DX LISTENING DIGEST 16-49, December 7, 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 1855 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about: Angola, Australia, Biafra non, Bonaire, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechia non, France, Guatemala and non, India, Indonesia, Korea North & South, Madagascar and non, Mongolia, Netherlands non, North America, Rwanda non, Solomon Islands, Sudan South non, Turkey, Uganda non, Ukraine, UK, USA and non, Vatican SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1855, December 8-14, 2016 Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Thu 2130 WRMI 13695 [confirmed] Fri 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1531 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [not confirmed] Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed from 0414] Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB [experimental] Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v Thu 0030 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/ ** AFGHANISTAN. Reception of Radio Afghanistan External Service Nov 30 1530-1700 on 6100#YAK 100 kW / 125 deg to SoAs English, Urdu, Arabic # strong QRM 6095 KAS 500 kW / 269 deg to N/ME English CRI 1500-1600 # strong QRM 6105 SZG 500 kW / 315 deg to EaEu Russian CRI 1500-1600 # weak co-ch 6100 KNG 250 kW / non-dir to NEAs Korean KCBS Pyongyang http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-radio-afghanistan-external.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. USA (non), Frequency changes of IBB Radio Ashna 1430-1500 NF 11765 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Pashto,x 11940 1500-1630 NF 11765 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Dari, ex 11940 (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Frequency and transmitter changes BBC WS from Dec 2 1500-1600 NF 5830 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Pashto,x 12045 NAK 1600-1700 NF 5830 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Dari, ex 12045 NAK http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/frequency-and-transmitter-changes-of.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) I.e., from THAILAND, to ARMENIA (gh) ** ALASKA. THE SUN SETS FOR THE LAST TIME OVER BARROW, ALASKA 1 December 2016 From the section US & Canada http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38165206 Image caption: Whale bones sit on the edge of the city, where many residents are subsistence hunters On 18 November 2016 at 13:31 local time, the sun set forever [sic] on America's northernmost city of Barrow, Alaska. That is because on Thursday the town officially changed its name to its original indigenous title, Utqiagvik. [pronouncer, please!] The city of about 4,300 people, which sits above the Arctic Circle, experiences more than two months of 24-hour darkness each winter. Meteorologists predict that the sun will not rise again over the city until the afternoon of 22 January, 2017. Due to a tilt in the earth's rotation, the sun never rises above the horizon in polar regions during the winter, and never sets there during the summer. Residents of the city then known as Barrow voted in October to restore its traditional Inupiaq name, Utqiagvik, which means "a place to gather roots" in the local language. Mayor Bob Harcharek said that the name change "reclaims our beautiful Inupiaq language". Image copyright Getty Images Image caption: Children play outside before the sun sets for more than two months The ordinance was introduced by city council member Qaiyaan Harcharek, son of the mayor, to "promote pride in identity" and "perpetuate healing and growth from the assimilation and oppression from the colonists". He explained to Alaska Public Media that very few people still speak Inupiaq, and that "our people were severely punished from speaking our traditional language for many years", when missionaries first arrived in the region with the intent of assimilating native peoples. The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska estimates that only about 3,000 people speak Inupiaq today. The name change passed by only six votes, with some residents disagreeing with the cost of changing official references on road signs and municipal documents (via Terry Krueger, FL, DXLD) So, KBRW 680 must be renamed KUTQ, KUQV, or whatever combo? (gh, DXLD) ** ALASKA [and non]. /NEW ZEALAND, 7355, KNLS/RNZI, 1428-1500+ 1 Dec., 1320, 1400+ 2 Dec. KNLS' Chinese service crushing RNZI the past two mornings. http://www.worldchristian.org/ site still shows Chinese at 13-18 on 9655 (unheard there both days). Apparently back to normal on 3 Dec. with RNZI in the clear at 1458+ & KNLS on 9655 with OC/IS & Chinese programming after 1500 (Dan Sheedy, Moonlight Beach, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 7474.975, Radio Tirana Shijak broadcast center site in Albanian language service to W Europe and North America (USA / CAN). As always still remaining AUDIO DISTURBED signal, for example listen to the included MP3 format recording. Still visible 22 x 100 Hertz distance apart main power disturbtion audio signal peaks on either sideband, plus +/-50 and +/-150 Hertz peak strings too. Listened at tune-in at 0004 UT, December 1st. Varying S=9+20dB shortwave signal strength, noted so far in southern Germany, Belgium, Madrid Spain, Doha Qatar, but S=7 strength in northern and central Sweden, nothing heard in Moscow Russia remote Perseus SD Receiver units tonight. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews December 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RT English from interval signal at 0226 UT onwards only reliable S=8-9 signal strength in Europe, but not in North America, only threshold level tiny S=4 or -98dBm strength in NJ, NY, MA, and MI-USA remote posts. But nice S=9+5dB signal from Albania in Doha Qatar remote SDR post at 0235 UT. 7474.975 kHz Shijak signal in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands from 0226 UT signing-on onwards. 8 x 100 Hertz distorted audio peaks visible either sideband. Comparison other broadcaster in Germany: 7483 RTTY UTE S=9+10dB at 0221 UT 7340 ROU RRI S=9+50dB powerhouse, S=9 in USA 7410 ROU RRI S=9+30dB powerful, S=9 in USA 7435 USA Radio Marti Greenville NC, S=9+20dB in Germany. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RT English Dec 6, at 0230 and at 0256 UT interval signal, ALBANIA 7474.975, always S=9+15dB or -56dBm signal strength at 0240 UT on Dec 6. BUZZY AUDIO noted also tonight, as always in past month: 26 x 100 Hertz distance apart audio buzz peaks VISIBLE on Perseus screen. 73 wolfy (Büschel, ibid.) ** ANGOLA. 4950, R. Nacional Angola, Mulenvos. Apparently this one is not kaputt, as feared in last issue. Rather it reappeared this evening with a good modulation contrary to years of low modulation. At 2000 UT with time pips and announcement by female after a period of light music in Portuguese. SIO: 222, Nov 27 (Zeljko Crncic, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 27, BC-DX 2 Dec via DXLD) 4949.72, Radio Nacional Angola 1-Mulenvos, at 0033, on 1 Dec, in Portuguese. A lively sounding song with a female singer was playing. This was followed by a new slow song sung by a male singer. A male announcer with a deep voice came on and spoke with instrumental music playing in the background. A female speaker came on next who is talking. The original announcer came back on and spoke again with light instrumental music playing in the background. A new song with a male singer played that was originally produced in English called ”Whatever it Takes,” at 0055. At 0100 there were three time pips followed by a male announcer stating “Radio Nacional.” He continued to give out what sounded like news headlines. Fair. (Note: After several years of trying to hear this station at least several times a week, this is the best reception I have ever had as normally it is just a signal spike with no audio or just snippets of audio. This was a nice treat!) (John Cooper, Lebanon, PA, Equipment: Winradio-G33DDC, CommRadio CR-1a, SDR-IQ, Tecsun PL-660, Grundig Satellit 750, Wellbrook ALA1530S+, Wellbrook ALA1530LNPro, Pars SWL Sloper, GAP-Hear It-In Line Module, wbradio yg via DXLD) 4949.7, RNA-Canal "A", Mulenvos, 2008-2027, 01/12, "Programa da Noite"; texto, música pop'; 35443. Sinal e modulação muito fortes, em 02/12, pelas 2220. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think Rádio Nacional, 4949.73 kHz, has increased its power, put up a new antenna, or maybe both. I noted in a posting on Sunday that I was getting good reception of them on my new, lower noise, horizontal pennant. But they're also much better on my old vertical pennant than they ever were before (though not as good as they are on my new horizontal). I can now hear them all evening, every evening, on either antenna, even though conditions to Africa don't seem to be anything special. On the vertical, the audio is present but hard to read through the noise; on the horizontal, it's 100% readable; previously, it was hard to get any audio out of them (Art Delibert, North Bethesda, MD, NRD-545, Pennants with DX Engineering Pre-amp, 0342 UT Dec 2, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4949.73, Dec 3 at 0103, RNA is S8 and with much improved modulation, which they must have fixed during recent outage: Portuguese talk; Also at 0510 check in S6 music, but gone by 0611 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Angola is missing tonight. They seem to be having a problem. On December 3, they came on very late, and the signal was much weaker than it had been all week. Tonight, December 4, no signal at all on their usual frequency (Art Delibert, North Bethesda, MD, 0430 UT Dec 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4949.73, R. Nacional de Angola, 0323+, Dec 1 & 3. Mostly fair reception, as I have been getting recently. Clearly off the air on Dec 5, when checking 0230, 0304, 0338 & 0440 (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) S=6 -91dBm poor signal in southern Germany at at 2026 UT on 4949.722 kHz, Dec 5 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4949.73, R. Nacional is back, noted at 2325 with a fairly strong signal. 