign of them today (Dec 12). As sketchy as this logging was, I'm still pleased because it's the first time I've ever been able to hear anything from them despite at least two years of trying (Bob Hill, MA, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 18 and also DXplorer Dec 12 via DXLD) 3815, Groenlands R, Tasiilaq, 2204-2215*, 17 Dec, Danish, news bulletin including reports on and from the "COP 15" - Copenhagen Conference, jingle at 2214, some presumed announcements prior to abrupt closure as usual; 25342. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. RADIO VERDAD REPARANDO MÓDULOS DE SU EQUIPO TRANSMISOR Saludos, Amig@s: Como muchos de ustedes ya conocen, la pequeña estación de onda corta ubicada en Chiquimula, Guatemala, está inactiva por causa de un rayo que quemó los módulos de su equipo transmisor, y ya por más de un año, por lo que hasta éste fin de semana ha llevado algunas reparaciones del mismo. Para los interesados en seguir esta información, favor de ir al siguiente link: http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/2009/12/radio-verdad-de-chiquimula-guatemala.html Ahí aparecen fotos de los técnicos junto con el Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, haciendo las rutinas de reparación técnica y podemos conocer su equipo Omnitronix de 1 KW de potencia, que usaban para enviar su señal por los 4052.5 KHz. Su amigo, Magdiel, con información exclusiva proporcionada por Radio Verdad para todos ustedes. ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- -------- Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez Tel. (Celular) (+52) 777 110 94 56 Apartado Postal 22; 62571 CIVAC, Morelos; MÉXICO (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) See USA: KWMO 4050 ** GUINEA. -Conakry, 7125, R. Guinée, Sonfonya, 1119-1315, 18 Dec, Vernacular, African songs, pops in French, French for the 1200 newscast after some program announcements; 35433. This continued through the afternoon, with little of no QRM de amateur stations. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, Radio Guineé, 2320-2355, Dec 19, Afro-pop music. Hi-life music. French talk. Sign off at approximately 2355. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** HAWAII [non]. 10320-USB, AFN has been missing for about a month now (checks made daily around 1330-1430), ever since Glenn first observed their absence. In October they changed to a new music format, different from the usual talk/news/etc format on all the other AFN SW stations. In early November they switched back to the usual talk/news/etc format and shortly after that they completely ended their broadcasting (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Dec 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also see Diego Garcia I have noticed AFN missing on both Pearl frequencies for a month as well. I check every day; I'll look into it out here this week and let you know what if anything I find out. Thanks again for your tireless work! More soon. Warm regards, (Brock Whaley, HI, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250.0, Dec 17 at 1211, ID in passing as soon as I intuned, R. Luz y Vida, announcer over hymn talking about praying and proceeding to do so. God must DX 90 meters. Fair signal and stronger than the only other active Honduran SW, HRMI on 3340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. I've been sitting here assembling the January VUD and listening to Iceland 189 for the past hour. They have a great signal tonight and their music selections are impeccable. You will NOT hear anything like this on US radio and you surely will not hear any of the Christmas music they play on North American radio. By the way, they call it a "Rock 'n Roll Christmas" (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, R75/SDR- IQ with a flag directional 60 degrees, 0111 UT Dec 19, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** INDIA. 4820.76. RE: DXLD 9-084. 1410-1415, Dec 16. For the third time have heard my UNID here (also Saturdays: Nov 28 and Dec 12). Today had the best reception so far and fairly sure was in Hindi, so presume was AIR Kolkata being slightly off frequency, but why am I hearing this so infrequently here? Heavy QRM from Tibet on 4820.0, best in USB. Thanks to those that helped monitor this mystery (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Everyone, I tried for the station today (16 Dec) at 1645 and had a very strong carrier on 4820.745 at 1645 UT. I won't second-guess Ron's presumption it's India. However, when I tried for this last weekend, I had India and China cochannel on exactly 4820. Hardly any audio getting through, other than to say it was easy to determine the announcer was a woman (easier to copy against the male Chinese announcer). Had hoped the frequency would open up for clear copy after 1700 but no luck. Signal strength was comparable to other Indian stations. Sidebar: makes me think my unID Afro on 5000.000 was probably indeed Madagascar, even though 2100 is a bit late for them. 16 Dec. (David Sharp, NSW Australia, ibid.) Hi David, It is very reassuring to me that you are hearing a carrier there. Confirms that something is happening. Most days I also do not hear anything off frequency, but usually I do hear a very good assortment of other AIR regional stations on 60m. Will continue to monitor this. Thanks again for your assistance! (Ron Howard, Dec 16, ibid.) Hi David, Dec 17, at 1651 heard Tibet and India both on 4820.0. Nothing noted around 4820.76 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, ibid.) Dec 19 at 1555 UT checked the band and noted unID station on about 4820.8 with rather strong carrier but weak modulation. Monitoring further, the modulation peaked up around 1640 and the programming was in parallel with AIR on 4940 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jari, Thank you so much for the confirmation of AIR. After my last reception I thought it probably was AIR, but I always like it when someone else can confirm my suspicion. Strange that many days they are on 4820.0 (mixing with Tibet) and then sometimes they are clearly higher in frequency. Why the difference? Hope you have been enjoying the recent good propagation. Many Asian stations are doing very well. This is certainly the time of year to enjoy as much DX as possible, while the great conditions last. Thanks again for your observations! I always appreciate your comments! (Ron Howard, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably they switch between two different transmitters, as happens with a few other station jumping between two nearby frequencies. Perhaps someone in India can ask them specifically about this (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Difficult to say what causes this problem in Kolkata. Maybe on certain days they are testing their stand-by transmitter which isn't working too well. Or maybe just some strange fault in the main transmitter, causing split frequency and loss of modulation level. Season's greetings to you, Ron and Glenn (Jari Savolainen, ibid.) 4820.78v, AIR Kolkata, 1519-1600, Dec 20, not parallel to Delhi programming. 1600 in English with A.I.R. ID and brief explanation about “tonight’s” violin recital (sounded just like a sitar), accompanied be the tabla, which I enjoyed from 1602 to tune out at 1643; almost fair; best in USB (Tibet on 4820.0). After 1600 // with 4760, 4810, 4880, 4920, 5010, 9425 and 9470. Appreciate the confirmation by Jari Savolainen of Finland that my UNID in DXLD 9-084 and 085 was indeed AIR and also thanks for the feedback from David Sharp in Australia. Kolkata is now randomly off frequency from 4820.0 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4850, AIR Kohima, 1307, Dec 15. Poor reception. 1311, Dec 16. Fair reception with local singing and chanting; 1315-1340 usual segment followed by news in Hindi and English (area is on a high security alert; Nagaland government has approved the building of a 500 MW power project that will be completed in four years; etc.); after the news: “the function was held at All India Radio Kohima” today to celebrate Christmas; “The function began with an invocation by . . .”; started the invocation, but at 1400 went off the air in midsentence. Glad to see this still broadcasting even after the end of the Hornbill Festival! 4850, AIR Kohima, 1305 + 1403*, Dec 18. Sports segment in English explaining in detail about the game of football/soccer (I have heard the same segment here before); 1401 young woman DJ in English with program of on-air phone calls with requests and dedications for music; suddenly off; poor reception. 4850, AIR Kohima, 1308-1324 + 1402*, Dec 20. Usual format; ABBA with “I Believe In Angels”; after the news had item on water conservation and suddenly off; fair reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Another faulty AIR transmitter is Kurseong 4895. For last few weeks it's been putting out FM'ing symmetric spurs every now and then on 4927 and 4863. Last noted this Dec 20 at 1400 UT (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jari, Yes, something is happening at Kurseong! Dec 21 noted AIR Kurseong clearly off frequency on 4895.90. Heard usual AIR fare at 1451 and switched over to Delhi programs at 1512. Not sure if it was just propagation or what, but the signal seemed stronger than normal. First there was AIR Kolkata off frequency (4820.78v) and now AIR Kurseong. Are they testing new transmitters (or back up transmitters) or is it something else? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1 with antenna of 200 feet of Flexweave wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4895.85, AIR, Kurseong or Kolkata, 1138-1155 Dec 21, Caught some chatter at tune in that seemed to be in Hindi but only for a moment, then typical music. Signal was fair to poor. Everyone says Kurseong except AOKI which says Kolkata (Chuck Bolland, FL, Watkins Johnson Hf1000, 26.27N 081.05W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4920, All India Radio, Chennai. *1157-1205 December 20, 2009. AIR interval signal up at 1157, Vande Mataram 1200 into rather pop-ish Hindi vocal. Clear except for CODAR and fairly weak. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 5040, AIR Jeypore, random listening from 1325 to 1520, Dec 18. Coverage of the ODI cricket match between India and Sri Lanka at Nagpur; predominately in English (slight Scottish accent); numerous ads for one company (“Brought to by BSFN[?] EZEZ Home Loans”); broke away from time to time for news, etc.; after 1400 cricket coverage was // 4880 and 5010. Jeypore had the best reception; almost fair. 5040, AIR Jeypore, 1441-1626, Dec 21. Coverage of the third ODI cricket match between India and Sri Lanka; equally in English and Hindi; numerous ads (“Brought to you by BSFN EZEZ Home Loans”, “Man of the Match by Toyota”, etc.); 1602 “India has won!”; back to studio with fans calling in; back to the stadium for presentation by member of Parliament of the “Man of the Match” (went to player from the India team); mostly fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5040, All India Radio, Jeypore. 1223-1236 December 20, 2009. Hindi vocals with heavy tabla beat, Hindi man at 1229 with local ID, then into Delhi news feed at 1230, opening with English All India Radio ID and news in English by man, back to local programming at 1235. Clear and fair (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio 2120 UT very good on 7550, with weekly mailbag program Faithfully Yours. Many listeners from North America reporting good reception on 9445 (Chris Lewis, England, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But this must have been on Monday Dec 14 (gh) ** INDIA [and non]. Transpolar signals were good Dec 18, altho fluttery. At 2136 the AIR GOS had music on 7550 // 9445 intended for Europe. At 2138 the National Channel on 9425 was ending a dekaminute newscast in English with sporting items, 2140 into Hindi. For the next icosaminute we had a choice of two different nearby Indian music channels, plus Greek on 9420. At 2200, 9445 went to news in English ending at 2210 after cricket stuff vs Sri Lanka much like a semihour before on the other service, then commentary about a nuclear deal with Russia: the latter segment had muffled and hummy audio, apparently a studio problem (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9595, AIR, 0142-0203, Dec 16. Fair to good with Urdu service to Pakistan; // 6155 (Bengaluru: fair-good), 7340 (Mumbai: fair) and 11620 (Delhi [Khampur]: weak/QRM); mostly with subcontinent singing. Surprised that 9595 sounded as strong as the 500 kW on 6155 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9690, AIR GOS, Dec 19 at 1415, good signal but always with hum, lecture on Indian classical music. 1425 ending press review mostly about Pakistan, then ``Mainly for Tourists`` about the northern state of Haryana, which we don`t hear much about since it`s dominated by Delhi. Handy map I found: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/haryana/haryana.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR 9870 with Bollywood style music is heard equal level with RNZI's DRQRM co-channel at 1050 Dec 18 (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. (Kalimantan), 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 2207-2224 fade out Dec 14, Jakarta news with remote reports followed by Indonesian vocals selections hosted by a man announcer with some Indonesian talk. Weak (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) 3325, RRI Palangkaraya at 1516 in Indonesian, man talking to woman on telephone, followed by song. Heard to 1528 tune-out. This was the only usable signal on the band. Peaked around 1520. Poor-fair Dec 17 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, BC, Eton E-1 and Sony AN-1 active antenna, listening portable from my car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. (Sulawesi), 4750, RRI Makassar, 2156-2203 Dec 13, Indonesian music program until man announcer began speaking at 2158. Song of the Coconut Islands at 2159 followed by Jakarta news at 2200 with a man announcer. Very poor (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED 4750 ** INDONESIA. Re: DX Listening Digest 9-085; 4790, RRI Fak Fak --- If anyone needs confirmation -- RRI 4790 has been off the air for months now. Have to question if they will ever return (David Sharp, NSW Australia, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9525.9 at 1223 Dec 17, VOI in Indonesian, undermodulated with hum, but good enough signal to catch some names such as Kalimantan, Irian Jaya. No het from 9525, but a less-than-5-kHz het against something on 9530.0, always a tipoff to VOI offfrequenciness. Recheck at 1513 found 9525.9 on the air longer than usual, English having restarted with ID and historical item about Wright Brothers` first flight; fair signal still and no het audible tho we know CRI Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, is scheduled in English too, 500 kW at 308 degrees. 9680 had similar signal level to 9525.9: 1225 RRI ID also in Indonesian, choral music, good with no CCI. Happened to be listening to their music again at 1455, which cut off abruptly at 1456:45*. Here we go again, VOI changing transmission times, by mistake or deliberately? On 9525.9, Dec 18 at 1423 I hear English instead of Malay, so is it one hour late or one hour early? YL was talking about bamboo musical instruments as we heard one in the background. Fair modulation but with hum, and no het audible from anything on 9525.0. 1427 VOI ID. Another talk, and as I was trying to figure out the subject obscured by the accent, when at 1429 it cut off the air for a few sex; 1432-1435 off for a longer period; 1436 off-on-off-on-off; 1437 on-off-on-off-on-off; 1438 on-off; 1440 on, 1441 off; 1442 on- off; 1443 on; 1446 music seems to stay on. I may have lost track of the exact count of offs and ons; by then I was just listening for carriers audiblized by BFO slightly offtuned, as it would have been totally useless to try to follow the program content. 1454 it was off, and on again; 1458 on during CRI Kashgar het but VOI much atop. 1500 VOI jingle, English ID with frequencies, website, addresses, ``sound of dignity`` and into Malay (I think, not Indonesian) an hour late, still on at 1507, but at next check 1528 was off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9525.96v, Voice of Indonesia. Slightly higher frequency than recently heard on 9525.88v. At 1505, Dec 17 in English; news and sports followed by “Today’s Commentary”; poor to fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.9+, VOI back in Malay during the 14 UT hour Dec 19, at 1432 check, whilst it had been erroneously in English 24 hours earlier. I thought the frequency had edged a bit higher than previously, and Ron Howard measured it on 9525.96v, Dec 17 at 1505. Now when rounding we should really call it 9526-. ** INDONESIA [and non]. VOI was missing on Sunday Dec 20, but it`s back Monday Dec 21 on 9525.95 approx., at 1444 with soft song, Malay announcement; by 1500 the CRI/Kashgar het bothered from 9525.0 until VOI cut off the air for a few sex; 1501 VOI ID in English, ``sound of dignity`` restarting English but off for good at 1502* uncovering CRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525, 16/12 1940-1950*, Voice of Indonesia, French, reports, music, end program at 1950, good. Rx: Perseus (remote) - Ant: Wellbrook loop LFL1010. QTH: Bocca di Magra (SP). Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Giampiero, Really 9525, not 9526 when you heard it? Latest measurement from Ron Howard put it at 9525.96v, but earlier in the day. Perseus can measure down to 3 decimal places, apparently from other reports, right? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta at 1833-1901 in Indonesian, man giving speech in a public setting, audience sounds, occasional breaks for music and songs, but back to speech, past 1901 tune-out. Aoki and EiBi don’t list RRI on at this hour. Good Dec 19 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, Eton E-1, Sony AN-1 antenna, listening from car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Re 9-084, WORLD OF RADIO via WRN: ``Thank you for providing this information, Dragan, but how does one SUBSCRIBE to the podcast so that all new episodes are automatically delivered to i-Tunes or other podcast reader?`` Re: ``THE ANSWER IS: PUT THE FOLLOWING ADRESS TO A PODCAST READER, AND YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY HAVE WOR SHOWS DOWNLOADED: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Dec 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` No, this didn't work. If anyone knows how to solve this problem since WRN re-designed their website, please advise. If anyone knows how to get the feed to work once again with iTunes, please contact me at jdstephens_99 'at' yahoo.com No response from WRN to my inquiries. Thanx and 73, (J. D. Stephens, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRN currently offers podcasts of WOR only for RSS readers: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/541 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non?]. From the Radio Caroline website: See in 2010 with Radio Caroline live from the radio ship Ross Revenge – and again we will be also be broadcasting on 531 kHz AM to South Essex and North Kent! Our New Year's Eve party programme gets underway at 8pm with great music and tracks from the Caroline Presenter's favourite albums of 2009. Ross Revenge will be taking centre stage in the coming year as she will be celebrating her 50th birthday. The New Year weekend will be the first of a number of live broadcasts for "Ross Fifty " – our year long celebration of the ship's birth. Details of schedule at: http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk (Mike Barraclough, worlddxclub yg via DXLD) ** IRAN. Regarding the log of the 'Voice of Justice' on 7320 at 1920. What the listener actually heard was the standard English service for Europe of the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Voice of Justice ID is reserved for Iran's special English service for North America. This station does, as Glenn noted, sound a bit like a missionary station at times. Each day's broadcast opens with a recitation from the Qur`an followed by a translation, and there is a special series on Fridays entitled 'Path Towards Enlightenment' (Roger Tidy, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Special VIRI report: 18.12 9710, / 5900 [sic] VOIRI Bosnian 2149 [sic] with talks 2100 [sic] ID then about Bosnia H. 9710 is 45544, 5950 [sic] 19.12 15150, program in Chinese at 1200, S3 max 15200, possibly VOIRI 1242in Indonesian with talks in Islam S3 Program in Bengali at 1435 5910, S10 42444 5920, S9 max 43443 7380, S7 max 334x3 prg Qur`an, talks in Bengali Russian at 1451 9730, max S5 343x3 9575, 32xx2 mixed with [sic] 7345, 3960, S10 clear German [time?] 7380, S9 435x3 6205, S20 45544 French 9565, 1843 S20 6205, S20 // 6025 at S7 / 6180 ?? / 7380 S9 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. SOUTH AFRICA, 6225, RTE Ireland via Meyerton, 2010- 2031* Dec 14, lively discussion group on program entitled Sunday Forum discussing "wrong-doing within Church". Light music from 2017 until ID at 2028 mentioning World Radio Network. Quick news headline and then into United Nations Radio opening with Gerry Adams. Started news before carrier was cut ending transmission. Fair and steadily improving throughout listening period (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500- foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) 6225, RTE via Meyerton. Dec. 14 1950-2031*. Long discussions about the wrong doings within the Church and the ramifications that have occurred. Into filler music from 2017 to 2028. Station ID for ‘RTE from Dublin….the World Radio network’ Headline news, followed but cut in mid-news report. Signal was poor to fair with polar flutter (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL [non]. Now the Cubans are jamming Israel! WRMI has just changed to WRN relays M-F at 05-10 on 9955, with Israel scheduled 0600-0630. At 0606 Dec 22, pulsing over traces of talk, presumed Kol Israel, which thus is again broadcasting in English on SW, tho they probably don`t even know it, FWIW, much less that they are being jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL [and non]. FM RELAYS AVAILABLE IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE WRN is pleased to announce that RNW’s Arabic service has been broadcasting at 2200-2300 local time on weekdays on a joint Palestinian / Israeli station which covers central Israel, the West Bank and the northern part of the Gaza strip, as well as the west of Jordan. WRN was responsible for securing the broadcast for RNW; it has a long standing relationship with this station, having successfully launched Polish Radio, Voice of Russia and NHK on the station in the past. Spanning an area of intense cultural, political and media diversity, the station allows broadcasters to inform and entertain the Israeli and Palestinian populations on air – it has two FM transmitters in Ramallah and in northern Israel – as well as being available via the internet. The station features content from international public service broadcasters, music programmes and talk shows in Arabic and Hebrew that touch upon issues of common interest to Israeli and Palestinian audiences. For more information on how WRN can place your programmes on this station, please contact the Sales team at sales@wrn.org (re:wired >News from WRN> December 2009, Dec 17 via DXLD) WTFK? For that matter, what is the name of the station? (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. RADIO JOYSTICK AND IRRS NEXUS IBA WILL CONTINUE COOPERATION IN 2010. So RADIO JOYSTICK can be heard on every FIRST SATURDAY of each month at 10 hours Central European Time [0900 UT]. Each show lasts 59 Minutes and consists of Information on Malta, Media - and Music, presented by DJ Charlie Prince, who founded RADIO JOYSTICK as a hobby almost 25 years ago! The first show for 2010 will be with an interview again: Ms Ingris Kidder, President of the German Maltese Circle, tells all about her experiences on Malta. Two musical milestone will also be included: A wilful [?] version of the Beatles Hit "I Want To Hold Your Hand" - and the most wonderful piece from the movie soundtrack "Three Tough Guys"! So tune in on the 2nd of January at 10:00 o'clock German local time on 9510 kHz. Lat not least RADIO JOYSTICK wishes a nice Christmas and a fantastic new year to every Free Radio Enthusiast! RADIO JOYSTICK - P. O. Box 23 31 - 55543 Kreuznach - Rhineland Palatinate - GERMANY/ALLEMAGNE (Charlie Prince, R. Joystick, Dec 21, HCDX via DXLD) So perhaps on 9 January there will be nothing to pre-empt WORLD OF RADIO after a sesquimonth (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. 9790, NHKWNRJ, Dec 17 at 1220 in English with Japanese lesson, music break within Radio Japan Focus program; VG signal comparable to // Sackville 6120; in fact suspected an additional SAC channel, but listed as Wertachtal, GERMANY, 250 kW, 300 degrees to Europe, but also USward. Encountered another //, 9695, at 1226 more Japanese lesson dealing with kabuki, and lo audible het from what? 9695 is Yamata direct, 300 kW at 235 degrees. The only 9695 listing in Aoki which might be that far off-frequency is R. Rio Mar, Manáus, Brasil. Has anyone measured it? Unfortunately, Aoki does not deal with split frequencies even if they are long-established and constant. Some stations near 1 kHz off are shown as such, however, but not including Indonesia entered only at 9525. EiBi is willing to publish decimals but none shown on 9695. HFCC of course deals only with officially registered frequencies, not variants; and not jammers even tho they have a major impact on victims` coverage, unless disguised as real services merely colliding or sharing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Japan NHK World --- Bengali still on 15215 after 4 days (11 to 14 Dec) of test on 7400, never moved to 5960. Hindi still on 9585 after 4 days of test on additional 6115. Never moved to 6115. Urdu still on 9795, never moved to 5985. Regards (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NHK English programme at 0900-0930 Dec 18 was propagating well via 9625. This is direct and to Oceania, and there was an obvious echo on their signal (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 9595, Radio Nikkei 1, 2305, 12/18/09, Japanese. Back-to-back light, mostly instrumental pop to 2315 (//9760), then into a talk program (listed as "I Love Horse Racing!" on their website). Enormous splatter from RHC which fired up on 9600 around 2310, making Nikkei almost unlistenable. Poor. 9760, Radio Nikkei 2, 2310, 12/18/09, Japanese. Back-to-back light pop songs to 2315 (//9595), then also into a talk program, but seemingly not the same as 9595. Poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 9650, Voice of Korea (presumed), 2322, 12/18/09, Japanese. A male announcer reading a long diatribe in dramatic intonation, with giveaway revolutionary opera music to inspire the masses at 2335 recheck. Poor. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Re: Arnulf Piontek schrieb: Eine Riesenueberraschung hat die offizielle nordkoreanische Webseite http://www.kcckp.net seit heute auch lueckenlos funktionierend parat. Unter http://www.kcckp.net/krt/index.php [...] Registriert ist die Domain auf den Berliner Kaufmann Jan Holtermann, Geschaeftsfuehrer der KCC Europe GmbH: http://www.kcc-europe.de Naeheres zu dem Unternehmen hier: http://www.kcc-europe.de/ueber_uns.phtml Der Server steht in Berlin. Vor ca. 5, 6 Jahren erschienen einige Artikel ueber Herrn Holtermann: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtschaft/art271,2241789 http://www.stern.de/digital/online/internet-diktatur-am-netz-520156.html http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2004/1122/lokales/0011/index.html Es waere interessant, wenn es gelaenge, fuer die Stimme Koreas auch zuverlaessig funktionierende Livestreams auf die Beine zu stellen. (Wolfgang Thiele-D, A-DX Dec 10 via BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD)) Says the N Korea servers are located in Berlin, Germany (gh, DXLD) FYI - LINK correction: ...and you'll find links to separate programme items such as news, commentary or even pieces of music. Click (top) for the opening with interval signals, Korean announcements and National Anthem. Under (last) wrong URL link, try rather <<<<<<<<(wb)<<<<<< (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9690, as AIR GOS was closing, Dec 17 at 1459, carrier overlapped from *1459:30, 1500 opening in Korean mixing with music, 1503 YL singing a slow song, solo. Per Aoki, it`s Nippon no Kaze, 1500-1530, 250 kW, 3 degrees via Darwin, AUSTRALIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Sea Breeze, another Friday in English, Dec 18 at 1403 OM with heavy accent citing numerous headlines from Kyodo dealing with N Korea, not just abduxion stories, always followed by the same newsy sounder. No QRM, and fair with deep fades, via JSR JAPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6015 kHz KBS Domestic relay --- KBS Radio 3 HLKC-Voice of Love is relayed on 6015 kHz. I confirmed it *2100 on Dec. 16. // 639 kHz. The ID is before the time pips, ID as "KBS Je sam Radio, Sarang-ui Sori Bansong, HLKC" http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/au/kbs3-20091217-0400_6015.mp3 It is the first time that Radio 3 is relayed on SW. The schedule of Radio 3 is *2100-1800* KBS Global Korean Network HLCA carried on 6015 kHz at +0400-0858* on Dec. 16. It seems to be test broadcast. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Dec 17, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for 6015 kHz, Dec. 18 was all day open carrier. According to NEABI, in Korea, KBS is a planning to relay KBS Hanminjok Bangsong HLCA on 6015 kHz from Jan. 1, 2010. Therefore KBS reactivated the Hwasong transmitting station (100 kW) which stopped from Jan. 2007. http://cafe.daum.net/neabi/Cvfj/519 in Korean (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Dec 19, ibid.) As for 6015 kHz of KBS, Dec.19 is carrying in Voice of Love-HLKC from *21:00 on Dec.18. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Dec 19, dxldyg via DXLD) Echo of Hope extend service time on Saturday and Sunday from December 12. Current skd: 3985, 6003, 6348kHz 0254-1900 Sa. & Su. 0854-2300 Mo.-Fr. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Dec 20, dxlyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 6015 ** KURDISTAN. 