DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-34, August 24, 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 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 1579 HEADLINES: DX and station news about: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cuba, Europe, France non, Germany, Guyana, India, International, International Waters, Italy non, Kashmir, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Saipan, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and non, USA SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1579, August 25-31, 2011 Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [confirmed on webcast; jammed on 9955] Thu 1500 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WTWW 9479 Thu 2130 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0330 WWRB 5051 Fri 0500 WRMI 9955 Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1500 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WRMI 9955 Sun 0400 WTWW 5755 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1530 WRMI 9955 Sun 1730 WRMI 9955 Mon 0300v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Mon 1130 WRMI 9955 Mon 1530 WRMI 9955 Mon 2130 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 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. Ciao, un ascolto interessante dal ridente paesello montano in provincia di Foggia (S. Marco la Catola), effettuato con IC-707 connesso ad una antenna filare da 15 metri. 6102, R. Afghanistan, 1526, 18/08, English, ethnic music till 1530, then ID and news headlines in English; news bulletin with the usual long list of casualties due to terrorist attacks. In USB only, since LSB is plagued by a Utility station. Fair (SIO 333). 73, (Michele D`Amico, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Or DRM? Radio Afghanistan English Service Email Address: radioafghanistan@yahoo.com (Abid Hussain Sajid, Pakistan, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meanwhile, the website still has a dead link for the English page (gh) 6102, 21/8 1620-1629*, Radio Afghanistan, music, final talk presumed Urdu, s/off at 1629, weak to fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Summer tips in hot Milan city, Italia, Perseus & T2FD antenna 15 m long, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 7390, R Tirana at 0630-0900 UT 7390 kHz wieder on air. RT mit dem Sender #1 heute auch nicht in der Luft ueber die Rundstrahlantenne S-01, um 0835 UT. Paul fleht fuer die Rueckkehr nach dem regulaeren Techniker in Shijak. !!! Doch er ist zurueck, 10 Minuten spaeter jetzt um 0847 UT ein schoenes S=9+10dBm Signal in Albanisch. Ich will mal nicht frohlocken, vielleicht hat der Herr Inschschenjieur auch nur den Sender #2 an die Rundstrahlantenne gehangen. Das muss man mal um 1430 UT auf 13625 kHz abklaeren (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 15, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) 13625, Aug 24 at 1430, still no signal from R. Tirana. We wonder how much longer only one Shijak transmitter will be in use? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. Tipaza 253 --- At least since the 13th inst., RTA 252 is 1 kHz higher. The result here is a strong heterodyne with co-channel RTÉ. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, Aug 18, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The reason is unknown, but this is a known practice of Algeria (moving to 250 or 253). This is at least the third such occasion in the past few years. See Message #50109 in this Yahoo Group. Regards, (Chris Greenway, ibid.) [and non] As this hour, about 1050 UT, a strong het is noticed, but the Irish signal is far too weak to copy. The Algerian "case" is not as frequent as Morocco's 594 which I found on 595 on a quite a number of times during the year. On the right channel frequency today, but not on the 17th or the 6th inst. (Carlos Gonçalves, Aug 20, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 253.000 still on Aug 20, 1800 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. 6090, Aug 18 at 0534, DGS is back on again. 11775 also on again at 1032 with PMS, but poor signal now, weaker than Brasília 11780; by 1122 had built up to VG signal during music break, 800 number. And 6090 still on Aug 19 at 0602. (At recording time for WOR 1578, it had been off again for a biday.) 6090, August 20 at 0532 check, CB is off again. Also off 11775 at 1135 and later chex; ho hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6090, University Network/The Caribbean Beacon. 2024 August 20, 2011. Surprised to find this one on so early with tune-in at 4:24 p.m. (1624) local time. Clear and decent level with the now decomposed Dr. Gene Scott rants, canned ID and send money to information at 2053, then the non-decomposing Melissa Scott quasi-preaching. Tuned out at 2114, but recheck at 2123, it was off. And still off 2155 check, but back on 2206 re-check. So, what's the normal sign-on time, still 2200? And if so, up early for the new antenna tweaking? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On again: 11775, Aug 21 at 2127, PMS. Also 6090, Aug 22 at 0520 with music and phone number for reservations at ``this Sunday`s service`` - -- a bit late for that on UT Monday. Note: in Los Ángeles, not The Valley! 11775, also Aug 22 at 1319 PMS with rumbling-sound CCI, not sure whence. BTW, Terry Krueger in FL heard CB`s night frequency in the daytime, 6090, 2024-2114+ August 20, ahead of its nominal *2200, so always check both, day or night if one be missing. 11775, Aug 24 at 1317, CB is gone again. Maybe stuck on inaudible daytime frequency 6090 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Friday August 19 at 1432 check, almost forgot to mention that LRA36 is still not being heard at the end of another week for about two months now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here is the current situation regarding LRA36 Antarctica, as quoted on Facebook: Dario Monferini === LRA36 15476 kHz IS NOT ACTIVE NOW, but they plan to be back soon at 1200-1600 UT. Please contact Arnaldo Slaen; he is in contact with LRA36. 73's Dario Monferini So, this is all I know for now. I will try to keep you posted on any return of LRA36. Thanks for your understanding. 73's, (Noble West, BMSS, TN, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If it`s ``current`` what is the axual date of Dario`s entry? (gh) ** ARGENTINA [and non]. 11710+, Aug 18 at 1034, big het between RAE in Japanese and something closer to 11710, presumably North Korea and/or CNR1 per Aoki. Geez! RAE frequency management is a farce, putting Japanese service on same channel as those. But then, RAE does not even try to protect its own frequencies by registering them with HFCC. The // 6060 earlier in the hour was better audible here, but much weaker than Radio Nikkei on 6055, Japan`s domestic SW service, so another loser! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: ARGENTINA. RAE: 15344.035 at 2130 UT Aug 11 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 12 via DXLD) How is the CCI from Morocco 15345v now during the RAE German hour? Can it be heard on ordinary receivers? Of course, close enough to Morocco there is a skip zone, but Germany should be beyond that (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Equal level, at ARG fade-in time 2030 UT. Nador Morocco on 15345.140 kHz, S=7 RAE Buenos Aires on very odd 15344.219 kHz S=6 Glenn, listen to the terrible audio mixture recording around 15345 at 2022 UT: start with total 12 kHz bandwidth, then cut out MRC by Perseus notch filter, followed by cut out RAE signal using notch filter option, against lower MRC signal level. Nador MRC signal is always eastwards at approx. 120 degrees towards Saudi Arabia, never meant to western Europe. At 2215 UT Aug 20: RAE now on 15344.224 kHz with S=9+20 dB level - still. No QRM by Morocco anymore. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. Note! "By the way, keep an eye out for an announcement from us at at 0000 UT tomorrow (Friday, Aug 26) about a special RFA QSL card that will only be available for valid reception reports spanning a few days over this weekend. We hope it builds some excitement in the DX community. Best wishes from all of us at RFA." 73s (AJ Janitschek, Radio Free Asia, via Bruce Jensen, via Alokesh Gupta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 585 kHz DU Classic Rock Mystery Station: 2WEB Hello All, One of the mystery DU stations that has seemed to show up for me during almost every summer Ultralight DXpedition is a classic rock station on 585 kHz, occasionally with fairly strong signals. This station had evaded identification for an extended time, cleverly limiting its DU-English speech to extremely brief (and incoherent) mumblings in between lengthy songs. Propagation clues indicated that the origin was Australia, since it never showed up during Kiwi-slanted propagation. Last week at the "Rockwork" ocean cliff viewpoint on the Oregon Pacific coast the station seems to have finally have given itself anyway, however. Superior salt water propagation and the high ocean cliff elevation seem to have finally solved the mystery. After listening to the recording of the 585 kHz mystery station playing "A Horse With No Name" on the MP3 at http://www.mediafire.com/?vdytg556d027a7w Chuck Hutton was kind enough to say that he was 75% sure that there was a "2WEB" ID at 1:11 into the recording. After listening to the recording with high-sensitivity headphones about 25 times, I am 100% sure that he is correct. The male-voiced DU English announcer seems to have slowed down, and purposely given a 2-W-E-B identification a few seconds after the song ended at 1:11 into the recording. So now the station playing "The Horse With No Name" is no longer "The Station With No Name." 2WEB is a 5 kw station in Bourke, Australia. This was the second UnID South Pacific mystery solved during the "Rockwork" visit, the first having been the identification of 765- Radio Kahungunu, a 2.5 kw Maori-language station in New Zealand, with the help of Tony King and Gary Deacon. Both of these stations were long-term mysteries that might have continued indefinitely, if not for the DXing combination of high elevation and salt water propagation. Thanks to Chuck for his assistance. The "Rockwork" ocean cliff really rocks! 73 and Good DX, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA), IRCA via DXLD) Gary, Congrats on 2WEB. They have been fairly common here during good conditions. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Gary, For whatever it's worth, I can hear "2-W-E-B" as well just after 0111 into the recording!!!! It's a lot easier when you're actually listening for that Specific ID at a certain time but it was clear enough that all I can say is "Congratulations on another Fine Catch!!". 73 ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, ibid.) Are they unaware that DXer David Sharp works at 2WEB? I forwarded these reports on to him (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes, I did see the report and have replied to Gary. Very small world! With regards to my DX'ing -- I desperately want to resume and am looking at some options. But the noise generated by my neighbor's plasma TV is horrendous! I get severe spikes every 125 kHz, and white noise between the spikes, that averages S9, minimum. Since these people have children, the TV is on a lot. Very frustrating. At least, I am on good terms with these people, and the property owner. They've already installed a new TV antenna and are in the process of having a new ground installed. I am also thinking about trying an EWE antenna. So, all hope is not lost. FWIW, the only other report to 2WEB over the past decade (which I know about), came from Canada. So, this is likely the first "American" reception, since my taking over the Morning (Breakfast) Show, 5 November 2001. 2WEB is not 5 kW as alleged by Gary. We operate with a 10 kW Continental (which can run 12.5 kW). Our previous xmtr, still used as a back-up, is a solid state 5 kW Harris. We also have an old 5 kW valve STC, in perfect working condition. Appreciate hearing from you. Hope to have some good news regarding my QRM issues, soon. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In case you guys are unaware, DXer David Sharp works at 2WEB. I sent your report on to him. 73, (Glenn Hauser, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Glenn, It turns out that David is also a member of our Ultralightdx Yahoo group -- so right after I posted the message claiming reception of 2WEB, he posted a response to the Ultralight group confirming my reception! How is that for quick action? The correspondence is pasted below. 73, Gary Hello Gary (and the group), I happen to be the morning (breakfast) announcer at 2WEB, and a DX'er myself (formerly from Florida and also a former member of SPEEDX). The details of what you hear are correct, except that we are not a classic rock station. We play a variety of pop (from the 1950's thru to today) and country. Also, we are not 5 kW. The station has, for years, been 10 kW directional. If you want a QSL letter, send your report, to my attention, at: P. O. Box 426, Bourke, NSW 2840 Australia. We have been logged in North America before, but those reports are "few and far between." P.S. Our main transmitter is a Continental, running a maximum 12.5 kW. We have a 5 kW back-up Harris xmtr and also a valve STC (rated at 5 kW). 73s (David Sharp, Formerly of Tampa, via Gary, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks David, Wow, this was completely unexpected! Thanks a bunch for confirming my reception of 585-2WEB (and of course I take back my comment about incoherent mumbling in between lengthy songs!). Your station was received with a humble ($50) Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight radio inductively coupled to one of the new, compact Ferrite Sleeve Loop antennas. But I suppose that the main advantage for me in receiving 2WEB from North America was being on top of a 400' ocean side cliff on the Oregon state coast -- a photo of my medium wave DXing setup at the cliff is posted at http://www.mediafire.com/i/?9w83poo77w8wrvc Thanks again for this very unexpected honor, David, and also thanks for the corrections on 2WEB's format and transmitting power (which I will forward to other radio enthusiasts here in the States). Your station has often produced quite strong signals for me during Ultralight DXing on the Oregon coast, but actual identification was a real challenge. I will be sure to send off the reception report letter to you as soon as possible, and many thanks again for your assistance! 73 and Best Wishes, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), IRCA via DXLD) David was also the moderator of the AMFMTVDX e-mail list in the late 90's; I believe it predates the NRC, IRCA and WTFDA reflectors (Steve Francis, TN, ibid.) Hi Glenn, May be DX'ing again soon. New EWE antenna and work on the earthing (ground) at the house next to me, seems to be working. Will keep you updated. Hope you didn't suffer major damage with the recent bad storms, which ripped through OK. Take care, (David Sharp, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No problems here (gh, Enid) ** AUSTRALIA. 9580, Aug 21 at 1324, finale of Beethoven`s Fifth, a favourite selected by guest Graham Clark(e), inventor of the cochlear implant and now a Believer, on `Sunday Night` from RA. This prompts me to rant that RA, and hardly any other SW station, would *dream* of playing that entire, or any other symphony! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3309.98, Radio Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, 0950 strong signal on 19 August (Bob Wilkner, NRD 535D - Drake R8 - Icom 746Pro modified, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.47, Radio Pio Doce, 0005-0122, August 21, Spanish talk. ID. Nice Bolivian music. Fair but must use ECSS-LSB to avoid Radio Republica and jammer on high side (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BOLIVIA. Radio Juan XXIII --- Estoy escuchando el noticiero y el micro programa nuestra opinión por los 6054.95 kHz; entre el ruido se entiende perfecto (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, Aug 18, condiglist yg via DXLD) There are hundreds of other popes (and anti-popes) with no radio stations named for them; get with it, Catholix!! (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA [and non]. 6134.8, Aug 18 at 1038 music with het from 6135 and also OTH radar [see CHINA]. The het went off at 1040:42* and so did the music, so that must have been from the nameless Korean clandestine, revealing R. Santa Cruz much weaker, while OTHR continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Radio Santa Cruz] measured Spanish talk on 6134.818, Aug 20, 1012 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 21 via DXLD) 6134.82, 21/8 0056-0107*, Radio Santa Cruz, news ("Información local, nacional and internacional"), at 0102 great IDs, the usual song of Radio Santa Cruz. Off at 0107 good! SW blog: http://radiodxsw.blogspot.com/ (Giampiero Bernardini, Summer tips in hot Milan city, Italia, Perseus & T2FD antenna 15 m long, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) V. unID 6075 ** BOTSWANA. Will VOA QSL reception report for Botswana relay? Hi Guys. Haven't been very active in SWLing for about 20 years, so, that might be a really dumb question. Many years ago VOA *would* QSL (even into the 80's, if my memory serves correct). I need Botswana QSL'd. Does VOA verify with QSL cards, correct reception reports? Would appreciate your feedback, pro or con. Thanks, (Tim, KD8GZ, Ohio, USA, ptsw yg via DXLD) People have better luck sending reports directly to relay sites than Washington; I expect Botswana QSL reports have appeared sometime in DXLD archive if you would search that (gh, DXLD) Some VOA sites have QSLed directly; it`s up to the manager or someone who works there interested in doing it. If you can find their direct address. Scads of QSLs reported here, but nothing since 2007; still might get you some leads: http://www.schoechi.de/af-bot.html Latest we heard from Washington was that the outsourced QSL manager is no longer on the payroll, so someone in the office has to do it when they get around to it as a low-priority task. Expect delays but maybe eventually a reply. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ptsw yg via DXLD) Re: Will VOA QSL reception rpt for Botswanna relay? - YES, but... Hi, Tim - (I have the same question for VOA Sao Tome e Principe!) To the Botswana question, the answer is *Yes*, after a fashion. Over the last year (since March 2010), I have sent about 15 reception reports to both VOA Washington and to the Botswana address listed in WRTH. The two letters to the Botswana address both bounced - I got the mail back "undeliverable" (apparently some DXer friends of mine in India have had some luck with the 'physical street' address as opposed to the 'private bag' address in WRTH.) I used both postal mail and e- mail for each report. In March and April, I did a series of reports in a short period of time. About 6 weeks ago, I actually received a QSL back from Washington (along wit a large packet of other pretty interesting VOA material, including a neat set of postcards with VOA photojournalism shots) that was for the Botswana transmission( s). It was peculiar - instead of listing a specific transmitter, day, time and frequency, it simply implied that the card was for ALL transmissions the specific frequency during a roughly 7-month period (which has not yet ended!!!). So, along with the storage of the card, I have attached a copy of the reception report that lists the frequency of the report plus the corresponding HFCC data line that identifies the particulars for this transmission. Here is a picture of the data side of the card: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31918009&l=a998fa74c3&id=1065175687 It took awhile, but eventually it came. Try a series of simple reports over a two week period and see if that does not work (Bruce Jensen, California, ptsw yg via DXLD) Viz.: BOTSWANA: Voice of America, Moepeng Hill relay, 9855 kHz, p/d “coverall” Antenna Farm 5x7 inch card n/s in 16 months for EE report after several followups by mail/e-mail; card covers all transmissions for 0400-0430z from March-October 2011 (!!!); also program schedules, 2011 wall calendar and postcard set “VOA Through the Lens” (JENSEN - CA, USA, ibid.) QSL fans are enamoured of mandatory abbrs., such as p/d = partial data; n/s = no signature (I think) (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Re 11-33, Brazil 5035 in DXLD: lobes [separating two co- channel stations with different antennas] Glenn, One Beverage is beamed 225º, the other is beamed 270º: 300 m & 200 m respectively. Neither is terminated, just like the remaining three. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5939.860 [tentative], Voz Missionária, Camboriú, SC, fade in to Europe at 2340 UT Aug 20. S=6-7 tiny signal in Portuguese. // 11749.923 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6089.95, Radio Bandeirantes, 2320-2325, August 20, Portuguese talk. Poor to fair but covered by Anguilla 6090 at their 2325 sign on. // 9645.37 - fair to good. // 11925.22 - very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. A Rádio Record, de São Paulo (SP), mudou radicalmente a sua programação. Todos os comunicadores foram demitidos, entre eles, Juarez Soares, Paulo Barboza e Gil Gomes. Por enquanto, a emissora está levando ao ar músicas e noticiários de hora em hora. Em ondas curtas, a emissora está inativa em 9505 kHz e segue sendo ouvida normalmente em 6150 kHz. Ao que tudo indica, a Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP), está com suas três frequências de ondas curtas inativas: 4825, 6105 e 9675 kHz (Célio Romais, Sintonizando Ondas Curtas blog via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9695+, Aug 18 at 1020, Brazilian with news and nationwide temperatures, S9+18 but undermodulated, mentions Manaus, Rio Mar, local ad for Distribuidora Londrina. It`s Rádio Rio Mar, alluding to the Amazon river being so big it amounts to a sea in itself. No het, but we know it`s off-frequency; Manuel Méndez, Spain, recently measured it on 9695.7. This is a good clear window for ZYE245 before Japan comes on with Vietnamese at 1100. BTW, WRTH 2011 has 9695 hours as 09-21 only, one of few entries attempting to show times for Brazilian SW stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But: 9695.7, Rádio Rio Mar, Manaus, 2008-2110, 20-08, male, soccer, comments, identification: "Rádio Rio Mar", "Rádio Rio Mar, Amazônia". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Friol, 27 Km. W of Lugo, Spain, Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, faced WSW, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Rio Mar, noted on 9695.656 kHz at 1005 UT Aug 20 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte MG, noted 15189.896 kHz, 1025 UT, Aug 20 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) BRASIL: 15190, ZYE522, Rádio Inconfidência; 0340, 21-Aug; Lite Portuguese tunes; 0342 one-word Inconfidência SID. SIO=2+43 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA [and non]. 11600, for some reason, R. Bulgaria runs open carrier here during most of the semihour preceding 0530 German, as often noted. Just to be sure of the source, we kept listening Aug 24 from 0523, and also // 9600, which by then was also OC. 9600 started IS at 0529, but 11600 did not, just cold start of German opening at 0630 becoming // 9600. Wastes 300 kW with all that open carriering. Then 11800, Aug 24 at 0534, S9+22 open carrier with flutter, atop a much weaker station which was modulating, heard BBC mentioned. This must be another case of R. Bulgaria, but here wasting only 170 kW from Plovdiv, prior to the Spanish broadcast at 0600, and covering up BBC Hausa, 250 kW, 160 degrees from Woofferton at 0530-0600. At first I thought it was one station just barely modulated, but became obvious it was a big carrier atop a different station, since when the carrier faded in strongest, the modulation was suppressed, and when it faded down, the audio loudened. Must be zero-beat as there was no regular SAH, which would also have made it obvious there were two (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6069.965, CFRX Toronto, English program at 1213 UT S=8 signal in NC-USA remote SDR unit (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 12, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) ** CANADA. 9625, Aug 18 at 0518, Sackville again running a tone test after CBCNQ closed at 0506; good signal but eclipsed by REE/Costa Rica 9630. We seldom hear 9625 well enough any time to enjoy the CBC programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, I could probably "Google" it, but does anyone know if the CBC still broadcasts the science program "Quirks and Quarks" on Shortwave? 73 de (Phil, KO6BB Atchley, Aug 20, http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (OTR Blog) http://cbsmysterytheater.multiply.com/ (CBSRMT Blog) http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/ (Web Page) SWL mailing list via DXLD) Q&Q is currently in summer re-runs, Best of Quirx & Quarx. Certainly NOT via RCI, but it is probably on the CBCNQ SW service, 9625, lots of luck getting it in CA, as it`s hard to hear in OK. The EDT when it is on the CBC Radio One net, and thus could be on the N Quebec service: Saturdays at noon, Mondays at 11:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. (ET) = Sat 1605, UT Tue 0305, Wed 1905 UT. 73, (Glenn Hauser, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** CANADA. CKMI1-DT-15 Montreal QC (GLOBAL) is on the air. 46 analog was turned off last Sunday. Signal is unstable when pointing directly towards Mount-Royal, too much interference from analog CIVM-17. Can't wait to see all the analogs go (never thought I would say that!). 73, (Charles Gauthier, Brossard, QC, Aug 17, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CANADA. DTV Delays: http://www.digitalhome.ca/2011/08/crtc-extends-the-analog-to-digital-tv-conversion-to-august-2012/ lists the stations that WERE set to be shut off, but are now going to remain in analogue. I assume this means stations like 9 Windsor will still be switching to digital at the end of the month (via Ken Zichi, MARE Tipsheet Aug 19 via DXLD) ** CHILE. Going on DST already: see WORLD OF HOROLOGY (WORLD OF RADIO 1579) ** CHINA. 5000, BPM, 1229 Aug 17. Noted with usual 10 "BPM" CW ID's. Fair signal under WWV (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6135-6160, August 18 at 1038, OTH radar pulses presumed from here in the middle of a broadcast-only(?) band, bothering i.a. BOLIVIA 6134.8, Canada 6160 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. TAIWAN. 9000-USB, Spy(?), 1148+ and 1341+, August 18. In assume Chinese with long strings of tonal syllables (numbers?) between pauses; seemed to be spliced together with different persons reading the numbers. This is a former Sound of Hope frequency, so suspect is via Taiwan. Is this a New Star Broadcasting Station (Xin Xing Guangbo Diantai)? Believe this is their first day here. MP3 audio posted at http://www.box.net/shared/vuz3sn373be28oeg6289 Would appreciate any comments or observations about this, as I am not familiar with past New Star Broadcasting Station broadcasts. Thanks! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9000 USB is not Taiwan spy but is China military Hi Glenn, Per Keith Perron (Taiwan) who provided a detailed analysis, a portion of which is as follows: "Just took a listen to it [my audio]. This is not the Taiwan number station (called New New Star Broadcasting) . . . This station comes from China . . . The station is operated by the Chinese Navy and is very active during military exercises. It's in no way a spy station . . . The reason it sounds the way it does is be cause of the old technology being used to generate the numbers. Back in the 70s Taiwan's number station sounded the same until there was an equipment upgrade in the late 70s or early 80s . . . The reason I suspect China would use a frequency used by Sound Of Hope is just to interfere with them. So in short just another form of jamming." Thanks very much to Keith for the clarification! Also appreciate the feedback from Edward Kusalik and David Crawford (Ron Howard, San Francisco, CA, August 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake August 18: 16980, very poor at 0526, better than 16100 also very poor. No others found at this hour At 1125, not only no FD on 10300 allowing SOH thru [see TAIWAN] but none heard anywhere else 10-16 MHz Around 1330, none at 1320 until: 12980, fair at 1336 15290, fair at 1327 14700, fair at 1328 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Not much time today to search. I did several full bandsearches like always and here are the results - August 18, 2011 10300, JBA in and out 1319 12500, Good 1253 with second kind of jamming noise also heard hard to describe 12980, Weak-Fair 1254, Fair 1320 13970, Fair-Good 1255 15545, Weak 1256 15970, Fair 1256 16100, Fair 1257 and Weak 1318 Hi Glenn, Here is this morning`s Firedrake log. - Steve Handler August 19, 2011 13970, Strong 1147-1150. Nothing lower. Series of very short audio switching to another station using same transmitter where music was replaced with a M announcer who could be heard. Each time the M came on it was not long enough to ID station or language. Series of these lasted under a minute. Strong at 1227 and 1250. 15545, Fair 1228 and 1252 15555, Fair 1209 rechecked 1216 gone 15670, Good-Strong 1153. At 1200 almost daily the Firedrake transmitter switches audio feeds from the Firedrake music to CNR-1’s Mandarin broadcast. 15800, Strong 1154 15900, Weak-Fair 1229 16980, JBA 1157 Good at 1229. Fair at 1253 17170, JBA 1158 Good at 1229. Fair-Good at 1254 Good DX (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 19, on inside antenna due to thunder, so ratings may be incomparably lower; before 1300: 10300, JBA at 1255 12980, very poor at 1256 13970, fair at 1258 15545, poor at 1258 16100, JBA at 1259 16980, fair at 1258 17170, fair at 1259; not on 18180 Before 1400: 16100, good at 1349 15280, fair at 1349 14700, poor at 1350 13795, fair at 1350; none in the 12`s, 11`s 10300, poor at 1354 After 1430; still on indoor antenna: 10300, poor at 1435; none in the 11`s, 12`s, 13`s, 16`s, 17`s 14700, fair-good at 1432 15790, very good at 1431 Firedrake August 20, before 1200: 7970, very good at 1128 10300, good at 1129 12600, poor-fair at 1136 13920, poor at 1137 14700, very poor at 1138 14950, very poor at 1139 16100, JBA at 1139 After 1300, incomplete search: 15290, poor at 1314 After 1330: 16980, poor at 1339 16100, fair at 1339 15525, fair at 1337 15280, poor at 1337, het 15278; ex 15290 previous semi-hour 14950, good at 1339 14700, very good at 1339 13970, good at 1340 13920, good at 1340 13130, good at 1339 12025, very poor at 1342 mixing with CNR1 jamming 10300, fair at 1344 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Today brought excellent reception conditions. Several interesting frequencies including 15280 and 15790. I am not sure but 15790 may be a new Firedrake frequency. My Firedrake log follows for today - August 20, 2011 10300, Fair 1258 and 1322, JBA at 1348 and 1425 12270, Weak 1321 12600, Good-strong 1258 12980, Weak 1347 13130, Good-strong 1258, Strong 1320, Good 1347 13920, Good-strong 1258, Strong 1316, Good 1346 13970, Good-strong 1259, Good 1347, Strong 1426 and Good 1436, Weak- Fair at 1516 14700, Good 1259, Strong 1325 and 1345 14700, From 1314-1317 Sound of Hope was heard with female announcer talking in. Weak but readable signal and Firedrake was not be heard. Then I checked back at 1325 and Firedrake was broadcasting on frequency and SOH could not be heard. 14950, Strong 1325 and 1345 15280, Weak 1344, Fair 1426. Gone by 1435 15285, Fair-good 1315 15430, Fair-weak 1318 15525, Good 1343 15780, Good 1427 and Fair 1435 15790, Weak 1518 16100, Weak 1259, Good 1326 and 1342 16980, Weak 1259, Good 1326, Fair 1342 Good DX (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Aug 21, in the ChiCom noon-hour: 16980, JBA at 0448 16100, JBA at 0448, even weaker than 16980; none lower (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glen[n], Had to stop listening earlier than normal this morning. Many full band sweeps were made. Good DX conditions - Steve Handler August 21, 2011 Firedrake log 7970, JBA 1129 and 1155 10300, Weak 1126, Fair 1154, JBA 1236 12270, Weak 1127, Good 1156, Strong 1227 and 1237 12980, Fair 1128, Good 1157, Strong 1228 and 1238 13130, Strong 1230 and 1238 13800, Good 1238 13920, Good-Strong 1158, Strong 1229 and 1239 14700, Weak 1129, Fair 1159, 1231 and 1239 15545, Fair 1240 15670, Fair 1159 15900, Good 1235 and 1241 16100, JBA 1159, Weak 1225, Fair 1241 Good DX (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7970 / 10300 / 14700 / 15900 / 16100 / 16980 Firedrake. 1134 August 21, 2011. A partial check for these soothing sounds. Poor, very good, good, poor, good, poor. 15900 huge at 1322 recheck. Why can't the ChiComs export this jamming method to Cuba? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Aug 21, Before 1300, incomplete search: 7970, fair at 1253 10300, poor at 1253-1300*, mixing with Chinese talk, SOH: see TAIWAN After 1300: 12270, very good at 1314 12980, fair at 1314 13920, very good at 1315; none in the 14s nor rechecked closer to 1330 15290, good at 1316 15430, poor at 1316 // 13920 15900, very good at 1318 16100, very good with flutter at 1318; weaker than 15900 16980, very poor at 1318 Before 1400: 16980, poor at 1354 16100, fair at 1353 15900, very good at 1354 15525, good at 1356 15515, good at 1356; unusual two 10 kHz apart 15280, poor at 1356; none in the 14`s 13920, very good at 1352 12980, very poor at 1358 12270, good at 1358 12025, very poor at 1358, under CNR1 jamming 10300, fair at 1358 Before 1500: 15770, very good at 1455 14700, fair at 1455 12500, fair at 1457 10300, good at 1458 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Here is today`s Firedrake log. - Steve Handler August 22, 2011 10300, JBA 1346 12980, Strong 1227, Good 1256 13970, Strong 1228, 1257, 1318 and 1347. Carrier s/on at 1317, audio s/on Strong at 1318 14700, Strong 1228 and 1257 15280, Good 1347 15430, Fair 1319 15515, Strong 1348 15545, Fair 1229 and 1258 16100, Good 1229 and 1259 17170, Fair 1229 and 1259 (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Aug 22, first from random incomplete tuning: 7970, fair at 1155 12025, fair at 1318 over CNR1 jammer 12980, very good at 1258; very poor at 1317 13970, very good at 1258 14700, fair at 1214, good at 1259 15430, poor at 1310 16100, poor at 1217 17170, very poor at 1217 From full scan of 7-19 MHz before 1400: 10300, good at 1355 12025, poor at 1355, equal level to CNR1 jammer 13970, very good at 1356 15280, fair at 1358 15515, fair at 1358; none higher Firedrake August 23, before 1300: 10300, good with flutter at 1242 13970, very good at 1248 16500, poor at 1248 After 1300: 15430, very poor at 1310 15290, good at 1314 13920, good at 1318 12600, good at 1319 10300, good at 1320 Before 1400: 16980, JBA flutter at 1357 16100, JBA at 1357, more so than 16980 15525, fair at 1339 15280, very poor at 1357 13970, fair at 1357 13920, very poor at 1357 12600, good at 1359 12025, poor at 1359; no CNR1 mixing at this time 10300, fair at 1359-1400*, and no sign of Sound of Hope afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Referring to recent lists, Firedrake is heard in Copenhagen the last two days on these frequencies only: 12025: 1335 13130: 1245 13920: 1245 & 1335 15280: 1415 16100: 1245 16980: 1335 73, (Erik Koie, Denmark, Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 24, before 1300: 10300, very good at 1230 12980, very good at 1233 13130, poor at 1234 13920, very good at 1234 13970, very good at 1235; none in the 14`s 15900, very poor at 1237 16980, poor at 1237 17170, poor at 1238 Before 1330: 16980, fair at 1322 15290, poor at 1322 14720, very good at 1324 13920, good at 1324 12980, good at 1324 12025, very poor at 1324 with CCI from presumed CNR1 jammer 10300, fair at 1323 Before 1400, only had time to find this: 15280, poor at 1359 mixing with buzz/noise jamming, ex-15290 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6060, China Radio International. 