DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-25, June 23, 2011 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 2011 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html Searchable 2010 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid0.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 WORLD OF RADIO 1570 headlines: *DX and station news about: Australia, Brazil, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, Eritrea, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy non, Korea North +non, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Micronesia, Myanmar, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, UK, USA, unidentified SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1570, June 23-29, 2011 Thu 1500 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Thu 2130 WBCQ 7415 [NEW; but missing this week] Fri 0330 WWRB 5050 [confirmed] Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 [confirmed on webcast] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1500 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WRMI 9955 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1530 WRMI 9955 Sun 1730 WRMI 9955 Mon 1130 WRMI 9955 Mon 1530 WRMI 9955 Mon 2130 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 2130 WBCQ 7415 [or 2115, or 2100] Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 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 DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. My Afghanistan contract is finally finished after three years (!) and I am taking a few well-deserved months off. I have had no time for DX'ing since shortly after New Year, and only have the job to blame for that. Pattaya is normally an extremely noisy environment, but I managed to score an apartment on the 11th floor of the View Talay VI building in Central Pattaya. The noise level is quite tolerable, even if my antenna is of somewhat limited length. Mediumwave is suffering a lot of noise, so until I resolve that issue, there won't be any DX on there! I am eyeballing a tall tree in the adjacent vacant lot as an anchor point for a longer antenna, but don't want any kind of trouble, so I think I'll make a few discrete inquiries first! ;-) Hope everyone is well. 73s de (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. 11870, KNLS Alaska in English noted at 1050 UT June 18, Very tiny S=3 signal. ID at 1052 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. UNID: 9860 IS at 0029. Quite pretty. End of program, carrier off at 0031. Tirana listed s/on 0030. 20 June. On 21 June heard but then with RT ID (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 4949.9, RNA-Canal "A", Mulenvos, 2114-2128, 19/6, Portuguese, [unreadable] talks, probably news, music; 25331, weak modulation (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Glenn, When I heard AFAN 6012 in 1984-1985, they indicated they were going to refurbish the SW transmitter and antenna in the future. You reported this on SWL Digest and DXLD at the time but this did not come to pass. Now there seems to be some other confirmation that this was their plans: http://radiodx.com/nzrdxl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=334&Itemid=43 http://www.radioheritage.net/Story135.asp Glenn, I wish Antarctica on 6012 was still on the air. I reported them as reactivated back in 1985 on your show and several other DXers heard them because of my report. The problem was they never IDed much back then (if ever). At least I never heard a ID, just hours and hours of uninterrupted rock music. I'm curious who authorized the 6012 frequency? The FCC? that would make an interesting research project for someone with a lot of time on their hands (like me). Thanks, (Artie Bigley, OH, June 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Artie, The FCC has nothing to do with military frequency assignment in the USA (other than avoiding them), let alone in Antarctica (Glenn to Artie, June 12, via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36: Glenn and others may be too far east to hear them now. Too much daylight? (Ron Howard, June 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, RN Arcángel, San Gabriel. June 15, 1309-1329 female in Spanish talks “programa amanecer austral; emitiendo de la emisora más austral del mundo” funny conversation, Spanish pop music; 45344. June, 16 1420 no signal; June, 17 1419 no signal (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36, no show Monday June 20 at 1234, 1246, 1301 chex. No show either June 21 at 1231, 1245, 1254, 1426. Still absent, June 22 at 1246, 1311, 1350 chex. Nor June 23 at 1253, 1310, 1348 chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA [non]. A non-prelog, in case anyone has not heard about this yet: the once-a-year BBC special to the British Antarctic Survey is scheduled every winter Solstice, such as June 21 at 2130-2200, frequencies this year being 5950, 7295 and 9850 from UK, 7360 via Ascension. We might have a chance at the two higher frequencies in North America, the further east the better. Probably mainly greetings from family members, music requests (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LA ANTÁRTIDA [no]. A Prelog no, por si alguien no ha oído hablar de esto todavía: la BBC una vez al año especial para la Investigación Antártica Británica está programado cada solsticio de invierno, como el 21 de junio en 2130 a 2200, las frecuencias de este año, siendo 5950, 7295 y 9850 desde el Reino Unido, 7360 a través de la Ascensión. Podríamos tener la oportunidad de las dos frecuencias más altas en América del Norte, la más al este, mejor. Probablemente, sobre todo los saludos de los miembros de la familia, las peticiones de música (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [translated by and via Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, condiglist yg via DXLD] BBC Transmisión especial --- está en el aire, 9850 / 7360 / 7295 kHz muy buenas señales (Ernesto Paulero, 2150 UT June 21, ibid.) Special annual BBCWS service to the British Antarctic Survey, June 21 at 2131: as expected, inaudible here on 5950, 7295, 7360, and a JBA carrier on 9850. However, an AM ham in Los Lunas, New Mexico had a fine signal calling CQ on about 7293.5, K3IAN. (Los Lunas is a strange name, deriving from the prominent Luna family in the 1700s. In proper Spanish, the collective ``the Lunas`` would lack the S, just ``Los Luna`` --- only if they were all female would it be Las Luna. The gringo ham, transplanted from Pennsylvania or so, pronounced it more like Las Lunas, S of Albuquerque. Not to be confused with the other town of Luna, from the same family, next to Arizona and hit by wildfires.) ``The BBC has already posted a recording of the half-hour broadcast at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2011/06/110620_antarctic_midwinter_broadcast_2011.shtml (Chris Greenway, UK, 1712 UT June 21, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD)`` So I listened to that later --- yes, mostly greetings from family to the 40-some people at the Antarctic station, plus from a few celebrities. Like last year, some music bits were mostly in background, no time to play them completely, starting with the mandatory ``Here Comes the Sun`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 11-24: BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast --- A no go here at 2130. Just barely detectable on 9850 and with many thunderstorms in the area it just wasn't going to work. Sorry to have missed it this year. (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unusable here too on both 9850 and 7360 shortly after 2130; I think the frequencies were // (both had a W talking), but neither was readable in the QRN. God, I miss "Calling the Falklands". Maybe the Beeb will do a midsummer broadcast in December. 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY (near Buffalo), ibid.) 9850, BBC to Antarctica, in with fair to good signal, from 2130 to 2140. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, Drake R8, 60 meter band dipole, HCDX via DXLD) Nothing here (not surprisingly) on 5950; but listenable reception, S8 on 7295 (Rampisham), S6 9850 (Skelton). Detectable on 7360 (Ascension), but not listenable. Noisy, but could make out many of the greetings (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Eton E1-XM, A/D DX Sloper, 2203 UT, ODXA yg via DXLD) All four frequencies audible here - best signal on 5950: 5950 SIO 454 7295 SIO 244 7360 SIO 333 9850 SIO 343 73s (Dave Kenny, England, 2139 UT June 21, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Special BBC transmission on Antarctic Winter Solstice Only SINGLE DAY June 21 operation to CIRAF zones 69,70,71,72,73,74. 2130-2200 UT Tuesday June 21 only. 5950 SKN 300 180 0 205 3=Tue English G BBC BAB 7295 RMP 500 180 -10 205 3=Tue English G BBC BAB 7360 ASC 250 207 0 547 3=Tue English G BBC BAB 9850 SKN 300 180 0 216 3=Tue English G BBC BAB 5950 transmitter switched on at 2129:40 UT, started with short piece of Babcock control room `cello music. Midwinter broadcast to British bases in Antarctica. At 2137 UT Beach Boys song played. At 2151 UT "Happy Birthday To You" sung by young girl. 2156 UT "Albatross" guitar-based instrumental by Fleedwood Mac. 5950 S=9+30dB, 7295 best signal S=9+35dB, 7360 S=9+30dB surprisingly strong from Ascension, suffered a little co-channel interference by Belarus Radio, - latter in Europe - but not on the down under target, I guess. 9850 S=9+25dB. Producer Essword Richardson. 2159:32 TX switch OFF. Perfect performance (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tuned in at 2138 UT and found E on 9850. (According to the database, this broadcast is the only one on 9850 at this time.) Unusable, though I did hear "Good Vibrations" and what appeared to be a little girl with a message for a relative. I cannot hear anything on 5950 and 7360. There was also someone home on 7295, with a better signal than on 9850 at 2144 UT. Still not very "usable," though.' (Ron Hunsicker, Wyomissing, PA 19610-2102, NASWA yg via DXLD) 9850 is poor but seems to be improving incrementally, but very slowly. If they had been on a half hour later, or if I was further east, it might have worked here. Only the barest scraps of signal on 7295 and 7360 but basically worthless on 41 mb. Not even able to follow program content on 9850 though have made out some English words by man and woman and bits of music. -don (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, ibid.) Don: Thanks for the tip. At 2156, 9850 is much better than 7295! (Ron Hunsicker, Wyomissing, PA 19610-2102, ibid.) 9850 is the only frequency working for me, north of the border (Mark Coady, Peterborough, Ont., ibid.) Had 7360 toward the end of the broadcast but 9850 the best over all. [7295 by another Florida dxer] (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, ibid.) 7360 - solid listenable signal at 2132 7295 - poor with significant splash from 7285 9850 - very poor with lots of noise. Barely able to tell it was in English 5950 - nothing here Interesting program of recorded greetings from family to members of British Antarctic survey team, also announcer reading messages of well wishes for mid winter celebrations (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, MA, ibid.) Signal levels 5950 2132 S10 44434 7295 2133 S9 44434 7360 2134 S10 424x2 QRM CNR? 9850 2136 S8 44434 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTIGUA. Caribbean Radio Lighthouse, PO Box 1057, St. John's, Antigua; detailed QSL letter for 1160 kHz, info material and transmitter site postcard in approx. one month. Rp 1USD. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, heard in Barbados, report mailed from there, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6060.04, RAE, 0957, IS, then into Japanese program at 1000. Causing a big het with Brazil, on low side of nominal, could only copy in USB. 21 June. (David Sharp) 15345.19, RAE, 2157, end of German program, IS, then into Spanish at 2200 with ID and frequency, then into news. Very good. 17 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA’S ONLY JEWISH RADIO STATION CLOSES June 14, 2011 --- SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – Melbourne’s only Jewish radio station has been forced to close. Lion FM, barely a year old, ceased broadcasting at midnight Monday following a decision by the Australian Communications and Media Authority not to renew its radio license. "It is devastating news for our community for whom the benefits of the license were enormous. It provided not only a means of communication within our community but also a wonderful window through which information could flow to the wider community," said John Searle, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. Lion FM has been beset by problems since it was founded last year. Its inaugural president, Michael Lipshutz, resigned just weeks into the job amid accusations of censorship, and his successor, John Kraus, stepped down in March leaving the position still vacant when the station closed this week. In addition, two radio hosts were yanked off air mid-session, and there have been accusations of poor governance, lack of transparency and exclusionary practices because, some board members insisted at the station's inception that Lion FM would be broadcast according to Jewish law. Jewish radio programs are broadcast on other networks but Lion FM was Australia’s only Jewish radio station. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/kj4zRg As of Midnight, 13th June 2011, Lion FM will not be broadcasting on 96.1 FM. You can still listen to Lion FM via webstreaming Website: http://www.lionfm.org/ (Via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2368.5, Radio Symban, 1230-1245, June 14. Greek song followed by series of announcements in Greek, ending with clear "Radio Symban" ID and Greek songs; MP3 audio of ID (0:17) and some music at http://www.box.net/shared/z0oopclimnxovh5a9rh4 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. VL8A Alice Springs 4835 kHz --- Thanks to tip from Mark Davies (9 June) tuned into the Australian Northern Territories stations on 60 metres last night (10 June) just after their sign-on on this band at 2130 UT. Very good reception on 4835, 4910 and 5025 - as Mark also noted, 4835 gave best reception. Best reception I can remember for a long time - recording of VL8A Alice Springs 4835 kHz at 2135 UT is at: http://www.box.net/shared/ggx6i930a1rhmdvl5vsi - sports news at end of ABC news, then weather (temperature -1 in Alice Springs at 6 in the morning!). Later: ID "783 Alice Springs and right across the Territories" (Alan Pennington, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+ / K9AY, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ABC Northern Territory Service, 4835 // 4910 fair-poor but getting stronger 0825 with talk in Aussie English, abruptly left air for frequency changes 0829 (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2485, VL8K ABC Katherine NT, 1011-1150, June 18. Live coverage of the football match between Brisbane Lions and Richmond Tigers; “More to come on your Saturday night of football on ABC Local Radio - News Radio”; promo: “‘Drive’ with Vicki Kerrigan weekdays at 4 on 105.7 ABC Darwin”; reception above the norm; // only to 2310 VL8A Alice Springs NT, with 2325 VL8T Tennant Creek NT off the air. BTW - No rugby today on Radio Fly. June 19 Tennant Creek still off the air. June 21 show with economic advice and commentary at 1255; ID “More of what you love. On air, on-line and on-demand, 105.7 ABC Darwin” at 1309. Still // only to 2310 VL8A Alice Springs NT, with 2325 VL8T Tennant Creek NT continuing to be off the air (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 5050, Ozy Radio, 1304-1338, June 10. Still on the air; mixing with BBR (China); played "You’ll Never Walk Alone", "Monday, Monday" (Mamas & The Papas), "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Elton John), etc.; 3210 not heard at all (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050, Ozy Radio, 1248, June 14. Caught another clear ID "You are listening to Ozy Radio"; song by the Partridge Family "I Think I Love You", etc.; mixing with BBR (China). I find their announcers punch through the QRM better than the music they play (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050, Ozy Radio, 1213, June 21. Still broadcasting; Bee Gees “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”, Captain and Tennille “Love Will Keep Us Together”, Rolling Stones, etc.; weak and mixing with BBR. 1041, June 22 with Carpenters “Rainy Days And Mondays” and local TC by Australian announcer; open carrier (below threshold level) on 3210 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. program of interest? ABC Listening for pleasure - The radio work of Tony Barrell --- I don't know this person but the writeup is intriguing; MP3 loaded up to take along on my road trip which starts tomorrow . . . SW content as he was no doubt heard there in the 1970s and later http://www.abc.net.au/rn/360/stories/2011/3227437.htm A tribute to the work of outstanding features maker and ABC broadcaster Tony Barrell who died earlier this year. Tony was without doubt a great original, and his contribution to the ABC has been extraordinary, as a journalist, as documentary maker in both radio and TV, as producer of wonderfully creative and entertaining radio features, and as writer and producer of drama. He worked across many areas of the ABC, from 2JJ, to TV, to Radio National and writing for The Drum. The breadth of his achievement and the scope of his restless curiosity was enormous. He leaves a remarkable legacy. This program dips into his work from across all those years, from the late 70's at 2JJ with Sunday Afternoon at the Movies, through his long-standing interest in Japan and things Japanese, to the Prix Italia winning program Tokyo's Burning. Tony's thoughts about his work and the radio feature are captured in interview with academic and broadcaster Eurydice Aroney (Eric Flodén, BC, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Good tip, Eric! I'm almost halfway into the program right now, and enjoying the show. I didn't know of him, either, but listening to these snippets, he had talent. I liked how he found sounds and integrated them into his shows, as related by a colleague, "He'd come in with a box of stuff, and he'd say, well, in that box is the show. We're gonna find it, and we're gonna make it." (John Sullivan, Cary, NC, USA, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Re 11-24: PM, Kim Andrew Elliott wrote: Very interesting re ABC Radio National... http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/brainy-bunch-suffers-in-a-dumbeddown-world-20110617-1g7x6.html Indeed. If BBC Radio 4 and ABC Radio National were to cease to exist - -- well, that would be a disaster, to me at least (John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Revamp for Radio National to lure younger listeners Vanity Fair as competition for ABC Radio National? .... http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/revamp-for-radio-national-to-lure-younger-listeners-20110616-1g62j.html (via Kim Andrew Elliott, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 15230, June 20 at 0533, R. Australia VG signal with report about Nauru as processing center (presumably for illegal immigrants trying to get into Australia), mentioned the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol. 15230?? Normally on 15240. RA does use 15230 from Shepparton at 22-24, so an error, or a change for now? This and // 15160 are normally the SSOB after 0500, sometimes the OSOB. 15240, June 21 at 0535 check, RA back on correct frequency, not 15230, and now along with 15160 they are the SSOB. No sign either day on 15230 of CUBA, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listen to Radio Australia on 15240 from 0600 to about 0900, because it's interesting, but also because that broadcast is actually the strongest signal coming in. They happen to have a nightly quiz question as part of the programming and the last couple nights, I managed to get the question right (though they are very easy), but have also gotten parts of my emails read on air live, which I thought was pretty neat! Now if I could just get a bloody QSL back from them, that would be great. Nonetheless, I won something, which they are supposed to mail to me. They never do say what the prize is though. Anyway, I'll cut this short now. Hope to be able to contribute some more in the future once I get this interference issue dealt with on my outside antenna and get to some real dx'ing (Daniel Hostetler from Alaska, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also PALAU ** AUSTRALIA. 15400, June 21 at 1252, HCJB talking about TB, 1255 crops, and 1257 outro `Family Care` show, a produxion of HCJB Australia; hymn until 1259:50 quick sign-off until 2200 on 15525, and off. Other HCJB 15340 het vs Morocco 15341 continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 6230, VMW (Australia Weather West) in USB, but severely blocked by North Korea jamming; OM in English with marine weather conditions at 1411, June 14 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 11387-USB, June 21 at 1303 YL Oz accent with weather, soon said ``Australian VOLMET, out``. Per http://www.dxinfocentre.com/volmet.htm at top and bottom of hours this is AXQ421 in Brisbane, to be followed by Calcutta at :05 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 9745-USB, tentative R. Bahrain, Abu Hayan, 2253-2258, June 12, Arabic. Two M announcer at tune/in; talk over music at 2255; lost under co-channel Romania IS at 2258; barely audible; need to try an hour later after Romania s/off (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9745-USB, Putting out a nice signal at 0013. Flutes & OM talk over. Announcer into Kor'an-like chant at 0014. 73, (Scott Barbour, Jr., NH, UT June 14, NASWA yg via DXLD) Got it, Scott! S5 here in upstate NY at 0135. Thanks (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Eton E1XM, A/D DX sloper, ibid.) 9745, Radio Bahrain, 2357-0050, June 17-18, audible after Romana sign off at 2357. Local Middle-East style music. Arabic talk. Radio-drama at 0034. Local chants. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BELARUS. Re: Photos of the Radio Belarus Tx site. Hi! This site is a probably a former skywave jammer aimed towards "West". It was probably used for "polish polka", jamming RFE/RL Polish service (Christian Stodberg, SM6VPU, June 12, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Belaruskoje Radyjo, 11930 sent postcard of National Library with handwritten QSL message on back. 52 days for surface mail report, v/s Larisa Suárez (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** BONAIRE. 15265, NHK R Japan, 2350-0000, 13 Jun, Japanese. Very nice copy with slight fades. ID heard at sign off starting at 2350, in English and Japanese. Recheck 14 Jun, 2218, appears to be continuous IS and ID with no program content (Robert Montgomery, Levittown, PA USA. Equipment R390a, SE3, NRD 535d, DSP 599zx, NRD 525, FRG 7700, Lowe HF 150, SP 150, PR 150, Ten Tec RX 320, Grundig G 5, Sony ICF SW 100, S38 H500, Clifton Lab Z1501 active antenna, home brew active antenna, Mini Windom sloper, AN-1 active antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. RÁDIO CACIQUE - ONDAS TROPICAIS --- Caros amigos, Por intermédio de um colega, fiquei sabendo que o pessoal do departamento técnico da Rádio Cacique de Sorocaba informou que estão transmitindo em 120 metros (2470 kHz) com 250 W. Acho pouco provável que esta informação corresponda à realidade, mas se alguém aqui conseguir captá-la, peço a gentileza de informar. Não custa tentar. Durante a próxima semana já tenho agendada uma visita ao local em que se encontram os transmissores de OT/OM. Certamente tirarei muitas fotos. 73 (Ivan Dias Jr. - Sorocaba/SP http://ivandias.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/ivandiasjr June 14, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Só recebo a Educadora de Limeira aqui em Presidente Prudente ok. abcs [abraços] py2ari (Ariovaldo Lobrito, 14 June, ibid.) i.e. 2380 only Ivan, como já te contei a tempos atrás: Isso me faz recordar aquele episódio no começo dos anos 2000 em que eu sintonizei a Cacique em 120 metros e alguns duvidaram de mim aqui na lista. Por sorte eu gravei a escuta e fui defendido por alguns amigos, que inclusive na ocasião entraram em contato com a área técnica da emissora, que confirmou a operação experimental do transmissor. Depois de um tempo ele foi novamente tirado do ar. Por causa desta agitação a emissora chegou a ser indicada como ativa novamente no WRTH do ano seguinte. 73 (Michel Viani, 20 June, ibid.) Michel, Lembro claramente de tal escuta. Alguns anúncios que você ouviu eram prova inconteste da captação. Ao menos neste momento não creio que estejam transmitindo em 120 metros pois por aqui nem mesmo o menor sinal da portadora. Nas próximas semanas espero após a visita ter dados conclusivos sobre o assunto. Também espero tirar algumas fotos. 73 (Ivan Dias Jr. - Sorocaba/SP, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 4775, presumed R. Congonhas, Congonhas, 0047-0103*, June 13, Portuguese. Portuguese religious sounding music; announcer over music from 0056 thru ToH; music only at 0103 then pulled the plug; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4865, R. Verdes Florestas (most probably *), Cruz.º do Sul AC, 2208-..., 16/6, A Voz do Brasil; 23341, CODAR QRM. *) Best received via the 270º Bev., so probably not the country's other station which is located eastwards (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4878.56, R. Difusora Roraima, Boa Vista, 0108-0114, June 13, Portuguese. Ballads; ad/promos at 0111; solid ID at 0112 then back to music; fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4878.50, Rdif Roraima, 0345-0408*, June 13, Brazilian ballads. Portuguese talk. Sign off with National Anthem. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 4878.5, R. Roraima, Boa Vista RR, 2140-2154, 16/6, chatter, IDs, folk songs; 34332, splatter de B on 4885! According to Karel Honzík's audio clip, it seems they've got some program by the name of "Rádio Metro", at least that's what I heard: "Rádio Roraima, Rádio Metro!" "Metro" not in the sense of the "metre" unit as it's clearly pronounced [metrô], so surely referring to the metropolitan area [of Boa Vista]. R. Roraima is also Mark Davies' "UNID" on 4787.8 as already confirmed to him, after listening to his two audio clips. [Later]: To all concerned - but chiefly Karel Honzík! - the doubt about the slogan or prgr name at Brazil's R. Roraima was finally made clear thanks to Fabrício Silva and Ivan Dias at Radioescutas yg to whom Karel agreed I could send his audio recording for verification. So, it is indeed a program name, not a slogan, and it's "retro" after all: it stems from "retrospectiva", only the authors at R. Roraima chose to use a corrupted form thereof and even modified the pronunciation too, to "retrô": It might also work up here, I mean that name for a kind of oldies prgr, only we'd read it "retro" [rrétru], or possibly a more stylish [rrétro], but not "retrô" [rrehtrô]. (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4878.51, Rdif. Roraima, 0854, talk by a man, then into rustic vocal, followed by discussion between several men, weak modulation. 9 June. (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF- 2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP- 2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5035.05, R. Aparecida, 1037, Portuguese talk by a man, ads or similar, comments by a woman; competing with CODAR. 19 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5939.845, Voz Missionária, Camboriú SC, logged with poor tiny signal at 0454 UT June 17, sermon logged in Portuguese. QRM - hit by proper adjacent VOA Croatian signal from Biblis-Germany on 5945 (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5990.016, Rádio Senado, 0923, very good with traditional ballads, very brief ID by a woman at 0930, then back to music. 21 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF- 2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP- 2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6059.95, Súper Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba (presumed), 0951, June 15. Good signal with the distinctive David Miranda, but mixing with an equally strong IS from RAE; interesting mix; MP3 audio http://www.box.net/shared/jk6g7e1v5098f4ud2x3u (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6080, R. Marumby, Curitiba PR, 2255-2315, 16/6, A Voz do Brasil followed by "Horário Político Gratuito" (*) till 2311, full ID+fqs announcement and Informativo Marumby; 34433, QRM until 2300. *) polit. parties & politicians are entitled to free propaganda on specific time slots.; the same content was also being relayed on several other B stations, including on MW (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6120.02, Súper Rádio Deus é Amor, 0815-0835, June 11, usual Portuguese preacher. Fair. 1 or 2 second delay between 6120.02 and // 6059.92, 9565.22, 11764.94 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) At 0615-0630 UT heard on June 21 in Florida: 6120.011 tiny weak, 9565.255 S=6, 9586.690 S=6, 11764.936 tiny weak (Wolfgang Büschel, June 21, HCDX via DXLD) 9565.259, Súper Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba PR, Portuguese language talk by two male and female, tiny S=3-4 at 0507 UT June 17. Wandered downwards, when checked again at 0545 UT was on 9565.251 kHz. 9565.250, Super Radio Deus é Amor, Curitiba PR. On June 19 at 0655 UT heard Portuguese male prayer, poor tiny S=4-5 signal (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9586.7 SRDA, São Paulo SP, 2110-2124, 18/6, wailing preacher; 35433 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9586.70, Super Rádio Deus é Amor, 0445-0530, June 20, noted somewhat off nom 9581v. This frequency tends to vary anywhere between 9581- 9594. Portuguese religious talk. ID. Very weak. // 6120.02, 9565.26, 11764.94 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. [reactivated] 9685.35, R. Gazeta, São Paulo SP, 2122-2158, 18/6, football info (by female reporter), announcement for correct water consumption; 15331, blocked by this pest called CRI, at 2200. (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11780, RN da Amazônia very tiny S=3 Portuguese station, noted just above threshold at 1048 UT June 18. Hit heavily by Caribbean Beacon Anguilla station next door 11775 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 15190, R. Inconfidência not heard between 16 & 20 June, at least during the many times I tried this frequency (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, Radio Inconfidencia, 2147, JBA with occasional snippets of Portuguese talk by a man. Barely above threshold. 17 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Dear listeners and friends of Radio Bulgaria! The Technical Service of Radio Bulgaria should like to thank you for your generous feedback in response to the monitoring of our emissions held in the period from 18 April till 1 May via a transmitter in Plovdiv 300 kW, and from 2 May till 16 May via a transmitter in Kostinbrod 100 kW. We have received more than 300 e-mails, of them 120 with audio files attached. Our special thanks go to: Wolfgang Bueschel, Heinrich Eusterbrock, Heinrich Heinemme, Michael Linder, Christoph Preutenborbeck, Rudolf Krumm, Siegbert Gerhard, Klaus Nindel, Hans Ditter Buschau, Gerald Kallinger, Bernd Seiser, Germany Paul Gager, Austria Bogdan Rzedzicki, Poland Max Scordamaglia, Filippo Cattaneo, Italy Maurice Etrillard, France Ramon Vasquez Durado, Spain Ge Huijbens, Belgium Anker Petersen, Denmark Mauno Ritola, Finland Christer Brunstrom, Sweden Joseph Klain, Netherlands Noel Green, Nick Sharpe, UK Glenn Hauser, Jerry Lenamon, Ted Schuerzinger, USA Richard Lemke, Canada (R. Bulgaria DX Mix June 10 via Yimber Gaviría, DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. via Yerevan, 11595, Democratic Voice of Burma, *2330- 0030*, June 17-18, sign on with local music and opening ID announcements followed by talk in Burmese. Many mentions of Myanmar. Short breaks of instrumental music. Poor to fair, but improved to a good level by 0000 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CANADA. Trenton Volmet sent e-mail in 105 days for snail mail report. Attached a generic QSL letter with several photos of the facility. Mentioned that their correct mailing address is as follows (some sources have incorrect information): 8 Wing Telecommunications and Information Services Squadron Military Aeronautical Communications System PO Box 1000, Stn Forces Astra Ontario, Canada KOK 3W0 Attention: MACS Trenton (Receiver Site) Also noted that reporters either need to cover return postage costs for a surface reply, or include an e-mail address (preferred method) for an e-mail QSL. V/s Jonathan D Perreault, Master Corporal jdjpfap at cogeco.ca (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. 9525, VATICAN CITY, R. Canada Int'l, Sta. Maria di Galeria, 2117-2131, June 12, French. M announcer with talk & techno music bits between; Call to Prayer chant at 2120 into recorded comments; interview; fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What business is it of RCI to broadcast a call to prayer, if you mean Islamic? O, just an illustration, I guess. Might have pricked up the ears at Vatican Radio (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHAD. 6165, TCHAD, 11 June, 1810 UT, RN Tchadienne, with shouted announcements in French by male announcer into a five minute drum solo. Station ID by a woman at 1815, then into talk show with a man in both French and some Arabic. Seemed to have some vernacular programming mixed in, although I will admit that my French is execrable. Very good signal level with some fluttery fades (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6165, RNT, 2210-2230*, June 16, French talk. Some Afro-pop music. Sign off with National Anthem. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6165v, RNTchadienne, N'Djamena, in French language, when started at 0430 UT was on odd 6165.036 kHz, but wandered down to exact 6165.000 kHz at 0443 UT June 17. Neat W African music played at S=9+10dB strength level. And co-channel heard also totally covered by RNW Bonaire in Dutch at 0500 UT both on S=8 level (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHADE, 6165, RD Natle. Tchadienne, Gredia, 1607-1629, 19/6, Afr. pops menu; 25342. Later under heavy co-channel QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 11545, Firedrake jamming against whom? 11545? Some Firedrake music noted today, but very poor propagation signal strength today. Also \\ 13850, 13920, 14700 kHz. And very, very tiny 15545 kHz Firedrake against Voice of Tibet program on 15542.0 kHz latter via Yangi Yul-TJK, 1245 UT June 13. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SOH was on air on 11545 kHz at *1200-12:30*UT on June 13. Daily 30 minute special June 13, SOH 1130-1200 12135 1200-1230 11545 (1223-1300 Firedrake) 1230-1300 11525, 15740 1300-1330 15790 cf. http://hiroshi.mediacat-blog.jp/ in Japanese de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Firedrake was on the air today (6-16-11) in force- 1130-1200 11500 Weak at 1140 12180 Fair at 1149 13850 Good at 1143 13920 Fair at 1143 15900 Good at 1144 16100 Fair at 1144 1200-1230 11500 Very Weak JBA at 1222 12270 Weak at 1216 12980 Weak at 1217 13130 Fair at 1222 13500 Weak at 1216 16100 Weak at 1219 17170 Very weak JBA at 1213 1300-1330 11500 Very Weak JBA at 1323 12980 Weak at 1323 13500 Good at 1322 13850 Fair at 1327 13920 Good at 1324 15535 Fair at 1321 (sign off 1330) 15900 Fair at 1321 16100 Weak at 1322 17170 Fair at 1325 1330-1400 11500 Very weak JBA at 1332 12980 Weak at 1332 13600 Good at 1332 13920 Good at 1334 15970 Fair at 1335 16100 Weak at 1335 17170 Weak at 1335 73 (S. Handler, IL, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) Hi Everyone. Think I have logged this before: 13500 kHz at 1445 gmt. Listed as, SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng. Transmitter location given as Taiwan. Language listed as Chinese. I am copying a poor to fair sig with some QSB and some QRN. Perseus & longwire with balun (Steve Calver, Herts., June 16, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) No Firedrake? All I can ever hear on this frequency, also by S. above (gh, DXLD) 13920, 16100, 16500 Chinese Firedrake music jammer at 0724 UT June 17 (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Domenica 19 giugno 2011 0922 17485 CNR 1 JAMMER vs. VOA Mandarin (not heard) - IN/SF 0926 17550 CNR 1 (no jammer) - Cina - IN/SF 0935 15250 CNR 1 JAMMER vs. VOA Mandarin (not heard) - SF/BN 0938 15390 CNR 13 - Cina - Uighur - Musica pop locale - IN/SF 0939 15415 CNR 8 - Cina - Kazako - tk OM - IN/SF 0941 15500 CNR 2 - Cina - Mandarino - tk OM/YL - IN/SF 0945 15665 CNR 1 JAMMER + CRI Russian!!! - SF/BN Continuo a non comprendere come sia possibile tale anomalia, presente sul canale da anni. 0953 13610 CNR 1 + CNR 1 JAMMER!!! - IN/BN Stesso ragionamento dei 15665 kHz. Legenda segnale IN - Insufficiente SF - Sufficiente BN - Buono MB - Molto Buono (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Firedrake June 19: 7970, very poor at 1134 10300, poor at 1238 12270, good at 1234 11500, fair at 1142; fair at 1319 12980, fair-good at 1318 13130, fair at 1233 13500, good with flutter at 1232; good at 1316 13920, good with flutter at 1234; fair-good at 1318 14400, good at 1316 14720, good with flutter at 1230; good at 1316 15970, fair at 1314 16100, very poor at 1228 Firedrake June 20: 17170, fair with flutter at 1248 16980, poor with flutter at 1247 16100, poor with flutter at 1248 15900, fair with flutter at 1247 13500, fair-good with flutter at 1253; none in the 14`s 13130, good at 1253 12980, fair at 1254 11500, poor at 1254 10300, poor at 1254 Firedrake June 21, with subnormal conditions: 16100, poor at 1233 15900, very poor at 1230 13920, fair at 1236 13500, poor at 1236 12980, fair at 1236 11500, fair at 1243; poor at 1423 and now no others 7970, very poor at 1244 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, In comparing your Firedrake logs for June 20th to mine, I did not have 10300 at all. Other than that frequency my log was similar to yours with some different times but mostly the same frequencies. One difference was that I listened later then normal yesterday. At 1542 I found Firedrake on 15970 (Fair). I could not locate any other frequency in use. BTW, my search scan for Firedrake is now over 90 different frequencies. My log shows the following- 11500 Weak at 1129, 1146, 1210 and 1248 12980 Good at 1129, 1147 and Strong at 1249 13130 Strong at 1249 13500 Fair at 1251 and 1326 15900 Weak at 1250 15970 Fair at 1542 (yes 1542) 16100 Weak at 1250 and 1325 16980 JBA at 1250 and Fair at 1325 17170 Fair at 1251 For today, June 21 I had sub normal conditions. Compared to your log I did not hear 7970, 13500, or 15900 10300 JBA 1132 11500 Fair 1132 and 1227 12980 Good at 1228 13920 Weak at 1228 16100 Weak at 1229 Today`s band conditions were not very good. June 22, 2011: Nothing Below 11500 11500 Weak at 1158, 1328 and 1355 12270 Strong at 1159 Good at 1229, Strong at 1245 and 1257 12980 strong at 1158, Good ar 1229, 1240 and 1255, and Weak at 1323 13130 Weak at 1241 and 1259 13920 Weak at 1228, Strong at 1159, Fair at 1242, 1323 and 1356 14700 JBA 1429 and 1446 14970 JBA at 1447 15430 Weak at 1357 15900 Fair at 1241 and 1326 15970 JBA 1245, 1257 Weak at 1327 16100 Weak at 1250, 1257 and JBA at 1327 16980 Weak at 1327, strong at 1355 Nothing Above 16980 73 and Good Dx (S. Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake June 22. Not checked before 1300 today. 16980, good with flutter at 1349 15970, fair at 1352 15900, good with flutter at 1352 15555, JBA at 1313, het on lo side; no others until 1320 with 10300. I may have been bandscanning ahead of the cut-on times in the interim 15515, poor with flutter at 1351, ex-15555 14700, JBA at 1352 13920, fair at 1353 13130, very poor at 1353 11500, fair at 1356 10300, fair at 1320; poor at 1357 Firedrake June 23; very poor conditions today with little extracontinental above 12 MHz. K-index 3 at 12 & 15; SF 93 yesterday. 16100, JBA at 1346 14700, very poor at 1256 13920, fair with flutter at 1256 11500, fair at 1259; JBA at 1352: none between this and 16100 10300, fair at 1259 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. ESAT ACCUSES CHINA OF COMPLICITY IN JAMMING SIGNALS http://www.abugidainfo.com/?p=18210 The Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), which resumed transmissions to Ethiopia last week after nearly two months of interruption, has urged the government of the People´s Republic of China to desist from providing technology, training and technical assistance to the regime in Ethiopia to enable it to jam shortwave radio and satellite transmissions to Ethiopia. The Meles regime is currently blocking independent news websites and jamming the Amharic services of the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, and the Ethiopian Satellite Television, among others, with the help of technology and technical assistance provided by the Chinese government. Since its launch in April 2010, ESAT has faced intense and persistent signal interference that has disrupted its transmissions six times in its short span of life. ESAT´s management has investigated the matter thoroughly and confirmed from reliable sources inside Ethiopia that the government of China has been actively working with the Meles regime to jam ESAT´s transmissions. Mr. Kilfe Mulat, the exiled President of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association, has said that China´s complicity in stifling freedom of expression and undermining efforts to spread democratic values in Ethiopia is shameful and sets a bad precedence in the whole of Africa. "Ethiopia is not only the seat of the AU but also a historic symbol of freedom in Africa as the only African nation that has never been colonized. Aiding tyrants to stifle their people and block the free flow of information is tantamount to committing unwarranted crimes against the freedom-loving people of Africa that are making sacrifices to exercise their inalienable rights and free themselves from corrupt tyrants that are hampering progress in the continent." The President of EFPJA also urged organizations and nations promoting freedom and democracy to provide resources and support to the Ethiopian Satellite Television to overcome the China-backed jamming challenge that has seriously threatened the survival of ESAT, a grassroots media project totally funded by the Ethiopian Diaspora. Mr. Mulat further noted that the government of China must realize the fact that collaborating with African tyrants and exporting tools of repressions to countries like Ethiopia is an inexcusable act that will further tarnish the image of China as a sponsor of tyranny and oppression. ESAT, which was set up by a group of Ethiopian exiled journalists and pro-democracy activists to fend off Prime Minister Meles Zenawi´s war every avenue of freedom, has been facing attacks and interference by the Meles regime. "In addition to building Internet firewalls for the regime, China has emerged as one of the most formidable enemies of freedom in Ethiopia and the entire continent of Africa. China should realize the fact that the Meles regime is violating its own constitution that guarantees freedom of expression to citizens. By assisting the Meles regime in jamming ESAT and other reputable broadcasters illegally, China can only earn the condemnation of freedom-loving Ethiopians who do not wish to see their liberty trampled upon by internal and external powers," ESAT´s management said. Article 29 of the current Ethiopian constitution stipulates: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression without any interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any media of his choice." But the Meles regime is widely known for violating basic rights with impunity. ESAT has been forced to change satellite service providers at least four times in the last one year. It started broadcasting its programs to Ethiopia on Arabsat but was forced off air due to intense signal interference and diplomatic pressure. Similarly, an effort to continue broadcasting on Thaicon was interrupted after a few months, once again, due to intense diplomatic pressure. But ESAT´s tenacious management team continued transmissions on Intelsat, an American satellite company. While a diplomatic effort to disrupt ESAT transmissions failed, the Meles regime managed to jam ESAT´s signals using the jamming equipment provided by the Chinese government. ESAT, the first independent TV station viewed by millions of Ethiopians, has reiterated its commitment to making every effort to continue its transmissions and find ways of overcoming the Sino- Ethiopia jamming and censorship project. ESAT, which has studios in Amsterdam, Washington DC and London, is currently transmitting 24/7 on ABS1 Satellite, C-Band at 75 East Downlink: 3.480 GHz Vertical (3480), Symbol: 1.852 Msps (1852), FEC 2/3. It has plans to transmit on a Ku-Band and shortwave radio with a view to reaching wider audience in Ethiopia. ESAT also webcasts its transmissions on http://www.ethsat.com (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Is Philadelphia WNWR now CRI 24/7? WNWR website: "Programming has moved to WWDB AM 860" http://www.wnwr.com/WNWR/Welcome.html 1540 kHz is all CRI English since checking at 22 hrs [EDT] 15 June (Leonard J. Rooney, Delaware County, Springfield PA, 0223 UT June 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That could be a bit confusing, with CHIN 1540 Toronto also CRI (gh) &: ** CHINA [non]. Glenn, How is KGBC 1540 am [Galveston - ``Houston``] able to rebroadcast CRI content? I thought this would be outside the bounds of a domestic broadcast station since CRI is owned by another government. Regards, Dave (David McDonald, DX LISTENING DIGEST) David, It`s a private station and they can sell time to anyone including a foreign government {even if contrary to American interests}. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true in China! (Glenn to Dave, via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. VOA Chinese iPhone App Unveiled New VOA iPhone app for Chinese speakers Photo: iTunes store Washington, D.C. — June 20, 2011 — Voice of America’s new Chinese language iPhone app delivers the latest VOA news programs – plus, it enables citizen journalists to upload news tips and photos from their phones. The app uses both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and is now available for free at the iTunes store. . . http://www.insidevoa.com/media-relations/press-releases/VOA-Chinese-iPhone-App-Unveiled-124206574.html (VOA PR June 20 via DXLD) New VOA Chinese iPhone app will presumably be subject to China's iBlock app (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5909.95, Alcaraván Radio, 0920, fair with rustic vocals, then into lengthy talk by a man after 0930. 8 June. (David Sharp) 6010.07, La Voz de tu Conciencia, 0844, religious talk, ID, into music. Weak het on low side. No sign of La Habana (perhaps it's on later). 8 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5909.96, Alcaraván R., 0338-0430 Jun 11. Variety of Colombian music; ID's mentioning 1530 and 5910 kHz; full ID with call (HKV82) at 0400, followed by more music; a five-minute religious message was presented at 0415, then more music. Good signal with local static noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) HKV82 applies to 1530 only (gh) 5910, Alcaraván Radio, Puerto Lleras. June 11, 0641-0651 local music selections alternating male in Spanish announcements "su mejor compañero, Alcaraván". 35333, (lob-B). 6010, LV de Tu Conciencia, Puerto Lleras. June 11, 0702-0722 Spanish religious talks by male "todas las iglesias; perdón, señor!". Some hum noise behind, at short peak 34433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010.07, LV de Tu Conciencia, 0415-0430, June 9, English religious talk with Spanish translations. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) COLÔMBIA, 5909.95, Alcaraván R via La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, 2320-..., 16/6, Castilian, rlgs. propag. prgr. with sentences being translated into English (!); 34432, adj. QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5909.962, Alcaraván Radio, from Lomalinda, nice Spanish singer light music, singer on Amor y Alegria. S=8 fair signal at 0536 UT June 17 (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Voz de[l] Guaviare, 6035 sent friendly but non-specific Spanish e-mail reply in 2 says for Spanish e-report + MP3, v/s Mayerly Soto, Secretary, lavozdelguaviare at hotmail.com (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. Re 11-24, La Voz de la Resistencia?: 6069.93 on now --- 6069.932 -unid- Per Colombian FARC log - 1200-1211 seeming om and yl en espanol, weak here, some distortion. NRD 535D and Icom 746Pro (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 1212 UT June 13, condiglist yg via DXLD) 6069.90 kHz Emisión --- se advierte por momentos una señal, algunas palabras en español, hay mucha distorsión, algunas frases como una proclama, pero mucho ruido. Empiezo a sintonizarla en 6069.70 hasta 6069.90 la mejor señal (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, 1223 UT June 13, ibid.) Radio de la F-A-R-C --- 6069.75 kHz en este momento una emisión en español con proclamas aparece y desvanece (Ernesto Paulero, 0140 UT June 14, ibid.) 6070 exactos, UT 0208 con proclamas y anuncios. SIO 433. Rx: Icom R75 Ant: T2FD (Enrique A. Wembagher, Argentina, UT June 14, ibid.) Escucho una emisora en portuqués, bajo, variable, no alcanzo a entender, será otra emisora o las FARC emiten en portugués también? (Alejandro D Alvarez, LU8YD, 0212 UT June 14, ibid.) La misma que escucho yo! ¿Radio Capital o Super Deus é Amor? (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, 0225 UT June 14, ibid.) Likely the Argentines are hearing Brasil in the evenings, but Bob in Florida two hours after sunrise is more likely hearing Colombia (gh) La tapo esa radio en portugues totalmente inclusive ahora a las 08.00 hora local esta tapada por esa emisora religiosa Brasilera [sic] (Ernesto Paulero, 1100 UT June 14, ibid.) ** COSTA RICA. Maintenance day at Cariari, Costa Rica ? - mantenimiento preventivo? 5995 ID of REE and REE news in Spanish about Greece debts heard at 0700 UT June 21. Maybe maintenance on-air DAY at Cariari de Pococi? Scheduled 5995 0000-0400UT CRI 100kW 110degr SPA E REE S=9+10dB strength on Vancouver island remote unit. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 7409.994, Croatian radio from Deanovec tx site. Croatian cha-cha-cha singer music. S=9+30dB strength at 0549 UT June 19 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5898, Message in CW morse code noted here on Cuban(!) spy service channel, 0529 UT S=9+25dB signal into WeUSA/WeCAN. 5040, RHC heard here in Spanish language at 0530 UT June 17. Noticiario nacional; Radio Revolución program. OFF noted when checked 0532 UT. Powerful S=9+30dB, (but R Rebelde 5025 kHz, less S=9+15dB). RHC English program at 0540 UT, 6010 at S=9+30dB, Che Guevara's birthday on June 14, 1928; 'Blackwater' rambo contractors in AFG, appearance on US court. 6050 kHz S=9+25dB much fluttery, low modulation. Venezuelan oil company 'Petro Caribe'. 6060 kHz S=9+20dB, but much better audio. 6150 kHz strong carrier at S=9+30dB level, but failed to switch-on audio properly, suffered only tiny 10% modulation (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12040, June 21 at 0010, strong open carrier, presumed RHC as scheduled; meanwhile 12020 was modulating Spanish but with crackling. Wait a minute, the RHC online frequency schedule shows 12010, not 12020, for SAm, with 12040 for CAm both at 22-06. WRTH update correctly shows 12020, not 12010. RHC`s own Spanish schedule also now claims these frequencies are on air until 0600: 15230, 12040, 12010[sic], 6120, 5040; while these close at 0500: 11760, 9770, 6140. But I think they are all closing at 0500, more or less. 17560, June 21 at 1937 tune-in, open carrier, 1938 RHC opening French service with theme, 33 degrees, news, apparently starting late (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Message in My Inbox From Radio Habana Cuba Thought I'd pass this along, hope it's of use. I sent out via email a request to RHC at the end of February for a schedule and QSL and almost 4 months later got a reply via email including a MS Excel file attached with the current schedule in Spanish. Even email is behind the times in Cuba it seems. Still happy to have gotten a reply. Apparently, QSL card is in the mail as well. Sadly, most of the time I'm able to listen to the radio, there isn't much below 9000 khz on here in Alaska with a great deal of audio quality, because of the extended daylight hours, so I haven't heard them clearly in months. 15230 is the only one audible here, but barely, and in Spanish. Next on my top list are N. Korea(which I hear very regularly) and Iran for QSLs once I figure out the best way to send mail to N. Korea and actually hear Iran's broadcast (not to mention Antarctica, which falls in a different category, but being in the almost furthest north on the globe and receiving such a challenging DX from the furthest south SW station on the globe). I guess the rebellious spirit deep inside makes me for some reason covet these hard to come by souvenirs from nations unfriendly to us in the US. I guess part of it is also having a piece of history as I don't believe that any of the aforementioned unfriendlys will be much more than history at some point. I know I'd love to have some old Soviet QSLs and things such as that, that perhaps some of the older members of the group have. But, I am severely digressing.... Here's the RHC response and schedule info for those of you that made it this far in this message.... Hope the formatting turns out okay. --Daniel "Esteemed Daniel: Sorry for the delay in answering your message of earlier this year. Welcome to Radio Havana Cuba's international family. Thanks for the monitoring report you sent. We're verifying it with a QSL card and have included a couple of souvenirs in the same envelope. Once in your hands please, let us know. Hoping to hear from you again, we remain. Fraternally, Rosario Lafita Fernández, Head of Correspondence Dept." (via Daniel Hostetler, AK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. 9760, Cyprus Broadcasting Corp, *2215-2244*, June 12, sign on with Greek music and opening announcements. Greek talk. Short breaks of Greek music. Good. Fair on // 7220. Very weak on // 5925 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CZECHIA. 75 YEARS OF RADIO PRAGUE http://www.radio.cz/en/static/75-years-of-radio-prague/ On August 31, 2011, it will have been 75 years since the Czechoslovak company Radiojournal launched its regular shortwave broadcast. We consider that day to be the beginning of Radio Prague. To mark the anniversary, radio Prague will be doing some special programmes and preparing the following events. Thursday, June 23, 2011 === Exhibit: 75 Years of Radio Prague An exhibit covering the past and present of Radio Prague will be installed on the ground floor of the Czech Radio building on R(ímská 13, Prague 2, from June 23. PDF file to download Meeting of listeners Radio Prague will be holding a meeting of listeners, as we last did five years ago. Attendance is open; Radio Prague will not be covering any expenses for travel or accommodation. The meeting will begin on June 23 at 2 p.m. at the Czech Radio building on R(ímská 13, Prague 2. The programme will include a tour of the Czech Radio building, a visit to the exhibit and a discussion with our reporters. Wednesday, August 31, 2011 --- Press conference A press conference on the current state of international broadcasting will be held for Czech and foreign journalists in the Czech Radio building. Journalists will have the opportunity to see the 75 Years of Radio Prague exhibit and visit the international broadcasting workspaces. Tent in Prague city centre --- A Czech Radio 7 tent will be set up at Na pr(íkope( 15, Prague 1, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The staff at the tent will be distributing Radio Prague promotional materials and will be drawing attention to the Prague broadcast for foreigners on 92.6FM and 99.3FM. There will also be live broadcasts from the tent. Special QSL --- Those who tune in to the Radio Prague broadcast on August 31 will receive a special, stamped QSL card. (via gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD, after a Spanish version via Yimber Gaviria) ** DENMARK. DENMARK REACTIV[AT]ES LONG WAVE AND LEAVES MEDIUM WAVE Today the Danish national public service radio station DR has reactived long wave 243 kHz using a brand new Nautel 50 kW sender from the current transmitter site in Kalundborg on the western part of Sealand (Sjælland), Denmark. Broadcasting on medium wave 1062 kHz (250 kW) will cease on Monday June 27, 2011. From today and until Monday the programmes will be simulcast on the two frequencies. Broadcasting hours remain the same. Cf. WRTH or Euro-African MW Guide for details. The use of 243 kHz with 300 kW was ended in February 2007, but after Turkey left the channel in October 2008, DR is the only radio station on this channel. Thus it is estimated that the coverage will be pretty good on 243 although the power utilized is only 50 kW. Full story (in Danish) here: http://www.radionyt.com/artikel/default.asp?id=18515 Best 73s (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, June 16, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) Hi Stig, thank you. Do you know if 243 kHz will also carry DRM between the weather reports in the future. 73, Mauno (Mauno Ritola - MWDX, via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) The DRM tests were discontinued quite some time ago in 2010. And there are no plans to do any further DRM tests as there are no DRM-receivers around. Best 73s (Stig, ibid.) Does anyone know exactly when these transmissions are on? I can't find anything on the DR website - but then my knowledge of Danish is virtually nil! (Andrew Tett, June 16, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) As per 2011 WRTH transmissions should be on the air as follows (I have subtracted one hour to take account of summer time). Times in UTC: 0345-0407 0630-0707 0945-1035 1545-1616 2045-2105 (Dave Kenny, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, ibid.) DR website shows this schedule for 243 kHz from Kalundborg (which does not include the evening broadcast at 2045 UTC but otherwise seems to agree with the UTC times Dave posted below): Times are local Danish (UT +2): Send Plan for long-wave 05:45 Weather 06:00 radio news 08:30 Body and Movement 08:45 Weather 09:00 radio news 11.45 Weather Forecast 12.00 radio news 17:45 Weather 18:00 Notices to shipping http://www.dr.dk/OmDR/Modtagelse/Radio/FM/20091026154851 (translated by Google.'Body and Movement' is a morning exercises programme). There's also a feature on the change at: http://www.dr.dk/OmDR/Nyt_fra_DR/Nyt_fra_DR/2011/06/15145339.htm (Alan Pennington, ibid.) Danmarks Radio audible on reactivated 243 kHz longwave with fair strength at 0950 UT tune-in this morning (17-Jun) with weather reports then news at 1000 through to 1016 close. (Couldn't hear parallel 1062). Slight splatter from RTE 252 if used widest filter (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) [and non]. This is not good news for us. There are approximately ten NDBs from Canada, Brazil, Russia and Iran between 240 and 246 kHz that will be eaten up by the new [sic] station (Tracey Gardner, 16 June, ndblist yg via Rudolf Grimm, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** DIEGO GARCIA [and non]. 4319-USB, AFN, 1333, June 11. Something strange here; for the first time I found this and AFN Guam (5765-USB) with what both sounded like the normal AFN SW programming, but they were not the same programs; not //. There was a brief time in the past that Guam was playing non-AFN SW programming (that is to say playing a lot of music shows) and was not // to DG, but this was different; both had completely different talk shows. I tuned in here too late to have decent reception, so this certainly needs more work to find out specifically just what this DG programming is. 4319-USB, AFN, June 13 was off the air. 1308-1322, June 14; back on again, but not in // with AFN Guam (5765-USB). Guam had many short typical AFN formatted segments; while DG had a long talk show of some type; not able to ID programming. A problem with their satellite feed that causes them to have different programming? 4319-USB, AFN, June 15 was off the air. AFN Guam (5765-USB) with good signal at 1229. I check these two just about every day and unusual for DG to be off the air (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0304-0325, June 13, abruptly on the air at 0304 with Qur`an in progress. Arabic talk at 0312. Weak. Poor. Lost in noise by 0325. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Radio Senda, República Dominicana Escuchada por Neuquen Capital [Argentina] 18/06/11 0300 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwPpyaNGZAk http://www.radiosenda.net (Jose Kucher, condiglist yg via DXLD) 1680, San Pedro de Macorís (gh) ** ECUADOR. A esta hora está al aire Radio Quito con transmisión deportiva por los 4919.4 kHz, con un partido por el Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol, entre Liga vs Deportivo Quito. Este partido se juega en la Ciudad de Ibarra, lo que me hace pensar que la transmisión via onda corta les sirve como "retorno" o algún tipo de enlace (Rafael Rodriguez R., 0000 UT June 16, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) ex-4918.9 (gh) 4919.98, Radio Quito, 0310-0515, June 16, Irregular. Spanish ballads. Some Spanish rap music. Spanish announcements. IDs heard at 0421, 0431, 0445, 0514 as "Radio Quito --- La Voz de la Capital." Weak. Poor in noisy conditions. Fair on peaks. Running about 20 seconds ahead of their internet streaming audio signal from 760 Radio Quito (Brian Alexander, PA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX Listening Digest) You mean 4918.98? (gh) 4919.0, Radio Quito, La Voz de la Capital, 0545-0615, 16-06, Latinamerican songs, identification by male between some songs: "Radio Quito". Weak and at very weak at moments. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Log in Reinante, Lugo, Cantabrian Sea coast, Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, ibid.) Esta mañana, sobre las 0935 UT se escuchaba con una selección muy linda de boleros, Un abrazo (Miguel Castellino, June 16, condiglists yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) On June 16 I also heard them at 1020, but here in California had fairly strong CODAR QRM. Was probably intensified by my listening post (my car) being parked next to the ocean (Ron Howard, San Francisco, ibid.) 4918.975, Radio Quito, noted on June 5 at 1012, then again on June 16 at 0620, with local vocals and ID's as "Radio Quito, la voz en vivo, de la Capital." I hope these more frequent appearances is a prelude to a regular schedule on HF (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF- SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB 6050, 15 June *0827 vocal NA, woman with opening announcement 0830, then various short bits of talk interspersed with bits of Andean music, listed as Quechua, but some words sounded Spanish, fair-weak with many static crashes (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur with K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. Now HCJB Arabic with 500 kW [ex 250 since June 10] 12025 2100 2145 37S,38W RMP 250 500 168 0 146 1234567 100611 301011 D 16725 Arabic G HCJ BAB (via Wolfgang Büschel, June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t hear much of 12025 here during A-seasons when via UK rather than Sackville in B-seasons (gh, OK, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [non]. I been out of the loop for awhile but does anyone know where to find the final DXPL show? The website has only been updated to the May 14 show. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, AB, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jeff White sent him a copy (gh) ** EL SALVADOR. SE CREARÍA RADIO EL SALVADOR INTERNACIONAL El gobierno de izquierda salvadoreño, con el apoyo del Banco Mundial, inició este jueves un proceso para convertir a la radio y televisión estatales en "medios públicos" autónomos, con el fin de acabar con el sometimiento a intereses políticos de los "gobiernos de turno". Además, se creará una Radio El Salvador Internacional con el apoyo del Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER), y una agencia de noticias del Estado que proyecte al país en el extranjero. Continú leyendo esta noticia en http://gruporadioescuchaargentino.wordpress.com/ (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No sign this would be on SW; advice by IMER is not promising, since they abandoned SW, came back as web-only service (gh, DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7204.98, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 1, *0258-0315, June 10, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Horn of Africa music. No //s found. Fair. 7235, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 2, *0258-0315, June 10, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Very weak. Heard tonight on this frequency instead of 7165 or 7175. No //s heard. 9820.04, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 2, *0258-0310, June 13, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Weak but readable. Some adjacent channel splatter. Weak but readable on // 7175. 9715.03 NF, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 2, *0257- 0315, June 16, New Frequency. ex-9820.03, 9830.03. Sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0301. Fair to good. // 7175 - fair to good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 2, *0257-0320, June 20, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Local Horn of Africa style music. Fair. Tonight heard // 9820.04. Was on 9715.03 for the past several nights, but has now moved back to 9820.04. Also heard // 7204.98. 7204.98, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 1, *0255-0325, June 22, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Local Horn of Africa style music. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 9830.03, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea - program 2, *0256-0325, June 22, sign on with IS. Vernacular talk at 0300. Some local Horn of Africa music. Weak. // 7174.98 - poor in noisy conditions. Heard tonight on 9830.03, but lately they seem to change their 9 MHz frequency every couple of days between 9715.03, 9820.03 and 9830.03 (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX Listening Digest) ** ERITREA [non]. via Ethiopia, 7234.34v, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitters, *0358-0431*, June 13, sign on with IS and opening ID announcements. Talk in listed Tigrinya at 0400. Some local rustic vocals. Horn of Africa music. Weak. Drifted up to 7234.45 by sign off. Fair on // 9559.62v - drifting up to 9559.78 and QRM from Iran 9560 at their 0428 sign on. Mon, Wed, Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ESTONIA. Tallinn Volmet, 4645 kHz, detailed QSL letter, 4 months. QTH: Estonian Air Navigation Services, Lennujaama tee 2 / P.O.Box 9, 11101 Tallinn, Estonia. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Radio Oromiya, *0322-0345, June 13, sign on with xylophone-like IS. Opening announcements at 0330. Talk in listed Oromo. Horn of Africa music at 0332. Poor with jammer on the air and adjacent channel splatter. At least no co-channel QRM from Radio Martí, which is off the air on UT Mondays (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6030, Radio Oromiya, heard at 1648 on June 15 with African music interspersed with male announcer talking, like a news highlights show with a report by a female announcer. Many Radio Oromiya IDs. Very strong signal with a somewhat fluttery fade. I've seen it spelled Oromiya and Orimiya. The announcements sound like Oromiya to me. 73 de Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ve not seen ``Orimiya``, probably a typo. Root name is Oromo (Glenn to Al, via DXLD) Hi Glen[n], EIBI lists it as Orimiya. Most likely a typo as you suggest. Hope you're well! (Al Muick, ibid.) 6030, Radio Oromiya, *0322-0340, June 20, sign on with marimba IS. Opening announcements in Oromo at 0329. Local music at 0331. Poor to fair with adjacent channel splatter. Must use ECSS-LSB to avoid jammer on high side. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ?? I thought the Cuban noise jamming was on both sides of 6030 (gh) ** ETHIOPIA. 9559.79, 11 June, 1713 UT, Radio Ethiopia external service in French with lots of African drum music and male vocals and occasional French announcements. Good signals with slight fade. Apparently slightly off frequency (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) as ever [and non]. ETIÓPIA, 9705, R. Ethiopa, Geja Dera, 1007-1120, 18/6, vernacular, talks, HoA music; 24432a, QRM de NGR. Horn of Africa stations are best received via the back of my short unterminated NAm Beverage or even the back of the [much longer] CeAm Bev. while NGR is best via the [much longer too] African Beverage (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, Radio Ethiopia, *0259-0325, June 22, sign on with IS and opening ID announcements. National Anthem at 0300. Chimes at 0301. Some local Horn of Africa style music. Amharic talk. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ETHIOPIA. CHINA helping Ethiopia to jam: see CHINA [and non] ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 6937.07, Radio Malta, 0320-0430, June 18, pop music of the 70s-80s, including music by Sade and Huey Lewis. ID. Poor. Weak in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** EUROPE. Today [June 19] FRS-Holland will be on air with full programming. Opposite to our usual broadcasts, this one will take place in the evening hours between 1652-2200 UT / 18:52- 24:00 CEST. FRS-Holland will be on 7685 kHz avoiding 7600 and 7595 interference during the first part of the broadcast. 7685 isn't affected by adjacent channels being used by other stations. Especially during the last part of the broadcast it will be interesting if & how signals will be received to the east (Russia, Ukraine etc.). We will take our time; it'll be an 'old fashioned' long FRS broadcast: 5 hours!! Our full staff will be involved including Paul Graham who was absent for quite some time. This time we will deviate from the usual schedule: 3 blocks of resp. 60s, 70s and 80s tracks, a DX Show and a show with mostly tunes. We will handle no letters, there's no Phrase that Pays, the music comes first! Although each show will include 1 or 2 short radio related items! We like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of you who responded to our brief evening tests May 22nd (7685). These two 15-minute tests were widely heard across Europe and beyond. For 30 minutes we received some 30 reports. And last but not least: we will soon start replying to the many, many listeners who responded to one or more of our 30th Anniversary broadcasts back in October & November 2010 and February 2011. FRS has produced a special & informative commemorative 30th Anniversary booklet which will be available to each and everyone who sent a report/ letter. This booklet is almost finished. So please have a little more patience, you will get your special QSL card(s) and the booklet. Thanks for your patience and understanding!! Hope you are able to tune in next Sunday. We hope the full June 19th shows will go out via the Internet one week later, Sunday June 26th. More news about that will follow. 73s, Peter Verbruggen (on behalf of the entire FRS staff a Balance between Music & Information joint to one Format.... FRS-Holland POBox 2702 6049 ZG Herten The Netherlands e-mail: e-mail: (via shortwave yg via DXLD) Hi SW Friends, Right now on FRS-Holland the DX Show followed by Dave Scott (70s) and Paul Graham (60s). FRS stays on 7685 kHz/ 39 mb till 2203 UT / 00.03 CEST. Good listening! 73s, the FRS Crew (via Roberto Scaglione, 2017 UT, ibid.) ** FINLAND. SWR's midnight summer broadcast on 24th & 25th June For the first time in the history, Scandinavian Weekend Radio is about to broadcast Midsummer Radio two-day long. Broadcasts starts on Friday 24th June, Midsummer's Day and continues until the end of the next day, 25th of June. Coming up community midsummer news and how people spend midsummer, reports, events and more entertaining Finnish music. Here's the schedule: http://www.swradio.net/schedule.htm (via Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. 11975, NHK Radio Japan via Issoudun relay site, 0600-0630 UT, observed at 0610 UT June 19. News program on Lebanon and Maghreb at 0609...0611 UT. Announcer Hakima. S=9+15dB of powerful signal. [Language: Arabic (HFCC via gh, DXLD) 11985, Next door from same ISS tx relay site. TDA RTA R Algerienne Holy Qur`an at 0613 UT S=9+10dB. Only summer 25 mb transmission segment, scheduled in range May 1st to Sept 3rd at 0600-0658 UT. 13750, RFI Paris in Hausa language to Ce&WeAF at 0619 UT June 19. Drums music and enjoyable female singer performance. S=9+20dB via Issoudun site. Only on air in high summer slot til Sept 3rd, daily at 0600-0630 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Sad News. I am very sad to inform you all, that on Wednesday June 15th, 2011, our DX hobby friend ROLAND SCHULZE passed away in Stuttgart after battling lung cancer for nearly 15 months. Roland was 70 years and was overtaken by untimely departure. He was coming round well after responding of treatment in Stuttgart Katharinen-Hospital last year 2010, but things started going wrong in February 2011. There's only so much you can take. I invited him to take part on our monthly ADDX Stuttgart hobby meetings, to help on transportation etc. But Roland refused all our invitations in recent months. He has got charity and care at home in past three months, by the doctors medical team and his family. He fought the battle with great courage, dignity and determination. Roland Schulze is survived by his wife Cora Schulze (61) und his son Walter Schulze (21). Please have them in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to send them a message, their mail contact is Cora und Walter Schulze Eulerstr. 17 C 70565 Stuttgart Germany As you probably know, Roland was also a "Fine Tuning" and DSWCI member #1418 and a DX friend since trade fair show days of "Hobby Electronic Stuttgart" in about 1977, when I met him first time on a ham radio and SWL convention on brewhouse Stuttgart. In 1994 he and his family left Germany for Legazpi, the Philippines. Always he provided us with exotic DX tips from East Asia during his stay in the Pacific region. Despite he was not fond in computers, he was always happy with his Collins and R8B communications receivers and great ALA1530-SSB+ Magnetic active antenna. He was keen and lucky enough to listen and confirm all shortwave stations from Papua New Guinea and even Bougainville Island in past 35 years. In 2005 the family came back to Germany and settled down again at Stuttgart, Germany. Though Roland has left us, commemorate those precious moments with him of the past. Kind regards (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, June 16, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Obit ** GERMANY. Re: Germany - AFN 873 AM off Air in June AFN 873 has returned early - heard loud and clear 2100 GMT 22/6, with a nice signal into NW UK, some 825km (512 miles) from Wiesbaden. Earlier reports stated it would be off until July 1st. re: press release --- June 21, 2011- The American Forces Network Europe (AFNE) has turned on its 873 AM transmitter following the conclusion a huge outdoor multi-concert bash, Hessentag. German telecommunications officials asked AFN to temporarily turn off the 873 AM transmitter in June because heavy car traffic will be routed by the normally remote AFN radio transmitter on the way to a newly created field parking lot. Workers also needed time to set up and take down concert stages, lights and temporary buildings, and they are bringing in cranes to do it. The Hessentag festivities and concerts concluded June 19 in Oberursel, Germany (Keith, UK, June 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Wachenbrunn 882 kHz [20 kW] will be shut down on June 30: http://www.mdr.de/radio/frequenzen/140402.html I have not seen a full explanation for the closure so far, but it seems that Media Broadcast can no longer operate the transmitter at this location for whatever reason. This is the transmission facility: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4351756 The second pipe mast provides screening towards Podgorica. It had been added when Wachenbrunn moved from 692 to 882 kHz, prompting complaints from Yugoslavia. Nowadays only 20 kW are in use, from a Thomson M2W transmitter in one of the containers besides the masts (the one at the left mast I think). Whatever the problem with the 882 kHz site is, it presumably does not concern 1323 kHz which comes from another facility 800 metres away from the old transmitter buildings. The feedline to the Kvadrat antenna, still visible in the aerial image, has been decommissioned and a new Transradio TRAM 1000 kW transmitter installed in the building at the antenna. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6380465 The former transmitter buildings have nothing to do with the mediumwave operations anymore. In this picture to the right the old one from the fifties (Funkwerk Köpenick 250 kW, Lorenz 20 kW, Lorenz 5 kW, homebuilt 4 kW aux), to the left the one for the Soviet equipment (PDSV-1000 and DSV-150 or the like) inaugurated in 1989, taking over 1323 kHz from Wiederau: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1253009 When I visited the station in 1994 the 250 kW transmitter was already shut down; someone used its audio equipment to let the luxury Geithain studio monitor blare MDR Life, a low-level AC format, into the transmitter hall. In much smaller rooms sat the other mentioned transmitters, of which the 20 kW (which had been moved in from Erfurt when that site was closed) churned out 882 kHz with rumbling air cooling and cute glowing tubes. Down the stairs was the new hall, the 1000 kW transmitter hissed away with his vapotron tube cooling while I could walk through one of the PA stages of its 150 kW brother (they were actually 2 x 500 and 2 x 75 Kw configurations, as often set up in Russian LW/MW equipment, and specifications like "1/2 Tayfun" just mean operation with one transmitter half). In the control room I could through another Geithain monitor for a change listen to MDR Info, which at this time was distributed via mediumwave exclusively, in finest 15 kHz quality (indeed, from a decent studio in Leipzig; headset snorkling and acoustically disastrous newsreader booths were an innovation of the new Halle radio headquarters). Radio Moscow had brutally high audio levels, it came through with about 10 kHz bandwith and quite a lot of non-linear distortion, not as bad as Radio Volga was but still obvious in the transmitted AM signal, too. Already at this time it was under discussion to replace the old cable link by a better satellite feed (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LUXEMBOURG ** GERMANY. 6189.88, Deutschlandfunk, Berlin-Britz, 0141-0206, June 13, German. Spanish/classical flavored acoustic guitar music; brief announcer at 0154 and back to music; ID/pips at 0200 into W announcer with news; M announcer at 0206; weak but clear (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 18 June, 1418 - 6190 kHz DEUTSCHLANDFUNK inattiva (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Deutsche Welle Sines and Trincomalee relays, burnt money of tax payers, and job losses in Germany, Portugal and Sri Lanka - more Links of Wed June 15 S.g. Damen und Herren, zum Medienkongress - Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn deutsch http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,14092,00.html english http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,14143,00.htmlstart/index_deutsch.php ist passend, daß die Deutsche Welle ihre Relaisstationen in Sines / Portugal und in Trincomalee / Sri Lanka, letztere sendet für Asien und auch Afrika, am 1. November 2011 schließen wird. Was ein Wahnsinn und Verschleuderung von deutschen Steuergeldern und Verlust an Arbeitsplätzen, in Bonn und im Ausland ist dieser Vorgang. Die voll funktionierende Relaisstation wird eventuell den Chinesen von China Radio International in Beijing, welche seit langem weltweit auf Einkaufstour frei werdender Senderkapazitäten sind, auf dem goldenen Tablett überreicht. Nach meiner Kenntnis umfaßt die Deutsche Welle Station Trincomalee auf Sri Lanka jetzt 11 high-gain Kurzwellen-Antennen (in Google Earth sichtbar), 3 x 250 kW Sender, und eine Richtstrahl Mittelwellenstation auf 1548 kHz mit 400 kW Leistung. Trincomalee erreicht mit starken Signalen die Zielgebiete Ost-Afrika (Brennpunkte Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Äthiopien), Süd-Asien, Burma, Südostasien und Indonesien. http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/exit-dw-enter-cri-victor-goonetilleke-comments#comment-1806157 Exit Deutsche Welle, Enter China Radio International Beijing - by Victor Goonetilleke comments [previously in DXLD] Victor Goonetilleke on Jun 9th, 2011 at 09:59 UT. One relay station that China doesn't have to buy up is Deutsche Welle-Trincomalee [ditto] einige Links zu diesem Thema: http://dxasia.info/features/exit-dw-enter-cri http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Pressemitteilungen/BPA/2011/04/2011-04-07-deutsche-welle.html http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_774/Content/DE/Pressemitteilungen/BPA/2011/04/2011-04-07-deutsche-welle.html http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Rede/2011/04/2011-04-07-neumann-deutsche-welle.html http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/exit-dw-enter-cri-victor-goonetilleke-comments#comment-1806157 http://www.radioszene.de/24835/deutsche-welle-reform-ab-juli-weniger-kurzwelle-mehr-online.html http://www.arugam.info/2006/11/18/deutsche-dauer-welle/ http://www.dradio.de/aodflash/player.php?station=1&broadcast=196828&datum=20110409&playtime=1302362040&fileid=a4cbb619&sendung=196828&beitrag=1432638&/ http://www.faz.net/artikel/C30280/deutsche-welle-in-achtzehn-punkten-um-die-welt-30319624.html http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/index.php?k=loka&itemid=10003&detailid=865504&bid=1085490 http://wissen.dradio.de/deutsche-welle-internet-statt-rundfunk.36.de.html?dram:article_id=7969&sid= http://www.infosat.de/Meldungen/?msgID=62860 Mit freundlichen Grüßen W. Büschel, Stuttgart - - - [the above was sent to all of these media; as well as DXLD] --- cc Mail an SPIEGEL Online - Kultur / Redaktion Medien leserbriefe@spiegel.de Die ZEIT - Redaktion Kultur Medien leserbriefe@zeit.de kontakt@zeit.de TAZ - Redaktion Leben - Medien leserbriefe@taz.de Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv dra-frankfurt@dra.de dra-babelsberg@dra.de Hörfunker.de info@bpb.de 3SAT - Redaktion Kulturzeit kulturzeit@3sat.de MABB - Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg mail@mabb.de ver.di - Medien info@verdi.de WAZ - Redaktion Kultur - Medien kontakt@waz-mediengruppe.de Berliner Zeitung leserbriefe@berliner-zeitung.de Phoenix - Kultur - Medien info@phoenix.de Süddeutsche Zeitung Redaktion Kultur - Medien redaktion@sueddeutsche.de media NRW - Medienplattform redaktion@media.nrw.de Reporter ohne Grenzen - Medien kontakt@reporter-ohne-grenzen.de LfM NRW info@lfm-nrw.de Medienkompetenz Portal NRW info@medienkompetenz-nrw.de Netzwerk Recherche Hamburg info@netzwerkrecherche.de HR - Info, Medien u. Computer hr-info@hr-online.de Redaktion Medienmagazin "Recherche" medienmagazin@web.de TIDE Radio - Medien info@tidenet.de RBB - radioeins rbb - Medienmagazin - Hr. Jörg Wagner joerg@medien-wagner.de Radioszene.de redaktion@radioszene.de Hans-Bredow-Institut info@hans-bredow-institut.de Fair Radio udo.seiwert-fauti@fair-radio.net epd-Fachdienst Zentralredaktion - Medien info@epd.de Grimme Institut - Medien info@grimme-institut.de F.A.Z. - Redaktion Medien leserbriefe@faz.de Frankfurter Rundschau - Kultur Medien online@fr-online.de Nürnberger Nachrichten - Kultur Medien und Technik redaktion@nz-online.de Financial Times Deutschland - IT+Medien leserservice@ftd.de leserbriefe@ftd.de FOCUS Magazin - Redaktion Medien ZDF - Kulturredaktion - Medien BR5 aktuell - Medienmagazin b5aktuell@br-online.de Stuttgarter Zeitung Kultur - Medien ; SWR Baden-Baden - ContRa - Redaktion Medien info@swr.de Töne, Texte, Bilder WDR5 - Redaktion Medienmagazin wdr5@wdr.de SR2 - Redaktion Medienwelt sr2@sr-online.de Deutschlandfunk - Redaktion Markt und Medien hoererservice@dradio.de Deutschlandradio Kultur - Redaktion Mediengespräch DRadio Wissen - Redaktion Medien Medienforum.NRW sland@lfm-nova.de Medienkongress Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum gmf@dw-world.de gmf.presscontact@dw-mediaservices.de (Wolfgang Büschel, June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) With the demise of DW, Germany will recede into the backyards of the internet. If the bosses that think they know what is happening in countries like ours where only 9% of people have some form of Internet, they would think twice. Internet is expensive and often slow and most of that 9% use it for e-mail and some limited browsing for specific info like job adverts and things. Listening to radio or on line to even the local station is very very limited. What will happen is that when the DW goes off Short Wave they will find a dramatic DECREASE in people accessing their website. For most the limited times they go to the website is to get frequency updates or send a comment or a competition entry and such. The day that DWRadio goes off people will stop any listening relations with Germany. When I was a teenager I hardly knew anything about Germany, only the British Commic strips that painted the Germans as Jerries, Nazis and the mere mention of Germans gave us a feeling of hate/Hitler and two WWs. As I listened to DW and my generation, it all changed. Today I have the finest of friends in Germany and all that childhood prejudice was erased. People have a million uses for the Internet and DW will be lost amongst those million websites as opposed to their position of one amongst the top 10 broadcasters. I have no time to chase after Radio Sweden on the net, Swiss Radio or DW. When lesser countries like Sri Lanka, Bangadesh, Pakistan. Turkey, India can find the money, why is it that these so called Western G10 are so bankrupt?? Or is there something more behind the scenes or is there total ignorance? After all, when the people were asking for bread the French monarch asked why not cake? What needs is not cutting back, but strengthening existing audiences, and also investing in new media, not one at the expense of the other. Or else just forget about projecting your country and just concentrate on your beer and sausages and the wine in the Mossel valley. Let the world think that Germany is a bankrupt, spent out international player. I wonder whether that is what Germans like country to be thought of? -- (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke 4S7VK, "Shangri-la"' 298 Madapatha Road, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka. E-mail: victorg @ slt.lk victor.goonetilleke @ gmail.com Skype: victorgoonetilleke +941 12614098 Mob: +94 718328336 June 15, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DW RADIO DROPS RUSSIAN EARLIER THEN EXPECTED DW will stop its Russian radio broadcasting on June 30, 2011 - DW Russian Service's chief Ingo Mannteufel announced to his staff yesterday. A few podcasts will continue be produced. DW says that according to its media strategy Russia is still an important target. We are told that DW will "increase its presence on the Russian media scene." Go figure. More on DW media strategy from 2010 to 2013 (in German) was published today: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,11518,00.html The earlier announcement coming from DW Russian stated that its radio service will end with the current broadcasting season. No reasons are given for this abrupt change of date for shutting down this venerable Russian radio service (Sergei S., June 17, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The earlier information about DW Russian continuing until the end of the A11 season had also been officially announced four weeks ago: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6529299,00.html One could speculate whether Ingo Mannteufel knew already better before this week. Do the working conditions at DW Russian significantly differ from DW Chinese? There the DW works committee complains that it is simply impossible for staff members to have a face-to-face discussion with the editor-in-chief. What about the programme specifically aimed at Belarus? And what about Persian and Indonesian, where radio broadcasts may now cease on June 30 as well? The press release from today is actually rather insignificant, just a PR puff made of a formality, the DW council accepting the new strategy. It does not contain real new details (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) The shutdown was expected. The weird part is that the date was moved in a such abrupt and arbitrary way. That goes against the Russian stereotypes of the German management culture. For about a month DW Russian Radio service carried an on-air announcement that the service will be closed by the end of A11 season. Notably, the most recent announcement about earlier closing was written in a strange way. It starts with the "positive" news that DW will be expanding its media operations in Russia. The end of radio service is mentioned only in the fourth (!) paragraph. Now this announcement isn't on the first page anymore; one can find it only in the archive. But I see curious news that Germany will build a military training center for the Russian army in Nizhniy Novgorod. Cheers, (Sergei S., ibid.) You mean this page? http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15155406,00.html At present a link to it prominently appears on the radio-related subpages, both "today on air" and "transmissions". And this article is rather typical for a kind of communications culture that has become widespread in Germany. No sincerity, just shallow PR blabbering. This combined with a tap-on-your-shoulders- mentality that appears to be common amongst people who are called "Führungskraft" but no real bosses, a category under which the position as head of a DW language service certainly falls. It is another question whether Ingo Manteuffel himself believes what he posted under his name. This is what he was told to do. We just don't know his actual opinions. There is no open communication. What happens if a listener writes to DW German and refers to shortwave in some way or the other? What he gets back is a prefabricated PR puff, at best slightly adjusted to at least somehow fit to his writing, and sent out anonymously from a "Team Interaktiv Deutsch". In my opinion this is just shabby, and I see no reason for refraining from the comment that it is a complete waste of time to write to DW at all. They do not appear to be interested in a real dialogue anymore, such as invited by then DW director Dieter Weirich on the farewell broadcast of Radio Berlin International. Two other points: Is it a new practice to call themselves "Deutsche Welle" in latin characters also in Russian texts? I seem to recall that earlier they used to translate the name, in the same way Moscow international broadcasting does (in the past "Radio Moskau" and now "Stimme Russlands" etc.). And the special broadcasts for Belarus, which were subject to some political fuss in 2006 for using the Russian language as well, meanwhile appear to be considered as part of the Russian service, and it looks as if they will go away on June 30 as well, since they are listed in just the same PDF file that is now marked as valid until June 30 at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,4336,00.html Apparently the additional funding by the EU commission, which prompted the inauguration of this service in the first place, has long ceased (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. SINGAPORE/USA, 15640, DWL Kranji relay at 0940 UT July 18, English service feature about "Tunisia revolution girl", 27 years old, against former Tunisia system pressure. S=9+25dB proper signal also towards western CANADA & USA. Though registered 09-10 UT towards Far East northern Asia. 7400, DWL German service morning feature segment, via WHRI Cypress Creek relay site at 09-10 UT, S=9+15dB signal into USA, logged on Vancouver Island West-CANADA site. Will soon be history, when DWL cease most of their shortwave services forever (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) USA - Deutsche Welle Cypress Creek, heard in the target region on 7400 kHz, detailed "20 years of Germany Unity" card in 9 days for email report. Alas, my comments on how useful DW shortwave is for German scientists during expeditions in far-flung places of the globe could not prevent the recent press release about their closure plans. