DX LISTENING DIGEST 16-34, August 24, 2016 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 2016 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html [also linx to previous years] 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 1840 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about: Alaska, Albania, Ascension, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, Eritrea non, France, Germany, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands non, New Zealand, Nigeria, North America, Puntland, Russia, Serbia, USA, Vatican SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1840, August 25-31, 2016 Thu 1130 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WRMI 13695 [confirmed] Thu 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Fri 0830 Unique 3210 Fri 2130 WRMI 13695 [confirmed] Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [confirmed] Sat 0700 Unique 3210 Sat 1400 Unique 3210 Sat 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed from 0324] Sun 0830 Unique 3210 Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: Tnx to Dr Harald Gabler and the Rhein-Main Radio Club. http://www.rmrc.de/index.php/rmrc-audio-plattform/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper: http://shortwave.am/wor.xml ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio NOW tnx to Keith Weston, also Podcasts via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/glenn-hausers-world-of-radio/id1123369861 AND via Google Play Music: http://bit.ly/worldofradio OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DAY-BY-DAY ARCHIVE OF GLENN HAUSER`S LOG REPORTS: Unedited, uncondensed, unchanged from original version, many of them too complex, minutely researched, multi-frequency, opinionated, inconsequential, off-topic, or lengthy for some log editors to manage; and also ahead of their availability in these weekly issues: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser NOTE: I have *resolved* to make DXLD leaner, more selective, as I seriously need to reduce my workload, much of which has been merely editing gobs of material into presentable form. This makes it even more important to be a member of the DXLD yg for additional material which may not make it into weekly issues (gh) 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/ ** ALASKA. HAARP OPEN HOUSE High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program BBQ Facility Tours Mobile Planetarium Science Demos and Talks For more information contact: Sue Mitchell | 907.474.5823 | UAF-GI-HAARP@alaska.edu SCIENCE LECTURE: Friday, August 26, 2016 7:00 pm Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center Auditorium, Mile 106.8 Richardson Highway, Copper Center Dr. Chris Fallen --- Presented in partnership with the Wrangell Institute for Science and Environment (WISE) --- Radio modification of the ionosphere and who uses this HAARP thing anyway? http://gi.alaska.edu/files/open-house-flyer-2016-4-2_0.pdf HAARP OPEN HOUSE Saturday, August 27, 2016 9:00 am - 3:00 pm HAARP Research Facility [with map near Glennallen] (via Ben Dawson, WA, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) See also: http://www.fairbankschamber.org/events/details/haarp-open-house-16706 https://www.facebook.com/events/1801645966721110/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There appears to be another antenna array as part of the HAARP facility. About 1 km west of the HAARP antenna field there is a four tower square array, constructed on an exact N-S-E-W basis. The spacing between towers is about 135 feet (Jlenamon, Waco, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. 9855, Radio Tirana – Shijiak, *0128-0158*, Aug 16. IS followed by a woman announcer at 0130 with English ID and opening announcements. A man with news followed. Later some music programming and talks. IS at closedown. Fair signal but very loud buzz on channel destroying reception quality (Rich D'Angelo, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A. Equipment: 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 Aug 21 via DXLD) RT, Albanian, Shijak, 2016-08-18, 0821-0832 UT: 7389.977, Radio Tirana morning Albanian language sce to Balkan, Kosovo UN state, Macedonia, former YUG-countries, Italy and Greece. S=9+35dB or -44dBm signal, BUT AS USUAL IN PAST MONTHS HEAVY BUZZY DISTORTED AUDIO QUALITY noted. And also a spurious BROADBAND BUZZ noted in various SDR remote receiving units, in Zakynthos Greece, Rimini/Ancona Italy, Madrid Spain, Genua Riviera Italy, and at Switzerland remotes too. Listen to the enclosed recording in mp3 format. 11 x 100 Hertz apart distance buzz noise signal peaks seen, also 50 / 150 / 250 Hertz apart minor level peaks seen either sideband too. The Albanian technician at Shijak tx bcast center COULDN'T SOLVE THIS AUDIO FAULT PROBLEM yet. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 18, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Dear Drita: The situation with the constant hum on the carrier, distorting Radio Tirana external service transmissions, could perhaps be solved by cooperation. I am in regular Contact with China Radio International English section. I mentioned the fine reception here of their transmissions over the Cerrik transmitters and added some comments on the Radio Tirana problem. I wrote that the distance between Cerrik and Shijak is small, and perhaps the Chinese engineers at Cerrik could have a look at the problem in Shijak. The CRI office handed over my message to the adequate quarters, as they informed me. I hope my action does not mean trespassing, but I did act for our common cause: good and audible transmissions from Radio Tirana. I have checked the English evening transmission on 7465 kHz and it is completely unusable. Let's hope for the best, and my best regards to you all (Ullmar [Qvick] in Sweden to and via Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9854.97, Aug 21 at 0125, R. Tirana IS at S6 atop the humroar, but 0130 sign-on modulation level descends as usual below the humroar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, again, Noel, Wolfy & Glenn, Our Dir. of Stations, Eng. Valmir Hajdari just now called me up related the humroar-noise, present in Radio Tirana Ch.3 A16 broadcasts. Valmir asked for a test on 7475 kHz English to No.Am. for a couple of days, starting from tonight, to see what happens. He was determined to make this test, asking for our pre-info, if this is possible, despite the fact that we are in summer season, 7475 was proposed by you to be used in Winter time B16. By the end of this call, Valmir also said that the transmitter has tube problems, that Shijak transmits with half of power, that antenna's wires are cut off ... Tests also on 7475 kHz Albanian to No.Am. from tonight (Drita Çiço, RT Monitoring, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Drita, The tests might not be very successful on 7475, but I think the signal should be audible, but with weaker signals. The transmitting centre appears to be in a poor condition, and will be less effective running at half power. I suspected that power was less than usual from my own reception and from Glenn's and Wolfy`s observations. What has happened to the out of use transmitter? has it been cannibalised for spare parts already??? I guess we will have to wait for what decision Valmir Hajdari arrives at. Is money available to carry out the necessary repairs? Please keep us informed. Greetings from (Noel Green, ibid.) Drita, Will the test be instead of 9855 at 0130 UT, or in addition to that at 0230 UT, which will be the time 7475 is to be in use in B- season? (Glenn To Drita, via DXLD) Instead of ... Sent from my iPad (Drita, Aug 22, ibid.) Radio Tirana is testing the frequency proposed for B-16, tonight and probably tomorrow night [UT Aug 23 & 24] instead of 9855 at 0130 UT (haven`t checked yet whether also at 23-24 in Albanian). I suppose it won`t make any difference for the humroar, but how is it propagationally? (Glenn, 2329 UT AUg 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still on 9855 tonight, 0130 23 Aug, with tremendous buzz on signal. Totally useless. Much worse than had been observed last week (Stephen Wood, Harwich, Mass., ibid.) NOTHING noted on Aug 23 at 0130 UT on 7475 / 7465 kHz in 41mb. No signal, no string visible. Instead usual odd frequency outlet at when I tuned-in around 0132 UT, 9854.967 kHz. Though very POOR and TINY at S=4 or -105dBm on threshold level here in western Europe / Germany. Noted in eastern USA SDR units on threshold level. NOT USABLE TRANSMISSION IN TARGET yet. No test on 7475 kHz tonight at 0230 to 0235 kHz range. Good night. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Hello everybody, 7475 was on the air yesterday during the German programming at 19h30 UT. The transmission had the same buzz-noise problem as before. As I already wrote to Mr. Mema, Eng. of the transmission centre in Shijak, I suspect the modulator to be the culprit. "I've made some soundanalysis and came to the conclusion that the humming doesn't come from the AC power supply as it is not sinus- formed or from the studio. It's more triangular or sawtooth-like. As far as I know, you are using the Chinese BBEF transmitters at Shijak. They have a PDM-Modulator. The humming is typical when the modulator or the filter has a defect; we had this issue once on our medium-wave transmitter in Germany." My recommendation was to run the transmitter with only the carrier turned on. If the carrier is clean and one turns on the modulator later, the fault should return then. Perhaps there is the chance to exchange the modulator with the one from the non-used second transmitter for testing purposes? Please find included a screenshot from yesterday's broadcast and an audio recording. Best regards, (Christian Milling, Germany, Shortwaveservice, ibid.) 7475, Aug 23 at 0119, no signal from R. Tirana, where Shijak site was planning to test a night or two, to be sure it would work for the B-16 schedule: still on 9855-, with IS already on in humroar at S5 level. Maybe tomorrow, or whenever they get around to it: if 9855 be missing, try 7475. Also checked at 0230, in case they test at that hour, but neither on then. And during other N American broadcast, Albanian hour Aug 22 was still on 9855 at 2334 check. I`m afraid the same humroar will be heard on 7475; besides that, the single 100 kW Shijak transmitter is running no more than 50% power. Or maybe the 7475 test won`t be during NAm broadcasts at all. Christian Milling of Shortwave Service in Germany says: [as above] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Info for 22 August 2016: Yesterday, 7465 kHz via Shijak R/station, not heard at our Monitoring Center. Bled Mema, Head of Fllaka & Shijak r/st. explained to my staff that Shijak changed from 7465 to 7475 kHz for all programs of Radio Tirana 3 in Italian, French, German from 1900 to 2131 L.T. (Drita Cico, RTSH-Head of Monitoring Center, Sent from my iPad, Aug 23, via DXLD) Glenn, According to our Director of Stations, this frequency change will be tonight as follows : Radio Tirana Ch 3 7475 KHz (instead of previous 7465): Albanian local time (UT + 2 hours) 19:00-19:30 Italian 19:30-20:00 French 21:31-22:00 German 22:00-22:30 English While Albanian & English to NoAm would remain on the same frequency 9855 kHz respectively at: 2300-0000, 0130-0200 UT (Drita, Aug 23, ibid. WORLD OF RADIO 1840) Listen to enclosed recording of RT Shijak in German and English language programs, of tonight August 23, at 2006 UT on exact measured (against even fq signals of Cerrik and Issoudun in 41 mb) 7474.976 kHz. S=9+10dB or -63dBm signal strength noted here in central Europe, southern Germany. As usual badly modulated hum-roar sound covered the newscast reader in English on the enclosed recording. vy73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I cannot understand how this can be a test - it's just a change of frequency. I guess it proves that Shijak can operate at that frequency but it doesn't stop the roar. Christian Milling came up with some interesting information about what he thought the cause was, so why not request the Chinese take a look at it (Noel Green, UK, ibid.) 9855-, Aug 24 at 0132, no signal from R. Tirana here (nor on 7475, but testing that is on the European service earlier instead). A few minutes later I do detect a JBA carrier on 9855-, so it must be on. K index at 0000 was 5 after G1 storms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, We will transmit tonight from Shijak about 30 minutes prior the normal transmission, the carrier signal so we can be sure that what we suspect about modulation problems is really that. Please monitor and give us your precious feedback. Best regards, (Valmir Hajdari, RTSH, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably referring to the European, not North American service; but which segment, exact time? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Dear Valmir, same 'hum-roar sound' heard also AGAIN during CARRIER only test tonight August 24 around 18.30 to 18.45 Albanian Time [1630- 1645 UT] on 7474.976 kHz. Underneath a signal of Radio Liberty in Tajik language from Yerevan Armenia site. [expressed this way in English, we can`t tell which signal is said to be underneath the other --- gh] Listen to the recording, see the sound amplitude on Audacity software, and also the waterfall spectrum of Perseus SDR unit, a lot of 50 and 100 Hertz hum-strings visible on 50, 100, ... Hertz garden like fence (Wolfgang Büschel, cc to DXLD) Hello Valmir, Drita and Wolfy, I tuned into 7475 kHz at around 1645 UT and my reception was identical to Wolfgang`s. In SINPO the signal was 44531 before 1700 and 45531 after 1700 UT. I could not identify the speech heard in the background before 1700, but probably it was the Radio Liberty transmission that Wolgang states, and not from Tirana - registered as: 7475 1600 1700 30SE ERV 50 78 13 293 1234567 080616 291016 D Tgk ARM IBB IBB 16752 The same hum / roar continues after 1700 UT and the Italian programme is audible but not usable. It is difficult to identify the language. Regards from (Noel in Blackpool UK, ibid.) From Mauno Ritola, Finlande, WRTH Editor for South-East Europe: Here is a video taken at 1659 UT (18:59) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvqs5tyUxFg 7475KHz +,- 100 Hz mains filtering hum Sent from my iPad (Drita 1757 UT, ibid.) Dear all, I've compared Wolfy`s recording (first 10 seconds in MP3 file) with a simulated 100 Hz Sawtooth Signal (second 10 seconds) and it sounds quite the same. There is no 50 Hz Signal, all peaks are harmonics of 100 Hz. Was the PDM Modulator really turned off completely or was just no audiosignal from the studio applied? I just can't imagine where in the Carriersignal circuit sawtooth signals should be used?! Best regards, (Christian Milling, Germany, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.2, Radio Argentina Exterior; 2150-2200+, 15-Aug; Spansh vocal at tune-in to repeated “Rae” ID/IS/jazzy tune to ToH pips/tone, Spanish ID, into Chinese. Poor & need LSB to minimize wind howl QRM/N. Heard on 15344.3 8/11 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Weak signal of Radio Argentina Exterior, Aug 19 1100-1200 on 15344vBUE 100 kW / 335 deg to EaAs Japanese Mon-Fri 1200-1300 on 15344vBUE 100 kW / 335 deg to SoAm Portuguese Mon-Fri http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/weak-signal-of-radio-argentina-exterior.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) 15345. August 23, 2016. 1701-1708, Radio Argentina al Exterior, Gral. Pacheco, in German. Female announcer talks; songs; ID. Broadcasting with fair signal and very distorted audio, 35432 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** ASCENSION [and non]. 21780, Aug 19 at 1347, very weak talk and music is the OSOB on 13m. Aoki shows this hour is DW Hausa via UAE, but EiBi shows Ascension. HFCC confirms that on August 5, ASC replaced DHA, which makes it more audible here. Most of the time, the OSOB is a weak 21675 WRMI with Radio Africa service, but can`t even detect its JBA carrier until 1419 when 21780 is over. WHRI is also allegedly on 21600, longer hours on weekends but seldom noted here any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASCENSION. SPECIAL DRM TRANSMISSION FROM ASCENSION ISLAND – SUNDAY 28TH AUGUST 2016 DRM will be part of a big anniversary on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean. On 28th of August at 1155 GMT, Babcock International will ensure a special BBC digital transmission from the BBC Atlantic Relay station on 21715 kHz, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the BBC’s first short-wave radio broadcast from Ascension Island. Since 1966, the Atlantic Relay station has broadcast BBC World Service programmes to Africa and South America, and to this day, continues to broadcast over 250 programme hours every week to East and West Africa in English, French, Hausa and Somali. The two hour-transmission will start with the old, special sound of Bow Church Bell in east London, the sound of which, even if in DRM this time, will remind older listeners of the BBC broadcasts of many decades ago. The 2-hour transmission will be the regular BBC programmes for West and South Africa and will end at 1400. This special transmission will be sent with greetings from Ascension Island’s BBC and Babcock International staff and visitors, who will be celebrating half a century of sterling broadcasting on August 28th. (Ruxandra Obreja, Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium Chairman) (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, August 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [updated:] DRM part of the Ascension Island 50th Anniversary – DRM for Africa and now for BRAZIL too! Special DRM transmission for Africa and Brazil from Ascension Island on its 50th anniversary – Sunday 28th August 2016 The first 2-hour transmission will be the regular BBC programmes for West and South Africa and will end at 1400. From 1400 to 1430 another DRM transmission (BBC English) will be aimed at South America/Brazil! This special transmission will be sent with greetings from Ascension Island’s BBC and Babcock International staff and visitors, who will be celebrating half a century of sterling broadcasting on August 28th. To confirm details of Sunday’s DRM transmission from Ascension, as follows: FREQ TIME (UT) kW Bearing TARGET Language 21715 1155-1201 250 114 SOUTH AFRICA (Special Announcement)(English) 21715 1201-1400 250 114 SOUTH AFRICA (English) 21715 1400-1430 250 250 BRAZIL (English) Related: http://babcock.media/latest/010816/ (Ruxandra Obreja, Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium) --- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. This morning, I received the identical answer to my question about RA’s “silent transmitters” as everyone else. However, just randomly tuning around this morning at 1223, I find that CRI has now moved onto 9580 with a strong steady signal here in upstate NY, apparently occupying a recently “vacated” frequency as it has done on some previous occasions with other stations. The program is in Chinese. It abruptly went off the air at 1229, reappearing at 1230 10 kHz. down the dial at 9570, where it is now. A transmitter tuning error? A test? (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Aug 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be the Cuban relay, which does use 9580 in the evening, easy to mix up transmitter tuning. But --- use it or lose it? It`s now Aug 19 in SE Australia, and still no RA (Glenn, 1506 UT Aug 18, ibid.) 9580 & 12085 & 12065, Aug 18 at 1234, still no RA. (All three VL8s are audible, 4835 the only one fairly readable; I get my Pacific news, including how horribly Australia is treating refugees on Manus, from RNZI 6170 after 1300. Australia has also rebuffed NZ`s offer to take some of them!) An RA reply to Mauno Ritola on Facebook, Aug 16: "Hi there, the ABC is running a technical outage of the Radio Australia service until Friday the 19th of August to test reception in the region. Sorry for any inconvenience caused." Kai Ludwig replies on the DXLD yg and quoted on WOR 1839: ``Aha, they finally admitted it --- Of course, this is the established approach of running a shut-down test, to determine if an AM service is still used to such an extent that the operational costs can be justified. In the case of Radio Bremen [Germany] the outcome was judged negative, not because of the absolute number of reactions, but because way too much of them came from hobbyists. In other words, sending comments is no doubt counterproductive. Now it is also clear that the non-responses sent out from Sydney were not the result of people there not knowing what's going on. Much to the contrary: They are carefully worded, designed to obfuscate things as much as possible without telling lies. Considering this, I find the "working with our transmission provider" surprising insofar as Broadcast Australia cooperates here in a potential step towards killing the Shepparton facility. But perhaps that's just their goal, too. But all stuff about what a nice hobby you have, how nicely you had recently the Alice Springs transmitter in, that hereby you send another reception report etc., all this is prone to accelerate the decline of the distribution platform`` Keith Perron says, ``Really not sure why there was concern. Shutting its transmitters is something they do every 14 to 18 months, while the whole of Shepparton is given the once-over by Broadcast Australia. They have been doing this for years.`` I, gh, make a point of checking the three RA frequencies at 1400 UT Aug 18, when it`s August 19 in SE Australia, the date that ABC said their experiment would be over --- but not whether that would bring the resumption of SW or its final termination. We`ll keep checking and hoping (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still no R. Australia so I've been listening to BBC (Thailand or Singapore Relays) or RNZI in the mornings here (~1300z-1530z) over morning coffee. The rumor is that they will be back on the air this Friday. Maybe my history with them has been spotty in recent years, but I have never known them to be off the air for this long. Hopefully those villages in the Pacific that have no internet (of whom they are supposedly targeting) will snail-mail them in complaint or we may very well have heard the last of a very reliable shortwave service (Rodney Johnson, NV, 2044 UT August 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This from RA: "Thank you for your email. We are working towards restoring the services this coming Friday at 9am Sydney time. Kind Regards, ABC Reception Advice” 9 am Friday in Sydney is 7 pm Thursday in NY; 2300 GMT/UT. The 16 and 19 meter frequencies should be active from that time if they hit their mark. Both 15240 and 17840 kHz have been heard here in upstate NY at that time when conditions have been good (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, 2040 UT Aug 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17840, Aug 18 at 2257 tune-in, open S9+10 carrier, 2257:49, JIP RA programming, tail end of `Pacific Beat`, 2300 News theme and news, top story about Oz` mistreatment of refugees from Asia interned in Papua New Guinea. RA is back! Also audible on much weaker 15240. Now the question is, if this was just an extended sesquiweek of scheduled maintenance, why were they so coy about it, not just saying so with advance warning and assuring us when they would resume? As theorized, they may well have also taken the opportunity to assess their undesirable audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Australia back in SW, English on 15240 kHz, 2305 UT. 73 (Dino Bloise, FL, Aug 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) All three Shepparton outlets of RA again heard at my tune-in at 2306 UT, in the clear both 15240 and 15415strongest at S=9+15dB, 17840 at S=7-8 signal level Tokyo remote SDR's. wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 8/18, am hearing RA English back on 17840 at 2350 UT. Will check 9580 in the local A.M. 73 - (JD Stephens, Hampton Cove, AL, Sent from my iPod, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17840, R Australia, 8/19, 0430. Took a break from Olympic coverage to check for the return of R Australia as it is currently 8/19 Australia time. Found feature program on technology, W with promos for other RA/ABC upcoming shows. Outstanding reception, with only fair reception on the 15240 //. 9580, R Australia, 8/19, 1130. Australian country. Excellent reception, Poor // on 12085. 12065 unheard (Rick Barton, AZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9580 & 12085 & 12065, Aug 19 at 1320 check, Radio Australia is also back on its night frequencies. It seems there is plenty of evidence the sesquiweek outage was ``audience research`` rather than necessary maintenance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Australia heard was fair signal this evening in Dublin on 12065 kHz (Eamonn O'Connor, Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone, 1957 UT Aug 19, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) 12065, Aug 20 at 1319, one third of Radio Australia is OFF again, fortunately for us the frequency beamed NNW to PNG (and, shhh! Europe). Still good on 12085 toward Alaska and very good on 9580 toward Oklahoma. The corresponding day frequency to 12065, 15415 is also off after 2100, as Wolfgang Büschel notes. I haven`t bothered with 15415 monitoring here since it is always much weaker than 15240, altho often detectable when on. Until now: August 21 at 0544, no signal while 15240 and 17840 are both S7-S9 discussing LSD and other drugs. 12065, Aug 21 at 1319, now all three are on, this weakest one and // 9580, 12085 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 2115 UT Aug 20, 15415 kHz channel transmitter is OFF AIR in this Australian morning. Only Radio Australia Shepparton 15240 and 17840 kHz on air, as usual. Also powerful RNZI Rangitaiki on 15720.009 kHz on air, S=9+15dB or -61dBm in Brisbane remote unit in North Eastern Australia. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Auch die 9580 kHz ist wieder on air - etwas gestört vom IRIB Iran, alle drei \\ 12065 u. 12085 kHz, nachdem vorher den gesamten Tag die 15415 kHz nicht aus SHP sendete (Wolfgang Büschel, 1534 Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are people really listening to Radio Australia? But who is listening. Because there has been no reaction from RA target, which is the Pacific [how do you know that?? gh]. RA's new mandate is now only the Pacific. Which is one of the reasons why they pulled themselves off the World Radio Network. The only reaction seems to be from DXERS outside RA's target. Even in local Pacific papers and social media sites, no mention. Last time I was in PNG, Vanuatu and Fiji, people are getting news content from mobile services. As you may have seen on radio related blogs and on radio related facebook pages about Radio Australia being off air. (They returned to SW on August 19th). I'm starting to wonder how many people really listen to Radio Australia. Two days before Shepparton was taken off air for a long overhaul, a message was broadcast at the beginning of Pacific Beat informing listeners the alternative ways to listen to RA and ABC programs. Messages like this or when there is a technical problem are not broadcast from the master control room in Melbourne. These messages are out of the control at Shepparton. Pacific Beat is the only English language production at Radio Australia, which goes out twice a day. The rest of the schedule is made up of ABC News and ABC RN program. Either on a delay, except for AM, PM, and The World Today that go out live. The ABC would have no idea what RA is doing or anything about any of the work being done at Shepparton. We relay Pacific Beat on our FM stations in Cambodia. Since Pacific Beat goes out live, the file the have on their FTP is the live recording. The 40 second message was cut in before the top of the hour (Keith Perron, Taiwan, August 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think the simple answer to this is: If an announcement made at a specific time or times goes unheard or unrecognized, it is not -- in and of itself -- an indicator of whether or how much one listens. On the other hand, wouldn't the fact that it was noted that RA wasn't "there" indicate that it does have listeners after all? Personally, I do recall Shepparton being scheduled down in the past for a day or two for maintenance and repair, but never had it gone on this long. There were more prominent announcements/warnings in advance on those previous occasions; but as you point out, RA was a much more solid and independent entity then (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Aug 19, ibid.) I'm not buying the "scheduled maintenance" argument. I'm not aware of any major SW facility that requires such an extensive outage at yearly intervals. Yes, transmitters can be rotated out of service for maintenance, and antennas will need work once in a while. Had there really been "maintenance" at Shepparton I think RA would have simply admitted it and made some sort of announcement in advance. The fact that it was passed off as a "reception test" indicates to me that they were wanting to see how many people would notice if the SW was gone. That there was any reaction at all from listeners is not an indication that the SW service is still viable. The numbers might be too small to justify the cost of the operation. An example might be when a local radio station changes formats, and there is a protest from the old format's audience. While it might initially seem there are a lot of people who liked the previous format, the reality in the big picture was that those numbers were insufficient to justify continuing the old way of doing things. I think we'll have an answer to the future of RA by the end of 2016, and quite frankly, I am not optimistic. There had already been news of $50 million in additional cuts to the ABC budget, and cutting RA on SW would probably be a part of that. Also curious to see who is next in the SW deathpool: Radio Australia or Radio Tirana. BTW, solid reception of RA August 19 at 1200 on 9580, with the TV News audio. Also good signal on 17840 earlier at 0400. (Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Steve, RA has done this kind of scheduled maintenance system for years now. It's not just the transmitters, but also the antennas. They shut everything down for safety concerns. Now at the BBC Far East Station in Singapore it's a little easier, because of the antenna layout. You can go to one antenna farm and one side is not being used. At Shepparton this is not possible (Keith Perron, ibid.) Keith -- The short answer is 'yes'. Obviously their absence was noted. The long answer to your assumption about the announcement is however, perhaps more useful. You state: >I'm starting to wonder how many people really listen to Radio Australia. Two days before Shepparton was taken off air for a long overhaul. A message was broadcast at the beginning of Pacific Beat informing listeners the alternative ways to listen to RA and ABC programs. From what I can tell, Pacific Beat is broadcast M-F at 2000 and 0500 UT. Neither are 'peak reception' times nor are either particularly convenient from a scheduling standpoint *in North American time zones*. (One in the middle of the work day, the other late at night for the east coast and only marginally in 'prime time' for the West Coast, so "expecting" people here to hear one of two 40 second announcements and thus not worry about this overly lengthy outage seems a tad optimistic. This method of notification may have worked IN the Pacific, but even there I bet it was a pretty easy thing to miss. On the other hand, it is VERY likely this was a 'test' not just a 'maintenance issue'. It seems pretty likely that the broadcasters are listening to self-appointed 'experts' who claim there is data that 'nobody' except a handful of hobbyists listen to SW any more but if we shared the data or even the methodology of collecting the data, we'd have to kill you since it is super - squirrel secret. Be that as it may, the data I HAVE seen implies otherwise. "Unscientific" polls like WWCR asking people to call in or email during ENTERTAINMENT programming (as opposed to religious stuff) and getting thousands of emails in a few days time MOSTLY from North America tells me that if you programme something worth listening to the audience is there, but if you devote hours to crud, well, you're correct if you think nobody but a hobbyist would bother to 'listen' to crud, and they will only do that to get a QSL and then they'll stop. As for 'the web' as an alternate for SW BC, alexa.com shows the ONLY international broadcaster with a 'measurable' audience on the web is the BBC World Service, and that ranks *below* sites where people watch other people play video games on line. I get that a LOT of people like to watch people play video games for some reason, but seriously, the Beeb can't outscore that audience? Other than the BBC, NO 'international broadcaster' scores in the top 1000 websites and many aren't in the top 10,000 or even top 100,000 websites. Bear in mind that sites like CNN and Netflix and NY Times rank in the top 30-40 sites, and Facebook and YouTube are #2- 5 depending on the ranking site. (Google is #1 ....) That pretty conclusively suggests that 'The Internet' is not the way for international broadcasters to attract an audience. So how do we distill this down to something that makes sense? I call this the 'reverse "Field of Dreams" effect', and International broadcasters have shot themselves in the foot over and over here by ignoring some simple "truths": •If you stop broadcasting people won't listen. •If you only broadcast crud, people won't listen. •If you treat your audience like chattel they will abandon you for the 'next' media option. BUT, if you provide unique and high quality material that is not available elsewhere, the audience WILL be there, and they will look forward to what you have to say. If you ignore the audience you should not be surprised if they abandon you, and pretending someone doesn't 'count' because they aren't part of an audience measured in billions but are "ONLY" part of an audience measured in hundreds of thousands or millions is a good way to alienate an audience. And if you are 'selling' a niche product, you don't EXPECT to sell billions of them now do you? Nor should you! That doesn't mean you shouldn't bother and just 'give up' though! WORK the market you DO have! I once asked a car salesman if he could get a specific model car for me to test drive in the next week or so. His response was "Nobody wants that kind of car any more." (Mind you, they still made them, and still listed them in their catalog, it just wasn't the 'top seller'.) My response was "Do I LOOK like nobody?" I went across the street to a different dealer and asked about the model his company sold. He said, "I don't have one on the lot now, but I can get one here tomorrow or the day after at the latest." Guess who sold a car? Is ONE car sale going to make or break a dealership? Of course not, but if *I* have a good experience, I will share it with my friends who will share with their friends, etc. If you stop broadcasting in ways people can listen and treat your audience like they are beneath contempt, you WILL fail as a broadcaster. And new audiences won't find you 'on the web' or 'on satellites' or 'on FM re-broadcasters' if your existing audience is unhappy and your programming stinks (or just doesn't "reach" your audience because it is only rebroadcasting your domestic service!). I hope Radio Australia doesn't fall for the canard that 'nobody listens to SW' .... We'll see. – (Kenneth V Zichi, radioguy73@gmail.com Is it time to cook yet? dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you haven't noticed already, Radio Australia has been off the air on SW for the last two weeks. The latest info I have is that the service should 'return to normal' Friday 09:00 am AEST (Thursday, 18 August 2016 at 2300 UT) If this all bothers you, and you haven't already, please at least drop them an email. [But PLEASE refrain from saying you are a 'ham' or implying you have really exotic equipment and are a hobbyist. Tell them you LISTEN to them and want an Australian perspective on the news, or you really like the Australian pop music or whatever is true for you. But... DO NOT imply your "Hobby" is radio because apparently that just means the 'experts' discount whatever you say!] If you are so inclined, also feel free to mention that the satellites don't cover your area, and the Internet is a poor replacement for radio as you're drinking your morning java [or whatever you are drinking as you listen!] :) Email them at Advice.Reception@abc.net.au or you can use their website 'contact us' function. Or you could go 'old school' and send them a Postal service letter at Radio Australia, GPO Box 9994, Melbourne, Australia 3001 or if you have a fax, send it to +61-3-9626-1899.... Indeed, a letter or fax may be even better! DO contact them though! They need to know their audience misses them! -kvz (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Aug 19 via DXLD) At 2115 UT Aug 20 and 0300 UT on Aug 21, 15415 kHz channel TX is OFF AIR in this Australian morning. Only Radio Australia Shepparton 15240 and 17840 kHz on air, as usual (Wolfgang Büschel, Some monitoring in our August 21 morning, used remote SDR units in Delhi-India, Brisbane- Queensland Australia, Kyoto/Tokyo-Japan, and Doha Qatar, [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz], wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 20/21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17839.96, Aug 23 at 0153, RA is good, and off-frequency have noticed before but not bothered to measure. // 15240 is very poor, and // 15415 a JBA carrier, both much less than 15720 NZ as well (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15415. August 23, 2016. 2110-2125, Radio Australia, Shepparton, in English. RA is off on 15415, 17840 and 15240 in my location (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 12365-USB, Aug 18 at 1337, VMC Queensland with marine weather including forecast for Sunday 21 August. Well-enunciated Oz accent, sounds like a true human OM voice, but really automaton? Just a trace of 12362-USB VMW. Further proof that Shepparton is OFF 12085 & 12065 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 15320, Aug 21 at 1322, YL intros ``God Bless the USA`` song at S9+10 fading to S8, so a US station? No! It`s Reach Beyond, Australia, i.e. HQ in Colorado Springs. 1325 program was `Sounds of Hope with Samantha Landy` (sp?), address St George, Utah. 1328 Oz accents take over, `Our Daily Bread` bit somehow connecting Disneyland with their religion. NO ID, and 1330 into another Oz preacher. This is RBA`s main English broadcast, a sesquihour from 1300, 100 kW at 310 degrees, longpath? Much better than RA does here at similar angle on 12065, but from opposite side of continent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 3210, Nice eQSL received from Tim for reception of Unique R back in April from Perseus site in Brisbane. Hopefully when the site moves to Gunnedah NSW, reception may be possible in WCNA (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZERBAIJAN. Weak signal of Ictimai Radio or Voice of Justice Aug 20 from 1030 on 9676.9 unknown tx/unknown to CeAs, broadband FM modulation http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/weak-signal-of-ictimai-radio-or-voice.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar - HS. On Aug 16, I posted to DXLD yg: "In addition to the abbreviated *1253-1306* broadcasts I have recently been reporting, now find a similar short broadcast *1155- 1206* (Aug 16), with the news at ToH. Strange scheduling to be sure!" Was therefor interested in DX-Window 562: "Also monitored almost daily before s/off. Quite surprisingly the station pops out every day passing from zero signal to fair signal consistently at 1653 with a tolerance of plus or minus one minute. To be understood! On Aug 13 from 1653 with music and songs. Then brief standard music tune at 1658 and (presumably) news from 1700 to 1705* read by female. Fair to good 34433. (Carboni [Italy]). Confirmed heard at *1651-1705*, Aug 23, signing on in Bengali, mentioning Bangladesh, folk songs, ID, 1700 time signal, Bengali news about Bangladesh (mentioned 9 times!), abrupt s/off, 45333. (Petersen [Denmark])" Would seem then that their approximate schedule is just to be on the air for about 10-15 minutes, near the ToH. How did they determine to have this very unique schedule and not continuous broadcasting? (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems like this is funxioning as a feeder for relay stations, only for the most important segment, news on the hour (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, 1222*, Aug 23. Suddenly off after usual format; PBS Yunnan already off (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. SECRETLAND vs SWAZILAND, Radio Biafra vs Trans World Radio Africa on Aug 21 from 1827 11700 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English SPL Radio Biafra and 1800-1830 11700 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg EaAf Amharic Sun only TWR Africa: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/radio-biafra-vs-trans-world-radio.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** BOUGAINVILLE. 3325, NBC Bougainville, 1211-1216, Aug 19. Mixing badly with RRI. 3325, NBC Bougainville, 1207*, Aug 23. 1159 full ID with frequencies, followed by PNG bird call and "News in Brief," followed by "NBC Radio" promo; no RRI QRM today. 3325, NBC Bougainville, 1130-1155*, Aug 24. Fairly good day here, with only light RRI QRM; promo/montage for "NBC Bougainville"; pop Pacific Islands music with DJ in Tok Pisin/Pidgin; many time checks; suddenly off. My audio at http://goo.gl/Sf8m7G (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Lista de emissoras de rádio no estado de São Paulo dos arquivos === Achei interessante --- Não sei em até que ponto está atualizada, mas caso alguém tenha interesse em consultar. Éis a lista de emissoras no Estado de São Paulo nos arquivos da Justiça Eleitoral em 06/07/2014: http://www.justicaeleitoral.jus.br/arquivos/tre-sp-lista-de-emissoras-de-radio-em-onda-curta http://www.justicaeleitoral.jus.br/arquivos/tre-sp-lista-de-emissoras-de-radio-em-onda-tropical (Merlin PY2HC, radioescutas yg via DXLD) [MW and FM also available] Offhand, a lot of the stations listed are inactive/defunct (gh, DXLD) Merlin, Só o fato de listar estações como de Descalvado, Sorocaba e São Carlos na faixa de 120 metros eu não consideraria como confiável, até porque a saída das emissoras dessas três cidades de tal faixa é inclusive anterior a 2014. 73 (Ivan Dias – Sorocaba/SP, op. cit.) ** BRAZIL. 9819.01, Aug 21 at 0121, JBA carrier measured here, i.e. Rádio Nove de Julho, which relays R. Aparecida most/all of the time. It`s been drifting way below 9820 for months, and has almost reached 9819. Until 0121 was covered up by Japan via Uzbekistan, q.v. All Brazilians are weaker than usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. PELIGRA EL SERVICIO PÚBLICO DE RADIODIFUSIÓN DE BRASIL by gruporadioescuchaargentino La FIP (Federación Internacional de Periodistas) ha dado la voz de alarma denunciando que el Gobierno de Brasil, interino en la actualidad, tiene pensado eliminar el servicio público de radiodifusión del país tras la consecución de los Juegos Olímpicos que se celebran desde el 5, y hasta el 21 de agosto, en tierras brasileñas. Para ello, según argumentan, están comenzando a realizar: "una serie de cambios perturbadores" en la EBC (Empresa Brasileña de Comunicación), los cuales se originaron, de forma inmediata, tras la llegada de Michel Temer al poder. Un ejemplo de este presumible hecho descubierto por la FIP, se produjo el pasado mes de mayo, en el cual Ricardo Melo, Presidente de la misma EBC fue relevado de su cargo al igual que otros 12 periodistas, de los catalogados como "poco amigos" del Ejecutivo. Además, se eliminaron varios programas de televisión también en contra del mismo. Unos primeros pasos con los que el Gobierno, según la propia FIB trata de eliminar ese carácter independiente que rodea a la EBC, el cual no comulga con intereses privados y políticos. Con todo, la FIB ha conseguido que tanto la ONU como la OEA (Organización de Estados Americanos) ya hayan calificado como "negativos" estos actos gubernamentales. El siguiente paso es conseguir la ayuda de la UNESCO a la que ya se han dirigido desde la Federación para que intermedie en este asunto y que trate de defender la democracia en los medios de comunicación brasileños. Además, también piden ayuda a los medios extranjertos presentes en la cita olímpica para que informen sobre este hecho y sobre las nefastas consecuencias que tiene el poner barreras a la democracia informativa. (source? via GRA blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) Searching on the headline leads only back to the GRA blog (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. Analysis --- NOW IT CAN BE SAID — THE OLYMPICS ARE A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY --- To the curmudgeons, the few wonderful human moments don't justify the spectacle By Don Pittis, CBC News Posted: Aug 22, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2016 6:28 AM ET http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/olympics-economics-curmudgeon-pittis-1.3726383 (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, DXLD) ** CANADA. 1410 CKSL --- This from the NRC: 1410 CKSL ON London – Station went permanently silent Aug. 14 at 2400. (I read they just pulled the plug with no announcements after a 60 year broadcast history! BD) Best wishes (Barry :-) Davies, Carlisle UK, MWCircle yg via DXLD) They did, Barry, but not without Bell Media marking the occasion: http://www.bellmedia.ca/pr/press/londons-cksl-am-funny-1410-to-sign-off-august-14/ (Andrew Brade, ibid.) Viz.: LONDON’S CKSL-AM FUNNY 1410 TO SIGN OFF AUGUST 14 LONDON (August 9, 2016) – Bell Media Radio announced today it will honour the history of CKSL-AM, Funny 1410 before it permanently ends operations and goes off the airwaves on Sunday, Aug. 14 at 12 midnight. The station has provided music, news, sports, and entertainment to listeners across London and the surrounding region for nearly 60 years. “We’d like to thank listeners and advertisers for their loyalty to CKSL-AM over many successful years, and for allowing us to play an integral role in the community,” said Don Mumford, Vice-President and General Manager, Radio and Local TV, Bell Media. Throughout the day on Thursday, Aug. 10 and Friday, Aug. 11, local news/talk station 1290 CJBK London will deliver special tribute programming celebrating the legacy of CKSL-AM. The tributes include a rich lineup of CKSL’s legendary personalities, including Peter Garland, Rich Greven, Elaine Sawyer, Derek Botten, “Ambassador of Funny” Mike Nabuurs, and more. The celebration continues Friday evening on CTV NEWS AT SIX with a special report from Videographer Nick Paparella. CKSL-AM commenced broadcasting on June 24, 1956. Founded by London Broadcasters Ltd., which operated the station until selling to a succession of owners in 1989, CKSL became London’s second radio station. CKSL played an important role in the community while adopting numerous formats throughout the years, ranging from contemporary hits to nostalgia, news/talk, and entertainment. CKSL-AM most recently provided comedy programming 24/7 under the Funny 1410 brand. A mainstay for listeners, and at times leading the market in share of tuning, CKSL-AM introduced numerous on-air personalities who became household names: Bob MacAdorey was the station’s first “Morning Man”, followed by celebrities such as Pete James, Bill Brady, Peter Garland, Rich Greven, Jim Craig, Mitch O’Connor, Derek Botten, Jim Chapman, and current morning show host on Today’s Country BX93, Dave Collins, who co-hosted mornings on CKSL with Jackie Gauthier. Other notable members of the CKSL legacy were News Directors Tom Dalby, Al Gibson, and George Gordon, as well as former Vice-President and General Manager, Gord Hume, who is best recognized for his years as a sitting London city councillor and member of Board of Control. For a continued dose of all comedy programming, all the time, local listeners can turn to Bell Media Radio’s Funny820.com. About Bell Media Radio Bell Media Radio is Canada’s top-ranked radio broadcaster, with 106 licensed radio stations in 54 markets across Canada, including Virgin Radio, Canada’s #1 ranked contemporary hit radio network, along with top brands TSN, ÉNERGIE, CHUM FM, Rouge fm, and QMFM. Recognizing the diversity of each market it serves, Bell Media Radio has a strong reputation for providing exemplary service to these communities and is a leader in innovative programming. In addition to music, news, weather, and sports, listeners also tune in for information on local politics, events, entertainment, and other community issues. Across Canada, Bell Media Radio is the largest radio provider and is ranked first in people reached and hours tuned (via DXLD) ** CANADA. Hi! Trenton VOLMET, military aviation weather heard at a solid 5×8 on 6751-usb at 0203 UT, male wx for Halifax, Edmonton, etc., etc. Find VOLMETs good for conditions on the bands (Jon Collins, Birmingham UK, Tecsun PL660, built-in whip, Aug 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5065, CRI in Korean, 1445-1459, August 10. Music, M & F commentators, language lesson with Chinese pronunciation for Asian non-Chinese speakers. Sign off around 1450 followed by loud carrier noisy modulation, then silent strong carrier place-holder (Vince Henley, Anacortes, WA. Equipment currently in use: Tecsun PL-380, JRC NRD-525, Drake R8B, Sony ICF-2010. Antennas are half-meter whip on PL- 380, 1.2 meter whip on ICF-2010, and Alpha-Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside east-west, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 21 via DXLD) No such transmission listed, instead on 5965, so typo? Or -900 kHz 2 x IF image on some receiver? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHINA. PBS Sichuan 2, 7225, 1400 21 AUG - PBS SICHUAN 2 (CHINA). SINPO = 24322. Chinese, female and male announcers alternating with music in background. QRM=~3kHz het. QSB=moderate-to-rapid rate, modulation on noisy carrier mostly just above the noise floor with occasional complete fades with no carrier or het. sf78.1, a4, k1, geomag: very quiet. 50kw, Omni, bearing 325 .... 73s (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Rodney - For myself, I find the // 6060 frequency to be stronger than 7225. Note they have a nice ID at ToH in English - "Nationality Channel. Sichuan, the People's Radio Station. SW 6060, 7225, FM 88.1" (Ron Howard, ibid.) ** CHINA. 15100, Aug 20 at 0008, only a few signals on 19m, so I dig into a JBA carrier here to uplook later: CRI Beijing site in Hakka, 500 kW, 165 degrees, on air 23-02 also in two other minority languages. For CIRAF 50 which is basically the Philippines (and o yes, the South China Sea west of there under occupation by ChiCom imperialism). 17560, Aug 20 at 0006, stronger signal than 15100, likely CNR1 jammer rather than target VOA Chinese via Philippines this hour only. I made a quick scan between 16 and 19m but found no WOOB jammers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Radio programs: http://dxing.ru/forum.html?func=view&catid=32&id=20775&limit=8&start=16#35349 Radio China International to Russian considerably change the content of their programs, including transmission abolished musical "Saturday concert". Also I heard no longer lessons of Chinese language, rather than give them "the keyword / phrase". Programs become more dynamic (Edited ASEG: 15.08.2016) (via RusDX Aug 21 via DXLD) ** CUBA. 950, Aug 19 at 0141 as I am bandscanning in LSB mode avoiding local 960 KGWA, ``RR`` in MCW, i.e. R. Reloj, and again a minute later at 0142:03 a bit late after ToM; that`s all I can hear from it, really cutting thru the Yanqui QRM. This would be the 10 kW flagship CMBD in Arroyo Arenas, Habana, rather than the duplicate down-island at Camagüey (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1020, Radio Artemisa, Artemisa. 1656 August 21, 2016. Spanish ballads and rap, female canned ID 1702. This one doesn't pick up Noticiero Nacional de Radio 1700-1730. Parallel weaker 1000 kc/s, which is still badly wobbling away. 1080, CUBA, unidentified. 1005 August 20, 2016. Definitely a second Cuban on this channel, but who? Weak under Radio Cadena Habana which was airing a live audience recording of instrumental jazz standards, ID. The unidentified was airing mostly Cuba new a by rotating man and woman, once mention of "radio centro de Cuba" and time checks. Radio Ciudad de la Habana was logged here about three years ago, so maybe them, but unable to pull a potential parallel from 820 kc/s due to my local WWBA co-channel. The below Radio Surco log on 1080 would be the unidentified Cuban I reported in the logs sent yesterday. 1080, CUBA, Radio Surco, unknown site, Ciego de Ávila. 2349 August 22, 2016. Cuban pop-ish vocals, co-channel Radio Cadena Habana. Male canned ID 2358, "Radio Surco... desde la... Ciego de Ávila..." back to songs with male host, then Mexican ranchera-type music segment, parallel 1140 kc/s. Male at 0029, "Desde CMIP (I think), Radio Surco, desde la capital de la... Ciego de Ávila..." This was first noted in January, 2013, but went without a trace after. Not appearing in any Cuba docs except my Cubalist archive Excel file housed on FLPRS. Florida Low Power Radio Stations: https://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/florida-low-power-radio-stations 1140, CUBA. Radio Surco, Morón, Ciego de Ávila. 