1128-1135 August 20, 2011. Good, sounded Malay or Indo, but short-wave.info lists as Filipino (close enough) 1130-1157, though this was definitely not in English (listed till 1130) at tune-in. And definitely CRI, with acronym IDs, CRI sounders, etc. Conflicting sites online, but all are within China (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes I can confirm that CRI is in Tagalog on this channel but with occasional items from CRI's English Service. They used to be on a 12 MHz channel // but forgot where. Extremely strong down here in Tasmania (Robin L. Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania, Icom R70 to an Indoor dipole, ibid.) ** CHINA. 11650, Aug 21 at 1311, CRI in Esperanto, easily recognizable from unique intonation even if you can`t make out many of the words, poor signal in ACI from 11655 NHK via Canada. At CRI, judging from number of broadcast hours per day, six, four of them on two frequencies, per WRTH update May 27: Esperanto Days Area kHz 1100-1200 daily EAs 11635uru, 15110uru 1300-1400 daily SEA 9440nnn, 11650bei 1600-1700 daily Eu 1215fla 1700-1800 daily Eu 11650xia 1930-2030 daily Eu 7265kas, 9745uru 2200-2300 daily SAm 7315kas, 9860kas Esperanto is more important than: Albanian, Amoy, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Chaozhou, Croatian, Czech, Filipino, Hakka, Hausa, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian[sic], Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Sinhala, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu. Even the least of which have multi-times more speakers than Esp`o; partly attributable to being widely dispersed rather than concentrated in one country or region, with (only) four distinct target areas, not including Pacific, N America, Mideast or Africa. {also, tied with a few other languages at 6 hours per day} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also FINLAND! ** CHINA [and non]. 11710, KOREA-DPR / CHINA, Voice of Korea, 1206- 1210, Korean. With F and then M program presenters on top with China’s CNR-1 in Mandarin underneath. Why are two “friends” broadcasting on the same frequency at the same time? It appears that the CNR-1 broadcast is being used by China to jam the frequency of All India Radio’s broadcast in Burmese (which was not heard). By doing so they are interfering with the VOK. VOK // 11735 without China’s interference. 8/16 (Steven Handler, IL, Icom IC-7200, Tecsun PL-660 and Sony ICF-7600 with various dipole and longwire antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Maybe, but CNR1 is registered for long hours on 11710 from Beijing site, 285 degrees, 1000-1735 and 1955-2430. More likely AIR foolishly chose this frequency. Burmese is 1215-1315 only, and if really a jammer, China would only run it that hour. China heading west, and N Korea heading to NAm, theoretically no problem for those who believe in the monodirexionality of SW broadcasting! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ARGENTINA ** CHINA [and non]. 15120, Aug 18 at 0524 CNR1 echoing, plus another station in Chinese, so suspect the frequency-hopping Radio Free Asia is back here, way over any sign of Nigeria. At 0528, 17855 had Chinese CCI, but could not tell if part of it was // 15120 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Alcaraván Radio, informes via You Tube --- Hola Colegas, A continuación encontrarán enlaces a videos subidos a You Tube, donde diexistas de Europa reportan la sintonía de Alcaraván Radio, 5910 kHz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIJmjwwL8k0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzdQ7WAm8TM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPj4KSjWCU8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2C3I6CQetc&NR=1 http://youtu.be/a0v0T_dgLIs [sic] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5DrPVSe5PM Como QSL mánager de esta emisora cada tanto recibo informes que incluyen este tipo de enlace, junto al reporte escrito. Será una nueva forma de reportar la sintonía??? Buenos DX (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, condiglist yg via DXLD) 5909.90, Al Caravan [sic] Radio, 0145-0200 Aug 20. Noted plenty of music and in between tunes canned ID and live talk by a male. ID as, "Al Caravan Radio ...." Signal was a at good level (Chuck Bolland, NRD545, 26N 081W, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910, Alcaraván Radio, Puerto Lleras, 0431-0620, 21-08, Latin American songs, identification: "Esta es la hora en los 1530 AM, 11 de la noche 38 minutos", "Alcaraván Radio, Alcaraván compañero en 1530 AM y en la onda corta 5910 kHz., Alcaraván Radio, desde Colombia", "Alcaraván Radio, música 100% colombiana". 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Friol, 27 Km. W of Lugo, Spain, Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, faced WSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6009,752 21.8 0045 Tent LV de tu Conciencia CLM med andligt px och dito sång. Gick bra att höra på LSB trots QRM de 6010. Har inget ID då min insp. inte var TOTH. AN 6009.752, Aug 21, 0045 Tentative LV de tu Conciencia with spiritual program and ditto vocals. Best in LSB despite QRM from 6010. I have no ID as my recording was not on TOTH (Arne Nilsson, Sjulsmark, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Croatian Radio: heard with a 3 minute live News capsule in English at 0600-0603 on 7410 on Saturday 20 August. (I thought that this slot was only scheduled in English on Monday to Friday). Also heard Sunday 21 August - so evidently the 0600 news capsule is now daily (maybe for the summer Tourist season only). (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 930, Radio Surco, Ciego de Ávila. 1010 August 21, 2011. Excellent with Cuban pop vocals, ID. Rapidly warbling carrier, sounding 'under water' when in either sideband. A moderate CRFU (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 9570, China Radio International. 2110 August 20, 2011. Mostly a big, distorted, crackling blob. English at this time? Not that anyone could tell. A definite major CRFU. Can't Arnie pay for 4-6 ChiCom engineers who want to live in sunny Habana, travel around the island and maintain the internal/external SW and MW networks, maybe FM too, assuming it has as many flaws? ChiComs do a fantastic job with their domestic and international networks internally, both at the transmitter and audio quality levels. They should be a cheap, indentured slave labor source for the otherwise superior Cubans. Chinese were cheap indentured servants in the late-1800's/early 1900's at cool places like the Guiana's and a few Caribbean islands. So, why not bring back the good old days? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5605, August 20 at 1121, DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing, also on 5655. Presumably spurious; no idea how they land on these channels (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1200-1300 UT, RHC La Habana in Spanish Aug 12: 6150, S=9+20dB {usual ute facsimile scratch like in background - noted and logged over and over again. wb}. 9550, S=9, 11690 S=6-7 fair to poor {noted very small audio feed, like WW II telephones line slim format, seemingly from an older TX unit, like 3 kHz narrow communication TX type}. (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 12, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) 13680, checking whether RHC would still turn it off earlier than 13780 on a Sunday: Aug 21 still on at 1352 but off at 1427 while 13780 continued; but not needed for 13750 with `Aló Presidente` still absent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Looking thru a listing of broadcasts in Spanish audible in Venezuela at http://sintoniadx.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/emisoras-que-emiten-en-espanol-en-la-onda-corta/ turns up a strange frequency for RHC: 15600, at 12-13 and 14-15 UT. Ajá, must be a leapfrog of also listed 15120 over 15360, another 240 kHz higher at 12-13. It should also be there at 13-14, as 15120 closes around 14, instead of re-listing 15600 at 14-15. See if we can detect it on 15600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. 15600, I was surprised to see listed as an RHC frequency audible in Venezuela at 12-13 and 14-15 UT, according to http://sintoniadx.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/emisoras-que-emiten-en-espanol-en-la-onda-corta/ Obviously that would really be a leapfrog mixing product of 15120 over 15360 another 240 kHz higher; trouble is, 15120 goes off circa 1400, so the LF would too. What about the 13-14 hour when it`s not listed? Monitoring Aug 23 at 1312, 15600 is occupied by Indonesian? Also RTTY QRM on the hi side. 1325, CRI with English-worded ID, theme, website and off 1327*, no RHC audible. Aoki shows Malay via Kunming at 1230- 1327. Elsewhen, there should be nothing to block the RHC spur, so try 15600 before 1230 or after 1327; altho by now they had built up to VG, fundamentals still not strong enough here to audiblize the mixture (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS [and non]. BBC Zygi Cyprus, back on more main power usage for BBC Cyprus services from Aug 12 5975 0500-0530 ex RMP 11845 1800-1830 ex RMP 11865 1830-1900 ex RMP again from Zygi site. from Aug 11 15420 1500-1700 SEY shortened (ex-18) 15420 1700-1900 CYP ex RMP 15790 1630-1700 CYP ex WOF from Aug 13 BBC Hausa ex-17780 ASC, replaced now on 17870 ASC 1400-1430 exc 7=Sat 1400-1600 UT only Sat. BBC Hausa Sines-POR 21630 kHz 7=Sat only 1400-1415 UT, Sun to Fri 1400-1430 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 19, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. Another question is the availability of the BBC stations abroad to third parties. I suspect in particular at Cyprus that they do not have access for reasons of broadcasting regulation, and I think this will become fully clear once Rampisham went off and full power supply has been restored on Cyprus. Or is Zygi already slated for closure, so nobody would bother to start marketing it to third parties anymore? (Kai Ludwig, Aug 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See UK ** CYPRUS. 17608-17632, Aug 20 at 2025, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, fortunately not blasting any broadcasters. 13820-13845, Aug 21 at 2125, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, vs DCJC and R Martí at one end, WWCR at the other. 12778-12803, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Aug 24 at 0522 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DEUTSCHES REICH. "Axis Sally" biographer on NPR's "On the Media." http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/aug/19/broadcasting-treason NPR On the Media, 19 Aug 2011: "Fifty years ago this summer, Mildred Gillars was released from prison. Known more widely as Axis Sally, Gillars broadcasted pro-Nazi propaganda during World War II on German state radio. After the war, she became one of the only women ever convicted of treason in the United States. Brooke spoke to historian Richard Lucas, who wrote Gillars’ biography, about her broadcasts, her trial, and her quiet life in Ohio after her imprisonment." With audio. See previous post about same subject. (Posted: 22 Aug 2011, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) -- Thanks to Amir Soleimani for the news tip (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Haven't noticed Radio Amanecer, DR, 6025.13 for a few days, now that I think of it (Terry L Krueger, Aug 21, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Radio Quito, 71 años de pluralismo Arte, educación, deporte y el debate político han sido los elementos con los cuales Radio Quito ha cautivado a sus oyentes. Hoy, la emblemática emisora capitalina cumple 71 años al aire y esto enorgullece a sus colaboradores. La Voz de la Capital fue inaugurada en 1940, bajo la dirección de don Carlos Mantilla, quien concretó este ambicioso proyecto luego que en 1936 hubo un primer intento fallido. . . Fuente: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Radio-Quito-anos-pluralismo_0_537546434.html (via Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DXLD) Sporadically active on 4918.9v ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB. 2328 August 20, 2011. What is the actual schedule? Last definite confirmation here a long time ago, it was off at 1600, back up 1900. But a check today, no carrier at 1900, or 2000. But it was up at 2328 re-check. But, this time of year, conditions may not be good enough to pull a daytime signal to confirm a yes/no 1900 sign-on. And I'm not getting a detectable carrier at 1334 check August 21 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB Global UK have recently uploaded to YouTube a 5 minute video noting: "A collection of old black and white film has been recently discovered showing the very beginnings of HCJB's ministry in Ecuador. The footage shows HCJB founder Clarence Jones in 1931 finishing off work on the HCJB radio station in the Andes mountains of Ecuador. We see the original transmitter building being reconstructed from what was left of an old sheep shed and even witness how the early radio towers were erected without the aid of modern machinery." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIU46XZsCSA I also found the following YouTube videos uploaded in 2009 by HCJB Germany: HCJB Transmitter in Pifo (parts 1 and 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRT5mGwCenw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cpKv3qci6A&feature=related HCJB "Steerable Antenna" in Action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvMFp5k2A7I&feature=related (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GERMANY! ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Radio Oromia, *0320-0356 Aug 15. Finally poking through after messy conditions on this frequency of late. Familiar IS running until opening ID and announcement at 0328 by a man in Oromo language. Some Horn of Africa music before news at 0336 followed by some discussion. Poor to fair but reasonably clear frequency (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA 19610, Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7210, Radio Fana, Traeger [carrier] ab 0245, SIO 344-3, Pausenzeichen ab 0255, ID "Fana Broadcasting Corporation", 0300 (Nils Schiffhauer-D, DK8OK, A-DX Aug 20, via BC-DX Aug 21 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. [Re 11-33]: The Europirate Radio Mustang is now on 6925 in AM mode; just heard English ID at 2331 UT (Chris, Lobdell, MA, Aug 18, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. 15800.279, 19.8 1916, R Black Arrow at 1918 said he turned the beam E/W from N/S; Q1-3 LHU (Lars Jeppesen, Uppsala, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pirate ** FINLAND [and non]. RADIO 86 PROFILED IN DEPTH BY FINNISH NEWSPAPER An inconspicuous red-brick building stands next to the main library of the University of Tampere. Housed inside is a secretive media company whose 60 employees are basically working for the Chinese government. The building houses Radio86, which was set up by Chinese businessman Yinong Zhao. Radio86 produces audio programming about China for the internet, and buys programme time for the broadcasts from Finnish and foreign radio stations. Radio86 is run by Futuvision Media, which gets its financing from the Chinese government-owned China Radio International. Read more from Helsingin Sanomat http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Tampere+company+subcontracted+by+China+to+produce+radio+programming+for+world+audience/1135268493410 The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has also published a media analysis of the organisation’s output: Finnish radio station broadcasting news from China is selective in its reporting http://www.hs.fi/english/article/MEDIA+ANALYSIS+Finnish+radio+station+broadcasting+news+from+China+is+selective+in+its+reporting/1135268772635 (August 23rd, 2011 - 15:41 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Viz.: MEDIA ANALYSIS: Finnish radio station broadcasting news from China is selective in its reporting --- Classical radio station Rondo FM launches broadcasts funded by Chinese government Qin Shi Huangdi [caption, credit?] By Antti Järvi "Even in China the notation is written exactly the same way”, declares Kuopio Music Centre director Michael Claussen. [caption?] It is Monday, and on the classical radio station Rondo FM’s frequency a discussion is in progress about cooperation between the Kuopio City Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera. The cultural exchange that has continued for years has been “gratifying and effortless”. The programme has been produced by Tampere-based Radio 86, the operations of which Helsingin Sanomat touched upon on Friday, August 12th (see link below). Radio86 is run by Futuvision Media, which gets its financing from the Chinese government-owned China Radio International. This week Rondo FM started to broadcast programmes produced by the station. Each day, one and a half hours or programming by Radio86 is aired. The programming of Rondo FM consists primarily of classical music. There are a few art music specialty programmes, the daily newscasts by the Finnish news agency STT, as well as What's On tips for listeners. Some of the China programmes fit the station’s profile, although emphasising Chinese classical musicians sounds a trifle strange, even if one acknowledges that in the 2000s Chinese musicians have reaped success on the classical scene. Some of the programmes, on the other hand, come across as pure cultural propaganda, and stand out from the channel’s standard programming fare like a sore thumb. On Monday Rondo explained that the Chinese saying ”all chickens and dogs go to Heaven” refers to people who have achieved a good social status in life without merits of their own. On Tuesday the Finnish radio listeners heard an amusing report on Beijing taxi drivers. On Wednesday, the Finns were enlightened by descriptions of the achievements of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. On Thursday, the Radio86 programme concentrated on Chinese medicine. The programmes were not new. Many of them had been aired already previously by Radio86. The Western media has its problems, dodgy associations, and limitations. But the Chinese media belongs to the government, in other words to just one party, the Communist Party of China (CCP), which is known to have resorted to violence in controlling freedom of speech and freedom of opinion. When China Radio International is funding a media centre that operates in Tampere, Finland, this is very much to polish the image that people have of communist China. And we are not talking here about peanuts, either: the centre is a three-story building employing 60 people. Futuvision Media, which runs Radio86, has at least three offices abroad. And on top of all this, a pretty penny is spent on purchasing airtime. In Radio86 programmes one can even hear news of controversial subjects, such as the imprisonment of the artist Ai Weiwei, but the aim is to broadcast the Chinese government’s official line on events that may be of interest in the West. Those working for Radio86 say that the station’s workers do not have liberties, only obligations. China Radio International exercises control over the story topics. Certain subjects - such as the Falun Gong movement, the situation with Tibet, or the rights of the Uyghur people - must not be broached when interviewing people. The employee turnover rate within Radio86 is high. Rondo FM is likely to have accepted the cooperation offer from Radio86 for economic reasons. As recently as at the end of last year the entire station’s operation was still hanging in the balance. How much Radio86 is paying Rondo FM for the airtime is anyone’s guess. Neither party is willing to disclose any figures. Finland’s radio licence regulations do not have restrictions as to whom the holder of the licence can give airtime. Apparently it can even be sold to the Chinese government. The Ministry of Transport and Communications confirms that the licencing regulations do not go into such details for the very reason that this is seen as approaching the nucleus of the concept of freedom of speech. The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority FICORA is the body that monitors the licencing. FICORA, in turn, says that the office has not dealt with matters pertaining to cooperation between Rondo FM and Radio86. Rondo FM is not the only one to bow down before Chinese money. Radio86 programmes are also being aired two hours a week by another Finnish radio station, Groove FM. From Tampere the programmes spread not only to Rondo and Groove but also to numerous other radio stations around Europe. Furthermore, Radio86 broadcasts its programmes from the Pori medium- wave station to the Baltic States and Northern Europe. The programmes are sent out by radio and television services distribution company Digita. Digita started to search for new clients for the Pori station after the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE pulled out of there at the end of 2006. In June 2009 Digita and Radio96 raised a toast to their cooperation at the Digita headquarters in Helsinki. The Olympic tune “One World, One Dream” was played in Chinese. China’s strategy is to spend money, lots of it, for its propaganda machinery. Quantity over quality seems to be the idea. On its website, Radio86 uses the slogan “Everything about China”. That is a "terminological inexactitude" at best. Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 19.8.2011 (via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Le Mouv, the youth-music channel of Radio France, is airing a series of shows entitled "La folle aventure de la FM" ("The Crazy Adventure of FM") about the shift from pirate radio to new national networks such as NRJ that began 30 years ago. The show airs at 1200 UTC on Saturdays and Sundays. Past episodes are available for listening at http://lemouv.fr/emission/la-folle-aventure-de-la-fm-0 (Mike Cooper, Aug 20, DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. I'm hearing the African music program "Couleurs Tropicales" quite well on 21690 beginning at 2010 UT (after the news). (Mike Cooper, Sat Aug 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) via GUIANA FRENCH ** GERMANY. HCJB 3995 tests. 04-08 and 18-22 UT announced tests of new HCJB tx site in northern Germany close to Weenermoor of Aug 13, 2011. Now provisorily ex-BRE ITU location replaced by WNM Weenermoor-D at 53 12 N 07 19 E TX started at 1756:40 UT with HCJB interval signal play S=7-8 up to S=8+20dB in Netherlands, S=9+10dB in Weimar Germany, S=9+20dB in England, S=8 in Heilbronn, Germany, S=9+15dB in Belgium, S=7 up to S=9+20dB in Austria, S=9+20dB in northern Italy. Weak at 18-20 UT in northern Sweden and Finland, some 1800 km away. But depends on the receiving antenna used on remote SDR units. At 1800 UT "Low German" {a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands} service started. Program repeated at 19, 20, 21 UT. Wonderful Ecuadorian folk music heard, presented by Sally Schroeder, - at least 40-year-old recordings! Never heard HCJB German on such sound intensity and clearness. Applause to the whole HCJB Germany team. Nostalgia - Reminds me of my first log of HCJB German broadcasts in June 1963, used that splendid rx unit GRATULATION, Eure Arbeit hat gute Qualitaet. (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) Hallo Wolfgang! Kleine Info am Rande: schau mal morgen abend {Aug 13} (1800-2200 UTC) auf der 3995 kHz rein. Wenn alles glatt geht, wollen wir morgen mit ersten Tests auf "unserer" neuen Frequenz starten und diese etwas anwaermen. Sendeleistung, Antenne etc sind noch nicht final, also bleibt abzuwarten, wie das Signal sein wird. Wir probieren noch einige Dinge aus, Reichweitentests, Leistungstests usw., aber der endgueltige Standort bleibt Ostfriesland. Ich bin mal gespannt, wie schnell sich das dann rumspricht und wie weit der Empfang reichen wird. Im Moment ists ja noch recht lange hell draussen... Gruss, Stephan (Stephan Schaa-D, Aug 12, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) In Salzburg ist HCJB mit religioesen Liedern nun um 1808 UT mit S=9+20 dbm zu hoeren. Sehr sauberes Audio! Keine Stoerungen durch andere Sender (Christoph Ratzer-AUT OE2CRM, A-Dx Aug 13, ibid.) Was sich um 1830 UT geaendert hat. s/on von VoA in Kroatisch {co- channel VOA Croatian 1830-1845 UT, wb.}. Bis dahin war HCJB mit 35333 zu hoeren - jetzt ist man hier hinter der VoA nur mehr zu erahnen. (Patrick Robic-AUT, A-DX Aug 13, ibid.) HCJB 3995 tests, co-channels VOA Croatian 1830-1845 UT from IBB BBG Biblis-Germany. Die 15 Minuten aus VOA Biblis sind zu verschmerzen, die klaeglichen Media-Reste der Supermacht fuehren eher zum Bedauern ueber den Niedergang der VOA. 73 wolfgang (Büschel, Aug 13, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) 3995. Hier in der Schweiz nicht ganz so stark 3-4/5/3/3/3. Toll. Seit 1901 UT laeuft eine Sendung mit Sally Schroeder. Muss mindestens 25 Jahre alt sein (Sandro Blatter-Zurich-SUI, A-DX Aug 13, ibid.) Ciao Sandro, Hier auch, SINPO 45444, 1900 UTC. S=9+10dBm voellig stoerungsfrei gleich nebenan in der Schweiz/Switzerland. Schoener Gesang jetzt. Renato (Renato Bagattini-SUI, A-DX Aug 13, ibid.) 3995 um 2034 UT. Und jetzt die Radiowelt - 30 Minuten in super Qualitaet. Wo gibt es Vergleichbares? Gerade ein Beitrag ueber den Soldatensender Belgrad (Reinhold Schuttkowski-D, A-DX Aug 13, ibid.) Hier nahe Chemnitz ist die 3995 kHz am NRD535 mit longwire derzeit tolle 45444 stark! So gut habe ich wohl HCJB noch nie in den letzten 40 Jahren gehoert. Jetzt 2110 UT wieder die seelige Sally Schroeder ... Die Kurzwelle lebt! (Wolf Fiedler-D, A-DX Aug 13, ibid.) Um 0744 UTC geht es hier in Suedniedersachsen mit dem Sony ICF- SW7600GR und Teleskopantenne auch noch recht gut, O=3 (Felix Lechte- Nordheim-D, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) HCJB-Testsendungen 3995 kHz, 04-08, 18-22 UT. Um 0755 UT immer noch sehr gut zu hoeren (O=3-). Zunehmendes Rauschen (Renato Bagattini-SUI, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) Im Grossraum Halle/Saale an der Aussenantenne auf der 3995 kHz noch mit O=4 0615 UT, aber zunehmende Tendenz zu Feldstaerkeabnahme in Verbindung mit staerkerem Fading. [later] 3995 kHz HCJB gegen 0725 UT an Aussenantenne noch O=3-4 (50/50). (Roger in Halle-D, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) HCJB-Testsendungen 3995 kHz. ... und weiter geht's! Seit 0400 UT wieder mit der plattdeutschen Sendung{Low German} und SIO 454. Ich lass jetzt den Hitachi mal bis 0800 UT laufen... [later {später}] Hier (QTH Goettingen) ebenfalls seit etwa 0610 UT langsam nachlassende Feldstaerke und staerkere Schwankungen. Einstweilen noch (0640 UT) brauchbar aufzunehmen (SINPO 35333). Wohlgemerkt, mit dem Hitachi KH-WS1, dessen KW-Teil allenfalls Durchschnitt ist, und Teleskopantenne (Hans Weber-Goettingen-D, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) 3995 HCJB Tests. Guten Morgen, jetzt bei mir nur mit 35232 aufzunehmen, plautdietsch ist schon etwas gewoehnungsbeduerftig und ganz schoen anstrengend beim Zuhoeren (Peter Vaegler-D, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) Thank you for your announcement of the tests of HCJB on 3995 kHz. I just listened 1930-2005 UT here from Skovlunde near Copenhagen on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude. At 1930-1957 UT English "Just Jazz" with Frank Roe, UK. At 1957-2000 UT German announcement, requested reception reports to Quito. At 2000- 2005 UT Programme in Low German (?). SINPO was 55344, Signal strength S=9+10-25dBm varying. I have never heard about Weenermoor site west of Oldenburg before. Is that a new site for HCJB? The signal strength was very promising for us in Denmark, so I wish them good luck. I will send a complete reception report to Quito. Best 73, Anker (Anker Petersen-DEN, Aug 12, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) 3995 kHz am 15. August. HCJB Programm startete um 0355:54 UT mit der Senderanschaltung und dem Stations Intervalsignal bis 0400 UT, dann die Stationsansage um 0400:20 UT, und den Programmstart in Plattdeutsch um 0400.54 UT, die Sendung bis 0426. In der Bibelstundenansage wurde auch Ruediger Klaue genannt. Um 0433 auch die Mail, E-Mail-, und deutsche Faxadresse 03212 ... in Hochdeutsch. Der Sender startete bei 3995.039 kHz und wanderte kontinuierlich die 39 Hertz hinunter bis auf 3995 kHz um 0436 (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 15, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) Global HF Transmitter Site Table, of 27 July 2011, see Weenermoor entry (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 16, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) So are the tests continuing on 3995? These reports are a week or more old now (gh, DXLD) 3995 20.8 2000 HCJB via Tyskland med diverse musik och täta annonseringar. Q 3-4. DO 3995, Aug 20, 2000, HCJB via Germany with various music and frequent announcements. Q 3-4 (Dan Olsson, Furulund, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) The German Service of HCJB broadcasts on 3995 kHz daily --- from 0400 to 2200 according to AOKI and EiBi; 0400-1000 and 1800-2200 according to http://www.hcjb.de [see below] They have at least one English programme, so there may be others. I heard `Just Jazz with Frank Rowe` (a production from HCJB UK) from tune-in at 1935 until 2000 - playing Jazz music from Ella Fitzgerald, Humphrey Lyttleton and others on Monday 22 August (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, Aug 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ECUADOR; surely `Just` Jazz PLUS a Tip for Real Living or the like! Many thanks to Dan Ferguson for pointing out my mistake:- http://www.hcjb.de shows broadcasts as 0400-0800 (not 1000) UT. English programme noted again today from 1900-2000, this time Rock Solid (soft religious talk and EZL religious songs) with Elaine Childs (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, ibid.) ** GERMANY. 6005 15.8 0555 Classic Broadcast är tydligen namnet på Radio 700s sändarstation. "Classic Broadcast, Sendezentrum Kall, 6005 kHz". Relä av Radio-Belarus på tyska kl. 0600. 2-3 CB 6005, Aug 15, 0555, Classic Broadcast is apparently the name of Radio 700's broadcasting station. "Classic Broadcast Sendezentrum Kall, 6005 kHz". Relay of Radio Belarus in German at 0600. O=2-3 (Christer Brunström, Halmstad, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 9482, at 0828 UT mit ID in English, angesagt wird 49 - 6140 - und 31 mb - 9480 kHz -, jetzt mit Musikvorstellung auf Deutsch SINPO 35444 am Remote-Perseus von DL0AO in Atzlricht (bei Amberg, Bayern). Modulation Traeger und das obere Seitenband, knapp 7 kHz benutze Bandbreite (Guenter Lorenz-D, A-DX Aug 14 via BC-DX Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) 9482, MV Baltic Radio, {Goehren} um 0832 UT mit englischsprachiger Werbung fuer Schwerin. SINPO 44444. Jetzt um 0838 UT auf Deutsch. (Renato Bagattini-SUI, A-DX Aug 14, ibid.) Deliberately on 9482 or just can`t hit 9480? WTWW 9479 not a problem at these hours (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. 15595, after CUBA [non] closed 15600 at 1327*, noticed intermittent Russian tones on 15595; 1330 DW sounder instead of VOR, VP signal. Listed in HFCC as 250 kW, 110 degrees from ``Armavir`` at 1330-1500; Aoki calls same site ``Krasnodar`` in Dari, then Pashto and Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. ERT TO UNDERGO MAJOR REFORMS After many weeks of deliberations, Ilias Mosialos, the minister of interior has presented final decisions concerning cuts at ERT (Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorasi) on August 19, 2011. Major cuts announced by the minister: Television: Closed will be the following television networks: ET1, Cine+ and Sport+. The NET network will remain as a news and information channel, while the Thessaloniki based ET3 will absorb some of the ET1 programming, and will provide national and regional programming. The satellite based ERT World will undergo upgrading in its programming structure. Prisma+, the television channel geared towards persons with special needs will be spared, but will continue with limited programming in cooperation with private television channels. The frequencies freed from this consolidation will remain in the property of ERT and will not be auctioned off. Radio: The programming of the national radio stations will be reorganized. NET FM will focus on news and information. ERA3 and ERA Sport will undergo programming changes. The three Thessaloniki based ERT3 radio stations (102 FM, 9.58 FM, and the shortwave based Trito) will be merged into one station. The 19 regional radio stations will be consolidated into 9 with united administration and programming. Fifteen medium wave transmitter sites will be closed down. The remaining five medium wave transmitter sites will continue to operate in collaboration with the Ministry of National Defense. The closure of MW sites is in order to save energy and money. Other: The publication of the Radiotileorasi magazine will end, which will provide 1.2 million Euro in annual savings. (via Christos Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, Aug 18, dxldyg via DXLD) GREEK PUBLIC BROADCASTING CUTS TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY Greece’s first ever television station, now known as ET1, is likely to be one of the victims of the streamlining of public broadcasting services due to be announced today by Minister of State Ilias Mossialos. The minister’s plans, which form part of the government’s public spending cuts, were approved on Thursday by the Cabinet. According to sources, they include the closure of ET1 and state broadcaster ERT’s digital channels Cine Plus and Sport Plus, which had recently merged into one. ERT will retain the digital frequencies for future use. Its other channel on the digital platform, Prisma, will remain but will be aimed at disabled people. Satellite channel ERT World will continue in its current format. ET3, the TV channel that is based in northern Greece, will be made a regional channel covering cultural, entertainment and sports-related issues. Public radio ERA will also be affected by the cutbacks. Five of its 20 mediumwave transmitters will be shut down and 19 regional stations will be merged into nine. The Radiotileorasi weekly magazine, which contains TV and radio listings, will also be closed. The National Audiovisual Archive will suffer the same fate. An ERT building in Thessaloniki and one in Athens will be used to house government departments, thereby saving more public money. A process to evaluate the employees at ERT is also set to begin but Mr Mossialos is not expected to announce the sacking of any long-term members of staff. It’s not clear how much money the government hopes to save from the cuts. (Source: ekathimerini.com)(August 19th, 2011 - 13:56 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Note previous report that the SW service would be exempt from any cuts, it is so popular (gh, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, S9+15, August 18 at 1110, national anthem is playing, so R. Verdad started a bit late today; multi-verses finally end at 1114, chimes and sign-on in Spanish, offering QSL, banderín; then in English, YL in German (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4055, Radio Verdad, Chiquimula, 0444-0606*, 21-08, male, Spanish, religious: "Radio Verdad, hemos presentado...". At 0500 program in English: "Radio Truth, Chiquimula, Guatemala", comments and religious songs. At 0555 identification in various languages: "Estación Educativa Radio Verdad, banda de 75 metros, 4055 kHz, escríbanos a Radio Verdad, Apartado 5, Chiquimula, Guatemala, les enviaremos tarjeta QSL, banderín y folletos de la emisora. Anthem and close down at 0606. Good and clear signal today. 