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) 17820, June 23 at 0557, big S9+18 carrier, then DW IS, seeking siblings for a while longer, 0600 Nachrichten. This is 250 kW, 295 degrees from RWANDA also USward, the only hour from this site, but DW uses 17820 at other dayparts via UK, Portugal, Sri Lanka, even WHRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. The latest Panoramio Images of Biblis SW site http://www.panoramio.com/photo/36424245 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562989 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562991 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562996 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39563160 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562992 And here's some more... Lampertheim Panoramio Images http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562684 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562680 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562677 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39562675 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/51729167 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39717660 (Ian Baxter, NSW, June 10, Shortwavesites Yahoo Group via DXLD) ** GREECE. Olympia Radio SVO, det[ailed?]. QSL certificate and letter with brief history of the station. QTH: Scholiou 9-11, 153 42 Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece. 4 months. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** GREECE. BROADCASTING IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE --- More precisely - UTB [?] Radio Filia, so they report about themselves. Expect to listen to them on a certain set program schedule - is nonsense ... Last week, Philia in Russian language was: Mon, Wed, Thu and Fri 0900-0930 on 11645 Sat 0615-0630 and Sun 0730-0800 on 17705 There are not only finkriziss ..... [sic] Prevention for 11645 0900-1000 on Tuesdays [i.e. maintenance day] (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria / "deneb-radio-dx" via RusDX via DXLD) [and non]. Subject: ERT Avlis 9420 kHz recording --- Listen, terrible Mixture with Iran Broadcasting co-channel. Cheers Wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, with a clip after 2300 UT June 11, also sent to VOG officials, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Wolfy: There is a Greek word for this: "Xerokefalia" (Hardheadeness) on the part of VOG. We keep telling them, but NADA. As they used to say at work: "Not my job!" They need to send someone to Iran Radio to get them to move to another frequency since VOG evidently can't move. Regards, (John Babbis, MD, ibid.) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, Radio Verdad, carrier on at 1058, then six note IS at 1059, followed by choral music (NA?), then what sounded like an ID by a man at 1108. Fair. 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4055.000, Radio Verdad from Chiquimula, surprise, surprise, noted sermon prayer in German(!) language - "Der wunderbare Retter Jesus Christus". Heavy Swiss German accented in 0515-0525 UT time slot. Up to S=9+10dB strength, noted on SDR unit in Vancouver BC-CANADA (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Conakry, 2215-2301*, June 10, vernacular talk. Wide variety of local marimba music, Afro-pop music, local tribal music and hi-life music. Abrupt sign off. Fair. 7125, Radio Conakry, *0555-0715+, June 11, abrupt sign on with French talk. During this time period transmitter had constant, intermittent problems with transmitter constantly going on and off the air. Sometimes very weak modulation but other times with a good, strong signal. 7125, Radio Conakry, 2255-2302*, June 14, French talk. Abrupt sign off. Good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, R Conakry observed at 0700 UT June 17, tiny S=2-3 signal, played W African music (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, Rdif Nationale, 2155-2205, June 19, local marimba music. French talk. “Radio-diffusion Nationale” ID. Gone at 2226 check. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7125, Rdif Nationale, 0550-0640, June 20, indigenous vocals. Local tribal music. Local chants. Marimba music. French talk. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** GUYANA. 3289.99, Voice of Guyana, 0953, fair, with talk by man with accented-English, very fluttery but readable with Radio Central (PNG) off the air (which has been happening on a frequent basis, of late.) 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR Gorakhpur on 7258 --- Yesterday 12 June 2011 AIR Gorkahpur was noted on 7258 instead of 7250 at around 0700-0800 & 0830-1140. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) ** INDIA. HAPPENING NOW --- 4810 UNID, at 2122 UT on 20 June with two men in English talk, mentioning "lots of factors that have to be considered," "very, very lucky to be here." Decent signal level even after local sunrise here in Pattaya. Continuous talk in English, but then seem to have slipped into another language by 2150. Bad static, but without QRM. Still going strong at 2207!! One of the guys seemed to have an English accent. OK, so Armenia does not seem to be scheduled at this time, and no other Indian stations are on at this time. Any ideas on this? Couldn't sleep so managed to catch this, and now it's nagging at me. Probably I'm missing something, but help would be appreciated. 73 de (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could have been AIR special program. Indian cricket team had test match in Jamaica on 20 June (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This occurred to me, except there was nothing in Al`s report to indicate this was about cricket (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The unID station on 4810 is AIR Bhopal with cricket commentary. The full details were given in dx india@yahoogroups as follows: (Jose Jacob, ibid.) Extended broadcasts by AIR --- More special extended transmissions by AIR is scheduled as follows to relay the running commentary alternately in Hindi and English of Cricket Test Matches between India and West Indies being played in West Indies. 20 to 24 June 2011 from 1450 to 2000 UT (or till end of play) 28 June to 2 July 2011 from 1350 to 2100 UT (or till end of play) 6 to 10 July 2011 from 1350 to 2100 UT (or till end of play) Many stations of AIR will relay this commentary with extended broadcasts till early morning (2.30 /3.30 am local time) on MW and SW (60 Meters). Very recently on 60 Meters the following stations were heard with cricket commentary, so look out on these frequencies. 4810 Bhopal 4910 Jaipur 5010 Thiruvanthapuram 5040 Jeypore 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad 500082, India, June 19, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) Thanks much, guys. I didn't see any of the other AIR stations on at the same time which is what confused me. Major QRN that night, so much of the talk was drowned out. 73 de (Al Muick, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. MISSING FISHERMEN: HOW THE AIR TRANSMITTER FAILED THEM --- Soumen Datt letters@hindustantimes.com Kolkata: The weather aired by bulletin All India Radio (AIR) on Thursday afternoon to alert fishermen about the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal did not reach them at all. If it had, the fishermen and trawlers which went missing would have been safe. The reason: AIR Kolkata's Mogra transmitter, which covers the entire country and parts of South and South - East Asia, was switched off for repairs. The met bulletin was broadcast through the Amtala transmitter on the Kolkata A channel at 2 pm. The coverage area of this channel is 275 km, not enough powerful for fishermen in the high seas to get the signal. Fishermen in the Sunderbans complained that they could not hear anything because they had bad transmission quality of the channel. "Most of the trawlers left for fishing on Monday. The weather worsened on Tuesday. Had the fishermen heard the broadcast, they would have returned to their bases," Karun Kanti Das the owner of a missing trawler, Sima, said. Das said AIR's transmission became fain tand noisy soon after the trawlers left the Sunderbans. At most places in the sea AIR transmission was not available at all. Chandhari Das, the owner of another missing trawler, Shyamacharan, echoed Das's concern. He said fishermen depended on Radio Bangladesh for the weather forecast or alerts on the cyclonic storms or depressions." Radio Bangladesh is always better option for us." Das said. Amal Sen Das, owner of trawler Ma Ganga, said AIR weather alert was always late. AIR Superintending engineer Animesh Chakrabarty said he had no knowledge of such poor transmission in the coastal areas. From Hindustan Times Kolkata of 19th June 2011 (via Supratik Sanatani, India, dxldyg via DXLD) Too many incongruities in this report. (1) If Bangladesh Betar, I suppose Khulna on 558 kHz, was audible and effective, then why did the fishermen miss the valuable weather alerts. (2) Mogra 1000 kW transmitter airs the external service to neighbouring countries. I have to check if they have Bangla weather alerts in regular programming. (3) For high seas, Kolkata on shortwave 7210 kHz with 50 kW between 0700-1000 UT was definitely audible at this time. Maybe Kolkata DXers should plan an awareness program of some sort. The minimum these trawlers should do is to string a 25m long wire to hear AIR mw. I suppose they are using Santosh mw-sw radios. This also explains why the Bangla pirates from Kakdwip area are on mw because the mw is more frequently used by the fishermen (Supratik Sanatani, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3344.97, RRI Ternate, 1300-1306, Thursday, June 9. The weekly English program was no broadcast. Hope it will be aired again next Thursday! Instead was a music show and in Bahasa Indonesia (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 7289.95, RRI Nabire, 0742-0859:29*, June 10. In Bahasa Indonesia; segment of children singing/chanting (have heard this in the past at this time); 0759 seemed to be a different version of Rayuan Pulau Kelapa (a.k.a. song of Coconut Island - SCI); ToH Jakarta news and ending with the usual national song at 0827; music till 0856; then reciting from the Qur’an till suddenly off with no announcement; started poor and ended up fair. This sign off is just about an hour later than normal for them, which is very nice, as the longer they are on the better their reception gets. Nice to hear them again, as they were off the air most of last month. They seem to have adjusted the transmitter, as it is now on a slightly higher frequency (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7289.87 RF, RRI-Nabire, 0805, back on after many days' absence, with news and comments by a man; off mid-sentence at 0811, June 5. Also heard at 0756 on June 19 with local vocals, talk by a woman, then into SCI (a slower orchestral version, I've never heard before), followed by news (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9526, Voice of Indonesia, 1301 June 17. Suddenly into English with program lineup, ID and news, at 1134 had noted them in Chinese and at 1202 in Japanese. Very good, but IADs (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526-, June 19 at 1139, VOI in Special Chinese, mentions Indonesia, typical jingles, IADs, fair signal now but by 1309 during scheduled English hour, only a JBA carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.96, Voice of Indonesia, 1313-1323, June 21 (Tuesday). “Exotic Indonesia”, a joint production by VOI and RRI Banjarmasin; news from Jakarta and Banj; IDs for both Jak-Banj; local TC for Banj (“21:22 Central Indonesia Time”); “Today in History”. Was interested to note that on Thursday, June 16, it sounded at 1036 very much like the “Exotic Indonesia” program with two YL chatting from different locations; heard what sounded like “102.4 FM”, which would have been from Gajahmada; said was a “weekly” program; rather weak. I was not worried about IDing this, as I planned on hearing their repeated programming from 1300 to 1400 which would have stronger reception, but no, the programming was completely different; first time I have caught them being different. Needs more investigation! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.957, Voice of Indonesia, Cimanggis in English noted on Vancouver island at 1023 UT June 18. Feature on product export industry. Up to S=9+5dB strength (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9680.04, RRI 1306-1402+ Jun 18. Nice program of gamelan music; occasional YL announcer; still going past 1400. Good signal at tune-in; fair at 1400 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. THE SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS AS INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE ELEMENT An initiative held by Venezuelan DXers is an appeal to entitle "The Shortwave Broadcasts" as Intangible Cultural Heritage matter. A petition in that sense is on the way to UNESCO. DXers and SW enthusiasts should send their Name and Full Name, Address (home), E- mail, Job/occupation to . Before Sun Jun 19, 2011! This data will be used solely for this purpose, and presented urgently the next week at UNESCO Caracas. DXers working on this project are: Berny Solano Solano - Attorney and Admininistrative Jury in San José Costa Rica, Humberto Arango - DXer and Ham in Medellín Colombia, Jorge García Rangel - Economist and Professor at the Universidad Santa María in Barinas, Venezuela. Santiago San Gil González - Environmental Engineer, radio announcer in Barinas, Venezuela. And active members of Club Diexistas de la Amistad in Colombia and Venezuela. (Source: http://diexismovenezolano.blogspot.com/2011/06/solicitud-de-declaratoria-de-patrimonio.html via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, adapted and translated, Jun 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If the idea is to force governments to continue shortwave services on the grounds of "cultural heritage" then UNESCO is completely misguided. This would be like forcing continued production of 78 RPM records, or requiring the continued use of the wired telegraph because they are "heritage" media. This is nostalgia completely out of control. Technologies change. People's needs and media expectations change. Things come and go. Should we require the broadcasting of black and white TV? The continued use of Morse Code? As I've said before, there is not an endless pile of money to finance international shortwave services. Tough choices must be made, and services limited to those audiences that actually need them, where listenership is in sufficient numbers to justify the expense. UNESCO should have far better things to spend its time on (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) ** IRAN. Frequency change for VOIRI/IRIB in Italian from June 4: 1930-1957 NF 9685#KAM 500 kW / 289 deg SEEu Italian, ex 7350* // 5910 # co-channel YFR in Hausa * avoid CRI French (DX MIX News, Bulgaria, 14 June via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. UNKNOWN, RADIO PAYAM E-DOOST, 7460, 0234 GMT, FR [Farsi?], 32232, 15-JUN, Arabic sounding music, followed by two males speaking in same. Fairly strong signal, but heavy interference from neighboring signal on 7455. (M) Woo-hoo!! My first clandestine DX!!! (Nathan Adams, Jan 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What`s unknown? Aoki says: ``7460 0230-0315 MDA R. Payem e-Doost (Bahai) Persian Kishinev-Grigoriopol 1-7`` i.e. via PRIDNESTROVYE (gh) Via Moldova, 7460, Radio Payam e-Doost, *0229-0300, June 18, sign on with lite instrumental music. Opening announcements at 0230. Talk in listed Farsi. Some local chants. Short breaks of instrumental music. Some Middle-East style music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** IRELAND. RTÉ RADIO WINS ‘BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR’ AWARD Insideireland.ie By Jacqueline Purse 21 June 2011 http://insideireland.ie/2011/06/21/rte-radio-wins-broadcaster-of-the-year-award-22087/?doing_wp_cron RTÉ Radio has won the ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ Award at this year’s New York Festival Radio Awards. It is the first time in the Festivals’ 54-year history that an Irish radio station has won the award. There was also a gold award for the Documentary on One programme 'In The Same Boat', which tells the story of Dublin woman, Fiona Tiernan, and her achievements on behalf of women who survived breast cancer. RTÉ was selected for the award from 183 finalists, spanning 26 countries, by the New York Festivals’ Grand Jury on Monday night. The broadcaster was also named winner in 16 other categories at the awards ceremony. RTÉ’s Radio 1 won the ‘Best Drama’ award for Medea, in a new translation by Robert Robertson. There was also a gold award for the Documentary on One programme ‘In The Same Boat’, which tells the story of Dublin woman, Fiona Tiernan, and her achievements on behalf of women who survived breast cancer. The Grand award for broadcasting went to Radio 1 documentary ‘Don’t Go Far’; a true story of two Dublin boys who stowed away on a boat, train and plane and ended up in New York City in 1985. There were also several technical awards for editing and narration. RTÉ Radio Managing Director, Clare Duignan, said of the achievements: “It is a real achievement: seven awards plus a Grand Award for Radio 1’s Documentary on One; six awards for Radio 1’s Drama on One; one award for RTÉ lyric fm and one award for RTÉ Gold. “Not only do these awards confirm RTÉ Radio’s excellence in public broadcasting, they place RTÉ Radio among the greatest of our public broadcasting peers internationally. “When you look at the breadth of the wins, from drama to documentary, music to history, sport to health, you get an insight into the variety of genre offered by RTÉ Radio.” (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Great news! And may I add much deserved and overdue. Congratulations to RTE Radio! (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. 6977, Galei Tzahal, 1830, poor but readable, with pop vocals. Usually covered by OHR but in the clear today. 12 June. 15850, Galei Tzahal, 0327, good with talk by a man, into sport at 0334 with grabs from the NBA Championship (Dallas v Miami). 13 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. New summer A-11 of NEXUS IRRS Shortwave effective from June 10 European Gospel Radio & International Public Access Radio in English: 0800-0900 9510#TIG 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu Sat 0930-1200 9510 TIG 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu Sun 1800-2000 7290*UNID tx kW / ??? deg WeEu Daily, ex 1800-1900 Fri-Sun # Radio Joystick, 1st Sat of the month * Brother Stair The Overcomer Ministry (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 13 June via DXLD) Re 11-24: Wolfy, Are you implying that all the Tiganeshti transmitters are in use elsewhere at this hour, so [IRRS 7290] has to be from somewhere else [than Romania]? (Glenn to Wolfgang Büschel, June 13, via DXLD) Glenn, no, not anymore! I changed my opinion now, I guess 3rd unit at Tiganeshti 300 kW is used for IRRS Brother Stair 7290 18-20 UT, and smaller 100 kW unit from Saftica is used for 9510 kHz at 09-12 UT via #812 antenna revolving ant unit - according to HFCC file, seen on Google Earth. Someone told me, that Tiganeshti uses 3 x 300 kW Continentals, and + Saftica 100 kW, from refurbishing erection in June 2007 / Aug 2008 onwards. > "Pentru transmiterea programelor de radiodifuziune externa se utilizeaza o retea formata din 6 emitatoare de unde scurte instalate in cele trei centre de emisie de la Tiganesti (3), Galbeni (2) si Saftica (1)." And also Rumen told me that in 2007 e-mail too. http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A11&broadc=RRO http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=A11&fmor=ROU and there is visible an additional 337 degree curtain array, meant at night to W USA/W CANADA. But this curtain may also be used for English Brother Stair at 18-20 UT to GB&IRL and Scandinavia service. 18-20 UT RRI Tiganesti use curtains at 300, 277 and 262 degrees. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: Re: Dx Mix News # 681 June 13, 2011 Re Romania. There seems to be a mixing product on 7190 with Brother Stair program in parallel with 7290 at 1850. Real weak, yesterday it was real strong. 73, (Jari Savolainen, to Wolfgang Büschel, via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) Jari - GREAT DISCOVERY - that would fit at that time, Tiganeshti RRI German service on 7240 kHz is in use 1800-1856 UT Intermodulation formula like: English IRRS / Brother Stair service intermodulation should occur on 2 x 7240 = 14480 kHz minus 7290 = 7190 kHz German service intermodulation should occur on 2 x 7290 = 14580 kHz minus 7240 = 7340 kHz but latter probably COVERED by CRI Kashi in Italian totally: 7340 1800-1900 28SW KAS 500 294 - - - Another check worth, - but rather improbably: 1859-1956 UT RRI Spanish service 9700 kHz 2 x 7290 = 14580 kHz minus 9700 = 4880 kHz 2 x 9700 = 19400 kHz minus 7290 = 12110 kHz 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7290, *1758-2000*, ROMANIA, 14.06, IRRS, Milano, via Tiganeshti (presumed), English talk about coal mines, 1800 ID: "This is IRRS in Milano signing on", but link connection first appeared again at *1809- 2000* with Brother Stair preaching 55544. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, here in Skovlunde, Denmark, in between the thundershowers heard on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** JAPAN. JJY 40 KHZ RECOVERED AND FULLY REMOTE-CONTROLLED On May 9 NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) sent the staff again to recover the JJY Mt. Ootakadoya transmitter site, which is located within the radiation-dangerous area of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station (still in dangerous situation) and was seriously damaged by the lightning on April 25. The station was active again on 40 kHz at 0408 UT on the day. They sent the staff also on May 13 to make the station fully remote-controlled to prevent fatal lightning damages. Since then the station has been temporarily off the air by remote-control when bad weather was predicted in the area. The station remotely stopped the transmission for long hours on May 16 and June 5, but it did not affect the accuracy of radio clocks in Eastern Japan so much (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. 3975, Azad Kashmir Radio (tentative), 1336-1348, June 10. In vernacular and mostly non-stop indigenous music (singing/ chanting). Must be "via a new transmitter from Islamabad by Azad Kashmir Radio Trarkhel (a subsidiary channel of R. Pak) from Radio Pakistan" per DXLD 11-22; which would probably explain why I suddenly started hearing them here back in April (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. KOREA D.P.R., 11679.722, KCBS PBS Pyongyang in Korean performing men`s army soldier? chorus, martial music. S=9+10dB at 0950 UT June 18. // 9665.515 S=9+15dB at 1032 UT June 18 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, *1330, June 21. Ex-6135; in Japanese; fair with no jamming; the jamming by North Korea was still up on their former 6135 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6015, KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 (presumed), 1152-1156, June 11. A rare occurrence of them not being jammed by North Korea; two young announcers chatting and laughing; did not sound very threatening to me, but at 1156 totally covered by the start of strong jamming; similar sounding jamming as still found every day on 6230 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 3912, Voice of the People, 1147 June 17. Korean, man giving speech. Fair, //3480 fair with het, 4450 fair-good (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9650, June 19 at 1244, instead of English from KBS World Radio via CANADA, there is an orchestral music loop with Korean announcements repeated, mentions ``KBS``. At 1255 they have switched to a much shorter loop announcement in English, ``We sincerely apologize for the interruption in RKI transmission . . . back as soon as possible``. RKI??? Must be very old recording stocked in Sackville for such a feed loss, as name changed to KBS World Radio several years ago. Or Montreal master control. 1300 switched to CRI English relay with no problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. via Ukraine, 11530, Denge Mezopotamya, 0415-0433, June 22, Kurdish music. Indigenous vocals. Kurdish talk. Poor to fair in noisy conditions. In the clear with WYFR no longer using this frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** KUWAIT. 17550, R. Kuwait, Sulaibiyah, 2202-2216, June 12, Arabic. Two M announcers with lengthy talk over lite instrumental music; still going at tune/out; fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17550, R. Kuwait, Arabic to C&W NAm, June 21 at 0005 is still on past nominal 2400*, good in Arabic, some flutter. 0025 still going with dramatic reading(?), 0033 still on with music. On the shortest night of the year, much of the path across northern Atlantic, Europe is nearly illuminated, roughly within one hour of the grayline (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Finally, after several attempts that resulted in nothing or calendars, there came the shiny QSL certificate of Radio Kuwait, full details, in three months for 5960 kHz. QSLing may be a silly habit but they really did put some effort in this piece of cardboard; it was worth the years of waiting. QTH: Engineering Affairs, Department of Frequency Management, P. O. Box 967, Safat 13010, Kuwait. E-mail given on the envelope as: kwt freq (at) media . gov . km (spaces verbatim). 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) Kuwait`s domain is .kw, not .km (gh, DXLD) ** LESOTHO. 1197, Family Radio, Maseru: 2011/06/05 sun 1805-1815, Not a peep from them tonight, not even a carrier. Have they gone or is it just lousy propagation? I never did understand why He can not sort out propagation so we can always hear His words. Incredibly poor. Jo'burg sunset 1524. 2011/06/06 mon 1815-1818, Hymns are back. Last night's (5th June) silence must have been propagation-related. Very weak and noisy. Jo'burg sunset 1524. 2011/06/07 tue 0225-0230. The same irritating music loop as used on 25th May. But not supposed to be on anyway until 0300 (acc. to EiBi). Poor. 0420-0450. Back to hymns. Poor. Jo'burg sunrise 0450 (Bill Bingham, RSA, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1197, Family Radio relay, Maseru: 2011/06/12 sun *1557-1638. At 1557 religious music starts, Family radio jingle at 1600, followed by OM with inaudible announcement at 1603. Invitation to Family Bible Reading at 1605 (Book of Jeremiah). At later check, 1808, thought I detected Harold's drone back again, but, at noise level, too poor to be sure. Started very poor but improved after total darkness. Much better signal than previous few days, so I managed to confirm a strange type of interference that I have heard on this frequency all week, but due to very poor signal I thought I was imagining it. Sounds like a regular drop of water falling into an empty saucepan, at a rate of 24 drops per minute. No idea what it can be. Almost gone again at later check, 1808. 2011/06/13 mon 1820-1830. Yes, Harold is back with his phone in, even mentioned when the Rapture comes. Fair. 2011/06/14 tue 1825-1828, "Thank you for calling and sharing, and shall we take our next call please." Fair. 2011/06/16 thu 1645-1655, Preacher (not Harold). Poor. Dripping-water interference is back, described in entry for 12th June. At later check, 1710, reception is better and interference gone. Jo'burg sunset 1524 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LESOTHO. 639, Radio Lesotho, Maseru. 2011/06/12 sun, 1816-1820 Afro music. Good. Jo'burg sunset 1524 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. Marnach 1440 kHz will apparently go dark before long: http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/letzebuerg/artikel/2011/06/153563/hat-marnacher-sendeanlage-bald-ausgestrahlt.php Gist: The transmitter violates the fieldstrength limits (no surprise when churning out 600 kW just 130 metres away from the next buildings). BCE indicates that they intend to close it "in the foreseeable future", plans to built a new site as replacement have been terminated. Still it is planned to provide another prolongation of the operation permit that expires on Oct 3, but activists demand to no longer tolerate too high fieldstrengths after this deadline. The current Marnach transmission equipment: http://www.transradio.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=105&lang=en Somewhow I now can't help but wonder if it would be realistic for "Radio 86" to obtain a German broadcasting licence (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 21, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 6135.28, RTVM (presumed), 1326, June 21. African Hi- Life music; 1327 totally blocked by the sign on of the North Korean jamming intended for Shiokaze, but they had moved to 5985 to avoid them; so jamming only interfered with Madagascar (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KOREA NORTH [non]. RTVM should be in clear once NK jammers wake up and move to 5985; 1326 is quite early but Mad is at winter solstice earliest sunset for them {Antananarivo sunset: 1420 UT; at latitude 19 it varies only one hour during the year}. By long path to California (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.70, Klasik Nasional (presumed), 1153-1210 Jun 22. Sub-continental vocals to ToH, then two pips and possible news to 1203; think language was Bahasa Malaysia; back to music after a jingle and brief comments. Fair (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.67, 12 June, 0845 UT, Radio Asyik, regional service in vernacular with lots of DJ patter and Malaysian pops. Running a little off of nominal frequency, but with decent signal level when the band is otherwise dead (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6049.62, Asyik FM, 1144-1207 Jun 19. Regional vocal music; man announcer with long chats between songs; not sure of language; at 1154 there was a long patriotic-sounding song (anthem?) by a choral group, followed by more lite vocal music past ToH; occasional jingles that sounded like "Asyik FM". Fair/good signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** MALAYASIA. 6175, 12 June, 0856 UT, Suara Islam (Voice of Islam), regional service in English, heard initially with Arabic-style vocal by soft-voiced male, when suddenly drums started and there was a bit of pop music, Arabic-style as well. Kinda catchy. I wonder if this is "Islamic Rock," as opposed to Christian Rock? ID by a female announcer and time pips on the hour into news read by a female announcer. She got tripped up over several news items on Indonesia (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Traxx FM, 7295, unusually good 1155, 7 June, ending Islamic "Reflections" program, then pop music to ID, time pips, news at 1200 (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 9835, Sarawak FM, 1200-1225 Jun 3. Qur`an to 1205, then vocal music. Good signal, // 5030.02 which was also good but deteriorating (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100- foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) //, but synchronized? There should be a satellite delay on 9835 after feeding it back to the Peninsula (gh, DXLD) 9835, 11 June 2011, 1642 UT, RM Sarawak FM, heard with call-in show into time pips and full ID in Bahasa Malaysia as news on the hour. Fair signals and regular fades, so presume I'm catching the fringe of the signal as it skips over me. Pretty much alone on the frequency (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, Voice of Islam via VOM, 0937-0955, June 14. In English; Islamic information about Qur’an, etc.; poor to fair (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, *0555-0610, June 12, sign on with IS on cora. National Anthem at 0558. Flute IS at 0559. Opening French ID announcements at 0600. Local tribal music at 0601. Rustic local music. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 9635, R. Mali, Kati, 1008-1226, 20/6, vernacular, discussion, French, African pops in progress at noon; 45444, fair modulation this time (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, RTV Mauritaine (Nouakchott), 0547-0605, 6/8/2011, Arabic. Koran recitation by man without breaks or announcements. Good signal with little fading (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, June 11, IC-R75, RX-340, 90' Wire, Wellbrook ALA100M Loop, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 7245, ORTM, *0547-0700, June 11, abrupt sign on with local chants. Arabic talk at approximately 0628. Local flute music. Local vocals and guitar music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 7245, Radio Mauritania, Nouakchott, 1412-1440, 14-06, program in French, news and comments, identification: "Vous êtes à l'écoute de Radio Mauritanie". Arabic music. 34433. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Log in Reinante, Lugo, Cantabrian Sea coast. Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7245, Nouakchott, best and nearly only decent signal on the 41 mb on 6/15 at 0748 GMT. Nice local, atonal plucked stringed instrumentals and regional choral selections. 0756 OM in animated French announcements. 0758 xylo-like IS and then string instrumental solo. At 0801 a nice ID as "Ici Nouakchott . . . radiodifusion . . ." Then into a news program in French by OM and YL team, but with field correspondents phoning in, mostly in Arabic. 0806 starting to fade with growing local daylight there. 0809 news show ending and tuned out 0811 as signal taking a dive. Also heard 0605 6/19 but lower QSA, prior to likely peak a little later. OM chanting Qur`an. This always a fun station for me to hear, as once was one of the last West Africans heard when I was a beginning DXer. Mauretania [sic], along with Niger, were always such a late sign/on's! Think they used to be *0700 (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, Illinois, Drake R8B; Japan Radio NRD-545; Eton E1; Hallicrafters SX100; Knightkit Star Roamer, Dentron Super Tuner + Ameco PLF-2 + Palomar P-408, Longwires (150' + 100'); Tuned Multi-Turn 20" Small Loop; Single-Turn Coax Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7245, String instrument performance, some Arabic talks on Radio Mauritania Nouakchott at 0706 UT June 17. Poor up to S=5 fluttery signal (Wolfgang Bueschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MAURITÂNIA, 783. R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 2230-..., 19/6, Arabic, interview; 54444, QRM de E; \\ 7245. 7245 ditto, 1419-1609, 18/6, Arabic, talks, vernacular at 1600; 35444 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7245, ORTM, *0550-0640, June 20, abrupt sign on with local chants. Arabic talk at 0629. Local flute music. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** MEXICO [and non]. MEXICO GOES TO HD COUNTRY WIDE http://www.radioworld.com/article/mexico-approves-hd-radio-country-wide/23740 Four months after we reported that Mexico’s spectrum regulating authority COFETEL was considering allowing HD Radio use in the entire country, the regulatory process is complete and broadcasters can now use both AM and FM HD Radio technology on a voluntary basis on both commercial and non-commercial stations anywhere in Mexico. The country began allowing stations to use HD Radio within 200 miles of the U.S. border in 2007. The decision bodes well for an eventual common digital radio standard in North America, believes iBiquity Digital President/CEO Bob Struble, citing the importance of Mexico’s economy in that development. Indeed, we’ve reported that automakers and receiver manufacturers would prefer a common digital radio platform to lower design, manufacturing and marketing costs in North America. The Mexican approval was published in that country’s version of the Federal Register on June 16. In a press conference, Mexican President Felipe Calderon invited broadcasters to “to invest in your radio stations, and to take advantage of these new conditions that have just been created, to bring to our country the very latest technology that will allow you to offer much better radio to all Mexicans,” according to a translation provided by iBiquity. It’s important to note that COFETEL approved HD Radio as “a” digital radio standard, not “the” digital radio standard, leaving open the door for another technology to potentially be approved. IBiquity is working with transmission manufacturers and receiver manufacturers to accelerate the HD rollout in Mexico. It will be interesting to see how many stations there implement the technology and if other countries with large populations in the Americas, like Brazil, follow Mexico’s lead and adopt HD Radio. — Leslie Stimson (Radio World via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) AM HD is going to trash their AM band if they use it country-wide. Unless you are within 10-20 miles of an AM station using HD the rest of the band will be trashed with adjacent-channel hiss and QRM. 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ibid.) Considering Mexico has some stations considerably stronger than 50 kW, the hiss will go far beyond their border on AM. Other issues are if there is any significantly different iBiquity fee there from what is charged in the US. And, HD Radio receivers are disappearing. Mexico certainly won't have a useful number of them in circulation. Might be allowed, but I can hope that it doesn't happen. It'd be a waste of money and a significant interference source (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) ** MEXICO. Sporadic-E analog TV DX June 20: at 2315 UT I find mixtures of signals from the south in Spanish on channels 2, 3, 4, and 5. 2317, ch 4, SSW, clock in UR with 18:17 and figure below it probably C temp. Lofi movie audio. 2317, ch 2, news, or tabloid news, bug in upper right looks like a W? Then it looks like a 4v in a circle with digital clock(?) below it. At 2323 fades in a bit more clearly and now the symbols in a circle are clearly +V with the right part of the V extending outside the circle; correspondent outro as Univisión, and then ``Primer Impacto``, which is the tabloid news show we do get in the US on UNI. 2330 on 2, Televisa logo on promo. 2338 full screen +V also spelt out as MAS VISION, and promo for `Laura` novela on Televisa. Later Googling on MAS VISION leads right to the local Televisa outlet in Guadalajara, XEWO-TV. Is the MAS VISION ident something new? Anyhow, it`s displayed on this page along with most other channel 2 local IDs in Mexico: http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogosch2.html 2329, ch 3, animated ID, caught part of it, looked like TV TRES (the number as a word, not a digit), probably XHP-TV in Puebla, which is TV3. 2342, ch 4, upper-right bug with time 18:42, and 28 presumably C temp. Seems like a cop drama. 2359, mostly gone except for some signs on channel 2. More than next hour I was distracted with other matters, such as capturing two stray dogs on the property, and gazing at huge updraft just east of here. UT June 21: 0110, ch 2, net 5 with toons 0134, ch 2, Simpsons 0250, ch 2, novela signals in and out, mostly out. 0345, ch 2 fades in with ad for something in Coahuila 0345, ch 3 lucha libre show (masked wrestling), commercial break for Fisher-Price, et al. in looong adstring including ``Modelos 2011`` --- new `Cars2` movie. 0354 finally! lucha libre resumes. Next morning, same UT day, first check at 1500 finds something fading in on ch 2, 1507 toons from net-5. 