0015 August 23, 2016. Fair and mixing with Rebelde, parallel the rediscovered 1080 kc/s channel that's not listed anywhere else. I rarely hear this one here, despite lots of out-of-state logs. Mostly Rebelde and Musical Nacional both daytime and night (Terry L Krueger, All times/dates GMT, NRD-535, IC-R75, roof dipole, active MW loop, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 9530, Aug 23 at 0127, R. Progreso is S7 and quite readable here on 2 x 4765 with matching ``Reportero R-P`` programming; best heard yet on 9530, and no jamming either, but need LSB tuning to avoid RHC 9535: such frequency planning, Arnie! Also a good time to look for third harmonic of 4765, and there it is! On 14295 intruding into 20m hamband, at S2-S3 also with // audio. But not audible on 19060 = 4 x 4765. I bet some fraxion of signal is radiating there too, but not enough MUF (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 11840, Aug 19 at 0120, RHC is open carrier/dead air at S4, so the JBA spurs on 11830 and 11850 must be too. While 11760 is loud at S9+15, and 11670 overmodulated but less splattery than usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very weak signal of Radio Habana in Esperanto, Aug 21: 0700-0730 on 6100 BAU 100 kW / 310 deg to WNAm Esperanto Sun http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2016/08/very-weak-signal-of-radio-habana-in.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) 15230, Aug 21 at 1320, this RHC frequency is still AWOL in the mornings, while 15370 is inbooming. 15700, Aug 23 at 1402, CRI relay in English starts off at S9 level but just barely modulated, ho hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. From the Isle of Music Preview for August 29/30 Our August 30 (August 29 in the Americas on WBCQ) program offers more of Caribe Nostrum, winner of Cubadisco 2016 in the Concert and Chamber Music category and one of the two Gran Premio winners. Guido López Gavilán, the Director, will join us to talk about the music. Our Jazz guest is Carlos Averhoff Jr., whose album Iresi was nominated in the Jazz category of Cubadisco 2016. Mr. Gavilan with converse with us in Spanish, Mr. Averhoff in English, and we will feature music from both albums. Two options for listening on shortwave: WBCQ, 7490 kHz, Tuesdays 0000-0100 UT (8-9 pm EDT Mondays in the Americas) Channel 292, 6070, Tuesdays 1900-2000 UT (2100-2200 CEST) See the NOTES section of our Facebook page for more information (Bill Tilford, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. 243 LW, R Denmark, Kalundborg, 0950-1015*, Aug 22, weather observations in Danish, 0953 IS by classical music, 1000 Bells of Copenhagen Town Hall, “Radioavisen” news in Danish relayed by DR P1, 55555 (S9+35 dB 100 km from the transmitter). We look forward to our last Annual General Meeting at this station on Oct 08! (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) ** EAST TURKISTAN. 9470, Aug 23 at 0122, CRI English is S5, stronger than attenuated 9475 WTWW; IDed by // 9570 Albania relay which is slightly ahead of 9470; but 9470 is considerably ahead of 9580 Cuba. 9470 is one of countless 500 kW, 308 degree transmissions from Kashgar for Europeans, who can`t get enough of CRI even at 2, 3 in the morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9304-9333, 9338-9351, with peaks circa 9315 (fundamental), and 9325, Aug 19 at 0107, R. Cairo blobmitter is really, really dirty tonight, and that`s saying something, the rapid pulsing roarbuzz audible thru these ranges at varying levels. 9330 WBCQ already off but this would have QRMed it before 0100. 9307-9320, 9337-9346, approx. ranges of R. Cairo 9315 blobmitter, August 21 at 0055, straddling S8-S9 9330+ WBCQ which lux out in the clear for extended UT Monday broadcast with YL gospel huxter after 0100, same at 0143 check. Approx. peaks and levels: 9315 at S9+10, 9343 at S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, could the radio anchors` overweightness be causing blobs? (gh) EGYPT SUSPENDS 8 FEMALE TV ANCHORS, SAYING THEY ARE OVERWEIGHT By NOUR YOUSSEFAUG. 17, 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/middleeast/egypt-suspends-8-female-tv-anchors-saying-they-are-overweight.html?ref=todayspaper CAIRO -- Most Egyptian journalists have had to watch their tongues and tone down their reporting over the past three years to keep their jobs under a military-dominated government. Now, the state is ordering some women working as television anchors to practice a similar restraint with their weight. Earlier this week, Safaa Hegazy, the director of state-run Egyptian radio and television, barred eight anchorwomen from appearing on the air for a month, saying they were overweight, the state-owned Al-Ahram news website confirmed. Ms. Hegazy ordered the women to go on a diet during their suspensions, Al-Ahram said. Khadija Khatab, one of the eight anchorwomen, said that she had not yet been formally notified of Ms. Hegazy's order, but added that she was recently told that "measures will be taken against" those who fail to lose weight by mid-September, according to an interview she gave to a privately owned television station. Ms. Khatab said she was offended that coverage of her ordeal included words like "fat" and similar terms she called "unfair" and "insulting." She also said that the pictures of her that had been circulating and mocked on the internet and social media sites were old and that she had lost weight since they were taken. "I believe I am an ordinary Egyptian woman who looks normal, and I don't wear too much makeup," Ms. Khatab said, challenging people to contradict her. Many did. Alaa el-Sadani, a commentator for Al-Ahram, said that she was "sickened by the disgusting and repulsive" appearance of the eight suspended anchors, and that she believed the rest of the country agreed with her. Fatma al-Sharawi, another Al-Ahram writer, welcomed the move as a way to improve the abysmal ratings of the state channels. "Is a ban for eight enough?" she asked. Viewership of state television, long dismissed by many Egyptians as a comically biased news source, fell significantly after the uprising that removed President Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011. "They don't understand that people don't watch them because they have no credibility, skills or quality," said Mostafa Shawky, a free-press advocate with the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. "It has nothing to do with looks. But it goes to show that actual skill is not something they care about." Mr. Shawky said the suspensions reinforced a widespread notion in Egypt that only women who meet a certain definition of beauty should work in television journalism. "The fact that it is a woman who is doing all of this just makes it all the worse," he said. Ms. Hegazy could not be reached for comment. Rod Nordland contributed reporting (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9343, Aug 23 at 0120, S5 motorboating pulses, seems same rate tho much weaker than on S9 9315, with no program modulation whatsoever. 12085, Aug 23 at 0149, R. Cairo is already on in Qur`an, S6, some hum but not bad; 9745 is also on with wobbling carrier at S2, no program modulation audible. After 0200 both are scheduled as Abis, 250 kW at 315 degrees, so I figured they were alternates from same transmitter; before 0200, 9745 is on 241 degrees, and I thought went off to 12085 at 0200. But obviously two transmitters are involved now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12005.055, R Cairo (tentatively Portuguese?) much distorted radio program noted here at 2218 UT Aug 23. S=8 or -81dBm signal, distorted spoken part program. Couldn't identify the program language. 9800.027, Totally distorted R Cairo English sce signal at 2235 UT on Aug 23. S=9+10dB or -64dBm much fluttery signal in southern Germany. Distorted broadband signal during spoken part up to 24 kHz wide signal visible. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 23, dxldyg via DXLD) 9325. August 24, 2016. 1911-1917, Radio Cairo, Abis, in Hausa. Male announcer talks. Fair signal, severe distorted audio with aeroplane (in cruising speed) sound underground (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103+Sony ICF-SW100S, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, HCDX via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Bata-Bata, (presumed), at 2358, on 14 Aug, in Spanish. After receiving an e mail tip from Dave Valko, I got on this station and it was playing Afro pop music with male singers and females singing chorus. A variety of songs played while I was listening. At 0027 they are still on with an Afro Pop style song playing. Lost audio signal but a Het was still showing at 0002 on 15 Aug. On a recheck at 0047, on 15 Aug, a female speaker is talking with music playing in the background. Poor-Fair (John Cooper, Lebanon PA, ODXA YRX via DXLD) It ran late into night that holiday only (gh) ** ERITREA [non]. Glen[n], I thought you might be interested in this bit I saw on VICE news. https://news.vice.com/video/blackout-leaks-from-eritrea-africas-north-korea At the 12 minute 47 second mark there is a short profile of the Eritrean clandestine Radio Asena. Unlike most mentions of short wave stations / programmes in the main stream media, VICE actually mentions the frequency (15245 kHz). The studio is in London. It appears to be a one man operation run by a Eritrean expat named Amanuel Eyasu. Eyasu said he used to be a journalist in Eritrea. The station appears to be run out of his bedroom in a London apartment. Past programmes from Radio Asena can be downloaded from https://www.emp3z.com/mp3/radio-assenna-launches-satellite-broadcasting.html The station has a web site; assenna.com. Reception reports can be sent to Mr. Eyasu at aseye.asena@gmail.com. The station issues a very attractive e-QSL. It appears that the spelling of the station can be Asena or Assenna. 73's, (Paco Alameda - Eagle Rock, CA KA6SWL (Frank Orcutt) P.S. 'Paco Alameda' in my on-line moniker, Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From Aug 8 no signal of R.Assenna and Eritrean Forum via TDF Issoudun: Radio Assenna 1700-1800 on 15245 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Thu/Sat Radio Assenna was back on air via TDF Issoudun on Aug 13 1700-1800 on 15245 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Sat BUT AGAIN NO SIGNAL of Eritrean Forum Medrek on Aug 13, as of Aug 6 1800-1900 on 15245 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Arabic Sat, TX IS OFF! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2016/08/radio-assenna-was-back-on-air-via-tdf.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #963 from Georgi Bancov & Ivo Ivanov, August 18, 2016 via DXLD) Only one transmission on 15245 kHz via TDF Issoudun is on the air at present [Aug 22]: 1700-1800 15245 250 kW / 130 deg EaAf Tigrinya Sat Radio Assenna All other transmissions on 15245 via TDF Issoudun are cancelled: 1700-1800 15245 250 kW / 130 deg EaAf Tigrinya Thu Radio Assenna 1700-1800 15245 250 kW / 130 deg EaAf Tigrinya Su-Tu/Fr Eritrean Forum 1700-1800 15245 250 kW / 130 deg EaAf Arabic Wed Eritrean Forum Medrek 1800-1900 15245 250 kW / 130 deg EaAf Arabic Sat Eritrean Forum Medrek There is no mention on BRB website http://www.airtime.org/shortwave/schedule.php http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/oromo-voice-radio-radio-xoriyo-via-tdf.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. FRANCE, Reception of Radio Adal via TDF Issoudun, Aug 20 1500-1530 on 15205 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Arabic Wed/Sat 1530-1600 on 15205*ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Wed/Sat *co-ch BSKSA 15205 RIY 500 kW / 320 deg to WeEu Holy Quran at 1550 UT http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/reception-of-radio-adal-via-tdf_20.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. FRANCE, Frequency change of Voice of Independent Oromiya via TDF Issoudun 1600-1630 NF 17850 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Oromo Sun, ex 17860 on Aug 21 Transmissions are jammed by Ethiopia with strong white noise digital jamming. R. Front for Independence of Oromo also blocked by strong noise digital jamming: 1730-1800 on 17765 ISS 150 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Oromo Sun http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/frequency-change-of-voice-of.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE-EURO. Johnny Tobacco - Holland, 6295 AM, 2347-0023+, 08-11-16, SIO: 343. Johnny playing a couple of tunes by Eddie Meduza. chatting away, greeting listeners, etc. (Chris Lobdell, Tewksbury, MA USA, Receivers: Eton E1, JRC NRD-535, Aerial: G5RV Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Thementag Digitalradio von ARD und Deutschlandradio am 29. Aug. --- Die Zukunft des Radios ist digital. Unter dem Motto "DAB+. Mehr Radio." werden am 29. August alle Hoerfunkprogramme der ARD und des Deutschlandradios ihre Kraefte buendeln und rund um die Uhr ueber die Vorteile, die faszinierende Vielfalt und die neuen Moeglichkeiten des digitalen Radios informieren. Unterstuetzt wird der Thementag auch in den Fernsehprogrammen der ARD und im Online-Auftritt von ARD und Deutschlandradio. . . http://www.presseportal.de/pm/29876/3402604 (via BC-DX via DXLD) According to Deutsche Welle website the station will start with live coverage of one soccer game of the first German soccer league "Bundesliga" each Saturday as from 27 August onwards. The live coverage will be broadcasted in one single programme each Saturday between 1325 and 1530 UT (1525-1730 CEST) in both Swahili and Hausa via local FM stations in East and West Africa. 73, (Manfred Reiff, aug 23, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As in DXLD 16-33: also on SW, not mentioned in your source?: [non] Additional 2 frequencies of Deutsche Welle, registered on Aug 5 1325-1530 on 17570 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to WeAf Hausa Sat Football* 1325-1530 on 17840 ISS 500 kW / 170 deg to WeAf Hausa Sat Football* * Bundesliga on August 27, September 10/17/24 & October 15/22, 2016 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/transmitter-changes-of-deutsche-welle.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #962 from Georgi Bancov & Ivo Ivanov, August 12, 2016 via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) So there is worthy audience for German football in Hausa?? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) The German Foreign Office Money gave distributor as DWL Budget fill'er, as well as an incompetent German Deutsche Welle management these days, distributed hardworking German taxpayer funds to the Blacks in Africa, oooh My God. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.dw.com/en/german-bundesliga-football-broadcast-live-in-kiswahili-and-hausa/a-19498199 The wording of that press release should probably not be weight too well. If the two shortwave frequencies come into use it now remains to be seen if one of them is to carry the Kisuaheli version instead. But don't ask me what kind of market DFL sees for its product in Africa. And the same question goes for BBC World Service who promotes an English soccer product in Africa the same way. Also of interest: http://www.dw.com/en/statement/a-19488476 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Press Releases --- Statement Deutsche Welle has terminated its working relationship with a freelancer from the Arabic Department, with immediate effect. The colleague published a post on his private Facebook page, unmistakably calling for a criminal offence against the Egyptian human rights activist Mahienour El-Massry. He identified himself as an employee of Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle immediately examined the issue and thoroughly discussed it with the freelancer, who confirmed that the post was authentic. The position of Deutsche Welle is clear: Under no circumstances will DW tolerate such behavior. Deutsche Welle has taken appropriate steps in accordance with the employment law and terminated the working relationship with the freelancer. Furthermore, DW is examining taking possible legal steps against him. Date 19.08.2016 Author Johannes Hoffmann (via DXLD) ** GOA. INDIA, 11559.986, usual odd fq, AIR Dari program via Marconi units in Goa Panaji site, S=8 or -79dBm signal in Australia, at 0324 UT on Aug 21, subcontinental singer/music program, what else (Wolfgang Büschel, Some monitoring in our August 21 morning, used remote SDR units in Delhi-India, Brisbane-Queensland Australia, Kyoto/Tokyo-Japan, and Doha Qatar, [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz], wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 20/21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) INDIA (GOA), 15175, AIR Panaji heard 8/23 with Fair to Good signals from 1528 tune from Perseus site in Edmonton (Wellbrook Loop antenna) with news in Gujerati to 1530, then a program of Hindi vocal / instrumentals with a woman announcer to 1601. Carrier off at 1602. The only issue today (and also noted on 8/21) was frequent transmitter cutouts (usually just a second or so). Signal strength stayed up nicely today all the way to sign off, but on 8/21 the signals declined significantly after 1530 on the same antenna (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 4860, third harmonic of MW greek pirate on 1620 MW, 1612- 1730, Aug 13. Initially thought to be a new 60 m station hi (Giovanni Carboni, S. Antioco island, Sardinia, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) ** GREECE. Random reception of Voice of Greece on 9420 & 11645 kHz, Aug 21: 0600-0800 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek tx#3 Sunday liturgy 0600-0800 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg to NoAf Greek tx#1 Sunday liturgy http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/random-reception-of-voice-of-greece-on_22.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 9650, Radio Guinée; 2150-2202+, 12-Aug; Afro-pop music with M DJ (Language?); ToH “…Conakry…Radio Guinée…” into French news with music bumpere. SIO=3+53 MUCH better than at same time yesterday. +++ 2236-2302+, 16-Aug; Presume them with M commentary in French, either about African postal services or giving many addresses; many mentions of “boîte postale” and mentions of several African countries. No ToH break. SIO=353 with somewhat muted audio (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9650. August 19, 2016. 0948-0953, Radio Guinea, Conakry, in French. Male announcer talks in French (Radio Guinea) and female announcer talks in Japanese (Voice of Korea) during this log. This is a collision, certainly! 9650. August 19, 2016. 1513-1533, Radio Guinea, Conakry, in vernacular language. Female announcer talks and talks; 1521 Two local songs; 1526 male announcer talks with enthusiasm, ID. R. Guinea has a fair signal and modulation this time, free of interference and all in vernacular language, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) [non?]. 9650, Aug 20 at 0018, very poor S3 signal in talk, Conakry on later than usual 0000v*? Better be sure it`s not in Japanese, which is Voice of Korear scheduled until 0020* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA CONAKRY, 9650, Radio Guinea Conakry, *0557-0615, 20-08, African songs French and Vernacular comments. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Lugo, Sony ICF SW 7600G, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 9650, R. Guinée heard 8/20 from here in Fallbrook with local music and male announcer in French from 0643 tune. Started at Weak to Fair at tune-in with high noise improving to Fair to Good by 0700 and a solid Good with minimal noise (almost armchair level) after 0700. [I] Switched from AM to USB at 0703 for better clarity. Guinean highlife music is easy on the ear with a nice rhythm. ID “Radio Guinée” and interesting commercials for “Kolomata” at 0706.5 with cock crowing and sound of drinks being poured. At 0707.5 into what sounded like a call-in program with a female announcer (several busy signals heard). After 0700 another station being heard underneath with vocal “Hava Negilah” at 0706 (sounded like could have been Afrikaans so R. Sonder Grense??). V. of Korea *0730 pretty much took care of R. Guinée, altho Conakry could still be heard underneath (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9650. August 23, 2016. 1100-1110, Radio Guinea, Conakry, in French (with interesting accent). Male announcer talks, local songs, ID. Broadcasting with fair signal and modulation, 35433. Note: Cabedelo looks at Conakry, coast to coast, a linear distance of 3,000 km or 1864.11 miles through the Atlantic Ocean, at its narrowest portion (Glenn Hauser says: Cabedelo and Conakry are less than 3 megameters apart, facing each other right across the Atlantic narrows (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1839, DX LISTENING DIGEST)` (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Radio Guinea 9650 kHz --- I'm really beginning think my April 16th, 2016 0344 UT (April 15th 744 pm AKDT) reception of Radio Guinea 9650 kHz was a fluke here in Alaska. The signal at that time was pretty darn good for what it was and about as good as anything I've heard from other DX'ers since their 2nd reactivation a week or two ago. A nearly 8 minute recording of my reception of Radio Guinea 9650 kHz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8U1BHGSxV8 Here's the thing, since they came back this second time, I haven't heard a PEEP!! And it's not due to same/adjacent channel stations, I've gone out at various times when Radio Guinea would've been the only thing on the channel with no slop from anyone else on 9645/9650/9655. A friend and I have reasoned that the April 15th/16th re-appearance of Radio Guinea 9650 kHz was a test after decades of silence. They turned things on to see if everything still worked good and was within spec. Well, after a day of operations, they figured things weren't working like it should, turned it off and being a poor 3rd world country, it took them a few months to fix it. We found their tower site, a line of 6 towers in a reversed arc letter "C" right in Conarky [sic]. If those towers line up is any indication of their beam, going Southeast, then that would explain why folks in the SE and East Central USA are hearing it so well, off the back lobe. Again, this is all theory; but I'd like to think, at least somewhat right (Paul B Walker Jr, Galena AK, Aug 18, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** GUYANA. 3290-, Aug 21 at 0152 and 0545 chex, for the record, NO signal from Voice of Guyana. It`s been off for several weeks, and may be another ex-SWBC country, unless they bring Jamie Labadia back to fix the transmitter again. Robert Wilkner in FL last logged it 2 July, and noted it missing since at least 14 July (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. UNIDENTIFIED. 10000, Aug 21 at 0110, S6 carrier with no modulation, but 0111 WWV tone same as on 5000 is JBA on 10000. No 10- second pips or Portuguese which would be Brazil. Unless a total intruder, I suspect WWVH had lost modulation. 0607 recheck, now WWV and WWVH are at equal levels on 10000, adding up to S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Prasar Bharati Parivar: President of India launches "Akashvani Maitree" Channel at Raj Bhawan, Kolkata [new Bengali svc] http://airddfamily.blogspot.in/2016/08/president-of-india-launches-akashvani.html (via Jose Jacob, DXLD) Apparently an AIR internal blog, but --- (gh) ** INDIA. 5050, AIR Aizawl, 1220-1225 & 1230-1235, Aug 19. Respectable signal, mixing with Beibu Bay Radio (CHINA); news in English, then sports news in English. Seems strange to me that the one day recently they were off the air was on Independence Day (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Last night (19 Aug 2016) from around 1600 UT, AIR Urdu Service was noted very clearly on 7040 kHz. Maybe wrong frequency instead of 7520 which is scheduled but was not heard then. By 1615 UT frequency drifted to lower side with distorted audio. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India Mobile: +91 94416 96043, http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** INDIA. 11670, Aug 21 at 0552, JBA carrier, possibly the AIR special Hajj service in Urdu, but nothing audible on // 15210, 15770. Why do I bother with such JBA logs? To spread the word in case others can hear them better. Jose Jacob tells us that this is in effect: ``from 13 Aug 2016 to 11 Oct 2016 0530-0600 UTC on 11670 Bengaluru, 15210 Panaji, 15770 Delhi``. But CNR2 from Beijing site is also on 11670, before, during, and after this semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3344.864, Aug 18 at 1230, JBA carrier so weak I can barely measure it, but right on the frequency reported by Wolfgang Büschel as RRI Ternate now active, first heard by Ron Howard on August 1; and Atsunori Ishida agrees it was unheard in July, back in August (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3344.86, RRI Ternate (presumed), 1258, Aug 19. Doing alright with audio above threshold level and improving. If they stay on the air, should be nice this winter! [non-log] 3905, RRI Merauke. Seems they are really gone now. Not heard since early July, after almost daily monitoring. Atsunori agrees (Ron Howard, Calif., Aug 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Good signal of Voice of Indonesia on Aug 23: 1300-1400 on 9525.9 JAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/good-signal-of-voice-of-indonesia-on.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) Is it really on 10 degrees? Barely audible carrier here, so how could it be so good into Europe? Also part day/part night path (gh, DXLD) 9525.9, VOI, 1317, Aug 23. As Ivo Ivanov has also reported today, decent reception here, even with an audio hum; actually somewhat readable in English with "Focus" (two Indonesian students arrested in Turkey). Recently has been doing much better than usual (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) (after a long time) 9525. August 23, 2016. 1739-1750, Voice of Indonesia, Jakarta, in Spanish. Female and male announcers talks; ID, a beautiful song by female singer, recorded in year 1987; other song. VOI presents a fair signal and poor modulation, 35432 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Last I tuned by around 12/13 UT, carrier was still close to 9526 (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. 105 W, AMC-18, 3.780-H, 30000 Msps, NBC Eastern Time Zone feed (Ch 9): This transponder also has feeds for Central time (Ch 10) Mountain time (Ch 11) and Pacific time (Ch 12). Airing silly Olympic sports coverage but interestingly, the audio feeds are VERY 'non-complete'. Some channels have the background sounds like starter guns and crowd noise, some have commentary, some have a 'described video' service for the blind, and some have a combo of some but not all of these things! The feeds are complete, but they leave 'blanks' for the local affiliate ads and during those times, they just have a peacock logo that changes colors. Kind of nice to not get all the ads actually! :) 63% quality and decoding perfectly 0300- 0400 UT 15/Aug --Zichi MI2 (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope MI2, for Satellite logs: Manhattan DJ-1997 FTA receiver +96 inch moveable dish, MARE Tipsheet Aug 19 via DXLD) ** IRAN. 11660, VOIRI-Zahedan, at 0245, on 15 Aug, in Arabic. A male speaker is chanting/singing (Presumed) verses from the Holy Qur’an. What makes this unusual is that they are using reverberation at the end of each verse causing a pronounced echo effect which I don’t normally hear broadcast. Good (John Cooper, Lebanon PA, ODXA YRX via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Weak signal of Radio Rainbow via BaBcoCk Grigoriopol on August 19: 1600-1630 on 7575 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri Radio Ranginkaman http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/weak-signal-of-radio-rainbow-via.html Weak signal of Voice of Spring via BaBcoCk Grigoriopol, Aug 19 1730-1800 on 7495 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi Thu/Fri Sedoye Bahar http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/weak-signal-of-voice-of-spring-via.