4770.00, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, via Salal Al-Din, Northern Iraq, *0300-0500*, Nov 25 and 29, Kurdish opening announcement, mentioned "kHz" twice, Call to Prayer and talk, jammed by Iran, 33343. Jammer still heard at 0500-0510* (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 7540, UKRAINE, Nikolayev, Radyoya Dengê Mezopotamya; 1837 Turkic-Asian-type instrumental music, 2055 Asian- Turkic type vocal music, M in Kurdish, 2054 with announcements, 2055 W in Kurdish with ID, clearly heard "Mesopotamia", then gave frequencies, Martial-Instrumental NA to 2100* S/off 12/15/2009. 73's de Steve/AB5GP (Steven C. Wiseblood, Brownsville TX, (2 miles from Boca Chica Beach, GULF of MEXICO) Radio Shack DX-399, Grundig G-8 150' center fed LW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT [and non]. Does anyone have an up to date email address for either Radio Kuwait or Radio Cairo? Every time I try to send a reception report to either of these broadcaster's email addresses noted on their websites, my email gets bounced back as undeliverable due to an incorrect email address (Tyrrell C. Burns, location unknown, Aug 15, 2007, dxing.info forum via DXLD) Tyrrell: I tried writing at the following addresses: egyptianoverseas_english @ hotmail.com kwtfreq @ media.gov.kw and I succeeded. Best, (Andy Martynyuk, Moscow, Russia, Dec 3, 2008, ibid.) Hello, On their French language schedule Radio Cairo gives the following address: oridi @ hotmail.com I have not used it so I do not know if it bounces. Good luck! You can also visit my website: http://www.radio-pagina.nl It has recordings of shortwave / mediumwave and so on which will change every now and then. Member of the Benelux DX-Club http://www.bdxc.nl With kind regards (Han Hardonk, Elst, the Netherlands, March 2, 2009, ibid.) Many times I received beautiful folders and calendars from Radio Kuwait but, unfortunately, never QSLs (Andy Martynyuk, Moscow, Russia, Aug 13, 2009, ibid.) ** LAOS. 6130, LNR, 1419-1433, Dec 15 (Tuesday). Late starting: “Hi, I am Max”, “Hello, my name is Kathy”, “Welcome to New Dynamic English”; equal amounts of English and Laotian; lesson “What time did you get up?”; poor-fair. 7145, LNR, 1325, Dec 20. Start of English segment; news items; Laos- Vietnam relations, etc.; “This is the Lao National Radio, broadcasting from Vientiane”; 1356 into relay of assume their announced “97.25 MHz. FM” in Laotian; 1359*; causing QRM for hams (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 17725, Voice of Africa at 1529 Dec 21 in English with long list of ambassadors from various African countries, // much weaker 21695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. [continued from RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM] The importance of radio broadcast in Libya, the fourth largest country in Africa, is growing, with an estimated 250 receiver sets per 1000 persons countrywide. LJBC operates 3 shortwave, approx. 20 medium wave and 4 FM transmitters. Local radio stations are situated at various sites around the country. The new antenna systems from Thomson will not only improve the coverage but also enable considerable savings in operating costs thanks to the superior overall efficiency of the new systems. The Thomson crew is on site and working full time on the assembly of the towers. All systems will be taken into operation in the first quarter of 2010 (from Thomson Radio Broadcast via Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, R. Madagasikara, Antananarivo. December 20, Malagasy, 0145-0204 predominating male and female talks, 0153 male eloquent, short music and talks sounding like ads. Weak, 23222 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5010, R. Madagasikara, Ambohidrano, 1856-1924, 17 Dec, vernacular, Kor`anic program, numbers in French, presumably for (phone?) contacts, news at 1900; 54433. I can't remember of getting their 5010 signal this good. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Qur`an? Well, it was Friday vesper time, but Madagascar is only 7% Moslem according to the World Almanac 2002. Ex-president was a Presbyterian welcoming in WCBC. How`s that SW project going, anyway? Here`s the December update bulletin with typical imaginary-friend BS (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE WORLD IS LISTENING --- God’s Fingerprints Cover the Broadcasts From Alaska and the Construction in Madagascar The mighty hand of God is working in a wonderful way to use the tool of World Christian Broadcasting. Every day millions of people are contacted with messages from the Lord Jesus Christ. World Christian has many professional, clever and visionary workers. But the progress of the construction in Madagascar and the continued broadcasting from KNLS in Alaska can only be attributed to the hand of God. We have had two 500,000 watt diesel powered generators sitting in a port in Madagascar for almost one year. They have been released and delivered to our station and put in place inside the generator building. Their release can only be explained by involvement by God to make this possible. This was a major hurdle to clear toward completion of the station and the beginning of as many as 40 additional hours of programming every day. The technology of God is so amazing when you think of the great number of people who can be reached with a message of hope. Websites in all of our broadcast languages have enabled us to introduce Jesus to an even wider audience. Over 6,000 pages from our websites are being read everyday by listeners from all over the world. Shortwave technology continues to be on the cutting edge and will in the future open up new opportunities for communication to countless millions of people. God is truly awesome and remarkable. He leaves fingerprints for us to see every day. World Christian Broadcasting 605 Bradley Court Franklin, TN 37067 615-371-8707 http://www.worldchristian.org (via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) But hey, I like that ``shortwave technology continues to be on the cutting edge`` --- too bad it is largely destined for depriving countless cultures of their original religions. This page which linx to above pdf also has some photos of Madagascar facility, with MWV embossed on one of the walls, its callsign-go-be, for Madagascar World Voice. And some additional info which may or may not be new: (gh, DXLD) The station sending out Madagascar World Voice continues to be built. Our workers have not missed a day of work and progress is being made. Three 100,000 watt transmitters have been built, tested and are in Dallas ready to be shipped out of Houston. Two new 500 KW diesel powered generators are now in place. These generators are large enough to provide power for all three transmitters, all three antennas, and all other operations at the site for the foreseeable future. The three transmitters are digital ready, which means that from each antenna 4 simultaneous broadcasts on 4 different frequencies will be possible in the future as digital receivers become more plentiful. More people than at any time in history will be able to hear the gospel each day from 5 antennas. Readership on our websites continues to grow. Each day, over 4,000 files from the Chinese website, 750 from the English website and 550 files from the Russian website are being read. The two Arabic websites have averaged over 1,100 each day and the African website continues to attract new contacts with new information being often added. Don’t forget to go to the links to see these websites and to hear the daily English program that we do each day. The 20 hours of daily broadcasts (10 hours of Chinese, 5 hours of Russian and 5 hours of English) need a part in your prayers. You have a standing invitation to come to the International Home of World Christian Broadcasting in Franklin, Tennessee, meet the international staff and visit the studios where all broadcasting is recorded and then sent to Anchor Point, Alaska and Station KNLS (via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.6v, Radio Suara Islam via RTM, 1558-1600*, Dec 15. End of program announcement; choral National Anthem; 1+1 pips; start of the “Salam FM” jingle and suddenly off. Problem with audio (hum/distorted/warble) 6049.6v, Salam FM via RTM, 1600-1635*, Dec 17. Audio slightly over modulated (distorted); this is the longest reception I have had for them; fair signal (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM (presumned) via RTM, Kajang, 1625-1634, 18 Dec, English, western pops; 13431, adjacent QRM. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx FM at 1754 in English with oldies North American pop music, 1758 “This is Radio Malaysia” ID, 1800 news. Audible till past 1900. Poor with QRMoscow Dec 19 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, Eton E-1, Sony AN-1 antenna, listening from car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 7285.9, R. Mali, Kati, 1122-1313, 18 Dec, vernacular, talks, tribal songs, French at 1300, jingle, date and then the "Journal"; 55444, adjacent QRM 7285 at 1300, but mostly avoidable despite the tiny frequency gap. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 20.12, 7285, 0825 with talks in vernacular. Back at 0854 with just carrier and very low mod, S6, 34341 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102, 1103, 108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000; Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9635, R. Mali, in French, at 1150, with traditional songs, and ID at 1200. 33442 2009/12/16 (Greetings from Portugal, Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9635, R. Mali, Kati, 1301-, 21 Dec, French, prolongued jingle, announcement, jingle for news prior to news bulletin; 45444. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 783, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 1242-1309 (!), 21 Dec, Vernacular, talks, Arabic at 1300 for a newscast, French at 1400 for news; 14441, adjacent QRM de E 774 & 792. 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 1121-1306, 18 Dec, Vernacular, traditional tunes and songs, news at 1200, Arabic at 1230, music, newscast at 1300; 55444. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott. December, 19 Arabic 0801-0808 male talks, sometimes eloquent, on Arabic music. Clear, 24433. 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, México D. F., 0913-0945, 18-12, locutor, español, comentario religioso. 25422. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, XERTA, strong at 2251 with om ballad en espanol; gone at recheck 2305. Transmitter problems? 19 December. Sixty Band seems open to Latin America at this time. Brasil, Bolivia and Peru noted. 73s de Bob (Wilkner, Pompano Beach, La Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, México D. F., 0645- 0755, 20-12, locutor, comentarios religiosos en español. 15321, (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, Dec 22 at 0617 very weak Spanish talk vying with CODAR, presumed XERTA, which most of the time is totally inaudible. Trans-continental, indeed! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, México D. F., 0915-1003, 18-12, locutor, locutora, comentarios, canciones latinoamericanas, identificación: "Radio Mil, en donde vive la música", "Radio Mil", anuncio de programas: "Inicia el día a las 5 de la mañana en Radio Mil", "Radio Mil", canción española "Bailar pegados" de Sergio Dalma. A las 0946: "Las tres y cuarenta y seis, vive México en Radio Mil". A las 1003 la señal ya se vuelve muy débil y comienza a desaparecer. 24322. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, Radio Mil, México D. F., 0840-1005, 20-12, canciones latinoamericanas, a las 0848 identificación: "Radio Mil, 1000 AM, y en onda corta XEOI 6010 kHz, banda internacional de 49 metros, transmitiendo desde prolongación de Paseo de la Reforma. Con los mejores deseos de Radio Mil, feliz Navidad", "En Radio Mil vive la música de México, vive México en Radio Mil". A las 0915: "Son las 2 con 15 minutos, vive México en Radio Mil". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010.00, XEOI Radio Mil, 0800, Dec 22, Spanish sung ID, "Burbujas de Amor", 0814 TC for UT -6 as "dos y catorce", seemed exactly on frequency? BLR was off this morning but annoying het &increasing splatter from nextdoor R 700 spoilt much of the fun. Noted to 0822 tune-out. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6104.9, XEQM, Mérida, Yucatán, surprisingly good S9+12 signal Dec 16 at 0745, live DJ with 1:46 am timecheck, telephone number for requests, other chatter over music, a minute later at 0748 giving ``exact time`` as 1:49, back to music only. Modulation a bit distorted, and just a hint of a het from something on 6105.0, nothing scheduled from major broadcasters, so maybe one of the other LA stations. But: about to get blown away by TWR; see MONACO [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEQM, Candela, iets zachter. Met spaanse klanken en commentaar op 6104.770 kHz, zelfde tijd als boven, Condities goed op 49M Band!! 73, (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, uiteraard met super Karwei antenne, 0935 UT Dec 18, BDX via DXLD) 6104.8, XEQM, Dec 21 at 0704 with live DJ offering felicidades, fading in and out but no significant QRM. This is a good hour for hearing this weak station, as previously accomplished several times here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [and non] 6104.8, XEQM, RASA, Mérida, 0606-0746, 20-12, canciones latinoamericanas presentadas por locutor, español, entrevista a oyentes a través del teléfono: "Oye, me estás diciendo qué no te llamaron?, a las 0704: "Una de la mañana y cuatro minutos", 0711: "Bueno, bueno, una de la mañana y once minutos", 0736: "¿Quién es?, Rosa María, hola Rosa María", "Una de la mañana con 36 minutos". A las 0746 desaparece eclipsada por Trans World Radio con programa en inglés en la misma frecuencia. Hasta entonces SINPO 14321 variando a 24322. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185, Radio Educación, México D. F. 0922-1012, 18-12, música clásica, identificación a las 1005: "Radio Educación, 1086 AM, 6185 kHz, banda internacional de 49 metros", anuncio de programas, "Radio Educación". 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Educación, Mexico op 6184.960 kHz, 0905 UT Dec 18. Met full ID as "Education" radio national de Mexico in spaans. Heel goed en rustig met de supper Karwei antenne. 73, (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) 6185, R. Educación supposedly runs SW only from 6 pm to 6 am local, i.e. 00-12 UT during standard time. But Dec 18 still on at 1202 with a discussion in Spanish, greatly marred by splash from much stronger RHC 6180, which also had much louder modulation. RHC also on // 6150 and 6120, so they hardly need to be messing up nine 49mb frequencies at once (speaking just of co- and adjacent channels). I figured XEPPM was just a bit slow to turn off the transmitter, but at 1239 it was still on with talk show mentioning audio-libros, 8- digit phone numbers. So are they intending to run until 1300 now? That would certainly work, if it were not for the Cuban ACI. If only they would keep 6185 on all day too, as it would have considerable coverage over much of Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and Baja EUA, lacking QRM to boot, e.g. Cuba off after 1300, and certainly nothing Amazonic; see also BRAZIL [and non]. On rare occasions in the past we have heard XEPPM back or still on past 1500, so it pays to keep an ear on the frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. /BRAZIL, 6184.948, Radio Educacion aus Mexiko ist hier selbst nach 0800 UT noch mit gutem Signal und klassischer Musik sowie Ansagen in Spanisch zu hoeren. Wohltuend ist gerade im unteren Seitenband der freie Bereich. Erst 20 kHz weiter unten sendet die naechste Station. Ein paar Hertz weiter oben auf 6185.006 ist noch eine zweite aehnlich starke Station. Bisher ist noch unklar worum es sich handeln koennte (Thomas Lindenthal-D, A-DX Dec 17 via BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) The other station is of course RNA Brasília. That explains the lo het we always hear between them: 58 Hz apart, almost like a 60 Hz hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6185, Radio Educación, México D. F., 0803-1010, 20-12, música clásica, locutora, anuncio de programas de la emisora, identificación: "Radio Educación, 1080 AM, 85 años". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. 9800, S9+10 at 0758 Dec 16, TWR music-box IS, 0800 sign-on in English as ``Trans World Radio, UK on the 31 and 49 meter bands`` but no frequencies given, programme summary, and then the first one is apparently Dick Saunders` Rendezvous which is also in English, starting with a hymn on Hammond organ. At 0814, rechecking for XEQM, I found instead the other TWR frequency on 6105, but not in synch: 9800 was running 3 or 4 words ahead. XEQM could still cause a het on TWR, which was giving a UK address, had been studying Hebrews, Thru the Bible with Dr J Vernon McGee, then about being on Facebook. Does TWR-UK still have a mailbag show, or is it 100% gospel huxters, with Facebook serving the mailbag funxion? They even had a DX program once upon a time. 6105 is 285 degrees from Nauen, GERMANY; 9800 is 324 degrees from ``Monaco``, really FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, 20/Dez 0932, R Mongolia, in Mongolian, from Ulaanbaatar, with 250 kW, ID by OM. The 0934 UT OM speaks slowly, as if telling a story or a religious sermon. 35433 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 7260, Mongolian Radio -2, 0929, Dec 22, Mongolian male announcement, long violin solos, indigenous songs, into presumed news 1000. Clear frequency as co-channel XPBS is off Tues (&Thurs) 0800- 1100. Again noted 1240 Mongolian with westernized pop songs under CRI Japanese, surfaced briefly when latter station closed 1257, but then had to contend with VOR &WYFR open carriers (both opening here 1300). Definitely one of their "better" days but generally weaker than December last year. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 7200, R Myanmar, Yegu, 0030-0230, Dec 04, Bamar programme, English 0200-0230, 333 (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) ** NEPAL. 5005, R Nepal, Khumaltar, 0035, Dec 04, only carrier, no modulation; daily heard. What a pity no modulation, 333 (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Re 9-083: while my previous log Nov 28 of RNW`s reactivated Arabic service toward North America, 22-23 UT relayed via RWANDA 9895 found it mostly music; on Dec 17 I listened from 2215 past 2230 and it was VG, mostly talk with some music breaks. 2226 something about Islam. Did not hear a ``Huna Amsterdam`` ID this time, but at 2230 they were referring to the country as Holanda, with the H aspirated unlike in Spanish; off abruptly at 2257* before we could hear any mixup with Greenville Spanish. The DW techs habitually close at 3 minutes before the hour whether programming is finished or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. FRSH yearend special: see EUROPE. Is this REALLY in Holland, apparently immune from bustation? (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW QSLs: see RWANDA, SAIPAN, SOUTH AFRICA, USA ** NETHERLANDS [non]. This week`s Happy Station Shows for the Americas Dec 17th uploaded. The show at 1600 UT features the second part of my interview with Dody Cowan. The 0200 to SAm is the live show. Next week is the Happy Station Christmas Special which also includes a song Tom recorded for the show. For more information go to http://www.pcjmedia.com (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Merry Christmas from PCJ, December 24, 2009 – 0200 / 1600 UT Happy Station Christmas Special – This show will feature some seasonal songs you will know. But most will be unknown. There are also a few short stories that will be read including `Twas The Night Before Christmas, which will include a song Tom specially sent for this. This show already started airing this past weekend on PCJ’s partner stations in New Zealand, Indonesia, UK and USA. Frequency: 9955, live stream http://www.wrmi.net Happy New Year from PCJ, December 31 – 0200 to 0400 UT (SA / LA / Caribbean) live from Taipei, Taiwan This is the first of two New Years Eve Happy Station specials. My special guest cohost will be David Monson and we will present some special features sent in from different places. The items are for this show: Ian McFarland/Colin Newell – Canada Beta Wayne with CINQ in Montreal with some comedy – Canada Paulette MacQuarrie – Ukrainian New Years. Paulette is the host of Nash Holas on CHMB 1320am in Vancouver – Canada Neil Hendrickse – Cape Town, South Africa. Neil is the host of Finally Fridays on Springbok Radio – South Africa Amy Carlson in Quito – Ecuador Frequency: 9955, live stream http://www.wrmi.net Dec 31, 2009 – 1600 to 1800 UT (NA/Caribbean) live from Hong Kong This show will be done from the studio overlooking Victoria Harbor and will begin with the midnight fireworks in Hong Kong. Depending on the weather we may do the show from the rooftop outside. The special items for this transmission are from: Bob Thomann and Bob Zanotti. They have produced a special edition of the Swiss Shortwave Merry Go Round. The first new show since 1992 – Switzerland Carl Blare from KDX Radio – USA Tom Meijer will present a piece about New Years Eve from his home in Port Almere and what will take place at midnight Dutch time – Holland King Daevid Mackenzie from Arizona – USA Peter Anthony Holder host of the Stuph File will join me to talk about some odd news stories from 2009 – Canada Yukiko Tsuji-Maki – Japanese New Years – Japan David Kolesar and friends from Washington DC – USA Chrissy Brand from the BDXC – United Kingdom During this show I will be announcing the winners of the Happy Station Contest. Frequency: 9955, live stream http://www.wrmi.net December 26, 27, 28 – PCJ partner stations These stations will broadcast a special show with an interview with Tom Meijer. This special will air in January for other regions. For more information feel free to contact me at anytime. Email: pcjmedia @ gmail.com Website: http://www.pcjmedia.com All the best this season, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Dec 21, pdf Xmas greetings with beautiful scenes, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. 15225, 20/Dez 1918, NETH. LEEWARD ANTILLES, VOA, French, from Bonaire, with 250 kW. OM presents musical program, rock ballads. Various interruptions of the signal during the music. 45444 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Opportunity for a little geography lesson. Bonaire is not part of the Leeward Islands (nor Windward). See http://www.caribbeanislands.us/leeward-islands-map.htm ``The Leeward Islands comprise Anguilla, Montserrat, Saba, St Barths, St Eustatius, St Maarten, and St Martin`` The name has rather fallen out of use since it has no political significance. BTW, pronounced by salts and those in the know as ``LOO- ard``, not ``LEE-ward`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. I have not reported it lately, but RNZI monitoring in our mornings is still a writeoff due to the collision with VOR in Chinese on 6170 due west from Khabarovsk, such as Dec 19 at 1439 talk about Canterbury and Christchurch, mixed with Russian music. VOR is finished at 1500, but by then I have noticed several times there is not much signal left from NZ which is scheduled until 1750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 917, R. Gotel, Yola, 1840-1856, 17 Dec, vernacular, talks, international and African pops; 43443, adjacent QRM de Spain 918. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [and non]. R. Australia not making it at all on its several 13 and 15 MHz frequencies at 0650 Dec 18, and only two very weak signals audible on 19m, notably 15120, could tell they were in English mentioning Nigeria, so certainly VON as scheduled (and not on 15121v this time). The other was 15205 in Hausa, certainly DW as scheduled via Rwanda. So nothing but Africans were barely propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6925 USB, Weak Radio, 1050-1100, Dec 18, rock music. ID. Very good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6930 AM, X-ray Radio, 1050-1110, Dec 18, ID. Re-broadcasting “Cutting through the Matrix” program with talk about world order. Email at broadcastreception @ hotmail.com Fair to good. 6930 AM, X-ray Radio, 0300-0335, Dec 19, ID. Re-broadcasting Pirates Week program. “Pulse of the Planet” program at 0328. “X-ray Radio” ID at 0330. Country music. Strong. Very good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6925 USB, Radio Free Euphoria, 0435-0447, Dec 19, ID, Novelty music. Pop Christmas music. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORWAY. In the absence of any significant trans-Atlantic DX this evening, I decided to check reception of Bodo Radio from Norway. At 2305 UT had good reception of all transmitters in English, Norwegian: Sandnessjoen 1710 kHz Andenes 1659 kHz Jan Mayen 1743 kHz 71 degrees north Hammerfest 1635 kHz Vardo 1713 kHz 70 degrees north Svalbard 1731 kHz and 4357 kHz 78 degrees north All with audio in // but noticed that Jan Mayen audio is delayed by about 100ms. (That seems too short for geo-stationary satellite delay, so I wonder how the audio reaches the Jan Mayen island transmitter. Indeed geo-stationary satellite reception might be tricky in Jan Mayen at 71 degrees North. Oddly Svalbard with is even further north did not exhibit the same audio delay. Perhaps Norway uses sub sea cables to connect Svalbard? Answer to my own question is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Undersea_Cable_System (Steve Whitt, England, Dec 20, MWC yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) Those would make fine TA catches in North America; unseems I ever saw them reported, but considered utility by MW and SWBC DXers. Jan Mayen, Svalbard (et al.?) may be considered separate radio countries (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. OETA`s Oklahoma News Report announced on Dec 22 that the final translator at Boise City had been converted to DTV; so the network is all-digital, 4 full power and 14 translators (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KWTV: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING: DTV KGYN: see U S A ** OMAN. 15140.00, 1405-1420 12.12, R Sultanate of Oman, Thumrayt, English announcement, pop songs and orchestra music, 24232. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) I often look for it but rarely more than a trace of a signal here. But: 15140, Dec 22 at 1502, talk in Arabic, fair with flutter. R. Sultanate of Oman supposedly runs all the way until 2200, but seldom audible. I might have heard them in English news today if I had intuned at 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OMA 17632.39 at 1308 UT --- Still - odd frequency occurrence last since end of October - odd channel today on Dec 18 at 1308 UT, hit DWL German news on 17630 kHz even, latter via Rampisham-UK to Asia 1200- 1359 UT. Thumrait 17630 kHz schedule registered at 0600-1000 UT only. Next 315 degree - scheduled - outlet is on 15140 kHz in English at 1400-1500 UT, and followed Arabic 1500-2200 UT. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Wolfy, did you get an ID? I don't have anything there now at 0930, not even a carrier. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) ** PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION LAUNCHES LIVE STREAMING Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has started live streaming of its broadcasts. A PBC official told Daily Times that programmes of National Broadcasting Service (NBS) could now be listened to live on the Internet. NBS is a dedicated Current Affair Channel of Radio Pakistan which broadcasts news bulletins, sports news, business updates and stock market reports, talk shows and interviews of prominent personalities besides social and cultural programmes 17 hours a day starting at 6:55 am and concluding at 12 midnight (0155- 1900 UT). The official said programmes broadcast from NBS mainly originated from Islamabad while major regional stations of PBC including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta also made their contribution in the daily transmission. He said the programmes of NBS, launched in August 2008, were broadcast on a network of eleven stations. “PBC is working on a plan to broadcast NBS programmes from a new FM network in the main cities of the country to make the broadcasts more loud and clear,” he said. As of now, Radio Pakistan listeners around the world can get easy access to various programmes in all regional languages as well as in Urdu and English. NBS programmes can be accessed live on http://www.radio.gov.pk (Source: Daily Times) (December 22nd, 2009 - 16:53 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Neetwork blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** PALAU. Re 9-085, >>>WRTH shows P.O.Box 66, Koror, Republic of Palau PW 96940, REPUBLIC OF PALAU df I always have had fine replies from ex-T8BZ (now "World Harvest") from the address mentioned above. The verie-signer was always: Ben Chan, T88BC, Enigeering Manager. 9930 kHz is good here in the morning UT with English religious World Harvest programming. 73, (Erik Koie in COPenhagen, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bentley Chan isn't working any more on the island. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) T8WH. If this is what it really is - on 9930 in English at 1015 and announcing as World Harvest Radio. As Erik Koie remarked, it is a strong signal in Europe, and their schedule does list this frequency (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, thought I pass it on, we`re heading to the island for the Holidays and suppose to be there 12 days, so will let you know of our visit to World Harvest Radio, T8WH. It`s my first to the island; the captain changed it after another ship took our place in Subic where I was going to spend Christmas with the wife and kids. Once I get internet connection I will post some info on the visit and any pictures I can take. For those of you here, Happy Holidays and wish you [could] see the places I go to. 73's de Larry, n6hpx/mm Field, n6hpx1 @ hotmail.com N6HPX/du1: Philippine islands member: ARRL, Pinoyhams, PARL, PARA http://www.qrz.com/n6hpx http://www.myradioworldandcatches.blogspot.com ------------------------------------------------------------- Radios on board: Sangean909, Sony7600gr Yaesu FT530, VX5R, *FT60r antenna: Home made 50ft. wire dipole Repeaters: DX1L, DX1PAR, AH2G, DX2AAA Manila Dec 16, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** PANAMA. FM news - 2xEs targets? Later today I will be posting the latest Panamá FM news on the WTFDA forums, with the regular Emisoras de FM updates. If anyone has ever wondered if they have a legitimate shot at 2xEs to Panamá on FM, things might be pointing in that direction. In the latest upgrade to facilities, 92.9 HOYXY Cd. Panamá "YXY" with ac, has increased their power to 48.862 kw (from 17.749 kW). There are a handful of other Cd. Panamá stations that would equally qualify as 2xEs targets: 89.9, HOTMA "Stereo 89" romántica, with 53.959 kW; 95.3, HONCP "La Nueva Exitosa" news-sports, with 36.105 kW (from 6.310 kW); 96.7, HORDC "Radio Mia" news-talk, with 59.863 kW; 98.9, HOMCA "Ultra Stereo" rock, with 46.663 kW; 105.1, HOATR "Estéreo Vida" religion, with 79.620 kW. As the Es season in the Southern hemisphere begins to peak, DXers along the southern tier states might want to keep their *dx ears* open for anything that might break out north of the equator (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver), Dec 18 WTFDA via DXLD) ** PERU. Noted in Florida 2330 to 2345 on December 16: 5059.927, La Voz de las Huarinjas, Huancabamba 2330 to 2345 5120.461, Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba from 2330 to 2345 73s de Bob (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3329.5, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 2231-2339, 19 Dec, Castilian, Indian songs; 13431, adjacent utility QRM. 4775, R. Tarma, Tarma, 2242-2255, 18 Dec, Castilian, the usual program about medicines, "enfermedades", mail reading about illnesses; 34432, CODAR QRM. 4790, R. Visión, Chiclayo, 2240-2249, 18 Dec, Castilian, religious propaganda often mentioning "milagros" (miracles); 34432, CODAR QRM. 4835.42, R. Marañón, Jaén, 2234-2244, 19 Dec, Castilian, talks; 14331, CODAR QRM. 4955, R. Cultural Amauta, Huanta, 2236-2249, 19 Dec, Castilian, children songs, references to some patron saint; 45333. 5120.4, Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, 2240-2255, 19 Dec, Castilian, Indian pops; 35333. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4746.7, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, 2309-2323, 19-12, locutor, comentario, español: "La llegada del Año Nuevo", anuncios: "En la ciudad de Huanta", "Lo que tienes que hacer es tener fuerza de voluntad", "ven a hacer cualquier tipo de consulta", canciones peruanas. 24322. (Méndez) 5120.1, Radio Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, 2321-2333, 19-12, locutor, comentarios, "venga a vernos", anuncios. Muy débil. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orienta WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Radio Veritas 9615 is a loud signal in Mandarin at 1040. Sounds to be a recitation... "Ave Maria, etc..." (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9430, once again one is taken aback by something from FEBC in English, a useless language not officially on its schedule in favor of numerous minolity Asian languages one has never even heard of. Dec 16 at 1453 a kids` Xmas song in English reminding us of something on ``Polar Express`` or ``We Are the World``, but not secular, and OM announcer briefly spoke English, then to YL in Mandarin, the real language on this transmission at 0900-1630 via Bocaue site. It is a bilingual segment we have run across before; she spelled a website http://www.psalty.com and later spelled the word H- E-A-V-E-N. Checked website and Psalty is a cartoon character, a kids` missionary songbook, get it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PITCAIRN ISLAND [and non]. RETURN TO PITCAIRN You will remember that we broadcast a short series of programs here in Wavescan back in July on the topic of radio broadcasting on Pitcairn Island. As a result of this programming, John Cruddas here in the United States made contact with us, stating that he was holding many items associated with Pitcairn, and that he would like to pass them on for permanent preservation. In due course, several packages containing Pitcairn memorabilia arrived at our Indianapolis address, and they turned out to be very interesting and very valuable historic items. Included in these packages were many items of historic importance from the middle of last century: old magazines, travel brochures, newspaper items, pictures, and QSL cards, all in some way associated with Pitcairn Island, and in particular their historic radio scene. A copy of the commercial magazine, Pacific Islands Monthly for June 22, 1938, contains several items about Pitcairn Island, including one about the inauguration of the new radio station and its first relay broadcast on April 6. The magazine article quotes the complete text of this short radio program. Additional items in this magazine give the complete schedule of the ABC shortwave station VLR with programming beamed to the Pacific, as well as the programming schedule for the AWA shortwave station VK2ME at Pennant Hills, near Sydney in New South Wales. Another magazine, the T & R Bulletin from England for December 1938, contains two items of radio interest; one item states that radio experiments during an eclipse of the moon provided no changes in propagation during that time, and the other item tells about the three callsigns in use on Pitcairn Island. We will present this information in our next edition of Wavescan. Several of the travel brochures show the travels of Lewis Bellem & Granville Lindley on the occasion of their voyages to and from Pitcairn Island for the installation of the celebrated radio station PITC-VR6AY. Included in the packages were four radio scripts giving the text of the radio broadcasts from Pitcairn Island that were re-broadcast in the United States over the NBC mediumwave network. Copies of newspaper items and photographs from this same time period also tell about the radio station and other events on Pitcairn Island. And what about the QSL cards? These QSL cards, several hundred in number, are associated in some way with Pitcairn Island. They are all from amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners who addressed their QSL requests to Lewis Bellem in Providence, Rhode Island. These QSL cards and letters report hearing Pitcairn Island radio, and also Lewis Bellem at his home in the United States under his own amateur callsign, W1BES. Some of the Pitcairn QSO contacts were in Morse Code and some were voice. So great was the interest in Pitcairn radio during this 1938 era that many of these QSO [sic] cards and letters are actually a follow up request, just to ensure that a genuine QSL card would be received from Pitcairn Island in due course. Here are the details of some of these reception report/QSO cards and letters:- * A letter from the engineer at radio station CKWX in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada acknowledges two QSO contacts with Pitcairn Island and makes request for a full data QSL card. * A QSL card from W6NCW in Hamilton California states that one of his children took the first QSL card that he received from VR6AY on Pitcairn and cut it up into little pieces with a pair of scissors. He is asking for a duplicate copy of the VR6AY card, to replace the one that was destroyed. * A QSL card from W8HGA in Hinton West Virginia states that his first QSL card from VR6AY was badly damaged in the post, almost torn into three pieces, and he also requested a duplicate copy as a replacement. * A QSL card from W7GLH in Vancouver, Washington, states that he attempted on an earlier occasion to gain an interest on the part of people in the radio world to establish a radio station on Pitcairn Island, but without success. He states that he is pleased that the 1938 attempt was successful. * Several short letters from Mr J. D. Gallivan in Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, give details about events on Pitcairn Island. There was a shortage of petrol and kerosene, and then there was a rumor, apparently unfounded, that there was a typhoid epidemic on the island. The gasoline and kerosene fuels were needed on Pitcairn to run the motor generators that charge the batteries used by the radio station. These fuels were usually provided by radio personnel in the Panama Canal Zone. * Other responses, in the way of QSL cards, came from Ireland, Cuba, England, Indonesia and Switzerland. Well, that brings us to the end of our new information on these old radio events associated with Pitcairn Island. Next week, we are planning to present a special feature regarding the three callsigns that were in use by the radio station on Pitcairn Island; two amateur callsigns and one communication callsign (Adrian Peterson, IN, AWR Wavescan script Dec 6 via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. FRG-7 was still tuned to Brasília`s 11780 as I reactivated it Dec 17 at 1153, hearing good signal on 11785, quickly IDing in Polish as PRES, i.e. as WRTH renders it, ``Polskie Radio dla zagranicy``. This is 100 kW, 300 degrees via AUSTRIA at 1130-1200, exactly same as for English at 13-14 on 11675, so no wonder it too is well-heard. But the only significant signals on 25m at this time were Anguilla 11775, Korea (S, not N; howcome? RCI prefers to relay Red rather than Free China) via Sackville 11795 in Spanish; and PRES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UK Some VTCommunications changes: Polish Radio External Service 1930-2000 NF 9490 SKN 250 kW / 080 deg to EaEu in Ukrainian, ex 6180 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Oh, oh, very distorted FMy spur on 15857.6 as closely as I could measure it without a specific carrier to pinpoint, Dec 16 at 1521 as I started my bandscan down the 19m band. Quickly tuned further for matching audio and found it immediately at 15690, i.e. RDPI. That`s plus 167.6 kHz, so is there a match on the lo side? Yes, more of the same on 15522.4. The fundamental was somewhat distorted, but S9+12 tho aimed 82 degrees and enjoyed the programming, so once identified I neglected the spurs. Sounds like a live concert involving violin around 1538. At 1541 I could not believe my ears --- some English on RDPI! A Swedish musician was being interviewed, and English was the compromise language; long live ESL! But soon translated into Portuguese. Apparently there was some Sweden/Portugal cultural exchange ongoing. 1550, harmonica. 1555 mentioned both RDPI and RDP Africa. Then other things to monitor but at 1603 recheck, all three frequencies were off. 15690 is scheduled 14-16 M-F only. In case you haven`t heard, Isabel Saraiva has died after a long illness, reports Ullmar Qvick. She was a great friend to SWLs, DXers, QSL seekers, going beyond the call of duty to reply in English, send gifts, etc. A successor has stepped forward, inviting contacts in English or Portuguese, Paula Nunes Teixeira Email - paula.teixeira @ rtp.pt or: RDP /Internacional Intercâmbio e contact Paula Nunes Teixeira A. Marechal Gomes da Costa, 37 1849-030 LISBON PORTUGAL ``I am available, Thanks,`` she says in a message received by Marcelo Bedene, DX Clube Paraná (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Radio Romania International marks events of 1989 On December 17, 1989, security forces opened fire on protesters in Timosoara, Romania, sparking the unrest which would see the Dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu assume room temperature 10 or so days later. From Today in the News THE ROMANIAN REVOLUTION STARTED IN TIMISOARA 17/12/2009 The 1989 revolution that led to the collapse of the communist regime in Romania broke out in Timisoara, a city in the west of the country. Twenty years ago, on the 17th of December, the first shots were fired and the first people were killed on the streets of the city. 72 people, mostly youth, were killed when the army, at the order of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, started firing at the protesters. The bodies of over 40 victims were taken to Bucharest and cremated in an attempt to destroy any physical evidence of the killings. http://www.rri.ro/cat.shtml?lang=1&sec=5 Pro Memoria - The History of Romanians --- ROMANIA IN 1989 Much more at: http://www.rri.ro/art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=27764 To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering. - Clive Cussler (Fred Waterer, http://www.doghousecharlie.com ODXA yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 171, R. Rossii-Programma Kavkas, Tbilisskaya, 237-2324, 07 Dec, Russian, light songs, ID, newscast at 2300; 34443, QRM de MOROCCO. Médi 1 does seem to be at reduced power to allow such reception of RUSSIA. 216, R. Rossii, Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, 2311-2320, 08 Dec, Russian, talks; 15341; better reception on 11 Dec. 261, R. Rossii, Taldom, 1835-1906, 08 Dec, Russian, talks, classical music pieces, program announcements between 1855 & 1900, TS+TC prior to newscast at 1900; \\ 5905; 34443, adjacent QRM de ALGERIA, then co- channel QRM de BULGARIA felt at 1849. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5940, GTRK Magadan, 0220, Dec 16. Briefly heard them testing their transmitter; running test tones on and off again; changing the pitch of the tone; no audio at all. 7320 was heard with the usual local Magadan programming with fair to good reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7200, NVK R. Sakha, via Yakutsk, 2339, 12/15/09. Russian pop ballads. Good signal if at listed 100 kW level. News or announcements at 2356. Time pips to 0000, 5 seconds slow by my atomic clock. ID at 0000:20 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Wellbrook 330S 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And still intruding LSB to 40m hamband (gh) ** RWANDA. 6055, R. Rwanda, in French, from 1945 onwards, with some very interesting vocals, sometimes solo. Hard reception until CRI leaves the air at 1957, when fair. No ID at TOH, but several mentions of Rwanda, at 2018. 32431–33432, 2009/12/21 (Greetings from Portugal, Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. QSL: 9895, Radio Nederland’s Arabic service to North Africa via Kigali Transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) ‘A Dutch Morning’ Card 6 – ‘Bridge over the Groenburgwal’ QSL Card. This for CD MP3 report. Reply in 15 days (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also NETHERLANDS [non] ** SAINT KITTS. 555, ZIZ, Basseterre, DEC 21 0856 UT - Dude taking call from his listeners and talking with them. He talked with one of them about global cooling saying the temperatures will drop from 20 to 17, to 15, to 10 and then to 7! Very interesting chatter. The break in the chatter was used to insert some gospel and calypso music selections, included a Xmas-related calypso. Huge signal, mostly in, with a nice and clean good signal strength. SINPO 44534 (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, UT Dec 22, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. QSL: 15280, Radio Nederland’s Indonesian Service via Agingan Point Transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) Card 2 – ‘Radio Nederland’s World Wide Building’ QSL Card. This for Postal Report. Reply in 12 days (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15250, Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1226-1228* Dec 14, caught man with English ID followed by news headlines prior to middle eastern instrumental music bridge when carrier was terminated. Poor. Again, 1200-1228* Dec 15 with fair signal with English news followed by a climate change commentary (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX- 340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, Buzzing Service of the Kingdom of Sa`udi Arabia, not there at 1500 Dec 22, but came on around 1502, only fair signal, and buzzing too on 11785, which had also been audible before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND. Long running UK pirate Weekend Music Radio from Scotland returned to the air today on 6400, good signal here, first noted at 0915. Has not been on the air for around 18 months. Next year will be their 30th anniversary. Their website has been reactivated, includes extensive station history. Today's broadcast is a four hour one, may be on a repeat loop, 2 separate one hour shows from Jack Russell and Mike James. These shows are also available for download from the WMR website: http://www.wmrscotland.com (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec 20, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) EUROPirates, 6399.85, World Music R, Scotland ?, 1207-, 20 Dec, English, pops, chatter; 35433. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6400 20/12 10.10 Weekend Music R. - EE ID e MX buono (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE [and non]. QUESTION: RSI ceased broadcasting on July 31, 2008 from Kranji2 site (SW). Now does anyone know if this transmission site is being used by any other regional or international broadcasters or if the site is to be "moth-balled" / decommissioned in future. The Street View images still show the antennas in place. Would welcome comments. Regards (Ian Baxter, Dec 3, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Has MediaCorp Singapore sold its shortwave facilities? I have not seen any such reports. So the most likely answer is that the site is out of use since mid-2008. It remains to be seen if they keep it in operational condition or have shut it down permanently, with demolition pending. I guess the latter is the more likely scenario, but perhaps someone has more informations at hand? And this one is amusing: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2072876 Well, some time ago I have been asked what in the world this huge antenna complex near Buchloe is. Broadcasting was about the last application the guy would have presumed (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 4, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. 6055, Dec 16 at 0816 in German. Figured it would be R. Nikkei with another language lesson, but never any Japanese in the mix, and not // 9595, so that`s out. Uplooked later, this semihour is RSI`s German service at 305 degrees. No doubt Nagara would have been audible before and after. Solar flux had soared to 82 the day before, and Europe was making it here in the nightmiddle even on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, SIBC at 1329 with BBC programming, previewing programs and then news at 1330. Poor Dec 17 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, BC, Eton E-1 and Sony AN-1 active antenna, listening portable from my car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020, SIBC, 1443-1458, Dec 17. Relay of BBC programming; // 9740. Believe this has been off the air for about a week, so was nice to hear them again; poor to fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had been wondering about no trace of this lately, then could detect a carrier at least circa 1400 (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Dec 18 at 1825 UT noted a spur of Family Radio (Camping talks) on approximately 6281.8. This seems to originate from a transmitter on 6045 as there was also similar, but weaker spur on about 5808.2. I think I heard this spur also a few days ago (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6045 being Meyerton, South Africa, 15 degrees at 18-19. Also 6045 YFR at 17-18 in Amharic is via UAE (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 12080, Radio Nederland’s English service to West Africa via Meyerton Transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) Card 3 – ‘Windmill on the River Gaasp’ QSL Card. This for Postal Report. Reply in 12 days (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also IRELAND [non] ** SPAIN. 1698, La Coruña Radio, in USB, noted at 1907, with weather for Atlantic Ocean. 34343, 2009/12/17 (Greetings from Portugal, Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 15385, REE Emisión Sefarad, Monday Dec 21 at 1450 with lovely music. But I knew something was wrong since at 1453 the YL announcer started a new segment ``España Hoy`` when it was time to wrap. The semihour recording playback must have started well after 1425, and the transmitter site was not about to compensate for that, cutting to open carrier at 1455 and off at 1456*. At least this saved her from another embarrassing reiteration of the wrong frequency 15325 she gives in the schedule at sign-off. 15385 back on with REE IS from *1456:30, weaker after antenna change for next transmission in Castilian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Re 9-085: 7190, SLBC, Ekala, *0030-1230*, still continues to Asia in Indian languages // 11905. The Radio Amateurs have requested the station to move out of 7190, but nothing is happening. Further the 11905 channel is emitting spurs and is also heard on 11956 at fair level, 333 !!! Dec 07 (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) 11750, 21/Dez 1741, Sri lanka BC, in Sinhalese. OM and YL meets calls from listeners and it seems the musical requests. Signal faded after 1820. 25332. Could someone tell me the power of transmission and the right direction? 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Missing from Aoki, but registered as 300 kW, 310 degrees from Ekala (gh, DXLD) Registered 15-19 UT in Singhala language. 300 kW unit is the once sponsored NHK Radio Japan gift to SLBC Ekala (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Thanks Wolfgang and Glenn; Then a transmission to the local language and addressed to immigrants in the Middle East. What explains the high power. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA, Brasil, ibid.) ** SRI LANKA [non] /GERMANY, 6045, Voice of Tigers, via Nauen, with non-stop songs, heard from 0038 onwards. 34443, 2009/12/17 (Greetings from Portugal, Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems nothing but music is being heard from this, right? (gh) via Wertachtal, Germany, 6045, IBC, Tamil Radio, 0025-0100*, Dec 20, tentative with continuous Tamil music. Abrupt sign off. Poor to fair with occasional adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SUDAN. 7200, R. Omdurman, Al Fitahab. December, 19 Arabic 0423 male “R. Omdurman”, seems news program, many mentions of “Sudan”, 0430 abrupt s/off. 34543. 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200, Omdurman 1910 with OM talking in Arabic. At 1912 with hilife song. "Jarah eeram" ID at 1924 followed by a song. S7-9, 33343, good audio, some QRM from 7210 SA20 (CRI) 19.12 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102, 1103, 108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000; Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. DX Mix News reports that from Dec 15, Miraya FM via IRRS via SLOVAKIA has finally escaped the collision with Greece at 1500 on 15650, by moving to 9825, so I look for it Dec 16 at 1525: all I can detect there is a weak carrier, but at 1526 Greece is indeed free of co-channel on 15650, no SAH tho it too is quite weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Slovakia, 9825, Miraya 101 FM, *1459-1515, Dec 19, time pips & IDs at 1500 followed by English news at 1501. IDs as “Miraya 101”, “Miraya 101 FM” and “Miraya FM”. Gave mirayafm.org website. Arabic at 1512. Fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 19.12, 9825 Miraya FM, 1504 with news in English, ID 15150 [sic] with many external reports, most about communities, NGOs Japan International auto centre, S10, 45544 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102, 1103, 108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000; Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. SHORT-WAVE RADIO STILL GOING STRONG IN DARFUR' --- Researcher Graham Mytton presents results of Radio Darfur listener survey --- From Press Now Research shows that Darfuri listen en masse to radio broadcasts via the short-wave band. 95% of the population over the age of 15 listen to the radio at least once a week. Over 70% of the people in Darfur listen at least once a week to Radio Dabanga, the Darfuri name for Radio Darfur. Mytton: ‘This research shows that short-wave radio is a very powerful medium in Darfur.’ After the state Radio Omdurman – which broadcasts the entire day – Radio Darfur is the most popular radio station in terms of listeners. Asked which station people tune into to listen to the news, 39% states Radio Dabanga. Furthermore, it turns out that the questioned Darfuri primarily listen to the radio at times when Radio Dabanga transmits its broadcasts, from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and from 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Graham Mytton, formerly head of Media Research at the BBC and presently working as an independent media researcher, was commissioned by Press Now to conduct research into the listening behaviour of the Darfuri. The survey was held immediately after Ramadan, from September to the end of November 2009. The first results came in three days ago. The survey was held among 1,582 respondents over the age of 18 from all over Darfur, both men and women. The remarkable thing is that men and women listen in equal measure to the radio. ‘I have never seen that, nowhere in Africa – it’s usually a male affair,’ says Mytton, who has led numerous media studies in Africa. ‘The preliminary results are very good for Radio Dabanga. Graham Mytton presented these provisional survey results yesterday evening in Desmet Studios, Amsterdam, during the celebration of Radio Darfur’s first anniversary. The data presented by Mytton concerned provisional results that will still be supplemented further. The full research report will be rounded off around 1 January 2010 (Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via Madagascar, 11655, Radio Dabanga, 1625- 1728*, Dec 17, Arabic talk. “Radio Dabanga” jingles. Short breaks of African music. IDs. Weak but readable. Stronger on // 13800 - via Germany with a good signal but with a high pitch tone on frequency. 13800 about 1 second ahead of 11655. Transmitter sites are presumed. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 0319-0352 Dec 14, pop music program featuring Jennifer Warren/Joe Cocker duet plus many other romantic songs. ID by a man announcer at 0345 followed by Dutch announcement. More pop music vocals. Fair (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via DXLD) Radio Apintie on 4990 kHz. Heard on Dec 18 2009, 0440-0525 UT, apparently randomly chosen music (heard the same song twice) with a Dutch language jingle at 0521. Signal fair to good in New Hampshire, with interference from a weaker co-channel station (AIR?) in the background (Rik van Riel, Icom R75 & Kenwood TS-930SAT with 80m skyloop at 50', HCDX via DXLD) Following reports of R. Apintie being audible on 4990 (0440-0525 per Rik van Riel, NH, HCDX), I tried again for it, Dec 18 at 0632 --- yes, some very weak music audible there, much weaker than Brasil 4985. Don`t know what else it could be altho someone also reported something in German on 4990, and Rik had co-channel QRM, from India? Surely not at that late hour. Apintie is always tough here; must be very low powered or unfavorable direxionality. Aoki says it`s 1 kW, 180 degrees due south, obviously to serve the country`s outback, and at 08-03, but there have been many previous reports of it on all-night, which may be quite sporadic. WRTH 2010y agrees on the power but does not give any schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. SAQ on 24 December --- The historic Alexanderson alternator transmitter at Grimeton, Sweden is preserved as a museum and is operated by volunteers on various special days throughout the year. The station will transmit CW on its usual frequency of 17.2 kHz on 24 December at 0800 UT. These transmissions are well worth listening to if you can rig up some kind of the receiver; the musical sound of the keyed alternator is unique (RSGB ) Reports are welcome and will be confirmed by QSL-cards. QSL reports can be given via: - E-mail to: info @ alexander.n.se - or fax to: +46-340-674195 - or via SM bureau - or direct by mail to: Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner, Radiostationen, Grimeton 72, S-430 16 ROLFSTORP, SWEDEN http://www.alexander.n.se/transmissions.htm (via Mike Terry, Dec 18, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. ARCTIC RADIO MOROKULIEN The Peace Kingdom Morokulien, located right on the border between Norway and Sweden, just northwest of Charlottenberg, ARCTIC RADIO CLUB starts a new radio station (RSL-restricted special license) on mediumwave on December 28, 2009 thanks to good cooperation with the chairman of Arima, Amateur Radiooperators in Morokulien. Arctic Radio Club of Sweden and the Peace Kingdom Morokulien jointly celebrate their 50th anniversaries by these broadcasts. The radio station's main frequency is 1584 kHz, but some test broadcasts will also be carried out on 1602 kHz. The power is approximately 400 watts. The coordinates of the transmitting station are: N 59 degrees, 56 min, 15 sec. E 12 degrees, 12 minutes, 30 seconds. All information on transmissions, frequencies and possible additional test transmissions will be announced at ARC News Flash: http://www.radioenthusiasts.blogspot.com All times are Swedish Standard Time. (UTC + 1 hour) Official broadcast schedule: 28.12.2009 00:00 - 01:00 28.12.2009 14:00 - 15:00 30.12.2009 09:00 - 10:00 06.01.2010 09:00 - 10:00 10.01.2010 14:00 - 15:30 10.01.2010 21:00 - 23:00 Transmission will be in Swedish, but some small part in English occurs. Station Identification will be in both languages. ARC concludes its celebration with broadcasts on Sunday 10 January, 2010. For those interested, a unique QSL card will be printed. This is of course, a QSL card for the first mediumwavetransmission from the Peace Kingdom Morokulien. See more on the Peace Kingdom Morokulien: a movie made by Swedish TV this year: http://www.svtplay.se/v/1695307/varmlandsnytt/morokulien-50-ar http://www.morokulieninfocenter.com http://www.fredsmonumentet.com/index.html Please contact the ARCTIC RADIO, PO Box 5050, SE-350 05 Växjö, Sweden. Email: arctic.radio.morokulien @ telia.com Reception reports are welcome to the above addresses and if you request a printed QSL-card for the correct reception report, please include 2 stamps for Swedish domestic postage. By letter correspondence please enter your email address and we can notify you of further commemorative broadcasts in 2010 (via Olle Alm, Sweden, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) From 2009.19.27 2300 UT you can hear "Arctic Radio Morokulien" with music from the 60`s on MW together with some small talks (Claes Olsson, FL, Dec 18, Cumbre DX via DXLD) No one mentions the country! The coördinates seem to put it in Sweden, but VERY close to the Norway border (gh, DXLD) ** SYRIA. 