1508, ch 3, a bit of soccer, and I luck into a `super` ID in a black bar across top of screen, to the right: I think it reads XEZ-TV C-3. A minute later there is a quick crawl of several cities and channels where this is relayed, many of them UHF; a few I could make out were Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros. This does not make sense as XEZ is in central Mexico, not along La Frontera, where the only channel 3 is XHPN in Piedras Negras. Unlike the call ID earlier, the stream overlapped the black bar into the body of the picture. The bar itself was part of the regular screen, not the vertical interval, which I have no way of seeing on my current monitor with no vertical hold, even if the signal were tropo-steady enough. Years ago, some Mexican IDs used to appear within the VI blanking; any more? Following hour miscellaneous signals in and out mostly on 2. 1614 on ch 4, HOY program bug in LR during bridal segment. Lots more sporadic-E analog TV DX, Spanish from south, June 21, UT: 2315 on 2, soccer 2315 on 4, novela from net-13, fade-in strong briefly and then gone 2318 on 3, fútbol // 2 2321 on 3, novela? including nun in habit, upper-right bug a large 3 in a circle, below it time 18:21, temp 39. XHP? 2322 on 3, mix with fútbol briefly sno-free. Teams in UL are MEX vs CGO. CGO? Chilpancingo? Camargo? Seems unlikely. 2335 on 5, fútbol, showing up on all channels at one time or another, but I don`t see any network bug on them in any corners? 2338 on 4, net-13 2340 on 4, net 2 Star-60 bug UR in novela 2341 on 6, fútbol // 3, still no net bug 2347 on 3, fútbol now snow-free; I have not been listening to the boring audio commentary, but turn up the sound now and learn that CGO = CONGO, but which one? Apparently this game is playing in Morelia, of all places, FIFA sponsored, but not exactly World Cup. 2348 on 3, VIVO bug in lower right on the fútbol, and something unreadable below the VIVO (=live). Partly off-screen on overscanned TV 2348 on 5, same with audio running about a second behind 3, and very different audio quality UT June 22: 0019 on 4, weather girl with temps around México, including McAllen 0019 on 4, CCI to above with Azteca-13 novela 0046 on 5, novela from net-4; fútbol on 2, 3, 4, 6 0121 on 4, net-5 novela // 3 0140 I finally check FM for Spanish, but all I hear is 92.7, mentions Chihuahua, and Radio Fiesta, but signal seems too steady for Es; maybe it`s Wichita. Bad ACI from KOMA 92.5. Cantú list does not have any Chihuahuan on 92.7 nor a Radio Fiesta anywhere. Yes, never mind, it`s KANR Wichita confirmed at http://www.fiesta927.com/index.htm Es Opening lingered at low level mostly ch 2 mix for another hour or two. TV not turned on again until: 1444 on 2, Spanish mix, also on 4. 2 has talk show with net-7 bug in LR 1452 on 2, above mixes with net-5 toons, // 3 in the clear 1500 on 2, net 7 bug in UR, 27 degrees, 10:00 clock 1505 on 5, YL cooking show, strange script bug in LR, Vida in largest type, show name after a smaller word; then the same bug at same time also in UL, plus 10:05 clock 1521 on 6, infomercial? Large phone number at bottom starting with 81 1534 on 2-6, all channels full of CCI. I must switch to FM soon! 1539 on 6, net-2 bug UR, clock LR, CCI 1539 on 6, CCI and then snow-free net-5 toon 1543 on 93.1, interview, M in studio with advice to W on phone. RDS tries to lock but will not. Because of local translator on 93.3 and CCI on 93.1, I axually hear this one best on the DX-398, battery power, whip antenna only, by side-tuning to 92.95 or 93.05. At 1600, one of the CCI stations IDs as 93.1, Colonia Rodríguez, Matamoros. Therefore per Cantú: 93.1 XHAAA La Caliente Reynosa-Matamoros, Tamps. 50,000 1545 on 96.5, two talk shows in Spanish mixing 1547 on 97.7, romantic music 1548 on 105.9, RDS immediately displays MEGA 1059; Spanish talk mentions San Antonio, or is it Juan Antonio? Cantú list IDs this as: 105.9 XHNA Mega 105.9 Matamoros, Tamps. 4,950 1557 recheck, still/again in with RDS displaying, ads and PSA from gobierno federal 1550 on 96.5, ads mentioning Plaza Mocambo, and Electrónica González at 5 de mayo 1437, both of which google directly to Veracruz, i.e. 96.5 XHRN Ke buena Veracruz, Ver. 39,330 per Cantú 1551 PSA for Secretaría de Salud, 1552 Máquinas Rio Blanco --- this also Googles to Veracruz, besides Argentina. 1553 ``Ke Buena 96.5`` ID 1554 on 97.7, phone conversation with a business plugging phone number several times, 809-67-92. This checks for San Luís Potosí. Also CCI on 97.7; 1558 the SLP station is playing `Tubular Bells` with birthday greetings from live DJ. 1602 ad for Zoriana department store chain. 1603 Banco Oro Fansa(?) ad. No, Google shows it`s Banco de Ahorro Famsa, with offices all over the country, so no help there. But at 1604, mentions San Luís Potosí in ID, so: 97.7 XHSNP La Caliente San Luis Potosi, S.L.P. 50,000, per Cantú. 1602 on 96.5, one of the CCI, $tereo with norteña music mentions Linares. Probably this as no other 96.5 listed in vicinity: 96.5 XHARR Conexión FM Dr. Arroyo, N.L. 25,000 1605 on 92.7, something Spanish, fades out, but RDS display is stuck on UE HA --- partial, perhaps a music rather than station ID. This huge opening continues during following hour but I have more to do than stay with it. At 1638, ch 2-6 still full of co-channel QRM. At 1650 on 6, a mention of Aguascalientes surfaces in the audio. At 1707, the 6m Es map http://www.vhfdx.info/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA shows only four Mexican hams making contacts. 1730 on 6, amid the QRM, graphic 6 TV presenta, probably XHCGA Aguascalientes, similar logo on Oglethorpe`s site. And hardly any originating 6`s. 1908 on 6, net-5 toon dominating CCI briefly 1935 on 6, net-7 bug UR, dark film over CCI, then losing to net-5 toon 1941 on 6, net-5 with Spongebob, also 2007 Then I switched to FM but coming mostly from USA, except 90.7, 87.75, q.v. 2050, MUF has dropped to ch 3 2203 on 2, old movie from southwest with bug UR showing 38 degrees, something in a box to its right, and below that tu canal, and 4:03 PM clock, i.e. UT-6; therefore it is XEPM in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, scarcely one megameter away, closer than usual E-skip range. 2204 on 4, novela VG with Azteca-13 bug in UR. Ch 4 used to be El Paso, but this would be either Chihuahua city XHIT or Hermosillo, Sonora XHHSS. Hmm, Mexico could now move an analog ch 4 into Juárez. 2205 on 5, gobierno federal PSA for ifai. Either XEJ Juárez or XHFI Chihua2. IFAI = Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública. TVDX was fading out and I was busy producing WORLD OF RADIO 1570 the next few hours, but next check it`s back, UT June 23: 0230 on 5, Azteca-13 novela from WSW, surely XHAQ Mexicali; 0253 Calimex ad, back to A-13 novela; A-13 still in and out at 0443. 0230 on 6, briefly snow-free, US drama with TV14 rating upper left, also unusually letterboxed, no audio to tell whether English or Spanish, but probably XETV Tijuana in English. 0231 on 3, fútbol with heavy CCI from same offset (a common problem with XHQ Culiacán way down the coast.) The other surely XHBC Mexicali. (Robin Harwood in Tasmania says the Women`s World Cup is currently being held in Mexico --- I didn`t really notice whether the players yesterday vs a Congo were female; imagine that --- nothing like the distinctively-uniformed Lingerie League.) 0306 on 3, net-5 bug UR, vivo and Televisa logo LR, shots of female fans, then back to fútbol (or in this case, futbola?). 0540 on 3, XHBC now with Televisa promos, local news about Tijuana. Distinctive N bug for Noticias in LR, clock 22:40 = UT -7. Somewhat unusual to have Es still incoming after local midnite (not really = 2308 LMT). Altho Es was working on HF 15 MHz, inbooming WWCR, WEWN, nothing on VHF the next morning, except a brief fade in of algo on 2 at 1550 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. The Cross, 4755.4, weak with music 1031, 11 June. Abruptly went off 1033 with no announcement (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, June 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4755.44, PMA-The Cross Radio, randomly from 1131 to 1205:15*, June 14. Preaching in English and Christian songs; suddenly off; fair by sign off (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4755.45 The Cross R. 1141-1205* Jun 14. Sermon to 1152, then music to 1159 ID by gal: "You are listening to The Cross Radio 88.5..."; more music followed; pulled the plug about 1205 per spot checks. Fair signal competing with band noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) 4755, PMA-The Cross Radio. June 17, 0715-0725 male in English talks “our God”, male on music. Few words readable, 25332 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA. COMPETITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RADIO OF MOLDOVA: English Français Castellano Russian Limba Romana (Dmitry Kutuzov, Ryazan-RUS / "deneb-radio-dx"; RUSdx June 12 via BC- DX via DXLD) It started May 23 and you needed to listen to these online-only `broadcasts` for the answers in eight weekly `stages` consisting of three questions each --- or do a lot of Googling. No prizes are mentioned (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MONACO [non]. FRANCE, [MCO site], 7220, TWR Monaco relay noted playing catchy TWR Interval Signal over and over again, between 0543 and 0545 UT June 19. S=9+35dB powerhouse, into Polish section announcement, ID and young people chorus at 0545-0548 UT. Underneath weak R Farda from IBB Kuwait relay. 9800.010, Catchy TWR interval signal noted at 0643 to 0645 UT over and over again. Starts early on Sundays, scheduled 0645-0750 UT from TWR Monte Carlo site. S=9+25dB strength. ID "TWR U.K.". Started with "View Points" first. Report on earthquakes on Haiti, Jan 12-1912. Mission field in Haiti, 250,000 dead (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. MARROCOS, 595 SNRT-"A", Oujda, 2229-..., 17/6, Arabic, talks; 44444. They were found on this frequency earlier this month (12/6, 2134-..., 33442, QRM de PORTUGAL on 594), then on the correct fq, 594, until 17/6. Adjacent QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOZAMBIQUE. 873, Radio Mozambique, Delagação de Beira. Sofala (Beira). 2011/06/12 sun 1820-1821, Portuguese. OM and YL talking. Poor, almost at noise level. Jo'burg sunset 1524 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 7185.753, MRTV, 1136, very good with local vocals and woman announcer. Ex-7200v, but has since returned to the old frequency (with highly distorted audio). 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD- 535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Myanmar R. received on 7185.74 kHz at 1130 UT on June 12; rechecked at 1230 UT, performed a move to 7200.1 kHz (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Myanma Radio back on 7200.05v again after only being on ex-7185.75 for about 17 days. Believe they took this transmitter off line so they could work on the previous poor audio, which is now much improved. Randomly from 1122 to 1205, June 13; heard with good signal strength and also the usual weak spur on 7185.87; played same indigenous theme music at both ToH and BoH. Thanks to Sei-ichi for his timely tip! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, Myanmar has once again appeared on 7200 (v) and has quite good audio. At 1200 on the 13th it had a female reading a poem, I think, judging by the sing-song delivery followed by ethnic music bridge. Then it reverted to the normal pop music format. 5985.8 was well down and under a stronger signal that was on 5985 (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania, Icom R70 to Indoor antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Ron, thank you for informing me about the latest frequency change of Myanma Radio. Due to propagation condx we do not hear this intruder around 1122 to 1205 UT. I add a list of intruders we can hear in southern Germany. Listening to R.Myanma on 7200 kHz would be difficult as R.Omdurman (SDN) is using this QRG 24 h. Regards, Uli, DJ9KR, IARU MONITORING SYSTEM Intruder Watch, Vice Coordinator Region 1, http://www.iarums-r1.org http://www.qrz.com/db/dj9kr (via Ron Howard via Sei-Ichi Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DXLD) No signs of any spurs on 7186v from Myanmar on 7200 here. Don''t get confused with Sri Lanka on 7190v. It is well down and rarely hear any modulation although carrier is s5 (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, ibid.) Hi Robin - The spur was clearly // on June 13 (Ron Howard, ibid.) 7200.5 kHz open carrier at 1052 UT and s/on at 1059 UT on June 14. Night sec. [?] at 1100-1330 UT (S. Hasegawa, Japan, ibid.) It was 7200.05 and not as high as 7200.5. Also very weak spurs which seem to occur when modulation sometimes becomes distorted on music. (Robin Harwood VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Icom R70 to Indoor antenna, June 15, ibid.) 7200.088, at 1235 UT June 14 I checked that channel on remote software defined radio unit on Japan island. Heard a female announcer on some women feature, followed at 1239 by male voice and then modern popular Burmese music singer played - since. Program was 100% Myanmar radio, reminded me on my various tourings to South East Asia. S=5 signal, like -100 to -92 dBm strength. For clean audio reception, I had to NOTCH OUT a ham station on approx. 7196 kHz. vy73 wb DF5SX (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Hi Glenn, I am passing this along to you as I find it fascinating to clearly be able to see the primary on 7200.09, along with the spur on 7185.85 both signing off at the same time. Ron - - - - email from Mauno Ritola (Finland): Hi Wolfy, I was there, too! Fortunately often at least 3 remote rxs available in Japan. I checked the s/off at 1330 and as you hopefully can see, both the spurious and original signed off at the same time. http://www.box.net/shared/ua7mj4cc5z6hkvqejn51 shows sign offs with arrows. Unfortunately CRI 7205 kHz had very wide band and almost buried BRM 7200.09 kHz. 7185.85 kHz was clearly visible and also audible via Hong Kong rx. The symmetric spurious on 7214.33 kHz was very weak, hardly visible even in Japan. Robin: below also an image of Sri Lanka carrier on 7189.75 kHz, http://www.box.net/shared/ug9bz48jqii3sndna5dk signing off at 1219. Ron doesn't mix stations on 7190 and 7186 kHz! Best regards, Mauno Ritola, Finland (via Ron Howard, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) 7200.05v, Myanma Radio, randomly from 1108 to 1330*, June 14. Appreciate others checking on this today, especially Mauno Ritola (Finland), who provided pictures of the Perseus reception via a Hong Kong receiver; very interesting to see the primary 7200.09 going off the air at the same time as the weak spur on 7185.85 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. 5005.03, Radio Nepal? 1137, someone here with weak audio, talk by a woman and subcontinental music, but nothing close to an ID. Would like to think it's Nepal -- are they even active? I've had a carrier here on many days, but this is the only time I've had any audio. 8 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Hello from Hilversum, We are on tenterhooks here, as the two coalition partners who have been negotiating the public broadcasting budget, which includes RNW, have apparently reached an agreement. This will be discussed by the whole Cabinet tomorrow, and then by parliament. Of course, there are 'leaks', but our official policy is only to comment on facts, not rumours. Please check our Weblog and website tomorrow and on subsequent days for the latest confirmed information. However, there is one bit of related news I can give you: Five petitions in support of RNW No fewer than five petitions against the upcoming budget cuts for Radio Netherlands Worldwide are currently doing the rounds. This was announced on Monday by Iede de Vries of the action committee. Employees of RNW’s Dutch service launched a petition several weeks ago against the management’s plan to drastically reduce the station’s Dutch activities in order to save 10 million euros a year. Last week a multilingual website was launched to get support from listeners and web users in other languages. Today it became known that three more petitions have been launched. Mr De Vries said that one is an initiative of former ambassadors of the Netherlands, while another has been launched by Dutch companies operating internationally. Both groups emphasize that RNW is important for the image of the Netherlands abroad. The Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) has also launched a petition among international news organizations. This stresses in particular the role that RNW plays in promoting press freedom in the world. The action committee is collecting the responses to the various petitions, and will hand these to the Lower House just before a vote on the cuts that is scheduled for 27 June (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter June 16 via DXLD) RNW, el Departamento en español "Si se redujera mucho el presupuesto para RNW, el Departamento en español sería mucho más pequeño. Desaparecer no." (informaRN via Twitter, 9 jun via Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, June 14, condiglist yg via DXLD) "el Departamento Latinoamericano no desaparece, aunque sí es posible una reducción importante, de personal y de producción (informaRN via Twitter, Jun 14) "Esperando a que esta semana nos digan cuánto presupuesto propone el Gobierno para Radio Nederland" (ibídem) (Nigro, ibid.) Si cierran la planta de Bonaire, ¿cómo esperan que llegue la señal a Sudamérica? Directo desde Europa ni soñar con la actual mala propagación (aparte de que Hilversum [sic] ya fue cerrado si no me equivoco). ¿Alquilando horas a la VOA o a RCI? No la veo. Si la reducción se concreta, el "departamento latinoamericano" será, como mucho para alimentar la internet y el satélite. MK (Moisés Knochen, Uruguay, ibid.) Coincido con el razonamiento. De todas maneras, pienso que hasta en Internet serviría, mientras se mantenga una línea editorial y celo periodístico, consecuente con su tradición. Si no --- será una flor más en el florero (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) Estaría bueno que tengamos en claro las prioridades. ¿Qué pretendemos con más presupuesto? Que RNW mantenga su Departamento Latinoamericano. Que sus emisiones sigan en la onda corta con estaciones propias. Que se alquilen estaciones relay. Que al menos alcance a Internet y Satélites? (Ruben Guilllermo Margenet, Argentina, ibid.) También está bueno leer o releer el mensaje del Director de RNW: Todo parece indicar que el Gobierno holandés pretende reducir mucho más de lo previsto el presupuesto de Radio Nederland. Se trataría de una decisión inapropiada y contraproducente. Dolorosa para nuestro público en América Latina, pero también para Holanda. Aparentemente, Holanda se está recuperando bien de la crisis económica internacional, pero el futuro traerá una serie de graves problemas: la edad media de los ciudadanos es muy superior a lo previsto hace 20 años. Debido a ello, en un próximo futuro las jubilaciones no podrán pagarse ya que un número decreciente de trabajadores tendrá que pagar las pensiones de cada vez más jubilados. Los costos de salud también exceden todas las previsiones. Paralelamente hay varios miembros de la Unión Europea con serios problemas y se destinan muchos millones de euros a países en crisis como Grecia, Portugal e Irlanda. Esas ayudas también son en beneficio de Holanda porque, si esos países van a la quiebra el euro se desplomará. Es comprensible que el gobierno holandés intente ahorrar para poder conservar las prestaciones sociales de sus ciudadanos. Se trata de unos ahorros de decenas de miles de millones de euros y, naturalmente, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep tiene que aportar su granito de arena. Hace unos días, la dirección de Radio Nederland presentó un plan para suspender las actividades periodísticas en holandés y cerrar dos repetidoras de Onda Corta. Esto significaría la desaparición de cien puestos de trabajo y un ahorro de 10 millones de euros del actual presupuesto de 46 millones. Sin embargo, según una noticia filtrada a la prensa, el gobierno holandés reduciría drásticamente el presupuesto de Radio Nederland. No quedaría ni siquiera una quinta parte de los recursos. Ello significa que no solamente la existencia del Departamento Latinoamericano está en peligro: aparentemente hay quienes creen que América Latina ya no necesita a Radio Nederland ya que hay democracia en todo el continente. Por supuesto que, como director del Departamento Latinoamericano, no comparto esa opinión. Tampoco la comparto personalmente. Antes de asumir este cargo, el 1 de mayo de este año, por iniciativa propia recorrí América del Sur y América Central durante seis meses en una ``caravana``, desde Tierra del Fuego hasta la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos. Durante todo el trayecto, las conversaciones y encuentros me confirmaron todavía más que en muchas situaciones Radio Nederland marca la diferencia. La información que difundimos es imprescindible para que muchos puedan formarse una opinión propia. Con esa información no solamente se supera un atraso de información sino también se refuerza la democracia. Durante esos seis meses de período sabático, también me quedó claro que gracias a las retransmisiones de cientos de radios afiliadas y al sitio web, nuestra Radio Nederland es muy conocida en el continente. Los empresarios alababan el ``portal`` hacia Europa que les ofrecemos; tanto políticos como ciudadanos estiman en alto grado los ``valores holandeses`` como el respeto a los derechos humanos, el desarrollo y el derecho internacional. No puede ser mera coincidencia que el año pasado, después de Estados Unidos, Holanda fuese el mayor inversor en América Latina, por delante de China y los demás países europeos. Sobre todo ahora, que el gobierno holandés decidió cerrar varias embajadas en América Central y América del Sur, el portal que Radio Nederland ofrece es para Holanda más importante que nunca. Porque la importancia económica del continente es grande, y solo aumentará con el paso de los años. Wim A.E. Jansen Director del Departamento Latinoamericano Radio Nederland (via Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE TOLD TO FOCUS ON FREE SPEECH http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/radio-netherlands-worldwide-told-focus-free-speech Radio Netherlands Published on 17 June 2011 - 2:09pm Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s Dutch-language editorial desk and programming are to be discontinued. The government’s decision was announced in parliament on Friday afternoon. The Dutch world service will continue in a decidedly reduced form, with the promotion of free speech as its chief area of focus. RNW will issue an official reaction later on Friday. As part of an economy drive in public broadcasting, the Netherlands' public broadcasters have been ordered to save 200 million euros on a 900 million euro budget. Several domestic public broadcasting companies have announced mergers. It is expected that RNW's current 46 million euro budget will shrink substantially, although no figures have been announced by the government. Public expenditure: The rightwing government led by conservative liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a wide-ranging cost-cutting exercise in an attempt to drastically reduce public expenditure. Health care, social work and immigrant integration projects are among the areas deeply affected by the budget cuts. Most plans still require parliament's approval. The public broadcasting budget will be debated on 27 June. (rk) © Radio Netherlands Worldwide (via Mike Terry, June 17, dxldyg via DXLD) The end of yet another well loved broadcaster? If PLT doesn`t kill off shortwave, the politicians will! C'est la vie (Keith, UK, ibid.) The Dutch shortwave service is probably no longer needed. The Dutch expatriate community living or working abroad most likely has the financial means to have internet access on computers or smartphones in order to keep up with news from The Netherlands. And any Dutch tourists traveling outside the country (who have a desire to keep up with news) also have smartphones. You can complain about the politicians, but governments everywhere are dealing with huge budget problems. There is not an endless pile of money that will pay for everything -- hard decisions have to be made as to what is and what is not important, and appropriate cuts have to be made. Countries are drowning in debt. The Dutch, as in any other country, are under no "obligation" to provide free shortwave services to an international audience. And shortwave listeners are not "entitled" to such services. All the free SW services were interesting and fun to listen to, but the bills have piled up, and the money isn't there. And there are a zillion other demands on government budgets that demand attention. Just the reality of broadcasting and finance in 2011 (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) True, the function of any shortwave operation is becoming superflouous to most of the western world, with alternate means of mass communication, and alternative avenues of entertainment. PR China may be expanding its services whilst others contract, but I serious doubt the audience it is targeting (those left without the BBC/VOA/DW etc) is growing (Keith, UK, ibid.) In trend of speculations, I was in Skype conference with Central American DXers this morning and there a reasoning appeared, regarding http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/radio-netherlands-worldwide-refocus-slashed-budget In my opinion RNW would be still retaining a service to LAm, but reduced in personnel, for the Internet. On the SW, a reduced time broadcast discarding Bonaire (as Madagascar to be dismantled) and using Guyana [sic] instead as relay station, with target: The Caribbean (read Cuba, Venezuela). That's my current opinion (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, June 17, ibid.) I think RNW Spanish will survive on shortwave for the near future; the question is how many hours there will be. I could see the SW program reduced to an hour daily instead of the current two. Will RNW keep both programming blocks to Northern South America/Caribbean, then Central America/Mexico as is done now? Or does one of those get dropped? Do they keep the morning newscasts on SW? Montsinery will work just fine for RNW for either of those areas after Bonaire closes next year; perhaps even better for NSA/CAR since the close-in skip zone issues are removed (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) An interesting interpretation of the proposals from Jonathan Marks posted yesterday: http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2011/06/radio-netherlands-worldwide-what-was.html (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) Thanks for the link, fascinating. Sounds like RNW is slated for closure, not just reductions. Keep in mind that the Dutch government is a coalition, so any cabinet proposals probably have fairly good multiparty support. And it doesn't matter which parties are in power -- any political group will face the same budget problems and money squeeze. You will hear a chorus of opposition to any RNW closure, but there are countless other government funded entities that should have higher priority. Wouldn't surprise me if the Bonaire closing is brought forward one or two broadcast seasons; could it happen this year? I would think RNW could find a buyer for Madagascar -- one would think that facility would still be useful to someone for Africa/Asia for 5-10-15 years, especially with the replacement transmitters from Sweden. China Radio International? (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Gee, Steve, it sounds like you're turning into the chief cheerleader for the shutdown of shortwave everywhere! (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) John, I am not "cheerleading" for anything. Just pointing out some cold hard facts. Technology has changed. Programming needs and tastes have changed. Listener expectations have changed. International geopolitics have changed. Add all this together with the indisputable fact that governments everywhere are facing extremely serious budget concerns and are drowning it debt. Some countries are needing hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts just to keep the government and economy functioning. There is not an endless pile of money for everything we want. Tough choices have to be made, and some things are going to be cut or eliminated, not just in international broadcasting, but in numerous other entities supported by national budgets. I have been a shortwave listener since the mid-1960's, so I am not some young whippersnapper who "doesn't get it." We all have warm and fuzzy memories of SW listening over the years, and many SWL's thought it all would never end. Given the money crunch, governments have to thoroughly reevaluate the reasons they are supporting international broadcasting. What is still needed, and what is a waste of money? Could that money be better spent on other platforms? Is an international service really necessary? Are a nation's taxpayers in any way "obligated" to provide such services? Are international listeners, who don't pay for any of this, "entitled" to such services? There is still a role for shortwave in the near future, but this is not the 1950's any more. Shortwave use must be carefully considered, going to where it is absolutely needed, and discontinued where other platforms have taken over, or where there is minimal to nonexistent listener interest. In many ways, I am sad to see it all go, but I am also a realist. As SWL's we need to ask ourselves: Are shortwave services really still necessary and worth the expense, or are we basing our feelings on nostalgia and a now-outdated model of information distribution? Sorry for the lengthy post. Not wanting to get into the "long contentious threads" that Glenn cautions against (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Steve, It is true that the addition of platforms does require a reevaluation of their use. But to argue that what's happening and the pace at which it is happening is necessary is a bridge too far for me, I'm afraid. We could just insist that priorities change and public concerns take more precedence over private ones. One could argue that false priorities are at the root of many of our problems. Too much money in too few hands. But, then, I don't want to be contentious either (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, ibid.0 I'm an old timer also, retired for several years now and radio is all I have left. Lost TV when it went digital and can't receive anything now, have no cable available here, no high speed internet available here, only three services still available on my scanner as everyone else has gone to trunking and digital. I realize that the world can't stop just because I can't move forward and I really don't expect it to, but I do get tired of hearing that things must change because technology has changed and we must keep up. What's wrong with just maintaining? My state has decreed that everyone will move off of the regular scanners within a year so I'll have a junk scanner to go with my junk TVs. There's not a week goes by that I don't receive an email from some webpage or service saying I can't access it anymore with the computer and browser that I'm using. I hear that the FCC wants to move MW broadcasts to digital. I hear that people are dropping shortwave stations all over the place. Will I also have a large pile of junk SW receivers to go with my junk TVs, scanner and apparently computer? I was a good citizen, paid my taxes, did my duty, my last job was forty-one years at the same place. This is my reward for doing my best in life? My wife died so I don't even have the comfort of her anymore. Really upsets me that I'm expected to upgrade to technology that my county doesn't even have the infrastructure to support in order to listen to things. I'd hate to think that I will be forced to spend my waning years here sitting in a chair with my thumb up my ass. Please forgive me if I don't welcome your statements and assessments with open arms (John H Carver, Jr., ibid.) Indeed! It is not just about RNW but about public broadcasting in the Netherlands in general. More analysis of the domestic side: http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2011/06/dutch-public-media-what-just-happened.html And one particular aspect is the fate of the Muziekzentrum van de Omroep. The plans announced on Friday propose to straightly wind up the Radio Kamer Filharmonie. The Metropole Orkest will enjoy the mercy of a one-off grant if it explains a plan for a continued existance outside the broadcasting system. A reproduction of an English-language petition from last autumn with a German-language (perhaps machine translation is sufficient) comment that puts the affair into a broader context: http://blogs.nmz.de/badblog/2010/10/07/land-unter-in-holland/ Talking about RNW: "RN abandoned its listeners in North America (and in English many other parts of the world), so why should we support them now? (gh, DXLD)" is not a singular opinion: in the German- language A-DX mailing list the appeal to sign one of all the petitions saw not so terribly much support either. One comment went that "I'm not able to join such an appeal to save job positions in the production of mostly government-docile programs", talked about "journalists that pretend to be up to freedom and democracy but still are just worried about the mortgages for their little homes" who "still have not realized that they have long fulfilled their function as useful idiots in the ideological war" and "have not too much to contribute to the transformation of the media from distribution to communication". The comment closes in saying that "this may sound rather unfriendly, in particular when put so short. But I just wanted to leave no doubts about my points of view in this debate, also concerning Deutsche Welle, and this in particular because I'm a journalist, too". Seems that things are rapidly collapsing now. And by "things" I mean much more than the operation of shortwave transmitters (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yo no me quedé cruzado de brazos esta vez (en otras, sí). En este caso RNW me duele porque es una emisora que me llega al corazón; con ella empecé, de ella es mi primera QSL, su programa DX me permitió llegar a conocer el mundo de la OC, el DX y los amigos nacionales y extranjeros y a lo que he llegado como radioapasionado al día de hoy. Escribí y exhorté a adherir a la petición a todo nivel (Ministerio de Cultura, Asociación de la Prensa, radios, periodistas, Comisiones en Diputados del parlamento). Lo triste es que nadie contestó hasta ahora. Eso es peor: y lo que más me duele en estos momentos. Tampoco veo mucha reacción en otras listas de DX tanto en español como en inglés. Tan herido con la fauna radial autóctona que no estoy escuchando radios locales... (pa qué...) viva la radio internacional en todas sus manifestaciones! Y los mp3 de clasjazztango que me salvan el día a día de la depresión (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, condiglist yg via DXLD) The importance of Radio Netherlands Worldwide to the Netherlands as a trading nation ---- PETITION TO MEMBERS OF THE DUTCH PARLIAMENT We, the signatories to this petition, would like you to consider the following when deciding the future of Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The Netherlands is one of the world’s most important exporting countries and trading nations with a good international reputation in many fields of expertise. This ‘image of the Netherlands’ is partly the result of many years of external profiling, in which Radio Netherlands Worldwide has played a key role. . . http://www.radionetherlands4u.nl/en (via DXLD) CABINET ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF PROPOSED CUTS TO RNW The Dutch cabinet has announced plans to cut back the activities of Radio Netherlands Worldwide. RNW will no longer provide information for Dutch people living abroad, nor be responsible for providing a realistic image of the Netherlands to the rest of the world. RNW will concern itself solely with providing information in countries where free speech is suppressed or threatened. The cuts to RNW are part of a widespread austerity programme the current government is implementing to bring the national budget into balance. In the wake of cuts to higher education, the arts and defence, the government today announced a reorganisation of the entire public broadcasting system. As part of that reorganisation, RNW will no longer fall under the media budget, but will become the responsibility of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. That move is scheduled to take place on 1 January 2013. Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal confirmed the focus on free speech and press freedom for Radio Netherlands Worldwide: “Radio Netherlands Worldwide will concern itself with free speech under Foreign Affairs starting in 2013. I will not say anything else about it right now.” Mr Rosenthal explained that, since RNW will remain part of the media budget next year, he does not want to step on his fellow minister’s toes. The exact financial consequences of this limiting of RNW’s activities are not yet known. Parliament must still approve the cabinet’s planned cuts. No detail has been given about the extent of future budget cuts. The lower house of parliament will debate the cabinet proposals on 27 June. During his press conference after the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mark Rutte praised the work RNW has done: “Radio Netherlands Worldwide will limit itself to one role, promoting free speech. I think the other tasks Radio Netherlands Worldwide performs are nice, valuable, but not enough to finance them with public money.” In reaction to the news from The Hague, former foreign minister Bernard Bot, chairman of the RNW Supervisory board, said: “I find this Cabinet decision incomprehensible for a government whose foreign policy should serve the long-term interests of the Netherlands and the Dutch.” RNW Director-General Jan Hoek echoed the feelings of Mr Bot: “This is an incomprehensible and sad decision. The Ministry has chosen the easy way out by passing one quarter of the cuts in Public Broadcasting (two hundred million euros) in its entirety to one organization - RNW.” RNW Editor-in-Chief Rik Rensen said: “Our country is known as an important and reliable trading nation. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is making a unique contribution in ten languages 24 hours a day. For tens of millions of people around the world, RNW is an important source of information and a journalistic calling card for the Netherlands. Is our country really going back behind the dikes? ” (Source: RNW News) (June 17th, 2011 - 13:21 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. MARIANA ISLANDS/PHILIPPINES. 15750.036, R Nederland Wereldomroep in Dutch via US IBB Agignan Point on Marianas. Feature on "RNW financial problem", 2nd kaamer - Dutch parliament and cabinet. S=9+10dB on remote Vancouver island sdr unit. 12065, RN in English via US IBB Tinang-PHL relay, ID Chris Chambers says good bye at 1055-1056 UT. At 1057:03 TX cut OFF. S=8-9 signal fluttery (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11835, Thursday June 23 at 1402, fair signal from endangered RN in English, less ACI now from 11830, only RHC, no WYFR. Talking about home heating, less wood fuel gathering, 1403 leprosy. It`s `South Asia Wired`, from this week`s previews: ``Programme in which South Asians get to talk to each other. Leprosy has laid an indelible mark for generations in one village near Jaffna. But these days, its sufferers are claiming back their dignity and their rights with the help of a traditional musical theatre called Koothu. Also in the programme we hear about how homes in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains that used to be cold and filled with filthy wood smoke during the harsh winters have undergone a revolution. What’s changed? Find out on South Asia Wired. This week, South Asia Wired is hosted by Sara Nics. First airing: Thursday 14:00 UTC`` 11835 is 250 kW, 50 degrees from MADAGASCAR at 1400-1457 only. Complete remaining English from RNW per WRTH A-11 update2: 1000-1100 daily SEA 12065pht, 15110pht 1400-1500 daily SAs 9800trm, 11835mdc 1800-1900 daily SAf 6020mdc 1800-2000 daily EAf 15495wer 1900-2100 daily CAf, SAf 7425mdc 1900-2100 daily WAf 11615kig (ex 11610) We can sometimes also hear the 15495, 11615 broadcasts. The previews also say: ``Hello, On Monday 27 June from 0600 to 1200 UT there will be live coverage in Dutch from The Hague on the cutbacks RNW faces. Go to http://play.rnw.nl/player/index.html?channel=nl to follow this coverage. In Europe you can also hear the broadcast on shortwave 5955 kHz, and from 0800 UT also on 1296 and 9895 kHz. Enjoy our programmes! Hilary`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Taupo Maritime Radio, 6224, 0904, 7 June, ID "This is Taupo" by woman, then man with maritime weather, weak with heavy static (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9704.99, LV du Sahel, 2215-2300*, June 13, wide variety of indigenous vocals, local tribal music and Afro-pop music. French and vernacular talk. Qur`an at 2254. French announcements at 2257 followed by flute IS and National Anthem at 2258. One second test tone at 2300 and off. Poor to fair in noisy conditions. Irregular. Not heard very often lately. 9704.99, LV du Niger [sic, real ID?], 2230-2253*, June 14, Irregular, but heard here for the past 2 days. Indigenous vocals. Local tribal music. French / vernacular talk. Abrupt sign off at 2253. Does not usually abruptly sign off like this. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, Voix du Sahel, Niamey. June 15, 2039-2101 instrumental modern jazz music selections (with slight African style), male and female in Vernacular talks, national anthem. 44433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.99, LV du Sahel, 2140-2259*, June 17, Irregular. Not heard yesterday. French/vernacular announcements. Afro-pop music. Local pop music. Indigenous vocals. Qur`an at 2252. Short flute IS at 2257 followed by National Anthem to sign off. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) NÍGER, 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Goudel, 2135-2239, 17/6, vernacular, tribal songs, African light music; 45433. 9705 ditto, 1007-1215, 18/6, French, news bulletin, tribal tunes, TS at noon, jingle, "Bulletn d'Information"; 24432, no QRM (de ETH) at around 1130 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.991, Voix du Sahel from Niamey, observed at 0555 UT June 19. French language phone-in program by two ladies, S=7 fair fluttery signal. Flute music at 0556 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.99, LV du Sahel, 2245-2312*, June 20, noted on the air a little later than usual with local tribal music. Indigenous vocals. Vernacular talk. Qur`an at 2307. Short flute IS and National Anthem at 2310. Four seconds of a test tone at 2312 and off. Poor to fair with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 13 June, 0757 - 15120 kHz, VOICE OF NIGERIA - Ikorodu Francese, saluti e s/off. Segnale buono - molto buono. Modulazione un po' distorta, come se l'alimentazione del trasmettitore non fosse ben filtrata (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [and non]. Continuing to hear Radio Nigeria, but still poor quality on 15120 from 0600 to 0800, being directed at Europe but carrying just over the North Pole to my location. Most evenings, it's just a carrier and occasional voice coming through, but between 06 and 07 occasionally interfered with by CRI in Chinese. Next hour is in the clear, but also in French, which is the only time I heard it clear enough to compare the broadcast with their live stream on their website. I still need to knock out heavy, heavy QRM from a local broadcaster before I can use my outdoor random wire, so all R. Nigeria loggings have come from the built in whip on my Grundig Satellit 750 (Daniel Hostetler from Alaska, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. via Germany, 9610, Hamada Radio Int, *0531-0559*, June 13, abrupt sign on with talk in listed Hausa. Some local African music. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NIGERIA [non]. NIGERIAN POLITICIAN RECALLS RADIO KUDIRAT, OPPOSITION SHORTWAVE STATION OF THE 1990S. Posted: 13 Jun 2011 The Nation (Lagos), 12 June 2011: "Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was a June 12 activist, recalls the establishment and operation of Radio Kudirat during the campaign to actualise the mandate of the late Chief M.K.O Abiola: ... 'In 1993 when the election was annulled ... we ... wanted to achieve three broad objectives: provide an alternative to the heavy dose of propaganda of the then military regime, empower the people and also reach the military class by promoting dialogue as the most viable option out of the political quagmire. ... [T]he FM reach was not impressive enough. We discovered we could go on Short Wave, without being on the ground in Nigeria, but that was expensive. ... The World Radio Network was able to assist us in obtaining 6205 kilohert on the 49-meter band. Time of broadcast was 8pm Nigerian time. ... Days before we launched the radio, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola was gunned down on the street of Lagos. Her assassination came as a shock. This made us to change the name to Radio Kudirat to bestow honour on Alhaja Kudirat. ... The Radio Kudirat broadcast in 14 Nigerian languages. We had a Jumat broadcast on Fridays and one for Christians on Sundays." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6924.86, Captain Morgan Shortwave, 0305- 0315, June 11, blues music. ID announcement which was somewhat distorted. Poor in thunderstorm static (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. IBB "VERY MUCH INTERESTED IN NEGOTIATING A NEW LEASE" FOR NORTHERN MARIANA SHORTWAVE SITE(S). Posted: 22 Jun 2011 Saipan Tribune, 21 June 2011, Haidee V. Eugenio: "The Department of Public Lands said the International Broadcasting Bureau 'is very much interested in negotiating a new lease' with DPL for the same property it's been leasing. Acting DPL secretary Pedro I. Itibus said this in a response letter to Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan), who was following up on the status of the IBB lease. Torres had said DPL has been losing out on IBB’s low rental rate. Back in February, the House passed a resolution requesting DPL to 'officially investigate and rectify the flawed lease agreement' between DPL and IBB, and renegotiate the agreement 'and seek back payment for previous years of rental at a lower than appraised rental value that IBB has been paying since the lease expired in 2006.' Itibus told Torres in a June 9 letter that representatives from the Broadcasting Board of Governors/U.S. IBB 'presented their proposed additions/revisions of the first draft of the lease agreement DPL provided to the BBG/IBB.'" -- IBB has two shortwave transmitter sites in the Northern Mariana Islands, one on Saipan, and one on Tinian. Unsure if this refers to one of the sites (Rep. Torres represents Saipan), or both. See previous post about same subject (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Again? ** OKLAHOMA. Our great statewide public TV network, OETA, takes another hit: Announced at the end of Oklahoma News Report June 22: Since 1980, the Oklahoma News Report has delivered news and information to viewers across the state each weeknight at 6:30. But that is about to change. State budget cuts over the last three years have forced OETA to reduce staff and restructure some of our operations. And that includes ONR. After July 1, the PBS Newshour will move to 6 pm and ONR will become a 1-hour weekly program airing in prime time on Friday nights at 7. We`ll still have a statewide focus and in-depth reporting about the people and issues of Oklahoma. The first ONR in prime time will be on July 15`` (transcribed by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) So that leaves daily TV news in OK only to the commercial stations and their obsession with tabloid stuff rather than what matters, including coverage of state government. There will be a two-week break without any ONR. OETA online schedules go two weeks ahead. So on July 5, we see the new lineup: 5 pm, BBC World News America (ex-OKLA at 4:30), 5:30 NBR ex-6:00, 6:00 NewsHour. What about Friday nights, bumping Washington Week from 7:00, Need to Know from 7:30? July 8 and 15 not yet shown (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Key News and Public Affairs Schedule Changes Begin July 15! On July 15, THE OKLAHOMA NEWS REPORT will move to Fridays at 7 p.m., with special encore presentations on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The reduction from a weeknightly newscast to weekly hour long program is the result of the recent 9% state budget cut OETA received during the 2011 legislative session. This change effects the following programs: Weeknights (Monday-Friday) 5 p.m. BBC World News America 5:30 p.m. Nightly Business Report 6 p.m. PBS NewsHour Sundays 12 p.m. Washington Week 12:30 p.m. Oklahoma Forum 1 p.m. McLaughlin Group 1:30 p.m. Religion and Ethics Newsweekly 2 p.m. Oklahoma News Report Fridays 7 p.m. Oklahoma News Report 8 p.m. Washington Week Questions? Call 800.879.6382 or e-mail info @ oeta.tv Explore http://www.oeta.tv/video for ONR stories and features. (from http://www.oeta.tv/engage/1325-budget-cuts-force-schedule-changes.html June 24 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan noted going off-air at 1101 on 17720 and 15725 on Sunday 19 June. ID and news headlines and "...details after a short commercial break." - then transmitter abrupt off. I also noted Pakistan going off-air at 1100 last Sunday (12 June) at 1100 with no English news. Has R. Pakistan stopped relaying the English news at 1100? (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. Radio Australia, 13590 sent card, schedule, and ARDXC brochure in 4 months mailed from Brunei for report sent via form on website (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** PALESTINE [and non]. Alquds radio live stream --- Hello DXers, while checking the clandestine station Al Quds Radio, targeting Palestine on 702 kHz, I noticed that they have a live stream on a Syrian ISP called AYA. here's the link for the live stream of Al Quds radio: http://aya.sy/services/broadcasting/player.php?play=shabab All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tarek, I have what I thought was a link for the live stream of Al Quds Radio http://live.qudsradio.ps/cgi-bin/picoreader.cgi?user=radio&r=1279131526&f=file.mp3 but it is different programming to your link. What is the difference between the 2 links? Is one stream for 702 kHz and the other for FM? Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.) Hello Harry, thanks for the link but that link is for the stream of Sout al Quds from Gaza 102.7 MHz. It's a radio station broadcasting from Gaza supporting HAMAS. The clandestine station Radio Al Quds is coming from Syria; that's why the Syrian ISP is having it on their domain. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3204.97, R. Sandaun (presumed), 1130-1150 Jun 10. A bit of island music, then long talk by man; language sounded like Tok Pisin. Fairly good signal - this has been the best PNG signal on 90 meters in recent weeks. PNG hets noted this day also on 3260, 3275, 3290, 3335, 3365, and 3385, all too weak for audio (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 3205, R. Sandaun (West Sepik) randomly from 1102 to 1303, June 10. Well above normal reception; news at 1102 (Tok Pisin), 1201 ("News in Brief") and 1301 ("News Roundup"); many IDs; PSA in both Tok Pisin and English explained about the July census and different from the Electoral Commission that registers voters. http://www.box.net/shared/o3krizx7ers26cqdxl4u contains MP3 audio of the PSA and their very nice station song ("N-B-C Sandaun" at 00:43 and again at 01:23 on audio). Enjoyable programming of island songs. 3290 and 3365 also above the norm. 3205, NBC Sandaun (West Sepik), 1204-1234, June 11. Continues to have decent reception; in Tok Pisin with ID, local TCs and address for NBC Sandaun; music (island songs/pop/etc.). Am attempting by networking to make contact with this station. Sent an email to someone at ABC Australia who currently is working on a project in PNG. She says she will forward my report on to the station at Vanimo. I hope for the best! She also comments: "Most of the shortwave transmitters in PNG are in a poor state and listeners no longer have shortwave radios. There is a technological revolution underway via mobiles and smartphones." Does not sound very promising for the future of NBC via SW in PNG (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3205, NBC Sandaun (West Sepik), randomly from 1139 to 1212, June 14. I continue to be surprised by their decent reception even with more daylight now in the summer; in Tok Pisin; political speeches; island songs; promo for Friday 8:30 show, for which they gave address to write in to: NBC Sandaun, PO Box 371, West Sepik Province [corrected below]; PSA about elections; noted several other PNG stations also have segments about the upcoming elections. Folks may wonder why I continually tune in here; it’s because I enjoy their many nice selections of island songs; http://www.box.net/shared/i1v2s4bhv5dlg19b1e39 contains an MP3 audio with the address and a few island songs. Enjoyable even with static crashes and some unid QRM. Regarding their name - Sandaun is the Tok Pisin spelling for "sun down". As one of the two western most provinces in PNG, the people of Sandaun / West Sepik are the last Papua New Guineans to see the sun set each day (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3205, NBC Sandaun. Recently I gave the WRONG address for this station. The CORRECT address is NBC Sandaun, PO Box 37, Vanimo. Definitely not “371” as I thought I was hearing. Common sense should have told me I was wrong, as the postal address I gave had no city. The “one” that I was hearing must have really been “Vanimo”. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks to Ian Baxter (Australia) for pointing this out to me. Always appreciate it when someone keeps me on the straight and narrow, as I hate to have misinformation posted with my name to it! Thanks Ian! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, Radio East New Britain, 1129 June 17. Songs and man in Tok Pisin between songs, usually with a time check, re- check at 1203 and man with news. Fair. 3365, Radio Milne Bay, 1205 June 17. Tok Pisin, man with news, //3385. Poor (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 5960, R. Fly, randomly from 0916 to 1403, June 10. Well above normal reception; mostly in Tok Pisin; island songs; 0927-0938 segment about health issues in the Western Province and Australian Doctors International; many IDs; pop songs; 0945 started exciting live coverage (whose relay?) of the rugby match between the Gold Coast Titans and the St. George Dragons held in Australia; given by two Australian announcers. At 1354 surprised to hear them play a selection of classical orchestra music (a first!), followed by usual pop songs. Still no 3915 signal yet (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5960, R. Fly (presumed), 1157-1210 Jun 10. Seguéd English pop vocals; no announcements heard. Good signal, better than usual; also good on Jun 11 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5960, R. Fly, 1011 to 1139, June 11. Continues to have decent reception; live coverage of the Manly vs Cowboys rugby match held in North Queensland (Australia), the home of the Cowboys; two Australian announcers; game ended 1118; music (island/rap/pop[Beach Boys "Don’t Worry Baby"]/C&W/etc.); in Tok Pisin with ID and still talking about the Manly-Cowboys matchup. Still nothing on 3915. I have been wondering who provides these audio feeds to R. Fly for the rugby matches? Because the announcers are Australian, I thought perhaps from R. Australia, but not so. Heard RA on 6020 at the same time today, also with live play by play coverage of the same Manly- Cowboys match. Clearly not the same coverage, so is not a RA audio feed. They never do give an ID during the live coverage. 5960, R. Fly, randomly from 1005 to 1401, June 14. In Tok Pisin; safety talk about "faulty brakes .. accidents .. playgrounds .. slow down"; pop songs (ABBA "Dancing Queen"), island songs, etc. This Thursday onward I will especially be checking for reception of the soon to be reinstalled repaired 3915 transmitter. "Rosie" (Roseanne Kulupi, who is not just the R. Fly radio technician, but also has air time in pidgin, "because majority of our listeners are pidgin speakers") has indicated she hopes to drive down to Kiunga, the transmitter site, from Tabubil, site of the Ok Tedi Mining headquarters, on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week to reinstall the transmitter. So we should be able to compare the 5960 and 3915 signals this weekend, if not shortly before then (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [follow-up reports of 3915 reactivated, June 14-15 already appeared in 11-24; a drawback of closing an issue incomplete, early] 5960, R. Fly, 0944-1107, June 17. Two Australian announcers with live coverage of the exciting Brisbane Broncos vs St. George Dragons National Rugby League match held in Australia; better reception than yesterday; fading up very gradually; faintly hear // 3915, but always poor; 1030-1044 music break. Will probably have to wait till our wintertime to again hear 3915 with decent reception (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5960, Radio Fly, 1137-1153 Jun 22. Presumed with usual format of pop music and YL announcer in English, I think. There was something on 3915 but too weak to tell if //. Fair signal with 5955 splatter; still there but weak at 1230 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R- 8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.94, Wantok Radio Light, 0756, English, end of program (think it may have been "Unshackled"), local ID by a man, into music. Still very "warbly" sounding transmitter if tuned in sideband, better copy in AM. 8 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD- 535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Re 11-24: Estimados Amigos: Junto a los amigos Henrik y Hasse, captamos por los 3360 kHz Radio JPJ. Hasse y Henrik llegaron a identificarla; transmite aparentemente desde la periferia limeña. Está transmitiendo 24 horas al día. 73 (DXSPACEMASTER ALFREDO BENJAMIN CAÑOTE BUENO, Lima, Perú, June 12, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) Re: 3360 PERU --- También se escuchó por Mendoza a Radio JPJ sobre las 0940 de ayer domingo con música e identificaciones (adjunto archivos de audio). Esta mañana no se escuchaba nada en el canal. Un abrazo (Miguel Castellino, 1251 UT June 13, ibid.) ** PERU. 3329.544, Ondas del Huallaga, 1116, very good with only slight het (presumed CHU) on the high side; talk by man over flute music bed, then time check from a second man, then into ads by a woman at 1120. 8 June. (David Sharp) 4746.97, Huanta Dos Mil, 1109, noted in passing with huaynos and upbeat man, very good signal. 8 June (David Sharp) 4789.91, Radio Visión, 0906, Spanish, hymn, then into talk by man. Low audio, but readable. Slight CODAR. 8 June (David Sharp) 4824.39, La Voz de la Selva, 1137, mensajes by a woman, with occasional comments by a man. Good strength on a nice opening, but running low audio. Very slight het on the high side, maybe R. Sicuani? 10 June. (David Sharp) 4834.96, Radio Marañón? 1145, very weak Latin here, with rambling talk by man with snippets of Andean music, but nothing close to an ID. 10 June. (David Sharp) 4850.72, Radio Génesis, 1025, presumed with religious talk by a man. Fair, despite UTE. 31 May. (David Sharp) 4955.006, R. Cultural Amauta, 1116, fair with talk by man, possibly mensajes, several mentions of "Huanta." 31 May. (David Sharp) 4974.79, R. Del Pacífico, 0840, fair with lengthy talk by a man, ments of "Presidente" so possibly talk about upcoming election. 5 June. (David Sharp) 4986.37, R. Manantial, 1131, passionate talk by a man, fervent prayer and into Pentecostal-sounding sermon, with piano music bed underneath. 10 June. (David Sharp) 5039.239, R. Libertad, 1034, good with huaynos and uptempo man, slight CODAR. Strongest of all OA's today. 31 May. (David Sharp) 5120.21, Ondas del Suroriente, 1123, talk by a man, followed by huaynos at 1125. Bothered by a ute but otherwise strong signal. 31 May. (David Sharp) 6173.9, Radio Tawantinsuyo, 1200, strong enough to cast a big het against China on 6175; partial copy in LSB with presumed news by a man; several references to "Cusco." 10 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise- reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4850.69, Radio Génesis, Huanta (very tentative), 1113-1123, June 14. Very weak; seemed to be in Spanish and playing music. Need to check for their 1100 sign on; needs a lot more work to get an ID here. 4850.69, Radio Génesis, Huanta (very tentative), already on the air at 1041 tune in on June 15. In Spanish; almost thought it was a sporting event due to the excited announcer, but actually seemed to be some type of singing? Above threshold level, but not able to hear any ID (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6047.05v, R. Santa Rosa. Two days of outstanding reception; improved signal assumed to be enhanced via almost grayline reception; have never heard them this strong nor this low in frequency (normally about 6047.15); June 16 from 1133 to 1159 and June 17 from 1108 to 1138; at times heavy adjacent QRM; best in LSB; religious music; several IDs; after 1130 sounded like repeating of the Catholic rosary; countless “Santa Maria”. Very slight drift in frequency. MP3 audio posted at http://www.box.net/shared/tbtyf7fosjllnts2czgu Thanks to Ralph Perry and Bob Wilkner for their input (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Radyo Pilipinas, 15190 sent QSL card, sticker, and schedule in 76 days. Card was filled out using a typewriter. v/s Ric G. Lorenzo, audience relations (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES [non]. 15280, VATICAN CITY, R. Veritas Asia, Sta. Maria di Galeria, 1551-1553*, June 13. Tail end of broadcast with W announcer; several numbers mentioned throughout; Manila contact info; solid ID over music at 1552; fair-good (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Martedì 21 giugno 2011, Non ho fatto in tempo a recitarne il de profundis che in SW è tornato il Portogallo!!! 0745 - 11850 kHz, R. PORTUGAL - São Gabriel, PP, annuncio OM e musica locale. Segnale buono-sufficiente (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, playdx yg via DXLD) ?? It`s not back, because it never went away. It`s not São Gabriel site, but Sines, which is why RDPI is still on the air on this AM frequency only, as already explained in DXLD (gh) ** PUERTO RICO. The Rock Radio Network, no/data very friendly letter, stickers, schedule and bible lesson, in 1 month for U.S. SASE (which was replaced by a larger one with many nice stamps). QTH: PO Box 367000, San Juan, PR 00936-7000, Puerto Rico. Heard via WIVV 1370. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, June 11, heard in Barbados, report mailed from there, HCDX via DXLD) Rock as in Peter not music ** ROMANIA. 7290, IRRS traced to here: see ITALY [non] ** ROMANIA. 15340, good June 19 at 0513, YL interviewed amid crowd noise, speaking somewhat broken French, 0516 new program `Espace Culture`, about the Transylvanian International Film Festival. Thanks to the midnite sun near hi-latitude paths, we are now getting European daytime signals in the middle of our night, such as this, RRI, 0500- 0530, 300 kW, 187 degrees from Tiganeshti (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAIPAN. Re 11-24: 9720, June 13 at 1137 Indonesian talk breaking up; 1140 bit of Dutch voiced-over into Indonesian. Must be that defective IBB Saipan transmitter again: yes, chex out in HFCC at 1100- 1157, 100 kW, 225 degrees, RNW Indonesian via Saipan. Do they know about this recurring problem back in Hilversum? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, we had already noticed it via the remote monitor, but thanks for noting it (Andy Sennitt, RNW, ODXA yg via DXLD) See also NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS ** SAO TOME. 4960, June 22 at 0520, weak signal vs noise with something talking, 0542 just a carrier left. No doubt the VOA relay, 100 kW, 30 degrees in French at 0530-0630 M-F only. Today`s sunrise there was at 0531 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Lunedì 13 giugno 2011, 0752 - 17785 kHz, BSKSA - Ryadh (Arabia Saudita), Inglese, notizie lette da un uomo. Segnale buono-molto buono. Lieve ronzio in sottofondo, quello tipico degli impianti BSKSA che però di recente è assai diminuito. Secondo http://www.short-wave.info è in inglese dalle 0750 alle 0800, ma nella scheda A-11 definitiva non l'ho trovata (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) The ~10 minutes of English is merely caused by turning on the transmitter early for the scheduled French broadcast from 0800 (gh, DXLD) 15285, June 19 at 0517, fair signal, with hum, rough modulation, uncertain language talking. Wolfgang Büschel in Germany logged it too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 15285.028, BSKSA Riyadh in Swahili. East African guitar, drums and flute music at 0626 UT June 19. S=7 signal, scheduled 0400-0655 UT. Heavy BUZZ audio, like motor race. Same BUZZ accompanied unit in service at 14-18 UT on 17660.032 kHz, BSKSA Riyadh in French at S=9+20dB level. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15170, BSKSA Qur`an, June 20 at 0532, good signal with flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, S.I.B.C., 1154 June 17. Man in Tok Pisin, 1155 Christian devotion in English, 1200 woman with ID, closing, and then national anthem. Fair (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5019.87, SIBC, 1145-1205* Jun 18. Lite pop music, man and woman announcers; open carrier at 1202; off at 1205. Fair at best (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 1422, Pan Hellenic Voice. Bedfordview (Johannesburg). 2011/06/16 thu 1737-1740, Greek community radio, Greek music. Good. 1548, Radio Islam. Lenasia (Johannesburg): 2011/06/16 thu 1540-1542 Arabic. Koran. Fair. 2011/06/16 thu 1743-1748 Adverts for local products / services. Fair. S9 but seems low modulation level. 2011/06/17 fri 1155-1210 English, phone in and Islamic music. ID at 1205 "Voted community radio station of the year, Radio Islam". Good. 1485, Radio Today, Marks Park (Johannesburg), 2011/06/16 thu 1740- 1743, Money programme, every weekday for this hour. Good. S9+40 (transmitter about one mile away!). Jo'burg sunset 1524 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. I sent the following to Spain's REE as part of their request for info on how you are listening to them. As you can see, it was e- mailed on May 11th. They just read it on their June 16th broadcast at 0050. Date: Wed, May 11, 2011 at 8:36 PM Subject: English Broadcast Listener To: english @ rtve.es Hello, I haven't written to you in well over twenty years, yet I continue to be a faithful listener to your English broadcast to North America on 6055 kHz. I try to listen each and every day. I prefer listening via shortwave as I find listening via the internet just not the real thing. As well, shortwave radio lets me keep listening when I am in area with poor or non-existent internet coverage - such as camping in our wonderful provincial and national parks that offer many basic campsites without electrical hook ups. "This, That, and the Other" and "A Simpler Life" are my favourite programs (Mark Coady, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X3, ODXA yg via DXLD) [non]. 11880, June 19 at 1235, REE via COSTA RICA, `Amigos de la Onda Corta`, continues heavy promotion of encuesta (survey) about how we listen, on SW or what? One address given was amigosdx @ rtve.es and again toward the end of the show around 1255. Having individual addresses for each program also allows them to rank different shows` popularity. Once the results are in, will shortwave be reinforced or at least not abolished? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, R. Omdurman, Al Fitahab. June 10, 1936-1947 crossing of African x Arabic style music, male and female in vernacular conversation. 23332 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200, SRTC, *0229-0400, June 11, sign on with local chants. Arabic talk. Local string music. Tribal vocals. Poor in thunderstorm static (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) SUDAN/UAE, 13730, Sudanese jamming signal on 13730 to 13734 kHz ended late with transmitter switch off at 0549:20 UT June 16. Meant against Radio Dabanga in Sudanese-Arabic program via Al Dhabbaya at 0430-0527 UT slot (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 16 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [and non]. 13620, R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR, June 20 at 0527 just in time to hear final singing ID mixed with 1000 Hz tone jamming. The tone stayed on until 0530, and the carrier until about 0530.5* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Dabanga (``Press Now``) had been: 1529-1727 on 13730, 500 kW, 150 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY http://www.pressnow.nl/ changes from July 1 to: 1530-1627 on 13730, 250 kW, 330 degrees from MADAGASCAR 1530-1627 on 15335, 500 kW, 150 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY 1530-1627 on 15720, 500 kW, 150 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via Portugal, 17745, Sudan Radio Service, 1635-1645, June 12, Arabic talk. Local tribal music. Poor to fair. Via Portugal, 17745, Sudan Radio Service, *1500-1535, June 19, sign on with local tribal music. Some Arabic talk at 1516. African hi-life music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC- 7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. Thanks to tip on Glenn Hauser's 'World of Radio' this morning (17-Jun 0330-0359 via 5050 WWRB) tuned into Radio Miraya on new 11560 kHz at 0404 UTC via Mikolayiv, Ukraine. Programme of English news to 0410, then "Good Morning Sudan" with mainly English reports on South Sudan independence on 9th July, etc. and some African music plus jingles. Local time checks e.g. "19 past 7" at 0419 UT. Fair strength signal just listening on my Sony 7600GR portable with telescopic aerial on clear channel. Only downside being moderate rapid fading. Listened through to time pips at 0500 by which time signal had weakened here. (Miraya is scheduled 0300-0600 UT on 11560). (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Sony 7600GR +telescopic, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 0943, weak but clear with Dutch woman, brief music bridge, then talk by a man. 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4990, R. Apintie, Paramaribo. June, 11 0736-0746 slow music seems in Dutch, English Pop ballad selections. 35433. 73’s (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. Reminder about SAQ transmission July 3, 2011 REMINDER! We will remind you of the Grimeton Radio/SAQ transmissions on 17.2 kHz, CW, with the Alexanderson alternator on Sunday July 3, 2011 ,"Alexanderson Day", at 0900 and 1200 UT. We will start tuning up some 30 minutes before message. The radio station is open to visitors. QSL-reports are kindly received: - 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 SE-432 98 GRIMETON, SWEDEN (NB: new address) Also read our web site: http://www.alexander.n.se Yours, Lars Kalland, SM6NM. sm6nm @ telia.com lars.kalland @ telia.com (via Mike Terry, June 22, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. TAOISM BROADCAST FROM TAIWAN ENDED --- According to Mr. Lu Chengnan, Taiwan via Mr. Zhang Shifen, China, Taoism shortwave broadcasting called "Takai Shinlinde Suochi (key to open spirit)" by Taiwanese newly-risen Taoism Organization "Ikuantao" (IKT) ended its transmission via CBS Huwei transmitter site (1100-1200 7460 kHz 100 kW) on May 31. No mention about MW transmission (1200-1300 Koufu 1098 kHz 300 kW), but seems to have been ended at the same time. Their website http://www.ikttv.org/ is still mentioning about these frequencies, but no programs have been shown after June 1. They started transmission via CBS sites on May 1, 2010 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, June 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 7970, Sound of Hope (presumed), 1316-1318, June 11. In Chinese with monologue; totally covered by strong Firedrake at *1318. 7970, SOH (presumed), 1008-1012, June 15. In Chinese; some EZL music; mostly covered by Firedrake *1012; MP3 audio at http://www.box.net/shared/s3xq4skdse8hlv4ckddt (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 15269.977, RTI Paochung, Vietnamese service noted at 0930 UT June 18. Two female talk, S=6 signal on remote unit in CA-USA. 9454.976, Tainan, S=9+15dB Vietnamese program, but heard English filler chorus at 1020 UT June 18. 9464.914, Paochung-TWN S=9+10dB 09-11 UT and 9544.996, Tainan-TWN S=9+15dB, Chinese chorus noted around 0954 UT June 18. 9920.000, Tainan-TWN S=9+15dB, Chinese sermon at 1018 UT. 11549.854, R Australia's Indonesian service via Tainan-TWN heard in 10-11 UT segment, at 1038 UT June 18. S=9+5dB, noted on remote sdr unit in Vancouver Isl. western Canada (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Media Network Plus review Tecsun DR920 Another edition of Media Network Plus Video is now available. In this edition we have a review of the Tecsun DR920. Plus we have a report from Jonathan Marks who brings us on a tour of Radio For Peace International the small shortwave station that was based in Costa Rica, which went off air a few years ago. We also have some view comments [? sic]. Regards, (Keith & Paulette, Media Network Plus, June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) From Keith Perron on Facebook: Next edition of Media Network Plus: BBC Monitoring, working in English radio in Beirut, Victor Goonetilleke, and the first winner of the PCJ summer contest and more!! (via Mike Terry, June 15, dxldyg via DXLD) June Edition of Media Network Plus 22 June 2011 --- The June edition of Media Network Plus we have another fun show. Our good friend Victor Goonetilleke will join us to talk about an article he wrote on the cuts that will take place at Deutsche Welle and how this will have a big impact on listeners. Greg Fairley a Brit who spent 9 years in Beirut, Lebanon will be on the show to talk about what it was like working in English radio in the country. And we pay a small visit to BBC Monitoring. We will also be announcing the first winner of the PCJ Summer Contest. We have had such a big response that we will be giving away two radios instead of the one we intended. Tune in to find out who the first two are. The first transmission of Media Network Plus is at 0100 UT on 9955 khz June 25th directed to the Caribbean. Other relays of the show will be on World FM in New Zealand, South Herts Radio in the UK, Radio Sonora in Indonesia, and a new PCJ partner station WSCS in New Hampshire USA. 73s & 88s, Keith and Paulette (Facebook - Keith Perron) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PCJ WORLD --- Keith Perron today on Facebook: Still working on the business plan for PCJ World. We will have SW broadcasts with 8 hours a day. Announcement coming soon (via Mike Terry, UK, June 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 15785.003, Tentative [according Aoki list] via Dushanbe Yangi Yul relay site noted Sound of Hope, Xi Wang Zhi Sheng in Chinese language today June 12 at 1236 UT on that channel, scheduled 15745 kHz at 1230-1250 UT. Mentioned Mao Zedong / Mao Tse-tung over and over again, many times. S=6-7 in northern Europe, very weak signal in southern Europe. Short 3 seconds lasting music piece played, and transmitter OFF at 1259:30 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 6765 USB, 12 June, 0907 UT, Bangkok Meteorological Radio, with weather forecasts in Thai and English read by a man. These guys issue a very nice QSL card, so it's well worth the while to make the effort to log them. They are very friendly and happy to receive reports! (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. First post, but thought I'd share a few things. First, when I got home from work today, logged what I believe was Radio Thailand for the first time from up here in Alaska. It was on 15275 and I tuned in at almost 0200 UT. It was in an Asian language that was not like the Japanese and Chinese language broadcasts I'm used to hearing up here (I'm assuming it was Thai, as listed). Signal was quite good, but it was almost turn of the hour. Then the broadcast ended abruptly, with no obvious interval signal before returning about 2 minutes later, much weaker and much harder to hear. In fact, I'm more sure of the first part of broadcast being Thai because it was of decent quality, than I am of the second part being English, which I could almost make out but not quite due to poor quality. So this is a tentative ID for me (Daniel Hostetler from Alaska, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 0200 they switch from 38 to 6 degree azimuth, west coast to east coast target (gh, DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. SAKA DAWA: HOLY MONTH http://www.voanews.com/tibetan-english/news/Saka-Dawa-Holy-Month--123908259.html (Windows Media) Kunleng invites Geshe Rinchen Ngodup, instructor, Dolma Ling, and Yeshe Khedrup, VOA Tibetan Service, to discuss the significance of this sacred month of Tibetan Buddhism, and how other Buddhist societies observe the Buddhas´ Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana. Kunleng TV is simulcast on television via satellite, on shortwave radio, and via the Internet in real time. Tune in every Wednesday and Friday at 1400-1500 UT, 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm Lhasa time. From Tibet and China Call toll-free 108888 AT&T 866 837 5159 From elsewhere us at 1-202-619-3774 (Tell the operator to reverse the charges and we will pay for the call.) Or send your name and phone number in advance so we can contact you during the show. If you are not able to join us in person please send your questions to us via fax or E-mail to: tibetanTV@voanews.com or Fax: 1-202-382-5596 (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, June 15, DXLD) As necessary as this may seem in light of ChiCom repression, I fear this is another example of VOA violating Separation of `church` and state. Tibetans are entitled to be informed about all religions, or none at all, by the US government (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. Sabato 18 giugno 2010. 1402 - 15137 kHz, VOICE OF TIBET, prob. Tibetano, telefonata OMs. Segnale sufficiente. Dalle 1406 QRM Firedrake 15135 (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) 15137 is one I had not noticed, but is in Aoki: 15137 1400-1430 TJK * VOICE OF TIBET Tib Dushanbe-Ya 1-7 (gh, DXLD) ** TUNISIA. 12005 Futebol pela Radio Tunisia --- RTV Tunisienne, Sfax, Arabic, 18/06 1951. OM: Narração de futebol, no melhor estilo das narrações brasileiras! Vale à pena conferir. 35443. Rx: Icom IC-R75 Ant.: Vertical 6m (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo SP, BRASIL, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Re: 15450, VOT listened to between chex for LRA36, June 16, Thursday: 1251-1257, `The Middle East Through Turkey`s Window` about strained relations with Syria. Then podcast promo via http://www.trtenglish.com and Question of the Month I was finally able to copy, but quoting it here would only enable those who never listen to answer it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is worth entering these competitions - I entered the VOT Question of the Month a couple of months ago, and received through the post recently an attractive wooden fold-up travel alarm clock with the TRT logo on top. It now sits next to my radio. Many thanks to VOT for a very nice gift (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15450, June 20 at 1320, no signal from VOT, which normally has not signed off the 1230 broadcast quite this early. Come to think of it, not noticed during the previous hour either. Propagation was subnormal, but unseemed bad enough to wipe it out completely, e.g. Romania audible on 15195, France on 15300. June 21 at 1231, VOT is there but JBA improving to VP (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 15450, VOT, which was inaudible to very poor the past two days, back in force June 22 at 1247, S9+22 VG signal, better than Bulgaria 15700, and much greater than Greece 15630. The Wednesday feature `Letterbox` was starting, with no shortage of mail to acknowledge, none from any names I recognized in the DX hobby, and little from North America, but from places such as Japan and Greek Cyprus [which pulled out of the children`s games in April when they found out Turkish Cypriots were there too]. SW appears to be alive and well in this case. 1304 started program over by mistake, then cut to Question of the Month, and then Turkish pop music fill for the rest of the hour. I switched to Qur`an from Sa`udi on 17615/17625 for more placid breakfast serenade, as we never hear Qur`an from secular Turkey, tsk2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4750, Dunamis Shortwave, 1809, English, talk by a man, into hymn at 1811, very low audio but all alone on freq. 10 June (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. via France, 15410, Radio Y’Abaganda, *1700-1715*, June 11, sign on with African choral music. Vernacular talk at 1702- 1715. Sign off with several seconds of African choral music. Weak. Poor. Fair to good on peaks. Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) via France, 15410, Radio Y’Abaganda, *1700-1715*, June 18, sign on with African choral music. Vernacular talk at 1703-1715. Weak. Poor signal. Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** UGANDA [non]. 17770, Uganda via Russia, R. Ndiwulira, Luganda. June 14, 1723-1731 male in eloquent English talks, many mentions of Uganda; abrupt sign off, unreadable 25422. June 18, 1700-1719 music, male in vernacular talks, mentions of Uganda. At sign on poor conditions but some enhancement until the peak at 1714, later some decrease, 25322 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. EVEN AUNG SAN SUU KYI MISSES THE "OLD" BBC WORLD SERVICE See http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2011/06/21/burmese-campiagner-aung-san-suu-kyi-reveals-her-unlikely-lifeline-hairy-cornflake-dave-lee-travis-86908-23216422/ or http://goo.gl/WTEhN Some here have been saying the same thing for years. Admittedly the, uh, potential audience of political prisoners and kidnap victims (viz. Terry Anderson) is smaller than those countries in Africa and Asia with immature news media, but it's interesting to see how those who view the BBCWS as a "lifeline" to the outside world miss the broad portfolio of programming (Richard Cuff, PA, internatetradio via DXLD) ** U K. LORD PATTEN VOWS TO PROTECT BBC WORLD SERVICE Lord Patten has been interviewed by the Telegraph. The full interview is not online as far as I can see. A detailed summary is, both from the Telegraph and BBC News, which includes some quotes not in the Telegraph`s version. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8570026/Lord-Patten-vows-to-save-the-World-Service-from-cuts.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13741210 The Telegraph has a poll asking its readers how important funding the BBC World Service is to them. This to me highlights the problem in bringing WS funding into the licence fee. Domestic services will be cut and individual households will be paying for services in foreign languages through a compulsory tax. Many will not agree with the priority being given to this. The BBC World Service in English has a domestic audience so the argument doesn't apply as strongly there (Mike Barraclough, England, June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Telegraph article does not mention shortwave, so don't get your hopes up for restoration of cancelled transmissions, or the retention of SW at its current levels. BBCWS will be making some tough decisions on distribution platforms, regardless of funding levels. And Lord Patten can say whatever he wants, but the ultimate decision will rest with the British government, which has to deal with budget deficits and an economic recession. "Wants" don't always equal "Needs." And good points in some of the reader comments about British taxpayers funding free radio for those outside the UK (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Whilst the Government will decide the funding levels and whether to allow language services to be axed all other decisions are made by the BBC. From Lord Patten's pre-appointment hearing in front of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee: Lord Patten: We could exchange theology. I think it's the BBC being asked to take responsibility for things that are a part of public service broadcasting and are closely and strongly related to what the BBC is already doing. I think, myself, that the most interesting and difficult of all those is the World Service, which I think is hugely important to this country and to a lot of other countries. There will come a time — in the next four years, I would guess — when a Chairman of the Trust and a director-general will have to explain to people why some things they would like to be putting more money into in domestic provision can't be afforded because of important things that need to be done to make sure that the World Service continues to be a really important part of this country's outreach to the rest of the world. I think the World Service is a fantastic asset to this country. Chair: So do you think the cuts should be reversed? Lord Patten: I think some of the cuts need to be looked at very carefully. I was unhappy — you'd expect me to say this, because of my background — about the shortwave cuts, particularly the Hindi service. In the wake of signing a cultural agreement with India, we then found ourselves, as one of the first things that happened afterwards, cutting the Hindi service. That is, I think, being looked at again, and part of the service is continuing for another year, but I'd certainly want to look at the whole question of shortwave transmissions and whether it's really sensible for the BBC to take the view that that's all old hat nowadays. If you're living in a village in India or Africa with no electricity, shortwave transmission is rather important. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcumeds/864/11031002.htm (via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) I don't doubt that there are particular situations where shortwave is still important. But given budget restraints, its use must be very carefully selected. There is still an audience for SW in Africa and some parts of Asia, and it is worthwhile to continue services for the time being. But for other parts of the world, SW is a colossal waste of money when the audience has migrated to other more modern platforms. And all this discussion still leaves open the question: Why should British taxpayers have domestic BBC services cut or eliminated while still paying for free radio services for overseas listeners? Is the UK (or any other country) "obligated" to provide such services? Are listeners around the world "entitled" to such services? The days of lavish budgets for international broadcasting are gone, as countries continue to drown in government debt. Hard choices must be made (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) BBC will restart morning Hindi broadcast BBC Hindi will survive funding cuts: Patten From Prasun Sonwalkar Oxford, Jun 17 (PTI) Terming the BBC Hindi Service as "very important", Lord Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust and chancellor of the University of Oxford, today said the service will survive the major funding cuts that had severely affected its future. Patten, who recently took over as chairman of the BBC Trust, told PTI here that due to the importance of the Hindi Service and increasingly deeper relations [with] India, he was making all efforts to ensure its survival amidst funding cuts. Read the PTI story here : http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/bbc-hindi-will-survive-funding-cuts-patten/729400.html (Naleen Kumar) (via Alokesh Gupta, India, June 17, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) BBC Hindi will survive funding cuts: Patten http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bbc-hindi-will-survive-funding-cuts-patten_558272.html (also via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) BBC WORLD SERVICE'S HINDI SHORT-WAVE SERVICE SAVED FROM CLOSURE Foreign secretary agrees to give an extra £2.2m annually for three years from the Foreign Office budget. The BBC World Service's Hindi short-wave broadcasts have been saved from the axe after the foreign secretary, William Hague, agreed to give extra money to the highly regarded international broadcaster. More at : http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/22/bbc-world-service-hindi Related stories : http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47341&c=1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8591312/BBC-World-Service-receives-2.2m-funding-boost.html (Thanks to Naleen Kumar for the links) --- (via Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) The extra £2.2 million over three years from the Government is for the Arabic service. The Trust has found £9 million from lower than expected restructuring and pension costs some of which will go to the Hindi shortwave service. This was originally announced on the Foreign Office website as a massive U turn leading to disciplinary action against a member of staff! The Telegraph now has an updated report with the screenshot of the original announcement: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8591524/Foreign-Office-gaffe-as-massive-u-turn-on-BBC-funding-is-announced.html Full text of William Hague`s statement: http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/press-statement/2011/June/fs-wms-bbc-world-service220611 Statement from BBC Trust: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/june/world_service.shtml (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Listeners, From 15th June the frequency of BBC Bangla Night Transmission had been changed. Now programme is heard at 1630-1700 UT on 6155 instead of 11995 kHz. Sender: (Md. Salahuddin Dolar, Vill. + P. O. Chuamuhani, P.S. Motihar, Rajshahi -6000, Bangladesh, Phone + 8801712337439, June 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC JOURNALISM JOB CUTS: NEW STRIKE VOTE AGREED Press Gazette By Andrew Pugh 15 June 2011 http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47291&c=1 BBC journalists are set to start a strike ballot this week amid reports that hundreds of journalism jobs at the corporation are under threat. The NUJ has confirmed that ballot papers could be sent to members as early as Friday and that the outcome of the vote will be announced in around a month's time. The union claimed 100 editorial jobs face the axe at BBC World Service and that there are further 30 posts under threat in the BBC's Television Current Affairs department and 43 journalism jobs at risk in BBC News. NUJ general secretary-elect Michelle Stanistreet said: "We have worked hard to try to resolve job losses at the corporation however we have reached a point where the BBC is targeting our members for compulsory redundancy. "We will continue at local and national level to do everything we can to resolve the outstanding cases. We must be ready to take action to defend the jobs of journalists and to protect the vital public services they provide." A BBC News spokesman said: "We believe that industrial action is not necessary and that dialogue is the best way to resolve this issue." A report in The Guardian last week claimed that up to 1,000 jobs could go at BBC News offices across the UK and overseas - and that the majority of these would be reporting jobs. The paper said that BBC News director Helen Boaden had put forward proposals to cut its budget by 20 per cent, or £89m, by 2016-17. The BBC spokesman added: "We are not going to get drawn into a running commentary - no decisions have been taken and therefore these claims remain speculation. "Any decisions coming out of the process would be subject to approval by the BBC Trust." Earlier this year it was reported that 650 out of 2,400 World Service jobs would be cut to save £46m a year out of its £272m a year budget, but on Sunday the new BBC Trust chairman Lord Chris Patten indicated he may roll back some of the planned cuts to the World Service. He told the Sunday Telegraph: "I hope that with the Foreign Secretary we can successfully mitigate the effects of some of the decisions which were taken. "I'll be talking to him reasonably soon. I know he regards the World Service as an important part of this country's soft power and I'm sure that with goodwill and without megaphones we'll be able to sort it out." Last October, BBC bosses negotiated a new funding deal with the Coalition Government that saw the corporation take a 16 per cent funding cut in real terms, which amounts to around £340m a year. (via Mike Terry, June 15, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE REDUNDANCY COULD SPUR STRIKE VOTE --- NUJ describes compulsory dismissal of Bengali World Service journalist as 'provocative act' Tara Conlan, guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 June 2011 16.22 BST Industrial action at the BBC could be on the cards after the corporation made a journalist at the BBC World Service take compulsory redundancy. The National Union of Journalists called it a "provocative act" and is urging its members to vote for industrial action. On Wednesday a Bengali member of the World Service was dismissed on the grounds of compulsory redundancy, according to the NUJ. Full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/17/bbc-strike-world-service?CMP=twt_fd (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, June 20, dx_sasia yg via DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE FACING 20% BUDGET CUT! Hi Glenn & Kevin, I got hooked on BBC World Service via my shortwave radios in the mid-80's Cold War days, and fondly remember Glenn's show from the my shortwave radio days. Nice memories! I'm also a long-time user and occasional supporter (I need to do more!) of Kevin Kelly's http://www.PublicRadioFan.com My request: Please consider giving *un-affiliated* (my own, independent, unpaid, labor-of-love effort) BBC WS fan-page I created this past week a Facebook "Like". BTW, Radio Netherlands is facing a similar cut (announced this week) to their broadcast service aimed at listeners in the U.S. URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Friends-of-the-BBC-World-Service/210110875690710 Point I'm making to the Facebook and wider U.S. community is that yes, while we don't talk too much about it, many American radio listeners do indeed appreciate the perspective of non-commercial, high-quality world news programming from long-taken-for-granted, publicly-funded overseas broadcasters in countries long friendly to the U.S., namely BBC World Service Radio. Thanks for considering this. Sincerely, Larry, Clifton Park, New York (Lawrence Kelley, Mechanical Engineer / Sustainable Energy Design, June 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. /HAWAII - 5000, WWV/WWVH. Now announcing that the previous decision to discontinue the Solar Indices broadcasts on September 6 has been retracted (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, June 14, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. Remember the announcement on WWV that they were planning on ending Solar Terrestrial Indices broadcasts? Apparently enough of us spoke and they have relented. They plan now to continue to broadcast the information indefinitely. See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwv/ for details, or better yet, listen to WWV at :18 minutes past the hour for the announcement and REPORT it here in the TipSheet!) and don't forget to write them to say thank you -- especially if you commented to them before! (Ken Zichi, MARE Tipsheet June 17 via DXLD) Viz.: NOAA / Space Weather Prediction Center SWPC is no longer planning to discontinue the broadcast of its synoptic Geo-Alert products on the WWV and WWVH radio stations. SWPC plans to continue this service for the foreseeable future. Additionally, updates to the content of this product are underway as a result of the feedback process. For example, in addition to providing the current, daily solar flux at 2800 MHz, we are evaluating adding more frequent observations at 2695MHz. Other improvements to the message content will also be evaluated. Stay tuned to this site for the latest status on these updates. For additional comments or questions, please email us at swpc.wwv @ noaa.gov (via DXLD) ** U S A. [Re 11-23] VOICE OF AMERICA OPERATOR PLANS "SUNSET" FOR SHORTWAVE RADIO BROADCASTS A response by André Mendes to a similar report in Radio World: http://www.rwonline.com/article/mendes-comments-on-rw%E2%80%99s-bbg-report-story/23657 (Mike Barraclough, NASWA yg via DXLD) Mendes' reply continues to show media bias. No serious defender of SW believes SW is NOT declining in overall audience. No serious student of the situation would disagree with the need for a mix of media platforms to serve the US interests. Mendes sets up a "strawman" here, pretending the issue is "shortwave" vs "a mix of technology / platforms." We all agree there needs to be a mix of delivery platforms. The question is really, what is the nature of the mix. Mendes treats SW as "important," but only in the short range, until the new internet based and related technologies become virtually universally used. The assumption seems to be that SW will be needed in the mix only for the short term, several years at best. As I have noted previously, the audience move away from SW in many areas of the world has been shifting -- but because of cost and availability -- not so much to Internet technology but to similarly old fashioned FM. FM, we know, works well in ordinary times, but in crises, man-made or natural, FM, being purely local, is usually curtailed. In times of special need, FM is less reliable than SW. So what then is the alternative but to have at least some SW capability long term? Mendes suggests the answer is to farm that out to others, get it off the BBG books. Libya shows that the "others" include the US military. But that puts the maintaining of SW facilities on the Department of Defense budget. It may help the BBG budget, but ignores the fact that it is still tax money supported. No answer there, except to put the burden onto the DoD. Mendes` other suggestion is to farm out the transmission of SW to private SW transmitters whose time is purchased at cheaper rates because they are located in parts of the world where costs are lower. Besides potential political problems, depending on the nature of the world crisis when SW communications are essential, you have the question of reliability of transmitters in Slovakia, Romania, Russia and ex-USSR states. They exist because of chance; they are otherwise unused SW transmitters. Already, in more affluent countries, Portugal, for example, these rent-a-transmitters already have vanished. [No, they haven`t, Portugal`s own have been turned off and the ``rentals`` at Sines continue --- for now --- gh] Soon to be gone, too, are Bonaire and Madagascar. When there is insufficient profit, need for transmitter replacement, and too high costs, these rent-a-transmitters will disappear. What then will Mendes rely upon other than the US military, and as we have seen, that doesn't save money, merely transfers transmitter costs to the DOD. Mendes dismisses SW audiences in China to under 1 percent. Oddly, China does not dismiss its own Chinese SW audience, as we all know well. Even if one accepts Mendes "estimate" of the Chinese SW audience, note that China has 1.3 billion people. A half percent of that is still 6.6 million, hardly an insignificant audience. And while admittedly, Internet technology has been fast growing, per easily found statistics, still 64% of Latin Americans do NOT (or cannot) use Internet. 68% of Middle Eastern peoples do NOT; 76% of Asians; 89% of Africans do NOT/CANNOT. Worldwide, the percentage of those not using Internet is 70%. Even in Europe, 42% do not. That is a LOT of potential audience to discount. Lots of flawed arguments both in Mendes report and his defense of it. dnj (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, June 10, ibid.) Not challenging, just curious - what's the source for these stats? I've seen several mentions that the decline in SW listening has been particularly precipitous in recent years. I still muse at the fact that none of the still-extant SW radio manufacturers bother with much advocacy about the potential for SW. You'd think they have a reason to promote SW utilization. RC (Richard Cuff, PA, ibid.) My argument is not that SW is isn't doomed, eventually. My argument is that for the foreseeable future -- not just the next 3-5 years -- there will remain at least some need that cannot be served by other than SW if one decides -- the "if" is what major countries need to be considering now -- they want to project their interests to underdeveloped areas of the world, then a practical answer has to be found to do that. As we know, some larger European countries have totally given up on SW. I think this is shortsighted if they wish to project their interests abroad. Mendes concedes, however, that at least some short term SW is required. His big concern is to get the transmitting yoke off the backs of the VOA etc., and off the BBG budget. His solution though, is to assume only a short term, interim requirement for some SW. And because it seems to me that history suggests the Internet, while fast growing, it is much slower to penetrate the politically important underdeveloped areas than had been assumed, that that pattern will continue for, say well beyond the immediate presence, 3-5 years. For these non-users of the Internet, Mendes's short term answer is local FM (I have discussed the problems with FM reliability in crises), upon rent-a-transmitters in cheap-to-operate parts of the world (which aren't likely to continue to operate as their Cold War transmitters need to be replaced) and, by implication, transmitters owned and operated by the US military (example: Libya – involving mostly cost shifting from BBG to DoD, hence not a saving for US taxpayers). And I was not pushing that argument on you, Rich, but on Mendes` arguments and apparent mindset. My source for the statistics was http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm It focuses on things like users and penetration in areas of the world. I chose to do the math and look at the reciprocal side of it, from the perspective of non-users and non-penetration; that is, the audience not reached and seemingly shrugged off by Mendes (Don Jensen, ibid.) ** U S A. BROADCASTING BOARD TRAVELS TO ETHIOPIA, SOUTH SUDAN AND NIGERIA TO BROADEN VOA’S REACH Three members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Dana Perino, Susan McCue, and Michael Meehan, will visit Ethiopia, South Sudan and Nigeria to broaden the Voice of America's reach and impact in Africa. Board members will meet with high-ranking government officials, VOA journalists and broadcasting affiliates to address challenges and opportunities in the region. “This is an important opportunity for us to meet with these courageous and innovative journalists where they work, and to reinforce the vital role of a free and unfettered press in each of these countries,” said BBG Governor Dana Perino. “VOA and its local partners play an instrumental role addressing bedrock health and welfare issues, and providing balanced news coverage as well as valuable cultural programming.” In Ethiopia, they will meet Ethiopian Minister of Government Communications Bereket Simon and other senior government officials as well as representatives of state and private media to seek greater market access. On the heels of the historic agreement with the People’s Liberation Movement to withdraw forces from the Abyei Area of Sudan, Board members will meet with newly-elected President Salva Kiir, Minister of Information Benjamin Mariel and others to discuss opportunities for cooperation with local partners in support of media development. They will also attend a democracy-in-action town hall meeting organized by VOA where citizens and government officials will discuss important challenges facing the new country. At their final stop, in Abuja, Nigeria, Governors Perino, McCue, and Meehan will join First Lady Patience Jonathan of Nigeria at a town hall meeting co-sponsored by VOA and Radio France Internationale on public health issues. The Governors will meet with Vice President Namadi Sambo and U.S. Ambassador Terence McCulley to discuss ways to capitalize on VOA’s listenership (21% of adults). VOA's audience in Africa is nearly 45 million adults across multiple media platforms, including more than 20 million in Nigeria and 3 million in Ethiopia. Audiences in Sudan’s Darfur region are also served by Afia Darfur of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, which is broadcast in Arabic and has an estimated weekly audience of 30% there. Audience reach for VOA's newly launched English program Sudan in Focus is not yet available. SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/kTC11o (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, June 22, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Some IBB changes, all new frequencies: Radio Liberty 0500-0700 11850 LAM 100 kW / 055 deg EaEu, ex 12005 Russian 1400-1500 13615 WER 250 kW / 075 deg CeAs, ex 9510 Uzbek Voice of America 1400-1500 17760 LAM 100 kW / 077 deg CeAs, ex 15530 Tibetan Mo/We/Fr 1630-1700 13830 WER 250 kW / 150 deg EaAf, ex 13870 Sud.Eng. Mon-Fri 1700-1730 13630 SAO 100 kW / 138 deg CeAf, ex 15740 Portuguese 1730-1800 13630 BOT 100 kW / 350 deg CeAf, ex 15740 Portuguese 1800-1830 13630 MDC 250 kW / 275 deg CeAf, ex 15740 Portuguese Mo-Fr 1900-1930 9600 WER 250 kW / 150 deg EaAf, ex 9745 Ar "Hello Darfur" (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 13 June via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. VOA sent two QSLs in large envelope, plus wall calendar and postcards. One card was for 6080 (São Tomé), the other for 6140 (Thailand); sites were not shown on the cards. Continued their current practice of giving date as "10/31/2010 - 3/26/2011" and showing the listed time for the broadcast (Bruce Portzer, Seattle WA, June 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 17545, June 23 at 1409 rock music, then YL ID as `VOA Music Mix`. 16m reception much degraded, but this lo-latitude signal is fairly good, 100 kW, 124 degrees from São Tomé. Too bad the programming was nothing substantial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, here's the rest of the schedule of what's on 17545 at that hour: 1405-1430 Sat program heard called `On The Line` (nothing on web site about this) 1405-1430 Sun `American Café`; 1430-1500 M-F `International Edition`, Sat `Press Conference USA`, Sun `Encounter`. First 5 minutes each day is the usual news segment (Peter W Hansen, June 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 10 June, 2011 [pdf on WWCR letterhead] Mr. Hauser~ On June 5, 2011 you posted on your DXLD http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld under a post titled Glenn Hauser logs June 4-5, 2011 some words that could not escape the attention of WWCR. This was also posted on your DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-23, June 9, 2011. We feel the need to respond to your posts directly and urgently. You posted: ``** USA. Altho WaveScan did appear on WWCR for the first time, Saturday June 4 at 1630 on 12160, oh oh, that's not WaveScan at 0225 UT Sunday on 4840, despite the June 1 schedule listed repeat at 0200. Silly me, relying on the updated schedule on WWCR website, which also means that WORLD OF RADIO is NOT back at 0230. The gospel huxter in progress after citing Malachi 3:16 played taps theme for a break at 0230, 0231 First Amendment Radio promo, ads for Berkey water. 0234 taps again`` WaveScan did appear on WWCR for the first time on Saturday, June 4th. After posting the June 1 program guide, the scheduled re-airing on Sunday at 0200 was replaced with a paid program. WWCR updates the program guide on the first of each month, not every time that a program change is made. That aside, your comment about our paying broadcaster served no purpose and was unwelcome. You continued: ``No, Ask #340 airing until June 17 at 0145 UT Sundays had only three topix: NASB will welcome everyone to the September 14 meeting of HFCC in Dallas for a tour of Continental Electronix; a reception report from Reunion, which really impressed them and fantasies of visiting there; and getting V. of Russia to move off 13850, which was severely QRMing WWCR/DGS 13845 in Europe. I doubt he cares anymore (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Dr. Gene Scott's University Network has been on WWCR for over 20 years. In fact, they paid their airtime charges while WWCR was rebuilding after a fire that totally destroyed the station. Dr. Scott was one ofthe strongest reasons that WWCR was able to continue broadcasting after being left ruined by fire. In all reality, WWCR cannot understand a *non-paying* broadcaster posting derogatory remarks about a deceased broadcaster whose operation still continues on WWCR. Additionally, we cannot understand your calling others "huxters" [sic] when you solicit funds on each program and yet do not pay for the time. WWCR has provided you free airtime for World of Radio throughout many years. This accommodation was always based upon the idea that your program served the public interest. We believe reporting events in the public interest requires an objective, nonstation based approach. Derogatory remarks such as noted above have no place in objective reporting. Please be advised that WWCR will no longer accommodate airings for World of Radio effective immediately. If you would like to continue broadcasting on WWCR as a paid, non-objective broadcaster, please contact me about available times and costs. Brady Murray Operations Manager WWCR Shortwave (via DXLD) [bold or italic passages as *-* here] Brady, I thought it better to let things cool off for a while since your June 10 notice. Also that came just as I was going out the door for a few days. While it is of course your prerogative, I think you have made a mistake, and have not been fair to me and countless listeners. You never gave me any hint that I was not free to express my opinions in my own publication. Until now it appeared that WWCR was cool with that. Now you are citing a brief flip remark about Dr Scott as the reason for cutting World of Radio. What I said was literally true, that since he is dead, he is not in a position to care about the 13845 interference. Obviously, his heirs and continuing broadcasters would care. I didn`t realize he remains such a revered figure for WWCR, but that`s understandable. You never explained your thinking about the distinction you make between paid and unpaid programming, objective and non-objective, until it was too late. Was I supposed to read your mind? I was relying on your personal assurance to me when you assumed leadership at WWCR that you would continue with WOR. FYI, I have always voluntarily toned down my opinions on WOR even tho no one asked me to, not using the term `gospel huxter`, for instance, on the program. I have also avoided using it in print in direct connexion with WWCR broadcasters, but it did slip thru this once, rather out of frustration. (Altho not identified specifically.) Hadn`t WOR been on WWCR about as long as Dr Scott, or nearly so? You have interrupted a long history of providing a quality program about SW to your listeners. It also showed how broad-minded you were in allowing such a non-religious program to air. It attracted an audience you would not otherwise have. It balanced to some extent the rightward skew of most of your other programming. As far as I am concerned it was always an equal quid-pro-quo. Yes, certainly grateful for the airtime, but I think WWCR should also be grateful for the service I provided. 99+ % of what I say on WOR is purely factual, and there is no better source for news of the shortwave medium. My soliciting funds on the program: this is always very brief, and FYI results in very little income. Weeks can go by with no response. In fact, WOR is paid for mainly out of my own pocket (and very long unpaid hours gathering the info) and has been forever. You never objected to that. Buying time on any station is not an option for me. Of course, I was glad for you or any station to make some money off WOR by adjacent SW-oriented commercials. As for the inaccurate Saturday night listing on your June program schedule, please try to see it from the point of view of listeners --- the DX Block is back! What a cause for celebration. Except it isn`t. We cannot understand why you would put up a new schedule, and then not make a little more effort to correct it if such a significant change occurs a day or two later, instead letting it be wrong for nearly a month. Or if you had dropped me a note ASAP that the Saturday night airing was not really coming back, we could have headed off publicizing that the DX block would resume, and presumably this entire scenario. O, I see you did put up a corrected schedule later, backdated June 9. Like I said, you might have given me a warning, instead of taking such drastic action. We had no chance to discuss it, or for me to explain myself. It`s such a shame to cut off such a long relationship without any discussion. Despite this, I am prepared to resume making WOR available to WWCR if you would like to reverse this abrupt decision. That would reaffirm your sense of fair play and generosity. I am sure it would be a very popular move among your/our listeners (Glenn to Brady Murray, June 21, via DXLD) No reply yet Re: WOR Cancellations I have listened to GH's excellent show since 1980 when it was first broadcast by WUOT in Knoxville, then on shortwave, Costello's WRNO, then KCBI, WHRI, and of course, WJCR and more recently WWCR and WWRB. Let's put up a petition on the DX Shortwave site on Facebook condemning the actions of FW Robbit and Brady Murray of WWCR in Nashville. 73's, (Noble West, BMSS, TN, June 11, dxldyg via DXLD) Noble, I didn't realize that WJCR used to carry WoR. But I google it up and you are right. Has WHRI ever carried WoR? I see that you missed WBCQ and RFPI among WoR's affiliates. I used to listen to WoR most often on RFPI, as this station provided many repeats with a good reception. Oh, and don't forget about WRN, either. - It's always a pleasant surprise to hear WoR on Sirius radio whenever I rent a car with satellite receiver. The SW radio stations are struggling financially these days. I'm thankful for all the air time that that donated to our hobby. Fortunately, WoR's delivery on SW isn't as crucial as it used to be. Cheers, (Sergei S., ibid.) Sergei: Oops! My bad, I guess. Yes, it is still on WBCQ as far as I know. At one time in the 2000's I did hear this show briefly over WHRI, but after occasional misplaced tapes and tapes that would not get on the air or are delayed by sesqui minutes, GH pulled WOR off the station and it was heard on RFPI beginning in the 2000's back when GH resided in Florida! Those were the days then! I also remember the time GH broadcast a parody of RHC's "Your Attention Please" announcements they used to broadcast years ago in the early Eighties. I can understand why Brady Murray pulled the plug on GH. But of course DGS has since been gone for sesqui months. I do hope GH can start his own Low Powered Internet Station and buy a Part 15 kit allowing him to put WOR on Shortwave himself. I still tune in the podcasts on his site and they are still enjoyable, hearing GH's Dulcet Tones! WOR may find a new outlet thanks to George and WTWW soon if things work out. 73's, (Noble West, BMSS, TN, dxldyg via DXLD) I remember hearing WOR on WHRI back in the 90's. I recall that a big reason Glenn yanked the show was that the LeSea folks were inserting commercials into the program (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) I don`t recall that being an issue (commercial inserts). General unreliability was. At that time I was also having to pay for express- shipping tapes overnight to South Bend. They were supposed to return them in bulk periodically, but hardly ever did. I was on the verge of pulling out when the person in charge at that time [Joe Hill] decided he could not take my political opinions any longer. (Altho then as now they were only a very small fraxion of what I said on WOR). And thus the innocuous made-to-order DXing with Cumbre was born, as WHR still wanted some DX program (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, not to disagree with you, or doubt your memory, but I specifically remember the WOR edition where you announced your cancellation of the show on WHRI, and you mentioned the commercials as one of the reasons. Apparently you were uncomfortable with being seen as tied to some of the products/services mentioned in those commercials, when no such relationship existed. Also went against the public service nature of WOR. From listening to the show on WHRI I also recall that the commercials replaced some of the program content, in order to balance out the time (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) I have never objected to SW-related commercials adjacent to WOR, all the proceeds of which went to the stations, not me. At the same time, I needed to make clear that I was not necessarily endorsing such products myself. But WOR itself is not to be interrupted (gh, DXLD) 100 percent disagree. It's these "dollar an hour" religious broadcasters who allow Hauser the ability to air his programming in the first place. If these religious broadcasters aren't paying, these broadcasters aren't in business. Hauser gets all his air time for free. Be very thankful for these religious broadcasts (Pat Blakely, Leesville, SC, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mr. Blake: I am very grateful they air this excellent half hour program each week. It has been a great show since 1982. 73's, (Noble West, BMSS, TN, ibid.) To say his show was canceled on WWCR because of comments re: (Dr) Gene Scott is a pretty thin excuse. I have worked at religious stations before, they are generally all the same (i.e. not open to dissenting opinions). (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) I am very grateful also they air World of Radio free of charge. But be very grateful that the very people whom Hauser insults on a regular basis like Pete Peters, Brother Stair, and Gene Scott are the one's who allow you to listen to World of Radio on shortwave in the first place. If they aren't paying, you aren't listening, because those stations wouldn't be on the air. You wouldn't go into a business, stand around, and insult the paying customers would you? You would be thrown out (Pat Blakely, ibid.) INSULT? These guys insult my intelligence and that of every listener with every word they say. We all put up with that. A word or two on my part is hardly equivalent. Altho no religious station ever laid down guidelines or requirements on what I could say, I have always voluntarily toned down my comments on the air. Now WWCR punishes me for what I say in my own publication (gh, DXLD) Glenn Hauser is not an "unknown". These stations put him on the air, knowing his views (David Sharp, NSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The fact that everyone reading this is doing so on a computer or smartphone means that WOR is easily available for download or streaming, so any WWCR cancellation is really not a big deal. I would guess that the overwhelming majority of SWL's within earshot of WWCR also have internet access. While I fully support the efforts of stations such as WWCR, WWRB, and WTWW to operate a business and make money, I also have to say that the type of programming they put out does little more than contribute to shortwave broadcasting's spin into technological and programming irrelevance. How many preachers/financial hucksters/conspiracy theorists is there a demand for? It is nichecasting on the most micro level. I guess as long as there are paying customers, there is a business model...but how many people actually listen to this stuff? This sort of thing is a key reason why AM radio has sunk into oblivion in the US (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Hi Glenn, I support your free speech right to express yourself. You will always be welcome on WBCQ (Allan Weiner, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) World of Radio on 5110 --- I'm running World of Radio at 0300 on 5110 Mondays in the absence of new episodes of Ragnar Daneskjold's Pirates Week. Ragnar's show has been on vacation since May 22. I am hearing WOR 1569 here on 5110 with a very good signal at 0320 on June 20. WOR will continue to be here on the odd weeks Ragnar doesn't do a show, so I suppose you could list this relay as "irregular." Hope you are well. Regards, Lw (Larry Will, Area 51, 0324 UT June 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Many tnx to our friends at WBCQ! (gh) ** U S A. 9955, Sunday June 19 at 1141, WRMI with preacher in English, no jamming but very poor signal. So maybe it will not be jammed either on Monday when WORLD OF RADIO is at 1130. Further airings are Sunday 1530, 1730, Monday 1530, 2130, Tuesday 1530, Wednesday 1530, Thursday 0330. WORLD OF RADIO 1570 monitoring: Thursday June 23 after 1500 on WRMI 9955, presumably first airing but all I can hear is a SAH with presumed Taiwan; no jamming, anyway, unlike the WON on 9965. WRMI repeats are: Thu 2100, Fri 1430, Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, etc., etc. On WBCQ: Thursday 2130 on 7415 = NEW which started last week. On WWRB: UT Friday 0330v on 5050. On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. WORLD OF RADIO 1570 monitoring: the new time on WBCQ, Thursday 2130, instituted last week, failed to recur this week, June 23: 7415, barely audible here and confirmed on webcast: Amos `n` Andy ran a bit over, some Twilight Zone music, then rock fill until 2154 joined some talkshow in progress. I suppose word of the new scheduling had yet to filter down to the operator on duty, or some problem in downloading. Let`s hope it resume next Thursday. On ACB Radio Mainstream webcast, confirmed after 0300 UT Friday June 24, to repeat 2-hourly thru 2330. On WWRB 5050: confirmed from 0331 UT Friday. Signal was only fair and fading with current propagation disturbances. On webcast as usual started at very low audio level, gradually increasing. On WRMI 9955: confirmed on webcast UT Friday 1430+. Further airings are: Saturday 0800, 1500, 1730; Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730, etc. On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. We also expect to start on WTWW 9479 and/or 5755 next week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15825, June 21 at 1349, WWCR by sporadic E has become strong enough at S9+20 to audiblize the scratchy spur field matching the music modulation peaks, between 15650 and 15690, strongest around 15670. 15825, June 23 at 1347, WWCR has built up to a hefty S9+22 tnx to sporadic E (but not reaching VHF in analog), which previously has been enough to audiblize the spur field circa 15670, but no sign of it today! Perhaps the transmitter has been tweaked; it`s still squealy in the background on 15825 itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From July 1 WWCR takes over 7520 at 01-04 UT from WYFR (Wolfgang Büschel, June 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6/11/2011, 0323-0332, 5755.0, WTWW (Leap of Faith), Lebanon, TN UNITED STATES, 55544 - English, "McCanny Science Hour", according to WTWW website. Some guy talking about "solar conduits", how to predict the weather using planetary alignments, & "manipulated storms." Also, how the world banking community is responsible for the e. coli outbreak in Germany & how they must be stopped. Wow! (Nathan Adams, Clayton NC, Grundig G6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, WTWW has a redesigned website, http://wtww.us with a program schedule link for transmitter 1, but not really --- it leads to Scriptures for America Worldwide, http://www.sfawbn.org/schedule.html which is not 100% on 9479, 5755 --- this schedule in CT does not show the breakaway for QSO with Ted Randall, Saturdays 1800-2000 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTWW Update from George --- Dear DXers: I just got an update from George McClintock at WTWW, on their situation with regards to plans for 12100 and the other frequencies. George's message below: There is a large skip zone around the transmitter site which makes the signal weak up close due to poor Ground Wave signals which do not radiate well at shortwave frequencies. The signal is quite good around the world depending on the time of day or night. David has helped with the 12.1 MHz transmitter #3. I do not have an answer on Glenn yet. He and I are in conversations. #3 is scripture readings only (via Noble West, TN, June 20, dxldyg via DXLD) 12099.975, Arabic(!) sermon on WTWW Lebanon-TN station. At 1105 UT June 18, sermon read by male, S=8-9 strength (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17/18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just Bible readings, I understand, not sermons per se (gh) 12099.974, English sermon on WTWW Lebanon-TN station. S=6-7 poor signal strength, at 0618 UT June 19, sermon read by male. Bible reading on "Moses in Jordan westwards ..." (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9369.915, FBN WTJC, Morehead City, evangelical sermon and men`s chorus heard at 0651 UT June 19, S=9+10dB signal strength (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s time for WTJC to degenerate into a nasty spur producer for a while again: 9370v, June 23 at 1252 is overmodulated and crackly during hymn putting out scratchy spurs around 9395 and 9345 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Here is some stuff on Cumbre DX that was updated at my request: http://cdxpodcast.ralabs.com/ Asked Marie and the Cumbre webmaster for updated shows for several weeks. They were several months behind. Am I the only one to download their shows and complain when they are not kept up to date? 73s, (Artie Bigley, OH, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes? Cumbre shows have been updated -- Hi Artie -- I heard from Bob Arnold. In case you didn't see this already, he has updated the website, so that all the newer Cumbre shows are now available. 73 — Marie Lamb (via Artie Bigley, June 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Marie Lamb sent you a message on Facebook... Times her show are WHR?? I listen on line but am was curious why she dose not mention show times and frequencies anymore. Artie Hi Artie -- I honestly don't know, since they get changed so much. Also, since Joe Brashier left, nobody there tells me about any changes. Your best bet is to go to http://www.facebook.com/l/23a8eTU4NCzjVsPYvz8nZ4d34Nw/www.whr.org and search for "DXing with Cumbre." Sorry I don't know more, but I hope this helps! 73 — Marie (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. 25910 FM, WBAP, 1525-1535, June 12, talk. ID at 1531. Local ads. News headlines at 1533. Local traffic report. Weather. Poor to fair. Fair to good on peaks. Thanks to Sheryl Paszkiewicz tip. Also hearing KSCS, Fort Worth, Texas on 25990 FM right now with ID, country music (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Equipment: Icom IC- 7600, two 100 foot longwires, 1549 UT June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 25910 --- Hearing WBAP feeder on 25910 at 1515 UT (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, 1524 UT June 12, NASWA yg via DXLD) Thanks to Sheryl's tip, I am hearing this in Wyomissing with a weak signal with ad string and discussion program at 1540 UT. 73, (Rich D`Angelo, ibid.) Both Texans, 25910 and 25990 FM noted here, quite sporadic, which is not surprising, but on peaks almost armchair copy. In past seasons, KOA Denver feeder often noted, but I don't recall the freq. now. Thanks, Sheryl. --don (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, 1611 UT ibid.) 25950 df (Dan Ferguson, SC, ibid.) Right you are, Dan. Nothing on 25950 today though, at least not here. Es must be in from southern locations, not west today. --don (Jensen, 1703 UT, ibid.) 25910 FM, WBAP, Dallas, Texas, 1420-1440, June 19, local lawn and garden show. Local ads. Jingles. News at 1432. ID. Local traffic report. Weather. Fair to good. Very good on peaks. 25990 FM, KSCS, Ft Worth, Texas, 1420-1440, June 19, country music with “American Country Countdown” show. Jingles. ID. Local ads. Fair to good. Very good on peaks (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Link FM em 25950 kHz de emissora nos EUA! Olá Rudolf e amigos, Com a excelente propagação nas bandas altas em especial 12,11 e 10 metros, realmente temos muitas coisa interessante para explorar... Recentemente gravei um desses LINKs FM americanos, o sinal chegou super forte por mais de 2 horas. Segue o link do vídeo dessa escuta feita com um ALINCO DX-R8 em modo IQ (SDR). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElwTyKuHVYg&feature=channel_video_title Um forte abraço a todos e boas escutas (Renato Uliana, Guarulhos - SP http://www.amantesdoradio.com.br June 20, radioescutas yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) News and local references to Denver area, ``Newsradio 850, KOA`` (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. HAROLD CAMPING UPDATE Oakland Tribune - http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_18255207 ALAMEDA -- Harold Camping, the Doomsday radio preacher who sparked international media attention by predicting the end of the world last month, has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke at his Alameda home Thursday night. The 89-year-old radio evangelist and president of the Oakland nonprofit Family Radio was taken by ambulance from his house Thursday night, a neighbor said, but his well-known, gravelly voice that led many believers to donate millions of dollars to his cause may never be the same. "He had a stroke, it was on his right side," said the neighbor, who declined to give her name but said she and her husband helped and comforted Camping's wife, Shirley, as the drama unfolded Thursday night. Her husband spoke again with Shirley Camping on Friday. "His speech appears to be a little bit slurred but otherwise he's OK," the neighbor said. "(Shirley) said he was doing good "... and the only thing that's affected is his speech." There was no answer at the door of the Camping home Saturday afternoon and all of the curtains and blinds were drawn. A GMC pickup with a Family Radio bumper sticker and a white Buick sat in the driveway. Charles Menut -- the regional manager for Family Stations Inc., Family Radio's parent company, and the station manager and chief engineer for an affiliated station in West Orange, N.J. -- posted a Yahoo group message early Saturday morning reporting Camping's stroke to Family Radio supporters. "Please just pray for him and do not try to contact anyone at his home or Family Radio," Menut wrote. "He and Shirley have enough family members to handle the situation. I'm sure we'll be able to publicly update everyone on Monday." Menut could not be reached at his home or office Saturday. "We will be praying for Mr. Camping and his family," one supporter wrote in reply to Menut's posting. "The Lord has been so merciful to allow Mr. Camping to faithfully teach the scriptures for over 52 years. I'm sure Mr. Camping is thinking right now that he wants God to receive all the glory the for the ministry of Family Radio." Camping gained notoriety in recent months as the calendar closed in on May 21, the Saturday on which the Doomsday prophet said Judgment Day would occur and true believers would be taken to heaven. That attempted prophecy gained the world's attention primarily because Camping wanted it that way. Family Radio, an empire of more than 70 radio stations that was estimated to be worth $72 million in 2009, spent more than $100 million over the past seven years publicizing the Rapture. Billboards guaranteeing the end of the world were present throughout the world and some followers drove RVs all over the United States to alert people. But Camping was mocked nationally by talk-show hosts and the subject of protests, both by believers and nonbelievers alike. Some Christians called Camping a false prophet, and the American Atheists paid $27,000 for five weeks of billboard space in San Francisco, denouncing the Rapture, along with hosting a party that May 21 weekend. Camping said he took his wife to a hotel during the weekend of the predicted Rapture and that the phone in his Alameda home rang constantly and strangers knocked on his door. It was, he said, "a very difficult time for me." When the world did not end, Camping told reporters that the world would instead end Oct. 21 and argued that despite no physical evidence to the contrary, his point of view was correct (via David R. Alpert, CA, June 12, DXLD) For those who cannot get enough of the Harold Camping story, this version has appended 1,166 comments as of June 19, starting with a really funny CNN video (gh): http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/13/leader-of-may-21-doomsday-movement-suffers-stroke/ (via Fred Waterer, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. [NOTE dates published, June 13, 14; some of this info may already have been superseded with further cuts] Summer A-11 of YFR Family Radio via CIS transmitters: 1900-2100 9850 ARM 100 kW / 325 deg NWEu in Swedish/English 1800-1900 7560 ERV 300 kW / 280 deg WeEu in Bulgarian, deleted June 1 1800-1900 9615 ERV 300 kW / 305 deg WeEu in Polish 1800-2100 9390 A-A 300 kW / 301 deg WeEu in German/German/French 1900-2000 6065 KCH 500 kW / 270 deg WeEu in Italian 2000-2200 7540 A-A 300 kW / 301 deg WeEu in English 1500-1600 12130 SMF 500 kW / 131 deg WeAs in Pashto 1200-1300 11855 TAC 100 kW / 039 deg CeAs in Russian 1400-1500 9405 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs in Punjabi 1400-1500 9900 A-A 100 kW / 132 deg SoAs in Nepali 1400-1500 15450 TAC 200 kW / 131 deg SoAs in Assamese 1400-1600 12065 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs in Urdu 1500-1600 11655 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs in Marathi 1500-1700 11505 ERV 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs in Punjabi/Urdu 1600-1700 9735 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg SoAs in Punjabi 1000-1100 7245 K/A 100 kW / 178 deg EaAs in Japanese 1000-1200 9450 IRK 250 kW / 110 deg EaAs in English/Korean 1100-1200 9460 P.K 250 kW / 247 deg EaAs in Cantonese 1100-1500 9865 P.K 250 kW / 263 deg EaAs in Chinese 1100-1500 11725 P.K 250 kW / 244 deg EaAs in Chinese 1200-1300 5970 K/A 250 kW / 313 deg EaAs in Korean 1100-1200 9900 VLD 250 kW / 220 deg SEAs in Illocano 1100-1200 15560 A-A 300 kW / 094 deg SEAs in English 1200-1300 9465 IRK 250 kW / 152 deg SEAs in Cebuano 1200-1300 15490 NVS 250 kW / 155 deg SEAs in Thai 1300-1400 12160 A-A 200 kW / 132 deg SEAs in English 1200-1400 9615 IRK 500 kW / 180 deg SEAs in Indonesian 1200-1400 11895 IRK 250 kW / 180 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 1200-1400 13820 A-A 500 kW / 121 deg SEAs in Tagalog/English 1300-1500 9365 A-A 300 kW / 141 deg SEAs in Burmese/English 1400-1500 9615 IRK 500 kW / 180 deg SEAs in English Summer A-11 of YFR Family Radio via TAIWAN: 1500-1700 9955 TAI 250 kW / 352 deg CeAs in Russian 1300-1500 11560 HUW 100 kW / 285 deg SoAs in English 1500-1700 6280 TSH 300 kW / 285 deg SoAs in English/Hindi 0800-0900 11895 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg EaAs in Korean 0900-1000 11565 TAI 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 0900-1100 9545 TAI 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 0900-1100 9945 TAI 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 1000-1100 9920 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg EaAs in Chinese 1100-1600 6240 BAO 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 1100-1600 9280 YUN 100 kW / 335 deg EaAs in Chinese 1200-1300 11535 YUN 100 kW / 342 deg EaAs in Chinese 2100-2400 9280 YUN 100 kW / 335 deg EaAs in Chinese 2200-2400 6230 BAO 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 2300-2400 9540 TAI 100 kW / 310 deg EaAs in Chinese 0000-0100 11630 PAO 100 kW / 245 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 0000-0100 11865 PAO 100 kW / 180 deg SEAs in Indonesian 0900-1100 9465 PAO 100 kW / 180 deg SEAs in English 1000-1100 9455 PAO 100 kW / 225 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 1100-1200 6220 HUW 100 kW / 265 deg SEAs in Burmese 1100-1200 11550 TAI 300 kW / 205 deg SEAs in Indonesian 1100-1400 11520 PAO 100 kW / 180 deg SEAs Tagalog/Indonesian/English 1200-1300 7460 PAO 100 kW / 225 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 1200-1300 11570 HUW 100 kW / 265 deg SEAs in Burmese 1300-1400 7260 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 1300-1400 9960 PAO 100 kW / 225 deg SEAs in Vietnamese 1400-1500 9585 PAO 100 kW / 225 deg SEAs in Vietnamese Summer A-11 of YFR Family Radio via CLN: [SRI LANKA] 1330-1630 11570 EKA 300 kW / 350 deg SoAs in Oriya/Bengali/English* 1330-1630 15210vEKA 300 kW / 350 deg SoAs in Marathi/Hindi/English* v=15209.4 * all cancelled from June 10 Summer A-11 of WYFR Family Radio via RNW: 1600-1700 9590 MDC 250 kW / 305 deg EaAf in Swahili 1700-1800 7395 MDC 050 kW / 310 deg EaAf in English 1800-2000 7395 MDC 250 kW / 320 deg EaAf in English 1900-2100 6020 MDC 050 kW / 255 deg SoAf in English NOTE: FROM MAY 22, 2011 WYFR FAMILY RADIO BROADCASTLY MUSIC, INSTEAD OF PROGRAMS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 13 June via DXLD) Summer A-11 of YFR Family Radio via MBR: 1800-1900 9635 WER 250 kW / 225 deg SoEu Spanish 1800-1900 7330 WER 100 kW / 105 deg SEEu Romanian 1800-2000 3975 WER 250 kW / non-dir SEEu Hungarian/Serbian 1700-1900 11600 WER 250 kW / 060 deg EaEu Russian 1900-2000 11840 WER 500 kW / 210 deg WeAf French [French was still heard today (17/6) on 11840 -- JM Aubier, dxldyg] 2000-2200 6115 WER 250 kW / 210 deg WeAf Arabic 2200-2300 7420 WER 250 kW / 210 deg WeAf Arabic 1800-1900 13750 WER 500 kW / 180 deg WCAf English 1800-1900 13790 ISS 500 kW / 170 deg WCAf Hausa 1900-2200 9610 WER 500 kW / 180 deg WCAf English 2100-2200 7425 WER 500 kW / 180 deg WCAf English 2000-2100 9595 NAU 500 kW / 180 deg WCAf French 2100-2200 9715 NAU 500 kW / 180 deg WCAf French 1700-1800 13840 WER 100 kW / 180 deg NEAf Arabic 1800-1900 11955 WER 250 kW / 150 deg NEAf Arabic 1900-2000 9590 WER 250 kW / 150 deg NEAf Arabic 1600-1700 15160 NAU 500 kW / 140 deg EaAf Oromo 1600-1800 15750 WER 500 kW / 150 deg EaAf Amharic/Swahili 1800-1900 9600 ISS 500 kW / 155 deg SoAf English, cancelled June 7 1800-1900 9925 WER 500 kW / 165 deg SoAf English 1800-1900 11785 WER 500 kW / 168 deg SoAf English, cancelled June 7 1900-2000 9505 NAU 500 kW / 170 deg SoAf Kikongo, cancelled June 7 1900-2000 9925 WER 500 kW / 150 deg SoAf Kirundi 1600-1700 13645 NAU 250 kW / 130 deg N/ME Arabic 1700-1800 11885 ISS 250 kW / 110 deg N/ME Arabic 1600-1700 13615 NAU 500 kW / 095 deg WeAs Persian 1700-1800 11760 WER 500 kW / 105 deg WeAs Kurdish 1700-1800 13740 NAU 500 kW / 090 deg WeAs Persian 1400-1500 13730 WER 250 kW / 075 deg CeAs Uzbek 1300-1500 17580 WER 500 kW / 090 deg SoAs Bengali 1400-1500 15565 NAU 500 kW / 085 deg SoAs Oriya 1400-1600 17800 WER 500 kW / 090 deg SoAs Sindhi/Kannada# 1400-1600 15670 NAU 500 kW / 095 deg SoAs Hindi* 1500-1600 15495 ISS 500 kW / 085 deg SoAs Gujarati 1500-1600 13790 ISS 500 kW / 085 deg SoAs Tamil 1600-1700 11680 ISS 500 kW / 085 deg SoAs Hindi 1400-1500 15690 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg SoAs Malayalam 2200-2400 9935 GUF 500 kW / 215 deg SoAm Spanish 2200-2400 7360 GUF 500 kW / 170 deg SoAm Portuguese 0000-0100 7360 GUF 500 kW / 170 deg SoAm English 0000-0100 5930 GUF 500 kW / 215 deg SoAm Spanish 0100-0200 9830 GUF 250 kW / 306 deg CeAm Creole 0200-0300 6100 GUF 500 kW / 215 deg SoAm English #July 2-July 25 via ISS 500 kW / 090 deg *July 2-July 25 via ISS 500 kW / 085 deg Summer A-11 of YFR Family Radio via BAB: 1800-1900 9505 RMP 500 kW / 095 deg CeEu Czech, cancelled June 9 1700-1900 17690 WOF 250 kW / 102 deg SEEu Turkish 1800-1900 9830 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg SEEu English, cancelled June 7 1800-1900 13720 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg NoAf Arabic 1800-1900 11875 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg WeAf Igbo 1900-2000 9685 DHA 250 kW / 255 deg WeAf Hausa 1830-1930 17585 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg WeAf French 2000-2100 11690 ASC 250 kW / 027 deg WeAf English, cancelled June 7 2100-2200 15285 ASC 250 kW / 027 deg WeAf Bambara, cancelled June 7 1900-2000 11855 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg WCAf Yoruba 1800-1900 5840 MEY 100 kW / 345 deg CeAf Kituba, cancelled June 7 1900-2000 7270 MEY 250 kW / 342 deg CeAf English 1900-2000 9490 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg CeAf Lingala, cancelled June 7 2000-2100 15195 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg CeAf English 2000-2200 12060 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg CeAf English 1600-1800 17545 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg EaAf English/Luba 1700-1800 9790 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Amharic 1700-1800 15255 RMP 500 kW / 125 deg EaAf Somali 1800-1900 9770 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg EaAf English 1900-2000 5930 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg EaAf Swahili 1600-1700 6100 MEY 250 kW / 076 deg SEAf Malagasy 1700-1800 6100 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg SEAf French 1800-1900 9490 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg SoAf Kinyarwanda, canceled June 7 1900-2000 9775 DHA 250 kW / 210 deg SoAf English 1500-1600 17580 ASC 250 kW / 114 deg SoAf English 1700-1800 17785 ASC 250 kW / 102 deg SoAf Shona, cancelled June 7 1800-1900 5905 MEY 100 kW / 015 deg SoAf English 1900-2000 3230 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg SoAf English 1900-2000 3955 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg SoAf Portuguese 1900-2000 6100 MEY 100 kW / 330 deg SoAf Portuguese 1700-1800 13700 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg N/ME Arabic 1300-1400 17735 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg SoAs Kannada 1300-1500 17715 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg SoAs Telugu/Tamil 1400-1500 9595 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SoAs Marathi 1400-1600 15520 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SoAs Hindi/English 1500-1600 11605 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SoAs English 1500-1600 12035 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg SoAs Sinhala, cancelled June 7 1600-1700 11850 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SoAs English 1200-1300 17515 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SEAs Khmer, cancelled June 7 1200-1300 17545 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SEAs Lao, cancelled June 7 NOTE: FROM MAY 22, 2011 WYFR FAMILY RADIO BROADCAST ONLY MUSIC, INSTEAD OF PROGRAMS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! (DX MIX News, Bulgaria, 14 June via DXLD) From June 14 WYFR Family Radio again broadcast regular programs in different languages. 73! (Ivo Ivanov, later, ibid.) FAMILY RADIO, Wed 15 Jun 2011, 1247-1305, 11895irk, heard no more apology and music filler, Basic Bible Study Genesis 1:1 and 1:3. Approaching 1300 announcement on old email and postal address plus 2 new postal addresses in South Africa and Nigeria. Checking later on 7260, 9960 and 11520 still broadcasting apology and gospel music filler (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Family Radio via Russia QRT --- I can not receive Family Radio via Russia from 1000 UT on June 16. Was it canceled? 1000-1100 7245, 9450 1100-1200 9450, 9460, 9865, 9900, 11725 1200-1300 5970, 9465, 9615, 11725, 11855, 11895, 15490 1300-1400 9615, 9865, 11725, 11895 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, June 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11535, June 19 at 1237 in Chinese, i.e. YFR via TAIWAN, now our best chance to hear it in the mornings with WYFR itself silent between 05 and 22 UT. In my remarx yesterday I at first typoed this as 11530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 11-24, WYFR cancellations: I did some very quick math on all the deletions and adds for the revised WYFR schedule. Total deletions came to approximately 290 transmitter hours. Total additions are only around 28 transmitter hours. So am I correct to interpret that WYFR has made some pretty significant cuts to its shortwave output? Or are they just cutting Okeechobee in favor of leased time on overseas transmitters? Did the "End Of The World" fiasco cut deeply into finances? (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow. Huge cuts for WYFR if I am understanding all this correctly. What happened (End Of The World fiasco aside)?? Money problems? Focusing on other distribution platforms? What's going on? The WYFR schedule listings always seemed to go on forever, these new ones are bare bones. Broadcasting and finance realities of 2011 catching up to them? Funny thing is, before May 21 we all joked about how WYFR would disappear after that date. Perhaps that is becoming the only truth in regard to the Camping "Prophecy." (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, June 18, ibid.) Special Announcement: Harold Camping, the president and general manager of Family Radio, suffered a mild stroke on the evening of June 9, 2011. Mr. Camping is receiving excellent care, and the doctors treating him are encouraged with the progress he is making. Mr. Camping's family appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers. Any additional information will be updated on this site. All correspondence should be directed to Family Radio, Oakland, California 94621. The above text I took from http://www.familyradio.com Could not find any FR transmissions when checked at 0630 on 7730 or 11580 khz. Best Regards (Chris Lewis, England, June 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Family Radio back in action --- Monitoring observations of 20 June 2011 shows that Family Radio is back in full swing mostly with "normal" programs. I heard the following transmissions, UT: 1300: 11560 English, 17580 Bengali, 17715 Telugu, 17735 Kannada 1400: 11560 English, 15690 Malayalam, 17715 Tamil, 17800 Unid Asian 1500: 11505 Punjabi, 11605 English, 13790 Tamil, 15495 Gujarathi, 15520 English, 15670 Hindi,17800 Kannada, 1600: 11505 Urdu, 11850 English, 15750 English, 17545 English 1700: 13740 Farsi, 17545 English These schedules tally with the one one given in their website http://www.familyradio.com/international/frame/ However I could not find the English frequencies correctly there. Note: One interesting observation was noted; After Family radio ended on 17735 at 1400 in Kannada, the carrier was on for about 3 minutes and FEBA Malayalam program was broadcast! FEBA Malayalam was also broadcast as normal at that time on usual 12025. Monitored on 19 June 2011: 1800 UT: 9770, 9925 English 1900 UT: 9610 English Around that time on MW 1503 & 1557 Music only heard via Taiwan. -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, June 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. EX-FOLLOWERS PURSUE ASSETS OF PREACHER'S MURKY EMPIRE By STEPHANIE SIMON * JUNE 20, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304453304576392203454655640.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1 Longtime evangelist Tony Alamo owes millions of dollars in court-ordered restitution for abusing some of his former followers, triggering a nationwide hunt for assets still controlled by the Arkansas pastor. Evangelist Tony Alamo, center, is led from court in Texarkana Ark., in July 2009 after conviction on 10 counts of taking underage girls across state lines for sex. [caption] The 76-year-old preacher, now a federal-prison inmate, enlisted members of his church to help run a business empire that over the years has included a trucking company, a restaurant, a hog farm and a designer clothing line that made rhinestone-studded denim jackets for Hollywood celebrities. Since starting his street ministry in Los Angeles during the 1960s, Mr. Alamo faced repeated allegations by former followers, some backed by court convictions, that he abused his flock--sexually molesting girls, ordering beatings and forcing adults and children alike to work long hours for little or no pay. Former followers have won millions in court judgments, but government and private investigators say Mr. Alamo kept few assets in his name, making it difficult to collect. Mr. Alamo preached polygamy and declared that girls could marry as soon as they reached puberty. He acknowledged disciplining followers with corporal punishment and forced fasting, but said all his views were grounded in the Bible. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing. His theology placed him well outside mainstream Christianity and included virulently anti-Catholic views. Mr. Alamo preached that the Vatican controlled much of the world outside his ministry and was responsible for such evils as World War II and pornography. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks religious movements, has labeled Tony Alamo Christian Ministries a hate group. An undated photo of Mr. Alamo and his wife Susan. [caption] In late 2009, Mr. Alamo was sentenced to 175 years in federal prison after a trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he took girls as young as eight years old as his "spiritual wives." In his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes in Texarkana, Ark., also ordered Mr. Alamo to pay five of the girls--now young women--restitution of $500,000 each. The five women have filed a civil case against Mr. Alamo, seeking additional damages. Their case is scheduled for trial next year. Meanwhile, a federal jury in Texarkana this month ordered Mr. Alamo to pay two young men $66 million in damages for beatings they suffered while living in the ministry's compound in southwest Arkansas. Mr. Alamo's attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr., says his client has no money to pay the judgments. Authorities allege Mr. Alamo spent more than a decade transferring real estate, businesses and other assets into the names of church members. The holdings are believed to be scattered across the U.S., including in New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and California. "We will work for years, if necessary, to find the assets necessary to satisfy the judgment," said W. David Carter, the lawyer who represented the two men who won the $66 million judgment. Finding such assets will not be enough. Investigators can seize them only if they can prove Mr. Alamo put them in his followers' names to evade a court judgment, a so-called fraudulent conveyance. Federal attorneys scouring the U.S. for Mr. Alamo's assets acknowledge the difficulty of proving such cases, especially if Mr. Alamo transferred ownership years before he was indicted. Mr. Hall, the pastor's lawyer, said he was confident that any property in church members' names would be safe there. "They can't prove fraudulent conveyance," he said. Mr. Alamo was born Bernie Hoffman but took the name Tony Alamo when he entered show business as a young man. In the 1960s, after a spiritual revelation, Mr. Alamo and his late wife, Susan, took to the streets to preach to lost souls in Los Angeles. They built a church compound, including dormitories for followers, in Saugus, Calif., and in the 1970s moved their headquarters to Arkansas. In 1994, Mr. Alamo was convicted of falsifying income-tax returns and spent four years in federal prison. He continued to run business and ministry ventures across the U.S. after his release. In Fouke, a southwest Arkansas town with a population of 865, Mr. Alamo converted a grocery store into his church and the ministry bought homes for as many as 300 followers, said Terry Purvis, the mayor of Fouke. In September, 2008, federal and state authorities raided Alamo properties in Fouke and Texarkana and the state took custody of children believed to have been abused. Mr. Purvis said most followers have since scattered and just a half-dozen ministry loyalists remain in Fouke. Mr. Alamo lost an appeal of his criminal conviction and is incarcerated at a federal prison in Indiana. He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In January, he also wrote President Barack Obama to ask for a pardon on the grounds that he has a secret plan to bring peace to the Middle East (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. NEW JERSEY NETWORK --- Dear Glenn, 1. in New Jersey the usual soap opera of what New Jersey should do with its public television and radio stations continues. If other New Jerseyans help me locate new building locations I would make up as much of the difference of what is and what should be in no undue haste. Get the word out. 2. If the federal government insists on taking our money and yet close down the Voice Of America like Michael Bloomberg closed down New York`s WNEW radio when he bought it (Boo, Michael, Boo! Boo! Boo!), then it all ought to be given to Allen H. Weiner. a. WBCQ stations would benefit from having some outlets in nearer to tropical locations where electricity is cheaper and the ionosphere maybe thicker (meaning thinner and denser) maybe higher. b. it`s a dignified way to get VOA converted into commercial programming okay. c. airing HEMPUSA.COM commercials, Lumpy Gravy, Goddess Irena 1, and your own World Of Radio, are amongst the sobre deterring disappointments to those who think that their illegal immigration and invasion is into a country they`d imagine has higher economic standards than a Bowery Boys movie. (In other words, if they forget which country the Bowery Boys serials were made, then putting their ears near the radio can remind them). d. since the F.C.C. likes to disobey its own rules, letting Allan H. Weiner own about 100 radio and TV stations would be really cool. Having lots of Washington, D.C. hired types suddenly get Allen H. Weiner pay scale would take plenty of their adjustment but they`d just have to get used to it. No more worrying about the alternative. It would be nice to see your friends and my friends under one roof. Judy, of Bill and Judy, God bless you and rest in peace. We know you`re looking down on us. You helped get my neighbor`s kid in front of the radio (Fred Jodry, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TALK LIKE A PIRATE By Chris Nolter Published June 10, 2011 at 1:01 PM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * The operation of pirate radio stations is already illegal in New Jersey and Florida, and New York state may follow. * Critics say such broadcast operators bleed away ad dollars from legitimate radio and pay no taxes, and their signals can interfere with those of legal operators. * Pirates are also accused of jamming broadcast safety messages and scrambling aircraft communications. * Pirate Radio dates to the U.K.'s Radio Caroline in the '60s and traditionally has been an urban phenonemon but is now turning up in suburbs. As the current session of the New York State Assembly winds down, Assemblyman George Latimer is hoping to make progress with a bill he has been pushing for several years. Following similar legislation in Florida and New Jersey, Latimer's bill would make operating a pirate radio station in New York state a felony carrying a fine of no less than $10,000. The New York State Senate is considering a similar proposal. . . http://www.thedeal.com/magazine/ID/039715/2011/talk-like-a-pirate.php (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) NY STATE LEGISLATURE PASSES AN ANTI-PIRATE RADIO BILL, WITH POTENTIAL JAIL TIME --- Radio-Info.com June 21, 2011 The legislation "creates the crime of unauthorized radio transmission and prohibits knowingly making a radio transmission on frequencies assigned and licensed by the FCC for use by AM and FM radio stations." Pirates convicted of a Class A misdemeanor could serve time in prison under the bill just passed in Albany. It’s similar to existing laws in Florida and New Jersey, which give local authorities some jurisdiction over what had been an exclusively federal area. Local authorities can act much more quickly to shut down pirate operations than the FCC, whose procedures can taken months or years. The new bill is summarized here: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A00326&term=&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Votes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y (via Mike Terry, UK, June 21, ibid.) http://www.radioworld.com/article/ny-pirates-soon-may-walk-the-plank-faster/23776 (via Artie Bigley, June 22, DXLD) ** U S A. SATX GETS NEW SPANISH TALK AM/FM SIMULCAST The "Radio Formula Network" on 102.3 FM and 1500 AM "offers local news and entertainment segments, followed by well-known syndicated radio personalities based out of Mexico." http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2011/06/20/radio-formula-network-debuts-spanish.html (radio-info.com forum via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Now that's bizarre. In a Hispanic market that is highly assimilated, why would anyone want to listen to programming out of Mexico City that is mostly about the internal affairs of Mexico? (David Eduardo [Gleason], ibid.) Because they have family there and are concerned about what's happening in the country? Although from what the English language media here says repeatedly, candor about the drug war is not a strong suit of the media in Mexico. Neither of those are very strong signals, so perhaps this is a niche meant to attract upscale Mexican nationals with second homes in SA? Supposedly there are a lot of folks like that in Stone Oak (Firgotten as much as I, ibid.) Not only that, it's illegal. As discussed recently on this board the San Antonio translator had been relaying KROB (AM) from Robstown / Corpus Christi. That was in violation of FCC rules and so is this latest arrangement, in that it fails both tests: the service area for the 102.3 signal lies outside of the 2mVm contour of KBRN and it's outside the 25-mile radius from the KBRN transmitter in Boerne (jd, ibid.) Have you checked the program schedule for Radio Formula USA? Comedy, health & beauty, paranormal, women's magazine, sports. Only one two- hour block is news and that's popular anchorman Joaquín López- Dorriga's show (Fred Cantú, TX, ibid.) Fórmula has had brief stays on a number of US stations, in markets as big as LA. Uniformly, they got no numbers. Same kind of shows, mostly the same talents. And all the shows are centered on the politics, economy, lifestyle and culture of Mexico. It's just not relevant It does not work that way. While there may be some interest in information, the only information most immigrants want is about family, and they can now get that with a phone card or a calling plan. Remember that most immigrants from Mexico come when they are young --- 16 to mid to late 20's. How many people in that age groups have an interest in news and information? Once an immigrant has lived in the US for many years, the bond with the "old country`` weaken. A group of Cd Juárez broadcasters did a study several decades ago with the university in El Paso. They wanted to prove that Arbitron was wrong and that there was less listening to the El Paso Spanish language stations and more to the Mexican side stations. The survey showed the opposite: those on the El Paso side did not want to hear about the country that they had left and which could not offer them a future, and they did not care about anything other than things that affected family still there, such as floods and earthquakes. All the research I did while doing talk in markets like LA and Chicago confirmed that finding. Other than following soccer teams, and wanting some information of the broadest kind, there was really no interest in programming from or about Mexico. Radio Unica, a failed US talk network, proved the same as the shows they obtained from Mexico or coproduced there did very poorly. Quote ``Although from what the English language media here says repeatedly, candor about the drug war is not a strong suit of the media in Mexico.`` And how much talk about drug trafficing do you think a young immigrant wants to hear? Quote ``Neither of those are very strong signals, so perhaps this is a niche meant to attract upscale Mexican nationals with second homes in SA? Supposedly there are a lot of folks like that in Stone Oak.`` Of course, non-permanent residents would never get on the "two year commitment" PPM panel. You bring up a very important point: listeners to talk in Mexico are more upscale and older than the typical immigrant. In fact, talk does not do very well in the D and E socioeconomic levels and among those under 25 or 30 and up (Gleason, ibid.) IIRC -- In general Spanish language talk has not done well anywhere in the US outside of maybe Miami (Fred Cantú, ibid.) Is this station still run by Gerald Benavides? And do the Radio Fórmula people in Mexico know it's illegal? (KevanGC, ibid.) Networks generally don't involved in the operation of their affiliates beyond the scope of their program contracts, do they? (Cantú, ibid.) ** U S A. WLO Mobile AL, 6519, 15 June 0520 marine weather by computer-generated female voice, good despite static & electrical noise, dual phonetic ID's as "Whiskey Lima Oscar" and "Kilo Lima Bravo", then off at 0224* (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur with K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEATHER ALERT RADIO SYSTEM IS KNOCKED OUT AGAIN STLtoday.com By Nicholas J.C. Pistor June 17, 2011 http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_e0a70471-0cff-5339-ab4f-9f8df9aab404.html The National Weather Service's weather alert radio system was shut down twice over two days as weekend storms ripped through the St. Louis area, officials said. The regional weather station, which broadcasts weather information all day, was silenced about 2:30 a.m. Sunday and remained out of service Sunday night. Many people rely on NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) weather radios for weather alerts, such as tornado warnings. Julie Phillipson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Weldon Spring, said the most likely culprit was a lightning strike on the station's radio tower in Shrewsbury. The station was knocked out Friday afternoon by a similar lightning strike, Phillipson said. The signal was restored on Saturday, only to be knocked out again a few hours later. Phillipson said the weather service warns people to "rely on more than one source" for weather information. The outage affected the entire St. Louis listening area. Phillipson said such outages have happened before, and stressed that employees are working to restore the service. NOAA weather radios have been popular as a reliable tool to wake people with warning signals. The station's signal was an apparent victim of the storm that blasted the region with thunder, lightning, heavy rain, hail and wind damage early Sunday morning. The worst of the storm hit south of St. Louis. Downed trees and power lines were reported in Jefferson County, particularly in Festus and Herculaneum. The high Sunday at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was 90 degrees, and the temperature is expected to reach the mid-90s today, said meteorologist Mark Britt. More storms are expected to reach eastern Missouri by Tuesday. The wet weather has prompted flood warnings and forced the cancellation of the Great Rivers Towboat Festival in Grafton over the weekend (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. While ch 2-6 were full of Mexican signals from the south, I switched to FM monitoring again June 22, indoor DX-398 on AC with whip only, and found that band open from the WSW: 2012 on 96.5, promo for Oahu trip contest on what sounded like ``Kix- zee 96.5``, then website I thought spelt kixy.com, San Diego zoo ad. But its real calls are KYXY per FM Atlas! And the real website is http://kyxy.com which forwards to http://kyxy.radio.com/ 2014 on 94.9, Las Vegas ad, circuscircus.com. RDS showed ``94/9 Music FM It`s About Music``, or something like that, showing in bits and pieces. The slant is distinctive, anyway. Spoken ID as ``FM 94 [pause] 9``, ad for San Diego Hydroponix, so it`s KBZT in San Diego CA. 2018 on 91.5, BBCWS news about China, then calling for comments on Facebook. How about spending all your valuable/expensive airtime on real news instead of asking listeners what we think about it?! 2019 local break has KJZZ Phoenix AZ promo, traffic. 2026 on 97.7, `Fresh Air` interview, not // 91.5, but surely a public radio station. Seems too strong to be a translator. The only possibility in the area with an asterisk in FM Atlas is KQVO in Calexico CA, a 6 kW relay of KPBS San Diego, relog as explained at http://www.kpbs.org/radio/calexico/ 2030 on 99.9, ad mentions ``East Valley`` --- rather generic, but the area around Escondido is known as San Diego`s East Valley. However, there is no 99.9 closer than San Bernardino, so let`s try Phoenix --- yes, ``East Valley`` also applies there, where 99.9 is KESZ. 2035 on 90.7, Spanish music mixing with English talk. The latter likely KPFK Los Ángeles. Cantú shows two BCN stations now: 90.7 XHMOE Los 40 Principales Mexicali, B.C. 100,000 90.7 XHTIM La Mejor (anteriormente en 97.7) Tijuana, B.C. 11,500 2046 on 87.75, English ad probably XETV gives way to Spanish religion, probably a ch 6 analog audio-only `Franken-FM`, KSFV-LP, Guadalupe Radio in Los Ángeles (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, 1213, June 10. In vernacular; pop songs (“Forever in My Heart”, etc.); ID; Nation Anthem till 1221*; transmitter off as usual at 1224. Weather ham net also here (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7260, unID, June 11 0724-0733, English pop selections, reggae. Abrupt sign off, is R. Vanuatu? On 3945 weak unidentified signal, 35433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila. June 12, 1015-1027 male in English conversation like an interview between another male. Unreadable, noise behind sounding like a peep, statics, 35333 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, R. Vanuatu, 1221-1224:08*, June 14. In vernacular; “Radio Vanuatu” ID with frequencies; Nation Anthem. Is rather ironic that their transmitter goes off every day at 1224, the same time that NBC East New Britain (PNG) also consistently pulls the plug on their transmitter on 3385 too! 3945, R. Vanuatu, 1210-1224:32*, June 15. In vernacular; OM with monologue; EZL pop music; sign off announcement for “Radio Vanuatu” with SW-MW-FM frequencies; ending with National Anthem. http://www.box.net/shared/hkvc09i4mu3f9oy13tjv has fairly clear MP3 audio with “Radio Vanuatu” at 0:20 and again at 01:03 and NA. Not too often I hear them this distinctly! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7260, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila. June 17, 0629-0709 female with that unmistakable accent English, many mentions of Vanuatu, partially readable “message to listeners; island; Sunday night”, short percussion music, island music, pop music, male “human rights”, music sounding like an Afropop, male and female on music sounding like ads, flute signature music on top of the hour, male announcements, seems news space “parliament; constitution; prime minister”. // 3945, 7260 consistently stronger, 35433. 73’s (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, Radio Vanuatu, 1143 June 17. Pop music and male announcer, possibly in Bislama. Poor (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 7906 USB, 12 June, 0916 UT, Ho Chi Minh Radio coastal station. Maritime weather being read by female announcer in English with coordinates and thereafter in Vietnamese. Series of beeps at 0920 and then apparently off-air, to be replaced by another station, which was in the grass and not identifiable. 73 de (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 20m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. VOV gets new President --- Monday 13 Jun 2011 Vietnam's state broadcaster Voice of Vietnam (VOV) announced today that Nguyen Dang Tien had been appointed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister to be its new President. Mr Nguyen took up his new post on 1 June. He replaces Prof Dr Vu Van Hien, who has been assigned another post. Prior to joining VOV, Mr Nguyen, 56, was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Communist Review and Deputy Chair of a committee under the Vietnamese National Assembly's Standing Committee. Mr Nguyen's educational background and working experience are in the management of science and technology, economics, agriculture and politics. VOV broadcasts nationally and internationally. Apart from its five regional bureaux, VOV has seven overseas bureau in Bangkok, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Cairo, Tokyo and Washington DC. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jdFKId (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINAS, 1550, Polisario Front, Rabouni, ALGERIA, 0946-fade/out 1130, 20/6, Arabic, songs, talks; 25443; \\ 6297.15 off. 1550 ditto, 2301-2332*, 20/6, start of program in Castilian, songs, talks, closed with their "anthem"; 55444. Announced they'd be back the next day at "one thirty"; at 1200+ today, 21/6, they were still airing an Arabic program [on 6297.15]. (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. 9780.13, Republic of Yemen Radio, 0421-0459, June 11, traditional Arabic music. Arabic talk. Irregular. Fair to good. Completely covered by Spain’s DRM signal at their 0459 sign on (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Equipment: Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9780.14, Republic of Yemen Radio, 0455-0501, June 18, traditional Arabic music. Arabic talk. Irregular. Fair signal, but completely covered by Spains’s DRM signal at their 0501 sign on (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9780.148, Arabic singer of YRTC Radio Yemen, Sana`a. Tiny S=3-4 signal, hit later by REE Noblejas in DRM mode co-channel (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time missing, but nice precise frequency (gh) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 3915 kHz, reactivation of R Fly --- Hello, On June 13 at 2000 UT I heard a station sounding very much like R Fly. I mailed Roseanne Kulupi asking if R Fly was reactivated already this day. Here is her reply: ``Hi Mr Nilsson, Sorry for taking forever to respond to your email. The 3915 Transmitter was re-installed on Wednesday June 15th. So the audio you heard may have been from a Chinese Radio Station that has a frequency close to ours…not too sure. Both our frequencies are currently on air – 5960 & 3915 kHz. Thank you for tuning in and I hope you have a safe week. Kind regards, Roseanne`` The station I heard was not 3912 Korea and not BBC which starts 2100 UT. Also the station was in direction towards Asia. I have heard the same station but weaker June 15 and onwards and I am quite certain that this one is R Fly. Anybody having an idea who else uses this frequency at that time? (Thomas Nilsson, Engelholm, Sweden, June 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGST) Some time ago there was a Ukraine UR1 fifth harmonic of 783 rather strong on 3915. I haven't checked lately if still there. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) Jari, an good point and I remember that one very well, but this one didn't sound like the Ukrainian station. But I have to check again. Unfortunately the signal strength has not been too good lately. 73 (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, ibid.) Some more info: I have checked my recordings from the last days again and found a piece from June 17 with a little better signal (but still very weak). I have sent this recording to the Finnish DX-ers Tarmo Kontro and Jari Savolainen who replied via NORDX and DXLD to my question. I am waiting for their opinion of the language. Perhaps it might be that the 5th overtone of 783 kHz Ukraina is still present on this frequency. This one was heard there during last winter with very strong signal. Also this Ukrainan station is nearly in the same direction. So lets see what the Finnish people say. 73 (Thomas Nilsson, ibid.) 3915 mystery now solved by Mauno Ritola and Jari Savolainen. The origin of the unID station I can hear in the evenings instead of the rare R Fly is now solved. Both Mauno and Jari say it is definitely Ukrainian language on the short piece of my recording. This means that the 5th overtone of the 783 transmitter is still there. This time not as strong as last winter, though. Mauno and Jari, thanks a lot for listening and nailing Ukraina. Thanks a lot also John Herkimer and Ron Howard for your comments. Hopefully within a few months R Fly will be strong enough to override this overtone. 73 (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, June 22, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 4845.21, 1004, s/on with martial music, then into talk by a man in Chinese (or similar dialect), dead air, into music. Very poor (telco quality) audio. Who is this??? 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4900, 1210, someone here with Chinese patriotic music, then 'code' messages by a man repeated (don't know if its sets of numbers, alpha-numeric, or something else). Only heard once prior, seems to be irregular. 31 May (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, R30A, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The one on 4900, maybe it was Korean? See station V24 here: http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/V24 Sometimes audible also here, more frequently in the 6215 range. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) Also run a search in dxldyg for "6215 korea howard" for some other logs of this station (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Fair carrier on 5006 at 1055-1106, 11 June. I'm assuming it's the Japanese propagation study station JG2XA. The station supposedly runs Morse code IDs every 5 minutes according to its website http://ssro.ee.uec.ac.jp/lab_tomi/HFD/Operation/index.html but I have yet to hear them after listening many times in various demod modes over the past few weeks. Am I missing something or have they eliminated the IDs? (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I can receive the UnID Chinese Music filler station on 5945 kHz from 1000 UT tunein on June 19. It is nonstop music, but is different from Firedrake. I was able to receive this station until 1259* UT on June 18 (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also 26000 UNIDENTIFIED. Does anyone know what the signal on 7455 is? It's a rapid fire beeping in SSB, but I can't find anything that will tell me what it is (Nathan Adams, Jan 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTTY? good reason for broadcasters to avoid 7455 but WYFR did not (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 9063, June 21 at 0539, huge S9+22 open carrier, slight fades. Probably Cuban spy unit, 250 kW? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11620, June 21 at 1345, 1000 Hz continuous tone test, as we have heard past weeks on many higher frequencies, but poor here; seemed to go off at 1359, but resumed at 1400, gone at 1422 check. See also 11980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Somebody is testing. A strong empty carrier S=5 jumped on 11760 kHz at 1033:30, covering the BBC signal there, and was switched off again at 1034:00. I found the presumably same carrier (same strength) on 12070 at 1047:40, only to see it turned off at 1048:00. Very few stations with decent reception on 41m-25m, with only ROU, MRC, HRV reaching S=5. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig / Germany, JRC NRD525 + DX-10 PRO, June 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11954.5 approx., intruder, June 21 at 1240, 2-way Spanish SSB, one side much stronger than the other vs het from 11955, which would be CRI Kunming. 