12/5/16 (Art Delibert, N. Bethesda, MD, JRC NRD-545, Horizontal pennant antennas with DX Engineering pre-amp, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4949.72, R. Nacional Angola heard 6 Dec from 0457 tune with fair (S3) signal rapidly improving to good (S4) at peaks with local highlife music to 0500, time pips on the hour and two male announcers in Portuguese with what seems like news but local noise making difficult copy despite strong sigs and good modulation. As noted earlier by several reporters, there has been some transmitter upgrade/repair that has succeeded, whatever it was. ID’s as “Rádio Nacional Angola” by men at 0500 and 0510.5. Tonight anyway, Angola is doing better than Brazilians usually do in here in their peak hours 0700-0900. Without local noise, this would almost be armchair listening (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. 6090.001, Caribbean Beacon, BAD DISTORTED AUDIO, female voice prayer in English, 0559 UT on Dec 1. Faulty signal! [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 11710.866, RAE Buenos Aires, Spanish at 0033 UT Dec 7, S=9+10dB or -63dBm heard in Germany, el movimiento poesía. And 900 Hz heterodyne interference tone to China and Indian outlets heard oo? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Today 1900 UT, 6145 kHz from Armenia towards Europe. With 100kW directed towards 305 . First hour: Repetition of "Radio Menschen & Geschichten" (German Edition) from last week. Second hour: Golden 80s Rewind with Jordan Heyburn (Christian Milling, Dec 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fair signal at 1930 into Southeastern Massachusetts. Static is moderate & periodically rising above signal. Audio muffled by effects of static and fading. German program with music (Stephen Wood, Harwich, Massachusetts, ibid.) Fair signal in Central Florida, S7 with fading, listening on a Tecsun PL-660 receiver with just the telescopic antenna used. 73's (John Jurasek, 2055 UT Dec 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASCENSION. 5975, Dec 2 at 0637, tonal African language at S7, i.e. BBC Hausa during this semihour daily (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. Radio Free Asia has a new QSL card commemorating 2017 as the "Year of the Rooster". According to the RFA email it was painted by Korean painter Jang Seung-eop, better known as Owan. This is RFA's 63rd QSL card and is used to confirm all valid reception reports from January to April 2017. 73, (Manfred Reiff, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) (Also via Juan Franco Crespo, DXLD) Manfred attached it to the dxldyg, and I assume will be visible on the RFA website: altho not very colorful, at least it is genuine art, rather than the crude graphic QSL designs RFA has employed lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRÁLIA, 4835, VL8A, Alice Springs, Territ.º do Norte, 1708-1728, 02/12, inglês, entrevista; 35332. Melhor sinal em 04/12, pelas 1700, SINPO 35443. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Doomed ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RADIO AUSTRALIA TO CLOSE FROM JANUARY 31, 2017 It has just become official. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has just provided a media release today December 6 regarding the future of both Radio Australia and the Northern Territory Shortwave Services. Put bluntly, there is no future. It all closes from January 31, 2017. Here's the media release in full: [as below] (via Keith Perron, Dec 5, dxldyg via DXLD) ABC EXITS SHORTWAVE RADIO TRANSMISSION https://radio.press.abc.net.au/abc-exits-shortwave-radio-transmission# (via Rodney Johnson, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz, same: ABC exits shortwave radio transmission Tuesday 06 December, 2016 Michael Mason https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/abc-exits-shortwave-radio-transmission The ABC will end its shortwave transmission service in the Northern Territory and to international audiences from 31 January 2017. The move is in line with the national broadcaster's commitment to dispense with outdated technology and to expand its digital content offerings including DAB+ digital radio, online and mobile services, together with FM services for international audiences. The majority of ABC audiences in the Northern Territory currently access ABC services via AM and FM and all ABC radio and digital radio services are available on the VAST satellite service. ABC International's shortwave services currently broadcast to PNG and the Pacific. Savings realised through decommissioning this service will be reinvested in a more robust FM transmitter network and an expanded content offering for the region that will include English and in-language audio content. Michael Mason, ABC's Director of Radio (pictured) said, "While shortwave technology has served audiences well for many decades, it is now nearly a century old and serves a very limited audience. The ABC is seeking efficiencies and will instead service this audience through modern technology". The ABC, working alongside SBS, is planning to extend its digital radio services in Darwin and Hobart, and to make permanent its current digital radio trial in Canberra. Extending DAB+ into the nation's eight capital cities will ensure ABC digital radio services can reach an additional 700,000 people, increasing the overall reach of ABC digital radio to 60% of the Australian population. ABC Radio is also investigating transmission improvements to address reception gaps in the existing five DAB+ markets. It aims to ensure a resilient DAB+ service in every capital city, with enhanced bitrates and infill where necessary. "Extending our DAB+ offer will allow audiences in every capital city in Australia equal access to our digital radio offering, as well as representing an ongoing broadcast cost saving owing to lower transmission costs," added Michael Mason. ABC International's Chief Executive Officer Lynley Marshall said the reinvestment from closing international shortwave services would maximise the ABC's broadcast capabilities in the region. "In considering how best to serve our Pacific regional audiences into the future we will move away from the legacy of shortwave radio distribution," Ms Marshall said. "An ever-growing number of people in the region now have access to mobile phones with FM receivers and the ABC will redirect funds towards an extended content offering and a robust FM distribution network to better serve audiences into the future." Once international shortwave ceases transmission, international listeners can continue to access ABC International services via: * the web stream at: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/listen * in-country FM transmitters: see Radio Australia's `Ways to Listen': http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/waystolisten/fiji * the Australia Plus expats app (available in both iOS and Android) * partner websites and apps such as www.tunein.com and www.vtuner.com. Audiences can access further information via the reception advice line 1300 139 994, online at abc.net.au/shortwave, or via ABC Local Radio (Darwin and Alice Springs). * Log in or register to post comments (via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) This is truly sad news. I have continued to listen to Radio Australia on a daily basis for 55 years. Unfortunately I don't have WiFi internet service here so it will be coming to end (Richard Allen, near Perry OK, Sent from my iPad, IRCA via DXLD) ? Why would you need WiFi rather than plain old wired internet? (gh) For in-country coverage the proposed change kind of makes sense, but for out-of-country coverage it's just nonsense. They are not the first, and likely won't be the last, to believe in reliable local partnership and distribution. Local governments will always step in, and block their local arrangements, when they feel like it. The only way around it is to pander to the government. In this case they won't do any good to the people they claim to be serving. Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) And financially, out of country coverage to cover a few ex Aussies and DXers makes absolutely zero sense (Paul Walker, AK, ibid.) Paul, I don't think you understand the influence of Australia in the Pacific. They ARE the regional power. The island nations look to the Aussies for foreign policy, security and economic cooperation and assistance. RA was not broadcasting to a few DXers and Aussies, as you state. That's being very condescending. RA (and RNZI) provide a lifeline during typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis, and regional emergencies, including political upheavals. Please tell me how local FM transmission or on-line transmission can replace SW broadcasting. A few years ago, Fiji had a military coup. Foreign rebroadcasts disappeared from local stations. Hence the value of a robust SW service. It does not have to be expensive (Walt Salmaniw, BC, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) If ABC NT and Radio Australia SW had a sizable audience, they wouldn't be disappearing. It doesn't have to be expensive? Do you have any clue what a 50,000 or 100,000 watt SW transmitter costs to run 24/7/365? (Paul Walker, ibid.) Please don't exaggerate, Paul. RNZI accomplishes all Pacific reception with both DRM and AM with 35 or 50 kW, and not 24/7. RNZI's annual budget is somewhere in the vicinity of $2 million NZ. Peanuts, for a national broadcaster when compared to TV budgets. Big cost savings are simply an easy justification to eliminate SW. A fallacious argument used time and time again by numerous international broadcasters in the past (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) ABC NT is 50 kW nearly 24/7 on one frequency or another. Radio Australia is nearly 24/7 with 100 kW. That amounts to a gigantic power bill for one thing and all the maintenance staff costs. To spend all that for such a small audience isn't realistic anymore. Are they going to lose some listeners in their core target area? Yes, I'm sure they will. For a few hundred bucks, you can get a free to air satellite dish and receiver that will pick up ABC/Radio Austrlaia crystal clear 24/7 (Paul Walker, ibid.) Paul, you clearly have not experienced a typhoon or earthquake. The Pacific isn't called the ring of fire for nothing. When all hell breaks loose, your satellite dish will be worthless, while a $10 SW receiver will still work just fine, thank you (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Why is it one country`s responsibility to always come to