9330, Radio Damascus, 2111-2200* Dec 13, man announcer with news in the English service. ID at 2115 followed by Syrian vocals. News headlines at 2156, closing ID followed by choral National Anthem. Fair with // 12095 [sic; surely 12085] poor to fair (Rich D´Angelo, French Creek State Park DXpedition No. 34, PA, Ten-Tec RX-340 and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially south for the RX-340 and a whip antenna for the E1, Dec 16, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) 12085, Radio Damascus at 2114, in English, two men with news, 2117 into Arabic music. Meter showed S9 strength, but news had weaker modulation than music. Poor Dec 19 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, Eton E-1, Sony AN-1 antenna, listening from car, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Errors on QSL card from Radio Taiwan International Radio Taiwan International sent me a cattleya orchid QSL card, which arrived one week after I submitted a reception report via email. The QSL card has some errors and an omission: • Reception was on 06 Sep 2009 but QSL card was filled out for 10 Sep 2009 (which was probably the day it was filled out) • Listening time was 0200-0300 UTC but filled out for 0300-0400 UTC • Frequency was 9680 kHz but filled out for 5950 kHz • Transmitter site field was blank (PWBR 25th ed says 9680 kHz transmission during 0200-0300 UTC is from Okeechobee) So, passing grade for the prompt reply and beautiful photo, but failing grade for the reception details. shortwave weblog: http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/ (Eric Weatherall, CA, Sept 13, dxing.info forum via DXLD) You may send complain to this RTI email address: rti @ rti.org.tw (Jeff Ting, ibid.) ** THAILAND. 6045. R. Thailand, 2248, 12/19/09. Chinese service had OM & YL alternating comment. Fair signal (Strawman-IA). 9680. R. Thailand, 0014, 12/14/09. National news stories by YL & OM. ID at 0015 followed by travels ads. Pulled plug in mid-sentence at 0029:30; Poor-fair signal (Strawman-IA). 9720. R. Thailand, 1229, 12/19/09. English news feature. Poor due to splatter from WYFR 9715 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Wellbrook 330S 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 5240, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, 1640-1657, 20 Dec, English, news about development in Tibet, light songs; 45433; \\ 4905, 4920, 6130, 7385. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4905, Xizang PBS-Lhasa, 1630-1700, Dec 21. “Holy Tibet” program in English; news items about Tibetan farmers and herdsmen; “Tibet Tourism” about making and ways of eating “Samba”; ID "This is China Tibet Broadcast Company, Holy Tibet. Holy Tibet will take you to visit the roof of the world. Holy Tibet is the window into the life of Tibet"; most days heard with fair reception; // 4920 and 6200 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 6010, CNR-11 (Tibetan Service). 1452, Dec 20. “Holy Tibet” program in English advising tourist to Tibet what to bring along; fair; best in USB; scheduled 1430-1500 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. Re 9-085: 7105, Intermodulation of RTT Sfax Tunisia in ham radio band section 7.1 to 7.2 MHz. German measuring and control station checked that unwanted emission in ham radio band from Nov 15 to Dec 16. Formula: 7105.0040 kHz = 2 x 7225.0020 kHz minus 7345.000 kHz transmission times 7345 1856-2309 UTC 52,7 dBµV/m 7225 1656-2111 UTC 76,1 dBµV/m 7105 1856-2111 UTC 21,4 dBµV/m Complaint to Tunisia's Telecommunication sent out. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 6000, VOT (presumed), 0151, Dec 18. Noted Middle Eastern music well on top of RHC. Listed 500 kW (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. See UNIDENTIFIED 7194.98 ** U S S R. Re 9-085: The camera at 0:19 in the IRTC video appears to be a Soviet KT-132: http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/soviet/image/kt132.pdf Images from such cameras even appeared on an RTL station: When Deutscher Fernsehfunk had been closed down at yearend 1991 the youth programme Elf99 continued as an independent production company, for some time delivering its former DFF live magazine to RTL. They were able to keep using the existing infrastructure, not only the Soviet studio cameras but also the Hauptregie II control room from which the GDR's second TV network used to go out. Otherwise of course the Mechlabor tape recorders from Hungaria, just with spools instead of open reels. And need the patchcords still to be wiggled? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. 12095, BBCWS English, Dec 16 at 1515, flutter and long-path echo; site is Rampisham, 95 degrees at 15-17. That`s the trouble with rising solar flux: improved propagation helps signals go the long way round too instead of petering out. 9410, BBC Mundo, in Spanish Dec 17 at 1234 via WHRI starting ``BBC Top Ten`` which as the name implies involves a lot of music in English, so why present it in Spanish? This service is M-F only at 1200-1300, starting with new news, then archive stuff until 1234, latest Top Ten on Tue & Thu and unannounced classical music fill on M/W/F. At this time, signal was fair but not solid. It`s 250 kW, 182 degrees from Furman. 7535, BBC in Chinese with hardly any jamming! Dec 18 at 1415 with several IDs, website pronounced in English, etc. But by 1417 I could hear music in the background which matched the CNR1 jamming on 7525, 7295. Details uplooked later in Aoki: both victims are via Thailand, VOA Chinese on 7525, BBC Chinese on 7535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. The festival of Nine Carols and Lessons can be heard live 24 December at 1500 to 1630 UT on BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. See BBC Programme Information for 24 December 2009. For an especially ethereal experience, try to listen via shortwave. BBCWS shortwave to North America is long gone, but some frequencies beamed elsewhere might be audible. See this schedule (pdf). (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Had not found that handy `poster` before, all the BBCWS English SW frequencies in graphical form on one page, and showing transmitter sites, dated Nov 2009-March 2010; bookmark it: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/frequency_poster_oct09.pdf (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Frequency changes of BBC: 1500-1600 NF 13660 SKN 300 kW / 180 deg to NoAf in Arabic, ex 15180 1700-1745 NF 11860 SEY 250 kW / 270 deg to EaAf in English, ex 6005 1800-1900 NF 7375 CYP 300 kW / 173 deg to N/ME in Arabic, ex 6030 1900-2000 NF 9835 SKN 300 kW / 150 deg to NoAf in English, ex 13820 2000-2100 NF 9615 SKN 300 kW / 180 deg to NoAf in English, ex 13820 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Hi Folks, Just to save confusion [???] VT Communications has a new name now of VT Group. Mention of the former names VT Comms, VT Merlin Communications and Merlin Communications International is now verboten! 73 (Dave G4OYX [at VT Group Woofferton] Porter, Dec 3, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) If something is prone to cause confusion it is such rebranding (for the former BBC WS transmitter operations already the fourth one since the BBC outsourced it). Just a few days ago German engineering circles were amused about somebody asking around who in the world now operates some broadcast-related thing that used to be owned by "Deutsche Telekom AG". In this case the broadcasting business has now branding-wise (and perhaps not just in this regard) been completely swallowed by the armaments trust VT. But of course they can forbid the former names only to their own employees, not to any external persons, no matter how much the CI people may dislike continuing mentions of "Merlin". And the rebranding is not very stringent. The online presentation is still at http://www.vtc-online.com without a redirect, now being called "the broadcast portal of VT Group". Thus I would be surprised if they will bother to get the "VTC" designator eliminated (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** U K. THE DIGITISATION OF A RADIO STATION Listen now (15 minutes) Availability: 7 days left to listen Last broadcast yesterday, 14:45 on BBC Radio 7 (see all broadcasts). Synopsis --- Peter Reed discovers how the BBC's mammoth tape archive arrives on Radio 7, via the former home of the Radiophonic Workshop. Marking 75 years of Maida Vale studios. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00njktd (via Fred Waterer, Dec 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess it is too late now; these one-week expiries are a pain (gh) ** U K [non]. The English football commentaries have continued broadly to the same schedule every week on 5800 kHz; this weekend the schedule will be: Saturday 26th December 1240-1445 Birmingham City v Chelsea 1725-1930 Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers Sunday 27th December 1555-1800 Hull City v Manchester Utd (WRN Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FORMER USIA OFFICER WAS BRIEF, BLUNT, AND FLIPPANT "Robert Schadler said he would be brief and blunt, as he addressed the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday in a forum that marked the 10th anniversary of the demise of the U.S. Information Agency. He was brief, but blunt was an understatement. Mr. Schadler, a former USIA officer now with the American Foreign Policy Council, called the closure of the agency dedicated to 'telling America's story' for 46 years an 'inexplicable self-inflicted wound' that damaged U.S. public diplomacy." James Morrison, Washington Times, 10 December 2009. "I was brief and blunt, which is perhaps why a few misinterpretations crept into the account. I should first say that I was being entirely sarcastic when I suggested that 'enhanced interrogation' was in any way related to public diplomacy. ... I made several points, which I will restate. First, U.S. public diplomacy has been dysfunctional since the shuttering of the U.S. Information Agency a decade ago. [Three points omitted.] Fifth, public diplomacy is not fully housed in the State Department, with broadcasting off by itself and the Department of Defense trying to fill part of the vacuum in places like Iraq." Robert A. Schadler, letter to the Washington Times, 15 December 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com viax DXLD) Another USIA alumnus who resents the separation of international broadcasting from the public diplomacy empire. As a 25-year VOA employee (actually now an employee of VOA's parent entity IBB), I miss USIA about as much as a Lithuanian misses the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the blithe dismissal of present-day US public diplomacy as "dysfunctional" ignores many of its achievements. Examples include 1) the America.gov website and other activities of the Bureau of International Information Programs, 2) the Arabic-speaking staff responding to misinformation and disinformation in the blogosphere, and 3) Secretary Clinton and other officials interviewed on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) Video and audio of the Heritage Foundation event, "The Abolition of USIA and Its Effects on U.S. Public Diplomacy," on 9 December, are available here. http://www.heritage.org/Press/Events/ev120909b.cfm Posted: 16 Dec 2009 (kimandrewlliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. HERITAGE MEMO ON THE NEED FOR MORE RESEARCH NEEDS MORE RESEARCH "Astonishingly, the U.S. government has very little capacity for audience research, a glaring omission given that, for the past 10 years, the State Department has housed the International Information Programs bureau, i.e., the cultural outreach program left over from the deconstruction of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in 1999. Previous to its termination, USIA did have some capacity for audience research through the International Broadcasting Bureau, which oversaw Voice of America as well as the government's group of international surrogate radios such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Martí, Radio Free Asia, etc. That internal audience research capacity was lost following USIA's merger with the State Department. ... The Administration should make it a priority to create the much-needed listening and analytical capability by establishing a public-private partnership. ... Such a 'Corporation for Foreign Opinion Analysis' (CFOA) would engage in long-term cultural research aimed at understanding foreign audiences, their 'national narratives,' their cultures, and their ebb and flow of public opinion. Audience research and analysis would be conducted by a core of experts, who would also be able to contract with specialist firms to perform opinion polling and organize focus groups." Helle C. Dale and Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage Foundation, 10 December 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) US international broadcasting audience research is alive, well, and has a fat budget. The Broadcasting Board of Governors spends about ten million dollars per year on research, not including salaries. Studies are conducted by InterMedia, a nonprofit corporation. IBB, RFE/RL, and RFA each have their research offices. Almost every BBG language service gets a survey every year, along with a battery of qualitative studies. The research effort is so flush with cash that it even retains me as an employee. (It's my day job.) The State Department has its Bureau of Intelligence and Research, which conducts opinion research overseas. I don't know if it carries out studies specific to public diplomacy operations, but it probably could. There is some exchange of results between the BBG and State research offices, but because they involve two very different activities, any combination of effort would not be especially productive. In fact, one of the many benefits of VOA's independence from USIA is that it is no longer beholden to the USIA Office of Research, which varied over the years in its commitment to VOA. The IBB in-house research effort is keyed to the questions VOA needs answered. Moving research to a "Corporation for Foreign Opinion Analysis" outhouse would forfeit that advantage. Posted: 15 Dec 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. VOA PASHTO NOT JAMMED, NOT BLOCKED, BUT NOT ON THE AIR VIA PAKISTAN [re 9-085, PAKISTAN] "Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has blocked Voice of America’s (VoA) 4-hour Pashto language programme after the latter allegedly deviated from an agreement. However, the US state-owned radio service continues to avail Radio Pakistan’s hour-long airtime for its Urdu transmission daily. 'Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation has blocked four hours of Pashto transmission of VoA, while the Urdu service is still continuing,' an official said yesterday. According to the deal, VoA would have to use PBC equipment and transmitters in Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore to air its transmission in Pashto and Urdu on Medium and FM waves." Gulf Times (Doha), 12 December 2009. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) The headline of this story is "PBC jams American Pashto broadcasts." But VOA's Deewa Radio Pashto broadcasts are not jammed, or even blocked by way of interdicting a signal. It is, rather, that the agreement for VOA to use the Peshawar medium wave transmitter has been disallowed, for now, by Pakistani authorities (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) "The Voice of America (VOA) is broadcasting its one-hour Urdu service from its original station in USA without any proper editing or monitoring, it is reliably learnt on Monday. 'Although announcement "You are listening Radio Ki Duniya ‘Intikhab’" is aired prior to programme, yet actually it is transmitted as it is broadcast from its original station without any editing,' sources within Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) informed TheNation. ... When contacted, PBC spokesman said VOA programmes are strictly checked, monitored and edited to safeguard the national interests of Pakistan. He said PBC has entire recordings of VOA programmes and monitoring reports are prepared for critical analysis on daily basis to ensure that nothing is against the national interests. Any violation of the agreement would result in the unilateral cancellation of the pact by involving the breaking clause of the accord, he added. He said PBC has a history of cooperation with BBC, China Radio International, VOA and Duetsche Welle, and is pursuing important agreements with Turkish Radio. It is a misperception that the VOA broadcasts from FM network will be used to unleash US Propaganda, he added." Javaid-ur-rahman, The Nation (Lahore), 15 December 2009. See previous posts on 5 December, 28 November, and 21 November 2009. VOA Pashto to the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier region is called Deewa Radio. VOA Pashto and Dari to Afghanistan are Radio Ashna. RFE/RL in same to Afghanistan is referred to in English as Radio Free Afghanistan, but locally as Radio Azadi. VOA Urdu is Radio Aap ki Dunyaa. My brain cannot store all these brands, so I use a cheat sheet. Posted: 15 Dec 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. WELCOME TO VOA. SMILE FOR THE CAMERA "There are no welcome mats at this or any other gate to the White House. You feel under suspicion until you are cleared in -- when you go from indignity to thrilling proximity to power. There are no waiting rooms or seats at the gates. There is no one posted at the gates to welcome visitors. ... Worse, because entry is badly organized, and often excessively restrictive, neither visitors nor guards respect the system -- a clue as to how the Bonnie and Clyde of social-climbing, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, got in to President Obama's first state dinner without an invitation, and even spoke to the President. ... At Voice of America headquarters, you have to produce a driver's license and have your picture taken each time you enter the building. Taking pictures of all visitors is something even the White House does not require. So which national secrets is Voice of America hiding that the White House is not?" Llewellyn King, Hearst Newspapers, 8 December 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Those who come to VOA to take the tour have a less arduous entry process. Posted: 11 Dec 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. Re 9-085, The transmitter complement for VOA site B is as follows: 3 x Continental 420A 500 kW transmitters 3 x General Electric 250 kW 1 x BBC[Switzerland] 500 kW 1 x AEG S4005-500 500 kW 1 x Continental 617A SSB transmitter used for DRM. There are not any Marconi transmitters at this VOA Greenville B Site. (Glenn Swiderski, IBB Greenville NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) However, is GA really still "standing by"? I heard hints that it is now officially shut down and that the transmitters get step by step cannibalized for spare parts to keep site B operational. Further hints indicated that the 500 kW Doherty modulation transmitters in fact never achieved more than 350 kW. One can hardly copy it, but don't they discuss in part 4 that it will perhaps not be possible to keep these transmitters for very long anymore? Is it meanwhile time to wonder when the day will come and IBB starts to lease airtime for Radio Martí and this little bit of VOA Spanish and Creole from either WHR, the CBC, RNW and/or TDF? If it is not known yet: Site B is a clone of site A. The most notable difference are the two prototype transmitters from 1986, here it are a Telefunken and a Brown Boveri instead. These prototypes had been purchased for evaluation, raising hopes of a modernization of Greenville which never happened (and raising hopes for a big order at Continental, ABB and Telefunken that went out into the blue as well). But this evaluation led to a decision in regard to the equipment to be used for the Briech (Morocco) and Udon Thani (Thailand) sites. They choose the Marconi design (prominently featured in part 1), but the transmitters have not been built by Marconi, instead by a Cincinnati- based company that never made transmission equipment before. Marconi provided them with the blueprints, who knows under which kind of arrangement. It could be related to Marconi's withdrawal from the broadcast equipment business (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 5, shortwavesites yg via BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) The notes about a Marconi transmitter referred to the defunct site A, featured in the just appeared Greenville video. To add some more information: Such Telefunken transmitters as the GB one (pulse duration modulation, 500 kW) are also in use at the Wertachtal, Moosbrunn, Rampisham, Kvitsøy and Sirjan plants. Further ones where installed at Flevo/Zeewolde (taken away by Media Broadcast after closure) and Sveio (moved to Kvitsøy). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11525, at 1505 Dec 22, ``It`s Christmas time`` asserted an American-accented announcer, poor with flutter, later clarified as VOA Border Crossings at 1512. This is 25 degrees from Iranawila, SRI LANKA, on the air this hour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11655, Radio Nederland’s Spanish Service to Latin America via Greenville transmitter. Full data (with site indicated) ‘A Dutch Morning’ Card 7 – ‘Egelantier Canal, Amsterdam’ QSL Card. This for CD MP3 report. Reply in 15 days (Edward Kusalik, Daysland, Alberta, Canada, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Updated winter B-09 schedule for Voice of America. Part 1 of 2: Afaan Oromoo 1730-1800 on 9320 9485 9860 11675 11905 Mon-Fri Albanian 0600-0630 on 6035 1700-1730 on 7235 1930-2000 on 7455 Amharic 1800-1900 on 9320 9485 9860 11675 11905 Arabic-R.SAWA 0400-1645 on 990 1170 1548 1645-0400 on 990 1170 1431 1548 Arabic-Sudan 0300-0330 on 9585 9845 11855 Hello Darfur 1800-1830 on 9380 9805 11615 1900-1930 on 9745 9805 9815 Azerbaijani 1830-1900 on 7315 9495 9885 Bangla 0130-0200 on 11500 15205 1600-1700 on 1575 6000 7435 Burmese 0000-0030 on 1575 7430 9325 12120 0130-0300 on 12110 15115 17780 1130-1230 on 11965 15550 17850 1430-1500 on 1575 9325 11965 12120 1500-1530 on 9325 11965 12120 Mon-Fri 1500-1530 on 1575 9325 11965 12120 Sat/Sun 1530-1600 on 1575 9355 11560 1600-1630 on 9355 11560 2300-2400 on 7430 9325 12120 Cantonese 1300-1500 on 1170 7390 9705 Creole 1230-1300 on 9660 Mon-Fri 1730-1800 on 15390 17565 1800-1830 on 15390 17565 Wed 2200-2230 on 11905 13725 15390 Croatian 0530-0600 on 6035 1930-1945 on 6135 7465 Dari-R.ASHNA 0130-0230 on 1296 7595 9335 1530-1630 on 1296 9335 9770 11575 1730-1830 on 1296 7560 9335 9445 1930-2030 on 1296 5750 7560 English to 0100-0130 on 1593 Eu,ME,NoAf 1400-1500 on 11985 15205 1500-1600 on 9685 11765 English to 0300-0400 on 909 1530 4930 6080 9885 15580 Africa 0400-0430 on 909 1530 4930 4960 6080 9885 15580 0430-0500 on 909 4930 4960 6080 9885 15580 0500-0600 on 909 4930 6080 9885 15580 0600-0700 on 909 1530 6080 9885 15580 1400-1500 on 4930 6080 15580 17715 17750 1500-1600 on 4930 6080 15580 17715 17895 1600-1700 on 909 1530 4930 6080 15580 17715 17895 1700-1800 on 6080 13710 15580 17895 1700-1800 on 909 Sat/Sun 1800-1830 on 6080 11975 13710 15580 17895 1800-1830 on 909 4930 Sat/Sun 1830-1900 on 909 4930 6080 11975 13710 15580 17895 1900-2000 on 909 4930 4940 6080 11975 13710 15580 17895 2000-2030 on 909 1530 4930 4940 6080 11975 13710 15580 2030-2100 on 909 1530 4930 6080 11975 13710 15580 2030-2100 on 4940 Sat/Sun 2100-2200 on 1530 6080 15580 English to 1730-1800 on 909 4930 12080 15775 Mon-Thu Zimbabwe 1810-1820 on 909 4930 12080 15775 Fri 1720-1740 on 909 4930 12080 15775 Fri-Sun English to AFG2030-0030 on 1296 7405 English to 0100-0200 on 7325 9435 11705 FE,SoAs,Oce 1100-1130 on 1575 Sat/Sun 1130-1200 on 1575 1200-1300 on 1170 7575 9640 11705 11730 11750 1300-1400 on 7575 9640 9760 11705 1400-1500 on 7575 9760 9930 12150 1500-1600 on 7575 9310 9930 12150 2200-2300 on 5835 6070 7220 7425 7480 9490 11560 2230-2400 on 1575 Fri/Sat 2300-2400 on 6070 7220 7265 7480 9490 9580 11560 English 0000-0030 on 1593 Special 0030-0100 on 1575 1593 6170 9325 9620 9715 11695 12005 15185 15205 15290 17820 0130-0200 on 1593 5960 7405 Tue-Sat 1500-1600 on 6140 7520 9760 15460 1600-1700 on 9395 13600 15445 1600-1700 on 1170 Mon-Fri 1900-2000 on 9585 12020 2230-2300 on 5890 7230 9780 2300-2330 on 1593 6180 7460 11840 2330-2400 on 1593 6180 7460 11655 11840 13640 French to 0530-0600 on 1530 4960 6020 7265 9480 9505 Mon-Fri Africa 0600-0630 on 4960 6020 7265 9480 9505 Mon-Fri 1830-2000 on 1530 6170 9815 15225 17550 17580 2000-2030 on 9780 9815 12080 13735 15225 2030-2100 on 6040 9780 9815 12080 15225 Sat/Sun 2100-2130 on 9435 9680 9780 9815 Mon-Fri Georgian 1530-1630 on 9465 11840 1700-1800 on 9395 11840 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) ** U S A. 5935, WWCR-2, Dec 16 at 0810 had DGS in the foreground, but Brother Scare clearly audible underneath, the latter about 3 sex ahead of WWRB 3185. I guess they did not have the BS feed potted fully down, as it intentionally replaces DGS at 15-19 UT. A quick check of WWCR-1 webcast Dec 17 at 2137 found country music, not what you would hear on Rock the Universe, so its Thu 21-22 UT time on 7465 must also be suspended (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7465, 18/12 2130, WWCR - Nashville, English, World of Radio, suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) A strange new signal aside regular WYFR 9985, Dec 22 at 0607 on 9980 - -- it`s Pastor Pete Peters! Therefore, WWCR-4 failed to make the switch to night frequency 5890 at 0200. Nothing on 5890, but quite audible on 9980, tho nowhere near the huge overloading daytime signal. Checking schedules, this collides with Israel`s sesquihour in Persian from 0500 due east on 9980, but no trace of that here. PPP still going at 0628. WWCR-2 was on 5935 as usual with TUN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEWN, 13835 with heavy long-path echo, Dec 18 at 1442. Since it`s one of my closest SWBC stations, scarcely one megameter away, it is necessarily one of my furthest long-path possibilities, 39 Mm away. Call-in show in English giving phone 877-573-7825; to be fair, such calls should also be routed the long way round the world. PMS via WWCR was strong enough on 13845 at the moment not to be too much bothered by the nasty spur from WEWN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WTWW tests --- Many water leaks are being worked out. The water pump must be rebuilt. One dead blower. A new blower will be received this Monday (Dec 21). These problems are delaying the transmitter start up (George McClintock, TN, 1606 UT Dec 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WJHR check Dec 16 on 15550-incompatible USB: at 1524 something just barely audible, no readability. 1558 had improved greatly, quite audible with usual F&B preacher referencing II Chronicles 26-27. FRG-7 S-meter was not moving at all, steady at S6, i.e. the current background noise level. 1602 usual ID which always seems to come slightly past the hour, and now the steady S-meter shows only S3 or S2, so the signal is so weak it won`t move the meter even tho it is readable. Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX, found out that the power is only 1 kW! That means what we have here is nothing but a typical ham rig, with a quad antenna, which somehow managed to get accepted as an SWBC station. They can `test` as long as possible with power like that, but for a full license a minimum of 50 kW is required, so will we ever hear that? The FCC probably made a mistake in authorizing this as the SSB equivalent of 50 kW AM is more like 12.5 kW PEP, even that a figure which should be difficult to achieve with a ham rig in a home (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550 USB, WJHR, Dec. 16 1725-1805+. Noted with preacher, religious ramblings about salvation. Paused at 1802 with station identification as ``WJHR Radio International, Milton, Florida``; rest was so low- keyed, barely could copy the remainder of the station break, then right back to the preacher and his sermon. Signal was fluttery, at times fairly good and then just fading right out. Understand they are still in testing phase. Wonder when they will go into full programming (Edward Kusalik, up here in frigid Daysland, Alberta, where went to minus 37C Sunday morning!, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There seems to be a difference of opinion on the power. Mock told Hans Johnson, twice, it was 1 kW. I`ll go with that as it certainly does not sound like 10. And below interview claims it was on air since mid- November, tho nobody reported it until I did on Dec 8 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Scott said that it took a lot less power to operate in sideband. He had no immediate plans to operate beyond the test schedule or use any other frequencies. While he will QSL reports, he did not have QSL cards printed up just yet (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) WJHR TESTING FOR MONTHS BEFORE REGULAR SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS A new Christian shortwave station has begun test transmissions in Milton, Florida. WJHR started test broadcasts in mid-November, and will continue testing daily on 15550 kilohertz on the 19 meter band. Tests are conducted at different times between the timeframe of 1500- 2300 UT (from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time), says station owner Scott Mock in an interview with DXing.info. Mock hopes to be able to begin regular broadcasts in March or April 2010, when frequency may be changed to somewhere around 13.8 MHz. Even during regular operation, WJHR will continue to broadcast only during local daytime hours. WJHR is a Christian radio station and plans to air programming by fundamentalist Baptist churches. "Right now I am financing it myself, but eventually churches will be donating money to keep it on the air," Mock explains. Unused airtime will be available for others as well. "If people want to buy airtime, we'll certainly sell it," Mock says. A 50-kilowatt transmitter and an antenna directed north are located in Milton, close to Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle. Mock says he has had some antenna problems, and is currently in the process of getting the antenna replaced. Transmitter power is now around 10 kW, but will increase to the maximum 50 kW by the time regular broadcasts begin. There is no studio, and all programming is pre-recorded. "It's not a fancy operation, but it gets the job done", Mock describes to DXing.info. Unlike nearly all other shortwave broadcast stations, WJHR plans to transmit only on SSB. Current tests can be heard on the upper side band (USB). SSB is used because "it is far more economical and almost everyone can receive SSB", Mock explains. Mock says he really wants to hear from DXers how well the signal is getting out, and he will be printing QSL cards next year. Reception reports are welcome by email to wjhr @ usa.com or by writing to Radio Station WJHR, 5920 Oak Manor Drive, Milton, FL 32570, USA. DXer Glenn Hauser in the U.S. was the first to report hearing WJHR on December 8 (DXing.info, December 12, 2009, edited on Dec 16 via DXLD) I haven't seen any reports of reception in Europe yet - nothing heard when checked here (Dave Kenny, England, Dec 16, BDXC-UK via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) 15550-USB mode, heard from Milton-FL-USA. WJHR International, a religion feature on "what in the can" [??] heard ID. At 1802 UT with ghost music [sic, meaning holy?] and e-mail address as wjhr @ usa.com Signal was (35443) heard on Dec 16. Another ID was heard at 2002 UT; signal then was around S=3 levels in USB mode with man-made power tools QRN in background, close down at 2158 (Richard Lemke, Alberta, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 17 via DXLD) 15550, WJHR, John Hill Radio, Milton FL; 1815-1917+, 16-Dec; English religious program (Bro. Ruckman?); relatively even-tempered (no screaming) fire & brimstone, often referencing the Books of Joel, Acts & 1st Corinthians (Chapter 14); on speaking in tongues, Charismatics, Pentacostals, etc. No break/ID at BoH or ToH. 1916 right into new religious program without ID or break. Testing in USB. SIO=353, fady & QRN waves, O=4 peaks. Response to reception report sed they ID at ToH (they did not this time). Reports to WJHR @ usa.com WJHR, Milton FL, USA, 15550/U; No data e-mail response to e-mail reception report to WJHR @ usa.com in 11 hr. 34 min. from G.S. Mock, WJHR Radio Int'l. Sed new antenna should help with QSB (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW + 86 ft. coil dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550 USB, WJHR, 1935-2020+, 12/16/09, English. Taped sermon of fairly poor quality, with an ID break a few minutes after 2000 UT giving location as Milton, FL, and inviting comments to wjhr @ usa.com. An email report was answered the next day with info that QSL cards are "in the works" and that news that the station plans to install a new antenna soon. Fair to good with long slow fades up and down (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550 USB, WJHR, Milton, Florida, 1555-1615+, Dec 17, fire & brimstone preacher. Announcement at 1602 with IDs and contact information. Fair to good signal in USB (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) Hi - Still no luck hearing them in SW Florida, but just heard them on are remote receiver in Pennsylvania. Called the station and he confirmed that I was hearing them. Still running 1,000 watts and asking for email reports (Hans Johnson, Everglades City, FL, 1605 UT Dec 17, Cumbre DX via DXLD) WJHR heard in Florida Dec 17 2100 UT on 15550 kHz with religious talk and music. Poor reception (Claes Olsson, Port Charlotte, Florida, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD) 15550, 17/Dez 2122, WJHR, English, from Milton, with 1 kW, in SSB, OM in exalted speech with several references to God and Jesus Christ. Until 2148 UT OM continued with the speech. The 2150 UT country gospel mx. *Recorded in my blog*, 353. 