11954.5, intruding Spanish 2-way SSB weak at 1356 June 22, as also heard 25 hours earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11980, June 21 at 1402, 1000 Hz continuous tone test, found here after hearing same on 11620, surprising as these used to appear one at a time. Still poor at 1422. S. Hasegawa in Japan, Alan Roe in England and Wolfgang Büschel in Germany were hearing more such tones June 19 in the 1300 hour on 18900, 19000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15740-15745-15750, DRM noise June 19 at 0519. Nothing in HFCC, Aoki or EiBi; how about the `official` DRM schedule at http://www.drm-dx.de/ Nothing there either! Nor on adjacent 15740 or 15750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Truly DRM mode? or just white noise jamming 20 kHz wide against Somali program from UAE 5-6? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, I had a nagging feeling it was something like that, as I think previously logged. HFCC shows something from Babcock, UAE at 05-06 on 15750, 500 kW, 225 degrees. Aoki clarifies it`s Radio Bar-Kulan / Meeting, in Somali daily. So may we assume the jamming is from or on behalf of ETHIOPIA, probably Chinese equipment? DRM exciters seem to make great jammers, and it would be interesting to know if any intelligence can be decoded with DRM receiving equipment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Just wondered if the Mystery Station is testing again today. Continuous tone heard on 19000 kHz since tune-in around 1230. Will look out for Greek/Balkan-type music later, as heard previously on various dates over the last coupke of weeks on 17870 and other frequencies (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, 1245 UT June 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can receive the 1 kHz tone signal on 19000 kHz at 1300 UT in Japan (S. Hasegawa, ibid.) Checking back at 1330, the tone is now heard on 18900 kHz (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, ibid.) Switched OFF at 1347:10 UT. Re 18900 kHz, yes noted at 1325 UT on various RFSPACE SDR IQ and Perseus remote units: S=9+10dB in Iceland, S=5 in Florida S=9+20 in Greece S=9+10 in Ireland S=8-9 in Blackpool S=8 in Cardiff S=9+10 in the Netherlands S=9+10 in Belgium S=9+20 in Paris area S=9+30 on technical university Braunschweig S=9+30 in Salzburg S=9+10 in Nuremberg S=9 in Zurich Switzerland S=9+25 in Munich S=9+25 in Udine Italy S=9+20 in Brescia and Genua S=9+40 db !!! in Rome Italy UNID tone signal 18900 kHz had two peaks each of +/-1000 / +/-2000 Hertz. similar strong signal + BUZZ tone now from Saudi Arabia 17660, q.v. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. The mystery 1000 Hz tone tests (or open carriers) were really hopping around June 22, as I tried to track them in time order: 1346 first found TT on 17750. Keeps going but at *1357:30 SAH of 3.2 Hz starts from another carrier. Tone goes off at 1359:49* just in time for VOA Kurdish to open on the other (via Wertachtal). Then I start hunting for the tone elsewhere: 1401 on 17800, YFR theme and open S Asian language, listed Sindhi via Wertachtal, but *1401:49 tone test cuts on over YFR with SAH; shortly goes to OC and back off. 1403 on 17750, VOA Kurdish again has SAH from the carrier until its 1403:35* but no tone. 1404 on 17630, open carrier atop presumed CRI Mali. Still OC at 1406, 1410, no tones heard. This may not be related to the others. 1406 on 18900, strong OC but went right off as soon as I tuned in. 1406 on 18960, TT, then OC until 1407* 1407 on 19020, OC and TT back to OC to 1408* 1408 on 19000, OC and TT, back to OC, 1408:50-1409* TT again 1411 on 11620, poor with TT and off 1412 on 11980, poor with TT; 1415 JBA, 1427 either off or fadeout Would someone please check the IBB RMS files for clues as to who was transmitting from where on any of these frequencies? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More mystery 1000 Hz tone-tests June 23: 1255 on 17800, poor with flutter; instead of ceding to duly registered DW Rwanda in Hausa from 1300, tone stays on, under DW at 1311, 1325, 1345. 1351 on 11620, poor and now 17800 is off; still on 11620 at 1401 and 1405, but not at 1419. 1405 on 11980, AND on 11620, so we know at least two transmitters are doing this. By 1419, 11980 is JBA, and even less so, a trace at 1428 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I can receive the very strong Chinese music filler station on 26000 kHz at 1600 UT on June 19. It is nonstop music, but is different from Firedrake (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Mr Hauser, I have sent a polite e-mail to WWCR asking them to reconsider their decision to pull your programme. I continue to follow World Of Radio via the WWW. You have many listeners (and readers) around the world and we all appreciate what you do for us very much. I hope the narrow-mindedness of a small number of individuals has not caused you to permanently despair. Best wishes & good DX from (Ian Evans in the UK, June 17) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ BDXC MIDSUMMER TWICKENHAM MEETING - THIS SATURDAY, 18TH JUNE [this is of course now over, and in any event hardly pertinent to readers elsewhere, but allows me to remark that it would be nice if such get-togethers occurred amongst North Americans --- gh] Just a reminder that everyone is welcome to our friendly and informal annual midsummer get-together this Saturday, 18th June, in the very pleasant surroundings of the Middlesex bank of the Thames at THE BARMY ARMS, EMBANKMENT, TWICKENHAM, TW1 3DU. We "officially" start from 4.00 p.m onwards (though you're welcome to arrive earlier to enjoy the riverside ambience if you wish). This has been our venue now each year for over a decade, for a meeting originally held as a one off in millennium year and which revived a tradition of meetings in the club's original home town- this is where The Twickenham DX Club began in the 1970s. Since then, we've welcomed visitors to the meeting from far and wide, including Stig Hartvig Nielsen and family from Scandinavia one year, as well as familiar names from the pages of Communication and other radio publications. This being England, of course the one thing we can't guarantee for a "midsummer" meeting is the constant sunshine most of us hope for round about the longest day, but come rain or shine, we'll be there. The Barmy Arms, a free house which can usually be guaranteed to serve a fine real ale pint as well as lagers, wines and spirits and soft drinks, has a large outdoor drinking area, with canopies and patio heaters should the weather turn inclement. Space permitting, there is also of course space in the pleasant indoor bar area in the event of heavy rain. If you haven't been before, you'll be all the more welcome- we'll be easy to spot, with copies of "Communication" , WRTVH and other radio paraphernalia on the tables. However, if you do get lost or need any further information, please don't hesitate to give me a call or send a text. At around 7.00, our custom is to adjourn to a nearby Indian restaurant in Twickenham's characterful and historic Church Street. The Twining family, of tea fame, had their house nearby and are mentioned in the lovely St Mary's churchyard- the Sculpture park and the Riverside walks are also worth a visit if you've not been to this area before. The Twinings are among the many notable names- from poets Alexander Pope and Alfred Lord Tennyson, to clockwork radio inventor Trevor Baylis, who have made their home here. Transport to Twickenham is very convenient from all parts- the train service to London Waterloo usually takes less than 22 minutes although sometimes engineering works extend this slightly. There are also buses direct from Heathrow Airport and the London Underground at Richmond (District Line, London Overground and South West Trains) or Hatton Cross (Piccadilly Line). If you would like to stay for the meal, please let me know before Friday 17th June, so that we can book a table. We will do our best to accommodate late bookings, but cannot guarantee this should the restaurant be busy. To book your place, or for further information: Contact Mark Savage: mark@bdxc.org. uk or phone/text 07711 616908 Look forward to seeing both old faces and new on Saturday, and praying for the sunshine! (Mark Savage, Member Rep, BDXC Board, June 13, BDXC- UK yg via DXLD) SHORTWAVE CONFERENCE IN DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 12-16 Radio World June 14, 2011 http://www.radioworld.com/article/shortwave-conference-in-dallas/23708 The National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters will team with Dallas-based transmitter maker Continental Electronics to host the first U.S. meeting of a High-Frequency Coordination Conference/Arab States Broadcasting Union conference, Sept. 12–16, in Dallas. Officially the B11 HFCC/ASBU conference, the gathering of shortwave broadcast professionals is expected to pull approximately 100 delegates from 40 countries. The NASB is encouraging shortwave professionals in the U.S. to attend to make a good showing. These twice-yearly conferences rotate among various countries. According to a release: “This will be an excellent opportunity … to meet with the world’s shortwave broadcasters, and to discuss some of the new platforms of delivery for international broadcasting, such as the Internet, satellites, podcasts, etc. Topics dealing with programming, audience research and others are also being planned for the agenda.” A tour of the Continental Electronics’ factory along with local tourist destinations such as the nearby Ft. Worth Stockyards will be included (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD; also via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See [nons] DENMARK; YEMEN; UNID 15745 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See also MEXICO +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AM IBOC ON ITS WAY OUT? Is AM HD singing its swan song? Early yesterday afternoon I drove up to New York City from Philly for an AES/SBE meeting. So, of course, I did a lot of dial twisting to see what was going on in the Number One market. I was surprised how many AM stations had turned off the IBOC as compared to my last trip. I could only find two AM's in the number one market that were still broadcasting in IBOC, WOR and WADO. None of the major O&Os were still running it. Now, I could have caught them on an "off day." It just seemed strange that so many formerly IBOC'd signals were back to strictly analog. Are we seeing the death of AM IBOC (I hope)? (Rene' Tetro, PA, June 15, ABDX via DXLD) WOR will probably be the last station to drop AM HD. Their chief engineer, Tom Ray, has been a strong advocate of AM HD since its inception. He’ll probably want to see it through to the end. Tom is a very knowledgeable person, and his posts (not as frequent now) have always been interesting reading (Dick W., ibid.) Dick, Actually, I think WOR will drop it well before CBS does. Mr. Ray has been quoted as saying there's been no return of investment on it, and that if the exciter were to fail tomorrow, that he'd probably not even fix it. I refer you to http://www.rbr.com/radio/26662.html for more on that (Eric Berger, ibid.) Very interesting. Thanks, Eric. Those comments from the man who was arguably the number 1 proponent of AM HD radio in its early days (Dick W., ibid.) *crosses fingers* One can only hope. I did catch KFAB with its IBOC pants down for about 48 hours last week. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, ibid.) IBOC on it's way out? Man, I hope so. Instead of helping AM radio, IBOC just adds to the interference and noise. When AM was still THE dominant band back as late as the mid-to-late 1970's, AM stations shot themselves in the foot by running 20 minutes+ commercials per hour..making a killing in ad revenue while stations on the FM band stole AM's audience with similar programming but a more competitive commercial load limit. AM audience has been eroding since the late 70's. And, since about the late 1980's, other than a handful of local- content talk or local-content sports talk AMs....most stations on the AM band run non-local, or automated, generic, lifeless (IMHO) programming. So --- IBOC: please do go away. AM stations have enough problems (most of their own creation). 73's, (Tim, KD8GZ (an AM DXer since the early 60's; and I've earned my living in radio broadcasting since the early 70's)., ibid.) iBOC could have been good - it actually brought decent-sounding stereo back to AM, and the features that today's listener would want, such as tagging. Problems are: A. iBiquity wanted to go with a license-fee business model instead of a more sensible model involving equipment production and service. Stations understandably don't want a ball-and-chain attached to the iBOC hardware they've already bought and installed. It's like buying a new computer and then having to buy a license key every month to keep using the software on the computer. B. Few stations ever bothered to address their airchain prior to installation of AM-HD equipment. The same audio processing optimized for monaural AM radio simply got plugged into the stereo-capable HD exciter, resulting in sloshy artifacting and lousy-sounding monaural audio. In those cases, this amounts to a 21st Century downgrade from analog AM, and even more of a downgrade for those that dropped C-QuAM in favor of iBOC, rewired their airchain for monaural, and then plugged an iBOC exciter into it (KFI 640 would be a prime example of this). Finally, those stations that finally choose to drop iBOC, in almost EVERY CASE, will never revert back to analog AM stereo, so constitutes an even larger net loss for the listener. C. Receiver availability. Try to find (anywhere - online, brick-and- mortar, etc.) an iBOC receiver capable of tuning an AM-HD station that also fits in the palm of your hand. None exist - all the HD portables only receive FM-HD, not AM-HD. So if you want to put on your headphones and keep up on the game while you garden or jog, or are shopping or walking the dog, forget it. Fewer AM-capable receivers = fewer listeners to AM. Just as it had been mandated by the FCC that every TV set have both VHF and UHF, it should be mandated for any receiver over $25.00 has to have both AM and FM bands. D. (and the biggest biggie) Stations 'forgot' to update their FORMAT at the time they adopted HD. AM-HD doesn't make right-wing conspiracy chatter or sports politics sound any more palatable. A fresh, new music and entertainment-based format young and old would want to listen to should have been a keystone change at the time HD was adopted. You don't buy an HD 60" screen TV to watch your old VHS tapes on. Those are the Big Four problems (business model, technical, consumer, and programming) that spelled death for AM-HD, further delaying any chance for AM to ever recover. As THE most innovative nation in the world, what the U.S. needs to do now is to re-invent the AM band with a fresh, new approach to AM stereo and format offerings for the ailing Band, rather than a MOTS (more-of-the-same) approach. Let iBOC die - it wasn't 'done' right by both iBiquity nor broadcasters. And for goodness sake, let's move on, pick up AND STICK WITH an analog or a new digital AM stereo system, create a workable non-license-based business structure for that technology, and revamp programming to let AM shine again (Darwin Long, Empire, LA, ibid.) Its being pushed into some new cars. A person normally buying a car is doing just that --- buying a car. If the car happens to come with the HD radio at no extra cost the buyer does not care as its "bundled" in with the car. Now the retail radio market is a whole different matter. HD radio in the retail market OUTSIDE of an automotive after market radio is dead. It seems what they shove into a car dash board is keeping the share holders happy and keeping this dead horse laying in the middle of the pasture (Starship 2001, ibid.) Problem is, when a station does IBOC it doesn't cover as well as analog. It will switch in and out of HD which makes unpleasant audio changes. Happens way too often and would likely cause someone to shut it off. It isn't in new cars as frequently as it would be if it actually worked well. I have to wonder if cars sent to Mexico would have HD Radios or if that's limited to the US (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HD RADIO --- IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT? Thread more about the audio response of AM radio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/messages/51532?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1 (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ETON'S PAST GLORY FORGOTTEN? Eton, Grundig, Tecsun, whatever you want to call them, has maintained a page on their website http://www.etoncorp.com/past_collection where all their former models of receivers are posted. I noticed that they no longer list the Grundig Satellit 800 or the Eton E-1. Does Eton wish to forget that they used to produce some excellent shortwave receivers? (Mark Coady, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X3, June 10, ODXA yg via DXLD) EAS NATIONWIDE TEST DATE SET Radio Journal June 15, 2011 Any broadcast engineers who were expecting to be on vacation November 9 may have to reconsider those plans, now that the FCC and FEMA have designated that Wednesday at 2 PM ET as the time for the first-ever nationwide test of the "EAN" national EAS code. Full story : http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZMST/Journal/2011/RJ9298.pdf (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) AM RADIO TURNTABLES Hello fellow listeners, To those who enjoy DXing on the AM broadcast band with small hand-held and ultralight portables, e.g. C. Crane - EP and Sony SRF-59. I would like to suggest a solution to the costly store bought ones, a micro-wave turntable bought in a repair shop second hand or at a flea market. I got one at a reasonable price of under $10.00 CAN with the size of 9.5 inches for the clear glass table and plastic support ring with 3 wheels. It's important to get the glass table to be able to support slightly bigger and heavier radios as the plastic ring is very weak and only serves to keep the little wheels in line. The bigger the table of course if you have the space makes turning the radio ever so slowly to catch that elusive DX station. Good listening from Rick in Sherbrooke, Quebec (where the signals are always great, no matter the propagation figures). 73's (Richard Tribble, Canada, June 16, ODXA yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ BEACONS ON 11 METERS http://www.27mhz-dxpagina.com/?p=bakens (via Marcio Martins Pontes, Registro - SP, Membro DXCB, radioescutas yg via DXLD) LAST YEAR'S Es AUDIO CLIPS Hi group, My DX friend Alexander Mak from Lutsk, Ukraine, provided almost one hundred FM station clips for my True Sounds audio archive. They were recorded by Alexander in summer 2010 during Es propagation times. Greece, Turkey, Italy, Israel, Azerbaijan, etc., etc. Listen and enjoy! :-) http://dxsignal.ru/listen_eng.htm 73, (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, June 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) HELP! TROPO IS KILLING US Hi Glenn - We DXers may love Tropo, but radio stations hate it. Check out this thread from a broadcast engineering message board --- http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=192103.msg1695004#msg1695004 (Dave Alpert, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What defeatist attitudes! At the same time their own signals are no doubt getting out far beyond normal coverage; but who cares? (gh, DXLD) CYCLE 25 --- MAY NOT HAPPEN AT ALL "As the current sunspot cycle, Cycle 24, begins to ramp up toward maximum, independent studies of the solar interior, visible surface, and the corona indicate that the next 11-year solar sunspot cycle, Cycle 25, will be greatly reduced or may not happen at all." http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=33826 (via Dan Ferguson, SC, dxldyg via DXLD) It seems to me that for cycles 21, 22, 23 and now 24, I have heard from different sources that: A. This is going to be the Hottest cycle Ever. or B. We may be in another Maunder Minimum. Has anyone else noticed this? (Mike Gorniak, Braham, MN, ibid.) Not the least bit surprising. I did an in-depth study of solar flux vs. planetary alignments and how it affects short-term global climate last year, and quickly found that there was also a positive correlation between planetary alignments and sunspot numbers. Turns out that sunspot numbers and short-term global climate are both related to solar flux output, which is primarily influenced by the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. I was able to correlate planetary alignment and sunspot numbers all the way back to the Maunder Minimum, when sunspot numbers were first being observed. According to the formulation I put together, this cycle (24) plus the next three (25, 26, and 27) will be minimal, and the last of these four (27) will barely have any sunspots at all (Chris Trask, ODXA yg via DXLD) That`s that (gh) You can easily follow the current cycle (24) as compared to the last three here: http://www.solen.info/solar/cyclcomp.html It has obviously started but diminished compared to the last 3 cycles. 73, (Marty KT4K, swl at qth.net via DXLD) GOODNIGHT SUN: SUNSPOTS MAY DISAPPEAR FOR YEARS By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Jun 14, 4:56 PM EDT Online: http://bit.ly/jrz0ps WASHINGTON (AP) -- The sun is heading into an unusual and extended hibernation, scientists predict. Around 2020, sunspots may disappear for years, maybe decades. But scientists say it is nothing to worry about. Solar storm activity has little to do with life-giving light and warmth from the sun. The effects from a calmer sun are mostly good. There'd be fewer disruptions of satellites and power systems. And it might mean a little less increase in global warming. It's happened before, but not for a couple centuries. "The solar cycle is maybe going into hiatus, sort of like a summertime TV show," said National Solar Observatory associate director Frank Hill, the lead author of a scientific presentation at a solar physics conference in New Mexico. Scientists don't know why the sun is going quiet. But all the signs are there. Hill and colleagues based their prediction on three changes in the sun spotted by scientific teams: Weakening sunspots, fewer streams spewing from the poles of the sun's corona and a disappearing solar jet stream. Those three cues show, "there's a good possibility that the sun could be going into some sort of state from which it takes a long time to recover," said Richard Altrock, an astrophysicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory and study co-author. The prediction is specifically aimed at the solar cycle starting in 2020. Experts say the sun has already been unusually quiet for about four years with few sunspots - higher magnetic areas that appear as dark spots. The enormous magnetic field of the sun dictates the solar cycle, which includes sunspots, solar wind and ejection of fast-moving particles that sometimes hit Earth. Every 22 years, the sun's magnetic field switches north and south, creating an 11-year sunspot cycle. At peak times, like 2001, there are sunspots every day and more frequent solar flares and storms that could disrupt satellites. Earlier this month, David Hathaway, NASA's top solar storm scientist, predicted that the current cycle, which started around 2009, will be the weakest in a century. Hathaway is not part of Tuesday's prediction. Altrock also thinks the current cycle won't have much solar activity. He tracks streamers from the solar corona, the sun's outer atmosphere seen during eclipses. The streamers normally get busy around the sun's poles a few years before peak solar storm activity. That "rush to the poles" would have happened by now, but it hasn't and there's no sign of it yet. That also means the cycle after that is uncertain, he said. Matt Penn of the National Solar Observatory, another study co-author, said sunspot magnetic fields have been steadily decreasing in strength since 1998. If they continue on the current pace, their magnetic fields will be too weak to become spots as of 2022 or so, he said. Jet streams on the sun's surface and below are also early indicators of solar storm activity, and they haven't formed yet for the 2020 cycle. That indicates that there will be little or delayed activity in that cycle, said Hill, who tracks jet streams. "People shouldn't be scared of this," said David McComas, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, who wasn't part of the team. "This is about the magnetic field and the ionized gas coming out of the sun. It's a reduction in that, not the light and the heat." There are questions about what this means for Earth's climate. Three times in the past the regular 11-year solar cycle has gone on an extended vacation - at the same time as cool periods on Earth. Skeptics of man-made global warming from the burning of fossil fuels have often pointed to solar radiation as a possible cause of a warming Earth, but they are in the minority among scientists. The Earth has warmed as solar activity has decreased. Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria, said there could be small temperature effects, but they are far weaker than the strength of man-made global warming from carbon dioxide and methane. He noted that in 2010, when solar activity was mostly absent, Earth tied for its hottest year in more than a century of record-keeping. Hill and colleagues wouldn't discuss the effects of a quiet sun on temperature or global warming. "If our predictions are true, we'll have a wonderful experiment that will determine whether the sun has any effect on global warming," Hill said (via Mike Cooper, dxldyg via DXLD) SCIENTISTS PREDICT RARE 'HIBERNATION' OF SUNSPOTS AFP by Kerry Sheridan Kerry Sheridan – Tue Jun 14, 5:38 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – For years, scientists have been predicting the Sun would by around 2012 move into solar maximum, a period of intense flares and sunspot activity, but lately a curious calm has suggested quite the opposite. According to three studies released in the United States on Tuesday, experts believe the familiar sunspot cycle may be shutting down and heading toward a pattern of inactivity unseen since the 17th century. The signs include a missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles, said experts from the National Solar Observatory and Air Force Research Laboratory. "This is highly unusual and unexpected," said Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO's Solar Synoptic Network, as the findings of the three studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico. "But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation." Solar activity tends to rise and fall every 11 years or so. The solar maximum and solar minimum each mark about half the interval of the magnetic pole reversal on the Sun, which happens every 22 years. Hill said the current cycle, number 24, "may be the last normal one for some time and the next one, cycle 25, may not happen for some time. "This is important because the solar cycle causes space weather which affects modern technology and may contribute to climate change," he told reporters. Experts are now probing whether this period of inactivity could be a second Maunder Minimum, which was a 70-year period when hardly any sunspots were observed between 1645-1715, a period known as the "Little Ice Age." "If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades. That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate," said Hill. Solar flares and eruptions can send highly charged particles hurtling toward Earth and interfere with satellite communications, GPS systems and even airline controls. Geomagnetic forces have been known to occasionally garble the world's modern gadgetry, and warnings were issued as recently as last week when a moderate solar flare sent a coronal mass ejection in the Earth's direction. The temperature change associated with any reduction in sunspot activity would likely be minimal and may not be enough to offset the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming, according to scientists who have published recent papers on the topic. "Recent solar 11-year cycles are associated empirically with changes in global surface temperature of 0.1 Celsius," said Judith Lean, a solar physicist with the US Naval Research Laboratory. If the cycle were to stop or slow down, the small fluctuation in temperature would do the same, eliminating the slightly cooler effect of a solar minimum compared to the warmer solar maximum. The phenomenon was witnessed during the descending phase of the last solar cycle. This "cancelled part of the greenhouse gas warming of the period 2000- 2008, causing the net global surface temperature to remain approximately flat -- and leading to the big debate of why the Earth hadn't (been) warming in the past decade," Lean, who was not involved in the three studies presented, said in an email to AFP. A study in the March 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters explored what effect an extended solar minimum might have, and found no more than a 0.3 Celsius dip by 2100 compared to normal solar fluctuations. "A new Maunder-type solar activity minimum cannot offset the global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions," wrote authors Georg Feulner and Stefan Rahmstorf, noting that forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have found a range of 3.7 Celsius to 4.5 Celsius rise by this century's end compared to the latter half of the 20th century. "Moreover, any offset of global warming due to a grand minimum of solar activity would be merely a temporary effect, since the distinct solar minima during the last millennium typically lasted for only several decades or a century at most." (via yahoonews via DXLD) Solar spots pooping out? Could provide slight relief from global warming? Maybe an ICE AGE!!!!!! ...or not http://ksjtracker.mit.edu/2011/06/15/lots-of-ink-solar-spots-pooping-out-could-provide-slight-relief-from-global-warming-maybe-an-ice-age-or-not/ (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) linx to many more stories about this Big news this week was the report issued from a meeting of the Solar Physics Division of American Astronomical Society at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces predicting another Maunder Minimum - many decades with hardly any sunspots. There seems to be a convergence of several lines of thought which all predict this, but fortunately there are dissenting experts. Here is the text of the release: http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~deforest/SPD-sunspot-release/SPD_solar_cycle_release.txt This contains text and images: http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~deforest/SPD-sunspot-release/ The web site for the conference: http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/SPD2011/ Douglas Biesecker of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center questions this hypothesis of disappearing sunspots. You can read his notes here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B88iFXWgVKt-NzU0Y2I3M2QtNGNkNS00ZTcyLWIxN2UtOWEwMzNmOTMzOTAx&hl=en_US&pli=1 Or if that doesn't work for you, try this: http://snurl.com/5qzxf A slideshow accompanies the notes: http://www.slideshare.net/Revkin/why-there-is-no-evidence-for-a-new-maunder-minimum-8318340 Here are several articles on related subjects, the first two contributed by Scott Bidstrup, TI3/W7RI: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/06/14/new.insights.how.solar.minimums.affect.earth http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-scientists-magnetic-ropes-solar-storms.html http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/solar-minimum-climate/ (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 24 ARLP024, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA June 17, 2011, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) Op-Ed Contributors HOW’S THE WEATHER? Jacob Magraw By MADHULIKA GUHATHAKURTA and DANIEL N. BAKER Published: June 16, 2011 LATELY, the Sun has been behaving a bit strangely. In 2008 and 2009, it showed the least surface activity in nearly a century. Solar flare activity stopped cold and weeks and months went by without any sunspots, or areas of intense magnetism. Quiet spells are normal for the Sun, but researchers alive today had never seen anything like that two-year hibernation. . . http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/opinion/17baker.html?hp (via Rich Cuff, NASWA yg via DXLD) Check out the illustration! (gh) Solar physics SUN DOWN Several lines of evidence suggest that the sun is about to go quiet Jun 16th 2011 | from the print edition Spots of bother? DURING the four centuries that it has been studied in detail, the sun has usually behaved in a regular manner. The number of spots on its surface has waxed and waned in cycles that last, on average, 11 years. Such cycles begin with spots appearing in mid-solar latitudes and end with them near the equator. And the more spots there are, the more solar storms there are around. Sometimes, though, the sun sulks and this solar cycle stops. That has happened twice since records began: during the so-called Maunder minimum of 1645 to 1715 and the Dalton minimum of 1790 to 1830. These coincided with periods when global temperatures were lower than average, though why is a matter of debate. An absence of sunspots also means an absence of solar flares and their more violent siblings, coronal mass ejections. Such outbursts disrupt radio and satellite communications, electricity grids and a variety of electronic equipment, so the pattern of solar activity is of more than academic interest . . . http://www.economist.com/node/18833483 (via Gerald Pollard, NC, DXLD) SOLSTICE SOLAR FLARE Space Weather News for June 21, 2011 http://spaceweather.com The first day of northern summer began with a solar flare. Magnetic fields above sunspot complex 1236 erupted during the early hours of June 21st, hurling a coronal mass ejection (CME) almost directly toward Earth. The incoming CME does not appear to be particularly potent; nevertheless, the cloud could trigger polar geomagnetic storms when it reaches Earth on or about June 23rd. Check http://spaceweather.com for movies and updates. HANG AN EXPLOSION ON YOUR WALL: The solar super-explosion of June 7, 2011, is now available from the Space Weather Store as a unique metallic wall hanging. Take a look: http://www.shopspaceweather.com/A-Blast-on-the-Sun.aspx You are subscribed to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com. New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at http://spaceweather.com/services/ (Unfortunately less is published about effects on radio propagation - Mike) (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT BIG SOLAR STORM NASA Science News for June 21, 2011 In Sept. 1859, on the eve of a below-average solar cycle, the sun unleashed one of the most powerful storms in centuries. This week, researchers and policy makers met in Washington DC to ask themselves, What if it happens again? Full story at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/22jun_swef2011/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT BIG SOLAR STORM June 21, 2011: In Sept. 1859, on the eve of a below-average1 solar cycle, the sun unleashed one of the most powerful storms in centuries. The underlying flare was so unusual, researchers still aren't sure how to categorize it. The blast peppered Earth with the most energetic protons in half-a-millennium, induced electrical currents that set telegraph offices on fire, and sparked Northern Lights over Cuba and Hawaii. This week, officials have gathered at the National Press Club in Washington DC to ask themselves a simple question: What if it happens again? SWEF (powerlines, 200px) Modern power grids are vulnerable to solar storms. Photo credit: Martin Stojanovski "A similar storm today might knock us for a loop," says Lika Guhathakurta, a solar physicist at NASA headquarters. "Modern society depends on high-tech systems such as smart power grids, GPS, and satellite communications--all of which are vulnerable to solar storms." She and more than a hundred others are attending the fifth annual Space Weather Enterprise Forum — "SWEF" for short. The purpose of SWEF is to raise awareness of space weather and its effects on society especially among policy makers and emergency responders. Attendees come from the US Congress, FEMA, power companies, the United Nations, NASA, NOAA and more. As 2011 unfolds, the sun is once again on the eve of a below-average solar cycle—at least that’s what forecasters are saying. The "Carrington event" of 1859 (named after astronomer Richard Carrington, who witnessed the instigating flare) reminds us that strong storms can occur even when the underlying cycle is nominally weak. In 1859 the worst-case scenario was a day or two without telegraph messages and a lot of puzzled sky watchers on tropical islands. In 2011 the situation would be more serious. . . SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/irti0v (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) SUN BLAST MAY SHUT DOWN BRITAIN Sunday Times 19 June 2011 http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Environment/article652097.ece Ministers are preparing to invoke emergency powers to turn off the nation’s electricity in a bid to shield Britain from the worst effects of the biggest solar flare for 150 years. They have been warned that a massive surge of energy from the sun could hit the Earth within the next 18 months. In a worst-case scenario, it could blow out the national grid and leave parts of the country without electricity for months. The most extreme form of solar storm could knock out computers and the banking system, throw satellites off course and disrupt GPS technology. Scientists have warned that the UK could be disabled by a solar flare five times more powerful than one in 1989 that plunged 6m people in Quebec into darkness and caused power disruption as far afield as California. Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, is so worried about the prospect of a category five solar storm — the most severe — that he has told officials to work with Washington to draw up emergency plans. Turning off the national grid, causing temporary blackouts, may protect it from permanent damage. Ministers are also looking to upgrade power line transformers to make them resilient to solar attack. Huhne said: “The latest scientific research raises the possibility of a severe event with the potential to hit many parts of the grid simultaneously. “That is why the Department of Energy and Climate Change is working with the national grid and experts from the UK and US to consider developing better hardware and early warning systems to guard against potential risk from such an event.” Sir John Beddington, the government’s chief scientist, has been advising Huhne about a huge ejection of force from the sun. It could attack not only Britain’s lights, but its computer, navigational and defence systems. A geomagnetic storm, caused when solar particles hit the Earth’s magnetic field, would emit so much radiation that astronauts in space could be exposed to lethal levels. One contingency plan is to alter the flight paths of aircraft and fly them at lower altitudes to reduce exposure to radiation. The emission of billions of charged particles towards the Earth would also cause red, green and purple auroras — usually only seen at the Earth’s poles — around the globe. The first recorded solar flare, known as the Carrington Event, took place on September 1, 1859. Richard Carrington, an astronomer, had been observing sunspots when two balls of blinding white light appeared over them — a magnetic explosion on the sun. The electric currents produced by the storm were so strong that telegraph systems worldwide experienced power surges, setting the telegraph paper on fire. So powerful was the electromagnetic force that messages were still able to be transmitted, even after operators disconnected the batteries powering the lines. The solar flare of 1989 was smaller but the storm knocked spacecraft into different orbits, causing ground controllers at Nasa to lose contact with them. Experts are issuing warnings about a class five storm, on a par with the 1859 event, may hit the Earth in 2012/13 as the sun reaches an active stage in its cycle. The British Geological Survey is drawing up scenarios for ministers, including for a huge magnetic storm. A solar flare could reach the Earth within minutes, followed by a more damaging mass ejection of energy that could take two to three days to hit. This would give time for emergency plans to kick-in. The Met Office is teaming up with the US to create a 24 hour prediction centre. “At the moment there isn’t a UK forecasting capability for this,” said a spokesman. “We are collaborating with the US weather authorities to focus on forecasting and how to deal with the impact on the UK’s infrastructure of a solar flare.” (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Everybody should panic over this as it sounds like it could be as serious as "SWINE FLU" or even as serious as "Y2K". There must be a money making scam angle to this in some way! Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.) Geomagnetic activity ranged from quiet to minor storm levels during the period. Activity was at quiet to unsettled levels, with an isolated active period at high latitudes on 13-14 June due to a coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). Activity was at quiet levels on 15 - 16 June. A geomagnetic sudden impulse (SI) was observed at Boulder at 17/0244 UTC (31 nT) and indicated the arrival of the partial-halo CME observed in C2 SOHO LASCO imagery at 13/0424 UTC. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels, with isolated active and minor storm periods at high latitudes. Activity decreased to quiet levels for 18-19 June. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 22 JUNE - 18 JULY 2011 Solar activity is expected to be at low levels, with a slight chance for isolated M-class flares during 22 - 27 June. Activity is expected to decrease to very low to low levels during the rest of the period as Region 1236 departs. Activity is expected to remain very low until 03 July with the return of old Region 1234. Activity is then expected to be low with a chance for isolated M-class activity for the remainder of the forecast 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 to moderate levels from 22 - 24 June. An increase to high levels is expected for 25 June - 01 July due to a recurrent CH HSS. A brief return to normal to moderate levels is expected on 02 July and then high levels are expected once again from 03 - 05 July due to another recurrent CH HSS. Normal to moderate levels are expected for the remainder of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be mostly quiet on 22 - 23 June. An increase to mostly active conditions is expected on 24 June with a chance for isolated minor to major storm periods due to the combination of the CH HSS and a halo CME observed early on 21 June. Unsettled to active conditions are expected from 25 - 26 June as the effects persist. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on 26 - 28 June as the disturbance subsides. Quiet conditions are expected from 29 June - 01 July. An slight increase to quiet to unsettled conditions is expected from 02 - 03 July due to another recurrent CH HSS followed by a return to quiet conditions until 07 July. A third CH HSS is expected to bring unsettled conditions from 08 - 09 July. Predominately quiet conditions are expected until the arrival of a fourth CH HSS due to arrive on 17 July. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for the remainder of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2011 Jun 21 1906 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 2011-06-21 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2011 Jun 22 97 5 2 2011 Jun 23 100 15 3 2011 Jun 24 105 35 6 2011 Jun 25 105 18 4 2011 Jun 26 105 8 3 2011 Jun 27 100 8 3 2011 Jun 28 100 7 2 2011 Jun 29 95 5 2 2011 Jun 30 95 5 2 2011 Jul 01 95 5 2 2011 Jul 02 95 8 3 2011 Jul 03 93 8 3 2011 Jul 04 90 5 2 2011 Jul 05 90 5 2 2011 Jul 06 88 5 2 2011 Jul 07 85 5 2 2011 Jul 08 85 7 2 2011 Jul 09 85 7 2 2011 Jul 10 88 5 2 2011 Jul 11 95 5 2 2011 Jul 12 100 5 2 2011 Jul 13 100 5 2 2011 Jul 14 100 5 2 2011 Jul 15 100 5 2 2011 Jul 16 100 5 2 2011 Jul 17 100 7 2 2011 Jul 18 100 7 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1570, DXLD) ###