the aid of another country, costing that country many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to provide that aid? Tuvalu, Tonga, Kiribati all have 10 kW AM signals. Niue and Nauru are FM only now. But their staff does a fine job in disasters (Paul Walker, ibid.) Because that's how the world community works. We help each other, at least those of us in the first world. Small nations devastated by natural disasters need the assistance of other nations during times of need. When power fails, towers are toppled, local transmissions will be off the air (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) In Australia's case, like New Zealand's, their service has an altruistic nature too. I don't think expats are the target, but the Pacific island nations. If they want to keep their 'influence' in the area, they have to pay for it. Soft power does not come cheap (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) It's not their responsibility, it's their interest. No country is an island, and I'm not talking geographically. Australia made a conscious decision years ago that their future was no longer in Europe, but in the Asia Pacific area. Look, nothing against Australia, I love the place. It was the same mistake with RCI. I would agree that the RCI's target had to change from Europe to Asia and Latin America. Close the transmitter plant in the east coast, if you must, but they should have opened another one in the west coast. Regards, (Vince Freme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) A west coast RCI SITE was in the works decades ago -- like in the 50's or 60's. According to reliable sources inside RCI - Ucluelet was the region under discussion. Imagine that, guys. A Sackville style site a few hundred km from us. We would have hated it. Irony = not lost (Colin Newell - CoffeeCrew.com - VA7WWV - Victoria - BC, ibid.) ?? Why would you have hated it? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Years ago, Vince, I remember some test transmissions from the west coast somewhere by RCI [using PTP facility of COTC --- gh]. Then there was Radio For Peace International that had land and planned a Canadian transmitter near Vernon, BC. Never happened. And the VOA site that almost happened near Port Angeles, WA, across the water from me in Victoria. There's still a VOA Way there now! That was from the late 40s/early 50s, I think. You're right, of course. It is in Australia's interest to project their power in a very benign way, of course, in the Pacific. If not them, then it would be China. I was amazed on how many Chinese aid projects I saw in places like Tonga, etc.! 73 (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) I know this may cause a cataclysm for some, but I think DXers have zero utility to international broadcasters these days. If we want to have a small chance of keeping these services, we should stop contacting broadcasters as DXers, and call ourselves listeners only. Telling broadcasters about SINFO, receiver, antennas, instead of what they liked or disliked in the programming is a waste of their time. Asking them for programs on a variety of life enhancing topics will go a lot farther than asking for a QSL card. Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) DX'ers, listeners, whatever you call yourselves won`t matter; someone in Ottawa, Ontario or Galena, Alaska doesn`t matter a hill o`effin beans to the budget or audience numbers to ABC NT SW or Radio Australia (Paul Walker, Galena AK, ibid.) True in Radio Australia's case. I was referring to international broadcasting in general. To those few broadcasters that still have an antenna pointed at us. But in Radio Australia's case, we are talking regional influence, soft power. They won't have any prestige just paying island nations to host their would=be illegal immigrants. Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Is RNZI next? (Ed Sylvester, CA, dxldyg via DXLD) Just interviewed someone for MNP who is with ABC International. Well, the reasons from management were exactly as I called it a few months ago (Keith Perron, ibid.) Don’t think I’ll be rushing to hear ABC and Radio Australia via Internet anytime soon L. They just lost more listeners than I suspect they’ll gain (Bruce Churchill, CA, ibid.) The Radio Australia shutdown of course comes as no surprise, following the "outages" of both the international and Northern Territory services earlier this year. Guess they found out who noticed, which was probably "very few." RA on SW has pretty much been living on borrowed time since the 70% output cut in January 2015. Recall that a commission considering the future of the ABC had recommended (in 2014) that SW be eliminated completely. My earliest memories of RA are from 1967, when they had a morning hour (1115 UT) to North America on 9580 and 11710, and two hours in the evening (01-03 UT) on 17820 and a 19 meter frequency that escapes my memory. Both of these were services specifically produced for NA audiences. Of course there was also the "General Service", relatively easy to hear, which was on a number of frequencies at all hours, as well as services to Europe and Africa, also receivable in NA. I still tune in for the newscasts when I can, usually either 13 or 14 UT, or at various times 01-05 UT. Have to wonder what Broadcast Australia will do with the Shepparton site, as well as the mothballed Brandon facility. Would Reach Beyond Australia be interested in expanding its operations? Not sure what to think about any effect on RNZI, which could go either way: They decide to "fill the vacuum" and keep the service going, or perhaps realize that if the RA SW audience is gone, that RNZI on SW might also be a waste of resources. Wonder if CRI might be thinking of more aggressively filling the void to the Pacific? Up next, Vatican Radio gone from SW? Looks like a decision is getting close. One final thought: Those who say that they "won't listen to RA on the internet" are perhaps part of the problem. If you have no interest in the programming via another platform, perhaps you didn't really care about the station to begin with. DXers need to remind themselves that international broadcasters do not exist to provide "loggings" and "DX targets" but rather to convey news, information and entertainment from a particular national perspective (Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) I cannot agree with your assertion that the delivery medium is not important. Yes, I'm a DXer, but also a program listener. When RCI was on SW, I was a regular listener. The same for RNW, Moscow, and HCJB. When these organizations left SW, I did not follow to other media. Not because lack of interest. RCI really lost its focus and left little of interest on-line to me. HCJB and RNW just basically gave up on the English speaking world, and with them, Ecuador and to a lesser extent, Holland's position in the world. The internet just swallows these voices in the noise of the internet. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Stephen you made a very good point. If they were really interested in content. the delivery of the content is not important. The method of delivery being shortwave, MV, FM, DAB, satellite, internet or through phone apps is not important. If people are really interested in content they will listen no matter what the distribution platform is (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Yes and no. SOME of us have no cellphone reception where they live so cellphones are useless. SOME of us don't have high speed access to the internet but a terribly slow dial up connection over rotting phone lines that the phone company refuses to repair as they are on a ten year plan to go wireless. Usual connect speed is 3.8 KBPS and that's on the days I'm actually able to connect at all. Impossible to stream anything that way. Takes an hour for the homepage at Amazon to load. SOME of us do not have access to satellite anything because of the trees. SOME of us have no access to cable as they won't run lines this far away from the town. Please explain to me how I can access the content without using my shortwave radio! I posit that the method of delivery is damned important to me. I probably shouldn't let it bother me anymore, but I do get upset when people assume that everyone in the whole damn world has the same access to technology as they do. And please don't tell me to go to the library to access the computers as I would have to travel to the next county, pay a fee to use the library, and beg someone to take me as I have been housebound since an accident four years ago when we had a tornado in November. Sorry for this but you hit a nerve (John Carver, Mid-North Indiana, ibid.) But John, you`re not Radio Australia's target audience, which is the Eastern and Western Pacific (Keith Perron, ibid.) To an extent, I disagree. The delivery method is very important. I had a big enough worry when a Mirai botnet fired up and started to take out a major chunk of the Internet topology on the US eastern seaboard in recent weeks. This was the attack on Dyn DNS a little while ago. The Internet is more fragile these days than I like to see it as. As much as the RA press release complained about shortwave being a century old, it still works. While jamming can happen you merely have to worry about other transmitters. With the distributed denial of service attack wiping out the eastern seaboard for the better part of a day, all sorts of "smart devices" were suborned for use in the attack from digital video recorders to WiFi doorbells to wireless security cameras to other Internet of Things devices. Jammers are easily found and potentially addressable. Botnets, on the other hand, can drown you out and it would take far more forensics work to figure out not just the how but also the who (Stephen Michael Kellat, KC8BFI, ibid.) If you say so. yawn. The distribution platform is only good if people are listening. If no one is listening it not. Last time I was in PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu this past summer, content is delivered by new platforms like FM, which the ABC plans to expand and through mobile phones. Dxers are like doomsdayers (Keith Perron, ibid.) Radio Netherlands had a mandate change. Their new mandate is to provide training to journalists who are from certain regions. Under the new mandate they are not a radio station. The change