15550, 17/Dez 2126, WJHR, English, from Milton, with 1 kW, in SSB, OM in exalted speech with several references to God and Jesus Christ. Until 2148 UT OM continued with the speech. 2150 country gospel music. *Recorded in my blog* 353 http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 15550, 17/Dez 2159, WJHR, English, from Milton, with 1 kW, in SSB, OM with ID, gospel music and end transmission (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His recording starts off JBA, improves somewhat toward the end (gh) 15550-USB, FLORIDA, WJHR, Milton. 1954-2202* December 18, 2009. Tune- in to fair (at best) level presumably old P'cola church sermon recordings, with male ID and email address just after both top-of- hours. Abruptly pulled the plug at 2202 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Jim, I am going to install a new antenna soon. That should make a big difference in signal strength. Please keep listening and when the signal improves send me another E-mail and by then I should have some QSL cards printed -G.S. Mock, WJHR International (via Jim Renfrew, NY, Dec 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Siendo las 1645 UT con una aceptable señal y predicación en inglés la emisora WJHR Radio International por los 15550 USB. Buen DX (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 19, condiglist yg via DXLD) At this moment, 2100 UT, on 15550 kHz, WJHR is being heard here in Feira de Santana. OM with eloquent speech, good sign (Jorge Freitas, Dec 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or good signal? Eloquent? 15550-USB, at 1817 UT check Sunday Dec 20, just barely audible, sounds like English intonation, cannot be anything but WJHR Milton FL. One kW may be plenty for a ham station, but not for an audience-seeking international broadcaster except as a Dxperiment. 15550-USB, checking for WJHR, nothing audible around 1500 Dec 21, but at 1520 check, F&B preacher fading in weakly and out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I received this response from G. S. Mock at WJHR in a couple of hours after sending in a reception report on December 20. "Dear Jonathon, Please keep listening, WJHR is targeting your area. You are the first one to e-mail me from our target area. We hope to have a new antenna installed in a few days to improve reception in your area. We are transmitting King James fundamental bible preaching only. As far as I know we are the only shortwave station who does that. If you enjoy this kind of programming, pray for our station that it may be successful and prosper. Currently we are in the testing mode and and we may be hit and miss as far as scheduled broadcasts go. G.S. Mock WJHR@usa.com" (Jon Pukila, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, Dec 21, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How about FBN/WTJC? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 9955, Dec 19 at 0635, no WRMI and no jamming audible either. Both of them must have been off as WYFR was inbooming on 9985 and four other 31m band frequencies. Still the same at 1548 check. A truce, or something else wrong? Surely only coincidental. Earlier on UT Dec 19 Jeff White told me: ``Glenn: I think we have the northern antenna fully operational again. It's on as I write this (0100-0300 UT Saturday) with Faith the Dog special 0200-0300. Next times it will be on are: 1500-1700 UT Saturday, 2000-2100 UT Saturday (Faith the Dog again), 1500-1700 UT Sunday, 0500-0530 UT Monday (La Biblia Explicada), 1500-1700 UT Monday (and 7 days a week as usual). Jeff`` I enquired again and Jeff replied at 1611 UT Dec 19: ``Glenn: Well, it was OK for a few hours going north last night, but something got messed up again with the northern antenna, and it was causing problems with the transmitter; we had to shut it down. We've just now gone back on the air (going south) and so far it's OK, but it may be off and on for a few hours yet while they make some adjustments. We're trying to get in touch with our consulting engineer to see what he thinks may be wrong with the northern antenna. Jeff`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More under CUBA [and non] Glenn: To make a long story short, we concluded that something -- perhaps a lightning strike -- burned the balun used with the North American antenna. We had it rewired locally, and when we put the new one it also burned out on Friday night, and at the same time burned part of the antenna switcher. We thought it had damaged the transmitter also, but this doesn't appear to be the case. We have to build a new more heavy-duty balun for the North American antenna and repair the antenna switcher, which will take probably at least several days. Meantime, we are back on normally with the Latin American antenna and everything seems to be working properly (Jeff White, WRMI, Dec 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Experimentally, we're going to start running WRN from 0500-1000 UTC Monday through Friday, beginning tonight (i.e. Tuesday morning). This will mean some programming changes, which I'll try to have defined before long. Actually, WRN will run till 1030, because 1000- 1030 is Prague, which we will take from the WRN feed for this transmission (Jeff White, WRMI, UT Dec 22, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Because Wire Light (= Bryne Edwards, Your World Your Way, Cheetah Radio, etc.) is gone. So WRN also replaces a number of repeats of R. Prague, DX programs, etc. The current WRN sked shows this lineup: 05:00 Radio Netherlands, Network Europe 06:00 Israel Radio, Daily News Magazine 06:30 Radio Canada International, The Link 07:00 Radio Prague, News. Current Affairs. One on One. Sports News 07:30 Radio Sweden, Radio Sweden Weekend 08:00 Radio Australia, News. PM. 09:00 Voice of Russia, News. This Is Russia 09:30 Radio Canada International, The Link 10:00 Radio Prague, News. Current Affairs. One on One. Sports News WRMI is still not on SW at M-F 17-01 UT when WRN is also scheduled, but hopes to resume that in late January. Among the other changes, WORLD OF RADIO gone from 1630 UT Tuesday. See also ISRAEL [non] (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Glenn: 1500-1700 programming hasn't changed, but this week we have to make some changes to compensate for programs that weren't aired while the transmitter was down (Jeff White, WRMI, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Family Radio heard with nice signal on 12/14 at 1333 on 9310, with English to Asia via Kazakhstan. Signal coming here in the UK with SINPO all 5 (Chris Lewis, England, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The `personality cult` of Harold Camping is ever-growing. Noticed him droning on some apparent new frequencies, Dec 18: at 1438 on 11995 and about 3 seconds later on 9440, Open Forum taking question from caller who asked if he is on Facebook. He`s not sure, doesn`t seem to know what that is. He does know that Family Radio has a website. I bandscan just about every morning during this hour and had not heard him on these two before. Confirming my suspicions, neither frequency for YFR is in Aoki yet dated Dec 18, nor in the Dec 4 update of EiBi. There were some YFR schedule updates from DX Mix News in DXLD 9-085, but not these, altho 11995 had been replaced from Nauen at 16-17. So the sites for these are still unknown, evidently not the same since they are unsynchronized (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see: GERMANY, Changes of WYFR Family Radio in English via Media Broadcast: 1400-1500 on 11995 NAU 500 kW / 082 deg to SEAs, new txion from Dec.17 1600-1700 on 5965 NAU 500 kW / 139 deg to N/ME, cancelled from Dec.16 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) That explains my 11995 (gh) UK Some VTCommunications changes: WYFR Family Radio: 1600-1700 on 9795 DHA 250 kW / 215 deg to MDC in English, cancelled 1700-1800 on 7390 RMP 500 kW / 120 deg to N/ME in Somali, instead of English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Dec 22 via DXLD) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC, Dec 17 at 1235 accompanied by noisy spurs approx 9340-9345, 9395-9500, preaching about Jesus, but what would He say about such lax engineering? 9370, WTJC, still putting out noisy spiky spurs above and below, centered approximately 9395 and 9345 but bothering plus and minus five from those, Dec 22 at 0657 during music. Why do I keep reporting these? Because FBN keeps transmitting them, which they have no business doing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA /SLOVAKIA. 6170, World of Radio, via IRRS, Rimavska Sobota, 1910-1920, Sa Dec 05, English DX- tips read by Glenn Hauser. However, the signal was too weak to be able to catch any word of it! 24222 QRM CRI on 6160 in German (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 9 via DXLD) Original version of this did not specify 6160 for the German, making us wonder what was in German on 6170. Yet, we had reports of great reception in the UK. Denmark too close in skip zone? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Don`t know about DXing with Cumbre, which some report has been missing for a few weeks, but heard Marie Lamb doing her Saturday morning classical music shift on WCNY, via webcast, Dec 19 including live timechex and current local weather around 1700 UT, and she sounds fine to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Marie did a show this weekend for DXing with cumbre which is on podcast at http://cdxpodcast.ralabs.com/ It was her first show in a month. I like her show but honestly, I think it's time maybe she hands over the reigns over to someone who can put up the show on a regular basis. Marie is just too busy these days. Maybe one of her co-hosts that are always on the show (gpsblake, Dec 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Monitored WHRI shortwave schedule This is their schedule as monitored since B09 started. UTC Hour Frequency Days of week on air ______________________________________________ 0000 5875 Sundays 7315 Sundays and Mondays 7385 Sundays 0100 5875 Mondays 7315 Mondays 0200 5850 Tuesday thru Saturday 5875 Monday thru Saturday 0300 5875 Tuesday thru Saturday 7385 Tuesday thru Saturday 0400 5850 Sundays 5875 Tuesday thru Saturday 9640 Saturdays 0500 11565 Sundays 0600 9615 Saturday and Sunday (0600-0615 Saturday in French) 0700 11565 Sundays 0800 11565 Sunday thru Friday 0900 11565 Sundays 1000 9865 Daily (DW in German) 11565 Sundays 1100 7385 Saturdays 1200 7385 Monday thru Saturday 9410 Monday thru Friday (BBC in Spanish) 9410 Sundays 1300 9840 Saturday and Sunday 11785 Saturday and Sunday 1400 9840 Saturday 11785 Saturday and Sunday (In Hmong) 17540 Sundays 1500 9840 Sundays 11785 Saturdays (In Hmong) 13650 Sundays 21640 Saturdays 1600 9840 Sundays 21640 Daily 1700 9840 Sundays 21640 Daily 1800 9840 Thursday thru Sunday 21640 Sundays 1900 9840 Monday thru Saturday 15665 Sunday and Wednesday 15665 Fridays (Voice of Biafra) Missing past 2 fridays per Glenn Hauser 2000 7520 Sundays 15665 Saturdays 2100 5850 Sundays (In Spanish) 15665 Saturdays 2200 9615 Saturday and Sunday 11785 Fridays 15640 Daily (DW in German) 2300 5850 Saturdays 7315 Sunday thru Friday 15640 Daily (DW in German) Please let the DXLD know if anyone monitors anything different than the above. This is only for the WHRI site. The World Harvest Radio site in Palau is not included because I have not heard it here 25 miles east of NYC where I am located. Thanks Glenn for all your hard work (Peter Hansen, Dec 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thank you, Peter! This project certainly involved a lot of monitoring time, and may well be the only true picture of what WHRI is doing. (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. 15420, Dec 20 at 1817, WBCQ with anapaestic Fence Lake NM preacher, ``Global Spirit Proclamation``, 50 kW, 245 degrees usward, about equal level with BBCWS in English via SOUTH AFRICA, 250 kW at 5 degrees, 1700-1900. If I really wanted to hear the gospel huxter, I would find this an intolerable collision. I would really want to hear BBCWS, but there are alternatives for that and BBCWS does not want me to hear them. Since WBCQ is on ``compatible upper sideband`` one should get rid of it and hear BBC in the clear by invoking LSB, but that is not the case. Tho much weaker, there is still some WBCQ to be heard on the LSB of the DX-398 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Haven`t checked WINB for Tony Alámo in a while, so was standing by on 13570 as it was about to sign on, Dec 16: 1559 open carrier, 1559:30 ID and contact info including phone 714-244-5360; 1600 right into Tony Alamo with program #764, of which free copies are available on request. Bernie LaZar Hoffman, to cite his original name, was convicted of child sexual abuse, and sentenced to 175 years in prison on November 13. So now it`s more than a month later, and that`s still no problem for WINB, blithely bringing you the scum of the earth --- and without even a disclaimer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another check at 1640 Dec 23: he`s still going on 13570, asserting that TV is ``the beast`` while we know who the real beast is (gh) ** U S A [and non]. 7240, R. Australia still audible at 1611 Dec 16, but an LSB ham net is right on top of it, with RA being a BFO; however, it helped to inject a bit more carrier here. The net`s name was, appropriately ``The 72-40 Club``; did not catch any calls but one of them was a WA5. Seems they might have picked a different frequency as RA has been here for ages, but then they would have to call it something else. The final April 2007 edition of John Norfolk`s Nets to You! already had this, but it was then one hour earlier (winter/summer U times shown): 1500 1400 7240 7240 CLUB (North Carolina) Monday- Friday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tho it was way too late at night for them to be on if reactivated, 0714 UT Dec 21, I checked 4052.5 anyway for R. Verdad, Guatemala, and instead heard a weak US station on 4050, axually slightly on the lo side toward 4049.9. YL announcer, then to long adstring including for computers, 1-800-971-1857; fading in and out. More ads with 800 numbers, no help in local IDing; 0717 call 800-584- 1018. 0719 some C&W music; 0726 YL mentioning ugly holiday sweater parties (the latest fad), then OM partial ID as ``1350 KWM-`` and more C&W. With BFO on I could detect QRM from a two-letter HIFER beacon at 0718, sounded like WP but very weak and tough copy despite the repetitions, not sure about the W. Or maybe it was just P. Don`t find any listed with that call or any around 4050, tho I thought there were in the past. The broadcaster is KWMO, Washington MO, a bit west of St. Louis, third harmonic reported by others previously. I`ve often tuned around 4052.5 checking for Truth, and this is the first time lately I`ve heard KWMO. NRC AM Log shows it 500 watts day, 84 watts night. It was also still audible weakly well after sunrise thru daylight at 1432. I suspect that when heard on 4050, it is on day power, which explains why it is not always audible at night. It will be a QRM problem for TGAV. FCC shows the day pattern (on 1350) with a big lobe toward the SW, OKward, a minor one to the NE, and nulls to the NW and E, meaning it doesn`t really get into the big city, right? http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/82512-19629.pdf The night pattern is really the same, tho separately shown: http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/82512-19630.pdf (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After hearing 3 x 1350, KWMO, the night before, I made sure to check 4050 Dec 22 at 0615, but nothing there. Must have been back on night power disaudiblizing the harmonic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. KOA IBOC off again --- Spain on 855 kHz is in with talk program (man talking in Spanish at the moment). Thanks to local 850-KOA for having their IBOC turned off! 73, (Chris Knight, Fort Lupton, CO, Tecsun PL-380, Portable Conti Loop antenna facing NNE, UT Dec 21, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) I wonder how long KOA has had the IBOC off & if anyone knows if it's coming back? I was told by 1 DXer it's been off a couple weeks? I just noticed it about 3 nights ago; there was no IBOC hiss on France-864. 73, (George Sherman, MN, ibid.) KOA's IBOC has been on and off over the past 3 weeks. Right now it's back on. Local 950-KRWZ IBOC has been off now for a week. 73, (Chris Knight, Fort Lupton, CO, 2047 UT Dec 21, ibid.) KOA may be having problems at the transmitter. A couple weekends ago I noticed that the flasher for the beacons had failed. With the top of the tower in thick clouds the beacons were flashing very erratically and sometimes would stay off for several minutes. I believe that most beacon flashers are designed to fail in the on position but that did not happen. The problem was quickly corrected at the beginning of the week so they must have known about it. I wonder if they took a lightning strike? By the way several of the air traffic controllers at nearby Centennial airport use the KOA tower as a landmark for incoming flights from the southeast. I frequently hear them say "report at the KOA tower". KOA does not have an auxilliary tower. But it does appear that they have some kind of setup to allow them to manually switch the tower to what I presume is an auxilliary transmitter building. I have observed a sort of slant wire feed system with a wire attached to the tower just above the first set of guy wire attachments. This wire runs over to a tall electrical pole next to a seperate building next to the main transmitter building. The down feed of that wire appears to be equipped with an electric power line type of fuse that is in the open position to interrupt the feed from entering the building. It appears that they can close this fuse to complete the circuit from the antenna into this building. Very interesting! There is a new mall with a Sports Authority store right next to the transmitter site. Parking in back by the loading dock places you just about 300 feet from the north side of the tower (Pat Griffith, CO, 0241 UT Dec 22, ibid.) sparx fly? ** U S A. Afternoon DXing from caradio, nondirexional whip: 1660, no sign of KXTR Kansas City, but a weak 3-way SAH could be detected at 2015 UT Dec 18, presumably traces of the TX, ND and MI stations. KXTR website has referred to being off the air periodically for antenna work. It currently shows this, now outdated, so they are still not finished: ``KXTR WILL NOT BE BROADCASTING ON 1660AM FROM 8AM TO 6PM MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY UNTIL DECEMBER 14 SO THE FINAL PHASE OF WORK ON OUR TOWER CAN BE COMPLETED. KXTR WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM AT WWW.KXTR.COM AND BROADCAST IN HD AT 98.1 FM HD2. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!`` 1250 Spanish and 1090 EWTN from the KC area were in well, so skywave was obviously in play, and KXTR should have been easily audible if on. I hope the `work` does not include diminishing the skywave component. Talk on 1670 also in, no doubt WTDY Madison WI (I had also heard it Dec 17 around 1800, close to low noon at 1832 UT = 1200 LMT); and no sign of CJEU Gatineau QC. 1210, KGYN Guymon OK still ailing with very weak groundwave signal, but barely audible ``US Country`` slogan at 2020 Dec 18, SAH between two other very weak signals. 1560, at 2015 UT, our nearest groundwave station on that frequency, KOCY, 1 kW Del City (why license to this SE suburb of OKC? It was originally much further off to the SW in Chickasha as KWCO, which stood for Women`s College of Oklahoma; KOCY were heritage calls which should have stayed on 1340); now 1560 is Radio Disney, already getting heavy QRM from a skywave pileup, mainly something with a talk show. And one of them far enough off-frequency to cause a rumbling audible het (such as 30-40 Hz, maybe). Next check at 2035 it was even worse; besides the rumbling AH, there were also a SAH of 6 Hz, and another faster SAH. So that`s at least three or four stations. At 2100, Houston-orientated sportstalk on top, obviously 50 kW KGOW ``Bellaire`` TX, but no legal ID to be heard. 2101 played PSA for http://texasflu.com and then at 2102 ID only as ``1560 The Game, happily filling the holes in your life``, which I must say is a distinctive slogan altho it leaves me cold; what holes? Is that any way to talk to a proud listener? Probably played then, since a golf ad was to follow, ha2. Rather tight major daytime lobe is at 14 degrees, and one of the nulls at 330 degrees; we are roughly halfway between them, meaning considerably off the boresight. http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1222668-101220.pdf This is the same station that got out widely a few months ago during a hurricane/flood emergency when running day facilities at night, and relaying news from a local TV station, KPRC `2`, as I recall. Low sun now means it gets plenty of daytime skywave propagation. 1370, rechecked again in the afternoons of Dec 17, and 18, still no groundwave signal from KGNO Dodge City KS, which used to be a daytime fringe regular here. It`s still on the books as non-direxional, day power 5 kW, an heritage station, but does it exist any more? It`s now part of a 20-station group all over Kansas, so just another cog. I should phone and inquire, 620-225-8080. Coverage map at http://www.rockingmradio.com/kgno.htm shows the ``0.5 mV/m`` contour extending into OK no further than Alva in Woods county, but it should be audible here over the Ogalalla aquifer with much less signal than that. Er, make that microvolts per meter; what difference does a little factor of three orders of magnitude make? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) X-band scan in the caradio afternoon of Dec 19; it`s harder and harder to find a quiet spot in Enid covering the entire MW band, with all the Xmasdex, powerline and trafficlites, but at 2052 UT I was getting a clear steady signal on 1680 with ad for a jeweler in Vicksburg MS, huh? On 1680? Then another ad for In Style hairdresser mentioning the 318 area code, which is northern LA. At 2053 ``The music you grew up with, Old School 1680 AM``. Has to be KRJO Monroe LA, which NRC AM Log 2009 says is // 1360 KBYO Tallulah LA, but it was silent as of 6/2009 and not cross-referenced to 1680. Address is same for both in Monroe, but different formats. Tallulah is a lot closer to Vicksburg eastward on I-20. (I made the mistake of driving across LA on I-20 years ago; did they ever get it smoothed out?). Since the slogan heard on 1680 mentioned 1680, yet the 1360 transmitter would (better) serve Vicksburg, is that on the air or not, and which one is the primary station? FCC shows KBYO with a different licensee, ``FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF TULLULAH, LOUISIANA`` altho the town is spelt Tallulah. It`s not on the 12/1/09 edition of silent AM stations: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/silentAM.html 1610, the only `open` MW channel in the USA, often has an annoyingly high noise level. This is partly due to the lack of any strong signals to muscle aside splash from 1600 and 1620, as well as whatever local noise sources may be radiating. Forget Anguilla, Mexico, or Canada. At 0733 Dec 21, I decided it was IBOC noise since that was also audible on 1590 despite the pileup of AM signals there. And what was on 1600? Black gospel music, no doubt the dominatrix KATZ St Louis, which emits 5 kW day and night. And yes, NRC AM Log 2009 does show it running IBOC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 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 below may be reproduced in any format and/or redistributed by the National Radio Club and/or their editors without my expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly -- and we do mean swiftly -- denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded, provided this entire disclaimer is included once where any of the aforementioned items are first reproduced. All times/dates are in GMT unless otherwise indicated. 1600, FLORIDA, WQOP "Queen of Peace Radio" Atlantic Beach. 2228-2231 December 18, 2009. Bubbling up in the mess with "WQOP... Jacksonville.. 322 (partial ZIP Code)..." Logged them a little while back on 1460, but indeed they are simulcast on 1600 per http://www.qopradio.com/ 1600.03, SOUTH CAROLINA, WKZK, "Sonshine 16", North Augusta. 2213-2232 December 15, 2009. Fair to good, Hour of Power or something like that -- a local gospel show from an Augusta church -- until 2215. Mention of, "...on WKZK" and into another gospel program. Near 2230, a canned ID that also mentioned 103.7 FM. This one gets out pretty good. Heard here, and in Tennessee and North Carolina on greyline since this past summer, where it was measured on 1600.17 on September 21. Here in Clearwater, it's now on 1600.03, which may explain the het some may notice here. Logged on the 2004 Impala stock radio. 1600.03 measurement made at on the NRD-535 at 2213, December 18 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two more under UNIDENTIFIED ** U S A. Re: [IRCA] Father Jack Pejza, RIP --- This is sad news indeed for those of us who knew Father Jack. I received the news earlier this afternoon from former IRCA member Randy Seaver. Randy has written a very nice blog about Father Jack and posted it at http://tinyurl.com/frjackp (Bruce Portzer, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. HURRICANE KATRINA RADIO TAPES/FILES SOUGHT Glenn, May I make an appeal to your readers for some radio research help? I am an editor and filmmaker in Atlanta and longtime DXLD reader. I have been given the task of editing a serious documentary soon about the 2005 levee failure in New Orleans. "Why The Levees Failed" will be a feature-length movie directed by the actor/satirist (and fellow radio enthusiast) Harry Shearer. We want to get past the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina's immediate aftermath - that story has been well documented - and explore some new territory. But we will have to briefly touch on the storm's approach and devastation in our story arc. In the interest trying something fresh, I want to see if anyone has any Katrina-related radio captures on file or on tape. Can any readers DXLD possibly be of help? I would be especially interested in any WWL- AM recordings immediately before, during, and after Katrina's impact - -- or recordings of any other coastal stations, or emergency management transmissions, etc. Of course the more urgent and dramatic the material, the better, but any recordings could add authenticity to our story. Also, any later recordings of the short lived consortium of The United Radio Broadcasters Of New Orleans could be helpful. Thanks, Glenn, for providing this forum. Anyone who would like help me with this research - and help tell an important story so that, we hope, lives are not needlessly lost in the future - can contact me at troche2255 (at) yahoo.com. Please pass along this appeal to anyone you know who might have any Katrina/radio-related archives. Thanks again, and happy holidays (Tom Roche, Atlanta, Dec 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I gave him some places to go and I personally contacted WWL at their web site wwl.com. and told them what he wanted to do. If interested they would get in touch. I also referred him to our local station in Jackson, MS, WLBT. I seemed to remember that they had some helicopter footage that showed some of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and some places in Louisiana in the aftermath from Katrina. I also know that one of the reporters, Walt Grayson did a show on WLBT called "Looking Around Mississippi" and he had some footage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I also suggested that he look around on Radio- info.com in the Louisiana radio forum and ask whether anyone had tape of what he needed. I hope this points him in the direction he needs to go. Hopes this helps (Richard Lewis, Forest, MS, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I guess many of us find webstreams helpful in identifying DX signals we are listening to, but sadly other people are finding the webstreams beneficial for other less ethical purposes.... I spotted the following in Distance magazine. ”I have received your QSL requests, and find them valid. Probably 9 out of 10 QSL requests these days are bogus, and I haven’t figured out how to handle it yet. A large number of the audio clips I get are our web stream audio, with static and noise dubbed over. When I find an easy way of verifying the audio source, I will resume replying to QSLs, sorry you are stuck in the middle. Tracy Teagarden Chief Engineer CBS Radio KKJJ/KLUC/KMXB/ KSFN/KXNT/ KXTE 6655 W. Sahara Ave. Suite D110 Las Vegas, Nevada 89146” (Steve Whitt, UK, mwcircle yg via DXLD) I've been sending reception reports to Tracy since 2004 with reports for KXNT and KSFN (KYDZ now). He even sent an email once saying he was going to "get them to you soon" back in 2004. I'm not surprised he sent this email. He's probably too busy to respond to requests (Martin Foltz, IRCA via DXLD) He's certainly had a lot on his plate - including moving the KXNT 840 transmitter, which is now at the same site as 1140 (KYDZ, I think, is the current call there.) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) I read the following e-mail and two thoughts immediately come to mind: 1) Due to the extra effort usually involved in spotting forgeries/fakes of any sort, if fake DX recordings can so easily be spotted, shouldn't genuine audio files be easier to spot? 2) Since he started off his e-mail by saying that this particular DXer's report was found to be valid, then why delay sending this DXer a QSL due to the problem with fraudulent reports sent by others? I suspect the real reason is, as states elsewhere here in the forum, is that he's simply too busy to respond to QSL requests, which is truly understandable. 73, (J.D. Stephens, ibid.) It baffles me why anybody would want to fake anything in this hobby, be it a DX logging or obtaining a QSL card. These people are not actively enjoying the hobby so I cannot understand what there is to be gained. I suppose the buying of QSL cards from internet auction sites would fit into the 'cigarette card/postcard' collectors category though. The trend to record radio station web streams and add static is worrying and will shake the credibility of DXers. Having worked in audio production for ten years and having a good understanding of how sound works, I know it would be VERY difficult to fake such a recording and make it sound 100% genuine. Believe me, most of the DX community will know instantly when a DX recording has been faked and those doing this WILL be found out. Name and shame, I say (John Faulkner, UK, MWC yg via DXLD) ** U S A. FACILITIES CHANGES --- TX, Childress, K220JC, *91.9, 170 watts h,v. Has KCTX 1510 Childress (from KAVO 90.9 Pampa). KCTX is a commercial station with a nostalgia format; I have asked the FCC about this apparent anomaly with a commercial station relayed on a noncommercial translator; maybe K220JC removes the commercials from the broadcast content (Bruce Elving, FMedia, MN, Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Disaster for FM DXing --- I thought I would share this depressing link for FM dxers. http://reason.com/blog/2009/12/17/low-power-radio-gets-out-of-th (John Sullivan, Dec 17, WTFDA via DXLD) Viz.: LOW-POWER RADIO GETS OUT OF THE HOUSE Jesse Walker | December 17, 2009 At last: A celebrity endorsement by WALL-E helped pave the way for the bill's passage. The Local Community Radio Act passed the House of Representatives Wednesday evening with a resounding voice vote and now moves to the Senate. The bill will open the airwaves for hundreds of new non-commercial stations across the country, bringing low power radio to urban areas for the first time. Following the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the House of Representatives voted to remove technical restrictions Congress placed on low power radio in 2000 at the request of commercial broadcasters. These restrictions have kept low power radio out of the top 50 radio markets, which reach over 160 million Americans. For more on the bill, see this post. For more on low-power radio, see this book (via DXLD) I'm not certain this will be a disaster for FM DXing. It just might sound like we're living in Guatemala, if this gets past the Senate. Being the editor of Emisoras de FM, of all the countries listed in that publication, Guatemala *hands-down* gets the award for MOST RIDICULOUS of how many stations are on the air and how closely they are spaced on the FM radio dial. To say the least, if this develops, during a major Es opening the radio could sound even nuttier than it does. And to think that Ibiquity and HD radio might have a fit about this (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver), WTFDA via DXLD) Of course the top markets are also those which are already the most saturated with existing stations, plus also the most likely to have several low-power ethnic pirates already. That combination suggests not very many places for any new ones to go. I don't recall if this proposal gives new LPFM's precedence over translators or not, but if it does, the upshot of all of this may not be much beyond exchanging some pirates for LPFM's and some religious out-of-market translators with LPFM's. If not it may only do the former (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Where would you fit one of these on the Los Angeles FM band unless you totally disregarded spacing requirements. Say you allowed one on 101.3. Would KRTH 101.1 be happy? I don't think so. The same goes for New York City. And in Boston the pirates have all the good frequencies. :-) (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) Indeed. I believe that for LPFM's the spacing was reduced - perhaps to 3rd adjacent or even second. In most of these markets most of those which would be 3rd adjacent to station A would then be first adjacent to station B. Either way, there won't be many more stations (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) 3RD-ADJACENT RESTRICTIONS ON LPFM TO GO AWAY On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that will repeal the restrictions enacted in 2001 on the use of 3rd-adjacent frequencies (0.6 MHz separation) by LPFM stations. There is an exception, where the 3rd-adjacent full-power station is a non-commercial station carrying a radio-reading service on an analog SCA (many NPR affiliates do this). The FCC is also required to address 3rd-adjacent interference to the inputs of FM translators (IMHO not likely to be a serious problem as translators usually use decent, selective receivers). And, 3rd-adjacent LPFMs will be required to announce the possibility of interference, telling those experiencing interference to report it to the station (which presumably must relay that report to the FCC). Such interference must be addressed, at any distance. Another provision requires the FCC to ensure licenses be available for both LPFMs and translators, "based on community needs". I note the Radio Business Report (an industry website) colors this provision as requiring LPFMs not be authorized to the exclusion of translators. I'd tend to read it the other way around --- that satellite-fed translators with no locally-originated programming not be allowed to preclude LPFM. Whether anyone can afford to build a LPFM in the current economic climate is a good question! (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Dec 18, ibid.) Of course the problem with OTA translator inputs hasn't been selectivity, but rather propagation (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) I've been asked by one community group to look into the costs. And I can tell you that it's peanuts as compared to (4) HD TV stations. :) Seriously, with the right selection of equipment, it's pretty inexpensive, especially if there is a tower or building for the antenna where you don't have to erect a tower or buy land (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) REJIGGERING THE FM BAND --- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill to eliminate the requirement for LPFM stations to protect full power FM stations on third adjacent channels. A complimentary Senate bill is pending: http://tinyurl.com/House3rdAdjacencies Editor's comment: A well respected broadcast engineering consultant suggests eliminating the need for full power FM stations to protect other FM stations on third adjacent channels. If this were done, he believes that full power stations should be given the first crack at using any new channels that become available courtesy of the rule change. This is a very reasonable approach because full power stations make much more efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum than LPFMs. LPs serve small areas but cause interference over relatively large areas. For more on the inefficiencies of LPFMs, see the second Letter to the Editor at: http://www.bext.com/_CGC/2008/cgc823.htm The inefficiencies of LPFMs are easily demonstrated via F(50,50) and F(50,10) propagation calculations (CGC Communicator Dec 21 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. NV=>NJ and WY=>PA TV moves denied, BUT... The FCC has denied PMCM's requests to move KVNV-3 Ely, Nevada to Middletown Township, New Jersey and KJWY-2 from Jackson, Wyoming to Wilmington, Delaware. They ruled that the definition of "reallocation" is the move of a channel from one place to another place **when the channel cannot be used in both places simultaneously**. Provisions of the "Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982" **required** the FCC to approve such a reallocation if the station requested and it would place a commercial VHF channel in a state that didn't already have one (New Jersey and Delaware were the only two such states). The result of (and the reason for) the 1982 Act was to allow WOR-9 New York City to move to Secaucus, New Jersey and thus escape the revocation of its license due to misdeeds at the station's corporate owner. Obviously, the use of channel 2 in Jackson, Wyoming does NOT preclude the use of the same channel in Wilmington, Delaware! HOWEVER... The 1982 Act also mandates that "It shall be the policy of the Federal Communications Commission to allocate channels for very high frequency commercial television broadcasting in a manner which ensures that not less than one such channel shall be allocated to each State, if technically feasible." In 1982, it was *not* "technically feasible" to allocate new VHF channels to New Jersey or Delaware, without moving an existing station. In 2009, due to the widespread abandonment of low-band VHF with DTV, it *is* technically feasible. (and yes, New Jersey is again without a commercial VHF station. WOR - - now WWOR -- elected to leave its permanent DTV facility on its interim channel 38. No Philadelphia station ever took advantage of the 1982 Act to move to Delaware, so Delaware has never had a commercial VHF station.) The FCC feels they're required to allocate at least one VHF commercial station to each state. To that end, they have on their own motion proposed to allot: Channel 4 to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Channel 5 to Seaford, Delaware. Note that the PMCM proposals would have the channel 3 transmitter in NYC and the channel 2 transmitter in Philadelphia (leaving no doubt as to which cities they *really* proposed to serve!). The FCC-proposed communities are far enough from NYC and Philadelphia that the NYC / Philly tower farms could not be used -- a transmitter in NYC could not provide a city-grade to Atlantic City, and a transmitter in Philadelphia could not provide a city-grade to Seaford. It *might*, however, be possible to site a transmitter *between* Atlantic City and NYC such that a city-grade could be provided over both cities simultaneously (and likewise with Seaford and Philadelphia). In both cases, rabbit-ears reception would be unlikely in either city, but cable must-carry might be possible (Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View, TN EM66, Dec 18, WTFDA via DXLD) You're looking at this the wrong way. They're clearly designed to prevent service from major tower sites, but don't actually succeed in one case. You're looking at the Atlantic City one as a New York station even though the two existing Atlantic City stations are in the Philadelphia DMA--and Roxborough COULD successfully cover Atlantic City. Observe WPVI's 7.56 kW channel 6 facility: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1231472.html It clearly covers Atlantic City, and I imagine this is how it would be used. I plan to file comments on the Atlantic City one proposing they allocate channel 10 instead, which would then be unusable at Roxborough due to WHTM and would be easier to receive than channel 4. The Seaford allotment would be in the Salisbury DMA and far out of the reach of Roxborough. Someone who wanted to be really sneaky could try to put the transmitter in Annapolis but it would still be in the wrong DMA for cable and satellite. - Trip www.rabbitears.info ibid.) Excuse me, but could you please explain to me how a 7.56 kW facility could or would reach the masses in Atlantic City, NJ or Stroudsburg, PA all of which are more than 60 miles away. My parents once lived on that barrier island 25 miles NNE of Atlantic City, and to get the analog Philadelphia stations it took a mighty good antenna (which would quickly corrode in the salt air). Even the cable pictures were often marginal. Atlantic City certainly is not within any primary contours for Philadelphia, and with digital being all or nothing, I don't see how that could possibly work (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) Further, if we're speaking DTV here, which I believe that we are, WPVI reaching AC simply isn't realistic. Nor, I suspect, would anything from, say Dover, DE cover both Seaford and Philadelphia. The average viewer doesn't have a tower and a big yagi. With analog, those would likely have been possible (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) A maximum-power low-band DTV operation in Roxborough might provide *service* to Atlantic City, but it wouldn't provide *city-grade* service. The link you posted is the 28 dBu protected contour, not the 35 dBu principal community contour. The difference in the contours, for channel 6 with 7.56 kW/332 m, is 14 km. Atlantic City is well within 14 km of that contour limit - it's outside the 35 dBu contour. I think something that's likely to happen is that someone is going to file a counterproposal specifying a different New Jersey community. I think they're going to go for something further north, which can receive a city-grade from the Empire State Building (though they could alternatively choose something at least 14km closer to Philadelphia, which would receive a city-grade from Roxborough). *Technically*, it *does* reach Atlantic City (though as I said in the other post, only with a "protected" signal, not a "principal community" signal). The regulations are pretty darned generous for DTV. The ION station here in Nashville is licensed to Cookeville, **70 miles** east of town. It *doesn't matter* whether the average Philadelphia viewer can receive an Atlantic City or Seaford station. What's important is that the station have a *theoretical* signal over the Philadelphia cable head-end. Once that happens, the station is entitled to a free slot on cable. If a few thousand people in Delaware and extreme southern New Jersey can receive the station OTA, well, that's a bonus (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) The point was that a transmitter in Roxborough isn't going to put a useable signal into AC, and doesn't today and that DTV at anything close to that distance would require exceptional receiving equipment. The average viewer today is having trouble with a typical consumer outdoor antenna with DTV at smaller distances. I realize that the FCC works in their own theoretical world where what's real sometimes gets forgotten, and that enterprising station owners or would-be station owners will use whatever standards best suit their intentions, but one would think that the issues which arose with the conversion last summer would prompt people to reconsider the wildly over-estimated DTV coverage areas which were predicted in May, because that isn't real-world (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Why is the 35 dBu contour not on the maps? That would be rather helpful. I don't remember if city grade was on the FCC's analog maps, though my memory says it wasn't. Looking at the raw FCC paperwork, the 35 dBu contour of the 7.56 kW signal just barely fails to reach Atlantic City, actually covering a small sliver of it. The 30.2 kW signal easily covers it. I could see them arguing 73.622(f)(5) largest station with regard to WPVI and trying to get it that way (Trip, http://www.rabbitears.info ibid.) Yes, it *would* be helpful! No, the city-grade wasn't on the analog maps either. It is on radio-locator.com's maps, although of course those don't do TV! Yes, it does come pretty close. I guess I could see a 73.622(f)(5) request working! (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) It seems the request to move TV stations from NV to PA & NJ has failed. See: http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html (John Ebeling in MN, Dec 21, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. OPTIONS FOR A NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN The FCC says, "The National Broadband Plan being developed by [our agency] should build on the attributes of the American broadband ecosystem" (we can't make this stuff up) "with high aspirations but in a practical and sustainable way." See for yourself at the URL below. The bottom line is that the FCC is still bent on usurping a big chunk of TV broadcast spectrum: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295256A1.doc FCC NEWS BRIEFS Chairman Genachowski hires a "Broadcast TV Hitman" (according to this article) to go after TV spectrum: http://www.tvnewscheck.com/articles/2009/12/11/daily.6/ ON THE FCC'S TV SPECTRUM GRAB FOR BROADBAND The best defense is a good offense. If the broadcasters were smart, they would collectively hire the best public relations agency on Madison Avenue and take their case directly to the public with newspaper, radio and TV ads. Something like: "You just spent $1000 for a new HDTV to watch us and now the FCC wants to take your programs away. Write your Senator and Congressman and tell them to tell the FCC -- NO!!" It would not take very long for the FCC to back away if they started getting daily inquiries from irate legislators -- and the possibility of a congressional investigation of the way the FCC is acting as a pawn of the broadband interests. Bill Pasternak (retired and loving it!) newsline (at) ix.netcom.com (all: CGC Communicator Dec 21 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. CITADEL BROADCASTING TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the third-largest radio broadcaster in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in New York on Sunday. Citadel, which owns and operates 224 stations across the country, listed debt of more than $2.4 billion and assets of about $1.4 billion. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704376704574606420842982990-lMyQjAxMDA5MDIwMDEyNDAyWj.html (via Fred Waterer, Ont., Dec 20, dxldyg via DXLD) THE BRAND NEW CITADEL Posted: 21 Dec 2009 06:17 PM PST By Jerry Del Colliano It is truly fitting that Citadel Media filed for bankruptcy on a Sunday -- yesterday -- when the stock market was closed and people were either obsessed with the blizzard on the east coast or football. Many of my readers have been writing over the weekend to find out more details on what the future of Citadel Media looks like so I'd like to give you a glimpse of the post-bankruptcy Citadel. . . http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2009/12/brand-new-citadel.html (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) WABC = We Are Bankrupt Citadel (Brock, Sent from my iPhone, ibid.) ** U S A. Did you know that last night`s episode of the Fox network show ``Bones`` had ``pirate radio`` and a specific radio frequency as a key plot element? Of course, they got the details wrong --- they had a guy doing a pirate political broadcast on ``27.41 MHz``, and a cab radio operating on ``27.4 MHz``, plus a scene of an antenna of the wrong size being pulled down. Odd, since the show has *lots* of otherwise-accurate anatomic and biological, technical data that they really try to get precisely right. Still, an enjoyable one to watch anyway. 73 (Will Martin, MO, Friday Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose a pirate could be operating in the CB/Freeband area (gh) ** URUGUAY. ¿Sabes algo de Radio Sarandí en onda corta? Porque desde que comenzó a transmitir en 6045, parece que nunca se hubieran dado cuenta de lo mal que sale el audio. Pero lo más raro es que después de tanto tiempo no lo han solucionado (Federico Fuleston, Argentina, condiglist via DXLD) En relación a la Onda Corta de Sarandí, aquí es otra cosa, esto es una empresa, y no ha demostrado ningún interés de respuesta a los mails enviados. Llama la atención que el problema no se haya corregido... esto denota un interés mínimo por ella más que cumplir con la presunta intimación de mantener la frecuencia activa por parte de la autoridad reguladora de comunicaciones de Uruguay (URSEC). En segundo lugar es aparente la falta de capacidad de control de ésta en las trasmisiones. Este fin de semana, tanto Sarandí en 6045 como SODRE en 6125 no estuvieron activas y creo siguen hasta el dia de hoy inactivas. 73 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Dec 21, ibid.) ** URUGUAY. Re 9-085, new unofficial station on SW: Re: [Lista ConDig] Radio Chaná escuchada en Buenos Aires! --- Creo que Arnaldo el viernes pasado en esta lista alertó de una señal similar que le llamó la atención. Estoy esperando lograr un teléfono o email de contacto con ellos. Buena captación, Fede! Por Montevideo, en mi QTH demasiado ruido (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, 0857 Dec 14, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hoy alrededor de las 6,30 (hora l.u) [0930 UT] encontré una emisora pasando música folklórica del altiplano, y me la quedé escuchando para ver de qué se trataba. A las 7 (hora l.u.) se identificó como radio Chaná y comenzó una tanda publicitaria bastante larga. La mayoría de las publicidades eran leídas por una chica. Entre ellas recuerdo la de Panadería El Molino, y otras dos que quedaban en Avenida Óliver y daban como referencia para llegar: en una, frente a planta emisora, y en la otra: a 2 cuadras de planta emisora. Calculo que si se referían a su planta transmisora, ya podemos saber que se encuentra sobre Avenida Óliver. La empesé escuchando en 5975 khz, y luego comenzó a desplazarse hasta los 5960; que es donde está ahora mientras escribo esto. Llega con aseptable señal aunque con algo de Qsb, y buen audio (Federico Fuleston, Argentina, Dec 14, via Horacio Nigro, playdx yg via DXLD) Datos de (No Oficial) 5750 (n) Radio Chaná, Tacuarembó [re 9-085] Finalmente logré comunicarme con los responsables de la emisora que venimos escuchando en onda corta, via celular el Sr. Omar Lima, CX6OL (en QRZ.com aparece como CX6OL, OMAR MANINE LIMA MORAES, RADIO ZORRILLA-ITUZAINGO 246, TACUAREMBO TACUAREMBO), y su esposa María, con quien tuvimos una amabilísima conversación. Después de todo, somos él y yo radioaficionados. Omar, de 56 años, es técnico de muchos años de Radio Zorrilla de San Martín y también de TV Canal 7 de Tacuarembó. Se inició como radioaficionado en 1973. Sus emisoras FM Chaná, de carácter comunitario opera en 96.5 MHz desde 2006. Al año siguiente, 2007, como gran entusiasta de la onda corta que confiesa ser, decide armar un trasmisor también para onda corta, diseñando el mismo para trabajar a cristal en la frecuencia de 5750 kHz. Emitió desde ese entonces con una potencia muy reducida de sólo unos pocos vatios. Cuenta que oportunamente, desde 2007 ha enviado solicitudes a URSEC con el propósito de informar y regularizar el proyecto pero que en todo este tiempo no ha logrado una respuesta de la propia Unidad Reguladora de Comunicaciones. Y ha comenzado a trasmitir en forma no oficial con un trasmisor casero con control de frecuencia por oscilador variable en base a un circuito Clapp. Sus elementos fundamentales son una válvula 6DQ6 a la salida con 450 voltios en placa a 50 mA, modulada por una EL34, con transformador de modulación. E inclusive, tanto el emisor de FM como este de HF tienen circuitos automáticos de protección contra descargas atmosféricas potencialmente dañinas (rayos, etc.) que apagan el equipo y automáticamente lo vuelven a encender. La potencia del equipo en onda corta es actualmente de 25 W. Le comenté que la modulación era particularmente buena y que ya había sido escuchada desde Buenos Aires, y habían señalado especificamente la calidad de su modulación. De todas maneras le señalé que el principal problema era el corrimiento de frecuencia que en una hora había sido de 7 kHz por lo menos, hacia abajo. El pensaba que ese problema lo había superado, pero no fue así y el sábado apagó el trasmisor a las 0124 pues un conocido le avisó del desplazamiento de la portadora. La razón por la cual trabaja con OFV es que el cristal que tenía de 5750 se le había roto y adelantó que tiene uno encargado en Montevideo para esa frecuencia e inclusive tiene pensado aumentar potencia. Le di mi apoyo a la iniciativa y me reiteró el horario de emisión: Lunes a domingo de 0700 a 2400 Hora Uruguaya (actual de verano), equivalente a 0900-0200 UT. La dirección para escribirle es bien sencilla. Sr. Omar Lima, CX6OL, Radio Zorrilla de San Martín, canal 7 Tacuarembó, 18 de Julio 304, Tacuarembó, Uruguay. No tiene QSL impresa, pero le adelanté que le iba a escribir un informe de escucha y adjuntar un CD con la grabación de la trasmisión que hice el fin de semana pasado. Le dije que una QSL carta me era suficiente. Y como buen radioaficionado seguramente me confirmará, al igual que a quienes le envíen reportes correctos de escucha. No tiene e-mail por el momento. El celular de la esposa, con quién inicié la conversación es +098 505 523, que me lo pasó Fabiana, una dueña de un Salón de Belleza que tiene pauta publicitaria en la emisora, y a la que llamé el mismo sábado desde El Pinar, donde tuve que hacerle toda la historia, hasta ayer que se disculpó de no poderme atender pues tenía todos las manos embadurnadas de tinta para pelo, y finalmente hoy cuando logré el dato de contacto. Como dicen los DXers del norte ... some detective work! Veo futuro a la emisora, que tiene el propósito de llegar a Córdoba Argentina, donde Omar tiene un familiar... si es que URSEC tras no haber hecho nada estos años, todavía le "dinamita" la iniciativa... por piratear. Reitero el sábado pasado la escuché en la frecuencia de 5931 variando a 5924, aunque la nominal es 5750. 