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 11815, Aug 18 at 1237, NHK Japanese service is a good source for a wide variety of music. Unfortunately, this 300 kW frequency is aimed 235 degrees toward SE Asia at 09-17 so we only get it off the back at poor-fair S9 level. Catches my ear now in jazzed-up band music with a tune reminiscent of `Doxology` (``Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow``), hardly Shinto, on to a different slow movement, then variations on `Amazing Grace`, 1245 some more Doxology, 1247 announcement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA. 3279v (AM), V28 ("The Parrot"), *1230 to 1239*, Aug 23. Korean numbers station noted wildly drifting around; poor (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. UZBEKISTAN, Frequency change of Voice of Martyrs via RED Telecom Tashkent 1530-1700 NF 7525 TAC 100 kW / 076 deg to NEAs Korean, ex 7505 eff.from Aug.15 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/frequency-change-of-voice-of-martyrs.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze (?) 5965, 1349 18 AUG - SHIOKAZE (JAPAN). SINPO = 33222. English, female announcer (heavy Asian accent). musical interlude and ID at 1351z as ’this is Radio Free Asia’. musical interlude at 1355z, followed by female announcer in Asian language with Shiokaze music in background, at 1357z female announcer in English asking for contributions and gives mailing address with piano music in the bg. S/off at 1400z and CRI Korean starts with male and female announcers alternating reading news. QRM=RTTY-type data signal (jamming?). QSB=moderate-to-rapid rate, modulation mostly just above the noise floor/QRM with occasional fades to mixing with it. sf81.0, a9, k2, geomag: quiet. 300kw, beamAz 290 , bearing 307 . Sangean ATS505 with MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ- 901B used to preselect 37’ of 22-gauge wire connected to aluminum rain gutter along eave of roof above two story building. From Ibaragi-Koga- Yamata, Distance: 8920 km. Received at Las Vegas, United States. Local time: 6049 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seabreeze saluting fellow clandestine RFA for their Korean broadcasts? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. Greetings from Nevada! Echo of Hope VOH (S. Korea Relay) 4885, 1316 23 AUG - ECHO OF HOPE VOH (CLA). SINPO = 23222. Korean, male announcer. QRM=continuous rapid rate pulsing, wide-band starting/centering on 4910 kHz. OTH radar? QSB=moderate-to-rapid rate, modulation mostly mixing with QRM and noise floor with occasional peaks just above it. sf81.8, a5, k2, geomag: quiet. 100kw, Omni, bearing 314 . 73s (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Rodney - Yes, also noted 4885 today covered by strong OTH radar. Also with VOH on jammed frequencies of // 3985 // 6003 and // 6348 (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9605, UT Sunday Aug 21 at 0136 I pause to listen to KBS World Radio Spanish hour via WHRI (which I normally avoid in protest to KBS` refusal to audiblize itself for us in English), as fan listener greetings by phone are being aired; must be mailbag show. Seems this is station`s 54th anniversary. Hugo Longhi in Rosario, Argentina; 0138 Juan Carlos Buscaglia also in Argentina; 0140 someone in Logroña, España who just got out of jail. Then Roberto in Miami. Show is hosted by 2 YLs, but one of them has to leave for an appointment. Then brings in three new program hostesses as of this year to introduce themselves, more YLs only, giving ages in late 20`s. Here`s more about this momentous occasion: http://wp.me/p13MWc-21G (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also: USA, WHRI ** LATVIA. Members, I need to thank Glenn warmly for posting in DXLD 16-33 (17 August 2016) information from SW bulletin (perhaps Kark-Erik Stridh gave the second part of the piece - it is not clear). I also need to thank mwlist for their detective work. Radio Merkurs on 1485 kHz has left the highly urban site and moved to the far North of Riga at ‘Bolduraja’. The coordinates of the T-Shape are 57 02 09N, 24 00 49E. Images are not great so I cannot assess what structure is supporting the radiating wires. Streetview only gives a remote glimpse of the site. The match of the description of the site with the other evidence gives me enough to now record the new site onto the Active spreadsheet and move the ‘Agenskalns’ site onto Inactive or Closed. This move crept up on me. I thought that the old site was precarious and I was expecting a move of site. 73 and 88 (Dan Goldfarb, Aug 21, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA [and non]. 9400. August 23, 2016. 0145-0156, Radio Free Asia, Sitkunai, in Uyghur. Male announcer talks in uyghur language. Broadcasting with fair signal, moderate interference by CNR1 Jammer on 9400 kHz, in Mandarin, 33432 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 17640, Aug 18 at 1824 quick check on R75, MWV is still on here, good APR signal in English, from the antipodes, item about Woodrow Wilson. Later in hour, however, trying the G8 inside a restaurant`s east window, no show, tho I can normally get 17530 VOA GB. 17640, Aug 19 at 1833 and other chex, no signal from MWV, gone again from this APR English broadcast. Propagation seems normal, i.e. pitiful, but with weak signals from Spain on 17705, 17855, America on 17765, 17775, 17790, 17815. Anyway I`ve added 17640 to the BST-1 caradio memory bank in case it come back during that one useful hour only. 17640, Aug 24 at 1815 check, APR via MWV is on today, good signal but deep fading, story of a snit between Jesus and John who got rebuked (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 13840v, Aug 21 at 0556, popmusic averaging S8, i.e. NHK in French as scheduled, but carrier is wobbling (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6050, Asyik FM, via Kajang, reactivated Aug 22. Had been silent for most of 2016; local Kajang sunset at 1119 UT and my local sunrise was at 1331 UT. Heard 1327-1413, in vernacular; many phone conversations; played pop songs; some adjacent QRM; light QRM from Tibet (PBS Xizang) on frequency; mostly fair; singing IDs. My audio at https://goo.gl/Cz4kL6 Surely this is back on the air for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. "Merdeka Day" (Hari Merdeka [Malaysian for "Independence Day"]) - August 31, 1957 was the day that the Federation of Malaya gained its independence from British colonization; is a national holiday, with celebrations leading up to September 16 - "Malaysia Day," which commemorates the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia. 9835, Sarawak FM, via Kajang. Quick check at 1324, Aug 22, to catch ID and pop songs; fair. 11665, Limbang FM, via Wai FM, from Kajang. It's Monday (Aug 22), so time for another Limbang FM relay; 1315 started with mention of both "Limbang FM" and "Wai FM"; into the "Limbang FM" jingle; DJ in vernacular with pop songs; good reception. My audio at https://goo.gl/fw7l2E Aug 23, my reception of Asyik FM (6050 kHz.) was outstanding! Heard program of "Bollywood" pop Hindi songs after 1300 UT. Very good reception; much better than yesterday. Very listenable. My audio http://goo.gl/tRx6qn with montage of different Hindi songs and "Radio Malaysia Asyik FM ... Bollywood" ID (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX WORLD OF RADIO 1840, LISTENING DIGEST) RTM, 6050.011 kHz need further check after sunset this Aug 23, see some older observation in 2016: 6050.027 MLA Someone reported, RTM Kajang FM program back on air, heard with typical SoEaAsia singer at 0007 UT on April 7, S=9+25dB on remote SDR unit in eastern Thailand, thanks Uwe (wb df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 7) 0100-1600 6050 KAJ 10 kW non-dir to SoEaAS Malay RTM Asyik/Salam/Info FM Ivo - Believe Asyik FM briefly re-activated for a short time in April of this year[2016], after having been silent for many months before that, and has not been heard since April (Ron Howard-CA-USA, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 2) MALAYSIA/CHINA/ECUADOR 6050 kHz channel checked on various remote SDR installations this morning in 0930 to 1000 UT slot Aug 23, at Delhi, India, Tokyo / Kyoto Japan, Detroit Michigan USA, and Brisbane Queensland AUS. Footprints like this 6049.996 Quito EQA 6050.000 CNR Lhasa Tibet 6050.011 RTM Kajang, MLA. [WORLD OF RADIO 1840] Noise floor was -106dBm in Brisbane. But EQA and MLA signals were equal level of S=4-5 or -95dBm signal, before 1000 UT, but RTM Kajang unit signal appeared increased propagation during sunset around S=8 or -80dBm at 1020 UT on Aug 23 (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 23, dxldyg via DXLD) I heard it this morning as well. I wasn't sure what it was, thanks for the confirmation! 73s Rodney RTM Asyik FM, 1721 23 Aug 2016 http://swldx.tumblr.com/post/149368800502/rtm-asyik-fm-1721-23-aug-2016 This morning (23 Aug ~1245z-1430z) the 25m band had weak signals and high noise so I went to longer wavelengths. I heard recently reactivated RTM Asyik FM in MALAYSIA with pop music featuring microtonal vocals (which let me know it definitely wasn't PBS Xizang, or anything Chinese for that matter). Pretty Strong signal, almost as strong as Shiokaze. Heard over the last several days: RTM Asyik FM, 6050, 1356 23 AUG - RTM ASYIK FM (MALAYSIA). SINPO = 34323. ?Indian Language?, music with microtonal vocals male and female. 1404z female interviews male and female over the phone with many musical interludes. QRM=~4 kHz het. QSB=moderate-to-rapid rate, modulation on noisy carrier mostly just above the noise floor with occasional fades to mixing with or just below it. sf81.8, a5, k2, geomag: quiet. 100kw, beamAz 290 , bearing 334 . Sangean ATS505 with MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B used to preselect 37’ of 22- gauge wire connected to aluminum rain gutter along eave of roof above two story building. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 14248 km from transmitter at Kajang. Local time: 0656 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6050, Aug 24 at 1250, poor signal, low modulation? At 1305 it`s S5. Presumably Asyik FM, reactivated Aug 22 as reported by Ron Howard, he suggests leading up to Aug 31 independence day. Wolfgang Büschel measured this one 11 Hz high while Tibet was on 6050.000. 6050.003 to 6050.008, Aug 25 at 1247, two separate measurements of S3- S5 signal here presumed to be Asyik FM. Can`t get it up to 6050.011 where Wolfy put it the other day. Margin of error, or varies slightly? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. POPULAR MALI RADIO PRESENTER RELEASED: REPORTS http://www.france24.com/en/20160819-popular-mali-radio-presenter-released-reports (c) AFP | People demonstrate in front of Bamako's court in support of radio presenter Mohamed Youssouf Bathily [caption] 19 August 2016 - 07H05 BAMAKO (AFP) - A popular radio presenter in Mali who was arrested earlier this week was released Thursday, local media reported, a day after violent clashes between his supporters and police left one dead. Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, a government minister's son also known as "Rasbath", whose polemical presence on local radio has raised the ire of the authorities was arrested on allegations of "offending public decency" on August 15. "Rasbath has been released. Thanks to all for your wishes," artist and friend Yeli Mady Konate said on Facebook and Twitter on Thursday evening. Local websites also reported the presenter's release. In Wednesday protests over his arrest, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators who had gathered outside court to show their support for Rasbath, who had been due to appear in connection with the police investigation into whether he broke public morality rules. One person was killed in the skirmishes and 11 others injured and because of the unrest, the court hearing was postponed. Rasbath has accused President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of being unable to manage the Malian army and has attacked the prime minister and several senior military figures on his show "Carte sur table" (Card on the table). Political tensions over the army are high following a massacre on July 19 of 17 soldiers at a military camp in Nampala, central Mali, which also left dozens wounded. Rasbath had criticised top brass for what he said was poor leadership, making direct reference to the Nampala incident. The attack was claimed both by Ansar Dine Islamists and a newly formed group. (c) 2016 AFP (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** MALTA. 999 MW, R Malta. Can be heard regularly on daytime, since distance is only 630 km (groundwave), 1030-1210, Jul 28 and 29, nice music program featuring international successes of the 60s, 70s. Programming is in Maltese with occasional English talk. Several IDs “Radju Malta” and “Public Broadcasting Services”. Signal is weak but readable, 35553. On Aug 08 trip to the Sardinian East Coast: distance reduced by 100 km and signal increased. Also heard on car radio (Giovanni Carboni, S. Antioco island, Sardinia, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 540, MEXICO unidentified. 1000 August 21, 2016. Choral anthem under WFLF. Not the most common 1100 anthem time. Anyone know if XEWA spins the anthem at 1000, or was this someone else? (Terry L Krueger, All times/dates GMT, NRD-535, IC-R75, roof dipole, active MW loop, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 610, XEGS Guasave, Sin. AUG 3 1130 - National anthem, followed by music, mostly of the "banda" type, heavy on the tuba; the announcer was Horacio Rodríguez, "El Cotorro Madrugador". Fair signal but usually under KNML. Noted the national anthem several times at this time rather than at top of the hour (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO; Drake R8, 4-foot box loop, NRC IDXD via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 660, XECPR, Radio Chan Santa Cruz, Felipe Carillo Puerto, Quintana Roo. 1016 August 21, 2016. Probably my favorite XE. Nonstop cheesy cocktail jazz and tango instrumentals which turned out to be XECPR doing their apparently normal pre-formal sign-on, always something different musically. Into choral Mexico anthem from 1025, choral Quintana Roo state anthem from 1027, into soft Spanish vocal, then the lengthy female canned sign-on ID with calls, slogan and power, followed by shorter ID string by man, all in Spanish. Then uninterrupted very old Mexican folk and ranchera-type vocals, rising to excellent level until nearly 1100, then fading fast. Choral Mexican anthem at 1100 dominating, but this was merely XEDTL (Terry L Krueger, All times/dates GMT, NRD-535, IC-R75, roof dipole, active MW loop, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 870, Aug 23 at 1203, XETAR in sign-on procedure with slogan ``Cuatro pueblos unidos en una sola voz, La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara`` and immediately into one of those languages. Slightly after sunrise here now, we`ll be able to hear more and more of it in weeks to come (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RADIO CENTRO: BALANCE POSITIVO Desbalance 25 Agosto, 2016 El Universal La Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Radio y Televisión (CIRT) ha insistido en que el mercado de la radio no tiene el espacio para que haya más competidores, pues no hay publicidad suficiente. Pues bien, el reporte al segundo trimestre de 2016 de Grupo Radio Centro, que preside Francisco Aguirre, parece demostrar lo contrario. Nos dicen que los ingresos de la radiodifusora aumentaron 50% entre el segundo trimestre de 2015 y el mismo periodo de este año, alcanzando 359 millones de pesos, y la empresa detalla que el resultado se debe a una mayor inversión publicitaria en México, así como por los ingresos de transmisión de las estaciones, resultado de la fusión realizada el año pasado con una estación en Los Ángeles, California. [KXOS 93.9; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KXOS for chequered history --- gh] En otros temas, Radio Centro disminuyó sus gastos, que se habían incrementado en 2015 cuando tuvo que enfrentar el pago de la garantía de seriedad por 415 millones de pesos al desistirse de cubrir la contraprestación de la cadena de televisión abierta que ganó durante la licitación también realizada en 2015 (via Juan Carlos Crespo, Spain, DXLD) Flagship is XEQR 1030 if not migrated to FM (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week --- We have the agenda from the IFT's August 10 Pleno meeting, at which it was transfers, transfers, and more permit transfers. http://www.ift.org.mx/conocenos/pleno/sesiones/xxiv-ordinaria-del-pleno-10-de-agosto-de-2016 The IFT has been motoring through these at a breakneck pace. There were 44 public AMs and FMs, 12 public TVs, and 6 social FMs transferred, plus extension-transfers for XHRCV, XHTFM, XHMBM FM, and XHUNAM TV. They also handled a sale of shares in the concessionaire of XHOD and XHPM, in San Luis Potosí. Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa [taglines] Read the Mexico Beat | VC-Day is October 20. Follow all the new virtual channel assignments (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, Aug 18, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) The IFT did something again, but it's the buried story. Besides approving its budget http://www.ift.org.mx/comunicacion-y-medios/comunicados-ift/es/el-ift-aprueba-su-anteproyecto-de-presupuesto-para-el-ejercicio-fiscal-2017-comunicado-902016 (which was the big news) for fiscal year 2017, the IFT also approved sales in ownership stakes of six radio stations and... "...the Pleno approved a clarification to the text related to the planning and execution of the reordering of the 470-512 MHz band [TV channels 14-20], for its eventual exclusive use for broadcasting ... and modify the end date for this process to the second quarter of 2018, so it lines up with the 600 MHz repacking process..." The implication is that repacking of 600 MHz and clearing the 470-512 MHz band for exclusive broadcasting use will happen simultaneously in 2Q 2018. This makes some sense. In Mexico City, the land mobile uses that are holding channels 14 through 19 hostage need to be relocated elsewhere before TV stations such as Televisa (RF 44, 48, 49, 50) and XHHCU (45) can be relocated there or elsewhere. Opening up five or six new channels that had rarely been allocated provides enough room in many areas to take in stations that will be evicted from 600 MHz (Raymie, Aug 19, ibid.) XHCTMX-TDT Channel 29 (virtual 3.1 channel) on air their chromatic test signal bars in Mexico City and Mexico Valley. Last edited by RadarDX; 08-20-2016 at 09:07 PM. (RadarDX, ibid.) I just saw your tweet. That's biiiiiiiiiiiig news. The Mexico forum has the photos to prove it, too: Click image for larger version. Name: AYVKFXt.jpg Views: 11 Size: 24.7 KB ID: 19520 As a reminder, XHCTMX broadcasts with the highest ERP in the Imagen system so far, 295.411 kW, http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/86015_160803180414_5004.pdf from an antenna mounted 120 meters high on Imagen's FM tower on Cerro del Chiquihuite (19-32-02, 99-07-46). The antenna is directional to the south-southwest. And Imagen knows we're ready: https://twitter.com/GrupoImagenM/status/767115129062252544 Last edited by Raymie; 08-20-2016 at 04:57 PM (Raymie, ibid.) Ten Out of Ten When the national virtual channel scheme was approved two months ago, I opined that a massive land rush was about to happen for low numbers that didn't belong to a national network: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. I talked about state networks, local stations, and what they'd do to rebrand. We are nearing two months from VC-Day, which means that, under the terms of the Virtual Channel Guidelines, stations need to start promoting their virtual channel number changes. The IFT has not yet released its table of virtual channel allocations post-VC-Day, but Televisoras Grupo Pacífico has delivered the first volley, and they will move to channel 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw5qjPl5Ir8&feature=youtu.be in Obregón (and Mochis and Guaymas, by extension), Culiacán and Mazatlán on October 20, a week before VC-Day and the first day stations can use their new numbers. Edit (Sunday morning): Apparently someone saw an SPR promo saying their number after VC-Day will be 14. Canal Once is also apparently airing promos https://youtu.be/JL1zd-WcbOM about, as you might expect, channel 11. (And of course they geoblock it outside of Mexico — Gargadon, is there anything interesting in this video?) And Telemax has been given channel 15. Last edited by Raymie; 08-21-2016 at 01:02 PM (Raymie, Aug 20, ibid.) On the air by the end of September? Uh, right That's a pretty ambitious project. What they seem to be wanting are: 35 relay transmission sites with 200-watt transmitter, antenna, satellite dish & receiver (to pick up the programming from Monterrey), air conditioners, and transmission line. It appears they wish each site to be able to identify itself independently. They're specifying a PSIP inserter at each site, and a satellite receiver capable of inserting brief pieces of local programming from a 2TB hard drive under control from Monterrey. It is possible they're considering multiple program streams. They're specifying uplink site multiplexers and encoders with the ability to handle up to four programs. That said, it could just be for redundancy. The 35 sites are specified in the RFQ. Most are already authorized for operation at 500 watts or 1kw ERP. I haven't done the math but the specified transmitters, antennas, and feedline look about right for 1kw. Which doesn't explain why the RFQ asks for a propagation study assuming 150 watts (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com Aug 21, ibid.) It is possible they're considering multiple program streams. They're specifying uplink site multiplexers and encoders with the ability to handle up to four programs. That said, it could just be for redundancy. The 35 sites are specified in the RFQ. Most are already authorized for operation at 500 watts or 1 kW ERP. I haven't done the math but the specified transmitters, antennas, and feedline look about right for 1kw. Which doesn't explain why the RFQ asks for a propagation study assuming 150 watts. They might want separate PSIP inserters just for the calls. The state network will probably have one major channel, presumably 28. And I could see them doing multiple streams down the road (Raymie, Aug 21, ibid.) Yep, regarding the calls. What are the regulations regarding legal IDs in Mexico? Would it be legal to simply put up a slide on the network with the calls for all the stations? Honestly it seems like a lot of $$ to just get the right callsign in the PSIP. I certainly wouldn't buy equipment capable of only one stream. Unlike Canada, Mexican broadcasters and their government seem willing to consider multicasting & even if your station isn't doing it today, you probably will tomorrow! (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Aug 21, ibid.) You'd need to insert the slide every 30 minutes —*it might be possible to do that. Mostly I think it's been local insertion of one-station IDs, but it might be possible to have a two-slide station ID sequence with the different stations too (Raymie, Aug 21, ibid.) A GOLD MEDAL: MEXICO AND THE 2016 OLYMPICS [Please do not redistribute. Thanks.] http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?9113-OPMA-is-changing&p=41111#post41111 (Raymie, Aug 22, ibid.) Quote Originally Posted by Raymie: ``...We are nearing two months from VC-Day, which means that, under the terms of the Virtual Channel Guidelines, stations need to start promoting their virtual channel number changes. The IFT has not yet released its table of virtual channel allocations post-VC-Day, but Televisoras Grupo Pacífico has delivered the first volley, and they will move to channel 10 in Obregón (and Mochis and Guaymas, by extension), Culiacán and Mazatlán on October 20, a week before VC-Day and the first day stations can use their new numbers.`` I'm having trouble identifying their station in Mochis? I have XHLMI (Canal 5), XHMIS (Azteca 7), XHMSI (Azteca 13), and XHSIM. (Once) (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Aug 22, ibid.) Shadow XHI. It is basically operated as its own station and carries many different programs from Obregón. There's also a shadow in Guaymas (RF 34) which has a limited amount of local programming (Raymie, ibid.) I have the one in Guaymas but that's the only XHI shadow I'm finding. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong (Doug Smith W9WI, Aug 22, ibid.) Los Mochis isn't in the RPC for some reason. Pacífico was a fairly early digital builder (XHI was one of the first two digital stations in Sonora alongside XHOPHA Hermosillo) and it's likely that XHI's auth predates the RPC era, or the IFT in general. That said, we know where it broadcasts from — Cerro de la Memoria (remember the Televisoras Grupo Pacífico sign on one of the buildings on the mountain?). ——— And speaking of not in the RPC: Tests for Imagen have apparently begun in Saltillo, for XHCTSA on RF 26 with virtual channel 3.1. XHCTSA is one of the Trip 7 that still has not shown up in the RPC, so we know nothing about it (FCC technical details are generic placeholders and the coordinates are for Televisa). (Raymie, Aug 22, ibid.) When I think teachers in Mexico, I think of strikes. And strikes have been crippling to the start of the new school year in two states in particular: Oaxaca and Chiapas. Today, 52 percent of Oaxaca classrooms and 42 percent of those in Chiapas opened for business — and that's better than yesterday. http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/08/23/1112669#.V7ygKdD8qHU.twitter To fill the gap, and given that CORTV and Canal 10 just lost a lot of programming with the end of the Olympics, the two state networks are filling the gap by airing...classes! On CORTV, the Public Education Institute of Oaxaca (IEEPO) is providing "Educando TV", http://www.ieepo.oaxaca.gob.mx/inicia-ieepo-programacion-pedagogica-educando-tv/ with programming for all age groups from preschool to high school. Starting today, Canal 10 Chiapas is doing something similar with classes such as "Porfirio Díaz: La Bella Época" and "Formación Cívica y Ética 2", both geared to high school students. This is actually a really smart idea! The state networks' large transmitter networks make them ideal for this project (Raymie, Aug 23, ibid.) While doing some radio research, I came across this article http://expreso.press/2015/04/25/asi-crecio-la-radio-y-prensa-en-victoria/ which mentions something I cannot find evidence of: the apparent first FM in Ciudad Victoria, Tamps., an "XERCM" branded as Radio Cultural Mexicana which signed on in 1968. The article states that it was located on the Hotel Sierra Gorda and featured the first female radio announcer in the area. (The hotel still exists, in downtown Victoria.) It is not in any sources I have, there is no mention of it in the DOF or anything. The "Master List" from 1970 only included commercial stations, so something like this wouldn't be on it. In general, permit stations prior to the late 80s/90s are slippery. Here's another article http://www.janambre.com.mx/2011/08/21/si-viviera-la-periodista-cuquis-garza-tuviera-66-anos-como-la-ve/ about that female radio announcer, a reprint of an interview that was done with her before she died in September 2004; it also mentions she also worked in TV at XHUT-13 (which apparently was once the local station in Victoria, displaced by XHCVI-26) and at local cable channel 10. ——— We return to the present day from a notable item in RadioNotas http://radionotas.com/indagan-probables-concentraciones-ilicitas-en-radio/ that's not a format change. (RadioNotas is seriously good at those and worth a check from time to time — it covers the US, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Colombia — but it also likes to post press release rehashes, at least in the US.) The IFT's Investigative Authority is launching an investigation into potential illegal market concentrations in the radio business. The public notice went out in Monday's DOF http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5448847&fecha=22/08/2016 and could have a substantial impact on the business if the IFT takes serious action. Here's what the most important part says: "This Investigative Authority believes that the facts and circumstances identified in the evidence it has could refer to the creation of one or more concentrations of economic agents that could have had as their aim or effect to present obstacles to, diminish, damage or impede the free competition or economic competition in the market of use and commercial operation of spectrum to provide the public service of radio broadcasting in national territory." The IFT is more sensitive than its regulatory predecessors to market concentration. There's a clause in IFT-4, for instance, that prevents dominant radio players in a given area from attempting to bid for more stations in that area (Raymie, Aug 24, ibid.) The IFT has deposited information with the FCC for a technical change in Saltillo. You may recall that shadow XHAW-TDT in the Coahuila state capital could not broadcast on the usual RF channel 25 because of the presence of analog XHSTC. Now that the analog station is gone, Multimedios has filed to move XHAW to RF channel 25. The move also will coincide with a power increase from 12.25 to 37.5 kW ERP. We have seen some power hikes at Mexican digital stations recently as a result of the end of analog, including at Multimedios (Raymie, Aug 25, ibid.) UNA VOZ CON TODOS Official image of the virtual channel 14.1 for the signal: una voz con todos. Click image for larger version. Name: frecuencia_spr.jpg Views: 10 Size: 881.3 KB ID: 19567 http://forums.wtfda.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=19567&d=1472139586&thumb=1 (RadarDX Aug 25, ibid.) I've got another thread on here http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?10958-Mexican-virtual-channel-assignments-after-VC-Day for virtual channels and the SPR change is on it. Todavía estoy a la espera de promocionales en casi todas las diversas estaciones locales. (Raymie, Aug 25, ibid.) Viz.: MEXICAN VIRTUAL CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTS AFTER VC-DAY As reported on the Mexico forum and by the broadcasters themselves. Will be updated as assignments are in. Anything with an *asterisk* is a prediction. 2 National: Las Estrellas* 3 National: Imagen 4 5 National: Canal 5* 6 7 National: Azteca 7* 8 9 10 Televisoras Grupo Pacífico (Obregón, Mochis, Culiacán, Mazatlán) XHFW (Tampico) 11 National: Canal Once (in areas where the IPN operates its own transmitter) 12 13 National: Azteca 13* 14 National: SPR 15 Telemax (Sonora) 26 TVMÁS (Veracruz) https://twitter.com/TVMASVeracruz/status/767779270336745472 Last edited by Raymie; 08-23-2016 at 12:22 PM. (Raymie, Aug 21 originally, ibid.) Raymie, could you tell me more about what this is about? Is this about the Mexico cable/satellite system? How does the lineup look currently? (Rrrrzzzz419, Aug 21, ibid.) Almost all Mexican virtual channels are being remapped on October 20 (nominally the 27th, but it looks like everyone is changing their number on the first day they can do so) — essentially, the whole country is going from a "virtual channels match old analog numbers" scheme to a "virtual channels match network identities and are assigned for a whole network" scheme. The reason why is because, honestly, it makes a lot of sense for Mexico: -Canal 5 is 5 or 105 on most cable systems. However, currently, OTA viewers have to tune in to the old analog numbers for Canal 5 - in some areas, that's 2, in others, it's 7 or 47 or even 64. The other national networks are similar. The idea is that consistency is king; I can go from Culiacán to Coatzacoalcos and know that Canal 5 is on 5, Azteca 7 is on 7, etc. -New entrants are almost universally on UHF, while old-line Mexican analog stations were predominantly on VHF. In Mexico City — the city where the least changes will happen — Imagen will enter the market on RF channel 29 and, in a "normal" ATSC context, would be assigned a virtual channel of 29. That's far away from 2, 5, 7 and 13. Instead, it looks like Imagen will use channel 3 — much closer to its competitors and less likely to put them at a competitive disadvantage. -Mexican television is more centralized than in the United States or Canada, the other large countries in ATSC-land. Three of its four large commercial networks brand with their Mexico City channel numbers (and have for decades), and so too do several of its largest national public services (Canal Once and Canal 22). There are also fewer local and regional stations that are being displaced than there would be if the United States attempted this. It is much easier — and, honestly, preferable — to break with the norm here. -56% of Mexicans rely on broadcast television. Cable numbers don't mean much in that environment. -There was no regulation on virtual channels in place, and there were stations not using their analog numbers. Examples include XHBG (analog 13 but RF and virtual 27) in Michoacán, noncommercial stations such as the Chiapas state network (two transmitters in digital, analog 10 and 9 but virtual 44 and 48), and the university station in Nuevo León (analog 53 but RF and virtual 35). (Raymie, Aug 21, ibid.) So what you are saying is everybody in Mexico will get the same channels on the same number after this is finished? (R---z, ibid.) Correct, though obviously the local and regional stations will still be local and regional. But even for something like Multimedios, which is one of the few examples of a regional network, viewers in Multimedios territory will all see Multimedios on the same virtual channel (presumably 12).(Raymie, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. 12035. August 19, 2016. 0942-0948, Voice of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolian. Female and male announcers talks; a song. VOM has a poor signal and barely audible modulation, 25431 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 7200.0, Myanmar Radio. Bad news for Myanmar here! In the recent past RTI & CNR1 jamming ended at 1300*, leaving frequency very clear for decent Myanmar Radio reception, but not so on Aug 23. For some reason RTI stayed on past 1300 (noted at 1328) and mixed with Myanmar. If RTI continues on past 1300, then CNR1 jamming will start up also, to completely block Myanmar reception, which will be an unfortunate development! (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 9925, Aug 21 at 0132 immediately following Kim`s radiogramette, a 2-hour The Mighty KBC this week presents Doctor Eric with a lexure with SFX about farts, which he finds endlessly amusing. Such company Kim keeps! The Farty KBC? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. PCJ From the Radio Nederlands Archives AWOL Last Night? It seems it was Brother Stair all night. Was I on the wrong frequency, Kenneth? (Richard Langley, aug 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, the drawback of publicity too far in advance, so forgot to remind of this until now: [as corrected: frequencies were reversed at first] ``From The Radio Netherlands Archives Part 2 - PCJ Radio International August 21st and 22nd PCJ Radio International will present part 2 of From The Radio Netherlands Archives. In the first program we played a mix bag of stuff. But in program two the focus will be on news and documentaries. You will hear Ginger Da Silva, Eric Beauchemin, Pete Myers and more. There will be a special E-QSL issued for this program. PCJ Radio International’s partner stations will receive this program in two parts. The program will be presented by Paulette MacQuarrie. Europe: 0600 to 0800 UT – 7780 kHz August 21, 2016 [Sunday] North America: 0100 to 0300 UT – 7570 kHz August 22, 2016 [UT Monday] For more information contact PCJ at pcj@pcjmedia.com (Keith Perron, August 3, WORLD OF RADIO 1837, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I noted the frequencies had been reversed and had Thomas Witherspoon correct the posting on his site last night. I recorded 7780 kHz. Wasn't there. Did I make a mistake? Can anyone confirm the program went out on this frequency at the scheduled time? (Richard Langley, NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Richard, I also recorded the wrong frequency, but when I checked the right one at 0715 UT, Brother Scare was on there, in fact he was on both frequencies at that time. I even checked the PCJ website just to see which frequencies should have been active, but still only heard Brother Scare ranting away on there (Alan Gale, ibid.) ?? BS heard on the PCJ website?? (gh, DXLD) Let's see if it shows up on 7570 in a few minutes (Richard Langley, 0054 UT Aug 22, ibid.) Hi Richard, Nothing so far, just Brother Scare playing his trumpet again (Alan Gale, 0102 UT, ibid.) After 0100 UT August 22, both 7570 and 7780 are Brother Scare. Perhaps WRMI forgot about these bookings too. Only Keith can explain. So we can go back to watching the pretty big show from Rio, closing ceremony (at least on NBC, not claiming to be live). And/or overlapping Brain Dead from CBS at 0200 UT -- hilarious take on Washington politix (Glenn Hauser, 0113 Monday Aug 22, ibid.) Glenn, Re: FROM THE RADIO NETHERLANDS ARCHIVES PART 2: Due to a technical problem the program has been re-scheduled to next week! Europe - 0600-0800 UT [Sun] August 28, 2016 Frequency: 7780 kHz North America - 0100-0300 UT [Mon] August 29, 2016 Frequency: 7570 kHz (from http://www.pcjmedia.com/ via gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 7245.005, R NZ International from Rangitaiki site, long path reception via southern Pacific, Easter Island, Ecuador, Colombia, Antilles, Azores, into southern Europe, Germany and Switzerland. At 0820 UT on Aug 18, S=6 or -86dBm strength (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 18 via DXLD) Aug 27: 7425 QSY ** NIGERIA. 7254.922, Voice of Nigeria, Ikorodu, WAf music, English service scheduled at 0816 UT on Aug 18. S=6-7 or -89dBm signal strength (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 18, via DXLD) 7254.925, Aug 19 at 0558, VON is S9+20 with tuning signal of percussion cacophony, one of the neatest ones, and this time comes thru unscathed and fully modulated; 0600 YL exclaims ``Nigeria``, opening Hausa hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7254.924, Aug 24 at 0554, VON is already on with a song at S9+30, enough to overcome the S9 computer noise I haven`t turned off yet. 0556 goes to dead air, presumably about to start its cacophonous tuning signal prior to Hausa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 7255. August 24, 2016. 1859-1910, Voice of Nigeria, Abuja- lugbe, in English. Female announcer talks, ID. 1900 Female and male announcers talks. Broadcasting with fair signal, distorted audio and in collision with China Radio International in Kurdish, on 7255 kHz (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103+Sony ICF-SW100S, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, HCDX via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. 17765. August 23, 2016. 1652-1700, Manara Radio, Issoudun, in Hausa. Male announcer talks; ID oftentimes and off at 1700UT. Station with fair signal and modulation, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. RADIO FREE WHATEVER: 8040/AM, 2206-2219+, 14-Aug; DJ Dick Weed & side kick Slevin with hard rock; program off with Russian Nat’l Anthem & right into a new RFW program. SIO=3+53 (Frodge-MI) 8065/AM, 1524-1535+, 15-Aug; Sounds like a repeat of same program from yesterday on 8040; hard rock to DJ Dick Weed banter at 1533, then Russian anthem. Peaks above QRN. Maybe a tad above 8065. (Frodge-MI) SOFT ROCK RADIO: 8055/AM, 2135-2155+, 17-Aug; Mostly 70s pop tunes; diabetes & hepatitis C PSAs @2142, then softrockradio.net spot. Web site is valid, but not very revealing; they have a DONATE option. Sig all over the map from zilch to 454. (Frodge-MI) UNIDs: 8040/AM, 2223-2232+, 13-Aug; 2M+W talking about bullying and why men start wars. The W was obviously a die-hard pacifist saying there was no need to start wars. We can negotiate anything we want. (Al Capone supposedly said, “You can get more with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word.”) SIO=353 (Frodge-MI) 8055/AM, 1504-1528, 18-Aug; M talking about his radios, program, SW, etc.; mentioned someone about meeting him in Montreal; presume a pirate relay. Disappeared suddenly about 1520:30 — off for a little over 2 minutes, then back with rock & oldies music & better 353 sig. Decent peaks, but very fady before 1520. (Frodge) 8065/AM, 1507-1524+, 16-Aug; Lotsa DJ chatter + rock & Monster Mash version called Monster Hash? In/out of the QRN. +++ [same], 1827-1840+, 16-Aug; 70s pop tunes including Shambala, I’m Leaving It Up to You & If You Don’t Know Me By Now; No announcements between tunes. Peaks above QRN +++ [same same] 2223-2236+, 16-Aug; 70s pop tunes continue; no anmts. SIO=353 +++ [same3] 1459-1513+, 17-Aug; Pop/rock tunes & no anmts. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow- tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. PIRATE-NA. UNID, 8040 AM, 0116-0432 fade, 08-14-16 SIO: 454/343. Tune in playing oldies such as “Hot Child In The City”, then around 0135 relayed an old Radio Free Whatever show featuring Dick Weed. Very nice steady signal throughout. Also on 8060, 8055 various days. [Lobdell-MA] PIRATE-NA. Captain Morgan, 6924.1 AM, 0524-0540+, [date missing] SIO: 343. Rock tunes by Steppenwolf, Paul Simon, Everclear. Bee Gees. ID by The Good Captain said he was testing to New Zealand (Chris Lobdell, Tewksbury, MA USA, Receivers: Eton E1, JRC NRD-535, Aerial: G5RV Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-USB, Aug 21 at 0101, big S9+30 signal with blues music, surely Wolverine Radio – yes, as per quick ID at 0104, more music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 930, Aug 21 at 1200 UT, ID in Spanish from WKY, as a Cumulus station, pronouncing the call letters in English, and introducing the following ``programa pagado``, `Sunday Morning Magazine`, in English, YL interviewing YL about American Cancer Society, some fund-raising event involving dogs, relay-for-life. Also on 640 KWPN Moore, same show running about 10 seconds ahead. I thought this was a ``public service`` program, not a paid one, as they have lots of different guests from the community, not an infomercial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1210, Aug 19 at 0136 UT, loud C&W music at S9+15, so KGYN Guymon has again failed to null toward Philadelphia and us at night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And subsequently ** OKLAHOMA. 1640, KZLS Enid made it all the way to Patagonia, per this DX-pedition: https://lagalenadelsur.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/pescando-radioemisoras-distantes-desde-la-patagonia-pantanito-dx-camp-2016/ including a 4-second clip of the KZLS ID, with misunderstood calls: https://youtu.be/4p8dsn3TGLw Altho seldom reported down there beyond WTNI, it`s not too surprising as KZLS has a tight beam SSE toward OKC and beyond, even with only 1 kW at night (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 9540, R Sultanate of Oman, Thumrait, 0258-0320, Jul 31, Arabic music until 0300, then jingle, ID, news in English, music, 33443 (Alexander A. Beryozkin, St. Petersburg, Russia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) 11650, Aug 19 at 0122, RSO is S7 with Qur`an on its unscheduled overnight frequency, and lucks out with 11670 RHC splatter not reaching down this far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. I was checking 15730 to see if PAK was on air this morning at around 0650 UT when a carrier of fair to good strength came on, and this began to emit wideband noise. I had to go out soon afterwards so don't know what happened after 0700. Possibly some sort of utility ??? 73 from (Noel Green, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. Assistant Chief Engineer http://lesea.com/about-us/job-opportunities/#popup-tab03 Description: LeSEA Broadcasting seeks a full-time Assistant Chief Engineer for our international shortwave broadcast station in Palau. Christian programs comprise the majority of the schedule, plus a variety of talk, music and live programs. Required Skills: basic knowledge of electronics theory and transmitters. Familiarity with test equipment used for troubleshooting (oscilloscope, impedance meter, etc). Experience with motor and pump rebuilding desirable. The Assistant Chief Engineer must be experienced with electronics maintenance and understand principles of transmitter design. Experience with high power AM transmitters, power generation equipment, and C-band satellite receive systems is desirable. Duties include preventive maintenance, component level troubleshooting, and spare parts ordering. Additional duties will include but not be limited to: operating Control Room equipment. Please send resumé and cover letter in confidence to: hr@lesea.com (via Indiana Radio Watch Aug 18 via John Carver, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3260, NBC Madang, 1207, Aug 23. In Pidjin; phone numbers to call in the answers to a brief quiz (two questions) about the PNG Parliament; suddenly off at 1210* (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also BOUGAINVILLE ** PERU. 5980.02, Aug 19 at 0101, R. Chaski is stronger than usual, S8 but at least that much storm noise too; can tell there is some talk modulation, not just a JBA carrier, until autocutoff at 0104:36*, which is 46 seconds later than last catch one week ago, Aug 12 until 0103:50*, or averaging 6.57 seconds later each night. 5980, Aug 21 at 0105, JBA carrier from R. Chaski until autocutoff at 0104:48.5*, which is 12.5 seconds later than two nights ago, Aug 19 until 0104:36*, averaging 6.25 seconds later per (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 7410, FEBC at 1200 sign-on, Aug 17th, musical IS into choir music, sign-on announcements in listed Cambodian over music, 1201 schedule given, music bridge and Cambodian song or hymn at 1202, SINPO-25342, poor (Harold Sellers, Vernon BC, Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening, available at http://www.odxa.on.ca dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 15190. August 19, 2016. 1740-1750, Radyo Pilipinas, Tinang, in Tagalog. Female and male announcers talks, conversation, laughs; 1745 A song; talks continues, all in Tagalog (Filipino). Very good signal and modulation, 45544. Note: Rádio Inconfidência, Brazil, is off (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** PUNTLAND. / SOMALIA. Recent monitoring of R. Puntland -- Since tracing it on Aug 2nd, I tried to monitor Radio Puntland or Puntland Radio One every day on 13800. Usually I tried in the range 0600-0700, 0800/0900+, 1200, and 1400-1500+, sometimes also around 1700, but of course I couldn't check all days every day, but most days I did two or three or more checks. A synopsis of the results: 1. The station was on air more or less every day, but usually not continuously throughout the day. Occasionally the station was already on air when R. Dabanga left 13800 at 0558, but usually it signed on later in the morning. It was on air very often in the early afternoons (around 1400), but rarely after 1500, and remained unheard throughout the evenings. I found no trace of it on alternative 6160 channel in the evenings, though not checked very often. If on air early in the morning, there was likely a break later, before it returned in the afternoon. 2. The signal strength varied greatly. It could reach remarkable quality both in the morning and the afternoon on central european receivers, even for hours, but did not reach that level regularly, so possibly not with full power every day. Modulation was generally fine. Usually in CUSB mode with relatively strong carrier, but on one occasion I clearly heard little modulation also in the lower side band. 3. As well as broadcasting times, programme content seemed to follow no pattern. There are long periods of talk (monologue as well as some talk show or lively entertainment format) as well as long periods of non-stop HOA music or Qur`an chanting. No news or ID at hourtops, rarely pre-recorded English ID within the musical parts. Seems to be mostly still "testing" or "filling material" of random prerecorded content. 73 (thorsten hallmann, germany (off for holiday from tomorry, without computer or receiver), Aug 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Weak signal of Puntland Radio One, Aug 23: from 1458 13800 GRW 020 kW / non-dir EaAf Music CUSB & off air at 1508 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2016/08/weak-signal-of-puntland-radio-one-aug23.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio Sakha, via Yakutsk. What is happening with them? Aug 19, at 1150, tuned in to 7295 to find a very nice signal; clearly the stronger transmitter here, but wait - 7345 was also doing very well against CNR1; also sounded like as strong a transmitter as 7295. Is it possible they have TWO high powered transmitters now? Needs more monitoring. At 1218 was hearing the same situation, both doing well. Or could it just be strange propagation? But don't think so. For the past several weeks 7345 was clearly with the stronger transmitter and 7295 was mostly unusable with the weaker transmitter, so today was a real change (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Aug 20 at 1259, weak signal from R. Sakha, some music and talk, timesignal about 5 seconds late at 1300, and carrier goes off at 1302*. Other frequency 7345 at 1259 is blocked by Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Radio Sakha, via Yakutsk, 1300*, Aug 23 (Tuesday). Off after usual IS and time pips. Have not checked weekend schedule recently. Aug 23, noted this interesting item from Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan): "7395 kHz is "Radio Sakha" ! // 7295 and 7345 kHz. Spur?" (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) leapfrog ** RUSSIA. [harmonics] Fwd: [vhfskip] 44553 kHz R. Rossii solved ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "'Jurgen Bartels' Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 10:48:47 +0200 Subject: [vhfskip] 44.553 R. Rossii solved To: skywavesDX@yahoogroups.co.uk, vhfskip@yahoogroups.com Several times I found R. Rossii on 44.553 MHz with 30..50 kHz bandwidth. During a recent OIRT opening I compared signals to find one with identical time delay and bandwidth. I found a match with Kursk and Nizhni Novgorod. I also recorded 44.553, it was Vesti time (national news) and I hoped for a local ID afterwards. But nothing. Victor listened to my clip and to my surprise found it was regional news, not the national I had assumed. And it covered from Kursk. There is a transmitter at 1.5 x 44.553 = 66.82 in Lgov (KU) with 180W. And 66.82 runs with 60 kHz bandwidth. Bingo !!! so perhaps this leak gets radiated: 4 x 11.13 MHz 2 x 22.27 MHz Jurgen Bartels Suellwarden, N. Germany Ant. hor: 29-45MHz 7-el, 45-87MHz 11-el, FM 15.11, Band-3:13-el, UHF:48-el TV: Winradio G305 / Fly2000 + video noise filter & variable IF BW FM: Downconverter + Perseus + Speclab as WFM demod. 27-1000MHz: Airspy with HDSDR MW: 30 x 4m EWE 320 with JB-terminator, Winradio & Perseus http://zeiterfassung.3sdesign.de/station_list.htm StationList http://zeiterfassung.3sdesign.de/stationlist-m.htm StationList-M for Android http://dx.3sdesign.de/tv_offset_list.htm (via Tim Bucknall, Congleton, UK, UK Director @KresySiberia, harmonics yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** SAO TOME. SÃO TOMÉ, 1530 MW, Voice of America, Pinheira, 2050-2200, Jul 30, English news at 2100. From 2050 to 2100 // 4940. African music, very good reception 55544. Jul 31 at 1950-2000, French with Blues music featuring B.B. King. From 2000 English program “Music Time in Africa” with contemporary pop from African countries, very good, 55544. From 2000 // 4930 (very poor). Can be heard regularly every night (Giovanni Carboni, S. Antioco island, Sardinia, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. Radio Saudi - Riyadh 15435 was clobbering WRMI on 15440 at 1700 - 1800 utc on August 20. Radio Saudi was 20 over 9 into western Wisconsin splattering 9+ khz either side of 15435. On purpose? *;) winking (Steve Boe, K9BBV, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I have noticed that too; each strong enough here to splatter upon the other, reduced with U/LSB tuning; need to be separated further (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15170.058 odd fq, BSKSA Riyadh Holy Quran program in progress, at 0315 UT on Aug 21, S=7 or -85dBm signal in Australia (Wolfgang Büschel, Some monitoring in our August 21 morning, used remote SDR units in Delhi-India, Brisbane-Queensland Australia, Kyoto/Tokyo-Japan, and Doha Qatar, [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz], wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 20/21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. [re 16-33, all MW closed] This might be premature. R. Televizia, Novi Sad, 1269 kHz, was logged on July 3, per a report in the August 4 edition of the mv-eko from the Arctic Radio Club. Further research is needed to determine the current status of MW in Serbia. (Bruce Conti, mwmasts yg via DXLD) Bruce, As far as I am aware my own investigations have not yet brought fresh evidence. I look forward to any conclusions which come from your own enquiries. Given the big reductions in power used by the Serbian stations recently monitoring will need to have been carried out either from neighbouring countries or through remote receivers based in neighbouring countries (Dan Goldfarb, ibid.) I checked now via Austria remote receiver and I hear only Kuwait and UAE. The closure should have taken place on 11th July (Mauno Ritola, Aug 20, ibid.) WORLD OF RADIO 1840, Mauno Ritola, thank you for checking. The WRTH update doesn't list its sources, and I haven't been able to find any more info about Serbia MW closure on the internet. I updated my silent MW countries list. 73 -- (Bruce Conti, *¡BAMLog!