in mandate was part of of the discussion in forming a coalition government as Prime Minister Mark Rutte from the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie needed to form a cabinet with the Partij van de Arbeid. Rutte didn't win enough of the vote to form a government on his own. As for RCI, they have over 300 partner stations globally, which RCI provides audio and scripts for local stations. If people are really interested in content they will listen. Radio Australia, which I've listened to for nearly 30 years. I've not listened on SW for nearly 5 years, even with 3 frequencies I can pick up with no problem. I use a wifi radio (Keith Perron, ibid.) For what it's worth, Radio Australia's "Pacific Beat" program is right now (0505 UT Dec 6) reporting on the decision to close shortwave service. It gives the end date as 31 January 2017, not the 17th. The program is running an interview from RA's former director who is robustly criticizing the decision. He says many Radio Australia listeners in the Pacific will lose service, pointing out that many in the region can't afford listening on mobile phones, etc. He says RA has been severely neglected and damaged by the ABC and the government, adding that the Australian public doesn't realize this. I'm recording this via a SDR in Tasmania on 15415 kHz. 73, (Andy Robins, Kalamazoo, Michigan USA, ibid.) The Pacific Beat interview with former Head of Radio Australia, Jean Gabriel Manguy, mentioned earlier in the thread is online here. ABC decision to halt shortwave broadcasts criticised http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-06/abc-decision-to-halt-shortwave-broadcasts/8097728 (via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: ABC DECISION TO HALT SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS CRITICISED Audio Pacific Beat 5min 11sec Posted yesterday at 5:00am | Updated yesterday at 6:36am A decision by the ABC to halt shortwave broadcasts early next year has been criticised by a former manager of Radio Australia. The shortwave transmissions to Asia and the Pacific will cease from January 31st next year, as alternatives such as FM and internet become more prevalent. Former head of Radio Australia and subsequently a consultant on international broadcasting in the Pacific, Jean Gabriel Manguy, tells Bruce Hill the decision is short sighted. [no transcript available] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-06/abc-decision-to-halt-shortwave-broadcasts/8097728 ABC SHORTWAVE: SENIOR DIPLOMAT CALLS FOR RE-INVESTMENT OF SAVED MONEY Audio Pacific Beat 4min 30sec Posted about 6 hours ago | Updated about 4 hours ago http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-07/abc-shortwave:-senior-diplomat-calls-for-re/8098936 The ABC's shortwave transmission service that broadcasts Radio Australia - and Pacific Beat - across the Pacific is to be shut down at the end of January. An ABC statement says the move is in line with the broadcaster's commitment to expand its digital content offerings. It says Radio Australia's audiences in the Pacific will to be able to listen to FM broadcasts and online and the savings are to be reinvested in a more robust FM transmitter network and increased regional content. The move will save an estimated $2.8 million dollars a year and one of Australia's most senior diplomats in the region, James Batley, has called for this money to be re-invested into media and journalism across the Pacific Mr Batley is a former Australian High Commissioner to both Fiji and Solomon Islands and he led RAMSI, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands from 2004 to 2006. He says it will be a pity to lose Radio Australia's shortwave transmission, but it's a move that reflects broader changes in the media landscape. Richard Ewart. Source: Pacific Beat | Duration: 4min 30sec (RA Pacific Beat, via gh, DXLD) For me it would need to be done via podcast. Time zones get me turned around badly on the south shores of Lake Erie. Any time I've listened to the Triple J music stream it has been radically the wrong time differential such as mid-afternoon for me and graveyard shift for them. This is a loss. The last time I was in their target area for reception was late 2006/early 2007 when I was attached to the American Samoa Government working at American Samoa Community College. Ten years later I'm on the Great Lakes in northeast Ohio with little hope of regular reception. There was an FM relay transmitter in the territory of RNZI and RA. I never listened to it as it was intermittent and frankly had poor signal quality compared to the shortwave signal. Then again, that was ten years ago. I try to keep in touch with the brotherhood missionaries out there but work these days keeps my focus a lot closer to home. I do subscribe to RNZI podcast content and listen to their app. RA podcast content keeps winding up as a pain in the butt to subscribe to successfully that I stick with the more user-friendly RNZI content. It all comes down to targets and priorities. I was watching Jeopardy! tonight and saw someone blow a question that was pretty much a gimme about American Samoa. The US possessions are too often out of sight and out of mind, let alone the independent entities out there. The reassuring voice of Don Wiseman on RNZI was a great thing to hear out in Mapusaga when I was working at the college with each new episode of Dateline Pacific (Stephen Michael Kellat, KC8BFI, ibid.) It should be remembered Radio Australia actually ceased their North America Service nearly four decades ago. However, the station's signals to the Pacific area continued to be heard in North America as if it had never ended. So the opinion of a listener in the Canada or the USA will have no influence to the ABC. I was once a monitor for the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Japan and Radio Nederland, and they are no more (Richard Allen, near Billings OK, Sent from my iPad, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Stephen, Re Shepparton site. I'm guessing unless other broadcasters are interested in utilising the transmitter site for rebroadcasts, then several of the techs will be either be redeployed and/or made redundant by Broadcast Australia (BA). Given the announcement and extremely short time frame between now and then, end of next January 2017, it seems (to me) highly unlikely that the site will be leased out to other broadcasters. The most likely scenario, post-Jan 2017 is that the main transmitter building and immediate grounds will be retained by BA as their regional Vic/NSW service centre, and the surrounding land where the SW antennas are located will be sold off & antennas/masts scrapped and transmitters offered for tender, etc. The site could be sold to another broadcaster, but who would be genuinely interested these days? I'm sure some techs at the SHP site always thought their jobs would be safe due to the importance of RA in the Pacific, especially when cyclones in the south Pacific can destroy local broadcasting / telecommunications infrastructure and the local populations could always count on RA SW services. Well, it's the bean counters that have the final say. That said, I'm sure there will be some Pacific Island nation dignitaries having some words to Julie Bishop (Foreign Affairs Minister) over the next few weeks. When I last looked at Internet costs some years ago for some Pacific nations, the costs were still very pricey. Anyone know if costs have come down significantly enough such that audio streaming is viable in those countries? I wonder just how many extra FM transmitters RA is considering installing and/or leasing throughout the Pacific. Not much time to get them in place before RA on SW switches off. Re Brandon (on SW). I suspect that this site could stay in a mothball status and reactivated to deal with cyclone emergencies in QLD and nearby Pacific nations with applicable ABC Local Radio or RA programming. The land and building is still needed for the existing ABC Local Radio MW service at this site (Ian (AUSTRALIA), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Getting airtime through Broadcast Australia is impossible. I've spoken to them many times. They don't do it and are not interested. When I was in the PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu last summer, I used the internet using my mobile phone. It was very cheap. Compared to 5 years ago, when I paid 50$ a day, I was paying 10$ a month. Landline internet is still awful, but everything is going mobile. There are a number of low cost mobile phone from Xiaomi and Huawai. It's like Burma. First time I went to Burma, for the two weeks I paid 300$ for internet access on my phone. In May this year it cost me less than 12$ for the same period of time (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Is that USA (or other) $? Do these countries use USA (or other) $ or are you factoring in the exchange rate? It is important to work out the cost of a month`s listening via Internet as a proportion of the average locals' monthly salaries. I have no knowledge or experience of these places so I'm probably talking rubbish, but I suspect that USA (or other) 10$ could be a significant expense for many locals who can't benefit from exchange rates during a probably short visit (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks, Keith & Walter, for your feedback/interesting comments re internet experiences & prices in Pacific etc - all good reading. Walter, your last line where you quote: "The internet just swallows these voices in the noise of the internet." I find this to be so true. It might have been difficult to happen upon a particular station on the SW dial in years gone by (pre Internet days), but when current or former SW radio broadcasters (the national / government funded ones) don't promote themselves via advertising on the internet or via travel magazines, etc., for their Internet streaming services (programs) or websites, then for the majority of the unaware masses these internet broadcasts do become just part of the internet noise. I suspect several international broadcasters have not realised this. It is certainly true that content of 'some' international broadcasters, who once broadcasted on SW, but who now only use the Internet as their medium, that their content has become just a shadow of their former self - I strongly agree. Perhaps it's