25432 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Friol, 27 Km. W of Lugo, Spain, Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, faced WSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. 9735, VOR Spanish relay, as usual super-strong, Aug 23 at 0450, accompanied by warbly spurs circa 9728 vs TUNISIA 9725, and 9742. Also weaker spurs with // audio on 9720 and 9750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 7125, Rdif Nationale, 0546-0615, August 20, Afro-pop music. Local chants. French announcements. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** GUYANA. 3289.985, 18.8 0126, Voice of Guyana for the first time here. The strong utility station was silent a couple of days (which almost never happens). Decent signal. 0134 “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba. Also noted at the same time August 19. On August 20 again blocked by the utility station (Thomas Nilsson, Ängelholm, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3290.00, Voice of Guyana, 0929-0945 Aug 22. Noted a brief segment of rap music until 0930 when ID given as, "This is the VOG, The Voice of Guyana ..." A couple of short promos follow, then into regular pop music. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, 26N 081W, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. ENGINEER BEGINS MAJOR REFURBISHMENT OF PARTNER’S RADIO STUDIOS IN HAITI (August 19, 2011 - by Marla Bender) While Haiti continues to recover from a devastating earthquake in January 2010, partner Radio Lumière is revamping its studios near Port-au-Prince to ensure that residents can keep receiving a strong, clear signal with a message of hope. Ted Miller, technician and radio engineer at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., recently traveled to Haiti to work on the first stage of an extensive refurbishment project for Radio Lumière (Radio Light). Radio Lumière relies heavily on programming produced at its studios in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Côte Plage. Facilities include the on-air studio which feeds programming to network stations 24 hours a day, a production studio where programs are produced for the network, and a music studio to record songs for broadcast and distribution on CD. It’s these studios that need to be updated and repaired. “Older equipment is often unreliable,” said Miller. “We want to replace it and simplify the system so that they might have dependable studios that will carry them through the next 10 years of ministry.” One of the first steps was installing new equipment in the music recording studio to facilitate digital recording using eight different sound tracks. Miller’s previous trip to Haiti in September 2010 was a fact-finding mission to determine what was needed for the project in general terms. During last month’s trip, he made the most urgent repairs and assessed in more detail the needs for later phases of the project. “Some of it needs a major redo,” explained Miller. In addition to replacing outdated equipment and updating the telephone system used for on-air calls, future work will include replacing wiring and adding acoustic treatments to reduce echoes in the studios. A task of this size in a country like Haiti can be a huge logistical challenge, he related, adding that wisdom is needed to prepare a timeline for the project. Equipment must be ordered, shipped by boat and cleared through customs in time for each phase of the refurbishment. Miller said another three or four trips will be needed to bring the project to completion, but he won’t have to do it alone. Several of his co-workers at the Technology Center and a retired missionary from international radio ministry TWR will lend their expertise at different stages of the project. Miller plans to return to Haiti in September to resume working on the project. “Because of its long history of service, Radio Lumière is widely listened to and widely trusted,” Miller said. Completion of this project is expected to ensure that this fruitful ministry will continue unhindered for many years to come. Radio Lumière started broadcasting the gospel more than 50 years ago from a single site, but today its nine-station network of AM and FM outlets and a television station cover 90 percent of Haiti with the message of Christ’s love. Broadcasts go out in Creole and French. The network is operated by local churches affiliated with Mission Evangelique Baptiste du Sud d’Haiti (Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti). HCJB Global engineers have helped Radio Lumière with various technical projects since before 2000. Sources: HCJB Global, Radio Lumière (HCJB Global News Update Aug 15-19 via DXLD) Most info in that bulletin has nothing to do with SW, but I vaguely recall that R. Lumière used to be on SW; anyone remember the frequencies, yearspan? WTFK? Now WRTH shows it with several MW transmitters from 500 to 5000 watts on 660, 720, 740, 760, 780, and BTW does not show 4V- callsigns for any Haitian station. Have they really been deleted as far as the regulatory agency is concerned? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. WEST BENGAL BECOMES PASCHIM BANGA. Please see details in: http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/83147311-west-bengal-becomes-paschim-banga 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) I.e, in English one is obliged to call it by its Bengali name, like Kolkata/Calcutta. Also linx to other stories, such as: “PASCHIM BANGA” MAKES BENGAL RED AGAIN Sat, 08/20/2011 - 04:17 Kolkata, Aug 20 (IBNS): Disgust, derision and despair welcomed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government’s decision to rename the state “Paschim Banga” as confusion reigned over the correct spelling and pronunciation of the tongue-twister name. Sixty-four years after the British went away an almost ten years after West Bengal's capital city Calcutta was renamed Kolkata, the state itself got a new name on Friday, in an apparent bid to shed what certain quarters called “colonial shackles”. . . http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/83149211-paschim-banga-makes-bengal-red-again Hmmm, and this news comes from an expatriate station in Washington DC, WBRi, as in Washington Bangla Radio india/international(?), which would also become passé if WB were taken to mean West Bengal! Except there is no such station on the air, AM or FM around WDC; the real WBRI is a Christian outlet, 1500 in Indianapolis (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** INDIA. 11670, Aug 20 at 2200, AIR GOS ID in English, poor, but a beneficiary of the vanished Venezuela service via Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9525-, Aug 18 at 1025, VOI weak in English with a recipe. Still better than we can hear the 1300 English hour. Did not notice any IADs and wonder if the 9525- transmitter doesn`t have them compared to the 9526-? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. Nuevo Blog DX: Radios En Ondas Cortas, para difundir la propuesta a la UNESCO sobre Patrimonio Inmaterial. NUEVO BLOG. "DX: RADIOS EN ONDAS CORTAS", para difundir la propuesta a la UNESCO. miércoles 24 de agosto de 2011 Saludos Colegas y Amigos Diexistas del Mundo! Antes de darles a conocer en enlace de un nuevo blog creado por el Club Diexistas de la Amistad, que versa sobre la propuesta de DECLARAR PATRIMONIO INMATERIAL DE LA HUMANIDAD A LAS TRANSMISIONES RADIALES EN LAS ONDAS CORTAS E INTERNET, introducida en la UNESCO - Subdelegación Costa Rica en San José, queremos contarles cómo comenzó esta idea. Como es habitual los Diexistas de Colombia, Costa Rica, México, Chile y Venezuela nos comunicamos a diario a las 02/00 UTC en las "TERTULIAS DX" a través de SKYPE en internet. Ese día hablamos del inminiente cierre de Radio Nederland y de la Campaña Internacional realizada para evitarlo. Don Humberto Arango -68 años- de Medellín nos dijo que desde que era muy pequeño escuchaba a la emisora mundial holandesa y desde ese entonces la consideraba como "su patrimonio". Cesar Rodriguez y Omar Ortíz en Bogotá, Colombia así como Freddy Gamboa, Jorge García Rangel y Santiago San Gil en Barinas, Venezuela, coincidimos con la apreciacion de Humberto. Fué entonces cuando el Diexista Costarricense Berny Solano Solano - Abogado y Juez - nos planteó la idea de solicitarles a la UNESCO proteger las transmisiones internacionales de radio y las de internet, así como la declaración de un día mundial para las transmisiones de radios internacionales que operan en las ondas cortas. Desde ese misma noche comenzamos a trabajar notificándoles a los diexistas del mundo lo que nos proponíamos. A los pocos dias Berny Solano nos presentó los argumentos jurídicos para introducir la petición y comenzamos a armar el documento con los respectivos anexos, el cual ya felizmente se introdujo en la UNESCO, en el día de ayer 23 de Agosto de 2011. Pues bien, he aquí en enlace del blog, donde alojaremos todas las incidencias hasta lograr que nuestra propuesta sea aceptada. Allí también seran bien recibidas las críticas constructivas, sugerencias y comentarios. Sin más preámbulos hé aquí el enlace, que lo disfruten. http://dxradiosenondascortas.blogspot.com Nota: El Documento completo introducido a la UNESCO, será publicado en pocos dias para su consulta y revisión y si desean sumarse a ésta iniciativa desde cada uno de sus respectivos paises, serán bienvenidos pues tenemos que hacer de ésta propuesta el mayor esfuerzo colectivo. Comúnicate con nosotros y te diremos cómo nos puedes ayudar . Gracias de antemano! 73 (Santiago San Gil Gonzalez, cdxainternacional @ yahoo.com Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Synopsis: These DXers are trying to get shortwave (and internet) broadcasting declared by UNESCO an ``immaterial patrimony of humanity`` (loses something in translation), thus to afford it some protexion, and to get a ``world day of shortwave radio broadcasting`` proclaimed. Proposal was submitted to UNESCO on Aug 23 (gh, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Dxers Unlimited's mid week edition 23 August 2011 --- By Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK http://www.rhc.cu/ing/news/dxera-unlimited/2199-dexers-unlimitedas-mid-week-edition-23-august-2011.html Hi amigos radioaficionados !!! welcome to the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited, that comes to you as powerful tropical hurricane IRENE continues to move along a course that will take it across the Bahamas, after it has already caused damages in St Croix, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. This hurricane is the first storm reaching that category this season, and when I was writing the script of this show early morning Tuesday my local time here in Havana, the weather experts were showing great concern because Hurricane Irene had already reached the Category II and was expected to be a Category III storm by the name it will be reaching the eastern Bahamas. As always, whenever there is such a storm moving along the Caribbean and later into the Atlantic, radio amateur operators from countries in the area activate the emergency nets to provide , among other important services, weather data from many different locations, as well as keeping their equipment ready to support the telecommunications systems that may be damaged by the extremely strong winds and heavy rainfall of those weather systems... Item two: Also hurricane Irene related, the Radio Club Dominicano, the Dominican Republic amateur radio association is keeping their emergency net on the air using 7065 kiloHertz as a daytime frequency. Dominican Republic hams also operate on the 2 meters band FM segment using several long range repeaters that they have installed at several mountain top sites... Item three: If you want to listen to what is happening as Hurricane Irene moves in a northwesterly course, monitor 14.325 kiloHertz, upper side band voice, that is the frequency used by the Hurricane Watch Net during the daytime hours (via DXLD) See http://www.hwn.org/ for all about WX4NHC and the Hurricane Watch Net (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unheard here (gh) ** ITALY [non]. ROMANIA. Ach das geht ins Ohr. Radio City ID um 0813 UT via Tiganesti Romania TX site 08-09 UT, in West Europa ein starkes S=9+30dB signal. Sogar im Tschibo Kuechenradio easy zu hoeren (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 20, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. New transmissions in Arabic from NEXUS-IBA IRRS Shortwave: 0800-0815 on 11910 TIG 300 kW / 140 deg to N&ME/WeAS Wed 1400-1415 on 11910 TIG 300 kW / 140 deg to N&ME/WeAS Fri, first noted on Aug. 19 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Aug 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Christian, or political? Not on the IRRS schedule itself as of Aug 24. Possibly there are additional broadcasts other days of week, to be checked (gh) ** JAPAN. Utilitarias: llegaron QSL de JJY en 40 y 60 KHz Ayer me llegó por correo las QSL de recepción de las dos estaciones de señales horarias de Japon que emiten en 60.0 KHz y 40.0 KHz Se adjunta escaneo de las mismas, frente y dorso además los Kmz para ver los sitios de emisión en Google Earth. La distancia del centro emisor de JJY en 40 KHz a mi QTH de recepción en mi casa centro de Neuquen es: 17495 Km y de JJY en 60 KHz de 18281 Km. La recepción se efectuó a oído y con Spectrum Lab, receptor Icom R-75 y antena L invertida de 54 m y sintonizador casero. Es interesante destacar que JJY es la única emisión en VLF que siendo digital se identifica en CW morse a 10 ppm en los minutos 15 y 45 de cada hora lo cual facilita mucho la identificación. JJY en 40 KHz emite con 50 Kw y un mástil de 250 m de altura, en 60 KHz la misma potencia pero con mástil de 200 m de altura. Este es el sitio Web con mas información: http://www2.nict.go.jp/w/w114/jst/jjy/index-e.html Para obtener la QSL hay que llenar un informe de recepción cuyo diseño se baja de la Web, en mi caso además subi algunos videos a Youtube para que ellos vean cómo se recibe en Argentina. Antes de enviar el reporte intercambié varios emails hasta que confirmaron que efectivamente era cierto. (buscar videos de JJY subidos por lu8ydneu) Hay que mandar un sobre autodirigido y dos cupones IRC aunque cuando les dije que en Neuquén no se consiguen, dijeron que igual les mande el reporte por correo sin los cupones, no aceptan reportes de recepción por email para el envío de QSL. La demora total en llegar la QSL fue de: 30 días desde el envío del reporte. En el mismo sitio Web se puede bajar un programa de cálculo de propagación en VLF y LF, una versión libre y otra que requiere password pero que ellos lo envían a pedido por email; es interesante para experimentar en 136 KHz dado que es el único programa que conozco de propagación para VLF y LF. Es interesante recordar que esta recepción no fue producto de una apertura o condiciones especiales; estas señales llegan todas las noches y a veces hasta las 13 UT. 73 (Alejandro D Álvarez, LU8YD, Aug 19, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** JAPAN. 5006, JG2XA, Tokyo, 1150-1206 Aug 17. CW ID's "JG2XA JG2XA JG2XA UEC HFD Station" seemingly sent randomly, i.e. the spacing between each sending was never the same. Fair signal at best, competing with the band noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** JAPAN. 6055, R. Nikkei 1, Chiba-Nagara. August 21, 0831-0840 soft Japanese pop music selections, seems from the same female singer. This signal has more similarity with Nikkei 2, by its peculiar non stop music selections, but listed is Nikkei 1; 35543. 73’s (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nikkei I not unusual nonstop music later (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. NHK begins live stream domestic FM. So says a Tweet I got: """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" martyn_williams Martyn Williams by W7VOA NHK will begin live streaming R1, R2 and FM domestic radio on Sept 1 at 11am. Japan only geo-block. nhk.jp/netradio/ 30 minutes ago """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" His profile says he's a Tokyo bureau chief. http://twitter.com/#!/martyn_williams (via Clara Listensprechen, Aug 23, DXLD) Viz.: Martyn Williams @martyn_williams Tokyo, Japan Multimedia Ed & Tokyo bureau chief at IDG News Service. Former FCCJ president, NorthKoreaTech.org founder, 2011-12 Knight Fellow at Stanford. http://bit.ly/martynw (via DXLD) Geoblock meaning the streaming is restricted to Japan only. You mean NHK are just now in 2011y getting around to domestic streaming?? I assume he is the same Martyn as the ``tokyoscoop`` we hear from. What`s IDG? You may be familiar with some of their publications: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDG (gh, DXLD) ** JORDAN. 15290, Radio Jordan, 1115-1120, 21-August-2011, in Arabic. Male announcer with news commentary then female announcer with station ID at 1115, fair signal (Ed Wlodarski, N2ED [sic], New Jersey, Ten Tec RX340 & 100 Ft Long Wire, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** KASHMIR. All India Radio Leh back on air, noted on 4660 instead of scheduled 4760 at 1445 UT onwards, 21st Aug 2011 (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, dxldyg WORLD OF RADIO 1579, via DXLD) Alokesh, thanks for the tip. Just before 1700 could get rather nice carrier with low modulation on 4660. Signed off around 1700. 73, (Jari in Finland Savolainen, ibid.) Leh still on 4660 at 1630, Aug 22. Music comes OK but during announcements the audio level is real low (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. 6230, 6015, 6003, 5895, 3985, 3912, Aug 20 at 1125 all with same kind of grind jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. I have been in North Korea for a bit over two weeks and managed to collect many multi-hour recordings of the domestic radio services, over the next few days I will edit the audio and post some links for anyone interested to download the files. There are some variations of the interval signals used domestically (particularly Pyongyang FM) and I will in the next few days send copies to Dave at intervalsignals.net. As expected, the WRTH listing for domestic North Korean radio is lacking a lot of outlets; for example the FM band in Pyongyang has 14 transmissions, but only two different programming services were heard across all the channels. The AM/MW band in Pyongyang was dead. I don't really follow the MW scene; does anyone hear MW from Pyongyang or have the outlets all shifted to FM? In the next few days I will write up a comprehensive report. Also I managed photos of the satellite dish farm of Korean Central Television. In the next day or so I will post links to these photos as well. Cheers, (Mark Fahey, Sydney NSW, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mark, It sounds like you had an interesting trip. P`yongyang has local MW stations on 657 and 819 that you should have been able to hear on your tooth fillings. 657 is listed as 1500 kw and 891 as 500 kw, although I suspect they are using reduced power. Both are regularly heard here in the northwestern US. 819 can sometimes be heard at my house, despite being 40 km from a 10kw station on 820. There are several other high powered MW stations scattered about the country. I'm surprised the MW band was dead, unless something has changed recently. I'm looking forward to the audio clips and photos (Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.) Thanks for the info, Bruce - It must have been a problem with the gear, I myself had only had FM & TV reception capability via a USB receiver which worked really well. I was relying on someone else's MP3 / Radio combo for the MW - it must have been deaf or faulty! Cheers, (Mark Fahey, ibid.) > the FM band in Pyongyang has 14 transmissions, but only two > different programming services were heard across all the channels. Presumably Pyongyang Pangsong and Pyongyang FM Pangsong while Joson Jung-ang Pangsong indeed appears to be on mediumwave only, as some sources suggest. But first of all: Lists show for Pyongyang a TV transmitter on channel R-5, which would be video on 93.25 and audio on 99.75 MHz. Does this signal really exist? > The AM/MW band in Pyongyang was dead. As Bruce already said: It must have been the AM section of the radio that was dead, with the mentioned 657 and 819 kHz transmitters within less than 50 kilometres and certainly running powers somewhere above 100 kW. Actually a pity, since lists show for Pyongyang also 1368 kHz with 2 kW, carrying external service programming for local audiences. It would be interesting if such a transmitter is really on air. Remember the analysis of the radio feed on satellite, which is Joson Jung-ang Pangsong, that apparent mediumwave-only service which for Pyongyang is on 819 kHz? In your recording there was clear bleed-over from one of the foreign service studio outputs. One possible scenario is that the satellite uplink uses a feed primarily meant for that 819 kHz transmitter, and if the listed 1368 kHz signal really exists and is, which may well be the case, co-located with 819, such a bleed-over in the cable feeds would be no surprise. But of course the other way round this issue needs no such joint site use to arise (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. CLANDESTINE - 9950 Furusato no Kaze (via Taiwan) 1336-1357* Aug 23. Japanese talks in progress at 1336 tune-in; 1354 closedown routine with e-mail address and other info; off at 1357*. Pretty good signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX yg via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. 15540, R Kuwait with English OM News including items about 4 militants were killed in a “suspected” US drone attack in Afghanistan, Libyan fighting, and ending with a stock and market report including exchange rates in $ and Euro for the Kuwaiti Dinar. Into music at :40 with pop songs, and some ‘smooth jazz’ -- kinda nice actually. The OM newsreader stumbled quite a bit during the broadcast and had to restart several items when he got confused and ferstageled. Into “Kuwait and the Sea” ‘devoted to all the sailors, pearl divers and merchants who made Kuwait what it is today’ and a mention of a “Dhow festival” -- Mention of Dhows that were big enough to carry 100-150 crew although typically sized ones would be crewed by 10 to up to 30 (modern replicas are commonly sized for a crew of 15 today) and mention of pearl diving, Ramadan on board ships during the past (which sounds brutal -- work all day and no food until night, but only if you caught fish that day for dinner!) 3+54+44 -- nice reception! 1830-1915 16/Aug (Ken Zichi, MI2, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 21540, Aug 19 at 1358, R. Kuwait in Arabic is the SSOB, if not the OSOB, with hardly any trace of Spain on 21540 or 21610, tho stronger Rwanda had just gone off 21780. These days anything readable on 13m is notable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LESOTHO. Family Radio relay. 1197 Maseru. 2011/08/18 Thursday. 1820-1826, Oh no, its Harold and an old pre-recorded Open Forum. Fair. Jo'burg sunset 1550 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 17725, Aug 20 at 1447, zero signal from V. of Africa. Will we ever hear it again, as the rebels close in on Sabrata and Tripoli? 17725, still absent Aug 21 at 1453 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess that we must listen for the new ID on 17725 if/when the station is reactivated. BTW - is anyone hearing the Tripoli medium wave stations, and who is now operating them? (Noel R. Green, 1051 UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA FREE [and non]. 675, Libia al Hurra at 2059 UT with ID by man after lengthy Ramadan-program. Clear ID as "Sautu Libia al hurra". In Croatia (on the coast line) Ramadan-programming from Libya was heard, and underneath at the same time a religious program from Radio Maria [nominal 120 kW, Lopik, Netherlands]. So on the frequency both Christian and Islamic prayers could be heard at the same time. Signal from Libya was SIO: 444 (Aug 3). 1053, Libya from Tripolis at 2000 UT with ID by man after what sounded like war anthem. SIO: 444. 1252 and 972 kHz - the other QRGs from Gadafi's area of influence - couldn't be heard. (Aug 7). 1449, Libya al Hurra, Misrata. 2332-2337 UT news in English giving reports on war. Then clear ID in Arabic followed by military songs. The programs on 1449 and 675 kHz aren't the same ones. SIO: 444 (Aug 5). (Zeljko Crncic, during holiday in Croatia, Aug 13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) [Re 11-33]: Quick report about MW Frequencies of Libya ``1125 R. Free Libya from the white Mountain`` Hi Tarek, As ever, many thanks for your observations. I've also heard 8500 recently here in the UK at around the same times with good signals. On 1125, isn't it the Green Mountain (Jabal al-Akhdar) rather than the White Mountain? Best regards, (Chris Greenway, England, Aug 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Chris, thanks for your e mail. As you know we are in the month of Ramadan and we are fasting almost 15 hours and more so I can blame it on that :) Of course it's the Green Mountain not the white one. Sorry about that. Expecting some changes in the Libyan media in the next few days as Tripoli is about to fall in the hands of the Rebels. So I guess no more Voice of Africa and al Jamaheriya al Ouzma IDs. All the best my friend (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, ibid.) Hi Tarek, No problem! IDs must certainly be watched carefully. If you have been watching Libyan TV via satellite, you may have noticed that some channels have recently dropped their "Al-Jamahiriyah" on-screen logo for one saying Al-Oroba ("Arabism"). (Chris Greenway, ibid.) Hello Tarek, I would like to ask you to clarify the following: you mention opposition frequencies and "Radio Free Libya" on them. I can hear those stations with IDs like "Radio Voice of Free Libya" (in Arabic, of course). Is there any difference or why do you not mention the "Voice" word? Second thing: is "White Mountain" (1125 kHz) in fact El Beida which is listed? Many thanks and 73, (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, MWC yg via DXLD) Hi Karel, Just received this from Tarek in Cairo: "the ID of the Liberated radio stations in Libya vary; as we are in Arabic can use the word Voice = Sout to refer to Radio, also we can use the word Idhaat to refer to a radio station. So the station can ID as Sout libya al hurra or idhaat Libya al Hurra. About 1125 the right location is the Green mountain (but I can blame it on fasting more than 15 hours in Ramadan). I was somehow mixing the Green Mountain with al Beida which means the white Area in Arabic :) Sorry about the confusion. I corrected that on DXLD this afternoon." 73s, (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, ibid.) Tripoli about to fall to rebels? Radio Jamahiriyah on 1053 and Voice of Africa on 1251 khz went silent around 2230 UT! On 972 kHz I received this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_MQcOg0zM I cannot understand it! (Laszlo Tringer HNG, 21/8-2011, via Steve Whitt, 2006 UT Aug 21, MWCircle yg via DXLD) ** LIBYA FREE [and non]. LIBYAN REBELS HEADING FOR STATE RADIO/TV - report The Libya Hurra radio station in Misurata announced early this morning Saturday, that the Libyan rebels in Tripoli have taken control of Tripoli International Airport and that a large group of them were moving on to take control of the government TV and radio stations in downtown Tripoli. The radio station reported that more than ten thousand rebels from Tripoli and other parts of the country were taking part in the uprising in Tripoli. (Source: Tripoli Post)(August 20th, 2011 - 16:21 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** LIBYA. LIBYAN TV ANCHOR ISSUES ON-AIR THREAT TO REBELS A presenter on Libyan state television created an astonishing on-air scene overnight, pulling out a gun and warning rebel fighters that staff at the broadcaster were prepared to become “martyrs”. As rebels took control of several key towns and cities and advanced toward the capital Tripoli, Hala Masrati fired a rhetorical - and almost literal - warning shot on the state-run al-Libiyah channel at around 4:30 am this morning. Picking up a weapon from her desk, Ms Masrati told viewers that she and her colleagues would defend the station should the rebels attempt to capture its broadcasting facilities. “With this weapon, I either kill or die today,” she said, according to a translation aired by Al Jazeera English. Read whole story/view video at The Spy Report http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2011/08/21/weapon-in-hand-libyan-tv-anchor-issues-on-air-threat-to-rebels/ (August 21st, 2011 - 14:58 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) CNN USA went to live coverage of Libya shortly after 2100 UT Sunday August 21. At 0006 UT Aug 22, MSNBC reported that the rebels had seized the state radio building in Tripoli (MSNBC finally started covering this `breaking news` a few minutes before 0000). (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noel, this morning I heard 1449, LBY Misrata, at 0445 UT, fade out at 0515 UT Aug 22, via remote SDR unit at Athens. TDF France registered frequencies from Sabratha TX site ... for the new RULERS too ? ... New contracts of crude petroleum delivery looming on the horizon. roughly notice 11800 1700 2000 37,38W,46 SAB 500 230 0 146 LBY LBJ 15215 1700 2000 37E,38W,46E,47,52 SAB 500 180 0 206 LBY LBJ 15660 1600 1700 37,38W,46 SAB 500 230 0 146 LBY LBJ 17725 1200 1800 37E,38W,46E,47,52 SAB 500 180 0 206 LBY LBJ 21695 1200 1600 38,47,48,52,53,57 SAB 500 180 0 206 LBY LBJ 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LIBYAN TV STILL ON AIR, BUT STATE RADIO REPORTED SILENT There’s still some confusion about the current media situation in Tripoli. Glenn Hauser reports that “At 0006 UT Aug 22, MSNBC reported that the rebels had seized the state radio building in Tripoli.” This report may have been premature (see update 1200 UTC). According to one Twitter report I have seen, state radio is currently off the air. However, state TV is apparently still broadcasting. A number of tweets say they are airing old programmes, including one on heart disease! But there is no coverage of events in Tripoli, and there’s speculation in Libya that the station may be broadcasting from Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte. However, according to Matthew Price of BBC News who’s in Tripoli, the most recent live state TV programmes had been coming not from the main TV building, but from the hotel where foreign journalists are based. He says the hotel is still under the control of pro-Gaddafi guards, though last night I saw a live broadcast from CNN which suggested that the guards had left the building. There’s apparently a lot of shooting going on there at the moment. Update 1145 UTC: The LJBC website is down, but there is a live stream of LJBC at this address. Quite clearly the station is broadcasting from makeshift facilities. It looks like a children’s programme (presumably recorded) at the moment. Update 1200 UTC: Rt.com says “Earlier reports that the rebels had taken control of the country’s state television complex turned out to be false, with the national TV channel continuing to broadcast songs in support of Muammar Gaddafi.” However, it may be that LJBC has bypassed the main facility and is feeding its programme directly from the temporary facilities to the transmitters & satellite uplink. This is what happened in the final days of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Update 1225 UTC: Al Ahrar TV (based in Doha, Qatar) will soon be broadcasting live from within Tripoli. Livestream here. Update 1345 UTC: Libya rebels say they are holding Hala Masrati, the state TV anchor who pledged her support for the Gaddafi regime by holding a gun to the camera (August 22nd, 2011 - 11:14 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) See original for linx: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/libyan-tv-still-on-air-but-state-radio-reported-silent LIBYAN STATE TV GOES OFF AIR, NOW UNDER REBEL CONTROL Libya’s Jamahiriyah state television channel has gone off the air and a rebel spokesman said forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi had taken control of state TV headquarters in Tripoli. “The revolutionaries stormed the television building … after killing the soldiers surrounding it. It is now under their control,” the spokesman said. He was speaking after television screens airing the Jamahiriyah station went blank. (Source: Reuters) (August 22nd, 2011 - 13:51 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Hello DXers, according to Aljazeera network, the Rebels managed to control the Libyan TV; I checked the Libyan TV on the Nile Satellite 7 West and I noticed even the Jamaheriya radio is not active on the satellite. Checking the shortwave frequency of 8500 kHz, but nothing yet. Too early to check the MW frequencies. More to come. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, 1433 UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, an update: I managed to get the Jamaheriya TV. We have only black screen with the Jamaheriya logo so far. 1440 UT. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, IBID.) Streaming is working, with black screen and logo too (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 1454 UT Aug 22, ibid.) Now the logo of Jamaheriya is gone for good !!! Not there anymore, just black screen (Tarek, 1729 UT Aug 22, ibid.) 1 Comment on “Libyan state TV goes off air, now under rebel control” #1 Kai Ludwig on Aug 22nd, 2011 at 21:50 There is an important detail, as reported by Tarek Zeidan in DX Listening Digest: At least on Nilesat the reported black image at this point still had the LJBC logo bug superimposed, so the feed was at this point still up and just no programming has been played out anymore. It was not before 1700 UT that the feed had really been cut and Nilesat (presumably a remux/reencoding from that QAF 1R satellite) went to plain black image (MN blog comment via DXLD) Hello Noel, 711, 1053 and 1251 kHz have been off for some time and also yesterday I didn't notice 972 kHz being on the air later in the evening. So only the Free Radios on 675, 1125 and 1449 kHz remain on the air. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, 1657 UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard Voice of Africa (Tripoli) in Arabic on 1251 kHz on Saturday 20 August until it closed at 2200 UT. It seemed to be an actual sign-off with the full station ID “Sawt Afriquiya min al Jamahiriya til Ozma” and the Jamahiriya national anthem. Wish I had a recorder connected as this was probably its very last transmission. Also on 20th around 2200 UT I was hearing the Jamahiriya domestic service in Arabic on both 972 (Sirt) and 1053 (Tripoli) in parallel. Above using globaltuners in Italy. Nothing heard on 972, 1053 or 1251 yesterday night at this time, though rebel stations were strong on 675 (Benghazi) and 1449 (Misrata) as usual. 1449 kHz is also audible in the UK at night with good reception at times. None of the Libyan shortwave frequencies (17725, 15215 or 8500) heard here since 15 August. 73s (Dave Kenny, England, 1742 UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As reported by others Libya TV was taken off air last night (around 11PM Sydney time) when the rebel forces stormed the Tripoli TV Centre. The channel is simply now transmitting a black screen both on satellite (such as Asiasat 5 where I see it) and reports indicate this is the same for the terrestrial outlets in Libya itself. I was lucky enough to fly back into Australia yesterday morning just in time to be able to record the final 14 hours of Libyan TV under the Gaddafi regime control. Cheers, (Mark Fahey, Sydney NSW, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's worth taking a closer look at that. As Tarek Zeidan reported here things were a bit more complicated: At the point at which "the screens went black" there was still the LJBC logo bug in the corner. It was only after 1700 UT that it disappeared and a real black image was all left on Nilesat. Nilesat and all other outlets were presumably relays from the Rascom QAF 1R, used by LJBC after Eutelsat and Arabsat had kicked them off. Here LJBC transmitted an identical multiplex on 4.102 and 10.871 GHz, as still listed at http://www.lyngsat.com/ras1r.html The more up-to-date source http://de.kingofsat.net/sat-rascom1r.php shows that both signals are gone. My theory how things went yesterday: The LJBC staff left the building, with no programming scheduled anymore but the whole transmission chain still running, resulting in the reported black image with logo bug. At the point in question after 1700 the uplink transmitters were switched off and the remuxes / reencodings on other satellites like Nilesat went to black image, which I understand is the usual behaviour of the equipment when losing the input. Big question: Who has shut down the uplink at this point, at which it could already be considered as sabotage? Concerning the terrestrial transmitters, the question may be how they have been fed and if they are on air at all, since it appears that both the mediumwave transmitters around Tripoli and the shortwave transmitters south of Sabratah have been turned off yesterday, already in the morning or so, perhaps rather after losing the feed than being ordered to do so; Tarek noted that when LJBC TV was still running, the radio feed relayed on Nilesat already no longer had audio. Perhaps the LJBC radio staff had already fled? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 2153 UT Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kai's theory is interesting it could well have been a controlled shutdown... I had been away from my dishes for a few weeks, but within a few minutes getting home and moving my dish to LJBC TV very unusual programming was seen. For many months Libya TV had dropped all regular programming and was running live pro-Gaddafi phone-in programs, commentary and coverage of pro-Gaddafi gatherings. The last hours before the screens went blank saw Libya TV revert to what you could consider "normal" programming of dramas, short musical interludes and soap operas which had all been missing on the channel for many months. At the time seeing this programming I was wondering if most had left the compound and the station was running on automation or perhaps with a minimum group of technical staff. Cheers, (Mark Fahey, NSW, ibid.) 1125 kHz from Green Mountain in Libya rebroadcasting Al Jazeera TV! Hello DXers, while checking the current situation in Libya, I noticed around 1830 UT that the voice of free Libya on 1125 kHz is rebroadcasting the audio stream of Al Jazeera TV, a special network by Al jazeera reviewing the current situation in Libya. 1449 kHz is still broadcasting V. of Free Libya from Musrata, and 675 kHz is Radio Free Libya from Benghazi. Nothing from 972/1251/1053 kHz. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, 1903 UT Aug 23, ibid.) ** LIBYA. Hi Ydun! 1251 kHz was not silent at the time mentioned. The signal was much weaker than it used to be in the past, but it was on air carrying Great Jamahiriya Radio programme with clear ID "Idha´at Jamahiriya al Ozma" at 2300 UT. 73, Patrick Robic AUT (21/8-2011) Radio Jamahiriyah on 1053 and Voice of Africa on 1251 kHz went silent around 2230 UT! On 972 KHz I received this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_MQcOg0zM I cannot understand it! Laszlo Tringer HNG (21/8-2011) I listened to the U Tube recording and it's Great Jamaheriya Radio [972 kHz] with a Pro Gadaffi song with some QRM from another station, Tripoli is having some power problems so they may have reduced the output of the transmitter. I know that other station is having what sounds like white noise but the language spoken is not Arabic (according to my ears) so I don't think it's a clandestine station jamming Great Jamaheriya Radio. All the best, Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt (21/8-2011) Hi Tarek, It was QRM by NDR Info, Germany. At last night (21.08) the Libyan station probably was off air. I think the liberated broadcasts will start soon on 972/1053/1251 kHz! Laszlo Tringer HNG (22/8-2011) 23/08-2011: Only Libya Al Hurra's frequencies active now, as I hear here in Hungary (Budapest now). 972, 1053 and 1251 seem off air. On 1053 I heard a very weak Russian station, not libyan. (1918 UT) Laszlo Tringer, HNG (22/8-2011) (All: http://mediumwave.info/news.html via DXLD) For the avoidance of any confusion about the dates given above (some of which refer to the date of the posting on mediumwave.info rather than the date of the logging), 972/1053/1251 were all last heard during the night of Saturday-Sunday 20-21 August. The loggings were for very late on UT 20 August (by which time it was already 21 August in both Libya and Austria/Hungary where the loggings were made). Just making this point for the historical record (Chris Greenway, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Dear Vashek, may you can help? There is a discussion in Austrian-DX ng of Christoph Ratzer OE2CRM, whether R. Madagasikara Antananarivo Malagasy uses 7105 kHz in A-11 downunder winter season? I guess they use 5010 and 6135 kHz only this season. 5010 kHz at 0200- 1900 UT throughout? May you can check 7105 and 5010 kHz channels at 13-15 UT time slot from your AFS location, when grey/dark line path allow this broadcast propagation? Thanks in beforehand. vy73 de Wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 11, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) Yesterday afternoon I had the first chance to check it out. There was absolutely nothing (except some hams) on 7105 kHz at 1300- 1500 UT, not even a weak carrier. Normally this channel can be heard here weakly during the day in winters. On 5010.00 kHz there was a very weak carrier at 1300 UT (don't forget it is still 3 hours of daylight at that time here), which I could ID as Madagascar at just before 1500 UT. There was no carrier on 6135.28 kHz at 1320 UT but there was a weak and just readable signal at 1335 UT. So it almost looks like this frequency signed on at 1330 UT, but more likely some transmitter problems (Vashek Korinek-AFS, Aug 17, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) I am checking now but nothing, not even a SAH!! not even a carrier on 7105 kHz at 1240 UT (Victor Goonetilleke-CLN, 4S7VK, Aug 14, ibid.) 5010, Radio Madagasikara, 0229-0245, August 18, carrier + LSB. Tune-in to IS. Choral National Anthem at 0230. Talk in listed Malagasy at 0232. Local Afro-pop music. Local choral music. Poor. Weak to very weak signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.70, Klasik Nasional, 1247-1302 Aug 16. Pop music to ToH, then two pips and presumed news. Fair but slowly deteriorating; back to music at 1312. (Wilkins-CO) 6050.02, Asyik FM, 1248-1310+ Aug 17. Usual mix of chat, vocal music, and phone calls with no ToH break. Fair signal but not sure of language. Heard on this frequency for several days now, so maybe they're here to stay, ex-6049.63. (Wilkins-CO) [WORLD OF RADIO 1579] 9835, Sarawak FM, 1300-1315 Aug 19. Presumed news from 1300-1310, then a short announcement and back to music. Fair signal but noisy splatter from adjacent frequencies. No ID heard. (Wilkins-CO) 11665, Wai FM, 1230-1253 Aug 19. Sounded like "This is Wai FM, Radio Sarawak" at 1230 but the "this is" may have been a Malay word, rather than an English ID; a mix of chat and music followed. Pretty good copy, as CRI was running an open carrier at this time; however, they came back on at 1253 and covered Wai (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6049.61, Asyik FM (presumed), 1248-1306+ Aug 23. Back here again with usual vocal music blocks, M&W chat, and phone calls. Back on 6050.02 next day (24th), so still flip-flopping back and forth between these 2 frequencies (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** MALI. 5995, ORTM, *0555-0610, August 20, sign on with guitar IS. National Anthem at 0558. Flute IS at 0559. Opening French announcements at 0600. Local chants at 0602. Weak to very weak with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 5995, R. Mali, Bamako. August 20, 2304-2314 Afropop music, Hilife, back Afropop, male in French talks on music “tradition; le connexion”. Progressive enhancement, 33533 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Looking for sunrise DX from XE-land, before 1200 UT August 20, local Enid sunrise today being 1153 UT: found quite a few SS channels in the lower half of the MW band. [No TP carriers yet] 650, Aug 20 at 1202, TC as 6:02, opening farm show, mentions ``aquí en Culiacán``; trouble is, no 650 in that city, so must be relayed from: 650 XETNT Radio 65 + FM 106.5 Los Mochis, Sin. 5,000 1,000 per Cantú, http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/frec_am.htm 770, Aug 20 at 1156 UT, `Los Cuarenta Principales` slogan, mentioned 104.3 FM between songs in English and then Spanish. Cantú shows the only match is: 770 XEREV Los 40 Principales + FM 104.3 Los Mochis, Sin. 5,000 100 so surely on day power of 5 kW already. 770, Aug 22 at 1159, ``Los Cuarenta Principales`` slogan and 5:58 TC, i.e. XEREV again, SRS from Los Mochis, Sinaloa. 870, had open carrier at 1150 UT Aug 20 looping NE/SW, likely XETAR, 870 XETAR La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara Guachochi, Chih. 10,000 D while another Mexican further south was already musical. 1200 NA, but fading out before definite ID. WWL was long gone. 1040, Aug 20 at 1159 UT, ``La Primera en FM, 90.1``, Sonora mentioned. Cantú shows: 1040 XEGYS La Primera + FM 90.1 Guaymas, Son. 5,000 250 1040, Aug 24 at 1203 UT, no XE legal ID amid two songs, the first refraining ``no quiero perderte``, so must be romántica, just ``La Once[?], FM 90.1, La Primera, Número Uno``, which is enough to ID it as XEGYS, Guaymas, Sonora, as also heard four days earlier. Not much else was showing from Mexico around sunrise today (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 660, MÉXICO, XEAR, La Méxicana, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1055 August 20, 2011. Yi-yip Mexi-tunes, canned ID by man with FM and AM frequencies and calls, into vocal XE anthem from 1101. This one always dominates 660 here. 810, XEFW, Radio Estrella, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1047 August 20, 2011. Male slogan ID, news items with mentions of Morales, Chihuahua, la República. A few minutes later, obliterated by local 820's power-up and/or pattern switch. Don't think I've heard this one before. 890, unidentified. 1105 August 20, 2011. XE vocal anthem at 1105, followed by an unidentified state anthem (also vocal) at 1107. Very poor, and in Cuban Radio Progreso QRM. Is there a single .wav or MP3 source for all XE state anthems? Sure would help. 920, XELA, La Preferida, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1110 August 20, 2011. Probably more than one poking through here, actually. News items, "...FM... Radio Informa, Radio Informa..." (probably a news program title) with two males trading off. Probably Mexican, but Nicaragua would be in the peak path at this time, too. Not parallel Cuban Radio Progeso. Also, a second briefly bubbled up weakly under with Mexi-tuba tunes. Recheck August 21: classical piano fill 1058, cut abruptly into XE vocal anthem 1100 at local level, then faded just after, naturally. Into mostly tolerable tropical-ish Mexi-tunes, then "XELA" ID 1113, and a clear "la Preferida... XELA..." (with laser SFX) at 1116 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Abridged list of junk: JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Hammarlund HQ-180A; Aqua Guide 705 Radio Direction Finder; Sangean PR-D5; Sony ICF-7600GR; GE SuperRadio III; RadioShack DX-399; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X in-room random wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Measured Spanish R Mil de Mexico at 1016 UT on 6009.955 kHz, Aug 20 [while Brasil was on exactly 6010.00] (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 21 via DXLD) 6009.92, MÉXICO, XEOI Radio Mil, México DF. 1310 August 21, 2011. Fair with Spanish pop vocals, brief ad string, ID (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. 4755.45, The Cross R., 1019-1030* Aug 17. Sounded like a sermon in progress; music at 1029, possibly to end the program; tuned out for a couple of minutes and when I came back at 1032, they had left the air. Poor signal with band noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MOROCCO [and non]. 15345+, Aug 22 was monitoring IMM from 2159 to note when it would go off, liberating ARGENTINA 15344+ from its het: not until 2204:54*. Then RAE was too weak to copy and seemed to still have a lite het from something else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ARGENTINA ** MOZAMBIQUE. R Moçambique, Delegação de Beira. 873 Sofala (Beira). 2011/08/13 Saturday. 1902-1910 Portuguese, OM talking, mentioned "Inhambane". At 1906, Afro music. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1548. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Nacional, 1206 Inhambane // Zambézia provincial service on 1179. 2011/08/15 Monday. 1815-1826 Portuguese, YL talking, followed by OM at 1818. 1206 (national) fair, but 1179 (provincial) poor. Jo'burg sunset 1549. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Interprovincial Maputo & Gaza. 1008 Maputo. 2011/08/13 Saturday. 1911-1920 Portuguese, YL talking. Then Afro music and song, followed by Portuguese music and song at 1914. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1548. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Nacional. 1206 Inhambane. 2011/08/13 Saturday. 1928-1931 Portuguese; YL, straight into rap music. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1548. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Provincial Gaza. 810 Xai-Xai. 2011/08/13 Saturday. 1843-1902 Portuguese, with Afro music. ID at 1900 "Rádio Moçambique Emissora Provincial do Gaza". Good. Jo'burg sunset 1548. Rádio Moçambique Emissora Provincial Tete. 963 Tete. 2011/08/13 Saturday. 1910-1911 Portuguese, OM introducing afro music. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1548 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Altho I suppose these are no big deal DX catches from nearby RSA, Moz MW is so seldom reported from anywhere else that we pick them to propagate (gh, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5985.843, Tentative Myanmar R with Burmese gongs and SE Asian songs at 2356 UT Aug 20, tiny S=6 signal. co-channel QRM on even 5985 by YFR Okeechobee Florida, YFR hymn at 2359 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR [and non]. Whistle buoy jamming from - measured on Perseus - 12141.0 kHz noted before 1400 UT, against 12140 kHz Burmese RFA from Tinian, from 1400 UT Aug 21 RFA Vietnamese from Iranawila. Listen to the short recording of today. Puzzle. But heard at 1415 UT only on 12140 channel. Not on the remaining 5 RFA Vietnamese channels. So, I guess that jamming is meant against RFA Burmese til 1400 UT ???? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. Hi Glenn, RE: DXLD 11-33 Myanmar slogans: Was very interested in the item about the Myanmar state-run newspapers no longer printing the anti-VOA, BBC, RFA and DVB slogan. I have semi- regularly heard the same slogan via SW on Myanma Radio, both in English and in vernacular at different times. The slogan run something like: Only with stability and peace will the nation develop. Only with stability and peace will democratization process be successful. Anarchy begets anarchy, not democracy. Riots begets riots, not democracy. Democracy can be introduced only through constitution. We favor peace and stability. We favor development. We oppose unrest and violence. Wipe out those inciting unrest and violence. VOA, BBC sowing hatred among the people. RFA, DVB generating public outrage. Do not allow ourselves to be swayed by broadcasts designed to cause trouble. The reference to VOA, BBC, RFA and DVB is fairly distinctive even in vernacular. Slogan starts and ends with brief selection of indigenous music. Cannot recall the last time I heard it, but certainly we need to check if it is still being broadcast via SW (Ron Howard, San Francisco, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Democratic Voice of Burma, 17 Aug 2011, Joseph Allchin: "The removal of the slogans comes shortly after the government’s first-ever press conference last week, and a somewhat successful attempt to soften its draconian image. Despite the move, 17 of DVB’s video journalists remain behind bars, along with nearly 2000 political prisoners. The current figure is well above the average for political prisoners in Burma since a military dictatorship took power in 1962." The Irrawaddy, 19 Aug 2011, Aung Lynn Htut: "Instances of disagreement and discontent among second-tier generals in the Burmese army have surfaced increasingly in the past few months. ... Since around 2009, foreign broadcasting stations such as the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Asia and Democratic Voice of Burma have highlighted the economic situation of families within the army. Consequently, officers and soldiers from army units in Yemon, Inndagaw and Hmawbi areas, which are under control of the Rangoon Command, stood up and called for better living conditions. It was reportedly quite effective as several top generals were shaken by the move." (kimandrewelliott.com Aug 19 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. New Comments On: KBC Radio announces schedule of tests on 531 kHz Kai Ludwig on Aug 19th, 2011 at 14:29 Meanwhile some postings to the Austrian A-DX mailing list indicated that the transmitter was already on air for some time this late morning… #8 Kai Ludwig on Aug 19th, 2011 at 20:33 In case it stays so quite just because nobody hears it in the Netherlands and the UK… The transmitter has been switched on at 20:00 CET = 1800 UT. Unlike the former Truckradio operation quite a lot of dynamics compression is in use but the whole thing sounds a bit muffled. The modulation appears to be a loop of about one hour duration so far. Here in southern Brandenburg it was initially a “just barely audible” groundwave signal, at 20:30 already with first traces of subaudible heterodyne. At 21:00 some skywave enhancement could be noted, but when checking the next time, at 21:40, Algeria had fully faded in, too, and almost obliterated the Burg signal. I saw in one of the UK forums the question “what a test licence is”: Engineering tests, as opposed to a regular service, subject to broadcasting regulation which in Germany is strictly separated from telcom regulation. #9 Jan on Aug 22nd, 2011 at 12:49 Friday evening at 21 hours I had acceptable reception in car on 531, area Düsseldorf (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) KBC 531 testing --- KBC (in the past on 1395) is now testing from Burg, Germany on 531 kHz. Lots of music and IDs in English, Dutch, German. They are very interested to know where they can be heard. Their e-mail adress: kbc531 @ gmail.com (Max Van Arnhem, The Netherlands, 2049 UT Aug 19, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Not audible here. I can hear Faroes, Spain and (presumed Algeria in Arabic). 73s (Steve Whitt, York, England, 2132 UT Aug 19, ibid.) fredagen den 19:e augusti 2011 === Reception of KBC Radio in Sweden On 531 kHz KBC International from Holland is now testing the German 10 kW transmitter at Burg. Heard here Friday evening quite good from 1900 giving the email address: kbc531@gmail.com Some longfading (Bengt Ericson, ARC, Växjö, ARC blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Comments on “Technical adjustments to temporary signal on 648 kHz” #7 Andy [NOT Sennitt] on Aug 24th, 2011 at 14:19 Pleasantly surprised to hear Radio Een on 648 this morning.. love the comment above about getting Peter Chicago onto the job! Indeed, 648 kHz had been a potential MW frequency Radio Caroline were hoping Ofcom will offer them to allow them back onto MW. Also kind of nice to hear one state radio being broadcast by another country; memories of Radio Luxembourg --- and all good news for the BBC engineers at Orfordness. Coverage on 648 is good into Belgium too. I drove from Leiden (just north of the Hague) to Brussels this morning, and audio was excellent (if somewhat processed) the whole journey (except in the Maas Tunnel of course). Would love to see some pictures of the transmitter, and by the way, why not put a VSAT in Orfordness for the feed, wouldn`t that be cheaper and easier to control than a leased line from a full sized ground station - after all the Ku Satellites over Europe would deliver a 99.99% feed with a 2.4m antenna I guess. Curious what will happen with 648 kHz after Radio Een leaves.. it would be nice to hear Caroline again. #8 Andy Sennitt on Aug 24th, 2011 at 14:39 They’re not actually BBC engineers, though some are ex-BBC engineers. The site is privately owned and operated by Babcock. For more information and a tour of the facility, I suggest you watch this 17- minute video: http://vimeo.com/20996209 (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. [Re 13700, 11-33:] They're back in Dutch today (August 18) with "Newsland Magazine". Obviously yesterday was a mistake or maybe it was such a slow news day that they had no Dutch news to broadcast (Mark Coady, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) [later:] Andy Sennitt says it was a technical snafu. The program I quoted is actually called "Newslijn Magazine" which is the Dutch word for "Newsline". (Coady, ibid.) You mean, Nieuwslijn (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 11670-11675-11680, Aug 18 at 0523, RNZI DRM here as usual, but no trace of AM on 11725, nor at 0539. I looked for known RNZI frequencies on 15, 13, 11, 9, 7 and 6 MHz in case there was a another mistake, but none found. At 1011, 6170 AM was on as usual. Nothing found on RNZI website either to explain the absence, such as a maintenance period (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. 600, La Nueva Radio Ya, Managua. 1051 August 20, 2011. Trying for Mexicans on the channel, but this long-time dominator is just too hard to get past. Not that a Nicaraguan isn't bad to hear. Silly computerized chipmunk-like, "ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya" drops (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel (Niamey), 0553-0604, 8/18/2011, French. Talk by man and woman. Announcements by woman at 0600, then West African pop music. Poor to moderate signal strength with some fading, improving over time. Weak cochannel Radio Ethiopia heard at times (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, PL-660, PL-380, ALA100M Loop, 90' Random Wire, cumbredx via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 594, FRCN Kaduna at 2007-2032 UT. Religious [which one?] talk in Hausa. At 2027 UT ads by male and female. At 2030 news in English with clear ID as "Radio Nigeria Kaduna" by man. This day clearly dominating the frequency. The days after shared the frequency with Syria. SIO: 323 (Aug 2). (Zeljko Crncic, during holiday in Croatia, Aug 13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. 11945, Hamada Radio International via Wertachtal, GERMANY at *1929-1958* UT on Aug 13, open carrier followed by ID, brief music into Hausa language program of news, news features, remote reports and interviews. Several IDs at 1957 UT and contact information. Carrier cut while another man began more features. Fair but noisy conditions (Rich D'Angelo, PA-USA, DXplorer Aug 14 via BC-DX Aug 21 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 2011 OK MOZART SERIES UPDATE Greetings! You may now listen online to the 2011 OK Mozart Radio Series for a limited time. You'll find direct links to Chamber Music Edition 1 and Edition 2 on the Performance Oklahoma webpage as well as program information about this week's episodes. Here's the webpage link: http://bit.ly/PerformanceOklahoma Enjoy! (Kimberly Powell, Director of Production & Syndication, Assistant Director of Programming, Host/Producer Performance Oklahoma Oklahoma's Choice for Classical Music, 90.1 KCSC Edmond Oklahoma City 91.9 KBCW McAlester http://www.kcscfm.com (405) 974.2111 KCSC OKM mailing list via DXLD) Eds. 3 and 4 too now ** OKLAHOMA. KROU new antenna installation photos on the KFOR tower, 17 of them; some of them don`t load for me: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150359114544009.398307.49730764008 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Tipped off by an Enid Chamber of Commerce calendar listing for an `R/C` event at local noon Wednesday, August 17, we went to the Broadway Tower in downtown Enid, which has numerous antennas on top, including KXOK-LD 31. Turns out that means ribbon-cutting. Altho the KXOK transmitter is on the top floor, where we went first, the office of ``TVOK`` is on the main floor at Suite K. It`s been there for months; ribbon-cutting now is admittedly only a photo-op of no particular significance on this date. The staff were hyped-up for the occasion and bent on drawing in new advertising clients, but we took the opportunity to ask some pointed questions, such as why don`t you do any local produxion, since all we ever see on KXOK is RTV. She claimed they did, ball games, and Outdoor Oklahoma, Discover Oklahoma. Trouble is, the last two are NOT produced by KXOK but elsewhere in the state. How about doing local news? Weaseled out of that one, but would consider producing profiles of local businesses, CofC members. There was no sign of a studio, anyway, tho a guy was recording the event with a portable camera. KXOK is really just an adjunct of KTEW-LD 18 in Ponca City which bought it a couple years ago, and broadcast joint TVOK IDs. They are also on K35JY, a translator in Lamont filling in a coverage gap, and on a few cable systems. A `coverage map` on the wall [also on the website] showing an ellipsoid with Enid near one focus really has nothing to do with signal patterns. I suspect the master control is in Ponca. (KTEW, inspired by a former call of channel 2 in Tulsa?? It certainly meant a lot more than KJRH does, better branding, altho channel `2` is now on channel 8, not to be confused with channel `8` KTUL which is now on channel 10.){Why give up KTEW for channel 2? Maybe new owners decided it was just ``tew kewt``?} We did find out that TVOK are getting into the OKC market on a DTV subchannel of ``a Spanish station, 45-2``. That would be KOHC-CD, 15 kW, Azteca América per W9WI.com, which hasn`t made it to Enid despite lack of any active RF 45 here, contrary to listings. I wonder how the TVOK signal gets to KOHC; certainly not off the air from LD 31, blocked by another one in OKC, nor 18 all the way from P.C. We also picked up some giveaways, cookies, ginger ale 12 oz. can., mug, magnet, business card, pens, folder, squeezable `stress reliever` in the form of a TV set instead of a ball, with TVOK NETWORK pasted upon it. More at http://www.tvoknetwork.com which you will not find by googling on the real callsign KXOK, nor on TV OK, nor TV-OK, but just TVOK - no space (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3205, NBC Sandaun, 1058, August 16. Older hit song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens (1961) which was from a 1939 song; 1101 birdcall and news in Tok Pisin. 1120 DJ in Tok Pisin with dedications for pop island songs; 1202 birdcall and news in English (// 3365 and 3385). 1247 pop songs (“Where Do You Go”, etc.); 1300 full ID; problem with the Port Moresby NBC National “News Roundup” audio feed so they just played filler music till relay the National Radio C&W show (Dolly Parton, etc.) till suddenly off at 1324*; almost fair. August 17 another day of above normal reception; 1138 Wednesday weekly program with helpful information for teachers (when is it appropriate to suspend a student, etc.) and individual messages for specifically named teachers; news in English (item about the upcoming Sept 11 cricket match with the theme “Don’t Drink And Drive”, etc.). NBC Sandaun is now playing two different station songs. MP3 audio: http://www.box.net/shared/i52ir5kb5kl87i03pxs6 is the newest one and http://www.box.net/shared/e3dgxcdopph651nrux80 which they have used for a while now. Also note J-Peace (Japan) has a very nice recording of the newer station song at http://www.peace-j.net/ (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3204.9, Radio Sandaun, Vanimo, 1020 to 1100, on 17 and 16 August, signal improves to 1050 peak (Bob Wilkner, NRD 535D - Drake R8 - Icom 746Pro modified, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) 3205, Radio Sandaun, 1255 Aug. 24. English ID “...station in the nation” and FM frequency mentioned, 1259 woman in Tok Pisin and “NBC Sandaun” ID, pop song, 1303 into NBC news in English. Good. News also heard on //3275 Radio Southern Highlands and 3365 Radio Milne Bay, both poor. Other PNGs had already signed off or were not audible for other reasons (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, NBC East New Britain, 1207-1224* Aug 21. Choral music, followed by what sounded like a religious program in English, but too much static noise to know for sure; pulled plug suddenly at 1224*. Fair signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX yg via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 5960, Radio Fly, 1030 to 1100 on 4 July; some additional logs on frequency but nothing duplicating this log. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, August 20! NRD 535D - Drake R8 - Icom 746Pro modified, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, HCDX via DXLD) 5960, R. Fly, 1003, August 17. Interviews in both Tok Pisin and English; 1016 YL DJ playing pop songs; 1030 listing many of the recent world disasters; back to songs; 1049 PSA spot about “road safety” and parents need to teach their children about safety around driveways and when crossing the street; 1103 tuned out; frequent IDs. Have been unable to hear 3915 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 0050 and 1020 on 20 August [Wilkner] 5460.28, Radio Bolívar, Cd. Bolívar with good signal, music 20 August (Bob Wilkner, NRD 535D - Drake R8 - Icom 746Pro modified, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 3360 10.8 0254 Radio JPJ Lima kom fram genom allt åsksprak med tidvis hygglig (QSA 3 i topparna) styrka. ”Lätthanterad” eftersom den tycks id-a mellan nästan varje låt. JE 3360, Aug 10, 0254, Radio JPJ Lima came through the thunderstorm static with at times decent (QSA 3 peaks) strength. "Easily handled" because it seems to ID between almost every song (Jan Edh, Hudiksvall, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3360 12.8 2310 OAW4Y R JPJ med riktigt bra signal och hyfsad hörbarhet. Mx denna gång. Har ofta risig modulation så bärvågen är stark, men ingen audio! AN 3360, 12.08 2310, OAW4Y, R JPJ with really good tone and decent readability. Music this time. Often lousy modulation - the carrier is strong, but almost no audio! (Arne Nilsson, Sjulsmark, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5921.281, 21/8 presumed Radio Bethel, Arequipa, talks in Spanish, slow religious music, clear channel, weak - Frequency slowly drifting. At 0130 was 5921.273; at 0137 was 5921.283 (Giampiero Bernardini, Summer tips in hot Milan city, Italia, Perseus & T2FD antenna 15 m long, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. De acordo com informações de Mário Figueiredo, no programa Em Nome do Ouvinte, transmitido pela Rádio Antena Um – RDP, o encerramento das emissões em português da RDP Rádio Portugal ocorreu em junho último cinco dias antes do término do mandato do antigo governo. Agora, uma nova audiência foi marcada para discutir o assunto com o ministro dos Assuntos Parlamentares, Miguel Relvas. A audiência ocorrerá provavelmente nos próximos dias. Uma comissão de funcionários da RDP entende que o encerramento das emissões em ondas curtas não diminuiu os gastos que o serviço público de radiodifusão de Portugal possui. Além disso, segundo Figueiredo, a manutenção de um serviço de língua portuguesa para o exterior está inserido em lei do país que foi descumprida com o ato de “suspender temporariamente” as emissões, como afirma a direção da Rádio RDP. Agrega ainda que o serviço é primordial para difundir a língua portuguesa para outros povos, além de manter atualizados sobre seu país os portugueses que não têm acesso à Internet e satélite e que vivem no exterior. Uma petição na Internet pede o retorno das emissões da RDP. “Que a decisão seja breve, em nome do ouvinte”, disse Figueiredo (Célio Romais, Sintonizando Ondas Curtas blog via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 17510, Aug 20 at 1141, RRI in English talk about an authoress who had succeeded after being abused; OSOB as 16m had not really opened up yet, nor even 19m. RRI continues to amaze with its ability to get thru when other stations do not. By 1207 when RRI was off, 16m had opened up with lots of other signals (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Moscow --- Voice of Russia. World Russian Service From 1 September this year Russian service "Voice of Russia" is planning to introduce a new mesh broadcast program. The new grid was no place for the program "Club DX". As far as I could understand from the lengthy explanations, programs with a narrow focus to a limited audience has no place in the new grid station, a popular, which focuses on the work of FM-TV. Ham radio - is an anachronism that is not a radio audience of "The Voice of Russia". In drawing up the new grid, as I mentioned, the chief editor of the opinion of Russian service was not included (www.dxing.ru via RusDX Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Omsk instrument makers present at the "MAKS-2011" digital radios based on the crystal. These receivers provide an opportunity to take the audio and visual information, even thousands of miles from the transmitting station. As the press service oblpravitelstva, a system of compact devices for digital radio broadcasting first in the world designed by the engineer of the Omsk Institute of Instrument (ONIIP). All items in the radio can fit into a small chip of silicon. Digital radios based on the crystal is supplied to several customers, including the military. The latest development ONIIPa - a digital radio receiver for helicopter Corvette Mistral, Russia ordered from France. Corvette runs in the short-range, providing high reliability radioship (Siberian News Agency - Omsk, August 11, 2011 - Forward Sergei Sosedkin via RusDX Aug 21 via DXLD) Talking about DRM, or ?? ** RWANDA. Radio Rwanda. 