* http://www.bamlog.com ibid.) Actually the question is, from where. The transmitter site was in recent years designated as Srbobran (in the past it was just "Novi Sad" which says nothing). Now look at the given location: https://binged.it/2bDBi3q The place looks as if it could have been a mediumwave facility with two antenna systems, but not necessarily. Was this really the 750 kW facility? If so it hardly looks as if the recent low power operation could still have originated from there (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Kai and other members, Two things have come from my investigations. One is to see clear evidence at Orlovat of a pair of masts which might have supported the recent station on 1269 kHz. Secondly the Serbian / Yugoslav authorities registered Srbobran (under the title Novi Sad) with ITU as having 750 kW as a declared maximum power. I am not sure how much further this takes us but it may help. 73 and 88 (Dan, ibid.) I think it's rather pointless to speculate about the situation after 1999, up to a few weeks ago. The former high power facility at Srbobran no longer exists, that's the only thing that can be said for sure (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, Wantok FM relay via SIBC, 1201 on Aug 19. Open carrier, went into non-stop EZL songs till 1210*. Wish they had stayed on longer! (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020, SIBC, 1236-1327*, Aug 24. Extended long past their normal 1200*; they must have seen my recent comment: "Wish they had stayed on longer!" when on Aug 19 they went off at 1210*. Today non-stop EZL songs; promo (once again time for St. Joseph's Catholic Secondary School at Tenaru to stage their annual grand bazaar this coming Saturday, at the Tenaru school grounds; games for kids; selling raffle tickets; chances to win great prizes; also with live entertainment), ad ("Mobile One") and health PSA, all in English. Not even one ID the whole time, so unable to confirm if SIBC program or Wantok FM relay, but in the past Wantok FM always gave numerous IDs, unlike today's total lack of any IDs. My audio at http://goo.gl/Al1w6a (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 11945.045, Aug 21 at 0559, BBCWS promo at S4, 0601 news, but chopped off air at 0602:25* during Olympic news in English. Such time and frequency sloppiness smax of SENTECH or maybe UAE. Yes, HFCC shows it`s Meyerton at 0500-0600, 250 kW at 19 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 15770, Overcomer Ministry via WRMI Radio Miami Int’l; 1849-1905+, 15-Aug; Bro. HyStairical with nothing very controversial other than claiming to be a prophet to 1859+ WRMI spot. 1900 B.S., sounding very laryngitic, expounding on what a terrible country the U.S.A. is. SIO=2+53 fady; // 15440 also via WRMI, SIO=353 (B.S. should look into RHC airing him. Raul might run his anti-U.S. rants free of charge.) 13695, Overcomer Ministry via WRMI Radio Miami Int’l (presumed); 1914, 18-Aug; Bro. HyStairical on a Hauser rant; repeat of rant heard numerous times before — the one mentioning mockers & scoffers; into rant about “Vene-zoo-eela” and bringing up his encounter with a Wall Street Journal reporter. An oldy but a goody. SIO=454 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 15500, Sun Aug 21 at 2251, S9+10 open carrier/dead air - surely it`s REE on late past normal 2200*, yet failing to modulate. 17855 is also still on and modulating Olympic coverage, much stronger than // 17715 S9, and >> // 15390 S8. 2259 announcement about closing ceremony, 2301 sign-off saying we should stay tuned for the closing but on internet and TDT (DTV), not SW. Then playing IS on all four frequencies until 2305 open carriers; 2312, 17855 is still dead air along with 15500; 2326 check all are off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, Aug 19 at 0115:18, two pips of mis-timesignal, right on mis-schedule, JB audible after SLBC music prélude, S2. 11905, Aug 21 at 0115, S3 music, and 2+1 mis-timesignal ending at 0115:07, which is 10-11 seconds earlier than usual, and has sometimes happened before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 11750. August 23, 2016. 1726-1735, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Trincomalee, in Sinhala. Female and male announcers talks and birds singing underground; a song. SLBC with fair signal and modulation, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. I’m hearing South Sudan's Eye Radio in English at 1635 on 17730 kHz. discussing recent events in the country. Not sure of the transmitter site. Could it be TDF’s facility in Issoudun? It’s weak ranging from barely audible peaking at about an S5 on the E1’s meter (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Eton E1XM, A/D DX Sloper, Aug 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE, Eye Radio via TDF Issoudun on Aug 23: 1600-1640 on 17730 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Arabic/English 1640-1700 on 17730 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Various langs http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/radio-al-mukhtar-eye-radio-via-tdf.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey, 11980, 0358 22 AUG - SINPO = 35323. ?Middle Eastern Language?, oud/flute music, frequency announcement by female at 0357z followed by more of same music (Int. Sig.?). 4 pips at 0400z fb news by same female announcer. 0404z male and female announcers alternating with string music in bg. 0408z musical selection, male vocalist (not microtonal, but western scales), strings and woodwinds but a pretty standard ‘4 on the floor’ drum part played on a western kit. QSB=rapid-to-ff, fluttery but strong modulation mostly well above the noise floor but flutter fades to mixing with it. sf76.8, a10, k2, geomag: quiet. 500kw, beamAz 310 , bearing 23 . Sangean ATS505 with MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B tuner used to preselect Magic Wand Antenna hanging indoors on west wall. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 11024 km from transmitter at Emirler. Local time: 2058 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9770, Aug 21 at 0123, TRT Spanish music is ruined by rapid IADs at the rate of 5 times per second. But // 9870 is OK altho as always weaker, S6. One would have thought a same defective audio feed would have gone into both Emirler transmitters. 0131 recheck, 9770 is off the air, and then back on at S9 in pop music without the IADs. 9770, Aug 22 at 0132 as I am tuning up the 9 MHz band, NO signal from VOT in Spanish, so I bet it`s on the wrong frequency again, 9830 which was last used in English before 2300. Yes! There it is, 9830, S7-S8 at 0132 in Spanish // S5 9870 undermodulated. 9836 at 0134 has a noise blob, and another one around 9824, so I suspect those are parasites from 9830, but which sounds OK on fundamental. However, at 0156 after 9830 is off, still a blob on 9836 but not 9824. Another suspect source is 9855- Albania which I think has put out such spurs audible in Europe, but normally too weak to carry them on to here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9830. August 23, 2016. 0108-0145, Voice of Turkey, Emirler, in Spanish. Male announcer presents news; ID; 0117 La Prensa Turca de Hoy: more news; 0128 Costumbres y Tradicones de los Turcos: el pueblo de Anatolia. Unusual frequency of VOT in Spanish (0100-0200), with very good signal and modulation, 45544. Parallel logs on 9870, with interference by All India Radio on 9870; 9770 is off. 11930. August 23, 2016. 1715-1725, Voice of Turkey, Emirler, in Spanish. A song; ID, website; Turkish songs; ID, all addresses, IS; it´s off at 1725 (not 1730 UT). VOT with fair signal and modulation, 35433 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX). Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 9770 // 9870, Aug 24 at 0134, VOT Spanish is back on correct frequencies this time, instead of 9830 replacing 9770; but very poor. K index at 0000 was 5 after G1 storms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9770. August 24, 2016. 0143-0155, Voice of Turkey, Emirler, in Spanish. Turkish songs; female and male announcers talks, ID, sked in Spanish, all addresses, IS. Frequency with good signal and modulation (yesterday is off), 45444. Parallel logs on 9870, with slight interference by All India Radio on 9870, 44433; and 9830 kHz is off (yesterday was on air). (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Degen DE1103+Sony ICF-SW100S, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, HCDX via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. 15239.974, Sat Aug 20 at 1645 tune-in, WWRB is already radiating Radio Munansi, and in English! And modulation is OK! No dropouts. Interview of man by woman, both American accented, about people in northern Uganda, something like Ocholiland? (maybe Kotido in the NE corner?) being exterminated by Pres. Muséveni who is waging war on that area. 1659 to hilife music running thru hourtop, 1706 starts lo-fi audio of news in English about Uganda; 1711 ``thank you for listening`` but goes into a fade, music. 1728 recheck, now in Luganda(?) mentioning ``shortwave``. 1805 is still weak; 1901 this week WWRB canned ID and off. To resume Sunday 1600-1900v. 15240-, Sunday August 21 at 1720 tune-in, no signal from R. Munansi via WWRB. But no signal either from 15825 neighbor WWCR, so could it be bad propagation? Its other 3 frequencies, 13845, 12160, 9980 are at normal loud levels. But 1724 recheck, now WWRB is on 15240- in presumed Luganda at VG level, so a momentary break, or totally late coming on today past 1600 or 1700? That means 15825 WWCR must really be AWOL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. 9410.103, very ODD frequency. BBC Arabic from Al Dhabbaya relay site in UAE. S=9+10dB noted at remote Doha Qatar SDR unit installation. At 0352 UT on Aug 21. 15359.984, odd fq. IBB Mashaal Radio in Pashto language, via UAE Al Dhabbaya site, signing-on at 0400 UT, their scheduled service til 0700 UT. S=5-6 poor signal noted at Kyoto/Tokyo Japan remote SDR installation (Wolfgang Büschel, Some monitoring in our August 21 morning, used remote SDR units in Delhi-India, Brisbane-Queensland Australia, Kyoto/Tokyo-Japan, and Doha Qatar, [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz], wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 20/21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. 11875, ENGLAND. Ibra Radio-Woofferton, at 1957, on 19 Aug, in an Unknown language. The station appears to be getting heavy interference by a very loud blob of noise starting at 11865- 11875. The noise level is constant and very strong. S8-S9 -78 dBm. Ibra Radio went off the air at 1959. Poor (John Cooper, Lebanon PA, ODXA YRX via DXLD) That`s about where RNA 11780 Brazil had been putting out blobspurs, tho here that early in afternoon, never strong enough (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBCWS OVER TO YOU - THE HOME OF BBC MONITORING http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p044jj9h The Home of BBC Monitoring --- Over to You on BBCWS A tour of Caversham Park before it closes - the home of BBC Monitoring - a historical BBC World Service department which has been monitoring some of the world’s most seismic events for 75 years. Caversham Park became the BBC Monitoring Headquarters in 1941 and in light of recent news that, due to a £4million pound funding cut, it’ll be closing its doors for good, Rajan Datar visits the iconic building. Coordinating Editor, Chris Greenway gives a tour of the building and a sense of its history, while Lina Shaikouni gives a taste of what the service provides today. Radio Times give the schedule for Over to You on the BBCWS DAB channel here in the UK as Saturday 20 Aug at 2050 BST (1950 UTC) Sunday 21 Aug at 1050 BST (0950 UTC) Posted by: (Dave Kenny, Aug 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST Also goes out at 1950 UT (except Africa), 2150 UT (for Africa), and 0950 UT tomorrow morning on the WS feeds. Uncertain whether any of these are going out over SW transmitters or, if so, whether they'd be audible in NA or Europe. But, in any case, the Web stream will be available and they'll archive the program for listening on demand (Richard Langley, NB, ibid.) BBC also lists an additional airing of this programme today, Saturday at 2150 UT on BBCWS West and Central Africa stream, so presumably on 9915, 11810 and 12095 kHz (all via Ascension) (the first airing at 1950 UT tonight it says isn't on the African streams so only on DAB in UK and 1413 (Oman) for the Middle East. And Sunday's airing is also at a time when there's no shortwave outlets, so only on DAB in the UK?) 73, (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) "so presumably on 9915, 11810 and 12095 kHz (all via Ascension)" Used on weekends at this extended time or only M-F? (Richard Langley, ibid.) Thanks for the correction, Richard - yes unfortunately only scheduled M-F on those frequencies :-( - (Alan, ibid.) Chris Greenway is identified as the ``Coördinating Editor of Caversham``; has been there for 35 years (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) The podcast is now available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p044jj9h#play All too short. Would like to see a half-hour or hour-long program about the past, present, and future of BBC Monitoring. Podcast includes the pips after Over to You and Lyse Doucet (who is from here in New Brunswick) introducing the next program (Richard Langley, ibid.) Lyse has a very distinctive accent, but hard for us to place. Is it typical of NB, such as yourself as well? Does not seem to be Acadian/French influenced (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn: Yes, Lyse has a very distinctive and unusual accent. It is not typical of New Brunswick (NB). There is, however, a touch of Irish in it to my ears, perhaps indicative of her Irish ancestry. You can't use my accent for comparison, though. I was born in Somerset (England) moved to Canada when I was 8, grew up in the Toronto area and only came to NB about 35 years ago. More info on Lyse Doucet here: WITH AN ACCENT ON THE NEWS Lyse Doucet, Artsci’80, is one of the BBC’s best-known voices. Lyse Doucet, Artsci’80, almost certainly has the largest audience of any Canadian ne... http://www.queensu.ca/gazette/alumnireview/stories/accent-news (-- Richard Langley, ibid.) So she is of Acadian heritage; nothing about Irish here. Pronounced doo-SETTE, of course, not doo-SAY (gh, DXLD) Lyse Doucet prior to the BBC had done [work] with the CBC and RCI. There are parts of New Brunswick that do have an accent a bit like hers (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ex-Canada, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. DROITWICH --- Members, Through the tx-list group I was introduced to an interview with John Phillips who was a principal technician at Droitwich. The clip is hosted on the David Lloyd, Radio Moments, part of Audioboom. This organisation has agreed for me to give access to you. https://goo.gl/fjvTau I hope that the technology works. 73 and 88 (Dan Goldfarb, Aug 22, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 7245-LSB, Wed Aug 24 at 1256, I find an LSB ham net QRMing RNZI which started using this AM frequency at the beginning of this month. NCS making ``last call`` for check-ins, apparently started at 1200. RNZI conveniently goes off at 1258 after QSY announcement to 6170. Most of the signals are weak here from the 9th and 4th call areas, but K9YX has a good signal [Lorenzen, Thomas D, K9YX, Gurnee, IL 60031]; others copied or called include KM4TX and WI4R. Mostly giving local weather conditions, but also praising military service, something-club net, and one mentions ``Tin Can Sailors``. That leads me to search out the net, and the organisation behind it, veterans of destroyer ships starting with WWII (and ever since?) http://www.destroyers.org/communication%20center/tin_can_sailors_radio_net.htm ``THE TIN CAN SAILORS RADIO NET --- History In April 1992, a member of Tin Can Sailors wrote an article in the TCS newspaper suggesting that it might be an idea to organize amateur radio operators who were Tin Can Sailors. Bill Plage (W4DQT) in Atlanta, GA responded to the call and contacted some known TCS hams and organized a net. The first session was held August 9, 1992 on its current operating frequency of 14.255 MHz. at 2100Z with Bill as its first Net Control Station (NCS). The net has gained popularity over the years with a current roster of over 400 TCS hams, although the net is not made up of only USN types. We have as members a former USAF pilot who was shot down over Korea and was pulled from the drink by a destroyer (USS STORMES). "It was the most welcome sight I had ever seen coming towards me and I spent 5 of the most wonderful days of my life on that destroyer. The clean dry sheets were great and the chow was even better," he commented. We also have a former Marine, former Army missile control officer, as well as active duty destroyermen and retired Tin Can Sailors. Net Schedule” primary net meets every Sunday at 2000Z on 14.255 MHz. There are also three Wednesday morning nets. On the East Coast it is on 7.2455 MHz immediately following the Navy Club Net at 0900 Eastern, and on the West Coast on 7.258 (+/- as conditions permit) at 0900 Pacific time. There is a CW net on 7.117 MHz at 1000 Eastern Time. Any inquiries or requests to have a net number assigned can be addressed to me along with a SASE (Business size Number 10 and two units of postage). We would like a little bio info from the applicant such as destroyers served on and when. There are no dues of the radio net but donations are accepted for stamps, paper, etc., to provide the members with a net roster and ships served on list as well as periodic notifications of ships reunions of members on the net. These requests can be made to Tom Ryan, N6NPG, 300 N. Peg St., Ridgecrest, CA 93555-3615 e-mail: t.ryan15@verizon.net`` So it appears I was hearing the transition from the Navy Club Net to the Tin Can Sailors at 1300 UT. These were not on 7245.5-LSB, but exactly on 7245.0, probably encouraged to zero-beat the intrusive AM signal from NZ, which of course has every right to be there as long as the ITU and IARU cannot agree to segregate ham from broadcast bands worldwide (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 25910/FM, WQGY434, Eldorado TX (Dallas xmtr?), KLDE 104.9 FM studio relay; 1710-1716+, 12-Aug; “Texas State Network News” to 1715 “Lone Star Farm & Ranch Report”. Good With brief QSBs +++ [same], 1605, 14-Aug; (live?) church service (Sunday morning). VGood peaks +++ [same same], 1453, 17-Aug; Oldies, “This is Barry Kilgore on KLDE”; 1456 into TX news—cut-in/out, feed problem & not propagation?; 1458 “KLDE Weather”. Good peaks, but in/out. I thought that KOVR-TV Sacramento was back up on 26110, but turned out to be CB outbanders (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow- tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 25910 KLDE relay has been reconfirmed to be in Dallas, as in recent DXLDs, so you may remove the question mark (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. 7425, Radio Martí and Vatican Radio mixing product, 0144, 8/17/16. Muddy Radio Martí audio with sports announcer with a baseból game with distinctive audio popping. // 7365 (Mark Taylor, Madison, Wisconsin. Perseus, SDRPlay, Eton e1, Grundig Satellit 800, Sangean 909X with clear mod, and various other portables; 40 meters dipole, 100’ long wire, Mini whip, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA Radiogram, 20-21 Aug --- VOA Radiogram this weekend is all MFSK32 and includes an audio surprise at the end of the show ... http://voaradiogram.net/post/149184450697/voa-radiogram-20-21-august-2016-making-best-use (Kim Elliott, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. [Re 16-33, VOA program schedule]. Glenn: Regarding your WOR 1839 comment, "the least VOA could do would be to repeat the programming they do have": There is considerable repetition of VOA programming already. For example Daybreak Africa gets its first airing at 2305 EDT and then is repeated during each of the next three hours. The same is true of the International Edition that first airs at 2330 EDT. On weekdays, Africa News Tonight airs at 1205 EDT and again two hours later. The 1305 EDT International Edition runs again two hours later. The 1805 EDT International Edition repeats one hour later. Setting aside music shows, the existing repetition of these programs helps conceal that original VOA daily programming now consists of only 1 1/2 hours to Africa and three editions of International Edition, which often have substantial overlap in their contents. On another VOA subject, this weekend's Press Conference USA was a science edition (Mike Cooper, Aug 22, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 6080, Aug 22 at 0609, VOA news in English, VP S5. HFCC shows SAO TOME at 04-07; we hear it much better at 03-04 via Botswana, but at least there`s no stray Cuban pulse jamming audible now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330.14, WBCQ Monticello ME; 2235-2304+, 13-Aug [Sat]; Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio #1838 to 2259 into program in progress re 2nd amendment — cut off for WBCQ ID spot; 2300 Wm. Tell Overture into unintro’d Allan Weiner Worldwide. SIO=4+54 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: confirmed Thursday August 18 at 2100 on WRMI, 13695, VG. Also confirmed Thu Aug 18 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9330.2-CUSB, fair on the PL-880. Next: Fri 0830 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Fri 2130.5 WRMI 13695 to NW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to SW Sat 0700 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1400 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 0830 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: confirmed Friday Aug 19 at 2130.5 on WRMI 13695, VG. Also confirmed Fri Aug 19 at 2330 on WBCQ 9330.029, poor. Next: Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to SW Sat 0700 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1400 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 0830 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: checking HLR 7265-CUSB between 1425 and 1450 UT Sat Aug 20 via UTwente SDR: NO signal from this, China, or anything. Could anyone in Europe confirm whether it was on or not? Confirmed the Aug 20 Sat 2230 broadcast on WBCQ, checked at 2253 on 9330.021-CUSB, fair. Also confirmed UT Sun Aug 21 at 0306 having just started a minute or two before, earlier than usual, on WA0RCR, 1860- AM, Wentzville MO. Next: Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: confirmed Sunday August 21 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9330.021-CUSB. Also confirmed UT Monday August 22 at 0030 on WRMI, 7730, VG. Also confirmed UT Monday Aug 22 at 0301 on Area 51 webcast, and on WBCQ 5129.861-AM at 0307 check, S9+10. Also confirmed UT Mon Aug 22 at 0330 on WRMI 9955, S9+20, over pulse jamming; tnx a lot, Arnie! Also confirmed Monday Aug 22 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9330.094- CUSB. Next: Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: NOT confirmed Tue Aug 23 at 2130 on WRMI 15770, instead replaced like last week by WRMI`s radiobeeps test for HFCC. We uncovered advance notice of the special broadcast for last week, but not this week. Maybe *next* week we`ll be back on this only WOR/WRMI broadcast toward Europe. [WORLD OF RADIO 1840] Confirmed Tue Aug 23 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9330.076-CUSB. Also confirmed Wed Aug 24 at 1315.5 (after gh WRMI ID and a few notes of intrusive music fill), on WRMI 9955, S9 with no jamming. Next: Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1839 monitoring: confirmed Wed Aug 24 at 2100 on WBCQ webcast, and then very poor on 7490. Wed Aug 24 at 2330, not audible at first from WBCQ 9330, off or not propagating; but detectable at 2357 on 9330.02, poor. WORLD OF RADIO 1840: ready for first broadcasts Thu Aug 25: 1130 on WRMI 9955 should have been first but zzz here. Confirmed Thu Aug 25 at 2100 on WRMI 13695, VG. Also confirmed Thu Aug 25 at 2335 on WBCQ 9330.006v-CUSB (this frequency is constantly varying slightly, making measurements hard to pin down). Next: Fri 0830 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Fri 2130.5 WRMI 13695 to NW Fri 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB to SW Sat 0700 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1400 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sat 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2230 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0310v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 0830 Unique Radio NSW 3210 ND Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490.0, UT Sat Aug 20 from 0100, WBCQ with live `Allan Weiner Worldwide`: ``I don`t get Terry Blakely. He burned out my damn plate transformer``, explaining the outage on 9330 Tuesday night. Interrupted by phone calls from regulars, even tho he hasn`t invited them or given out the number yet. Discusses how all transmitters smell different, and first thing he does when going into building to find out what`s wrong, is sniff. He found 9330 with all breakers tripped; turned them back on and it blew up, due to a short in the 10 kW intermediate stage plate transformer, grounding it. Finally got back on air with backup transmitter and rhombic. Is almost positive WBCQ is the only AM-FM-SW combo station in the USA; and also ``trimulcasting`` on 7490, 5130, 3250 tonight. 5130- barely audible here in noise and not synch; 3250v not audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don't know for sure but it appears that 5130 is running the Hour of Slack at the moment. At least they're running the intro (John H Carver, Jr, mid-North Indiana, 0211 UT Sun Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7730, Aug 20 at 0030, Jeff White introducing WRMI`s special digital broadcast for HFCC demonstration, another repeat of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On Monday, August 15th, I received two images from DL7VOE via EasyPal- hybrid, concerning this broadcast: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2016-08-13.htm#DL7VOE (roger, dxldyg via DXLD) YouTube videos of decoding last weekend's WRMI digital special are available here: http://voaradiogram.net/post/149173780217/youtube-videos-of-the-wrmi-digital-special The digital special showcased the capabilities of text and images via analog radio, including the usual MFSK32 mode, the faster MFSK64, the slower but robust Olivia 64-2000, MFSK images, moving the audio frequency to escape interference, text in non Latin alphabets, html code to create pop-up web pages, etc. (Kim Elliott, Aug 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Wavescan having problems? Hi Glenn & All, I just switched to 11580 for Wavescan, and they seem to be having some problems as well, it just seemed to be Jeff doing his pieces to mike with nothing at all appearing when he passes it over to the reporters. Very strange, I think WRMI seems to be having a few hiccups this evening/morning. Even stranger now, the programme has just finished after just 9 minutes and then went into continuous music - time I went to bed I think! :-D (Alan Gale, 0144 UT Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if Jeff White is too busy with the HFCC and there's no one around minding the store except perhaps some mis-programmed computers. Did DigiDX go out on schedule this evening? Will have to check my recordings (Richard Langley, NB, ibid.) Normal program of AWR Wavescan was heard by me yesterday (Sunday) at 1200, 1530 & 1600 UT -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, ibid.) On stations other than WRMI (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A. 5015, FLORIDA, WRMI, Okeechobee. 