73 y buena escucha! (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Dec 15, as corrected, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Consulta para Horacio --- Hola Horacio: quería saber si cuando hablaste con el dueño de Radio Chaná te comentó con qué antena transmite en onda corta, y si te dijo cuando volvería a transmitir. Desde ya te agradesco (Federico Fuleston, Argentina, Dec 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) Justo esos datos me faltaron, así que no se la está escuchando. Por acá en Montevideo es difícil saber por mucho ruido de linea. Vamos a averiguar (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) Horacio: Voy a intentar recibir esta emisora por Neuquén; me parece difícil con solo 25 W y frecuencia incierta, pero el esfuerzo en salir al aire del radiodifusor merece el intento; avisaré de cualquier novedad positiva. Saludos! (Alejandro Álvarez, LU8YD, NEUQUÉN, ibid.) No se está escuchando pero lo atribuyo a lo que te dijo de que había apagado por los corrimientos de frecuencia. Si volves a hablar, te agradecería si podes preguntarle por la antena, sino no hay ningún problema (Fuleston, ibid.) Le envié un SMS hace un rato, aun no me contestaron (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) Gracias Horacio, pero si se complica no te preocupes (Fuleston, ibid.) Me contacté con la gente de Radio Chaná; me atienden muy amablemente!! La emisora ha estado fuera del aire estos dias, justamente como presumía Federico para tratar de corregir el problema de corrimiento. La emisora está en el aire en estos momento, segun me dicen, e inclusive con unos vatios más de potencia, 35W. La pregunta de Fede sobre la antena: es un dipolo para la banda de 49m pero está muy baja, la parte más alta está a 4 metros... A partir del lunes la va a levantar a 11 metros. Es posible que aún haya un cierto corrimiento de frecuencia, me advirtió, y que por otra parte él no tiene una indicación precisa de la que está saliendo ahora, así que hay que buscarla de 5975 para abajo. Cuando le traigan el cristal de 5975 ahí si no va a tener problemas. Le comenté que tenía potenciales escuchas en Neuquén y quedó contentísimo (le dije que aún no le habían escuchado) pero que había orejas desde allá abajo prestando atención (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Dec 21, ibid.) Uruguay (no oficial), 5843v, R Chaná, Tacuarembó 2310 Dic 21, talks entre hombre y mujer. Pwr: 35 W (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo Uruguay, ibid.) ¿Tan abajo se fueron? La otra vez ¿no estaban por 5930? (Moisés Knochen, ibid.) Se fueron ahí... 5832 a las 2357 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) ¡¡R. Chaná captada por mi barrio!! Después de mucho derivar (y aparentemente de toquetear algo en el transmisor) apareció audio a eso de las 2345 UT (música de acordeón) y luego el inconfudible Numa Moraes, otra canción que no pude identificar y después extensa locución por YL. Recepción muy pobre en el ruido dominante, pero con algunos picos que logré grabar (creo) antes de las 0000 UT. Escuchada tanto con Degen DE1103 + antena de cuadro TG-34 (esa que preguntaban el otro día) como con Tecsun PL380 con su mísera antena telescópica y filtro de 1 kHz, junto a la ventana de la cocina. Frecuencia variable entre 5834 y 5832 kHz. Disculpa Horacio que te atomicé con los SMS!!!! 73 (Moisés Knochen, 0011 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Después de 0000 UT mejoró un poco la recepción, aunque muy difícil entender la palabra, la modulación muy grave. La frecuencia sigue cayendo, están por 5828 ahora (Knochen, 0034 UT, ibid.) A la deriva... como el cuento de Horacio Quiroga! Y si llegás a las 2200 CX (2400 UT) vas a escuchar "románticos"; creo que incluyen llamados telefónicos de candidatas/os! (según me dijo hoy el dueño de la emisora) (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay 0041 UT, ibid.) Después de las 0000 escuché Trio Los Panchos y Doménico Modugno :-) (MK 0050 UT, ibid.) Ahora están en 5923 kHz pero no se queda quieta! Hay que rastrearla cada vez más abajo. Más que un cristal eso es una ameba. hi! (Rubén Margenet, 0104 UT Dec 22, ibid.) ¡Muy buenas noche y feliz Navidad! ¿Piensa usted que podría escucharla desde acá? ¿Cuántos kilovatios de potencia tiene esta emisora? ¡Hasta muy pronto! P.S.: He empezado a escuchar más la onda corta, pues en la onda media y larga siempre se escuchan las mismas emisoras (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, 0107 UT, ibid.) Kilovatios? Permítame que esboze una pequeña sonrisa! Juaaaaajjuaaaaajuaa aajuaaaajuuaaaaa jjuuaaaajjuaaaaa ... er.. 35 watts! (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) ¡Baja 0.5 Khz por minuto! Peor que mi perro cuando lo saco a pasear, me arrastra. Pero es un bello DX, trataré de grabar algo entendible. Los dejo porque sigue bajando y debo calibrar hasta luego, con tres kilociclos menos! (Rubén Margenet, 0108 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Try now in 5920 because every time I'm hearing below (Margenet, 0014 UT, ibid.) Ahora en los 5821.20 Khz... Cosa de locos! [Margenet, later] Bueno!!! pero llega por Rosario!!! (Horacio A. Nigro, Uruguay, ibid.) Yo estoy asombrado Horacio, ahora está en los 5820,33 pero quisiera que se quedara un poquito quieta para ensayar una buena grabación, aún no lo puedo lograr porque el zumbido del "paseo" me persigue. Voy a esperar que se estabilice. En estos momentos baja considerablemente la intensidad. De todas maneras, es un interesante DX (Margenet, 0127 UT Dec 22, ibid.) A esta hora se escucha bastante mejor por acá; hace un rato hasta puden entender algo de lo que decían y un OM estaba diciendo algo sobre la antena, que estaba muy baja (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, 0127 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Moises... ¿Lo que quiere decir el señor no será que estaba muy baja la frecuencia? De 5875 Khz se vino a pique! Es muy divertido che! (Ruben Margenet, 0130 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Pasan publicidad "Transporte Nahuel, agradecemos su preferencia" ... en otro anuncio mencionaron la Avenida Olmos... Teléfono 25253... Celulares 18 de 18 de Julio... Semanario Independiente (?) al servicio de Tacuarembó... y una cortina de cumbia que dice "Que viva la Navidad"... El problema es que sigue bajando y se va a encontrar con la WEWN en español sobre los 5810 Khz, ya le está mandando QRM a la fluctuante Chaná que ya anda por los 5816,85 Khz. Jamás he perseguido una emisora tan escurridiza (Margeenet, 0157 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Por Neuquén nada; habra que ver cuando mejoren antena (Alejandro Alvarez, LU8YD, 0206 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Estoy recibiendo una portadora que se desplaza lento desde 5818 bajando a 5816; no llega modulación, muy baja así que imposible identificar pero por el corrimiento hacia abajo con algo de modulación de frecuencia puede que sea de Chana (Álvarez, 0227 UT Dec 22, ibid.) Ahora se escucha algo de modulación, alguna que otra palabra en los picos de modulación 5816.0 a las 23.32 LUT. Escucho en USB para angostar el filtro y eliminar a WEWN (Álvarez, 0233 UT Dec 22, ibid.) [above was briefly summarized on WORLD OF RADIO 1492] ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila. December 20, seemed English, 0802-0815 female talks, Christmas music, 0807 male talks on music, followed by, seems local music, 0812 Pacific music. Seems only Vanuatu’s signal, sounding like nothing underneath, 35233. 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 11680, RNV via CUBA, Dec 16 at 1509 English news about V giving Ecuador 5 million ``saving bulbs`` to help the poor during the hydro-power crisis, which had arrived at the port of Guayaquil Dec 14. This was the ``Informative Short News`` segment, then into Spanish ID, 1511 ``Las Líneas de Chávez``, their version of ``Quotations from Chairman Mao``, which nevertheless turned out to be in broken English rather than elegant Spanish. This reminded me at 1512 to tune 11710 for even more stilted English from V. of Korear, which still has got El Hugazo beat hands-down in the Commie personality-cult business, but they are certainly a rôle model. After a few chuckles there, went back to 11680 but it dumped off the air at 1513, as only the worst Cuban transmitters are good enough for their Vennie pals. This uncovered the co-channel QRM I had been hearing all along, in Arabic, BBC via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. QSL from 675 - Radio Voice of Vietnam --- Heh, Heh, Heh! Yesterday I got a GREAT early Christmas present from Vietnam! I had reported 675 kHz - VOV1 at least three times from our Orcas Island, Washington home over the years and received no reply at all. Last winter, I finally did what I should have done MUCH sooner: Ask Patrick Martin what to do! He had sent a report at the same time as my first one and HE got a QSL (of course!) He said that he reported 675 and a parallel shortwave outlet and got an answer. He thought that reporting shortwave was the key. Well, I waited patiently until 675 was coming in well on Orcas Is. this fall and then I began to search for an audible SW parallel. That proved more difficult than I expected, but I finally got a morning where 675, 5975 and 7210 were all coming in, with 675 being the best signal. All were //. So, then I wrote the best report that I knew how, sent them a CD of the entire reception.... mostly from 675... and included several post cards from my home islands, some US station stickers and $2.00. I got back a VOV sticker, a little doll/key chain of a Vietnamese woman in traditional clothing (now on the Christmas tree) and the following letter on plain paper: ``Dear Mr. Bryant We have checked your CD and realize that it is Voice of Vietnam, Channel One, which features news and current affairs. After listening to the content, we admire your devotion to radio broadcasting. However, we can just send you a reply letter, a frequency list and a souvenir but not a verification card because the program you heard was from the domestic service. Thank you very much for listening and we hope to get some feedback from you about our English service. Sincerely yours, English Service Voice of Vietnam`` Am I going to count the above as a QSL for 675 - Voice of Vietnam??? Was Ronald Reagan a Republican??? Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 to each of you and yours. My Christmas is already memorable! (John Bryant, Stillwater, OK, 22 Dec, IRCA via DXLD) What a wacky policy. Obviously they do not understand DXing and the point of QSLing. Picking up Vietnam HS on MW from NAm is an incomparably greater achievement than their English ES on SW, most likely relayed from Canada (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. 9840, Voice of Vietnam, 2333, 12/18/09, English. Male and female presenters with the news, frequent mentions of Vietnam and audio clips of speeches/interviews. In indigenous-sounding music at 2350 recheck. Tough copy in the noise. Poor. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 1550, Polisario Front, Rabouni, ALGERIA, 1509-, 18 Dec, Arabic, Arabic songs, many talks & phone-ins; 55444; \\ 6297. This must be a special broadcast because of the current issue on the former Spanish Sahara. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. 6135 at 1444-1454 UT. Radio Yemen, Sana'a, Dec 13, Arabic, OM talk with mentions of Iran and Yemen, 1451 UT some YL and OM announcer with ID, Arabic singing - good with some fading and local noise (Mikhail Timofeyev, Russia, DXplorer Dec 13 via BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828, Voice of Zimbabwe. Mit schlechter Modulation. S=2/3, Rauschen, Fading. Scheduled 1630-0530 UT daily. Music / vernacular 100 kW ND, Gweru ZWE (Herbert Meixner, Austria, A-DX Dec 17 via BC-DX via DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED 4830 ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Dec 16 at 1850 UT checked Zimbabwe Community Radio reception on 4895 via Meyerton. Fair signal, about the same as SW R Africa on 4880 via the same transmitter (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4895, ZWE Community Radio, 1813 19 Dec with talks in ?? language. Folk song at 1815. At 1817 talks over a background music (with many fade ins and outs) "making different" clip on 1844 then a pop song. Some music at 1956, then sign off (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102, 1103, 108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000; Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. via Madagascar, 11610, Radio Voice of the People, 0410-0450+, Dec 19, tune-in to vernacular talk. IDs. Short breaks of African music. English at 0441 with talk about human rights in Zimbabwe. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) UNIDENTIFIED. 1600, USA, *2224-2229* December 15, 2009. Someone fired up a solid 1000 cycle tone here. Big signal, on roughly greyline. Once off, WKZK returned. Logged on the 2004 Impala stock radio. 1600, USA. 2205-2220 December 16, 2009. Mixing with WKZK, someone in an Asian (seemingly Vietnamese) language. This is becoming a fun graveyard channel to squat on at sunset. Logged on the 2004 Impala stock radio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Around here`d be KRVA, The Metroplex. See USA for disclaimer UNIDENTIFIED. 4750, Dec 22 at 1410, at least two stations talking at about equal levels, likely China and Indonesia, making a rapid SAH, but maybe also a third if Bangladesh was still on. Pointless trying to unravel them. There are plenty of clear channels on 60 meters, hint2, e.g. abandoned by other RRI stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 4830, I’ve been tracking this UNID all last week without adding much of anything towards an ID. Heard on 12/7 as late as 0320 playing “O come All Ye...” carol, followed by a brief announcement by M ending with “Merry Christmas,” then a Christmas pop vocal (Elvis?), a similar announcement by M, another Christmas secular thing, another announcement and so on – at times the announcement may have included a mention of the letter “W” and always ended with “Merry Christmas.” Heavy CODAR and occasional ute QRM. The announcements were really down in the mud and sometimes I could not be sure there even was one given. Heard at 2254 on 12/8 – with the same format, still going at 2342. Also, 12/10 at 2258, 12/11 at 0500, 12/12 at 0038 and 2225 – always at about the same level, always with a mix of Christmas carols and secular songs and a brief (10 second) announcement, barely modulated, always with strong CODAR (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva , WI, NRD-545, Tentec 340, Parker balanced doublet, Mark (MK-1) antennas, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 14 via DXLD) Very interesting! Have you checked 1610 for a Canadian //, from which this could be third harmonic? Long hours make that more likely, but also possibly a mixing product if a // could be found on 9, 7, 6 MHz bands. And then there`s Voice of Zimbabwe which runs all-night on 4828, but you are sure it was 4830? WRTH says it`s irregular until 0430, while Aoki says until 0530. And they do play a lot of music: ``4828 Voice of Zimbabwe 1630-0530 1234567 Music/Vernacular 100 ND Gweru ZWE 02951E1926S ZBC N=5975`` (Glenn Hauser, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hmmm, no replies. I looked for it at 0442 Dec 19, and could not detect anything on 4830 or 4828; some signals were in elsewhere on 60m --- 4790, 4800, 4885, 4915, 4960, 4965, 4985, etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4830 UNID. Sorry to have let the goose loose last week. This turned out to be the third harmonic of a local, unlicensed, station calling itself “Lake Geneva Neighborhood Radio” on 1610, I had forgotten all about this one, which some local MW listener discovered last summer. I don’t know where it’s located or who runs it so I could not alert them re the harmonic they are putting out. Apologies to anyone who wasted time on this (Gerry Dexter, WI, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 20 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6002 approx., as I was checking out the latest RHC anomalies, noticed some CW being sent circa here, Dec 21 at 0710; very weak, a real message, not a marker, ending in K, an intruder resuming a few sex later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6005, 0643–0659, 12.12.09, in unId but African sounding language. OM & YL announcers with short items, 0654 talk by YL, 0657 musical break, apparent skit with several people talking at once with motorcycle sfx, OM with announcement, music, 0659:55 off.; "bonker" ute on LSB. BBC via ASC barely audible under (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, ICOM R 75, Eton e1, Grundig S 800 & G5, Kaito 1103; Alpha Delta Sloper, Flextenna, EWE, attic mounted Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) One might think Buea, Cameroon, which nominally starts on 6005 at 0700 as BBC is ending. I don`t find anything else listed, either. 6005, BBCWS in English via Ascension, Dec 18 at 0655 with Network Africa reporting from Cameroon! There was nothing else audible here except an extremely weak het. BBC cut off at 0659:30 amid a programme prommo, and with BFO on I could still detect an extremely weak carrier. We would like to think it is RTVC, Buea, which we know is active, 4 kW? supposedly occupying the 07-17 gap in BBC usage of the frequency, but it could start earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6015, Dec 18, 0819 - 1001, carrier on clear frequency, could not pull out any audio, then possibly the same station noted at 1131 recheck, carrier and uninterrupted tone. Still in the clear but mixed with XPBS Kazakh when latter appeared 1151:15, lost 1200 due to co-channel DRM. Sei-ichi Hasegawa reports HLKC /HLCA relays here so could this perhaps be them? 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6015 for many years had a station in South Korea listed as Radio Liberty - and apparently nothing to do with the USA station of that name. Without checking the WRTH, I don't know how long ago this service ceased. During the Winter months buzz saw type jamming was often audible around 0700/0800+ but only rarely could any audio be heard - and never clearly copied. I also saw the report from Sei-ichi Hasegawa, so this one should propagate to Europe when on air. I think the Liberty transmitter had a listed power of 100 kW (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) See KOREA SOUTH above UNIDENTIFIED. 6045, MEXICO, XEXQ, Radio Universidad – San Luis Potosí, 0451–0500, 12/13/09, in Spanish. Man and woman announcers with probable interview, 0454 mellow music with talkover, 0456 mellow instrumental, 0500 off. No ID heard. Fair (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, ICOM R 75, Eton e1, Grundig S 800 & G5, Kaito 1103; Alpha Delta Sloper, Flextenna, EWE, attic mounted Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) That would be nice. I often look for XEXQ later and around sunrise, but not a trace. We do know that Uruguay has been active on this frequency lately; would you settle for that? However, AWR via Austria in French, 300 kW, 220 degrees is also scheduled at 0430-0500 only on 6045. But you are sure it was in Spanish? (Glenn Hauser, NASWA yg via DXLD) I checked at 0440 Dec 19: nothing audible on 6045, except splash from adjacents. Reception from Europe was generally poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL, very weak V/CQ marker detectable JBA at 1400-1401 Dec 18 after Russia closed 6075, and still no sign of China vs Taiwan after that. The main problem was splash from CFRX 6070 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6115.2 --- [See 15120, 9690] The third empty carrier around that time doesn't seem to be connected with that: 6115.2, 1800...1810, signing on and off several times for just a few seconds. Fair, a bit stronger than the unID weak signal on 6115 kHz. All times UT. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://africalist.de.ms DX LISTENING DIGEST) One of them perhaps Brazzaville; and Abuja? UNIDENTIFIED. 6933: Alert: 0000; Portuguese on 6933/LSB; programming not 2-way with mentions of Brasil & Brasilia. Can't imagine a pirate running this. Haven't looked for a // yet (Harold Frodge, MI, 0011 UT Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Never mind; went off at 0011+ (Frodge, 0012 UT, ibid.) Harold, Tnx for the tips. Unfortunately I did not check my mail until around 0100 and could not hear it then (Glenn to Harold, via DXLD) They finally disappeared for good about 0016. Checked a few, but didn't hear any //s. It'll just have to be a mystery --- for now (Harold Frodge, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 7194.98 continued --- Tentative Radio Uganda again noted opening at 0623 this morning. I even imagined I could hear faint traces of talk? Just in case I didn't make myself clear enough. The times mentioned in my earlier report are not tune-in times but the exact minutes when I actually heard the transmitter coming on the air. It just doesn't seem likely to me that this could be a leapfrog mixing product. To which Mauno Ritola adds: "As it happens I was also there this morning. I also saw the carrier but could not pull out any audio. I think Uganda is very much possible, at least the antenna that gave the strongest signal is to that direction". 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, Dec 16 dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7194.98, further sign-on times for tentative R Uganda observed as follows: 0623 (Dec 16), 0606 (Dec 17), 0617 (Dec 18), 0637 (Dec 19), 0624 (Dec 20). Still no conclusive evidence, your help is very welcome. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. At 0630 UT on Dec 17 noted a hefty hum on 9574.92 kHz, hetting Radio Medi Nador on even 9575.00 kHz. When checked at 0930 UT again disturbtion of same intensity wandered down to approx. 9574.89 kHz. Any ideas? (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Odd Saudi Arabia 2nd program of 9580? (Mauno Ritola, Dec 17) Nothing heard on Dec 18 so far (Büschel, ibid.) Still there at 1100 UT, but not now at 1430 UT. Maybe spurious from Saudi transmitters? (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Dec 17, ibid.) 9580 kHz was a domestic service frequency of BSKSA 2nd program previously. But moved according to registration to 11855 kHz at 0600- 1700 UT (Büschel, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9690: see 15120 UNIDENTIFIED. 11700 with continuous tone test slightly more than 1000 Hz, Dec 21 at 1522. Not a het since BFO revealed the `carrier peaks` not only on 11700 but on 11699 as well as 11701. Nothing scheduled during this hour between Bulgaria and France (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNID 15700. Maybe these are just Bulgaria? UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Glenn, Some "unidentifieds" for DXLD observed Saturday Dec. 18th: 15120 kHz, empty carrier 1612-1630*, fair/good, much stronger then VON Arabic signing on 1629 just a few seconds before the other transmitter left. And later: 9690, empty carrier 1813-1820+ and again *1828-1829* very strong. So the link between these is only the fact that two VON frequencies were used. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://africalist.de.ms DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thorsten is careful not to make any guesses, so I will: the strong ones could be the new transmitter(s) at Abuja firing up; otherwise the old ones at Ikorodu. See also UNID 6115 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. After the unID tone test on 15700, I was hearing another one on 15600, Dec 22 at 1521 and still at 1533. Nothing on the schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15700, R. Bulgaria at 1458 Dec 22 with rock music, mixed with continuous tone test making a SAH, the latter continuing past 1500, still at 1506 but gone at next check 1512. This is during a one- hour break before RB resumes at 1600. Who could it be? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS see also CUBA ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn! Happy upcoming solstice. I enclose a check to support your work on DXLD and in honor of the soon-coming sesquimillennial WoR! [smiley] (of course, counting all the `Extras` you`ve already passed that milestone) (Will Martin, St Louis MO, Dec 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1491, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Many thanks also to Gerald T Pollard, Raleigh NC, who sent a solstitial check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glenn, Happy winter solstice. Thanks for all your work on behalf of shortwave broadcasting. Best wishes, (Martin Gallas, Jacksonville IL, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) As always thanks for DXLD; it's greatly appreciated. Cheers (Chris Lewis, England, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I had to drop you a line today. I should have a picture of you on the wall of my radio shack. My day wouldn't be complete if I didn't read your posts on HCDX. I love the colorful way that you describe reception of stations and the interesting comments to say the least. Sorry to hear about the jamming of your program but I listen to "World of Radio" a lot and haven't noticed it. I'll bet that Arnie likes your descriptions of RHC also! He sent me an e-mail once claiming that he didn't understand what I meant but he thought that I insulted him. I had only mentioned in a post to HCDX that the "Professor" was towing the line like a good boy. I'm an avid listener of your show and thank you for not only providing me with great DX information that I use as a tuning and frequency guide as well as excellent entertainment. I use all of the posts on HCDX as an aid to SWLing but we need more of your style of reception reporting (Rich Brock, Near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dec 16) Tnx, Rich, that made my day; needed (gh to Rich, via DXLD) Hello Glenn, my name is Dave. I have been a long time reader of the info you put out for SWBC. First, I would like to let you know just how much I enjoy reading and learning from your knowledge. It shows me I have a long way to go to learn more about the SWBC "arena". Thanks for bringing the info to all of us. I am sending you this e-mail with a request of you. I would like to know if at some point in time you would write a magazine article about your SWBC experience. Items like: how you originally became interested, overall equipment and techniques, extraordinary station catches, portions of the hobby that bring you great enjoyment and on the other side of the coin...dismay. Tell us a bit more of your bio and more specifically with the radio hobby. How about your observations on how SWBC has changed for the better and for worse. How long have you been a listener...do you enjoy other aspects of the overall radio hobby...etc. What sort of information would you like to impart to other SWBC listeners. I'm sure you could think of a plethora of other topics that you would like to discuss. Please don't feel that you have to be modest as far as this article. I think a lot of people would find the content very interesting and consider you to be one of the gurus. Would you please consider it? Thank you. I'd look forward to seeing something like maybe in Monitoring Times or Pop' Comm. Merry Christmas & have a Happy New Year! 73 (W8RIT, Dave Edenfield) Hi Dave, Tnx for your kind comments. I would like to do something like that one day before it is too late; however I am still a slave to ``daily DX journalism`` and it`s hard to find the time without giving up something else. For instance, right now I have about 200 e-mails piled up the last few days I need to sort thru, copy, correct, organize and eventually publish. Plus other sources of info to be consulted. I have done some interviews, audio and otherwise, which would give you some background. You`ll find three of them linked toward the end of the menu at the beginning of http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio and some audio interviews linked at http://worldofradio.com/audiomid.html#gh Best holiday wishes to you too. 73, (Glenn to Dave) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ EVOLUCIÓN DE LAS TELECOMUNICACIONES SEGÚN TEO VERAS Story Text & Photos © 2009 by Listin Diario Dec 10 2009 00:35AM http://portal.teoveras.com.do Listin Diario - ]]>Santo Domingo.- Inspirado en ofrecer un documento completo acerca de las telecomunicaciones, una de las ramas más complejas y beneficiosas de la comunicación, Teo Veras pone en circulación la obra "Las telecomunicaciones en América y República Dominicana. Origen y desarrollo", la cual está a dispoción del público en las principales librerías del país. Según su autor, próximamente estará en otras partes del mundo. Considera que las publicaciones existentes son deficientes en cuanto a la profundidad de su contenido y que por tal razón quiso hacer un aporte significativo a la profesión que le ha provocado grandes placeres. Detalles de la obra Aunque existen folletos creados por Veras, "Las Telecomunicaciones en América y RD" es su primer libro, el cual es fruto de 10 años de investigación del comunicador y contiene 936 páginas con aproximadamente 1,300 imágenes, trabajadas para ilustrar de manera cronológica el inicio, desarrollo y estado actual de las telecomunicaciones. Read original at Listin Diario. Diciembre 2009, 10:21 PM Un enciclopédico aporte de Teo Veras El libro de Veras trae profusión de detalles que mueven a reflexión Escrito por: JOSE BAEZ GUERRERO Hace algunos meses, tras entrevistarme en su programa matutino en ocasión de la publicación de un libro mío, mi amigo Teo Veras, precursor de innumerables avances de la radiodifusión en Santo Domingo y exitoso empresario, me pidió presentar su enciclopédica obra "Las Telecomunicaciones en América y República Dominicana, origen y desarrollo", encargo que acepté con alegría, alegría que afortunadamente no desapareció al ver que la obra tiene casi mil páginas. El libro trae inmensa profusión de detalles que mueven a reflexión sobre las telecomunicaciones y sus avances y acerca de la sociedad dominicana. Por ejemplo, Teo recuerda que en 1883 el gobierno dominicano otorgó una concesión telegráfica a Ramón Emeterio Betances, patriota puertorriqueñ o exilado aquí. Quizás evitando desvirtuar la naturaleza apolítica de su obra, en ella no se menciona que esa concesión, dada por Ulises Heureaux (Lilís) fue promovida por Gregorio Luperón para premiar a su amigo y colaborador boricua. Ejemplo de prebenda política, la concesión telegráfica dada a Betances debió ser traspasada a otros pues el patriota puertorriqueñ o y conspicuo colaborador de Luperón y Hostos no pudo iniciar los trabajos dentro del plazo prometido. Es posible que, aparte de una amistad de muchas décadas, Teo me haya escogido para presentar su libro debido a que la primera emisora comercial dominicana, HIJK fue fundada y operada por mi abuelo Tuto Báez a finales de los años 20. La emisora tuvo éxito dando a conocer a aficionados que luego se hicieron artistas profesionales, como Negrito Chapuseaux y Antonio Mesa, entre muchos. Agradezco a Teo que haya rescatado para la historia el recuerdo de este gran pintor, fotógrafo, cineasta y diseñador dominicano, como precursor de la radio comercial del país. Es notable la generosa disposición de Teo para reconocer los aportes y contribuciones de cientos o miles de dominicanos que son parte de la historia de las telecomunicaciones en República Dominicana. Un índice onomástico de 30 páginas da testimonio de cómo Teo ha querido consignar los nombres de tanta gente importante, al tiempo que humildemente trata de convertirse él mismo en un simple narrador o compilador, cuando es en justicia un protagonista de primer orden de las telecomunicaciones dominicanas. El libro de Teo, con 930 páginas, puede lucir intimidante, pero lo recomiendo como una lectura imprescindible para quienes deseen una idea del desarrollo dominicano visto a través de las telecomunicaciones Teo es un reconocido locutor de comerciales, productor de programas. HOY/ARISMENDI LORA 3 Diciembre 2009, 7:00 PM Teo Veras pone a circular su libro De venta. En las principales librerías de la capital y el Centro León de Santiago Escrito por: TROI ORLANDO ESPEJO El destacado comunicador Teo Veras ha tomado el reto de plasmar el tema "Las Telecomunicaciones en América y República Dominicana, Origen y desarrollo", en su primer libro. Una obra que enfoca desde el punto de vista cronológico, lo que es la historia de las telecomunicaciones, desde sus inicios, incluyendo la electricidad, la carta, el fax, la fotografía y todo eso, hasta la portabilidad numérica de nuestros días. "Este es un compendio que iniciamos en el ámbito nacional y luego empezamos a trabajar con todos los países del área, para que el lector pueda ir haciendo las comparaciones, a medida que van naciendo las cosas", explicó Teo Veras. Los trabajos para la creación del libro fueron iniciados en febrero del año 2000 y en el mismo son revelados una gran cantidad de datos y testimonios de personas, entre los que se encuentran Salomón Sanz, Pepe Bonilla, Luis Pelegrín y Abraham Vanderhorst. La publicación le surge al empresario radial debido a que lo existente sobre el tema ha sido ligeramente deficiente en cuanto a cantidad de datos, algunos no se corresponden a la realidad. Sus 932 páginas de historia y actualidad es una excelente herramienta de consulta para todos los interesados Teo Veras S.A. Calle G. Mejía Ricart esq. F. Gómez de Cova P.O.Box 1610. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. Tel : (809) 562-2231 Fax : (809) 541-1177 E-Mail : teo.veras@codetel. net.do correspondencia internacional: Teo Veras / CPS: 427 / P.O.Box 149020 Coral Gables, Florida 33114-9020 U.S.A. (all via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK 2010 Published on : 17 December 2009 - 1:24pm | By Andy Sennitt The 2010 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) was published on 4 December 2009. Does this venerable publication - now in its 64th edition - live up to its claim to be the World’s most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to broadcasting? WRTH serves two markets, whose interests overlap – the professional broadcasters and the individual listeners interested in discovering what’s on the air beyond their countries’ borders. For the past quarter of century, many of the latter have purchased Passport to World Band Radio (PWBR), which concentrated on shortwave broadcasts. But with the collapse of the shortwave market in North America and Europe, the publisher decided not to publish a 2010 edition. Many listeners used to purchase both books, but those who only bought PWBR are now looking for an alternative, so will the WRTH suit their needs? . . . http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/world-radio-tv-handbook-2010 (Andy Sennitt, RNW, via DXLD) Information --- The US copies of the 2010 edition are being held [at] New York port pending Customs x-ray exam. Books should be released early next week (WRTH website via Terry L Krueger, Florida, Dec 21, DXLD) Ooh, watch out for the X-rays when yours arrive (gh, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Re: RNW REVIEWS THE WRTH 2010 --- What Andy writes: "In the absence of anything significant to review, a mere ten pages are devoted to current receivers this year, and even some of those are low-cost portables that are likely to be of very limited interest to WRTH readers. However, there is a look at ‘Cold War Classics’ – professional receivers of bygone years, which includes the Racal RA17 that I used when I worked at BBC Monitoring." ...may well be a sign of the modern times for DXing in general. But in my opinion, this receiver round-up review has forgotten the Degen DE1103, which has became a good pet for FM & SW DXers for at least the past 5 years with an excellent cost-performance relation. Also despite the models mentioned in the "low-cost portable", the Ultralight niche among MW DXers is under expansion and currently flourishing, thanks to the work and promotion made by Gary DeBock, and all the people gathered in the ultralightdx Yahoo reflector and the support given by DXer.CA and Colin Newell, since its beginning two years ago. Receivers like the SRF 59 (the first ULR revelation), the PL300WT, Sony T615, Grundig G8, D96L and the latest PL380 are encouraging many oldtimers who renewing their interest for MW DX, with a minimal expense. Certainly, however, the serious table-top DXing indeed appears to have its future in SDR and DSP radios (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, HCDX via DXLD) At least the ultralight fad has been limited to MW. I still don`t get it --- sort of like playing a sport with a self-imposed handicap, I guess, makes you imagine you are accomplishing more (gh, DXLD) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MAN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE Edwin Howard Armstrong is the father of almost all your AM and FM radios. He made it possible to DX AM reliably and get FM with no static at all. His birthday was December 18, 1890. This is from Donna Halper, I hope she does not mind me posting it here.... Major Edwin Howard Armstrong --- by Donna Halper While his influence on radio has been profound, few people today know who Edwin Howard Armstrong was or how his inventions affected their lives. . . http://www.oldradio.com/archives/people/armstrong.htm (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) AFRICAN BROADCASTERS GEARING UP FOR FUTURE MAJOR INVESTMENTS IN BROADCAST ANTENNA INFRASTRUCTURE The broadcast sector is coming to the view that radio’s strengths remain universally relevant and fundamentally appreciated despite the introduction of alternative media platforms and technologies. Especially with the advent of digital radio, consumers can experience radio like never before, anywhere and anytime. Radio works efficiently by delivering the same content to all listeners at the same time. For each additional listener, there is no incremental additional overhead on the transmission side. For the listeners, radio is still the cheapest and easiest way to keep informed because reception is free-of-charge, intimate and does not require a lot of sophisticated infrastructure. The view that radio is indeed holding its own is supported by the fact that leading broadcasters in Middle East and Africa are investing in their radio broadcast infrastructure for local, regional and international coverage. Over the past two years, Thomson has been awarded major contracts to upgrade their medium wave broadcast antenna networks in Libya, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Sudan and Nigeria (from Thomson Radio Broadcast via Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Concluded under LIBYA INCREASING THE REACH OF SHORTWAVE BROADCAST SYSTEMS Small-footprint Antenna System with Unlimited Flexibility Shortwave broadcast systems can reach millions of people anywhere, anytime from a single transmission site. The possibilities are theoretically unlimited. On the other hand, shortwave infrastructure is a notorious power consumer and stations require a lot of land to accommodate adequate antenna systems. Thomson’s newest rotatable curtain antenna helps broadcasters with limited space and budget to make important power savings while increasing considerably their coverage flexibility. The Thomson HP-RCA 2/2 (High Performance Rotatable Curtain Antenna) is a highly interesting alternative system solution for broadband fixed curtain antenna configurations. HP-RCA 2/2 services similar coverage areas as the classical LPD (Log Periodic Dipole Antenna) with up to 45% higher efficiency of the radiated power into a defined target area. Additional comparative figures of merit include - Higher gain (up to 19 dBi, or 3 to 6 dB more than typical LPD) - Higher front-to-back ratio (6 to 10 dB more than typical LPD) - Better power capability (up to 500 kW, as compared to the LPD with an absolute maximum of only 250 kW) In addition, the HP-RCA 2/2 has a better overall efficiency, requires less land, is easier to maintain and affords better reliability with regard to storms and electrostatic effects. The footprint of this powerful and highly flexible system is surprisingly small. With dimensions of 51m x 51m, the foundation surface needs less than 12m x 12m. The covered area has a radius of approximately 50m. With an overall weight of 80t, the antenna has a maximum survival wind speed of 240 km and a maximum operational wind speed of 120 km. It takes less than 3 minutes for a 180 rotation. Based on a rigid array and a tubular shaft, the HP-RCA 2/2 is a back-to-back arrangement of a low band and a high band curtain antenna equipped with a reflector screen. The 2/2 configuration gives a good radiation pattern performance with moderate structural effort. Whereas the classical HR 2/2 curtain antenna solution is based on a fix structure with phasing system limited to less than 20 azimuthal slewing with considerable sidelobes, the new rotatable structure with a central shaft has 360 azimuthal performance radiation patterns without sidelobes (from Thomson Radio Broadcast via Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) NASB TO CONDUCT SHORTWAVE LISTENER SURVEY Some time ago, the NASB obtained a quote from a reputable survey firm for conducting a survey to determine the number of shortwave listeners in North America, and some demographic characteristics of these listeners. As the cost was quite high, we attempted to find other shortwave stations that would be interested in sharing the cost with us. Unfortunately, not even one station offered to share in the cost of the survey, so we abandoned the idea. However, at this year's NASB annual meeting in Nashville, a suggestion was made that we conduct a survey of shortwave listeners through our NASB website, http://www.shortwave.org This would not give us a figure as to the number of listeners in North America, but it would give us some valuable demographic information about the shortwave audience, not only in North America, but in other parts of the world as well. A list of survey questions has been prepared, and a platform for the survey has been chosen. Bill Damick of TWR is coordinating the survey preparation, and it has tentatively been scheduled to go online in March of 2010. The survey will stay online for a period of one year, and final results will be announced at the 2011 NASB annual meeting. There will be a link to the survey on the NASB website, and we hope that our member organizations and other shortwave-related publications, websites and other entities will also publicize it (Dec NASB Newsletter via DXLD) THANKO RAREMONO USB SHORTWAVE RADIO By Evan Ackerman [re 9-085] I don’t know how they do it, but somehow, Thanko manages to keep coming up with gadgets that are silly and borderline useless for most people and yet are potentially just perfect for just enough people that I don’t quite feel comfortable making fun of them. And even then, this USB radio is a more useful than most, considering that it receives AM, FM, and shortwave. There’s an external antenna jack, and the actual tuning is done via software. You can record anything you’re listening to directly to MP3, and you can even schedule different recordings on different frequencies, sort of like a really cumbersome and old-school Podcast. But I guess if you don’t have internet, then it could be a great solution for you. ‘Course, if you don’t have internet, then you’re not reading this, so what do I care? $45 at Thanko. Source: http://www.ohgizmo.com/2009/12/15/thanko-raremono-usb-shortwave-radio/ (Via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, Dec 15, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See BANGLADESH; BELGIUM; BRAZIL; CUBA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ USA VOA; UNIDENTIFIED 6015 DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also USA : FCC discussion ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WLS-7 and 44 dxer @ wi.rr.com wrote: > I wonder, how would a tuner receive 7-1. Will it show up as Two 7-1s or will it just cancel out the other? Depends on the tuner. We have WTVF on two different frequencies here (RF 5 and RF 50). All of my receivers have two WTVFs. Punch in 05 and I get the one on RF 5; hit channel-up and I get the same program, but coming from RF 50 (I can tell which is which by rotating the antenna - - I can make RF 5 go away, RF 50 comes in all the way around) If you read the viewer comments on the WLS website, you see one guy gets only one WLS, and he believes it's the "wrong" one for his location. There has *not* been massive confusion in the Nashville market from having two channel 5's. (it would have been better for my employer if there was!) (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA via DXLD) I have had this happen with two different stations on the same virtual channel. With the Zenith/Insignia box you can go into the Setup mode and then to manual tuning where you can see the actual RF frequency with call letters displayed. With WLS-TV you would see the WLS call letters displayed when you get to channel 7 and channel 44. Sometimes I will be DXing with another box or set with a built-in tuner and go back to the Zenith to find out what channel I am really watching. The virtual channels can make it pretty confusing (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, ibid.) BTW, KWTV `9` is still simulcasting on 9 and 39 from OKC. I get them both equally well, rarely dropping out (gh, Enid, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC see also USA: KOA +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Standard HD Radio in cars A couple of days ago I purchased a new Volvo C30 (after my former car was deemed a total loss after getting rear-ended on the freeway) which happens to have HD capability as part of the standard factory radio. It's definitely a fun option, especially in a large market like L.A., but the HD signal seems to drop in and out every couple minutes, mainly depending on the height of nearby buildings. It's not a problem for me, but it could be seen as a nuisance for a non-DXer who wants to listen to a continuous stream of music. However, AM HD signals were very stable and sounded great. Maybe if/when sideband power increases from 1% to 10% the automobile HD radio will be a stronger feature. I feel that many drivers won't bother to learn how to push the proper button to listen to an available FM sub-channel (and they may not even tolerate certain sub- channel's sound quality). Either way, having the HD option as a default setting should exponentially increase the public's exposure to digital radio, for better or for worse. Performance-wise, the Volvo radio seems pretty impressive, plus it allows for 20 FM presets. Locking on to an HD signal takes only 2-3 seconds. Under dead band conditions, the Mt. Wilson HD signals were mainly solid, although KIIS-HD2 and KBIG-HD2 are still off from the storm 2 weeks ago. Sitting in the car port at home, I had both 97.5 KLYY and 99.1 KGGI Riverside locked in HD from 73 miles away, plus KGGI's subchannel appeared every now and then while driving (pretty impressive considering KGGI's calculated field strength here is 33.6 dBu (2.55 kW/562 m haat). Does anyone in the group have experience with HD Radio in their car? I'm curious how such an auto setup compares with a home tuner/external antenna (Tim Katlic, Beverly Hills, CA, Dec 20, WTFDA via DXLD) I've had three different aftermarket HD radios in vehicles. They've all had pluses and minuses, but I like the one I have currently the best. It's the JVC KD-HDR50. I previously had a HDR1 and Dual XHD- 6425. The HDR50 has a very solid FM tuner with very good sensitivity and great selectivity. I don't think it's quite up to par with the Sony home HD tuner, but it's hard to tell really. The JVC really shines on AM though. I have no problem with daytime signals from WSM and KMOX from Indianapolis. WLW Cincinnati is a solid HD lock, even between buildings in downtown Indy, as long as the power line noise is in check. If you're going to go aftermarket (with USB port or iPod capability) you might as well get HD, too. The cost is about the same anyway (Glen Hale, ibid.) KBRT(AM), AVALON, VIRTUALLY ELIMINATES THEIR UPPER HD SIDEBAND In response to numerous interference complaints from KFMB, 760 kHz, San Diego, KBRT, 740 kHz, Avalon, has virtually eliminated its upper HD sideband in a voluntary experiment. The sideband was reduced 17 dB from its normal value by using the maximum attenuation practical with the first-generation HD equipment installed. (KBRT would have turned off the upper sideband completely, but reduction below 17 dB made "strange things happen" within the equipment. The 17 dB reduction is so deep that it just about amounts to a complete shutoff.) New, current-generation HD equipment has been ordered and a further reduction may well be implemented when it arrives. What KBRT found in their voluntary experiment was surprising: The loss of the upper HD sideband did not appear to diminish KBRT's HD reception, at least in initial testing. According to Cris Alexander, Director of Engineering for Crawford Broadcasting (owner of KBRT), "I drove the KBRT digital signal yesterday [December 15, 2009] and found that it works just fine with just one set of primary digital sidebands." A copy of KBRT's occupied bandwidth spectrogram follows. It was taken December 3 at a site called "Haypress" on Catalina Island. Haypress is about 1 km from KBRT's transmitter and is in the main lobe of the station's signal. http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Images/KBRTspec.jpg LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO ("NPR") LABS, A DIVISION OF IBIQUITY? The blanket power increase proposed for all FM HD stations by the NPR- iBiquity compromise hasn't been justified. Recall that Ibiquity proposed both 6 and 10 dB power increases to the FCC, and miraculously NPR caved in and agreed to a blanket 6 dB increase for everyone (sans superpowered stations) and 10 dB for some. The coincidence of iBiquity's requests (6 and 10 dB) and NPR's grants (6 and 10 dB) cannot be ignored. Where are the technical studies justifying the blanket 6 dB increase? Did NPR push its own studies aside for political reasons? If the FCC swallows the NPR/iBiquity compromise, this will be the "AMization of the FM band" and do widespread harm to analog signals. Yet it is analog that pays the bills and it is analog tuners that are being built into the new generation of cell/data phones. We have to protect analog. Wake up, everyone. Alarm bells ought to be going off but the NPR- iBiquity compromise was perfectly timed to avoid an uproar. With the holidays here no one is paying attention. NPR is looking more like a division of iBiquity instead of a distinguished, trustworthy, independent test lab. --- Name withheld upon request Editor's notes: NPR's technical report to the FCC dated November 3, 2009 may be found at: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020246934 Increases in HD power cannot only lead to adjacent channel interference but host interference as well. (CGC Communicator Dec 21 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Re: ``iBOC is nothing more than C-QuAM with pilot tone removed`` (Darwin Long, 14 Dec, ABDX, via DXLD) Excuse me? ``Read on further in that original sentence. iBOC occupies the same phasal spectrum that analog C-QuAM does. Instead of regular stereo audio, the ((L-R) +1) and (L+R) +1) components are occupied by modulated 15 kHz digital data carrier tone.`` What's a "phasal spectrum"? Never heard of it. A "modulated 15 kHz digital data carrier tone"? Sorry, but as a description of how the AM IBOC system works, this is not even close (Barry McLarnon, Ont., ibid.) I think how analog C-Quam/AM Stereo verses IBOC should be explained is this... The system developed by Motorola called C-Quam, uses quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) to encode the stereo separation signal. This "extra signal" for lack of a beter term, is then stripped down in such a way that it is compatible with the envelope detector of older receivers (hence the name C -QUAM). A 25 Hz pilot tone is added to trigger receivers. The older and different AM Stereo systems used other means of encoding/decoding stereo --- everything from using different pilot tones, to using both the upper and lower side bands of the signal to encode/decode stereo. The IBOC system employs the use of injecting digital sidebands above and below the audible portion of the analog audio on the primary carrier. This system also phase modulates the carrier in quadrature and injects more digital information on this phase-modulated portion of the carrier. It is based on the principle of AM stereo where it puts a digital signal where the C-QUAM system would put the analog stereo decoding information. Therefore, analog AM Stereo can not co-exist with IBOC since the both of them use QAM (Bob Carter - KC4QLP - WQJK414, Mid-Atlantic- Engineering-Service of Utica NY / Elizabeth City NC http://www.midatlanticengineeringservice.com/ ibid.) I am using the term 'phasal spectrum' to denote the 'real estate' on a carrier signal that is gained by utilizing both sidebands while changing the phase relationship between the modulation riding on those two sidebands. Both traditional AM stereo (like C-Quam, Harris, etc., but excluding Kahn-Hazeltine) and the current iBOC HD system rely on a method of modulation that places DIFFERENT INFORMATION on OPPOSITE SIDEBANDS at DIFFERENT PHASE ANGLES to each other. The HD digitally-modulated 15kHz subcarrier is not merely sent over the AM station's carrier in standard quadrature AM modulation (identical sideband modulation) - the HD subcarrier modulation on the lower and on the upper sideband are OPPOSITELY-PHASED with each other. This does 2 things: - It helps to leave a 'quiet gap' in the center of the carrier frequency where the sideband modulation overlaps in the middle, canceling each other out so you can hear the analog program modulation clearly. - Without using opposite sidebands HAVING MODULATION PHASES OPPOSITE EACH OTHER (180 ), there's no way you could have true hybrid-digital AM because the analog audio would 'contaminate the digital information. Inverting the phase of one sideband's modulation from the other allows a way of transferring the digital data in a way it can be extracted completely separate from the analog program modulation (as long as that modulation is less than 5 kHz in bandwidth and is perfectly in-phase between both sidebands). There are exceptions to not hearing iBOC 'hash' or 'rumble' when tuned to the center of a station with a monaural AM radio: When you're experiencing deep ionospheric fades, and while you're driving along powerlines or a bridge oriented perpendicular to the transmitter during groundwave reception. This is due to phase-suppression (or enhancement) of one of the sidebands, or sometimes of the carrier itself while leaving the sideband modulation, due to the differing arrival times of the carrier signal (groundwave versus skywave), or signal travelling through metal versus air while driving along it. If this same scenario were to happen during C-QuAM AM stereo reception of an analog signal, you would hear one or the other audio channels drop out (or the entire 'audio platform' being steered back and forth between your speakers) because of changing modulation phase angles of one or the other sidebands. Try this exercise, in which you build a simple combination receiver that gives you just the sideband-difference of an AM radio station: Wiring- Find 2 IDENTICAL analog AM radios Find a standard monaural analog AM radio station Tune one radio to the lower sideband, and one radio to the upper sideband Plug into the speaker or headphone output jack to obtain the (+) and (-) outputs Wire the (-) of one radio's audio output to the (-) of the other radio's audio output Connect an audio amp, headphone, or speaker to the (+) audio connections of the radios. Tune-up- Tune both radios to the EXACT CENTER of a monaural, non-HD AM radio station. It must be a monaural, non-HD AM station. Turn the volume of both radios to the SAME LEVEL (there will be a point where the volume drops to zero - that is where both radios are at equal volume). You're now hearing the DIFFERENCE between sidebands. Try different AM radio stations- WITHOUT CHANGING THE VOLUME OF THE RADIOS, tune to an iBOC AM HD station (in the same way- one radio tuned to the lower sideband, and the other to the upper sideband). Now, you'll hear ONLY THE DIGITAL DATA, and NOT the analog program modulation (this is what happens inside an HD Radio during digital reception to obtain the digital code, except that a chip does all the work before being fed into a D- to-A converter). If you tune to a C-QuAM or other analog AM stereo station, you'll hear the 25-Hz pilot tone and difference between left and right channel audio. If you tune to a standard monaural AM radio station, you'll hear nothing - except for any carrier phase differences caused by ionospheric fading, static, heterodynes, etc, or distortion if the station's antenna system is mistuned. iBOC is not just plain raw digital data coming across an AM broadcast carrier - it has to be converted first in order to be sent over the relatively low-frequency AM broadcast carrier so a remote receiver can decode it. This could be done two ways - A. Send a subcarrier over the main carrier and modulate that subcarrier, or B. By changing the frequency of the carrier itself, such as by use of FSK, BPSK, FM, or other frequency-shifting method of data transfer. The latter is NOT how AM iBOC is sent - in fact, the iBOC exciter has to be extraordinarily stable, usually accurate to 1/100th of a hertz, to prevent any minute phase changes that a wobbly carrier could introduce. Many DXers can tell when an AM station might be gearing up to go iBOC when their carrier suddenly changes one day from xxxx.000328KHz (or whatever) to xxxx.000000 KHz. The way iBOC data is actually transferred is by way of a tone (around 15 kHz) that is made to vary (+/- around 5kHz) extremely rapidly with the binary data stream (iBOC AM is roughly 65kbps). That's why the sidebands are so (friggin) wide when iBOC is being transmitted. Aside from using frequency shift-keying of the main carrier, there really is no other viable method of transferring digital data over a radio signal in the frequency range of the AM broadcast band simultaneous to use with analog. You can't just plug a raw digital data output into the transmitter and be sending digital - you have to convert it to an analog mode that can be modulated onto the carrier as packets, which can then extracted and converted back to digital at the other end. Basically it's the same as a dial-up modem- a tone is modulated to send the data, which to the human ear, sounds like buzzing hash as that tone is varied with the binary data stream. It's nearly exactly the same for iBOC. Keep in mind that AM iBOC is very different than FM iBOC (which uses a separate transmitter altogether to send a signal that is completely separate from the main analog carrier). Hope I'm closer now; if not, tell us what you might know (Darwin Long, Simi Valley, CA, ibid.) ``Many DXers can tell when an AM station might be gearing up to go iBOC when their carrier suddenly changes one day from xxxx.000328 (or whatever) to xxxx.000000 kHz.`` That's true, up to a point, but it's more complicated than that. There are two levels specified for carrier frequency accuracy in the AM IBOC specs. Most IBOC stations comply with the tighter spec, which calls for the frequency to be within 0.02 Hz of the nominal channel frequency. But some stations only comply with a looser spec, which only requires 2 Hz accuracy. A prominent example is WQEW-1560 in NYC, which runs IBOC 24/7, and their carrier is in fact on 1559.998. The data rate for AM IBOC is actually 36 kbps, and the structure of the signal is far more complex than you describe. It is not generated from a single subcarrier - in fact, there are no less than 156 discrete subcarriers, grouped into three distinct sidebands. For more details on the spectrum, take a look at this page I created some years ago: http://topazdesigns.com/iboc/AM-IBOC-Parameters.html > Keep in mind that AM iBOC is very different than FM iBOC (which > uses a separate transmitter altogether to send a signal that is > completely separate from the main analog carrier). They are actually fairly similar in that they both use OFDM digital signals overlaid on the analog signal. It's true that in the AM system, there is an additional wrinkle: two of the IBOC sideband groups (secondary and tertiary) are in phase quadrature with the analog signal (as you alluded to in your original message), to keep the digital noise out of AM detectors in analog receivers tuned to the IBOC station. In that respect there is some similarity to the C-QUAM system, but it's really about the only similarity. > Hope I'm closer now; if not, tell us what you might know. I won't belabor this any further, but anyone who wants to learn more of the gory details about the AM IBOC system should download and read this paper: http://www.ibiquity.com/i/pdfs/Waveforms_AM.pdf (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Heck of a much better explanation than I could have formulated ;) (Darwin Long, Simi Valley CA, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TE LINKS TO Es ON 10 METERS Jon Jones, N0JK of Wichita, Kansas said 10 meters was bad Saturday, but he had great results on Sunday [Dec 13]. He reports, "There was widespread Es (E-skip) across the southern part of the country. Had Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama stations in all afternoon steady and loud. After 2200 UT the Es spread west to Arizona, New Mexico and northeast to Ontario, Maryland, Michigan, etc." "The Es to the Gulf of Mexico allowed an 'Es link' to form TEP (trans-equatorial propagation), and on to South America. So despite a low solar flux, CX, LU, PY stations were very strong around 2300 UT Dec 13. I was able to work several PYs CXs and LU1HF while running 5 watts and a CB mag-mount whip on the car on 10M CW. They were an honest 599 despite a very simple antenna to Kansas. As strong as during solar Cycle 23 peak." (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 52 ARLP052, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA December 18, 2009, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was predominantly quiet throughout the summary period. The exception was quiet to unsettled levels observed on 14 December between 14/0300 - 1500 UTC. Observations from the ACE spacecraft showed signatures of a solar boundary crossing with an increase in the interplanetary total field and a period of sustained southward Bz. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 23 DEC 2009 - 18 JAN 2010 Solar activity is expected to be predominantly very low during the first half of the period. Activity is expected to be very to low during the second half of the period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels through the period. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet for the forecast period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Dec 22 2051 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 22 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Dec 23 76 5 2 2009 Dec 24 74 5 2 2009 Dec 25 74 5 2 2009 Dec 26 72 5 2 2009 Dec 27 72 5 2 2009 Dec 28 72 5 2 2009 Dec 29 72 5 2 2009 Dec 30 72 5 2 2009 Dec 31 72 5 2 2010 Jan 01 72 5 2 2010 Jan 02 72 5 2 2010 Jan 03 73 5 2 2010 Jan 04 74 5 2 2010 Jan 05 75 5 2 2010 Jan 06 76 5 2 2010 Jan 07 78 5 2 2010 Jan 08 80 5 2 2010 Jan 09 82 5 2 2010 Jan 10 82 5 2 2010 Jan 11 84 5 2 2010 Jan 12 84 5 2 2010 Jan 13 85 5 2 2010 Jan 14 85 5 2 2010 Jan 15 82 5 2 2010 Jan 16 82 5 2 2010 Jan 17 80 5 2 2010 Jan 18 80 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1492, DXLD) ###