6055 Kigali. 2011/08/14 Sunday. 0337-0404 Sounded like Swahili but may have been Kinyarwanda. OM's and YL talking, mentions of "Paul Kigame" (sp?) and lots about "Rwanda". Sounded like an ID at 0359 but it was unreadable because of overdone studio echo. Continued talking about Rwanda after 0402. Fair, apart from special FX. Jo'burg sunrise 0438 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAIPAN. After 27 years, FEBC shutting down Saipan station for good http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=112098 --- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: AFTER 27 YEARS, FEBC SHUTTING DOWN SAIPAN STATION FOR GOOD By Clarissa David, Reporter, Local, Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Far East Broadcasting Company general manager Bob Springer, center, talks about their plans to decommission their radio station that broadcasts from Saipan for 27 years the gospel of Jesus Christ, by the end of the year during the Saipan Rotary Club meeting yesterday. Looking on is Rotary president Pete Igitol, left, and vice president Pete Shilling, right. (Clarissa V. David) [caption: wall behind them is full of pennants, but seem to be about Rotary, not radio stations. Is Rotary a Christian group??? I did not think it was religious] Far East Broadcasting Co., a non-profit, non-denominational missionary organization that broadcasts the gospel of Jesus Christ to many parts of Asia, will decommission its radio station on Saipan by the end of the year, after 27 years of broadcasting on island. Bob Springer, FEBC general manager, attributed their decision to government deregulation and advances in communications technology that he said have significantly reduced the demand for shortwave broadcasting. Shortwave broadcasting is a long distance broadcasting mechanism that allows a radio station to broadcast up to 4,000 miles. [sic] “In the last two and a half years, FEBC has studied the trends in technology in the audience listening habits and the conclusion of this exhaustive study has been we should cease broadcast from Saipan while continuing shortwave broadcast from our facilities in the Philippines,” Springer said. Founded in 1945, FEBC began with a vision of starting a radio station in China and constructing programming studios in Shanghai. But with the Nationalist government's concern about the Communist takeover, FEBC wasn't given a license to operate a station there. “That was sought in the Philippines, have to get property, get a license to broadcast from the Philippines into China,” said Springer. “The first station went on the air just three months before China fell to the Communists and it's been broadcasting to China ever since.” With the ministry's rapid growth, FEBC started broadcasting from Okinawa to China in 1957 and Korea in1971. In 1975, FEBC initially came to Saipan “to explore the possibilities of building a station here.” In 1978, FEBC created KSAI to serve the Commonwealth. “While we were operating KSAI in those early years, negotiations went on for land to build a shortwave station and in 1981, a lease was signed in the Marpi area to build the station where we're located,” said Springer, adding that FEBC officially went on air in 1984 with four transmitters broadcasting to Russia, China, and Southeast Asia. At the height of its broadcasting efforts, FEBC broadcasted to about 15 different countries in 24 different languages and dialects, including that of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Ukraine. Springer disclosed that they receive tens of thousands of letters every month from people responding to the gospel they broadcast. Having lived on Saipan “longer than anywhere else that I've ever lived,” Springer said he feels sorry to go. “While we've enjoyed the 27 years that we've been able to operate here on Saipan, the government and the commercial side of things here on Saipan has been very good to us and we've appreciated that. But we can see the time and we know that that's the thing we need to do,” added Springer (via DXLD; also via Artie Bigley, DXLD) That item is 4 months OVER, old information. DXLD featured that on April 30 already. Mediumwave stn KSAI is closed much earlier ... In German A-DX: Hä? Was ist das denn für oller Tünkram? Die Station ist bereits geschlossen, seit 30. April gibt es keine KW-Sendungen mehr von KFBS. KSAI, der MW-Sender, wurde noch früher abgeschaltet. Die Sender werden abgebaut und als Reservesender auf die Philippinen verbracht. Zum Jahresende ist alles besenrein fertig zur Übergabe. -- Tschüß, Martin http://home.wolfsburg.de/elbe/ Der Zeitungsbericht wird wohl durch den Immobilienverkauf / Abriss bis zum Jahresende ausgelöst? Und kommt einige Monate zu spät. Jedenfalls war bei KFBS Marpi, Saipan bereits am 30. April endgültig Sendeschluß auf Kurzwelle. Die noch verwendbaren drei 100 kW Sender wurden in die Philippinen verbracht. Das wurde ja anfangs Mai gemeldet. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3 Comments on “FEBC Saipan shortwave station to close by year end” #1 Colin Miller on Aug 23rd, 2011 at 17:53 I was under the impression that the station had already closed at the end of April 2011. Is FEBC then still on the air from Saipan? The transmitters will be (or are being) moved to the Philippines. Colin #2 Glenn Hauser on Aug 23rd, 2011 at 17:57 We already observed months ago that KFBS was off the air. By `decommissioning`, does this mean that KSAI on MW will also be deleted? #3 Kai Ludwig on Aug 23rd, 2011 at 20:53 KSAI went dark already in 2002, as explained after the shortwave transmitters (which will be or have meanwhile been moved to the Philippines) had been shut down on 30 April: http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/FEBC_Saipan.pdf (Media Network blog comments via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) Glenn, KSAI has been off the air for several years, so that's probably not it. Perhaps the decommissioning part means that they've actually started taking down the towers and removing the transmitters? (Bruce Portzer, WA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Adieu KFBS Saipan, closed on April 30, 2011. Featured in dxld in May already. The txs are already in the Philippines. Now the building is scrapped too? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Aug 22 at 0524, Sonder Grense better than usual, and in English! M talking about Africa, with consecutive translation by W to Afrikaans (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, Aug 24 at 1327 tuning past Brother Scare on WWRB, he is mentioning several frequencies, 15610, 7290, 5890, 13810, 17485, 9655, 9385, wanting phone calls or e-mail reports, as he is ``contemplating covering the entire earth`` well on the way to doing so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More BS on WWCR: see U S A ** SPAIN. 9535, surprised to hear English instead of Spanish here, Aug 24 at 0146. Has REE resumed the 01-02 English hour it deleted from us years ago? No! This is an interview with some musician about upcoming concert appearances in July. He speaks for about a minute in English, then not voiceovers but consecutive translation by YL. She must have a great memory or note-taking ability; this lasted until 0153 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, SLBC, *0020-0100, August 21, sign on with local drums. National Anthem at 0021. More drums and local music at 0022. Opening Hindi announcements at 0025 followed by religious recitations and Hindi chants. Local music at 0030. Hindi vocals. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SUDAN [non]. Germany. Afia Darfur/Hello Darfur. 9815 Nauen. 2011/08/14 Sunday. 0303-0309 Arabic. OM and YL, sounded like news, talking about Sudan. At 0305 interviewed an OM from the World Food Programme, in English. ID at 0308 "Afia Darfur". Fair. Jo'burg sunrise 0438 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [and non]. 13620, Aug 22 at 0443, R. Dabanga, via MADAGASCAR, ID in passing, and today the continuous 1000 Hz tone jammer is worse than usual. // 13730 was in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. Old MW Tower at Beromunster demolished Replacement radio tower blown up Beromünster Beromünster LU - At 14:00 on Friday, two of the four pillars of the reserve transmission tower of the former national radio station was blown up at Beromünster. It broke the 126-meter high structure and one collapsed. Now is only the 216-meter-high main tower. Several hundred people had gathered on Friday on the hill at Beromünster LU to witness the demolition. This was done by so-called cutting charges with Semtex, an explosive, which is otherwise used for military purposes. The loud blast verlieft Swisscom to plan and without problems. The eastern tower of the former state broadcaster Beromünster had been taken into operation in 1931. In 2008 it had retired. The great central tower is a listed building since 2009. A privilege that was denied to the small tower replacement. It was useless to speak of the landscape and its end was in sight. Swisscom chose the blast. This was carried out by Black and rock blasting AG. The area around the old radio tower was cordoned off a wide area for this purpose. For the spectators, was specifically set up a monitoring site. There they could watch how the red and white painted tower collapsed after a loud bang in itself. The parts of the tower fell exactly in the intended area. The dismantling work to be completed by end of year, according to Swisscom. The main tower on the other hand will soon be redeveloped. On this occasion he is equipped with a webcam. This then shows the breathtaking views from interested Blosenberg over the Alps and the lowlands. The equipment of the former medium-wave transmitter can be seen today in the Museum for Communication in Berne. The former factory building is now the center for arts and culture in the national transmitter Beromünster (KKLB) housed the artist Wetz. The population of Beromünster announced last December with the rezoning of the area into a special area of ``art and culture``, the green light to this project. Blick.ch 19/8/11 (via Steve Whitt, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Beromünster East radio tower demolished Standing 216 metres tall on top of the Blosenberg, the steelwork of the old main mast at the Beromünster national transmission centre is now an accepted part of the landscape. It therefore received protected monument status in 2009. The equipment used at the complex, which formerly broadcast in the mediumwave band, can now be viewed at the Museum of Communication in Berne, serving as a reminder of the old days of Radio Beromünster. The smaller east radio tower was not considered deserving of official monument protection and was therefore blown up at 2 pm today. A wide area was evacuated for safety reasons. Demolition using explosives was the easiest and safest way of removing the radio tower, which stretched 126 metres into the sky. The associated clearance works, which will be carried out by Swisscom subsidiary Cablex, will be completed by the end of the year. In December 2010, the local Beromünster population voted in a referendum to reclassify the former national transmission site as a special area for art and culture. The former operations building has been transformed under the direction of the artist Wetz into a Centre for Art and Culture in the Beromünster National Transmission Centre (KKLB - Kunst und Kultur im Landessender Beromünster). The Centre will be progressively expanded and developed. (Source: Swisscom) Watch the video http://youtu.be/fWbC3kwmAJA (August 19th, 2011 - 13:48 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 10300, August 18 at 1125, weak talk in Chinese, no Firedrake, so presumed Sound of Hope, Xi Wang Zhi Sheng, which Aoki shows as 24 hours, or rather at any hour. We can only hope the Falun Gong fans dentro-China caught this rare opportunity to hear it too. There would be a possibility of this being CNR1 jamming instead, but it was not // 11990, 12040. See also today`s Firedrake roundup under CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Was also listening Aug 18 from 1155 till covered by strong Firedrake at 1240. Stayed with this in the hope to catch an ID, but was only non-stop monologue in Chinese; not sounding like a low powered tx; MP3 audio http://www.box.net/shared/f26axvbxa8jrma01c4e1 Was not CNR1 programming jamming. The very long monologue is typical SOH programming. IDs seem to be fairly rare and were not given today at ToH or BoH (Ron Howard, San Francisco, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 10300, Aug 21 at 1257, Firedrake mixing with Chinese talk; FD off at 1300* revealing what must be Sound of Hope, but very poor signal. Ron Howard says Sound of Hope typically has very long monologues lacking IDs on the hour; that helps distinguish it from CNR1 jamming with its super-hype, commercials, and music (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 9725, poor August 20 at 1306, YL tonal syllables, 8 at a time between pauses, presumably Chinese numbers from Star-Star station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. QSL or not? Hi folks, usually I don't complain. Tonight I did: http://fromdctodaylight.splinder.com/post/25471525/qsl-maybe-de-radio-taiwan-international Ciao, (Chris Diemoz, Italy, Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz., illustrated: Many times, while telling about confirmations I get, I've written that as long as you get an answer from a station, you don't have to complain. Today, instead, I will. Once back home, tonight, a Radio Taiwan International envelope was waiting for me. I was quite glad, as this station has been sometimes elusive in terms of verifications. In the past, it has been easier to get a beer coaster from them, than a QSL. Now, while cutting the paper, I felt happy. On 15th June 2011 I did receive what I classed (here) as their Mandarin programme, at 22.44 UTC, on 6150 kHz, and I sent a report through the station's website QSL form. So, the answer could only relate to a confirmation. A card was in the envelope, and a nice one too (about the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo, see above), but the data part, on the back, was left completely blank. The envelope contained also an A4 paper schedule in Spanish (probably, it's reputed to be the one of their languages most close to Italian!). Now, I wonder if it's worth anything putting up a QSL form on your site, to get feedback from listeners, if you're not ready/able to acknowledge it. I'm maybe (too) old fashioned, and not counting among those saying "well, better than nothing". In my opinion, to send people forwarding reports a blank QSL card, it would be better p.r. to send out a sticker. It would leave more satisfaction, but most of all it would not originate the basic question I'm repeating to myself since I opened the envelope: is what I got a real confirmation? My reception, as you'll see in the video, was "presumed". Are we sure that just getting the card wipes out the doubt? 73, (Chris Diemoz, Italy, via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN [or non?] Radio Free Asia?? 9370, Dushanbe?? 2011/08/14 Sunday. 1624-1700* Uighur. OM talking, slow piano music in background. Continues with western easy listenin' music (Hey Jude, I wonder who's kissing her now, Moon River, etc). Talk seems not quite like Mandarin, and programming seems not typical CNR1, so presumably it isn't CNR1 jamming. Or is it? Fair - good. Jo'burg sunset 1548 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. 15110, Aug 21 at 0450 songs, 0452 break for announcements in presumed Tatar, not Russian; 0455-0500 more songs, good signal but fluttery. 0500 music stops, then hear CRI theme music and Chinese ID as transmitters have transitioned. Until 0500 it`s Tatarstan Wave, 250 kW, 60 degrees via Samara, RUSSIA; after 0500 it`s CRI Mandarin, 100 kW, 174 degrees via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, per HFCC and EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 8743-USB, Bangkok Meteo, 1256-1305 Aug 17. Usual IS and weather bulletins in 3 langs. Could not detect usual // 6765.1, and have not heard it for a while. Wonder if that frequency is still in use (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** THAILAND. 15275, Radio Thailand, *0000-0029, August 21, sign on with opening English ID announcements. English news at 0002. Ad for Bangkok Airways. Ad for local restaurant. Talk about US politics. Fair to good but only a threshold signal at 0029 when they switch antenna beam headings from Eastern to Western North America (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** TURKEY. 17770, Aug 23 at 1402, very poor signal sounds like Qur`an, 1406 Arabic talk. Surely not Qur`an, as uplooked later, this is V. of Turkey`s Arabic at 14-15, 500 kW, 252 degrees from Emirler. 15450, Aug 23 at 1324 after pop Turkish music fill, VOT English service with quick headlines, YL sign-off still claiming to be at 1330-1430 on 15520, 15450! Thanks to Kent D. Murphy, WV for forwarding the 103rd edition of V. of Turkey schedule folder, for July-December 2011, showing identical program lineup for the ``3rd Term`` and ``4th Term``, still a holdover of previous years when there some changes each quarter: Daily: NEWS, REVIEW OF THE TURKISH PRESS; then: Monday: ATATÜRK: RE-BIRTH OF A NATION; HAREM / FOODS OF THE COURT alternating Tuesday: TURKISH PEOPLE FOR BEGINNERS; THIS WORLD IS OURS Wednesday: REVIEW OF THE FOREIGN MEDIA; LETTERBOX Thursday: MIDDLE EAST THROUGH TURKEY`S WINDOW; AGENDA Friday: THE BALKAN AGENDA; THE TURKISH ALBUM Saturday: DX CORNER / TURKISH CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS alternating; TURKISH POP MUSIC FROM PAST TO PRESENT Sunday: LET`S LEARN TURKISH; TURKISH FOLK MUSIC Monitoring reveals there are additional lengthy music segments in the second half of the hours. Nothing this time about other fillers or Questions of the Month --- are they still doing that? O, it`s mentioned in the text introduxion; you have to find it via the website http://www.trtenglish.com BTW, the undated online program schedule is long outdated, still showing e.g. `Live from Turkey`, etc., canceled years ago. This fan-folder amounting to 10 pages also includes a transmission schedule of all languages; the English announcers would be well- advised to consult it in order to promulgate times and frequencies correctly! `DSB` after all frequencies has finally been removed, duh. ENGLISH [in UT order, altho 03 is a repeat of previous program day]: Asia 03-04 6165, 2030-2130 7205, 1630-1730 15520 Africa 03-04 6165 America 03-04 9515*, 22-23 9830* Europe 03-04 9515, 1830-1930 9785, 2200-2300 9830, 1230-1330 15450* Australia 2030-2130 7205 * best audible in NAm, except for RTTY on 9830. Note there are really only 7 frequency-hours per day, not 11, with four of them destined for more than one target area [entire programs or just news segments are archived on website for one day only, often missing on weekends. Live streams also available, which they ought to make very clear]. Another page gives all the parameters for TRT on 12 different combinations of programming and satellites. What kind of audience does that have compared to webcasts or SW?? Another full page contains URLs for all the language services of TRT, including two differents for some of them: www.trtturkmen.com and www.trtturkmenche.com Cover and three pages are devoted to one feature article on Evliya Çelebi [correctly spelt with dots on the i`s even in upper case], ``undoubtedly the greatest and most original writer of Turkey`s travel literature . . . on the 400th anniversary of his birth``, and UNESCO is celebrating him this year. Seems he provides vital historical info about the vast Ottoman Empire. 15450, Aug 24 at 1246, VOT fair concluding very brief `Review of Foreign Press`, one of two Wednesday features, into `Letterbox`. Sorry, MEGO during programs reading routine reception reports, but they do encourage writers to say something significant making them more likely to be quoted. It`s over by 1301, `Question of the Month` (is it a trick?), 1302 music fill for the rest of the broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS. [Internetradio] Radio Turks and Caicos http://www.rtc107fm.com/2010/ Radio Turks and Caicos loud and clear with music and live updates on hurricane Irene from their disaster management office. Winds about 110 MPH now on Providenciales (Joe Buch, 0223 UT 24 Aug, Internetradio mailing list, via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. via France, 15410, Radio Y’Abadanga, *1700-1715*, August 20, sign on with African music. Local choral tune at 1701. Talk at 1704 in listed Swahili. Fair. Saturdays only (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Good day! I went to the Ukrainian radio and found QSL- cards, which produced a pair of years ago. They are there a lot. Gave them the head of network development broadcasting. One card with an antenna of the former LW 207 kHz, now it's MW 783 kHz (Radio Promin) in Brovary. The second card - TV mast in Kiev. So that can send reports to the VP (preferably postal mail, as I told). Address is on the site NRCU http://www.nrcu.gov.ua Can report by MW or VHF reception. There I said about the reception of UR in the VHF abroad, so I authoritatively someone said that this can not be :-))). As for the content of reports, it is desirable to describe potschatelney [sic] reception quality, including interference from other radio stations, etc. I wish you success in getting cards UR! Have a nice day! (Alexander Yegorov [ex-RUI], Kiev, Ukraine / "open_dx", "deneb-radio-dx" via RusDX 21 August via DXLD) ** U K. 5870-5875-5880, Aug 19 at 0603, DRM noise at VG strength: it`s BBCWS in English, 100 kW, 114 degrees from Woofferton at 06-08, just starting and not usually noticed as I stop before 0600. Should have provided perfect reception, but no doubt fading down/out as the night/day progresses. BTW, another UK SW site, Rampisham, is to close by Christmas, says the BECTU union, which strongly objects, via Alan Pennington (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. RAMPISHAM TRANSMITTER SITE TO CLOSE BY CHRISTMAS http://www.bectu.org.uk/news/1313 Babcock Engineering has announced plans to close the Rampisham transmitter site by Christmas 2011. BECTU members at the Rampisham transmitter site in Dorset run by Babcock Engineering were shocked to learn yesterday (17 August) of plans to close the facility by Christmas with the loss of 19 jobs. Staff across the UK had been expecting bad news after the decision by BBC World Service in January this year to sharply reduce the number of hours of shortwave broadcasting and to end it altogether by 2014. Despite this advance warning, yesterday's announcement still came as a shock. The company also plans to close three posts at the Woofferton site in Shropshire with four at Orford Ness in Suffolk also at risk of closure. An initial meeting between BECTU representatives and management took place yesterday; the consultation period is due to end on 19 September. Assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said: "The loss of 19 jobs at Rampisham and seven elsewhere in the network will come as a terrible blow to our members. We have already pressed the management to do everything they can to minimise the impact including offering redeployment and retraining where appropriate. Transmission members will note with regret that this announcement will also end seventy years of shortwave broadcasting from Rampisham." Criticism of the FCO BECTU has strongly criticised the coalition government for pushing through a 16 per cent cut in the grant provided to the World Service from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This was considerably higher than the 10 per cent cut in the FCO budget for other areas. It was this disproportionate reduction which lead the BBC to decide to reduce shortwave broadcasts immediately and end them by 2014. BECTU's campaign against the unfair settlement included giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament. The highly critical report which followed led to some funds being restored to the World Service. However the representations did not persuade the BBC to change its mind about ending shortwave transmission despite the fact that listeners to shortwave make up half of the World Service audience (from BECTU Union website 18 August 2011 via Alan Pennington, England, dxldyg via DXLD; also via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) Just on a point of information: when announcing the cuts earlier this year, the BBC did not say that ALL shortwave broadcasts would end BY 2014. It said that, after March 2014, only English and some "lifeline" services (most obviously Burmese and Somali) would continue on SW. See the detailed report in February's Communication (Chris Greenway, BDXC- UK yg via DXLD) I'm surprised in as far as they choose Rampisham, since it appears to be the most capable and versatile of the Babcock shortwave plants, with ten transmitters being installed between 1985 and 1991, replacing all older equipment. In contrast Skelton A is basically a broadcast museum, with its 11 transmitters from the sixties (some of them moved in from Rampisham), requiring to wheel in and out complete components to switch from one frequency band to another. The same applies to six of the ten transmitters at Woofferton. For how long will it still be feasible to keep such obsolete equipment in operation? Or is it planned to move transmitters from Rampisham to these sites? Here is a glimpse of the Marconi transmitters installed at Rampisham besides the four Telefunken S 4005 units (the primary content of this page is outdated; there are no DRM transmissions from Rampisham anymore if I do not overlook something): http://www.drmradio.co.uk/rampisham.html I understand that Briech [Morocco] had and Iranawila [Sri Lanka] still has identical transmitters, just built by some Cincinnati-based company that obtained the blueprints from Marconi. In the case of Briech the situation appears to be such that some components, in particular the solid-state modulators, have been taken out for reuse elsewhere and the remains of the transmitters are now rotting away. I further understand that the wording "to close by Christmas" refers to the cessation of all activities by engineering staff. So I assume that transmissions will cease at the end of the current A11 season. Not counting the current cover for Zygi there are just a bit more than 50 transmitter hours per day left, so around 25 percent of the capacity are still in use. And more than ten of these hours will go away completely at the end of October, when DW eliminates radio services in German and a number of other shortwave transmissions. By the way, does someone know why all their current frequency registrations are valid until Oct 29 only? (Which hereby appears to be the last day for DW German radio.) An account with some photos of a station visit three years ago: http://www.mus-ic.co.uk/weblog/archives/2008/10/a-visit-to-a-wo.html And some old photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russell_w_b/sets/72157603795862341/ Concerning the job cuts at other Babcock sites: At Woofferton they could be related to a withdrawal of the mentioned old equipment with its labour-intense operation, but this is just very wild speculation. In the case of Orfordness the question is what will become of this site once RNW is gone from 1296 kHz and also Radio 1 gone from 648 kHz again. The BBC's DRM pilot project may be gone in next year as well, and I just don't see any other broadcaster being interested in leasing airtime on either frequency, for the now publicly known price of 250 euros per hour (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) When the BBC used to target North America via shortwave, much of what we could easily hear came from Rampisham (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ODXA yg via DXLD) I, too, would have thought Rampisham would be the one UK site to stay in operation. Perhaps it is the most expensive to operate, regardless of comparative age to the other sites, so it is the first to go. Rampisham seemed to have much more punch in its audio processing compared to other BBC sites. Not much heard at my location since the dropping of the Western Russia beams (Ascension, Meyerton, and the Asian sites work better here.) I would doubt the transmitters will be moved to the other UK sites, if further cuts are coming in the next three years. Probably not worth the expense/effort for such a short time frame. But who knows? Radio Netherlands is installing the former Radio Sweden Horby units at Madagascar, despite that facility being somewhat in limbo. B-11 for BBC and DW is going to be interesting, and details will start coming out in a few weeks (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DXLD) FYI === RIGHT ASTONISHED, when you listen worldwide REMOTE sdr units, - after worldwide best sound of WERTACHTAL Germany site - >> ... I'm surprised in as far as they choose Rampisham >> ... most capable and versatile the Rampisham 500 kW beasts are far the best power- and soundwise SW units from U.K. sites these days. Hindmost ranks of Woofferton and Skelton SW broadcast transmissions at present. Reasons for this decision seems the far north location of Skelton for propagation reason in winter season time, but contracts with US IBB BBG organization on Woofferton site lasting since 1943 WWII year. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) > Rampisham seemed to have much more punch in its audio processing > compared to other BBC sites. It appears that during recent years at the UK sites some changes have been made in this regard, I remember pretty much different modulation on certain transmitters. Not so at present on the three 49 metres outlets on air from Rampisham around 2030; BBC Arabic on 5790, RNW Dutch on 6040 and DW German on 6075 obviously have identical audio processing at the transmitter site. But it would still be worth to compare with other sites, in particular the 250 kW transmissions from there, usually run with the sixties vintage transmitters. > I would doubt the transmitters will be moved to the other UK sites, > if further cuts are coming in the next three years. Probably not > worth the expense/effort for such a short time frame. One crucial point are the power supply requirements. It is an easy task when they are identical. But what is the supply for the main amplifier sections of the old transmitters called BD 272 at Skelton A and Woofferton? If it does not already have the right voltage (probably 11 kV) for the main rectifier circuits of the B 6127 and B 6128 transmitters the idea to move them in could be out of question from the beginning. > B-11 for BBC and DW is going to be interesting BBC perhaps not that much, with not much else happening than their 15 hours left at Rampisham being diverted over the Skelton twins and Woofferton. This disregarding the question to which extend the Cyprus transmitters can be used again at this time. But DW is a different story. It has been announced that about 55 transmitter hours will be left. At least half, I think rather two thirds, of them should go out via Kigali. And the interesting point will be the rest from other sites, already starting with the question which ones (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Kai, Thanks very much for the links & enlightening, but disappointing news. To our UK members, now might be the time for a site visit to RMP, for further info, photos & videos whilst the site is still functional. It's difficult for me to envisage a shortwave band without DW, but more particularly without the BBC WS post-2014. It's dramatic moves like that which could trigger further shortwave radio receiver manufacturers to rethink manufacturing SW radios in the future (a would suspect). Then there's also the void left (on SW) with programming excellence to consider (Ian Baxter, NSW, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) This is true. Shortwave is now the medium of last resort. And World Service Radio should not be seen separate from what's happening on- line or on TV. The virtual tour of all these disused transmitter sites becomes eerier with each passing day (Jonathan Marks, ibid.) Comments on “Rampisham transmitter site to close by Christmas” #2 John Figliozzi on Aug 19th, 2011 at 18:58 Does anything foretell the sooner rather than later death knell for shortwave as a viable international broadcasting platform more than this and then the BBC abandoning the shortwave platform entirely by 2014? Stunning. #3 Kai Ludwig on Aug 19th, 2011 at 19:56 But indeed no surprise, beyond the circumstance that it’s this particular site. Furthermore I think it misses the point a little bit to blame the BBC World Service (which, by the way, still planned to keep a few shortwave services after 2014 when the matter has been discussed). The death knell at this point is apparently the current withdrawal of Deutsche Welle which eliminates four fifths of its shortwave output this year and has already started doing so by closing down the Russian radio service (mind you: not just take it off shortwave but close linear radio altogether) at the end of June. This has already eliminated ten transmitter hours at Rampisham, almost as much as the current regular use by the BBC which is already down to just 15 transmitter hours per day. And this adds some bitter irony to the matter: It was the death knell for the Jülich station when DW abandoned all shortwave transmitters in Germany in favour of the UK services, perhaps making it possible to keep all shortwave sites in England alive at all. Now Rampisham not only has equipment installed at almost exactly the same time than the last Jülich fittings, it will now join the fate of Jülich as well (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) Good evening, are there really special commitments involving IBB in regard to the Woofferton site? Their current transmitter use goes the other way round: they have left Woofferton altogether and in the UK only two slots for RL Russian and VOA Kurdish at Rampisham left. Yes, Skelton is unique in the way that the "A" site, the one with the sixties vintage transmitters, is the only one with 75 metre capability for European services in winter nights. But this is a potential of just a few transmitter hours anymore, and there is still the question how long it will be feasible to keep this old equipment alive, starting with the question about the availability of tubes and other spare parts. Of course other factors could be decisive. One I can recall off-hand is that somewhere in the Skelton complex there is a military VLF transmitter, so maybe shortwave broadcasting has already become a by-product there. Another question is the availability of the BBC stations abroad to third parties. I suspect in particular at Cyprus that they do not have access for reasons of broadcasting regulation, and I think this will become fully clear once Rampisham went off and full power supply has been restored on Cyprus. Or is Zygi already slated for closure, so nobody would bother to start marketing it to third parties anymore? Best regards, (Kai Ludwig, Aug 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Rampisham will be closed. OK about RMP, yes us engineers at WOF were surprised by the decision to QRT RMP but I would guess that 500 kW is a bit of a gas-guzzler these eco-conscious days. Kai Ludwig is incorrect re WOF and manual QSY senders; we have only two BD272 manual senders; the rest are 4 MCSL B6124 300 kW auto wavechange types [15-20 seconds] and a single RIZ 500 kW, down-rated to 250 kW and 3 RIZ 250 kW types. All these RIZ can run DRM and AMC at 250 or 125 kW and are extremely efficient in terms of power consumption. The BD272 are on fixed wavebands and come on the air only at those peak times when the other eight senders are in use. WOF has the most modern control system of all the sites and it was installed in 2009/10; it offers very clever auto scheduling and can arrange transfer of service for faulty senders automatically. It can also be operated from our London, Media Management Centre when WOF is not staffed. WOF also has the antenna/mast layout from before and during the Cold War and after so has the most varied coverage pattern of all sites for worldwide use. It is a shame that another major HF station is to bite the dust and we are thinking of our friends at RMP and ORF. 73 Dave G4OYX (David Porter-UK, G4OYX, Aug 20, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 21 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) Article on the closure on a local website posted today: http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/08/2011/dorset-bbc-world-service-rampisham-radio-transmitting-station-closure-threat/ (via Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 22, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.; see original for further linx: DORSET WORLD SERVICE SITE MAY SHUT AFTER 70 YEARS Author: Jonathan Hudston Date: 22/08/11 10:45 AM Tall mast, low buildings, red sunset sky, at Rampisham radio transmitting station, Dorset [caption] Rampisham Radio Transmitting Station photographed at sunset by Nigel Mykura. (Reused under Creative Commons Licence) RAMPISHAM’S radio transmission station may close before Christmas with the loss of more than 20 jobs, even though it’s currently broadcasting into Libya. The proposed shutdown of the Dorset site follows the BBC’s decision earlier this year to cut back on World Service shortwave broadcasting and stop it altogether by 2014, even though nearly half of the World Service’s audience (184 million in 2010-11) listens via shortwave. The BBC says it’s phasing out shortwave because the Foreign Office cut the World Service grant by 16% (£46 million). The possible closure of Rampisham raises some big questions. Such as: Isn’t it just a stupid idea? And: Is it even possible? See Questions, below. Rampisham radio transmitting station The Rampisham station is just off the A356 between Dorchester and Crewkerne. Its masts have towered over the West Dorset landscape for 70 years. At its peak, the station employed around 120 people. Buses used to regularly ferry shift-workers between Bridport and Rampisham to ensure 24-hour coverage. As well as being a significant part of Dorset life, Rampisham is also of national and international importance. Britain has three major sites broadcasting internationally on shortwave. The others are Woofferton in Shropshire and Skelton in Cumbria. Rampisham broadcasts more hours than they do, is more reliable, and has a wider reach across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. (It’s a little-known fact that the National Grid runs right through the Rampisham site, supplying 60,00 volts. I think it has only ever lost power twice in 70 years. Once was during the Great Storm of 1987, which shows it takes something pretty extreme). The three sites are all owned by Babcock Engineering. Proposed closure Babcock is proposing to close Rampisham, and cut three jobs at Woofferton. (Also, possibly, four at Orfordness in Suffolk, which has traditionally been medium-wave). The company’s begun a consultation period lasting up until September 19. Workers at Rampisham have been banned from talking to the media. According to the union BECTU, they are “shocked”. I’m told, however, that staff think (and hope) that imminent closure is not absolutely certain. There was talk back in 2004 of shutting Rampisham but it didn’t happen then and it may – may – not happen now. Why? In the days when I used to work for the BBC in Dorset, I was always interested in Rampisham, and to try to contribute to matters now, I’ve dug out some old notes and clippings and memories and had a think. I don’t have all the facts I would like to have, and I can’t, at the moment, get them. I would simply like to suggest that that the following points are worth raising and pursuing. Questions Rampisham is currently broadcasting into Libya. The other two shortwave stations can’t reach Libya so well. Is it really in the UK’s national interests to dismantle Rampisham and sell its equipment for scrap? The modern preference is said to be for internet-based services, but Jo Glanville, in a good piece about the World Service in the current edition of the London Review of Books, makes the point that shortwave radio can reach many millions of people in ways that internet-based services cannot. If Britain loses Rampisham and wants to broadcast to Libya in future, how will it do so? (No one knows what’s going to happen in Libya). Will Britain have to rent mast-space from another country? Will Babcock even be allowed to shut Rampisham down? A bit of history is relevant here. The World Service part of the BBC’s transmission network was sold off (privatised) in 1997 for £22million in an employee and management buyout. In December 2001, it was sold to Vosper Thornycroft (VT) for £105 million. Last year VT got taken over by the Babcock International Group. Does the original 1997 deal contain “wider public interest” stipulations that still apply? (Governments can take steps to protect national assets. For example, the current government has said it’s looking at measures to control what happens if universities change status and go private. See the White Paper on Higher Education: “We would ensure that, as the assets of a university have been acquired over time, partly as a result of direct public funding, the wider public interest will be protected in any such change of status.”) Is it actually possible for a site like Rampisham to be scrapped? Or will Babcock, if they decide they really do want to get rid of it, have to try to sell it to someone else and say something like: “We can’t make any money from running this damn place – does anybody else want to have a go?” The future I was told once that it would probably take about a year to dismantle Rampisham and that – “If they do dismantle Rampisham, they’ll never get it back again”. What might happen to the site in future if it does get shut down? Could it be a wind farm? It’s on a ridge and there’d be no problem connecting to the National Grid. Of course, it’s in the middle of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and planners and assorted locals might not like it, but no one could argue that the skyline of Rampisham Down was previously untouched. Not after 70 years of radio masts up to 100 metres tall. (Two wind turbines have already been proposed for nearby Toller Down, with the applicant arguing that “the skyline has already dramatically been broken.”) (Real West Dorset, via DXLD; also via Artie Bigley) 3 Responses to Dorset World Service site may shut after 70 years nathalie roberts 22/08/2011 at 6:50 PM Let’s imagine the internet breaks down for some reason or even worse let’s imagine Libya and other countries only get CNN and Al Jazeera because there is no BBC from Europe, only France 24. What a balanced view of the world we/they would end up with… As for wind turbines, if they are efficient, there would be a better place than many. Maddie Grigg 23/08/2011 at 1:19 PM That’s terrible news. So much for Radio Freedom. It’s ironic that the internet may well be the launch pad for a spirited campaign to keep the Rampisham transmitting station open. There is a piece of audio featuring a snippet of Rampisham on the Maiden Newton to Beaminster section of the Wessex Ridgeway audio trail: http://www.dorsetforyou.com/393159 I love the masts – a Stonehenge for a modern world – and it would be a very sad day indeed if the whole site were to be dismantled. If it had to be, though, I’m with Nathalie on the wind turbines. Knobby 23/08/2011 at 5:04 PM I had a chat with a guy who worked at the Rampisham site just after VT had bought it. The workers who had taken shares in the 1997 privatisation, which I believe was most of them, made themselves a very healthy profit when they sold to Vospers. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/pKvWjl (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** U K. BBC World Service, in transition, must still consider "the frame of mind ... of an international listener." http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n16/jo-glanville/auntie-mabel-doesnt-give-a-toss-about-serbia London Review of Books, 25 Aug 2011, Jo Glanville: "Where audiences can listen to the World Service on the better quality FM, they do so. But FM transmitters have limited reach beyond urban areas... . In some countries, the BBC is dependent on regulators for licences – in Nigeria the BBC isn’t allowed to broadcast any form of news on FM – or is subject to arbitrary government control, as illustrated recently when it was taken off air in Sri Lanka and Ivory Coast. In Rwanda in 2009, the World Service was accused of genocide denial and banned from FM when the government took exception to a broadcast. If it is considered an important part of the World Service’s mission to impart information to audiences in countries where the media are restricted, then shortwave surely wins out as the more reliable means of communication. It can be jammed, but it cannot be wholly disabled – as the internet and mobile phone networks were in Egypt earlier this year. ... "BBC domestic staff and World Service staff have long regarded each other with mutual snobbery. The World Service is sneered at for its pedantry and high-minded interest in international affairs (‘Auntie Mabel doesn’t give a toss about Serbia’ is the sort of remark you could hear at some BBC news meetings), and World Service staff can be sniffy about the domestic BBC’s populism. They also worry that their approach to international affairs will not be appreciated in the wider BBC. ‘I suspect that the majority of people in the domestic BBC think that broadcasting internationally is just putting in a bit more foreign coverage,’ [former World Service managing director John] Tusa said. ‘The fact is that you have to think yourself into the frame of mind and approach of an international listener. It’s not a matter of distorting what the news is: you have to make the effort to ask what does the world look like from there? How do we broadcast independently without bias and keep an understanding of what the international listener needs?’" (Posted: 21 Aug 2011, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Recommended reading. Jo Glanville provides a comprehensive look at the state of World Service as it prepares to depend on the license fee for funding (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U K [and non]. Summer A-11 Schedule of BABCOCK Relays: Voice of Vietnam 0100-0128 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg CeAm English 0130-0228 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg CeAm Vietnamese 0230-0328 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg CeAm English/Spanish 0330-0428 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg CeAm English/Spanish 0430-0528 6175 SAC 250 kW / 240 deg NoAm Vietnamese 1700-1728 9625 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu English 1730-1828 9625 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu Vietnamese 1830-1858 9625 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu French 1900-1928 9895 SKN 300 kW / 070 deg EaEu Russian 1930-2028 9430 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg WeEu German 2030-2128 11840 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg SEEu Vietnamese Adventist World Radio 0100-0200 15445 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg Asia Vietnamese Sat Radio Payem e-Doost in Farsi 0230-0315 7460 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg WeAs 1800-1845 7480 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg WeAs EDC Sudan Radio Service Darfur Program 0400-0500 11800 RMP 250 kW / 125 deg EaAf Arabic Sat-Thu 1600-1700 15500 WOF 300 kW / 120 deg EaAf Arabic Sat-Thu, ex RMP EDC Sudan Radio Service 0400-0500 13720 DHA 250 kW / 245 deg EaAf Arabic 0500-0530 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg EaAf Arabic Sat/Sun 0530-0600 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg EaAf English Sat/Sun 1500-1530 17745 SIN 250 kW / 114 deg EaAf English 1530-1700 17745 SIN 250 kW / 114 deg EaAf Arabic 1700-1730 9590 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg EaAf Various* 1730-1800 9590 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg EaAf English Mon-Fri *Dinka Mon; Zande Tue; Moru Wed; Bari Thu; Shiluk Fri Radio Okapi 0400-0500 11690 MEY 250 kW / 340 deg CeAf French/Lingala (Congo) Radio Damal (Voice of the Somali People or Odka Bulshada Somaliyeed) 0400-0700 15700 DHA 250 kW / 205 deg EaAf Somali 1830-1930 11740 WOF 300 kW / 122 deg EaAf Somali 1930-2130 11650 DHA 250 kW / 205 deg EaAf Somali Bar-Kulan Radio/Meeting Place 0500-0600 15750 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Somali 1600-1700 9930 MEY 500 kW / 020 deg EaAf Somali Radio Japan NHK World 0500-0530 5975 RMP 500 kW / 140 deg WeEu English 1100-1200 9760 WOF 060 kW / 102 deg WeEu English/Russian Fri DRM 1700-1900 13740 DHA 250 kW / 285 deg NoAf Japanese 0400-0430 11730 TAC 100 kW / 238 deg WeAs Farsi 1500-1700 12045 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg WeAs Japanese 0130-0200 11740 TAC 100 kW / 163 deg SoAs Hindi 1300-1330 15735 TAC 100 kW / 141 deg SoAs English 1400-1430 15735 TAC 100 kW / 163 deg SoAs English 1515-1600 7410 TAC 100 kW / 186 deg SoAs Urdu 1300-1345 11685 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg SoAs Bengali 0200-0300 11780 SNG 250 kW / 340 deg SEAs Japanese 0800-1000 11740 SNG 250 kW / 001 deg SEAs Japanese 0945-1030 6140 SNG 250 kW / 140 deg SEAs Indonesian 1030-1100 11740 SNG 250 kW / 330 deg SEAs Burmese 1130-1200 11740 SNG 250 kW / 001 deg SEAs Thai 1230-1300 11740 SNG 250 kW / 001 deg SEAs Vietnamese 1430-1500 11740 SNG 250 kW / 330 deg SEAs Burmese 0930-1000 9485 SGO 100 kW / 045 deg BRA Portuguese 2130-2200 11880 SGO 100 kW / 045 deg BRA Portuguese BBC 0400-0600 3955 SKN 100 kW / 121 deg WeEu English DRM 0600-0800 5875 WOF 100 kW / 114 deg WeEu English DRM 0600-0700 7430 MOS 040 kW / 300 deg WeEu English DRM 0700-0800 11925 SIN 090 kW / 040 deg WeEu English DRM 1400-1500 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg SoAs Hindi DRM, deleted July 11 1500-1530 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg SoAs English DRM, deleted July 11 1530-1600 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg SoAs English DRM 1400-1500 15640 TRM 090 kW / 005 deg SoAs Hindi DRM 1500-1600 15640 TRM 090 kW / 005 deg SoAs English DRM DWL 0500-0600 17780 TRM 090 kW / 045 deg EaAs English DRM 1600-1800 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg SoAs English DRM 1600-1800 15640 TRM 090 kW / 005 deg SoAs English DRM KBS World Radio 0700-0800 9860 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg WeEu Korean 1100-1130 9760 WOF 060 kW / 102 deg WeEu English Sat DRM 1800-1900 15360 RMP 250 kW / 062 deg EaEu Russian 1900-2000 6145 SKN 250 kW / 150 deg WeEu French 2000-2100 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg WeEu German 2100-2130 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg WeEu English Voice of Croatia 0800-1200 11675 SNG 100 kW / 140 deg AUS Croatian Eng. news included IRIN Radio (Integrated Regional Information Network) 0830-0930 13685 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Somali Eternal Good News 1130-1145 15525 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg SoAs English Fri Trans World Radio Africa 1300-1315 13660 KIG 250 kW / 030 deg EaAf Afar Thu-Sun, ex Fri-Sun 1730-1800 9865 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg EaAf Tigrinya Fri 1800-1815 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Tigrinya Mon-Wed 1800-1815 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Amharic Thu/Fri 1800-1830 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Tigre Sat 1800-1830 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Kunama Sun 1815-1845 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Tigrinya Mon-Fri 1830-1845 6120 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg EaAf Amharic Sun Voice of Tibet 1330-1400 15430 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg CeAs Tibetan Polish Radio External Service 1030-1100 11790 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu Polish 1030-1100 15265 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg EaEu Polish 1100-1130 15265 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg EaEu Russian 1100-1130 15460 WOF 125 kW / 075 deg EaEu Russian 1130-1200 9435 WOF 125 kW / 092 deg WeEu German 1130-1200 9610 WOF 125 kW / 082 deg WeEu German 1200-1300 11675 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg WeEu English 1200-1300 11980 WOF 125 kW / 045 deg NoEu English 1300-1330 15480 WOF 125 kW / 075 deg EaEu Russian 1300-1330 17860 DHA 250 kW / 020 deg CeAs Russian 1330-1430 11955 RMP 250 kW / 076 deg EaEu Belorussian 1330-1430 15480 RMP 250 kW / 080 deg EaEu Belorussian 1430-1500 15500 WOF 125 kW / 074 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1430-1500 11760 WOF 125 kW / 066 deg EaEu Russian 1500-1530 13730 RMP 250 kW / 080 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1500-1530 15265 WOF 125 kW / 086 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1530-1600 9495 RMP 250 kW / 080 deg WeEu German 1530-1630 11640 SKN 300 kW / 070 deg EaEu Polish 1630-1700 11760 RMP 250 kW / 076 deg EaEu Belorussian 1700-1800 7265 KVI 035 kW / 220 deg NoEu English DRM 1700-1800 9770 MOS 300 kW / 300 deg WeEu English 1800-1830 11730 WOF 300 kW / 058 deg EaEu Russian 1800-1830 11865 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg N/ME Hebrew 1830-1900 11730 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1830-1900 15155 WOF 125 kW / 086 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1900-1930 11730 WOF 125 kW / 075 deg EaEu Ukrainian 1900-1930 15155 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg EaEu Russian 1930-2000 6035 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg WeEu German 1930-2000 6135 WOF 100 kW / 082 deg WeEu German DRM 2100-2200 6155 SKN 250 kW / 150 deg WeEu Polish 2100-2200 7245 WOF 125 kW / 078 deg EaEu Polish Free North Korea Radio 1200-1400 15645 DB 100 kW / 070 deg KRE Korean 7505 from Aug. 15 1900-2100 7530 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean from July 1 Radio Free Chosun 1200-1300 15720 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean 1500-1600 11560 DB 100 kW / 070 deg KRE Korean 2000-2100 7505 TAC 200 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean CMI Voice of Wilderness 1300-1400 15500 TAC 100 kW / 056 deg KRE Korean 1400-1430 15500 TAC 100 kW / 056 deg KRE Korean Sun 1300-1330 15630 DB 100 kW / 070 deg KRE Korean Mon-Sat 1300-1400 15630 DB 100 kW / 070 deg KRE Korean Sun Nippon no Kaze 1300-1330 9950 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg KRE Korean 1500-1530 9975 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg KRE Korean via T8WH Angel 4 1530-1600 9965 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg KRE Korean via T8WH Angel 4 JCI Furusato no Kaze 1330-1400 9950 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg KRE Japanese 1430-1500 9960 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg KRE Japanese via T8WH Angel 4 1600-1630 9780 TAI 250 kW / 045 deg KRE Japanese Shiokaze 1330-1430 6135#YAM 100 kW / 280 deg KRE Various* 2000-2100 5965$YAM 100 kW / 280 deg KRE Various* # alt. 5910, 5985, 6020, 6070, 6075, 6120 [but lately alternating 5985, 6135 only --- gh] $ alt. 5915, 5955, 6045, 6075, 6110, 6140 * Japanese Mon-Thu English Fri Korean/Japanese Sat Japanese/Korean Sun Open Radio for North Korea 1400-1500 11570 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean 2100-2200 7480 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean North Korea Reform Radio 1500-1600 7590 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean 1500-1600 15605 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean, additional frequency Voice of Martyrs (Freedom) 1600-1700 NF 7530 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg KRE Korean, ex 6240 Radio Canada International 1500-1530 15325 RMP 250 kW / 062 deg EaEu Russian 1600-1630 15325 RMP 250 kW / 062 deg EaEu Russian 1800-1900 11765 SKN 300 kW / 160 deg EaAf English 1800-1900 17810 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg NCAf English 1900-2000 15180 RMP 500 kW / 115 deg N/ME Arabic 1900-2000 15320 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg NWAf French Gospel for Asia (Athmeeya Yatra He) 1600-1615 9810 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg SoAs SoEaAs langs 1615-1630 9810 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg SoAs SoEaAs langs Sun-Wed 1615-1630 9810 DHA 250 kW / 120 deg SoAs SoEaAs langs Thu-Sat 2330-2400 6040 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg SoAs SoEaAs langs 0000-0130 6145 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg SoAs SoEaAs langs IBRA Radio 1700-1800 11655 RMP 250 kW / 115 deg N/ME Arabic 1730-1800 9615 MEY 100 kW / 030 deg EaAf Somali 1730-1800 11785 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg EaAf Swahili 1800-1945 12070 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg CeAf Arabic 1900-2030 11875 RMP 250 kW / 168 deg WeAf Fulfulde/Hausa SW Radio Africa 1700-1900 4880 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg SoAf English, Local langs Zimbabwe Community Radio/Radio Dialogue 1755-1855 4895 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg ZWE Ndebele/English/Shona Radio República 2300-2400 9490 SAC 100 kW / 227 deg Cuba Spanish Sat/Sun 0000-0200 9490 SAC 100 kW / 227 deg Cuba Spanish Sun/Mon Radio Taiwan International 1900-2000 6045 RMP 250 kW / 168 deg WeEu French 1900-2000 6185 SKN 250 kW / 105 deg WeEu German RTE Radio One 1930-2030 5840 MEY 100 kW / non-dir SoAf English HCJB Global 2100-2115 12025 RMP 500 kW / 168 deg NoAf Tachelhit 2115-2145 12025 RMP 500 kW / 168 deg NoAf Arabic Radio Australia 2200-2330 7340 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SEAs Indonesian 2200-2400 9855 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SEAs English 2300-2330 9490 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SEAs Burmese 0000-0030 12005 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SEAs Indonesian 0100-0130 11780 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg SEAs Burmese 1100-1300 6140 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg SEAs English 0400-0430 17800 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg SEAs Indonesian 0500-0530 NF 11700 SNG 250 kW / 140 deg SEAs Indonesian, ex 17800 HBN 1300-1430 9965 HBN 100 kW / 318 deg EaAs Chinese 1600-1630 NF 9540 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg SEAs English, ex 9965 HBN Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation 2215-2245 5925 CYP 250 kW / 314 deg SEEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 7220 CYP 300 kW / 314 deg SEEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 9760 CYP 250 kW / 315 deg SEEu Greek Fri-Sun FEBA Radio 2145-2215 11985 ASC 250 kW / 027 deg WeAf Pulaar Th-Tu ex Mo/Tu/Th/Fr 1830-1845 15250 ASC 250 kW / 070 deg CWAf French 1600-1630 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg EaAf Amharic Thu-Sun 1600-1630 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg EaAf Guragena Mon-Wed 1630-1700 12125 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg EaAf Amharic 1600-1630 11655 ARM 300 kW / 188 deg EaAf Afar 1630-1700 9865 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg EaAf Tigrinya Sun-Wed 1630-1700 9865 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg EaAf Amharic Thu-Sat 1700-1730 6180 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg EaAf Somali 1700-1800 9630 KIG 250 kW / 030 deg EaAf Orominya/Tigrinya 1730-1800 7475 ERV 300 kW / 192 deg EaAf Silte 1900-2030 9550 KIG 250 kW / 030 deg N/ME Arabic 0230-0300 9725 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg WeAs Dari (Radio Sadaye Zindagi) 0300-0315 9725 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg WeAs Mixed lang 1500-1530 11755 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg WeAs Dari (Radio Sadaye Zindagi) 1530-1600 11755 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg WeAs Pashto 0015-0030 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Bangla 0030-0045 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Hindi Sun/Wed 0030-0045 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Mixed langs Mon/Tue 0030-0045 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Bangla Thu-Sat 0045-0100 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Hindi 0130-0200 9725 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SoAs Telugu Sun/Thu/Fri 0130-0200 9725 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg SoAs Mixed langs Mon-Wed/Sat 0200-0230 9750 DHA 250 kW / 060 deg SoAs Urdu Sun 0200-0215 9750 DHA 250 kW / 060 deg SoAs Urdu Mon-Sat 0215-0230 9750 DHA 250 kW / 060 deg SoAs Mixed langs Mon-Sat 1200-1230 15215 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg SoAs Tibetan 1400-1430 9500 NVS 250 kW / 195 deg SoAs Urdu 1430-1500 9500 NVS 250 kW / 195 deg SoAs Mixed langs 1400-1430 12025 DHA 250 kW / 110 deg SoAs English Sun 1400-1415 12025 DHA 250 kW / 110 deg SoAs Malayalam Mon-Sat 1415-1430 12025 DHA 250 kW / 110 deg SoAs Telugu Mon-Sat 1430-1445 12025 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg SoAs Urdu 1445-1500 12025 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg SoAs Kashmiri Wed-Sat 1445-1500 12025 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg SoAs Punjabi Sun-Tue 1500-1530 7485 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg SoAs Bangla WYFR Family Radio 1700-1900 17690 WOF 250 kW / 102 deg SEEu Turkish 1700-1800 13700 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg N/ME Arabic 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 1900-2000 11855 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg WCAf Yoruba 1900-2000 7270 MEY 250 kW / 342 deg CeAf English 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, deleted Luba 17-18 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 1900-2000 9775 DHA 250 kW / 210 deg SoAf English 1500-1600 17580 ASC 250 kW / 114 deg SoAf English 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 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 1600-1700 11850 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg SoAs English (DX Mix News Bulgaria, 22-23-24 Aug really all issued at same time 23 Aug, via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) 234 entries including only three NF = new frequencies (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA Greenville B video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR0Wdg0rwgk (Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 22, dxldyg via DXLD) Interesting video. Thanks for sharing it. I visited this site in the early 80's for a few hours. The people working there were very cordial to my wife and I. BIG site for sure. I'll take exception to his reasoning for why the government chose this location. It's more to do with delivering one hop propagation to the intended audience. Hard to jam a signal that solid (Tim Lemmon, Aug 22, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 11670, turning on radio last tuned to INDIA [q.v.] at 2200, Aug 20 at 0441 there is American English, very poor signal with flutter. HFCC shows VOA is here via BOTSWANA at 04-07, switching from 350 to 10 degrees at 0500. Usually monitoring after 0500, had not run across it before. 15580, Aug 24 at 1400 // stronger 17545, VOA News repeatedly refers to ``Mister Gadhafi (sp?)``, apparently having stripped him of his self- assigned rank of Colonel. Axually, ``Mister`` is a sign of respect, no doubt a VOA policy, which no domestic US broadcaster accords him, but they don`t like to bother with ``Mister Obama`` either, how quaint. Hmmm; what does BBC call MAQ? 15580 and 17545 were about one second apart, lost track of which was ahead, despite latest HFCC showing both via São Tomé; Aoki, however, shows 17545 as Botswana. If both be really from same site, that would be another case of deliberately offsetting to even out power consumption peaks, like they do at Bonaire, Tinian/Saipan et al. IBB keeps swapping sites around for no particular reason (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1578 monitoring: first airing confirmed on WRMI webcast after 0330 UT Thursday August 18, but only jamming heard on 9955. Tnx a lot, Arnie! Further WRMI broadcasts are: Thu 1500, 2100, Fri 0500 [confirmed at 0525, steady S9+12 and R5 with no jamming], 1430, Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, etc. WTWW: Thursday 2100 on 9479, UT Sunday 0400 on 5755 WBCQ: Thursday 2130 on 7415, UT Monday 0300v on 5110v-CUSB Area 51 WWRB: UT Friday 0330v on 5051 [confirmed; still with het de 5050] WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12100, August 23 at 0447, good signal from WTWW in Portuguese Bible, approaching 6 am in Portugal, 2 am in most of Brasil; I never manage to catch it signing off, but must be around 0500, as not heard in following hour, tho sometimes is fading down before then. I wonder if they have a sign-off announcement? There is no sign-on announcement, just cuts on the air in progress around 1300 with Arabic. Before long they will need a lower nighttime frequency, 5080? That`s registered for 40 degree antenna, or 5765 at 180 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTWW update August 23, 2011 [captions to six new photos; we hope they will be availablized for all to see on the wtww.us website --- gh] Power to interlock system: Transmitter doors and High Voltage gate. Electric gate lock installed. New final tube socket installed. Tuning control and tuning motors supplies up. Additional modifications added. (George McClintock, WTWW, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330-CUSB, Aug 20 at 1130, 1215, 1303, open carrier/dead air, no doubt WBCQ while the automated feed from Good Friends Radio Network had crashed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Everyone, 15385.3 kHz, KJES Vado NM, 21/8/11 1900 UT religious talk then young girl with ID, then back into hymns. Drifting in and out. Russ Cummings gave me the tip for this about a week ago but only came in tonight at any strength. http://www.box.net/shared/oqk51q5nuhp9v7ifhrac (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thanks to a tip from Mark Davies I also heard KJES on about 15385.3 at around 1850 UT+ Sunday. A question - the HFCC registers this below, but I didn't hear any break for a antenna change at 1900. Ciraf 55 58 59 is Australia !!! Do you know if they likely to have an extensive aerial system, or is it more likely to be something omnidirectional? 15385 1800 1900 55,58,59 JES 50 270 0 805 1234567 270311 301011 D USA JES FCC 2714 15385 1900 2000 11 JES 50 100 0 805 1234567 270311 301011 D USA JES FCC 2715 The signal with me was similar to Mark Davies, but with more background local noise. A long time since I heard it. 73 from (Noel Green, NW England, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Noel, When I visited site years ago, all they had was a rotatable log periodic. It could be stuck in one direxion? They also are supposed to change targets every hour in the 13-16 UT period on 11715v, but I haven`t noticed any difference, reception depending more on short-skip propagational openings. Of course, with that LP they would not need to break transmission to move it. 73, (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, ibid.) Hello Glenn, Thanks for this interesting information. You are quite right that a LP antenna could be moved without affecting transmission. But I think Mark and I would have noticed had they done so at 1900 UT. The WRTH simply says that the transmission on 15385 is for Central America. Whatever, not much of their signal was coming our way. It was a very similar signal to what I - and I think Mark too - hears from WRMI 9955 from their south pointing LP. Thanks again and 73 from (Noel Green, ibid.) ** U S A. WWCR has finally found something to fill unsold time, languishing since the departure of Rollye James at the end of March: MORE Brother Scare! Aug 18 at 0537, there he is on WWCR-1, 3215, // WWRB 3185 just a reverb apart, which isn`t always the case with different stations. Next check at 1004, 7520 (ex-9985) is also running BS. At 1014 as I was tuning across inbooming 5890, WWCR-4, BS was talking about being on new 7520 and asking for reports, since it was not coming in well at Walterboro. First said he would be on there until 6 am M-F, and then he said until 5 am, usual confusion. Must end at 1100 UT when 7520 switches to 15825 with Russian and Arabic on weekdays. 