probably another bean counter story re funding for the majority, rather than a will to promote in several cases. But that said, I'm sure some national gov funded broadcasters lack the will and process to adapt to changing times sufficiently. I'll also add that I suspect many national governments lack the will to continue with funding for a international broadcast station given access to information & content via the Internet. In many ways, I feel sorry for the young folk that not only didn't get to experience SWLing, but so importantly the rich diversity of program content that was produced by International SW broadcasters prior to the mid 90's on SW for an international audience. It hasn't been replicated today. What we have today is access via the internet to a huge assortment of domestic streaming program content, mainly in the language of the host country and additionally what we can discover with our search engines. Times change, mediums change due to technology - but we still have our memories :-) (Ian [AUS], ibid.) In the spirit of friendly debate, I agree with Stephen: we need to remember that 4.4 billion of the world’s population cannot access the Internet for a variety of reasons. Remoteness, lack of technical knowledge, censorship, repression; and the list goes on. That’s why a station like Radio Kahuzi in the DR of the Congo distributes special-purpose Galcom [fix-tuned] radios to the local population who will not be getting on the Internet anytime soon. Shortwave radio is the only medium that can transcend many of these boundaries. The other side of the coin is that when we lose the Internet (notice I said “when” and not “if”), we will be looking for shortwave receivers (powered by solar panels or other “off-grid” power sources) and amateur radio operators to maintain otherwise unavailable two-way and one-way communications. Google Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) (a.k.a. Space Weather) to get the gory details. The U.S. is not the only potential target of these events – any place in the world can be susceptible to GMD and certainly North America and Europe will be prime EMP targets. And have I mentioned nation-state-sponsored cyber attacks against the electrical grid? Having said all that, I realize that almost all these decisions are monetary in the end, and the decision-makers are either clueless of the dangers facing reliance on the Internet or really don’t care. After all, our energy companies are clueless on the meaning of the word “resilience”, so why would we expect broadcasters to be any smarter? My prediction is that the Vatican will not leave shortwave anytime soon, given the economic condition of their target audience, but other countries are only interested in entertaining their own citizens in the most economical way possible. And that is an understandable business decision. Those of us who have been DXers for decades enjoyed both the difficult and/or rare catch and many of us also enjoyed armchair listening to enjoy those stations that broadcast interesting programming in short, easy-to-digest chunks of time. In truth, many, if not most major broadcasters never cared much for our hobby as we did nothing to positively impact their bottom line. So: our bottom line is that when the Radio Australias of the world disappear, we just keeping adapting our hobby to what’s remaining on the shortwave spectrum. We DX MW, utility stations, remaining shortwave broadcasters, amateur radio and use the ever-expanding world of remote receiver networks to hear old stations (and the odd newbie or returnee) from different QTH’s. My $0.02 on the matter, Hi! (Bruce Churchill, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It also does not surprise me. So many SW stations have shut down. Many can stream the service anyway. Where we used to have SW stations like the BBC, now we have BBC World on cable, satellite, and streaming. We used to have Radio Moscow, now the TV Service Russia Today, DW, now DWTV, and the list goes on. TRT (Turkey) just launched their 24/7 International News TV that streams. Scratching and fading reception from 40 years ago is now being replaced by crystal clear streaming, often in HD and Stereo. Of course not all have access to streaming, but a lot of the world does (Patrick Martin, OR, HCDX via DXLD) I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that's fine - you're entitled to your opinion. Perhaps I'm pessimistic, but this is just how I see things. I'm not happy to see Radio Australia leaving the airwaves and I'll certainly miss hearing them on 9580 kHz in the mornings, but it makes sense to me why they made the decision that they did. It's clear that technology is changing in the Pacific Region and shortwave just isn't as popular as it used to be anymore. The final confirmation that this was going to happen was when they briefly shut down the transmissions and received copious amounts of letters from DXers and QSL Chasers in the U.S and Europe talking about how strong the station usually is (in SINPO Code) and how they listen every morning on their $300 receiver with their 200m special antenna. What incentive is that to continue broadcasting when their imagined target was listeners in Papua New Guinea, Fiji etc. that would be listening on an old transistor radio? They realized that there is no point to continue fueling millions of dollars into this station when the only people listening are those who they have no interest in targeting. Many (not all) of these DX Listeners are interested solely in how the signal is coming in; they'll tune in for 5 minutes and continue scanning. Yes, its the end of an era but it`s bound to happen. As for Radio New Zealand, I'm not even going to give them another year. They probably will have made the announcement to shut down by June, 2017. It all comes down to what they want to be as a broadcasting entity, a DX Station, or a comprehensive source of news and information for the Pacific? I think they'll choose the latter (RW Observer, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ABC DITCHES SHORTWAVE SERVICES http://www.radiotoday.com.au/news/whats-new/10153-abc-ditches-shortwave-services.html original source and FAQ: http://about.abc.net.au/press-releases/shortwave-radio/ (via Harald Kuhl, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) As reported in the Mt. Evelyn DX report, Radio Australia will end shortwave broadcastings January 31, 2017 http://medxr.blogspot.com/2016/12/radio-australia-to-close-january-31-2017.html (via M Peraaho, DXLD) Yet another copy of the press release, plus a few comments: http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/radio-australia-to-close-january-31-2017.html (via Terry Krueger, DXLD) This is a sad and short-sighted decision by ABC who seem to forget how useful shortwave broadcasts are in an emergency situation, either in their own vast country, or in their target Pacific region, where one transmitter can cover a huge area. Yes people in remote areas still have shortwave radios. Relying on local FM re-transmissions, mobile 'phone apps and the internet means your voice can be blocked by the host country government if they don't like what you're saying. When ABC did a trial unannounced switch off of their Northern Territory shortwave service earlier this year, I wondered if listeners in that region did listen via other means nowadays. However, having visited the ABC Alice Springs Facebook page this morning, their are already angry responses to the announced switch-off, e.g.: "I think this is a very poor decision. If another Cyclone Tracey hits somewhere in Australia and takes out communications infrastructure, the only other method of punching through a signal will now be gone. Shortwave radios are relatively inexpensive to buy compared with satellite technology and I remember just a few years ago when Cyclones were going through Northern Queensland how the warnings were issued to tune to the shortwave ABC signals from the Northern Territory. I think there would be grounds for this to be a violation of the ABC's obligation as an emergency broadcaster. Sometimes the older technology is still the better option. The people who made this decision have probably never even touched a short wave radio." (Andrew Page - Alice Springs) "When we were in the NT this year, we listened to the shortwave radio. Couldn't get anything else in the remote places we camped in. Our HF radio is our comms out there, digital useless." (Lynne Bolderas - Western Australia) https://www.facebook.com/ABCAliceSprings/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf 73, (Alan Pennington, UK, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) I am very sad to hear the news that RA is finally kicking the bucket. It also comes as no surprise to me as this is, firstly, the sign of the times and, secondly, RA has been dying a long and slow death for several years now. I could be wrong, but am I correct in saying that the only program in English produced specifically for RA is Pacific Beat, with all other programming coming from Radio National and the occasional input from Triple J. I think the powers in charge at the ABC International department are fooling themselves in thinking that solely dedicating their content to the internet, FM and satellite is going to be a successful move. Jean Gabriel Manguy has hit the nail on the head in saying that not everyone has access to the Internet in the target areas. In times of emergency, what good is a non-existent Internet connection and FM transmitters going to be for the villagers trying to seek vital news and information. I can confidently say that, for the Aussie expatriates listening for news from home, they won’t be listening to any Radio Australia streams while overseas. People will try to listen to their favourite local stations online, as evidenced by listening to email responses on local MW talkback stations on a daily basis. As for the Northern Territory services, it is fair to say that major towns and even most small settlements have FM transmitters established, but there are inconceivably long distances between towns which FM cannot cover and with the state of Internet here in Australia lagging far behind other developed nations’ Internet infrastructure, the ABC are being very short-sighted. I say once again – I am very disappointed in the decision to shut RA, but I am not