1608 August 21, 2016. Very good during my local noon hour with Brother Stair nonsense. Recheck at 0938 August 22, also with the Bro'. Obviously, no Cuban exile programming or jamming here in these hours as reported elsewhere. (Terry L Krueger, All times/dates GMT, NRD-535, IC-R75, roof dipole, active MW loop, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7570, UT Monday August 22 at 0100 on WRMI, no show from part 2 of PCJ Radio International`s `From the Archives of Radio Netherlands` as scheduled now per publicity 2-3 weeks ago. Not on 7780 either, the original frequency mixup; nothing but BS. The two-hour special was also missing from its first scheduled airing, Sunday Aug 21 at 0600 UT, to Europe on 7780 nor on 7570, per Alan Gale, UK, also occupied by non-preëmpted Brother HyStairical. Later, Keith Perron says there was a technical problem and both are rescheduled for exactly one week later, Aug 28-29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See NETHERLANDS [non] ** U S A. 17775, Aug 19 at 2000, KVOH is still on air with devotional in Spanish, and also past 2028. Another Friday, another extended transmission beyond nominal 1900*. Program grid finally updated as of Aug 1 still claims to broadcast M-F 1400-1900 UT only on 17775. http://www.voiceofhope.com/schedule/kvoh_program_grid.pdf and finally admits that 9975 in English at 01-04 daily is ``temporarily suspended``. 17775, Wednesday Aug 24 at 1900, KVOH quits Spanish and signs off in English, then plays guitar IS alternating with IDs until 1905*. Not checked every day, but some Fridays, Spanish praising has stayed on way later than 1900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12105-, Aug 19 at 0116, WTWW-3 is S3 vs CODAR and as far as I can tell dead air, its prime format; propagation not so good tonight as 9475- WTWW-1 with PPPP is only S5. 12105, Aug 23 at 0126, WTWW-3 is S3-S4 of dead air. 9475, Aug 23 at 0122, WTWW-1 with SFAW is VP only S4, as post-sunset propagation is really dropping out, but will stay on day frequency until 0200 QSY to 5830 (maybe). Or are they both running way underpowered? 9475 weaker than S5 9470 CRI; see EAST TURKISTAN. 12105, Aug 24 at 0135, WTWW-3 is S9+20 of dead air except for some hum. 9475, WTWW-1 with SFAW is S9+40, and so is 5085, WTWW-2 with QSO show repeat. Despite earlier G1 storm and K-index of 5, attenuating Eurosigs, these three are now much stronger than they were 24 hours ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7504.76, Aug 19 at 0154, WRNO is S9+35 with gospel huxter, not varying perceptibly in the brief time I can stand it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7504.937, WRNO New Orleans settled down now here in the x.930 to x.940 kHz odd frequency range. S=8-9 or -74dBm signal observed on remote Doha Qatar unit, 0353 UT on Aug 21 (Wolfgang Büschel, Some monitoring in our August 21 morning, used remote SDR units in Delhi-India, Brisbane-Queensland Australia, Kyoto/Tokyo-Japan, and Doha Qatar, [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz], wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 20/21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9605. R. NEWS…? 21/8 0200-0300 UT. Luego del corte del servicio en español de KBS, comienza una emisión denominada: Radio News con avisos en inglés sobre eventos de iglesias evangélicas en el sur de Estados Unidos y uno en español sobre un evento en Perú. Luego música cristiana contemporánea. Avisos de WHRI y “The Harvest show”, y noticias, tal como unas declaraciones Trump sobre Obama en Dimondale. Y posteriormente, una mujer habla sobre los pecados y el perdón de Dios. Luego avisos para el pedido de biblias, un comentario sobre las competencias olímpicas, avisos sobre la página web de la emisora. Salida del aire a las 03. SINPO: 55555 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL- 660, ANT: Hilo de 40 metros. QTH: Barraza Bajo, Chile, condiglista yg via DXLD) Left 9605 on by mistake? Supposed to be on some other frequency? (gh) 9605, Aug 23 at 0200, tnx to tip from Claudio Galaz, Chile, condiglista, who heard WHRI here in English until 0300 Aug 21, I keep listening after the KBS World Radio relay in Spanish, and sure enough, it keeps going on 9605, with Onward Christian Soldiers crusading/warmongering theme, and 0202 ID ``now broadcasting on 7315 kHz``, into USA net news. No, you`re not! If I were the staff announcer at WHR, would be PO`d that someone is making me sound like a fool, way out of touch with reality. O, that is the entire mission of WHR, so never mind. Nothing on 7315. 0208 recheck, a promo in Spanish for some gospel huxter promising milagros, then WHR English ID and praise music. WHR`s own schedule indeed shows Angel 1 on 9605 with KBS daily at 01-02, and on 7315 before and after, the 0200-0300 period being own Harvest Show. (But on (UT?) Sunday only, Angel 2 appears on 7315 at 01-02, instead of 5920 before and after). Anyhow, their automation/scheduling for Angel 1 must be screwed up unless this is a late change not yet entered (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kept doing it ** U S A. 15825, WWCR Nashville TN (presumed); 1843, 15-Aug; English huxter. S30 peaks with many spurs? from about 15.6 to 16.0 MHz (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, --- -- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 710, FLORIDA, WAQI, Radio Mambí, Miami. 1616 August 21, 2016. Screeching Spanish woman, doing well enough to be of equal level with Radio Rebelde's presumed Ciego de Ávila powerhouse blocker in my noon hour. 730, GEORGIA, WSTT, Thomasville. 1628 August 21,2016. Black announcer, into Southern black gospel, local church reference. Clear, fair in my noon hour. 1070, FLORIDA, WFRF, Tallahassee. 1056 August 20, 2016. Soft Spanish Christian vocals, accented male in English with non-legal "WFRF 10-70 AM" at 1059 an back to vocals. When did this stop simulcasting English Christian 90.1 FM (and other FM channels), carrying Spanish Christian instead? Radio Fe slogan, as is here: http://www.faithradio.us/pages/page.asp?page_id=417492&vri=533083 1080, GEORGIA, WFTD, Marietta. 0018 August 23, 2016. Loud on grayline, some Radio Surco, Radio Cadena Habana and KRLD co-channel. All Vietnamese programming with male and female talk, local spots in Viet and Vietglish. Formerly Spanish "La Ley" slogan, though not sure when the flip happened. Wiki entry simply says since 2015. Website: http://vietsongmedia.com/vi-vn/trang-chu.aspx (Terry L Krueger, All times/dates GMT, NRD-535, IC-R75, roof dipole, active MW loop, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 570, Aug 22 at 0531 UT, WNAX news of South Dakota atop KLIF Dallas, unusual; daytime on ND day pattern, groundwave WNAX Yankton is always there under KLIF; night goes NNE with minor lobe SW. Rock music on the side probably from KWML New Mexico, its new ex- sports format. Also in the mix some RRs from Radio Reloj, CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 750, Aug 24 at 0558 UT, dominating signal is in Spanish looping E/W, rather than WSB in English. Ads with several 1-800 numbers mentioned, and other clues it`s American, not Mexican, clinched at 0559 UT by Univisión América in ID whose call letters I can`t copy, but it is surely Ua affiliate KAMA El Paso TX. Then WSB starts to fade up. Both day and night patterns of 10/1 kW U4 KAMA are supposed to go ONLY due west, so must be out of whack again. See DXLD 15-49 for more about this and a possible STA for 250 watts and U5 = non-direxional at night; I had not logged since December, but several times earlier last year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Members, This gem sort of fell into my lap. I am a member of the I Love AM Radio FB group. Tom Nichols wrote based on his experience of being chief engineer at WMC [Memphis TN] between 1989 and 1995. The station on 790 kHz is unusual. The daytime monopole is in fact the lower part of a huge 333M TV tower. The detuning unit is at 195M upwards from ground level. Apparently the full tower was needed at night with an array serving night use on 790 kHz. Tom has agreed to me passing on these details. He grumbled about damage to coils from lightning strikes. No doubt Scott will have visited the site. This must rank as one of the more interesting ones, surprisingly close to the city center. 73 and 88 (Dan Goldfarb, Aug 24, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** U S A. 820, Aug 22 at 0603 UT after network news, WBAP with local news from Dave Alpert, as I`m still on 820 after trying to ID the Mexican. Would that be the DXer and former ABC newsman Dave Alpert, last known to be in Studio City, California? Or another one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 920, Aug 19 at 0143 UT, silly baseball game is dominant and from E/W. Unusual since KYFR IA with a lobe toward us from the NNE, is normally #1 on 920 at night. Plenty of mentions of player names, but takes a while to figure out the teams among several mentioned: San Antonio Missions vs Arkansas Travelers. Therefore it must be KARN Little Rock, which is 5/5 U2, ND daytime but supposed to be a circle tangent to southwest at night, i.e. very little signal this way. Official site of the Travs, confirms such a match tonight, http://www.milb.com/schedule/index.jsp?sid=t574 but seems to say nothing about a radio network; perhaps KARN is the only outlet? All games seem to be on MiLB TV, and some have an audio icon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1010, Aug 23 at 0206 UT, areacodeless phone 751-9360 by some gospel huxter, loops about NNW/SSE, or best with ESPN from Amarillo WSW nulled, with which it makes a fast SAH. Promo for `Turning Point` on KBBW AM 1010 and ##5.7 FM, with two times, one AM, one PM. NRC AM Log 2015 shows the FM is K289BU 105.7, ``Life Changing Radio``. Then talk radio with a lifestyle coach. KBBW is Waco TX, believe a new one here, which should not be that rare with 10/2.5 kW U4. But let`s look at the NRC Pattern Book: day has major lobe south, minor lobes north. Night has two tight little lobes to WNW and SSE, which makes the minor day lobe better for us. Official FCC sunset in August was 0115 UT (Sept: 0030 UT). Apparently BBW here does not mean what we and Google might think it means (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1110, Sunday Aug 21 at 1207 UT, Qur`an vs KFAB, SAH of 48/minute [0.8 Hz] and another SAH depending on DX-398 orientation of 216/minute [3.6 Hz] involving a third station (New Mexico?). Qur`an is of course 50 kW KVTT Mineral Wells/Plano/Cleburne/The Metroplex TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1480, Aug 21 at 1237 UT, KQAM Wichita talk has 156/minute [2.6 Hz] SAH from weaker S Asian music, so KBXD Dallas must still be stunting with that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1579.58, Aug 18 at 0345 UT, still a JBA carrier here causing het against 1580 stations, i.e. as previously logged and IDed, WVOK, Oxford AL. There are plenty of other 1580s in the Southeast which must be getting heavier QRM than here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1640, Aug 23 at 0158 UT, with local KZLS nulled, I have no problem hearing ESPN promos, and fast SAH from WTNI Biloxi MS with a TOH ID preceded by one for some FM station --- I thought, but none are listed, not even a translator; rather, its simulcasted sibling is WXBD 1490, also in Biloxi, why? Address for both ``The Champ`` is really Gulfport. Anyhow, such reception thru my local reinforces my suspicion that WTNI is running 10 kW day power at night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also OKLAHOMA ** UZBEKISTAN. 9820.0, Aug 21 at 0116, weak station, making me wonder if R. Nove de Julho, Brasil, has suddenly normalized its frequency? ZY signals are much weaker than usual on 9 and 11 MHz, so can`t make any // to 11935v or 9725v, other relayers of R. Aparecida or the latter itself on 11855v. Music into M&W conversation as I try to decide if it`s in Brazuguese. But off at 0121! Now uncovering much weaker R9J on 9819, see BRAZIL. HFCC shows I was really listening to NHK World Radio Japan in Hindi via Tashkent, here at 0059-0120 only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 7260 kHz etwas darunter --- Hallo, ist eigentlich Radio Vanuatu noch im 41m Band zu gange? Ich habe jetzt um 1830 UT ein Signal auf 7259.96(2) kHz, bei dem gelegentlich Musik hochschwappt. Für eine genaue ID ist das Signal jedoch zu dünn. 73 (Thomas Lindenthal, 15m vert. Deltaloop+G33DDC, Aug 21, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Auch in Brisbane Australien wird das Signal von beiden Seiten durch QRM gestört und in die Zange genommen. 7259.961 kHz genau gemessen, S=8 um 1840 UT am Aug 21. Grüssle aus Stuttgart (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, P11, ibid.) FYI, Radio Vanuatu a lot of QRM this morning in Australia on both sidebands. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. UNIDENTIFIED. 17505-17510-17515, Aug 23 at 1959, DRM noise at S9+20 but off at 2000*. No doubt same source as heard a few minutes earlier on Aug 13, but what? On a hunch, I e-mail Jeff White with a cc to Fibber: Jeff, No doubt you are very busy with HFCC, but would appreciate a quick reply to this if you know the answer. Have been hearing DRM on 17510, today until off at 2000 UT. Also heard August 13 at 1933. Pretty strong. Not in HFCC or any other reference I can find, including DRM`s own schedule {very outdated}. Is this by chance some unpublicized test for HFCC, and if so from where, full schedule details, please? Tnx, (Glenn to Jeff White, 2025 UT Aug 23, via DXLD) Glenn: It's a special test from Vatican Radio for the HFCC Miami Conference. In fact it was publicized in some places, such as http://www.facebook.com/nasbshortwave We were just listening to it here at the hotel in Miami with excellent reception on the new Titus II DRM radio and the Newstar DR111 (Jeff White, 2035 UT Aug 23, via DXLD) Viz.: ``National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters August 17 at 7:32am SPECIAL DRM BROADCAST FROM VATICAN RADIO I would like to inform you about a special broadcast on occasion of the next HFCC International Broadcasting Delivery coordination conference in Miami, 22-26 August 2016. The broadcast is from Santa Maria di Galeria, Vatican Radio transmitting site, at 19:30 – 20:00 UTC on 17510 kHz, 250 kW digital, AHR 4/4/.5 at 292 , 16QAM-ModeB-Protection level 0.62 – Bit rate 14560 – SDR On. The broadcast is already on air even if officially it would start on 22 August till 25 August 2016; the content currently broadcast is in French and English but during the “official” period it would be an ad-hoc program with announcement and music. Best regards. Sergio Salvatori, Vatican Radio`` (via DXLD) I have been posting about it lately on DRMNA. http://drmnainfo.blogspot.co.id/2016/08/hfcc-2016-drm-special-from-vatican-radio.html?m=1 Regards, (Christopher for DRMNA ``Fibber,`` Rumbaugh, 2048 UT Aug 23, ibid.) Repeating my Aug 13 report of this as unID: UNIDENTIFIED. 17505-17510-17515-DRM, Aug 13 at 1933, DRM noise at S5. Nothing in any of the schedules to explain this, and no hits ever on 17510 in the virtually dormant drmna yg or the DRM Software Forum. Nor is anything even on the DRM Consortium`s own sked: http://www.drm.org/?page_id=151 when configured to show all entries, and sorted by frequency: but many of the entries (e.g. NZ) are obviously outdated. Nor is any other broadcast mode scheduled on these frequencies at this hour. Perhaps some secret test leading up to HFCC B-16 conference in Zika- threatened Miami, Aug 22-26; details: http://hfcc.org/B16/ and partly restricted to members only: http://www.hfcc.miami/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) for more see DIGITAL BROADCASTING - DRM below ** VIETNAM [non]. 12005, Aug 21 at 0120, VOV is still here, not 6175 as they believe in Hanoi, Vietnamese music at S9 via Woofferton UK. 12005, Aug 23 at 0149, VOV is still here via UK, not 6175, Vietnamese at S6, so also for English at 0100 & 0230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VIETNAM/ex-UAE. VOV Hanoi: Aenderung der Frequenz ab 1. September 2016 Liebe Zuhoererinnen und Zuhoerer, ab 1. September 2016 wird das deutsche Programm seine Frequenz und Zeit aendern. Demnach wird nicht mehr auf der Frequenz 9430 kHz {Babcock brokered Al Dhabbaya-UAE} von 1930 bis 2000 Uhr UTC und von 2000 Uhr bis 2030 Uhr UTC gesendet. Ersetzt wird sie von den Frequenzen 7280 und 9730 kHz von 1830 Uhr bis 1900 Uhr UTC und von 2000 bis 2030 Uhr UTC. Deutsche Redaktion Auslandskanal VOV5 Radiosender "Die Stimme Vietnams" 45 Ba Trieu Strasse Hanoi - Vietnam. Tel: +844 39365218 Fax: +844 38266707 E-mail: Website: (VOV, via Arnulf Piontek-D, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 16 via DXLD) ** YEMEN [non]. Country ??? Rep. Of Yemen Radio / Sana'a, 11860, Location ??? Aug 18, 2016, Thursday. 1725-1809. Getting to be worth listening to again now southern mid-winter is over. Fair from 1725 tune in through to 1749, at which point the signal suddenly increased from s3-5 up to s5-7 and background noise fell away to leave a good clear signal. With a huge echo. At that point I had an incoming phone call so missed the end of the echo and don't know what time it ended. However, it confirms they are still changing transmitter just before 1800. Still a good signal as of 1809 tune out. Jo'burg sunset 1550 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 774, Aug 21 at 1150 UT, JBA carrier looping WSW, not NW. I woke up around 1100 UT, finally gave up trying to resleep and checked prime Trans-Pacific DX pilot frequency just before 1155 UT sunrise here. So 3LO Melbourne very likely rather than NHK this time. Quickly stepping 9-kHz downwards, also found JBA carriers: 702 at 1155 UT from WSW, i.e. 2BL Sydney; 657 and 594 at 1156 UT which could also be Australia or NZ but not DFed. Too much 1550 splash on 1548. 774, Aug 22 at 1156 UT, JBA carrier again, seems from Australia rather than Japan. No other splits audible at sunrise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 820, Aug 19 at 0535 UT, Spanish music showing with WBAP nulled as much as possible, making very slow 22/minute SAH or 0.367 Hz, probably Cuba? Or Mexico 820, Aug 21 at 1152 UT, romantic music in Spanish, 1154 segué, 1157 fade-out before any ID; has same slow SAH as in earlier log, which was 0.367 Hz, Aug 19 at 0535 UT. Per 2015 NRC AM Log, no US stations in Spanish, and hardly any stations at all, west of Fort Worth until WA and OR. So what Mexicans? Per IRCA Mexican Log 2015, geographically and formatically, this one would be XEDRD, Durango2, 10/0.5 kW. Only others in N/W Mexico are in Sinaloa and BCN. Parameters may have changed as any XE QRM to WBAP is unusual here. Durango sunrise not until 1236 UT, while in Enid it`s 1155 UT. I was discounting XEABCA in Mexicali, which used to be news format, but what I heard jibes with this new log from John Wilkins, CO, in NRC IDXD: ``820 MEXICO XEABCA Mexicali, BC JUL 26 1135 - Segued vocals, occasional "Canal 820 ABC Radio" slogans; no ads or live announcements noted in about 30 minutes of monitoring. Good signal, always surprising for just 3500 watts. Alone on the frequency after WBAP fades away``. Too bad he didn`t clock the SAH with WBAP. Now I still need to catch such a slogan. 820, Aug 22 from 0533 UT, Spanish music, mostly romantic vocal, with WBAP nulled as much as possible, making slow SAH like last time. Listened past 0600 UT and never caught any announcement, let alone an ID or slogan, but maybe some appeared in fades, from per John Wilkins, XEABCA in Mexicali, ``Canal 820 ABC Radio``. Not hearing much from it after 0600 UT, off then? There`s the music again at 1158 UT but losing to WBAP by 1200 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1500, this was the talk from last year, hearing a 500? Hz distorted tone mixed in with a lower het tone. 8/21 all morning (Todd in Cedar Falls IA, Car radio, Skaine, 0806 UT Aug 21, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7297-USB, Aug 20 at 1303, after Sakha is off 7295, I notice a bunch of weak American hams rag-chewing in USB, not LSB, about gardening? Several interchanges with no calls given (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9375-USB, Aug 19 at 0109, Spanish 2-way, and some more much weaker circa 9333, noticed while checking out the Cairo 9315 spurs, in an area I don`t normally find them. Whether to consider them intruders depends on where you locate the lower boundary of the 9 MHz exclusive broadcast band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. EGYPT, station with Egyptian music on air, Aug 19 1129-1140 on 9600 unknown transmitter site, fair signal today: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/08/unidentified-station-with-egyptian_20.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENNG DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11738.13, Aug 21 at 0604, fast RTTY, unusual intruder, off at 0605* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17520.042, Aug 21 at 0550 barely audible talk. RFA Chinese via SAIPAN is at 03-07 plus CNR1 jamming, so which one would be this far off-frequency? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1840: Tnx to Chuck Ermatinger for a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com One may also contribute by check or MO in US funds on a US bank to World of Radio, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MIAMI-DADE MAYORAL CANDIDATE TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL RADIO CONFERENCE Co-Sponsored by WRMI Jeff White posted the following item on the WRMI Facebook page yesterday. Note the last paragraph in particular. ``Miami-Dade County mayoral candidate Alfred Santamaria will officially open an international radio conference taking place at the Hilton Downtown Miami hotel August 22-26. Nearly 100 engineers, frequency managers and other personnel from international radio stations in around 30 countries -- from Australia to Madagascar and Belarus to Hong Kong -- will convene in Miami for a week to coordinate shortwave frequency schedules in order to avoid mutual interference problems. The meeting is known as the High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC), and it takes place twice each year in different locations around the world. This is only the second time in the organization’s 26-year history that it has met in the United States, and the first time in Miami. Stations participating in the HFCC Conference include government-owned broadcasters such as the Voice of America, Radio France International and Radio Japan. They also include religious broadcasters like Trans World Radio, EWTN Global Catholic Network and Adventist World Radio. Representatives of government regulatory agencies such as the FCC will also be in attendance. The conference is being co-organized by locally-based commercial station Radio Miami International and Broadcast Belgium. “We think it’s significant that a worldwide radio conference like the HFCC is taking place in a world-class city like Miami which has so many international ties,” said Jeff White, General Manager of Radio Miami International and Chairman of the HFCC. Among the items on the agenda for the HFCC Conference is the first- ever presentation of a new digital shortwave receiver capable of picking up stations from around the world in crystal-clear quality`` (via Richard Langley, dxldyg via DXLD) See also VATICAN; DIGITAL DRM THE 23RD ANNUAL MADISON / MILWAUKEE GET TOGETHER FOR RADIO ENTHUSIASTS was held on Saturday, August 20, 2016 at Lake Farm Park, Madison, WI. We had 41 DXers and several other family members attending. Radio in many forms including antique, low wave, medium wave, HF, FM and even a little TV (maybe above) was discussed along with camaraderie. There were interesting presentations on the medium wave scene in the Koreas and East Asia by Chris Kadlec, and what it is like to produce a radio program for shortwave broadcast by Bill Tilford, along with antenna displays. Various DX’ers tried the available antennas and showed vintage and contemporary equipment. A catered dinner was enjoyed before a short program and door prizes being given out. Participants expressed having a good time. I took part in and overheard a lot of good radio talk on a wide variety of topics. Thanks to Bill and Nina Dvorak who worked hard on this event, and to Bill for co hosting with me (Mark Taylor, co-organizer, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 21 via DXLD) May I congratulate Bill Dvorak and Mark Taylor for putting on a great show at the Madison-Milwaukee DX gathering last week. Madison is the home of my alma mater so I convinced Ulis Fleming to accompany me to this year's show. Ulis was delighted to have face-to-face conversations with a couple of fellows with whom he had been communicating by e-mail for years but had never met in person. The tour conducted by Entercom-Wisconsin CE Chris Tarr was a revelation to someone like me who last worked in broadcasting in 1963. Imagine being able to completely control six FMs and one AM more than 100 miles apart with your cell phone! And the presentations were interesting. Chris Kadlec who has been a frequent contributor to this reflector played some interesting sounds of the various jammers heard in the Far East. Bill Tilford explained how you can buy an hour's worth of programming on WBCQ-7490 KHz for less than $100. The only thing I missed was a reunion with my fellow Wisconsin native Doug Smith. Many thanks Bill and Mark for all your hard work! (-- Fred Laun (K3ZO), Temple Hills, MD, WTFDA gg via DXLD) 49TH EDXC CONFERENCE, CASTLEFIELD HOTEL, MANCHESTER, 9-13 SEPTEMBER 2016 --- Programme at [planned as of] 12 August Friday 9 September 1600-2200 (Hotel bar) Arrival, registration, informal meetings Saturday 10 September 1000-1300 (Bridgewater Room) 1. 1000-1005 Conference opening. Greetings from British DX Club & EDXC Chrissy Brand (BDXC) 2. 1005-1030 EDXC matters Kari Kivekäs (EDXC) 3. 1030-1100 FM DXing, so much larger than life: Hunting the tail of Sporadic E --- Jukka Kotovirta (FDXA) 1100-1130 Refreshment break 4. 1130-1150 DXpeditions to Sheigra Dave Kenny (BDXC) 5. 1150-1215 The puzzling case of the saucepan special: a shortwave radio receiving set for poor Africans, 1948-1953 --- Dr David Clayton (University of York) 6. 