7520 was only fair here too, night MUF not always cooperating, normally at its lowest in the hours before sunrise. 3185 from WWRB was still on and better. So why does he need 3215 and 7520 in addition to 5890 and 3185?? Next night rechecked: 3215, Aug 19 at 0601 TOM again, // 3185 during Scourby Bible reading; we still don`t know the exact span of this. Are these changes accounted for on the WWCR website? Of course not! The program schedule still stamped August 1 will probably not be updated until September, Labor Day. Is this accounted for on The Overcomer Ministry website? Of course not! Neither on the home page nor on the ftp SW listing. May well be trial runs. 4840, Aug 22 at 0519, WWCR broadcasting dead air, until 0530 ID and starting some program. Filler `Golden Age of Radio` scheduled for UT Mondays only 05-06, so dispensable; sold half the hour? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 13570, August 19 at 2039, anapaestic androgynous preacher/ess on WINB at S9+20, plus spurs out to 13500/13640, peaking around 13530. Haven`t noticed this particular problem before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17520, WHRI Cypress Creek SC; 1946-1958*, 20-Aug; two English huxters; one speaks, then one screams; talking about women bound to their husbands (S&M?); "Don't commit no fornication"; screamer had to ask for a repeat a couple of times, "What?" WHRI ID at close. SIO=353+ (4+ on the entertainment scale) (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 7385, one WHRI broadcast which is not imaginary lasts until 1300, but Aug 24 at 1255, the gospel huxter has heavy double-CCI from two stations in Chinese, one being the CNR1 kidshow often heard during the 8 pm ChiCom hour, // 7365, and the other no doubt RTI being jammed. BTW, PBS Xizang, Lhasa, TIBET is also listed on 7385 until 1300; not a chance to hear it here, or in Asia either, no doubt. 7365 CNR1 does not become a jammer until Taiwan starts there too at 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11520, August 20 at 1310 poor signal sure sounds like Harold Droning. Are they still playing old tapes from Taiwan rather than current feed from Oakland? Aoki shows 11520 at 11-15, only this hour in English, Paochung site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 15750, Aug 24 at 1251, discussion in English of Genesis I, 1255 outro as `Voice of Bible Study` with the late [somebody], from Family Radio, off after 1300. Had not been hearing this before, must be new relay from somewhere; not yet in HFCC or Aoki tho YFR does use Wertachtal on 15750 at 16-17 in Amharic. Has audio processing boost atypical of WYFR itself. The latest YFR HFCC sked at http://hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A11&broadc=YFR does not show 15750 before 1300 either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6501-USB, Aug 18 at 1006, one of the USCG stations with marine weather, mentions National Hurricane Center in Miami; and the robotic male voice is back re-replacing the human we heard recently. Also with bad distorted modulation which has been a long-time problem; nothing audible just above 8500 which is sometimes // from another transmitter, another site? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re Jim Bohannon on KFEQ-680? Glenn Hauser mentioned that Jim Bohannon's "talk show is harder and harder to find on the air." I would agree with that--he seems to be the king of regional and graveyard frequencies--but he does have at least one widely-heard blowtorch: KDKA-1020. Did you notice their Station Finder page still lists KGGF-690, but not on the Kansas page: they have it listed as Tulsa, OK! But like you, I haven't heard Jimbo there lately either. He's still on nightly on local KWTO-560, where he once worked. (Randy Stewart, Arts Producer, KSMU, Springfield MO, IRCA via DXLD) The reason Jim is getting harder and harder to find on the radio is his listener demos are getting older and older; and no one wants to program to that. Plus, he's a bit DRY (Paul B. Walker, Jr, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. 1460, Aug 24 at 1211 UT, plugging something coming up at 8:10, ads for Dairy Queen in Cleburne, Hawaiian Falls, Family Medicine. Cleburne is pronounced with a long E. This has to be KCLE in Texas, despite its city of license really being Burleson! Cleburne is S of Fort Worth on I-35W, while Burleson is halfway to Fort Worth from there. Studio and postal addresses are in Cleburne. This was atop our OK 1460, KZUE El Reno in Spanish. Reno is also pronounced with a long E in English, and I suspect even in Spanish the pressure is heavy to do so, if I could ever catch an ID. Now how do you pronounce Burleson? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MERLIN MEDIA BEGINS STREAMING ITS ALL-NEWS OUTLETS IN NYC AND CHICAGO The Discussion Boards of Radio-Info.com picked up on the addition, as Merlin Media quietly activates streaming for the family-targeted all- news outlets it debuted in New York (a week ago) and Chicago (July 29). Chicago's "FM News 101.1 " WWWN is here. New York's WEMP (101.9) is here. Once you've checked out Merlin-New York, compare your thoughts with those of Sean Ross, the Executive Editor of Music & Programming here at Radio-Info.com. His “First Listen” to WEMP is here. http://www.radio-info.com/news/merlin-media-begins-streaming-its-all-news-outlets-in-nyc-and-chicago (Friday, August 19, 2011, via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Philadelphia Business News reported that WYSP is changing from their rock format to sports and will simulcast WIP-AM sports programming (Mike Hunter, NJ, WTFDA via DXLD) This has been going on for awhile - In Detroit, for example, CBS gave up on its 97.1 shock-talker to simulcast a 50 kW AM they built up only a few years ago. Now I am seeing a huge slew of these changes. In Chicago, 105.9 has been cannibalized to simulcast AM 780 WBBM, even though WBBM's AM signal is the top-rated station in the market. It may also be an admission that radio is now mainly only for talk and sports, along with music only for minorities and the poor - radio has surrendered the well-to-do audience for music to personal music sources of one kind or another (mp3, iPods, CDs, etc). Seems ironic that Bruce Elving passed away just before he could live his lifelong dream of hearing the last AM station close. Note on WXYT (AM 1270) [Detroit, originally WXYZ] - This station is now truly a waste of energy, land and spectrum. For some time after the FM simulcast started, they would occasionally non-simulcast in order play-by-play of a game in another sport when two local games were on at the same time (usually as one season had begun before another sport's season had not yet ended). Now, 1270 is a true simulcast of 97.1 - Games in the "other sport" are carried on "Oldies" (mostly 80s now) 104.3 WOMC (Which I suspect will soon be WWJ-FM Newsradio 104.3). (Robert Grant, WTFDA via DXLD) From what I have heard from some broadcast contacts is that some of these FM talkers are also dropping the stereo pilots and going mono. The goal is to have less multipath issues. Technically a sound idea. But interesting how the pendulum is swinging back to the early days of FM with mono in the commercial band (John E, ibid.) Here is a trivia question for you on WWJ-FM. It started out as the 7th FM station in the US with the calls W4SD on 44.5 MHz, moved to the new FM band on 96.9 in September 1945 as WENA. A couple of web references show it on 97.1 as WWJ-FM in 1948. It has changed calls a couple of times since then, and as you know is now WXYT-FM. I recently bought a Detroit News press photo of the tower on the Penobscot Building in Detroit with a new FM dipole side mounted on the big rooftop self-supporting tower. This photo is stamped December 2, 1949 and is hand labeled as Detroit News radio equipment. I am trying to determine what was newsworthy about this new antenna - maybe a site relocation? The Penobscot Building, has the unique tower with a big "static ball" on top. I did some work on a system there in the early 1980's and the building drawings showed a dirigible mooring as part of the tower. The building was completed in 1928, so I am not sure what came first - radio antennas or dirigibles. Like the Empire State Building, I can't imagine what it would be like trying to board a swaying dirigible on top of a building (Mike Hunter, W2MHZ, Neshanic Station NJ, ibid.) Not to mention sparky RF outcoming (gh, DXLD) W45D? (Wm R Hepburn, Grimsby Ont., WTFDA via DXLD) Yes, W45D. Typo. When they were testing the Apex AM WWJ had the call sign W8XWJ (before FM). If I recall correctly the X was for experimental. Armstrong's station at Alpine NJ was W2XMN (Mike Hunter, WTFDA via DXLD) Yep. W4SD would have been a ham call (today it belongs to a guy in Virginia Beach, but he's only been a ham since 1976.) Until sometime near the end of WWII, FM stations received callsigns consisting of: - K or W, as appropriate for the station's location relative to the Mississippi River. - The last two digits of the station's frequency (the first digit was always 4) - One or two letters representing the city of license. Thus, for a station in Detroit on 44.5 MHz, W45D. The first FM station, on 44.7 here in Nashville, was W47NV. WTMJ, Milwaukee was an early promoter of FM; their station was on 45.5 MHz -- and you can figure out their callsign. Near the end of the war the FCC thought better of it and allowed stations to select fully alphabetical calls as are issued today (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) ** U S A. Columbus Spycam questions?? Glenn, There is a person that works at Ch 10, WBNS -TV. He usually has on his Spy-Cam on during the 5-6:30PM newscast here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/anchordeskspycam#utm_campaign=www.facebook.com&utm_source=8302752&utm_medium=social Have you ever heard of this? (Artie Bigley, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No (gh, ibid.) Hey Artie, I usually only show the job of the day on Spycam after it’s been killed from the newscast. Sometimes the producer kills it to make up extra time. I figure there just might be someone on Spycam who knows someone who might need a job and I’d rather post it there than just throw it away… Glad you like the Spycam. I came up with the idea for the AnchorDesk Spycam after my colleague Andy Hirsch turned on his webcam in the newsroom one day and we had dozens of people watching us sit around and type. I figured if they enjoyed watching us type, they might really enjoy watching us behind-the-scenes. Hope you have a great weekend. Maybe we’ll see you tonight on Spycam. All the best, (Kurt Ludlow, WBNS-TV, Aug 5, via Artie, DXLD) Kurt, I'm trying to figure out why you post the job leads on Spycam.. The reasons would be for all the people of of work. The Spy Cam would be used as a public service. Also, people that watch spycam are real Connoisseur of TV news and may want your glamorous job! By throwing job at them, you are making them more realistic? Jim agrees with me that the spycam viewers aren't going to have your job, even if they want it. I watch the spycam in the resource room and Jim posts jobs leads here on a big bulletin board where I live. So, I can watch spycam without guilt, because of the job leads. These computers are intended for job leads. Not that I'm employable. I saw Spycam yesterday for only the second time. Whose idea was it for the spycam?? Sent this to Andrea Cambern yesterday. I was curious what she thought of spycam. Thanks, Artie Bigley (to Kurt, via DXLD) Mrs. Andrea Cambern, I saw the Spy Cam yesterday and like it a lot but also fell somewhat perplexed. Not sure why the boss would allow the spy cam because: The Competition may take advantage of it and it appears to be distracting. But maybe since you are a real pro, maybe not a distraction? It also leaves me feeling like a voyeur and uneasy, like I'm not supposed to be watching this :( But for real Connoisseur of TV news and yourself, I guess a dream come true! :) I like Kurt, a very cool guy BUT I think you make the Spycam!! I like it when he said on the archive tape, "We all Love you". That made my day and I fell like I'm in good company! Also, those kids from the Irish Fest are very cute!!! Too cute to believe!! Any thoughts on Spycam? Sincerely, Artie (via DXLD) ** U S A. COPPER TRANSMISSION LINE, TUBING STOLEN FROM WVIA-TV TOWER WNEP-TV just reported on the 5:30 news that the transmission line and copper pipe on the WVIA-TV tower for their CH 41 transmitter was stolen within the last week or two. I checked the www.WNEP.com website, but the story wasn't posted there yet. They did say that the WVIA engineers saw that the lines were stolen off the tower when they were at the transmitter building doing repairs to restore the burned out CH 41 digital TV transmitter. WVIA is currently using the old WNEP-DT CH 49 transmitter since their transmitter building burned back in Feb. 2010. There may be more info on the http://www.WVIA.org or WBRE http://www.pahomepage.com websites (Bob Seaman, Hazleton, PA, Aug 19, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. Re previous report of Follett TX translators seen except for ch 51: with my brain and TV in analog-mode, I overlooked the more likely explanation: weak signal blocked by DTV snow from KSBI OKC (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FCC FREEZES CHANNEL 51 --- The FCC has placed a freeze on applications, for both full-power and LPTV stations, to use channel 51. They have also lifted the freeze on channel changes for existing full-power stations, if a full-power station on channel 51 wishes to move to a lower channel; and they have opened a 60-day window for LPTV stations with pending applications for use of channel 51 to amend those applications to move to a lower channel. Cellular-phone interests requested the freeze, as well as a rulemaking to permanently prevent the licensing of new stations on this channel. They fear adjacent-channel interference to their operations above that channel. At least at this time, the freeze is temporary, lasting for sixty days. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Aug 23, WTFDA via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) I'll have to keep an eye on WJAR which is a local full power station. They were originally on 10 and now on 51 with full power. This area is probably already packed so they may not be able to move down from 51 and stay in the UHF band. I seriously doubt they'd go to any VHF channel (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) There they go again, eating away into broadcast television bandwidth (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** U S A. GENACHOWSKI WON'T RELEASE SPECTRUM MODEL UNTIL CONGRESS OKAYS AUCTION http://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/genachowski-wont-release-spectrum-model.html Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski says the agency will not release its Allotment Optimization Model (AOM) detailing how it will reconfigure broadcast spectrum after an incentive auction until after it gets that auction authority from Congress, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The statement came in response to a request from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) that reflects the growing call in the broadcast industry to release the model to the public. Dingell called Genachowski's response "deeply troubling." He also said he would oppose any legislation that did not explicitly protect broadcasters (Current Aug 22 via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ** U S A. WEB SITE FOR THE MET-OBSESSED CLOSES - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/arts/music/web-site-for-the-met-obsessed-closes.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO VALENCIA IN THE MISSION IS NEW RADIO WITH AN 'ARRR!' Ben Fong-Torres Sunday, August 21, 2011 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/21/PKC51KL9IK.DTL One of the newer and more interesting radio stations in town is hidden in the Mission District. And I mean hidden - as in hiding from the feds. Yep. It's another unlicensed pirate station, one of several operating in and around San Francisco, and it's called Radio Valencia. Music- loving diners may remember that name from a music-loving former restaurant in the neighborhood. But the new RV is an actual station, with a tiny, shack-like studio inside Chez Poulet, a rambling warehouse owned by Chicken John, an artist and musician who once ran for mayor. The building houses living, work and party spaces, with a serious kitchen, a stage and a disco ball. And, now Radio Valencia, which operates on a low-power FM transmitter, at 87.9. It can be heard in the Mission, and staffers say it reaches the Bayview, Noe Valley and parts of the Sunset. Most listeners probably will have better luck finding it online, at Radiovalencia.fm, and if they do, they'll encounter a loose, community-minded bunch of DJs and commentators filling the air with a wild mix of music, some of it live. In recent months, Christopher Ford, a DJ and country musician who goes by Quarterman Jack, has been lugging equipment into El Rio, a bar on Mission Street, for live broadcasts of the jam sessions staged there monthly by Los Train Wreck. From one such session, he plucked Kimberlye Gold, who'd sparkled on "Me and Bobby McGee," to do an on- air guest spot on his Saturday afternoon show. A couple weeks later, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, spearhead of the jams, visited Chez Poulet, read from one of her books, and performed, with bandmates Sam Barry (harp) and Todd Swenson (guitar). While Gold, along with steel guitarist David Phillips, crammed themselves and their instruments into the DJ booth, John Hell, one of the founders of Radio Valencia, told me about the year-old station. Hell came from college radio, did some board op work at CBS, decided commercial radio wasn't for him, helped start a station for the Burning Man festivals, then got into piracy, with San Francisco Liberation Radio, Pirate Cat and FCC Free Radio. With support from Chicken John and others, Hell has put Radio Valencia on the air with a mission. "We wanted to do a community station, bring in local musicians, artists, politicians, activists and merchants. We want to keep music free form, from multiple genres, and away from the mainstream. We have fun, and there's no micromanagement." The fun stops when the FCC gets complaints about the station's unlicensed transmitter interfering with other stations' signals. "We've been visited," said Hell. "We got a cease-and-desist order and we're in the midst of doing something about it." Meantime, the station is operating daily from 10 a.m. to midnight, with extended hours on two nights. A staff of 54, who pay dues to be on the station, account for 45 weekly two-hour shows. One of them is Ford. "We don't want to have to answer to an outside funding source," he says, explaining why he pays to play. The funds pay for new equipment and station maintenance. "We really do want to provide for the community," says Ford, who adds: "Clear Channel has decimated independent radio in this country, so we consider ourselves the Freedom Fighters of the airwaves. It's nice to create an independent station." But why not go after the big companies as a licensed, legal station? "We're investigating getting a low-power license," says Ford, "but the FCC doesn't tell you when they're going to release those licenses." Until then, Radio Valencia will stay underground. Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila. August 21, 0820-0831 English pop selections (with Peter Tosh’s Reggae), female in English talks “program”, followed by male seems in police news space. 35533 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. RCTV INTERNACIONAL VUELVE VÍA INTERNET DESDE ESTE MIÉRCOLES La señal de Rctv Internacional podrá verse en línea | Cortesía Rctv El canal firmó un convenio con uno de los operadores de TV por Internet más importantes del mundo que permite el acceso a la señal con sólo registrarse gratis Desde este 24 de Agosto entrando en www.rctv.net toda Venezuela podrá ver la señal de RCTV Internacional, todos sus programas favoritos, los avances y la emisión estelar de El Observador estarán disponibles para todos. El canal firmó un convenio con uno de los operadores de TV por Internet más importantes del mundo que permite el acceso a la señal con sólo registrarse. Completamente gratis todos los usuarios de Internet desde Venezuela podrán disfrutar de la señal de RCTV Internacional. Este es solo uno de los elementos que conforman la comunidad digital de RCTV. Una página Web completamente rediseñada unida a las cuentas de Twitter, @RctvenLinea y el grupo de Facebook. Los periodistas y corresponsales de El Observador han sido provistos con equipos de alta tecnología que les permitirá informar las noticias al instante desde cualquier parte del país. Todas las noticias estarán de manera inmediata disponibles tanto en http://www.rctv.net como en Twitter y Facebook. FUENTE: http://bit.ly/p75qwW (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) RCTV, originally a major national network, was banned from the airwaves for daring to oppose Chávez (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 11705, Aug 19 at 1254, open carrier here, prompting dreams of RNV reviving via Cuba! So I rechecked the next previously scheduled broadcast at 1506 on 11680, but nothing there. Maybe 11705 carrier was NHK altho not opening Indonesian until 1315? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA An new listing of broadcasts in Spanish audible in Venezuela http://sintoniadx.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/emisoras-que-emiten-en-espanol-en-la-onda-corta/ apparently as of August 1, includes two for R. Nacional de Venezuela: 20-21 on 17705, 22-23 on 11670, but none of the others. Are these really on the air? We don`t hear them. Probably old info should have been deleted. The list isn`t very precise with even-hour segments regardless of whether some broadcasts only occupy half an hour here or there, etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: 1710 kHz Music at 8:15 A.M. PDT [1515 UT] --- The signal was heard on the NW long-wire, not the SW ewe. On the antenna switch I had the coax mixed. Just corrected the mistake. I now have four antennas. Just added the Kiwa loop. Tonight the only antenna that can get any audio from 1710 is the NW long-wire and the signal is only S-2. The palstar tuner helps when in the tune mode. Surprised they`re still on the air; the Vancouver, WA 1710 Russian station got shut down a few months after being on the air by the FCC. I read that the FCC field station in Portland, OR keeps its radio direction finding vehicle in Vancouver, WA (Dennis Vroom, Kalama, WA, Aug 22, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks Dennis. Yes, the Russian is a regular visitor here nightly. Depending on northerly conditions, the signal strength does vary. The best signal is off the NE EWE, aimed pretty much at the Puget Sound. I even get the Russian station carrier during the day! Rarely any audio though, except maybe in mid Winter. You might try for the Fort Lewis TIS in the morning after LSR on 1500. They are also common after CA fades out. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6075.731, 21/8 0047, South American sound. It could be RT Kawschun Coca [sic], Bolivia, but the signal was poor (Giampiero Bernardini, Summer tips in hot Milan city, Italia, Perseus & T2FD antenna 15 m long, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6075.729, 21.8 0226, UNID weak station here. I have only heard music during 10 minutes of recording. Based on info from AN there might be a chance it can be this one drifting: Radio Televisión Kawsachun Coca. Desde el trópico de Cochabamba, cuna de las luchas bolivianas por una patria digna, transmite: Radio y televisión Kawsachun Coca voz de la Revolución Democrática y Cultural (Thomas Nilsson, Ängelholm, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6075,743 19.8 0115 OID. Jag hörde den första gången runt 16.8 men lyckas inte höra vad det kan vara. Jag har en inspelning där man kan höra en del tal, men vet inte vilket språk det kan vara. Ofta en del QRM. Jag har en ny inspelning på den från 00.45z den 21/8 och där tycker jag mig få fram audio! Den ligger rätt inklämd mellan en stark stn på 6080 0ch en inte fullt så stark på 6075. Jag TYCKER att det verkar LA med en del tal och mx med YL sångerska. Modulationen på talet inte så bra. Vid den här insp. verkar sändaren stabil. Är nog en svår nöt att knäcka! AN 6075.743, 19.8 0115, unID. I noted this station for the first time on Aug 16 but I can't tell what it might be. I made a recording where you can hear some speech, but it is impossible to recognize the language. Often a lot of QRM. I have a new recording from Aug 21 at 0045z where I managed to get more audio! The station is squeezed between a strong station on 6080 and a weaker one on 6075. I think it seems to be a Latin American with some speech music with YL singer. The modulation of the speech is not so good though. In this recording the transmitter was fairly stable. Will probably be a difficult nut to crack! (Arne Nilsson, Sjulsmark, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 21 translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6075.72, 0140, Aug 23, seemed uninterrupted? songs/ballads on clear frequency but bothered by ever-present BLR on 6070. Noted to 0258 tune-out when VOA's Yankee Doodle appeared on nextdoor 6080. Signal too weak for SAM mode to continuously lock onto carrier. Didn't read Nilsson's report in SW Bulletin until later this morning, obviously the same station but exact frequency very slightly lower 6075.72, 0055-0142, Aug 24, carrier hetting CRI English but in the clear as soon as the latter station had closed 0057. No definite audio, frequency appears to be stable. As to yesterday's posting I should have added that the reference is to SWB 1726 where Arne Nilsson suggests that this might possibly be R Kawsachun Coca reactivated? (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands / TenTec RX-340, 30 m. longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6825/USB, UNID fishermen; 0103, 16-Aug; Two good ol' boys talkin' about their boats & fishin'; apparently Gulf coast -- rainin' up there on the bayou; one is Woody; working in 150' of water. (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Mystery mutant OC tester: No doubt the same source as last Sunday's all-morning AM OC on 6780 (which is silent as I type), now on 6994.5, big, steady signal. You getting it up in Okie? Tuned in to at 1136 today, and still spewing away into the 1300 hour (Terry Krueger, FL, Sat Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No; did not see your note until 1500 (gh, DXLD) 6994.5, 1136-1340 August 20, 2011. Open carrier through tune-out when I had to depart the house. Upon return, not on at 1601. Same source as last Sunday's 6780 open carrier all morning? After passing along the tip today, D. Crawford reports military alpha reads from 1310, but G. Bishop in the Florida Panhandle still had a carrier at 1357 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9063.0, Aug 18 at 0531, S9+20 open carrier; suspect Cuban spy numbers transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9221.5 approx., Aug 18 at 0520, 2-way in Spanish encoded with alfanumerix such as ``lima``, ``catorce`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9876 to 9891, peak 9884 kHz at 1400-1545 9884_PAK_IND_distorted_buzz110824_14_1545.mp39884_PAK_IND_distorted_bu zz110824_14_1545.mp3 9885, Totally distorted audio signal noted in approx. 1400-1600 UT slot, is that Radio Pakistan 1345-1545 UT Pushto/Dari ex 6235/7455??? Or is that a jamming against BSKSA Turkmenistani 9885? 73 wolfy At 1533 UT started another 'Noise': DRM mode signal of VoR Kaliningrad on even 9880 kHz. Distorted PAK/IND signal peak frequency is approx. 9882.300 kHz. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 10830, Aug 18 at 1030, very distorted and weak FMy music, peaking here but heard down to 10780 or so. Smax of 10.7 MHz IF radiation from some FM radio receiver in my neighborhood; none of mine were on. These things usually don`t appear on exactly 10700 for some reason, due to wideband FM deviation? I might have found a // to a local station if I had been willing to scan the entire FM band on another radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15585, Aug 24 at 0131, open carrier with heavy flutter, then 1000 Hz tone comes on, steps down to lower tones, resumes 1000 Hz, off again to OC; S9+18 peaks. Uplooked later, the only thing scheduled here in HFCC is VOR, Pet/Kam, 200 kW, 245 degrees at 01-05. Aoki shows this is supposed to be VOR in Russian at 01-03, English at 03-05 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17460.2, Aug 22 at 1305 open carrier, then slow and lo- modulated MCW, but could have been beating against another transmitter. Yesterday this was on 17461.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17461.0, Aug 21 at 1321, S9+12 steady open carrier; still at 1354 but now peaking only to S9+8. Just AM, no hidden RTTY or anything else with BFO onswitched (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to William T. Hassig, IL, for a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 (WORLD OF RADIO 1579) Thanks to Kent D. Murphy, N Martinsville WV for a contribution to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 [with Turkey`s new schedule folder, q.v.] [Kent and Jason to be acknowledged on upcoming WORs] Dear Mr Hauser, Thank you so much for your work producing World of Radio. I enclose a small check to support the program. I love the program and listen to it multiple times during the week. Keep up the good work!!! I sent a signal report to WRMI verifying weak reception of your show. They sent a nice QSL card that referred to World of Radio. This reception was out of the ordinary for me in northern New York because I am not able to receive their signals regularly. The only stations I am able to receive that broadcast your program are WTWW, WBCQ, and formerly WWCR. I use a Grundig S350DL with an indoor long wire antenna in my office. Sincerely (Jason F. Poplaski, KB3SAR, Watertown NY, August 18) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ACCESS TO THE AIRWAVES Allan, You have mentioned your book Access to the Airwaves several times over the years. You said it's out of print but you may be able to find a used copy at Amazon. Well, I checked Amazon online and was able to find a listing for a few 'NEW' copies for $6.00 plus shipping (Artie Bigley, to Allan Weiner, WBCQ, cc to DXLD) Hi Allan, I got your Access to the Airways book and yes, it is Brand Spanking new. It came from Antiques, etc. from Kennebunk, Maine. It was only five bucks plus shipping. A great read and I enjoy the book for sure. Thanks for your Amazon.com tip a few months ago on the book. I trust you will make it OK through the storm this weekend. 73s, (Artie to Allan Weiner, Aug 24, via DXLD) LA RADIO EN LA OSCURIDAD 1 Estimados: Publiqué la primer entrega de "La radio en la oscuridad", una serie documental de Alfonso Montealegre y Jaime Báguena, producidos para Radio Nederland. Los saqué de 3 casetes que me gané por allá en 1989, en un concurso del ya mítico programa "Radio-Enlace" . El tema es que están muy maltrechos los casetes por el paso del tiempo. Los intenté reconstruir digitalmente y quedaron bastante bien. En esta primer entrega se trata el tema de radios libres y piratas, especialmente de Europa. Lo tengo publicado en mi blog: http://lw3esh.blogspot.com/2011/08/la-radio-en-la-oscuridad-1.html Cuando suba las otras las voy avisando si les interesa. 