surprised. Regards, (Brian Powell, (Base QTH – Southern suburbs of Sydney Australia. Base setup Winradio G305e w/ Buddipole. Mobile setup Baofeng GT3TP), Dec 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) These old guys like the one that was interviewed are going by information from 30+ years ago. Never go by old excs (Keith Perron, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you talking about Manguy, the former RA manager? (gh, DXLD) Jean-Gabriel Manguy was head of Radio Australia until 2007 and then joined the management group of PACMAS which is active in supporting and developing media in the Pacific. http://www.pacmas.org/about/management-group/ He was making the same point as he does on Pacific Beat about lack of maintenance of FM transmitters only last year in connection with Radio Vanuatu. Plans to fix the state of broadcasting in Vanuatu http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/20165047/plans-to-fix-the-state-of-broadcasting-in-vanuatu (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) Very very bad news. I listen to them almost daily (Andy Reid, Ont., dxldyg via DXLD) Well, one thing that would help is, if RA could manage to keep its internet audio links working. The station has a history of breakdowns in this regard, so much so that Frontier Silicon’s station aggregator site for the Internet “wifi” radios it supports labels their links “not reliable”. Right now, the only audio links working are the two that require you to use their proprietary audio player to access them. That’s hardly a user friendly approach, nor does it bespeak a desire to be heard. One gets that shortwave may no longer be cost-effective. But one would think that if the ABC is interested in maintaining some sort of presence in the media landscape, it would take even minimal pains to make sure it can be heard via the remaining portals (John Figliozzi, FL, 0227 UT Dec 7, dxldyg via DXLD) Is RA still using a Microsoft product for streaming? The setup run by Leo Laporte streaming at http://twit.am/listen stays up longer and remains more durable whether in VLC or another streaming client (Stephen Michael Kellat, KC8BFI, swprograms via DXLD) This is a copy of my morning email to Radio Australia: "Greetings: I am writing to express my dismay about Radio Australia's plan to leave shortwave broadcasting. Did the Australian parliament approve this decision? If so, please provide details. Unlike other international broadcasters who have reduced shortwave services, BBC World Service, VOA, Deutsche Welle, Radio Australia plans to eliminate shortwave broadcasting. Other broadcasters that have eliminated shortwave no longer exist: who can listen to Radio Netherlands or Radio Canada International? This rush to cease shortwave broadcasting has proven shortsighted. I do not share the sentiments of your press release that shortwave is an obsolete technology. It's an efficient technology. How much does it really cost Radio Australia to broadcast on shortwave? How much will it cost Radio Australia (if it does not go the way of Radio Netherlands or Radio Canada International) to produce and operate multitudes of FM transmitters through the Pacific region? Will they reach every populated area? How long will Pacific inhabitants have to wait for this FM transmitter project to be completed? Unfortunately, none of these important issues were addressed in the Radio Australia press statement. Thank you." (Charles Harlich, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. THIS MORNING'S ABC RADIO WIPEOUT HINTS AT A BIG PROBLEM WITH DIGITAL FOR MEDIA COMPANIES Via Business Insider Australia, by Simon Thomsen – November 22, 2016 Thousands of ABC listeners used to getting their morning radio on digital devices were left searching cupboards for their old analogue radios today after there was a double failure from the networks carrying the digital signal, including fibre cable was cut in Sydney’s CBD. The compounded problems meant the ABC’s redundant systems plans also failed, leaving thousands who rely on streaming and DAB+ without radio or TV services in both Sydney and Melbourne. Radio National, Triple J and all local ABC radio stations fell silent on digital radio, but are now back online. The ABC said it is awaiting reports from both carriers on the failures. If you are waking up this morning and can't get us on the ABC Radio app you aren't alone. Hopefully we can have it fixed ASAP. — 702 ABC Sydney (@702sydney) November 21, 2016 Digital streaming is down currently due to unforseen problems. Which is formal-speak for "We know and we're trying to fix it!" pic.twitter.com/gX42nePTrd — ABC Radio Melbourne (@774melbourne) November 21, 2016 The ABC issued a statement saying, in part: Due to circumstances beyond the control of the ABC, a major telecommunications carrier responsible for the carriage of ABC Digital Radio experienced a significant outage across its network this morning. This not only affected the primary links, but also disabled all of the redundant systems. As a result ABC Digital Radio DAB+ services in Melbourne were off air this morning for a protracted duration. The telecommunications carrier responsible is currently undertaking a detailed investigation. Simultaneously another telecommunication carrier used by the ABC for the carriage streaming radio and television experienced a fibre cut close to the Sydney CBD. This resulted in a significant outage across all ABC’s online radio and television services. But the multiple failures expose a major flaw in digital delivery for the national broadcaster, which is also charged with being the official emergency broadcaster during times of natural disaster. It’s the question of reliability when thing go seriously awry. It’s a problem for digital communications in general, as rural firefighters warned last year during the deadly Pinery fire in South Australia, after crews lost communications for four hours because both the government radio and Telstra mobile networks failed during the blaze. And earlier this year, digital radio was knocked out in Sydney following an outage by Telstra. The radio industry has been encouraging Australians to upgrade their old radio sets to DAB+ digital radio, selling the benefits of more choice and sound quality. In September, Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner said more than a quarter of Australians, 27%, in the five metro capitals switched on a digital radio stations each week. The cumulative audience for DAB+ simulcast and digital-only stations audience for those five locations is now 3.60 million. Radio now is as much about smartphones, and other streaming devices as the battery-powered AM “trannies” of the pre-internet era. LG’s Stylus DAB+ smartphone hit the local market in May, with plenty more in the pipeline. Warner said there were 2.73 million DAB+ devices in the Australian market at June 2016, including 652,000 in new cars. Asked about the reliability of digital services, Warner told Business Insider that the problems in Melbourne were “not a DAB+ issue” but rather a major telecommunications outage. “DAB+ technology is extremely robust. The transmission systems have a number of back ups in place to maintain broadcast operations if any one part is affected. There is also capability to increase the level of redundancy as required as the technology is more broadly adopted,” she said (via Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) tsk2, just turn on a regular radio (gh) Well, As I see it, the only medium is electricity. Household AC or battery DC. The internet uses gobs of electricity from the AC grid. Radio/TV broadcasting looks foolish when content can be supplied by the internet. So the world is changing. The right to broadcast is provided by the internet: the priviledge to broadcast is Over-the-Air. OTA cannot compete with i-net in terms of customer base, and revenue per customer. Cost of reception has been cursed in the USA by the lure of wide customer base. We in the US are not the end-all be-all, we're the problem. And we're selling our problems for profit, in hopes that people don't ask the right few questions... like will my computer still connect to the internet if the power goes out?, and how long will the internet work on batteries? The Adman cometh, and he brings you the gift of the internet, you won't need that radio anymore. JMH 2 Watts (Paul S. in CT FN31nl, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Believe it or not, there are people to this day surprised when there is a power outage, and their telephone goes silent, because they use a cordless phone. As for the internet, the other question should be: Will the government block access? Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) ABC'S DECISION TO END SHORTWAVE RADIO SERVICE 'COULD BE LIFE THREATENING' RANGER SAYS NT Country Hour By Daniel Fitzgerald 8 December 2016 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-08/abc-shut-shortwave-radio-service-met-with-anger/8103096 The ABC announced this week its three HF shortwave radio transmitters at Katherine, Tennant Creek and Roe Creek (Alice Springs), would be switched off on January 31, 2017. ABC Radio will continue to broadcast on FM and AM bands, via the viewer access satellite television (VAST) service, streaming online and via the mobile phone application. Mark Crocombe from the Thamarrurr Rangers, in the remote community of Wadeye, said the rangers spent days and sometimes weeks at a time away in the bush and out on sea patrols. He said the group relied on the ABC's shortwave radio for weather reports and emergency information. "Otherwise you have to call back to the base on the HF radio to ask people [there], but then you can't listen to the report yourself, you are relying on someone else's second-hand report," Mr Crocombe said. Mr Crocombe said on previous bush trips he had received warnings of cyclones via the ABC's shortwave service, without which he would not have had any notice. "Sure, it is expensive to keep the shortwave radio service going, but during cyclones, for the bush camps and people on boats, that is their only way of getting the weather reports," he said. "It could be life threatening, if you are out and you don't know a cyclone is coming." Mr Crocombe said the VAST service did not work during cloudy weather, especially during monsoons and cyclones. "The VAST satellite dish is fixed to your