1215-1230 Connecting the wireless world - writing global radio history project. Dr David Clayton (University of York) Saturday 10 September 1400-1730 (excursion) Tour of BBC radio & television at Media City, Salford, tours start at 1500. Tram from Deansgate-Castlefield to Media City. Sunday 11 September 1000-1300 (Bridgewater Room) 7. 1000-1030 Radio in Canada and St. Pierre Miquelon --- Dario Monferini (Play DX) 8. 1030-1100 Algarve DX guesthouse Dr Harald Gabler (RMRC) 1100-1130 Refreshment break 9. 1130-1200 MW transmitter masts project Dan Goldfarb (BDXC) 10. 1200-1230 Crossing borders: cultural representations of pirate radio. Prof. Jopi Nyman (FDXA) 11. 1230-1300 To be confirmed 12. 1300-1315 EDXC 2017 Conference - 50th anniversary plans --- Jan- Mikael Nurmela (EDXC) and Risto Vähäkainu (FDXA) Sunday 11 September 1430-1800 Visits to local FM and community radio stations, stations tbc, but they will be in the city centre or a bus or tram ride away. Walking tour of historical and modern Manchester. Sunday 11 September 1930-2200 Banquet dinner at the hotel. Monday 12 September 1030-1600 (excursion by coach) A visit to Moorside Edge mw transmitter site and a tour of the transmitter hall, lunch at The Ford country pub, followed by a stop at Holme Moss FM transmitter site. Please note that there is quite a steep 5 minute walk up an uneven path at Moorside Edge. Tuesday 13 September 1000-1300 Departure, informal contacts. (Nurmela, EDXC, Aug 12) (DSWCI DX Window Aug 24 via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ ON-LINE CLOCKS Hi everyone, We debated the problem of internet time a couple of years ago on this site, but I don't recall us reaching a satisfactory conclusion. This morning (August 22) in Jo'burg I am finding a huge time difference between our local internet time as seen on two smartphones running on the Vodacom system, and the online reading on the Time.is website, which I believe to be run from an atomic clock somewhere. The smartphones supposedly synchronise automatically with network time, and both are reading about two and a half minutes in advance of Time.is This time difference clearly can not be due to my Dell laptop using cheap crystals (although it may indeed do so for all I know) for its onboard clock, as someone suggested during our last debate. In fact, Time.is tells me my laptop clock is running 2.2 seconds fast. I think this once again highlights the difficulties of relying on online sources for the correct time (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are several apps available for keeping your PC accurate. I have a few PCs which run Perseus. I have installed Dimension 4 on them. Highly configurable, and accurate. See http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/features.htm for features (Bjarne Mjelde, arcticdx.blogspot.com ibid.) I use the Dimension 4 software - it will update your PC clock at regular intervals, and you can set it to sync with a set, or multiple time sources. 73 (David M0OSA, Sent from my iPhone, ibid.) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ LA REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA INCORPORÓ TÉRMINOS VINCULADOS A LA RADIOFONÍA La Real Academia Española ha actualizado los términos locutor, radiofonista y radiodifusión, en la versión del DRAE en Internet. Se atiende así una antigua petición de la Academia de la Radio de hace más de diez años. Las palabras locutor, radiofonista y radiodifusión han permanecido en el DRAE con una acepción obsoleta hasta hace bien poco, pues no se habían actualizado desde hace más de medio siglo. Así, dichos términos han aparecido asociados a la actividad de la radiotelefonía, algo más propio del terreno de la telefonía móvil que del medio de comunicación radiofónico. Ya en la década de los años veinte, la RAE incorporó por primera vez el término perifonía en detrimento de radiodifusión, con la intención de evitar la penetración en nuestra lengua de la palabra broadcasting. Este anglicismo estaba muy generalizado en esa época a través de los abundantes artículos periodísticos que hablaban sobre el nuevo y revolucionario medio de comunicación inalámbrico, muy en auge en la segunda década del siglo XX (fuente? via GRA blog via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ PESCANDO RADIOEMISORAS DISTANTES DESDE LA PATAGONIA: PANTANITO DX CAMP 2016 Por gentileza de Horacio Nigro ponemos en conocimiento de Ustedes el nuevo post enviado a su excelente blog llamado "La Galena del Sur", el cual los invitamos a disfrutar: (via Arnaldo Slaen, condiglista yg via DXLD) Pescando radioemisoras distantes desde la Patagonia: Pantanito DX Camp 2016 === Publicado el agosto 19, 2016 por lagalenadelsur ¡No sólo salmones y truchas se pueden pescar en la Patagonia Argentina! Entre la Ruta Nacional Nº 237 y la margen norte del Río Limay, a 17 km de Picun Leufú, un pueblo de unos 200 habitantes, cuya actividad principal además de una incipiente ganadería es el turismo rural, a 150 km de la ciudad capital de Neuquén, y a 1.200 km al sureste de Buenos Aires, se encuentra la Estancia Pantanito, cuyas costas ribereñas son, en efecto, muy apreciadas por los amantes de la pesca de salmónidos --- localidad, en particular, que brinda el alojamiento de los pescadores que buscan truchas en el mencionado Río Limay. El Río Limay es un importante curso de agua de la Patagonia argentina, que tiene su origen en el Lago Nahuel Huapi y que al confluir con el río Neuquén da lugar al nacimiento del río Negro. Sirve de límite natural entre las provincias de Neuquén y Río Negro. Drena una amplia cuenca de 63,700 km² y tiene una longitud de unos 500 km, aunque si se considera su fuente más lejana llega a los 617 km. Sus aguas pertenecen a la cuenca del océano Atlántico. (Fuente). (Foto: Ruben G. Margenet). El nombre Limay es de origen mapudungun, con el significado de «transparente» o «límpido». (Fuente). (Foto: Rubén G. Margenet). Estepa patagónica. (Foto Jorge Mesquín). Entrada del Establecimiento “Pantanito”. (Foto Rubén G. Margenet). Casa que forma parte del complejo Estancia Pantanito. Está frente a la casa principal, que se alquila para los turistas que van a pescar truchas…. ¡ o… en esta oportunidad… radioemisoras!. (Foto Jorge Mesquín). “Quiénes son éstos… desplegando antenas”, pareciera gorjear este habitante emplumado de la zona. (Foto: Jorge Mezquín). Un escucha… de la naturaleza. Liebre patagónica. (Foto: Jorge Mezquín). Pero esa no era precisamente la aventura que encaró un grupo de radioaficionados y experimentados radioescuchas de la zona y aledaños. Su “pesca” sí, fue la de lejanas señales de radio, normalmente imposibles de sintonizar sin buenos “señuelos” utilizados al efecto. Este lugar se eligió por ser un enclave remoto, no tener en las cercanias trasmisores de onda media y no contar con energia electrica de red, con lo que se minimiza el ruido eléctrico y se logra una mejor relación señal ruido en la escucha. . . https://lagalenadelsur.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/pescando-radioemisoras-distantes-desde-la-patagonia-pantanito-dx-camp-2016/ (via DXLD) Includes lots of photos and DX clips to go with frequency log lists (and quite a few errors in callsigns, station names), including this 4-second ID of my local KZLS 1640: https://youtu.be/4p8dsn3TGLw (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See MEXICO; SPAIN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See GERMANY; UK; DRM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also ASCENSION; VATICAN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ TWR PRESENTS THE TITUS II DRM RADIO AT HFCC! http://drmnainfo.blogspot.in/2016/08/twr-presents-titus-ii-drm-radio-at-hfcc.html The PantronX Titus II is actually a full SDR solution in a boombox case. Few details yet, but it is running Android, has a 100 kHz to 2 GHz receiver on-board and decodes AM, FM, SSB and DRM natively. It uses a Quad-core Arm A53 @ 1.2 GHz, 1 Gig of RAM and 8 Gig of on- board Flash. 7" TFT display and supports Android 5, 6 or custom remixes. It sports some hardware buttons and the backstand folds under to cover the TFT for safety and storage. This unit also facilitates the Filecasting concept we have published about before. It even can be used as a WiFi hotspot, to rebroadcast data it has received to other mobile devices. This looks like a real winner and I am anxious to see a demo unit! Thanks to George at TWR for the heads-up. More details to follow. ---- (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DX_Sasia yg via DXLD) drmna.info: TWR presents the Titus II DRM radio at HFCC! Here we go again. Another poor quality DRM (Doesn't Really Matter) receiver. The PantronX Titus II even has an annoying name. It looks like something put out by Fisher Price. Like the Newstar and Avion. No sense of design. Do they have to make something that looks so ugly? (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) Come on! At least give this one a chance before you crucify it! This one could be a winner. Tell me: Were you made by Fisher-Price? Posted by: (jk3119, ibid.) I suspect that that "annoying name" may have something to do with the proselytising intentions of someone involved in its development, along the lines of Titus II which has among other lines, "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled." I would not be surprised if the religious broadcasters see DRM as a way to extend their reach. When it works, DRM, works beautifully. DRM has its faults but it is not worthy of being summarily, and repeatedly, dismissed by people annoyed by it. Not worthy of DRM, nor of the dismissers. (Btw, just because I recognise a bit of biblical verse, don't assume I am religious, or a fan of the #1 USA SW-radio export. I am not.) (Philip Hiscock, Newfoundland, ibid.) I think the religious training some of us had as youngsters did us some good. I would hazard a guess that even Glenn had some, given his knowledge of the Bible. ;-) By the way, Radio Vaticana [q.v.] is conducting DRM tests this week for the delegates to the HFCC in Miami. Might be a chance for North Americans with appropriate equipment to hear a DRM broadcast (Richard Langley, NB, ibid.) Richard, I have been picking up this week's Vatican DRM tests very close to flawlessly. Mind you, I appear to be on the touchdown of Hop Two of a three-hop trip from the transmitter at Santa Maria di Galeria to Miami. I am in eastern Newfoundland. I have two DRM sets. For reasons unknown to me, my Avion DR-1401 (with a Sony 18-inch loop attached) gets these Vatican tests better than my MorphyRichards 27024 with an outdoor eight-metre wire attached. Usually it is the other way around (with All-India R, R Romania Intrnational and, until a few weeks ago, V Nigeria DRM signals). (Philip Hiscock, ibid.) More details on the new receiver here: Details Emerge: The PantronX Titus II DRM Portable Receiver http://swling.com/blog/2016/08/details-emerge-the-pantronx-titus-ii-drm-portable-receiver/ (Richard Langley, NB, DXLDyg via DXLD) Viz.: 4 Replies TitusII-DRM-Receiver Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl (DL1ABJ), who shares more details about the new Titus 2 DRM receiver via the DRM Consortium Chairman, Ruxandra Obreja: NEW DRM RECEIVER UNVEILED at HFCC MEETING IN MIAMI, FLORIDA THIS WEEK! The HFCC meeting is being held 22-26 August in Miami and on this occasion there was a live DRM transmission form Radio Vaticana received on the new Titus2 DRM receiver (pls. see attached document with picture and details) http://www.drmna.info/ Here is also a little testimony of how this prototype to be sold “at under 100 dollars” performed from Ray Robinson, Operations Manager at KVOH (Voice of Hope / Voz de Esperanza): I’m currently at the HFCC conference in Miami, and reception of the DRM broadcast here this afternoon was very successful. Reception was made outside the hotel on two receivers – a NewStar DR-111 and a brand new pre-production receiver from Pantronix called the Titus 2, with a cluster of attendees gathered round taking photos and videos. The latter receiver is based on an Android tablet in a stereo radio format with one speaker each side of the central horizontal tablet. Reception on both radios was solid throughout, on a day when analog reception on 16m was plagued with a lot of atmospheric noise. We haven’t done detailed calculations, but figure there were probably at least three hops from Italy to Miami, and for a daylight path, the reception quality was nothing short of astounding [WORLD OF RADIO 1840] Click here to download the Titus II PDF brochure. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4hTm2wk0Fk8QXVmems5eTBHTjZabEd3Q0NRNVhXNThheURj/view?usp=sharing TitusII-DRM-Receiver-Specifications The PantronX Titus II: A New DRM Receiver August 23, 2016 In "DRM" The Avion AV-DR-1401 DRM receiver to ship in October September 25, 2015 In "Digital Modes" This link to their website works: https://www.pantronx.com/en-us/index.html (Harald Kuhl, DL4NO, Aug 24, ibid.) In more than one sense this unit could be a dream come true. But the manufacturer should look out for a few things: * A changable battery. We are not used to throw our radios away after three years or so. It will be bad enough to use an outdated Android version. * Documented API or a well-known RF receiver like a RTL-SDR so third-party programmers can be creative. Think of DAB+, DVB-T, streaming of received signals to the WLAN (and beyond)… For my taste the unit is too large to be used on the road. At home an internet app would be a strong contender (lost credit?) Cheap SDR’s tend to need a better front end to avoid RF overload. Hopefully, it should work well with a passive preselector. Very interesting “consumer level” (that means – EASY TO USE) project!! (TomL, ibid.) This one definitely falls under the “shut up and take my money” category at sub-$100 — as long as it works well with some solid first- party software. I’m happy to see these kinds of products finally coming out with some innovation in the radio space! (Aaron Kuhn, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MANY, MANY DIFFERENTIAL GPS STATIONS ON LONGWAVE SHUT DOWN MARE Marc Kublacki pointed out that MANY MANY DGPS stations in the LW spectrum have been shut down. See http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=dgpsSiteInfo¤tOutages and scroll down to "General Information". Indeed, there is not much left apparently, and unfortunately no CW beacons showed their heads to replace the missing DGPS stations! I did hear St Jean Sur Richelieu DGPS which is one I've not seen in many years though. See the logs below. This bears some more 'ear time' -- but what are YOU hearing on LW these days? You know what to do! (MARE Tipsheet Aug 19 via DXLD) DE-ICING [Re SWEDEN, 16-33:] Glenn, It's not entirely unusual for 50/60 Hz AC to be used to de-ice openwire feed lines or antenna wires or skirts. The technique is described in at least one of the standard textbooks. (Laporte, if my memory is correct - I can't check since I don't have copy here at home.) And I've used it myself on skirt wires on an MF antenna. It can be simultaneous with operation if the circuitry is isolated properly. The power transmission utilities upset the load to deice their lines (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AM RADIO - DOES IT HAVE A FUTURE? [many embedded linx in original:] https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/am-radio-does-it-have-future Sunday 21 August, 2016 --- Radio Tomorrow with James Cridland In the Coachella Valley in California, two AM radio stations have just shut down: KPSI and KWXY. The closure came with a two-hour special program, looking back at the history of the station. These closures are just one indication of the health of AM radio. In other parts of the US, the slightly oddly-named “AM Revitalization” program is allowing AM stations to simulcast on new FM signals: something I’m not sure I’d call revitalization. In Canada, CKSL AM 1410 in London, Ontario also closed last week. In Israel, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands, many prominent AM broadcasters have gone dark. The countries of Belarus and Serbia have recently ceased all AM transmissions. Some AM services in the UK have also recently closed. Try and get AM radio in your BMW i3, or your Tesla Model X, and you won’t find it. It’s been removed: because these electric cars make too much interference to the AM band. It’s not just electric cars, either: everything from tram tracks, cheap LED lights or DSL broadband connections cause interference to the AM band. Unlike FM, AM’s reception requirements mean it’s almost impossible to put in a mobile phone or other consumer electronics. As a consumer experience, it’s poor: no RDS or anything other than “tune in using a random number”; no stereo; not hifi-quality sound. Many never think to hit the ‘AM’ button on their radio. For broadcasters, AM is hugely expensive to run in terms of electricity bills. At least in Europe, many of the transmission masts date from the 1940s, and will soon reach end of life. Maintenance for AM is more onerous than FM, too: a station I worked at fell off-air once because (and this is true) the grass hadn’t been cut at the transmission site. So, what’s AM’s future? There are parts of the world where AM still reigns supreme. In regional areas of countries like Australia, AM remains the only serious way to cover thousands of miles of sparsely-populated terrain. There are still market-leading AM stations in North America that are successful in terms of audience and revenue. AM’s unlikely to die quickly here. Digital radio technology exists to significantly pep up the waveband. In the US, HD Radio works astonishingly well on AM, offering an FM- like sound quality experience. Across the rest of the world, DRM30 - Digital Radio Mondiale, another digital product - again makes a tremendous difference to AM radio’s quality and capabilities - adding data as well as significantly better sound. However - with the notable exception of India, DRM hasn’t yet become a consumer success. It’s a tremendous technical achievement, but its commercial take-up appears slow. I love AM. I did a short stint on late-night AM radio, and loved the feeling you got when on-air (and the ever-present Radio Vatican accompanying my every word). But - especially for metro areas, where interference is growing (and AM transmitters are being forced further away from cities), I can’t see much future for AM. If you’re still earning the majority of your revenue from AM broadcasting, I hope you’re planning for the future. There are so many ways to reach audiences in radio’s multi-platform future. The future for radio is bright. However, only the fittest platforms will survive: and I’m afraid - much though I’d like it to be - AM isn’t one of them. As an aside, I wrote this column while listening to Pandora. As I almost completed it, Pandora put this song on. Spooky. About The Author James Cridland is a radio futurologist: a writer, speaker and consultant on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on the radio business across the world. A former radio presenter, James has worked for stations and companies across the world, including the original Virgin Radio in London, the BBC, Futuri Media, Imagination Technologies and Seven Network. He has judged many industry awards, including the CBAA, ABC Local Radio, RAIN and the UK's ARIAS. He writes for publications across the world, and runs media.info the worldwide media information website. He also runs a free weekly newsletter with news of radio's future. British by birth, James lives in Brisbane, QLD and is a fan of craft beer (via John, Faversham Kent, Hoad, MWCircle yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ PERHAPS OF USE IS AN EXPLANATION WHAT GROUND WAVE ACTUALLY IS: http://www.electronics-radio.com/articles/antennas-propagation/ground-wave/basics-tutorial.php And re. >>> Enhancement is when the waves begin to bend groundward <<< ----- They *always* bend down, due to the terrestrial refraction. The effect is present also in visible light, also being referred to as geodetic refraction. It is much more pronounced on radio waves, thus the coverage of a VHF/UHF transmitter reaches significantly beyond the visual horizon, and the "radio horizon" is a theoretical value that takes this effect into consideration when determining the reach of a transmitter. The "line of sight" term is rather misleading in so far. Now the refraction coefficient can vary. There can be layers of different air masses that form ducts (btw, there are ionospheric ducts as well). You may call it "enhanced conditions" when it becomes obvious. In German it appears to be common to do so when an effect can be noted but is not so pronounced that one wants to say that an Überreichweite is present (does an English equivalent for that term exist? it denotes, to put it simply, conditions where distant signals cause interferences or just provide a surprise when tuning the radio or the TV). Anything beyond that is rather muddy. I think the term "scatter" is also used very loosely in the DX slang, being applied to faint signals of distant stations that are rather refracted than scattered. Just meant to try to give a little bit of clarification (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) US AIR FORCE TO BOMB THE IONOSPHERE? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3753417/The-Air-Force-reveals-radical-plan-bomb-sky-improve-radio-reception.html I will take D layer enhancement during the day for the MW band and 24/7 E-layer enhancement for round the clock FM ESkip. ;) On another note, I saw that for the 2020 Summer Olympics, they are spending millions on making a man made Meteor shower. How about 24/7 Meteor scatter, too? 73, (Dave in Indy (Noblesville) Hascall, Aug 23, WTFDA gg via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2016 Aug 22 0524 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/weekly.html # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 15 - 21 August 2016 Solar activity was at low levels on 15 August due to an isolated C1 flare at 15/0023 UTC from Region 2578 (N09, L=084, class/area Cro/020 on 18 Aug). Very low levels were observed from 16-21 August. Although Regions 2574 (N05, L=173, class/area Dho/290 on 09 Aug), 2576 (S15, L=160, class/area Hsx/140 on 10 Aug), 2577 (N03, L=164, class/area Dso/130 on 12 Aug), and 2578 were on the visible disk during the period, the regions appeared to be in slow decay. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at high levels on 15-16 August, moderate levels on 17 and 19-21 August and normal levels on 18 August. The largest flux of the period was 9,570 pfu observed at 15/1605 UTC. Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet to unsettled levels with an isolated active period observed on 21 August due to a pair of weak, negative polarity coronal hole high speed streams (CH HSS). Quiet levels were observed on 15 August under a nominal solar wind regime. By early on 17 August, solar wind speed increased to 435 km/s while total field increased to near 9 nT. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed from 16-18 August with quiet levels on 19-20 August. Solar wind speed decreased slowly until midday on 21 August when another CH HSS became geoeffective. The geomagnetic field responded with quiet to active levels on 21 August. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 22 AUGUST-17 SEPTEMBER 2016 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels through the forecast period (22 Aug-17 Sep). 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 with high levels likely on 26-28 August and from 31 August-12 September as a result of recurrent CH HSS activity. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels from 23-25 August, 29 August-08 September, 13-14 September, and again on 17 September with G1 (Minor) storm levels likely on 30-31 August due to recurrent CH HSS activity. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2016 Aug 22 0524 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 2016-08-22 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2016 Aug 22 80 7 2 2016 Aug 23 80 8 3 2016 Aug 24 80 12 4 2016 Aug 25 84 8 3 2016 Aug 26 84 5 2 2016 Aug 27 82 5 2 2016 Aug 28 80 5 2 2016 Aug 29 78 15 4 2016 Aug 30 75 25 5 2016 Aug 31 75 18 5 2016 Sep 01 75 15 4 2016 Sep 02 80 15 4 2016 Sep 03 85 12 4 2016 Sep 04 90 12 4 2016 Sep 05 90 15 4 2016 Sep 06 90 15 4 2016 Sep 07 90 8 3 2016 Sep 08 90 10 3 2016 Sep 09 90 5 2 2016 Sep 10 90 5 2 2016 Sep 11 88 5 2 2016 Sep 12 88 5 2 2016 Sep 13 85 10 3 2016 Sep 14 80 8 3 2016 Sep 15 80 5 2 2016 Sep 16 78 5 2 2016 Sep 17 75 8 3 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1840, DXLD) GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF AUG 25, 20126 Keith, from IPS in Australia, the global HF propagation forecast thru August 26, normal to fair at middle and hi latitudes; normal at all latitudes August 27. From Spaceweather South Africa thru August 27, magnetic conditions unsettled to quiet, shortwave fadeouts unlikely, MUF unstable. From Met Office UK thru August 28: Solar activity low or very low, with only a slight chance of Common Class flare activity. Geomagnetic activity declining to quiet to unsettled. From F K Janda, OK1HH in Czechia, the Geomagnetic field will be: mostly quiet on August 26, September 9 quiet on August 27 - 28, September 10 - 12 active to disturbed on August 29 - 30 quiet to active on August 31, September 2 - 8, 14 quiet to unsettled on September 1, 13 From SWPC in Boulder, Geomagnetic field unsettled to active August 29 to September 8, 13-14 and 17. G1 (Minor) storm levels likely August 30-31, with A and K indicies peaking at 25 and 5. Lowest As and Ks of 5 and 2 on August 26-28, September 9-12. Solar flux dropping from 84 August 26 to 75 August 30 to September 1, peaking at 90 September 4-10. William Hepburn`s vHF/UHF/Microwave DX maps show extreme tropospheric ducting off southern California and Baja California, steadily enlarging into the Pacific thru August 30. Likewise off the northwest coast of Africa [enlarging into the north Atlantic]. And across the western Mediterranean. Off Angola, Namibia, around South Africa and then east of South Africa by August 30. All week across the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and off the coast of Oman (via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS SCEPTIC ISLE Britain is unusually irreligious, and becoming more so. That calls for a national debate --- Aug 13th 2016 | From the print edition . . .Everywhere deconsecrated churches are reopening as bars and restaurants. Five hundred churches were turned into luxury homes over five years in London alone. Shrinking congregations and growing repair bills are typically the fatal combination: about a quarter of Sunday services are attended by fewer than 16 parishioners. The Church of England is doing its best to manage this trend. . . http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21704836-britain-unusually-irreligious-and-becoming-more-so-calls-national-debate (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, DXLD) Does ``deconsecration`` involve some kind of ceremony? I hope people get the play on words by the headline (gh, DXLD) ###