73! (Federico Tomasczik - LW3ESH, Aug 22, condiglist yg via DXLD) HAM RADIO VERIFICATION CARDS ON EXHIBIT AT HARFORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE [Maryland] === Coming in Loud and Clear August 10, 2011|BY MARISSA GALLO http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-08-10/explore/ph-ag-ppt-ham-radio-exhibit-0810-20110810_1_qsl-ham-radio-verification-cards Before cell phones and Facebook, there was amateur — or ham — radio. These radio operators would connect with other people around the world and share what daily life was like on their side of the country — or sometimes globe — all from the comfort of their own homes. One or several radios would take up space on kitchen tables or office desks where plates and papers would normally be and act as the base of these experimental radio stations, called "shacks," just waiting for another person's voice to come in through the airwaves. Indeed, it's a hobby that persists in some circles, despite the emergence of other instant communication venues like the Internet. After operators connected with one another over the radio, they would exchange QSL (query station location) verification cards through the mail. Sending QSL cards became so popular that bureaus would be placed in different towns, made specifically for collecting and distributing cards. These verification cards designed by the operators acted as a sort-of visual representation of the person who sent it (the computer age equivalent would be modern day avatars). Between 1920 and 1980, the heydays of amateur radio, thousands upon thousands of these cards were mailed around the world, connecting operators everywhere. And one of these ham radio operators was the grandfather of Kenneth Jones. "I was in my basement and I opened up a box, and it was an odor from the box that brought me back to my grandfather, who pretty much through the '70s was a ham radio operator. And there was small stack of cards he had in that box," Jones, an associate professor of art and design at Harford Community College, said. Jones, 47, of Newark, Del., is the curator of a QSL ham radio verification card exhibit showing at HCC, 401 Thomas Run Road in Bel Air, in the Chesapeake Gallery through Sept. 15. Jones, who isn't a ham radio operator but has "a little bit of interest" in it, was drawn in by the design element of the QSL cards. "I'm an artist and designer, so I collect a lot of stuff, especially odd things. So, I'm always looking for odd stuff that's always in the margins," he said. "My interest is in the way that the cards represent wireless connection before the Internet." The cards featured in the exhibit, HPE 2 WRK U AGN SN, are visually striking, whether in its use of vivid color, drawings or starkness and simplicity. What they all have in common: each card is a piece of that operator's personality and home life. "They would create these somewhat fictional accounts of themselves, a more Utopian or idealistic sense of the self, and that's one of the big interests I have in the culture of the cards," Jones said. What's most surprising to learn, especially when looking at the more elaborate cards, is that most operators didn't have design or art backgrounds. "There are some, though, that it's very apparent that there's a real attempt to utilize the [card] space as a design space artistically," Jones went on to say. "What I like is some of the cards look more finished and some of the cards look more primitive." Designs of the more elaborate QSL cards range from renderings of famous cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse,Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny are all well represented throughout the exhibit), pin-up girls and realistic portraits of the operator himself. On the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous cards that show nothing other than a shack's call letters and a postage stamp. All of the cards in the exhibit, roughly 600 in all, are from Jones' personal collection of about 10,000. "I got really interested a few years ago in these and started to look for them and found they were really hard to locate. So, I started out through the Internet, which was helpful," he said. "I started to understand some of the systems of the way these cards were organized and delivered and started to understand the language." Jones then reached out to other ham operators and collectors to discuss QSL cards. It was this passion and fascination with the postcard-size representations of ham radio operators that inspired the current exhibit. The oldest cards, Jones mentioned, come from the late 1910s and the post-World War II era, and are all organized by design or style. "They're prized. They're really personal," he said. "These cards really represent the ways, through my eyes, [operators used] strategies of design to relate themselves to one another." The most highly prized cards, however, show markings from the postal system and how they were handled. Often times, these QSL cards would be the first and possibly last time the two operators would connect, a bittersweet fact they were very much aware of. Because it was never guaranteed two people would speak again, remarks written — mostly in shorthand — on the cards were personal and would often express how they enjoyed "chewing the rag" with each other and hoped they would talk again soon. This sentiment was the inspiration, Jones said, for the exhibit's name. Despite this often-fleeting connection, "the community of ham radio operators has this really strong brotherhood and there's a really strong sense of unity and friendship," Jones said. While most of the senders and recipients of the QSL cards on exhibit are long gone, their friendship and love for ham radio communication still shows (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) QSLing: see also BOTSWANA; INTERNATIONAL WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ Chile: cambio de hora Mañana sábado 20 de agosto a medianoche se adelanta la hora legal en Chile una hora, pasando a UTC-3. El cambio al horario de verano se adelantó este año por problemas energéticos, de modo que en lugar de llevarse a cabo en octubre, se realizará mañana. El gobierno ha dicho que evaluarán los resultados de este nuevo horario de invierno más corto, para ver si se replica el próximo año o no. O quizás lo elimine y ya no tenga que volver a cambiarse la hora. Fuente: http://bit.ly/pGJKYg (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) Wow, that would be like in the northern hemisphere starting DST on Feb 20 (gh, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTSING --- DRM See AFGHANISTAN; NEW ZEALAND; RUSSIA; +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ UK; UNIDENTIFIED 9876- DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LOOK FOR EXPANSION OF HD RADIO - The Daily Breeze http://www.dailybreeze.com/lifeandculture/ci_18710112 My comments recently regarding Radio Shack discontinuing every one of its house-brand HD Radio receivers brought in some interesting emails, some readers stating they like HD, others wishing it would go away. Enter Robert Struble, president and CEO of iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of the HD Radio system. The system sends a digital stream along with a radio station's regular analog signal. The stream is then decoded so the audio can be heard, giving what HD supporters say is better-sounding audio on AM and FM stations, along with extra streams that can be heard on many FM HD stations. According to Struble, the move by Radio Shack was not unexpected. "All products have a life cycle," he explained. "And I believe that Radio Shack will have new HD radios available in a short time." In the meantime, Struble says, new lower-power and better-performing chips are on the horizon, other retailers continue to make the radios available, and automakers are expanding their HD offerings. In fact, he says, the number of HD radios in cars has doubled each year for the past few years. Expect 2012 to be a big year for HD Radio, Struble predicts. Killing AM I am an AM radio supporter, and have been since I got my first transistor radio from my Auntie Ina when I was about 10. I have always felt that AM pushed listeners to FM not through inferior sound quality, but inferior programming. KFI (640 AM), in fact, proves that people will still tune in to AM given the right content. In spite of my love of AM radio, I am beginning to come to a sad conclusion: AM is dead. Well, not dead yet, but getting there. Many people younger than 35 don't even think of pushing the AM button. Bad programming hurts, as do bad radios which make the band sound worse than ever. Even HD Radio hurts thanks to audio interference from the HD system. But, in my opinion, even deadlier for AM stations are HD FM simulcasts. You can hear, for example, KNX (1070 AM), KABC (790 AM), KFWB (980 AM) and KMZT (1260 AM) on digital HD streams carried by their sister FM stations, making AM unnecessary. And portable HD radios don't even have AM tuners. That's right: The broadcast system that was to be the savior of AM doesn't even include AM in portable radios because it is too hard to receive the HD signals with a small antenna. You couldn't push the AM button even if you wanted to. Maybe the time is right to go back to a simpler time. Switch off the HD on AM and allow stations to open up their sound: increasing their frequency bandwidth; requiring better AM tuners in radios; and perhaps even bringing back AM stereo, which would likely sound better today than it did in the 1980s using modern circuits. Then, of course, they'd have to play something people want to hear. Short takes FM news stations are launching in New York and Chicago under the direction of Walter Sabo and Randy Michaels. You may remember Michaels as former head of Jacor Communications and Clear Channel Communications; Sabo was once a consultant for the RKO radio division. Sabo says the stations will be a "new model" for news coverage and be aimed at "working families." Will such a format happen here? Don't bet against it. My guess is that it will happen within five years, though ratings success is not guaranteed. ... Ever listen to a station on a smartphone or online and wonder why the commercials differ from what is run over the air? The Sound (100.3 FM) programmer Dave Beasing explained that it has to do with licensing fees and payments to the commercial spokespeople. It turns out online airing of commercials is considered distinct from over-the-air commercials, even when they originate from the same station. Richard Wagoner is a freelance writer based in San Pedro (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Have there been any articles about the ratings for FM outlets that simulcast AMs? For example, are they attracting new listeners ‹ and thus more advertising revenue ‹ to the station, or are they just shifting some of the existing audience to FM? Are any of the FM outlets now generating more revenue than their previous programming? Have any of the FM outlets switched to another format because they weren`t making enough money from the AM simulcasts? (Tim Kridel, ibid.) The results so far have ranged from neutral to very positive; not necessarily in total 12+ ratings but in younger demographics that advertisers most desire. I can't think of an AM of any prominence that's shifted to FM and then gone back. The closest example might be KTLK-FM in Mpls, where CC is moving talk back to AM (plus a powerful FM translator) so it can shift sports to FM before its competitors get there. It takes a certain amount of confidence for a station group to give up its existing FM revenue from a music station in order to move an AM format to FM...but facing a precipitous decline ahead in AM revenue, most of the big groups seem to believe they can't risk waiting any longer (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) OK, so maybe FM on current consumer radios sounds better, BUT: Can you drive all day on the summer solstice westbound on, for example, I-90 from, let's say Minneapolis, listening to the same station the entire day, without it ever fading to the point where your radio's scan won't pick it up, WITHOUT a satellite subscription?? I would think if your car has a sensitive enough AM tuner, it could (hopefully) be done with a station around 1100 kHz running 5kW into a quarter-wave antenna over ground averaging 8 mS/m conductivity, even if you're never close enough to the station to be able to detect any trace of a 100kW FM at the same distance with a VERY high antenna (like putting Mt. Everest next to the Mariana Trench). (OK, so I'd hope the radio in my next car is that good on AM.... :) ) (Stephen pianoplayer, ibid.) Well, yes and no. I could listen to WBBM all the way home from Indiana to upstate NY when I make that 500-mile drive tomorrow if I wanted to --- by streaming it to my phone. But radio stations in 2011 aren't in the 1100-mile-reception business. They're in the maximum-listenership- in-the-metro-area business, and that means being where the maximum number of potential listeners are --- and that's FM. Doesn't mean we have to like it as DXers, but that's where the world of radio is going, with or without us (Fybush, ibid.) Probably - without me. I've become disgusted with the lack of formats in my city - Houston at the present. Lots of stations on the dial, nothing I care to listen to. Putting more and more piddle, drivel, and swill of talk radio onto FM is ironically going to kill it as a music medium even faster than it killed AM as a music medium. People have iPods, Satellite, and streaming options now - and as music exits the FM band in favor of mindless talk and even more mindless sports, anybody wanting music will tune out. It is indeed a new world of broadcasting, and not one that favors the listener, let alone the DX'er. If you fit a demographic mold, you might find something of interest. But everybody is a unique individual, and "one size fits all" is always in danger of becoming "one size fits few". Or none. Ironically - as HD invades FM - and FM is nothing but talk, who is going to care that the talk is in HD? Talk and sports FM could do as effective a job of killing off HD FM as consumer apathy is. Sorry to be so pessimistic about the state of our public airwaves, but the usable and listenable frequencies decline every day (Bruce Carter, TX, ibid.) FM is deteriorating here in Chicago as well. WBBM now is simulcast on FM and much worse is the loss of Q101 (modern rock) to FM News 101, the most mindless lack of news dribble I have ever heard on the radio. 73 KAZ who had trouble finding 6 stations for his FM presets in his truck (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) We are having that trouble here in SC where we have the WORD/WYRD/WYRD-FM Simulcast. What a waste of Airtime. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) I think you're erroneously projecting your personal tastes onto the masses and assuming that because you're not happy with the choices no one else is either. As radio enthusiasts we'd like to see great variety available in every market. I sometimes enjoy listening to big band music. Not all the time, not even most of the time, but occasionally it strikes my fancy. It would be great if there were a station in my area that played big band music all the time so I could tune in once in a while. But the reality is that big band music isn't all that popular anymore and any station with big band as an exclusive format will quickly wither and die. I have the same problem as you with much of television. I keep asking, "How can there be a sufficient audience to keep 'professional' wrestling on the air?" Yet there obviously is such an audience or it wouldn't still be on. I often wonder why my favorite shows get canceled after all too short a run. I don't like the answer, but obviously my tastes differ from those of the groups the advertisers are going after. The reality is that talk radio, whether you or me or anyone else likes it, is a big hit on AM radio. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be all over the dial. I know only one person who listens to sports radio with any regularity, yet it also must be huge or it wouldn't be all up and down the dial. Imagine yourself owning a radio station. You start out with a format you personally like. The novelty of it initially attracts a decent audience and advertisers follow. Then the newness wears off, the audience goes back to what they used to listen to, and the advertisers follow the audience. In short order your station is bleeding money. You're faced with a decision -- stick with what you like and continue to lose money until you can't pay the electric bill to keep the transmitter on the air, or change to a format you might not personally like but that makes money. Now imagine this same scenario playing out in radio stations all over the country. Like it or not, it's a business, and it has to make money or it dies. Being on the low listenership end of the diversity scale might be morally satisfying, but it isn't going to pay the bills. Your piddle, drivel, and swill is someone else's favorite. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be on the air. If you want something approaching diversity, get satellite radio. Sorry, but that's the way it is. – (Jay Heyl, ibid.) Without me also. I`m so tired of sound-alike stations, both AM & FM, that I seldom listen anymore. I can play CDs in the car, and I stream music on my computer, so it wouldn`t affect my life a whole lot if they all decided to stop broadcasting. It`s truly a shame (Dick W., ibid.) Multiply us by millions, and you find the reason for declining audiences for terrestrial broadcasts - and defections to satellite and streaming. If they continue to take formats their focus groups say are popular, and 5 "me-too" stations show up on the band for each of the neatly pre-packaged pre-conceptions, none of the individual stations will rate that highly. Most markets: 5 talk stations 5 sports stations 10 Spanish language stations 5 top 40 pop stations 5 hip-hop / urban stations (yawn) 2 bob / jack / MOR stations 2 classic rock (mostly really BAD 80's and small playlist) 5 country stations 5 Christian CCM AC or PW or preaching stations 5 NPR stations If you don't fit in those molds, you are done. Might as well leave the radio off if you don't stream or satellite or iPod. It`s only going to get worse (Bruce Carter, ibid.) That reminds me of something else I've thought of, although realistically I doubt any of it would happen. Expand the FM band down to 64 MHz (there are Tecsun radios that tune from there to 108, and I figure the stuff currently between 72 and 76 MHz could move down below 64 MHz in the space now occupied by TV channels 2 & 3). AM stations whose coverage never extends beyond what FM would be, even with once-in-a-lifetime rare skip, would move to FM. Also, maybe expand the AM band both directions so that from the European longwave band to the 120 meter tropical band is one continuous band. (From 153 to 513 kHz would be 9 kHz spaced, and from 520 kHz up would be 10 kHz spaced, with maybe the last few hundred kHz (not below 1750) spaced every 5 kHz. Broadcasters in the 160-meter band would be limited to no more than an equivalent of 1 kW into a quarter-wave antenna, no more than 2 stations in that range in the same area, spaced as if they were 50 kW clear channels, and much more stringent on adjacent-channel protections - for example if San Francisco had one on 1850, the nearest 1860 may be in Seattle, Salt Lake City or Albuquerque, for example.) As for other would-be displaced services, I'm not yet sure what to do with them - let them coexist or move to different spectrum. As for sound-alike stations (I'm thinking network broadcasts), assign each one (for example Radio Disney, Family Radio, ESPN Radio, etc.) to its own exclusive frequency low on the band (to minimize groundwave loss), with the networks spaced every 30 or 40 kHz. Each would have a network of several synchronized co-channel stations nationwide whose groundwave coverages overlap, each with maybe 2.5 megawatts into a Franklin antenna (although those in the longwave band would also have the option of using half-wave antennas, although it'd be nice to have some antennas that dwarf the Buj Kalafia or whatever that building is ;) ). Also the FCC should rethink their unintentional interference allowances and change some things so it will again be possible to get a clear-to-average-jack-and-jill signal at 0.05 mV/m while inside a high-rise building sitting next to a TV, industrial motor, etc. Like that will ever happen... :| (Stephen pianoplayer, ibid.) It`s not as easy as you think. We have treaties with other nations dealing with broadcast radio that would have to be renegotiated to do what you would like. The real problem is that radio really is dying. The crap programming killed it. Go to Walmart or Target or Kmart and see if you can buy a radio and then tell me if radio is healthy (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also CANADA; OKLAHOMA; U S A ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Interesting antenna design - Canadian cutover Take a look at this article from Canada's Globe and Mail regarding their pending analog/digital cutover August 31. At the very end of the article, there is a link to reveal plans for the homebrew antenna mentioned. It is an interesting design you might want to see. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/not-your-fathers-rabbit-ears/article2134220/ (Karl Zuk N2KZ, WTFDA via DXLD) The comments indicate it is pretty junky with a 3.8 db gain ("Rick Shaftan", ibid.) NEW TV SHOWS TO WATCH FOR THIS FALL! So You Think You Can DX Real House DXers of Saginaw 2-1/2 DXers DXer's Wives Celebrity DXer Rehab Diners, Drive-ins & DXers Ice Road DXers DX in the City Keeping Up With the DXers The Young and the DXless Holmes on DX World's Dumbest DXers Survivor Brighton American QSL Whores Glenn's Anatomy Extreme Makeover: Shack Edition Late Night WIth Jimmy The Weasel CSI Enid Law & Order: Listlogger Crimes Unit NCIS Okeechobee Iron Chef Brighton Are You Smarter Than a DXer Criminal DXers America's Next Top DXer I Didn't Know I Was a DXer DXer Beatdown DXer vs Food DXerzillas Everybody Loves DXers My Mother the DXer DXer's Island The Beverly DXers My Favorite DXer The Jerry Lewis DXathon (to benefit carpel tunnel syndrome) My Three DXers The DX Bunch Leave it to DXers Hogan's DXers Unsolved DX World's Dumbest DX What Not To DX (Several MARE members, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ HURRICANES, SPORADIC E, CORRELATE WITH NOISE ON LF Severall well known 6 meters amateur band operators have told me that they have observed some very interesting propagation events on that band when a tropical storm or a hurricane is within the skip distance from their stations. My analysis is that this phenomena may be associated with the large number of thunderstorms that happen around and in the most active area of a tropical storm. Many years ago, way back in 1966, I published a scientific paper of my observations regarding the correlation between noise levels on the 100 to 200 kiloHertz frequency band, and the appearing of sporadic E layer clouds over the San José de las Lajas ionospheric sounder station. It was quite clear that a significant increase in noise level between 100 and 200 kiloHertz, as registered using a wideband receiver, came along with the appearing of a type L and sometimes a type C sporadic E layer cloud above the iono sounder station. I was able to make many hundreds of frequency sweeps from one to twenty megaHertz, using two rhombic antennas that were pointing vertically towards the sky, and then correlate the data with what was registered by the wide band long wave receiver. Many years after the first instances of sporadic E layer events were registered, scientists all around the world are still debating what really causes those suddenly appearing patches of very high ionization. One of the causes may be related to the lightning strikes associated with thunderstorms, and not only those that hit the Earth or go from cloud to cloud, but also the ones that we now have named as sprites, that are lightning strikes that go from the top of cumulus nimbus cloud to the lower ionosphere, events that have been actually seen and recorded by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (Dxers Unlimited's mid week edition 23 August 2011 By Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, via DXLD) AT NASA, FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION Interesting article. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20094308-76/at-nasa-first-steps-toward-space-weather-prediction/ 73 (via David Onley, Den Haag, The Netherlands, MWCircle yg via DXLD) SPACE WEATHER FORECASTS GET A BOOST - Technology & Science - CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/18/science-solar-storms.html Posted: Aug 18, 2011 2:05 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 18, 2011 4:53 PM ET An image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar flare, which was accompanied by a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7, 2011. An image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar flare, which was accompanied by a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7, 2011. (NASA) [caption] Newly developed techniques will allow scientists to better predict the size and arrival time of solar storms that could damage satellites, cause GPS navigation to malfunction and knock out power grids on Earth. Alysha Reinard, a research scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's space weather prediction centre, says that up until now, forecasters could only predict within 12 to 14 hours when a coronal mass ejection or CME -- a blast of plasma launched by the sun -- would hit Earth. The fast-moving, billion-tonne plasma cloud interacts with the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere to generate geomagnetic storms that affect electronic equipment. "It's good to know in advance so we can warn people who use these technologies that there could be problems," Reinard said at a NASA news conference Thursday. NASA's pair of STEREO observatories, launched in 2006, have now improved forecasts to within eight hours. And with a new technique announced by NASA Thursday, "we think... we can do any better than that," said Reinard at a news conference. The STEREO spacecraft travel in the same orbit as Earth around the sun, but one travels ahead of the Earth and the other travels behind, so that they get two different views of the sun. The new solar storm tracking technique, developed by the team of Craig DeForest at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., teases out the faint signals of the CME, recorded by the STEREO spacecraft, from the background starlight to allow scientists to follow the cloud from the sun's corona to the Earth. That allows scientists to pinpoint both its mass and its arrival time. DeForest's team published their results, which track a CME launched in 2008, in the Astrophysical Journal this week. Reinard said that in the past, two challenges made space weather forecasting difficult: * Measurements of the CME were made by an instrument close to the sun, and the CME could speed up or slow down on its way to the Earth, making predictions inaccurate. * The most damaging CMEs are coming straight toward the Earth, and their speed is difficult to measure head-on. The STEREO spacecraft overcome both those problems because they are closer to the Earth, but get a side view of the CME due to their positioning. Solar activity such as flares are expected to increase as we move toward the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, which is expected in 2013 (via Dan Say, DXLD) Major News: NASA TRACES CME FROM SUN TO EARTH - FIRST TIME Full View For many years, the idea that coronal mass ejections (CME) launched from the Sun and could strike the Earth was inferred from an indirect chain of evidence collected from multiple satellites. Now the Heliospheric Imagers aboard the STEREO-A spacecraft has managed to view a CME propagate from the surface of the Sun to the Earth. Plasma from solar flares or coronal mass ejections travel along solar wind to ultimately produce aurora's in Earth's polar regions, and affect satellites and power grids and other man-made electronics. Of course, a CME affects the propagation of radio waves that we radio communicators transmit and receive. This visualization shows the position of the STEREO spacecraft during the event, as well as the positions of the inner solar system planets, Venus and Mercury. A faint cone illustrates the field-of-view (FOV) of the HI-2 imager on STEREO-A. The position of the front of the CME is computed from STEREO data. NASA's STEREO spacecraft and new data processing techniques have succeeded in tracking space weather events from their origin in the Sun's ultra-hot corona to impact with the Earth 96 million miles away, resolving a 40-year mystery about the structure of the structures that cause space weather: how the structures that impact the Earth relate to the corresponding structures in the solar corona. Despite many instruments that monitor the Sun and a fleet of near- earth probes, the connection between near-Earth disturbances and their counterparts on the Sun has been obscure, because CMEs and the solar wind evolve and change during the 96,000,000 mile journey from the Sun to the Earth. STEREO includes "heliospheric imager" cameras that monitor the sky at large angles from the Sun, but the starfield and galaxy are 1,000 times brighter than the faint rays of sunlight reflected by free- floating electron clouds inside CMEs and the solar wind; this has made direct imaging of these important structures difficult or impossible, and limited understanding of the connection between space storms and the coronal structures that cause them. Newly released imagery reveals absolute brightness of detailed features in a large geoeffective CME in late 2008, connecting the original magnetized structure in the Sun's corona to the intricate anatomy of an interplanetary storm as it impacted the Earth three days later. At the time the data were collected, in late 2008, STEREO-A was nearly 45 degrees ahead of the Earth in its orbit, affording a very clear view of the Earth-Sun line. Video is here: (Tomas David Hood, Hamilton, Montana and swl at qth.net via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Here is the SEPTEMBER BDXC PROPAGATION REPORT. Regards, James Welsh Propagation Summary August began with a peak in the Solar Flux of 130, which then dipped to 96 by August 14th. This pattern repeats roughly every 14 days. The next peak is estimated to be around September 6th , but the general trend is a downward one. The prediction charts on Solarcycle24.com show that, if the prediction charts are correct, Solar flux would need to reach 140 by the end of 2011, but during August they have actually dropped to the same levels as in January. G0KYA's Amateur Radio Blog (Steve Nichols) "We are moving away from the summer solstice, but we are a long way from the better autumnal HF conditions that we should start to see in mid September. The summer sporadic E season should also be diminishing. The last month or so has been characterised by big swings in the solar flux index and pretty poor conditions, although it doesn't pay to generalise. A chance glance at 17m a week or so ago showed a station from Los Angeles, calling CQ and with very few takers. He was about the only signal on the band! " Steve's blog and podcasts can be found at: http://g0kya.blogspot.com/ Sun storms 'could be more disruptive within decades' By Judith Burns. BBC News Within decades, solar storms are likely to become more disruptive to planes and spacecraft, say researchers at Reading University. The work, published in Geophysical Research Letters, predicts that "In a grand solar maximum, the peaks of the 11-year sunspot cycle are larger and the average number of solar flares and associated events such as coronal mass ejections are greater. "On the other hand in a grand solar minimum there are almost no sunspots for several decades. The last time this happened was during the Maunder Minimum, between about 1650 and 1700." The research indicates that most radiation hits the Earth during periods of middling solar activity. Increased radiation is a particular problem for aviation and communications - technology that did not exist the last time the sun cycle ended its grand maximum. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14580995 Via Ken Fletcher Space Weather Turns into an International Problem (NASA Science News) Sometimes a problem is so big, one country cannot handle it alone. That's the message scientists were delivering at July's International Living with a Star (ILWS) meeting in Bremen, Germany, and representatives from more than 25 of the world's most technologically- advanced nations gathered to hear what they had to say. "The problem is solar storms, and figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects," says ILWS Chairperson Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters. "We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013." While it probably will not be the biggest peak on record, human society has never been more vulnerable. The basics of daily life, from communications to weather forecasting to financial services-depend on satellites and high-tech electronics. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/16jul_ilws/ Spacecraft Sees Solar Storm Engulf Earth (August 18, 2011) For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting. "The movie sent chills down my spine," says Craig DeForest of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "It shows a CME swelling into an enormous wall of plasma and then washing over the tiny blue speck of Earth where we live. I felt very small." The video can be viewed at: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/18aug_cmemovie/ Links to these articles and more are available at http://www.jameswelsh.org.uk (James Welsh, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 33 ARLP033 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA August 19, 2011 To all radio amateurs Thanks to Max White, M0VNG of Worcester, England for sending along this story from NASA, "Solar Flares: What does it take to be X-class?" http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/X-class-flares.html Max and several other readers, including Douglas Schauer sent in some articles about using helioseismology to predict the appearance of sunspots. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/18/BAER1KNIRO.DTL http://www.space.com/12668-sunspot-prediction-solar-storms-warning.html http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_18711817 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sunspot-early-detection and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44193066/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.Tk5RkmMdzZI One of the best articles on this subject is from astronomer Phil Plait's blog. Read it at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronom y/2011/08/19/scientists-see-sunspots-forming-60000-km-below-the-suns-surface/ If you will be in or near Estes Park, Colorado on the evening of Thursday, August 25, you can attend a lecture on sunspots and solar cycles at a meeting of the Estes Valley Astronomical Society. See details at http://www.eptrail.com/ci_18710497 (excerpts, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) LA AURORA BOREAL SE PODRÁ VER A TRAVÉS DE INTERNET Las auroras boreales podrán ser observadas a través de http://www.fecyt.tv los días 24, 27 y 29 de agosto, gracias a una expedición de científicos que acercará al público este fenómeno natural desde el glaciar de Qaleraliq en el sur de Groenlandia. FUENTE: http://bit.ly/qW1xz7 (El Universal, Caracas, Aug 23, via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) They are quite sure there will be any AB those dates? Geomagnetic field activity was at predominantly quiet to unsettled levels with an isolated period of active to minor storm levels on 15 August due to a coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Activity decreased to quiet to unsettled levels, with isolated active levels during 16-17 August as the CH HSS subsided. Activity decreased to quiet levels during 18-19 August. Activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels during 20-21 August due to a CH HSS. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 24 AUGUST-19 SEPTEMBER 2011 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low with a chance for moderate levels during 24 August to 06 September until old Region 1263 (N18, L=315) departs. Activity is expected to decrease to very low to low levels for the rest of the period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels through 03 September. Fluxes are expected to increase to moderate to high levels during 04-09 September. Fluxes are expected to decrease to normal to moderate levels during 10-12 September. Fluxes are expected to increase to moderate to high levels during 13-14 September. Fluxes are expected to decrease to normal to moderate levels during 15-19 September. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during 24-26 August. Acitivity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels on 27-28 August due to a weak recurrent CH HSS. Activity is expected be decrease to quiet levels during 29 August - 02 September. Activity is expected to increase during 03-05 September due to a recurrent CH HSS. Predominantly quiet levels are expected during 06-10 September. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 11- 12 September due to a recurrent CH HSS. Predominantly quiet levels are expected for the rest of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2011 Aug 23 2128 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 2011-08-23 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2011 Aug 24 112 5 2 2011 Aug 25 112 5 2 2011 Aug 26 112 5 2 2011 Aug 27 115 7 2 2011 Aug 28 117 5 2 2011 Aug 29 117 5 2 2011 Aug 30 115 5 2 2011 Aug 31 111 5 2 2011 Sep 01 104 5 2 2011 Sep 02 103 5 2 2011 Sep 03 102 8 3 2011 Sep 04 102 10 3 2011 Sep 05 100 10 3 2011 Sep 06 92 5 2 2011 Sep 07 86 7 2 2011 Sep 08 85 5 2 2011 Sep 09 85 5 2 2011 Sep 10 90 5 2 2011 Sep 11 92 8 3 2011 Sep 12 95 12 4 2011 Sep 13 100 5 2 2011 Sep 14 100 5 2 2011 Sep 15 100 5 2 2011 Sep 16 103 5 2 2011 Sep 17 103 5 2 2011 Sep 18 109 7 2 2011 Sep 19 110 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1579, DXLD) ###