house, we are working in the field, and when we are on the boats we are not in mobile phone range, so applications and VAST do not work in the bush," he said. In response to Mr Crocombe's concerns, a spokesperson for the ABC said "In emergencies, the ABC works very hard to ensure that its services remain available through a range of FM broadcasts and re-broadcast arrangements in the NT. "Cyclone activity is usually coastal in nature, in which case users are covered by FM, Maritime distress frequencies, and the ABC's close working relationship with northern Indigenous broadcasters — particularly in times of emergency broadcasting," the statement read. "The BOM provides forecasts and warnings in HF on the hour, every hour. The Emergency Flying Doctor service also broadcasts in HF." CATTLEMAN'S ASSOCIATION SAYS ABC DECISION IGNORES PEOPLE IN THE BUSH The national broadcaster said in a statement on Tuesday the move was in line with its "commitment to dispense with outdated technology and to expand its digital content offerings." But the announcement was met with anger by the Northern Territory Cattleman's Association. President Tom Stockwell, who lives on Sunday Creek Station with no access to AM or FM radio or mobile phone coverage, said the ABC's decision to focus on digital transmission ignored people in the bush. "It affects a big area of Australia and it affects those people that are remote from other forms of communication that rely on radio network," he said. "The ABC argument that it's a 100-year-old technology doesn't stack up. Electricity is 100-years-old — is the ABC going to get rid of electricity as well? "Anybody who's remote and away from a satellite dish won't get local radio, won't get emergency radio, won't get emergency messages and they're going to use the money to put in another digital platform for crying out loud. "It's just the most selfish, ridiculous decision I've ever heard," Mr Stockwell said. Head of ABC Radio strategy Jeremy Millar defended the broadcaster's decision while admitting he was unsure about the size of the shortwave audience in the Northern Territory. "[It is] very hard to identify audiences in remote areas that are specifically hinged on these services. Our estimates are that they are fairly low given the VAST service is available across the Northern Territory," Mr Miller said. "The downside is that VAST is a technology which is best working in a stationary environment, at home, a business or a place of work and not necessarily mobile. But a number of communities have a landed service which means they receive VAST off the satellite and then can rebroadcast their programs on a low-powered FM in their market. That landed VAST service has certainly plugged a lot of gaps in terms of geographic coverage." Mr Millar would not reveal how much the ABC would save by ending the service. More information on the cessation of the ABC's shortwave service can be found on the website (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Glenn, On radio Australia going off the air, here is an old book on the station: RADIO WARS: TRUTH, PROPAGANDA AND THE STRUGGLE FOR RADIO AUSTRALIA https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0521473802 Errol Hodge - 1995 - Political Science The original draft of a secret memorandum to all posts in Asia and the Pacific asserted: 'While we can control Radio Australia transmissions, the transmissions of . . . https://books.google.com/books?id=rPk4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=radio+australia+transmissions+to+pacific&source=bl&ots=DK74wFQgwG&sig=XdKDxTJL-1FGnRK7Ngkhb3DUqFs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv2MC6gOPQAhVrxVQKHVHsBRYQ6AEISTAI#v=onepage&q=radio%20australia%20transmissions%20to%20pacific&f=false (Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) First 58 of 325 pages, but with two pages skipped several times. Detailed history of RA going back to WWII and the Cold War (gh, DXLD) From Jan 31, 2017 ABC will end its shortwave transmission services. Full shortwave schedules of ABC Radio Australia and ABC Northern Territory here http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/from-jan31-2017-abc-will-end-its.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. AZERBEIJÃO, 9676.9, Ictimai R, Stepanakert, 1338-..., 03/12, texto; 35443. Sinal ilegível, por ser semelhante a FM, mas impossível de desmodular, mesmo comutando p/ esse modo. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BARBADOS. TEP - BBS FM - 90.7 MHz - Caribe --- Amigos, ontem com a mudança de frequencia da Conectcar SP Rio FM de 90.7 para 101.5 MHz proporcionou 90.7 ser uma ótima frequencia livre para DX, pelo menos enquanto alguma rádio pirata não aparecer para atrapalhar. Durante a noite recebi atravéz de abertura transequatorial a BBS FM de Barbados com bom sinal: BBS FM - 90.7 Mhz - Barbados - Caribe Emissora recebida na zona oeste da cidade de São Paulo, bairro do Butantã dia 01/12/2016 entre 21:30 e 21:50 e e... | | 73´s (Fran Jr, - São Paulo, SP, Sony XDR-F1HD, Antena interna Yagi 6 elementos, Dec 2, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BELARUS [non]. GERMANY, Interval Signal of Shortwaveservice, instead of Radio MiAmigo, Dec 3 0700-0800 6005 KLL 001 kW / non-dir CEu Sat/Sun IS of Shortwaveservice from 0800 6005 KLL 001 kW / non-dir CEu German R Belarus, unscheduled! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/interval-signal-of-shortwaveservice.html Again Interval Signal of SWService, instead of Radio MiAmigo, Dec 4: 0700-0800 6005 KLL 001 kW / non-dir CEu Sat/Sun Shortwaveservice IS from 0800 6005 KLL 001 kW / non-dir CEu German R Belarus, unscheduled! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/again-interval-signal-of-swservice.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. Thimphu, 6035.000 kHz, Dec 4, 0200-0230 UT - Heard in New Delhi, India remote Perseus post at 0225 UT Dec 4, String instrument played around 0215-0220 UT. S=7-8 or -74dBm signal in Delhi. Lady and male presenter, talked to lady on phone-in line. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. SECRETLAND, Reception of Radio Biafra London via SPL Secretbrod, Dec 1 1500-1553 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English, and then dead air 1800-2000 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English, again back on air http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-radio-biafra-london-via.html Radio Biafra London via SPL Secretbrod on Dec 2 1459-1500 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English live & tx off 1510-1513 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf open carrier/dead air 1513-1601 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English live program: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/radio-biafra-london-via-spl-secretbrod.html Reception of Radio Biafra London via SPL Secretbrod, Dec 3 1800-2000 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf, good signal, BUT ONLY MUSIC http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-radio-biafra-london-via_3.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Reception of Radio Biafra London via SPL Secretbrod, Dec 7: 1455-1600 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WAf English, not live, only music 1800-2001 15325 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WAf English, not live, only music http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-radio-biafra-london-via_8.html (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. I'll be vacationing in Bolivia again this year, from Dec 1 until Jan 12, unless I get a job and decide to stay. My wife is Bolivian and we may decide to retire down there. If anyone needs info from Bolivia, let me know and I'll see what I can do. With a little luck, I'll get my Bolivian ham license this time! (Walter B Fair, Jr, W5ALT, WPE5ECA, MS, P.E, NRC, NASWA, Cedar Park TX, DXing since 1962, Sat 15 Oct 2016, NRC Forum via DXLD) Well, limited success this year. I got Radio Familiar (Family Radio) on 602 (WRTH lists it at 600 with light pop music and religious talk. WRTH lists them at 600 and they announce 600, but they are definitely a little higher at 602 or 603. That might allow a logging as a split frequency. However the station is in Santa Cruz and so am I, no exotic DX so far, but last year I didn't hear anything but noise on the entire band for a month (Walter B Fair, Jr., Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Dec 3, ibid.) ** BONAIRE. This item from Mission Network News Dec 1 (via Artie Bigley), says PJB is still running only 100 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: QUESTIONS RAISED IN WAKE OF CASTRO’S DEATH PUBLISHED ON 1 December, 2016 BY Lyndsey Koh https://www.mnnonline.org/news/questions-raised-wake-castros-death/ Cuban Christians especially are wondering what’s next for their country. Steve Shantz says, for Trans World Radio, it means the advancement of the Gospel in Cuba is just as important now as ever. “For Trans World Radio, what we’re thinking of is…this is a time really to present to the people of Cuba a greater need, which is Jesus Christ. More than politics, more than economics, people need the Lord and they need Jesus. This is an opportunity and a time for us to really speak the message of the Gospel to the people of Cuba to give them hope in Christ for whatever lies in their path for the days ahead.” And their ministry has some of the best outreach tools when it comes to sending out the Gospel across a wide expanse. “We broadcast from the island of Bonaire into Cuba, which we’ve been doing now for nearly half a century. We feel that radio now more than ever is a very important tool in bringing the message of hope to the Cuban people.” As for the Body of Christ already in Cuba, it is growing. But such fast expansion in the Church there is causing a unique problem. There aren’t enough trained Christian leaders and pastors to disciple new believers. “That’s something we’re trying to address in Trans World Radio by blanketing Cuba with a much stronger radio signal. We have been broadcasting for many years, but just the way modern technology has introduced a lot of environmental noise into the radio reception world, it’s harder to get a good signal into Cuba with our existing setup.” (Image courtesy of Trans World Radio) Shantz explains, “We have a project underway right now which we’re about 80 percent complete on, and that is to raise our power from 100,000 watts to 450,000 watts and also put in a more efficient antenna system that can really beam and focus the energy onto the island of Cuba. So we hope that very shortly we’ll be able to go on the air with a brand new transmitter at 450,000 watts and be able to really put a powerful signal into Cuba so on a daily basis people can turn on their radio and hear good, Christian programming and sound biblical teaching that can have a strong input into their lives.” To complete this project, TWR needs to raise a total of $3.8 million. There are a few ways you can help! (via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA. Sanel Tufekcic writes on the Medium Wave Circle Facebook group 30 November 2016: Good news from Bosnia and Herzegowina: After three years Radio Banovici 792 kHz back to broadcast on medium wave by 23 November 2016 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Date of post wrong in 16-48 as 2015 ** BRAZIL. 5939.863, Rádio Voz Missionária, Camboriú, SC, female singer, at 0544 UT, S=7-8 strength in Detroit-MI. 5964.977, ZYE858, Rádio Transmundial (RTM), Santa Maria, RS, S=5 only poor, -99dBm strength, at 0547 UT, BrasPortuguese male voices. 6059.767, Super R Deus é Amor, Curitiba, PR, S=5 poor, and co-channel. 6119.964, ZYE969, Super Radio Deus é Amor, São Paulo, SP, tiny S=4-5 or -99dBm strength. [and non]. 6135, GREAT BRITAIN, BBC French from Babcock Woofferton site 0600-0629 UT. and 208 Hertz whistle heterodyne tone interference co-channel, 6135.208, BRA, ZYE954, Rádio Aparecida, Aparecida, SP, S=7 or -83dBm at 0605 UT. 6180.023, ZYE365 Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, Rádio Nacional do Brasil Brasília DF. Brazilien dance music, proper signal S=9+25dB at 0615 UT on Dec 1. 9565.040, ZYE727, SRDA Super Radio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, PR, only on threshold strength level S=4-5. 0640 UT. 9630.033, ZYE954, Rádio Aparecida, Aparecida, SP, at 0642 UT, S=3-4 tiny signal! 9664.949, ZYE890, Rádio Voz Missionária, Camboriú, SC, religious chorus singer. Poor S=4-5 signal at 0646 UT. 9724.896, ZYJ200, Rádio RB2, Curitiba, PR, poor S=4-5 at 0649 UT. 9819.409, ZYR96, Rádio Nove de Julho, São Paulo SP, tiny S=3 -108dBm under threshold level. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. BRASIL, 4774.964 R. Congonhas, Congonhas MG, 2218-2228, 03/12, texto; 22331, QRM do PERU, em 4774.910. 4965, R. Alvorada, Parintins AM, 2312-2318, 01/12, propag. relig.; 25331. Tx desligado abruptamente, às 2318. Melhor sinal em 03/12, pelas 2230. 4985, R. Brasil Central, Goiânia GO, 2230-2240, 03/12, prgr. musical Aguarela Brasileira; 43432, QRM de teletipo... um "tipo" que bem poderia ir fazer QRM noutra frequência. Em 04/12, pelas 2007-2023, SINPO 35332, evoluindo para 45333, por volta das 2145. Sinal melhor, em 05/12, pelas 2145. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5035.013, Dec 7 at 0648, music and talk in Brazuguese, S9, so R. Aparecida, better on LSB to avoid 5040 Cuba, and // JBA 9630+. Better than on VP 6135.2, and 11855- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 13ª. RODADA DOS RADIOESCUTAS, 11/12/2016 às 16:30 hs BR, [1830 UT] 7100 kHz Caro Glenn Hauser, Para conhecimento. 73 Ulysses Galletti 13ª. RODADA DOS RADIOESCUTAS, 11/12/2016 às 16:30 hs BR, 7100 Khz (+ ou – 5) em LSB / Pauta: Radioamadores e Radioescutas inscritos Participação especial, Ulysses Galletti PY2UAJ: Falará sobre o Rádio Sony ICF 2001D/2010 e sua utilização pelos serviços de espionagem. Mestre Junior Torres de Castro, PY2BJO: Falará sobre amigos cientistas internacionais e sinais misteriosos recebidos em ondas curtas, responderá perguntas a respeito do tema / Radioamadores Interagirão pela (frequência) e Radioescutas pelo (facebook) no Grupo Rodada dos Radioescutas. Inscrições para participação especial: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1153655714678249/?fref=ts (Ulysses Galletti, Brasil, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11815, Radio Brasil Central, Goiânia, 0841-0912, 03-12, Brazilian songs, Portuguese, comments: "O programa de Rádio Brasil Central", at 0701: "Agora, O Mundo Em Sua Casa, as principais notícias de Goiás, Brasil e do mundo", "A edição de hoje de O Mundo Em Sua Casa", news. 24322. Also *0800-1005, 04-12, program "Hora do Forró", comments and Forró Brazilian songs, "6 horas e 31", "Forró da minha terra", at 0902 "Rádio Brasil Central, Goiânia", program "Goiás Caboclo, pela Brasil Central na programação do domingo, música serteneja". 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURUNDI [non]. MADAGASCAR, Radio Publique Africaine via MGB Madagascar, Dec 3 1800-1831 on 11550 MDC 250 kW / 295 deg to SoAf Kirundi 1831-1858 on 11550 MDC 250 kW / 295 deg to SoAf French http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/radio-publique-africaine-via-mgb.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. The big news this month from the CRTC is that they have approved an application from Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting for a new ethnic AM station on 600 kHz to broadcast with 10,000 watts. Certainly the intent here is to repatriate listeners that are currently tuning to ethnic stations on the Washington State side of the border targeting BC (Nigel Pimblett, AB, Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) NEW STATION WATCH: 600, New, BC, Vancouver – CP granted for new station, U4? 10000/10000; will have ethnic programming currently on KRPI-1550 (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CFNV, QC, Montréal – 11/28 1517 [EST = 2017 UT] – Mainly under WIDG, testing with pop and dance music; ID in French at 1520 including call (Harold Frodge, MI, DDXD-E, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) Apparently still no regular programming (French talk format), despite the CRTC’s Nov. 21 sign-on deadline having come and gone (Mike Brooker, Ont., ed., ibid.) Not sure if it's still newsworthy. CFNV is being received in Ottawa (~ 100 miles from Montreal) with a good signal at 2310 UT on December 5. ID, mention of test, contact information. Edith Piaf singing La Vie en Rose, and Bob McFerrin singing Don't Worry be Happy...not a bad start. :^) Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, 2317 UT Dec 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU, CBC Regional service --- They have been gone for a couple of weeks now after sounding like crap for a month - We may have heard the last of this little station from the West Coast. I will check with my technical contacts at the CBC about its health and wellness. For those seeking LP (Low power) shortwave transmissions from Western Canada - CFVP on 6030 is very much still alive - and audible here today on the Island. All the best of the season, everyone! -- (Colin Newell - Editor and creator *of *Coffeecrew.com and DXer.ca - VA7WWV | Twitter @CoffeeCrew | Victoria - Canada, Dec 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** CANADA. THE NEW MAISON DE RADIO-CANADA UNVEILED - 4-STOREY ATRIUM, NATURAL LIGHT, ROOFTOP PATIO AMONG FEATURES By Kamila Hinkson, CBC News - Nov 24, 2016 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/maison-radio-canada-cbc-montreal-new-building-1.3865642 CBC/Radio-Canada has unveiled the first images of the new Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal. The building will boast lots of natural light, a four-storey atrium, a rooftop patio, and it will meet environmental and sustainable development standards equivalent to a LEED Silver certification. The real estate developer Broccolini is leading the consortium that will construct the new building, which will be at the corner of René- Lévesque Boulevard and Papineau Avenue — now a parking lot for the existing CBC/Radio-Canada building. The new building will have a reduced number of parking spots in order to encourage active transportation. The project is subject to federal Treasury Board approval. The development company Groupe Mach Inc. has purchased the existing building and the western parking lot. It will be preserved but given a new purpose. Construction is set to begin next September and is slated to be done by January 2020. CBC/Radio-Canada is to become a tenant under a 30- year lease (Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re: CBC/RADIO CANADA ASKS FOR $400M IN INCREASED GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO GO AD-FREE Hi Glenn, Yes, this is for CBC TV. Something else related to this topic: one of the candidates for the leadership of the conservative party is not only advocating that CBC TV goes ad free, but also that it loses public funding. Now let me see --- ad free, and no government funding. I guess he plans to give the CBC to a televangelist. I can't wait to watch 'Collections Night in Canada". Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, Dec 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Ken Haslam, "Mr Broadcast Standards" of the CBC Saturday December 3, 2016 === Kenneth Thomas Haslam It is with great sadness that his family announces the death of Kenneth Thomas Haslam on November 17, 2016. Daughters, May and Renée were by his side. Ken will be remembered for his masterful command and use of the English language, skills that carried him through a long and distinguished career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. . . http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/Deaths.20161203.93382222/BDAStory/BDA/deaths (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Obit ** CANADA [non]. Buyout of CBC from Sirius XM Canada satellite radio might bring $236.4 million. The CRTC commission has published an application by Sirius XM Canada Inc. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2016/2016-468.htm for change of ownership. Sirius XM (U.S.), John Bitove (via Obelysk Media) and Slaight Communications remain the main shareholders, but the CBC`s stake would be bought out. The total cost of the transaction is $236.4 million. The CBC has published its quarterly financial report (PDF). It shows increases in both revenues and expenses mainly related to broadcasting the 2016 Olympics. There was also a $1 million drop in revenue from subscriptions to specialty channels (CBC News, RDI, ARTV, Explora and Documentary). http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/_files/cbcrc/documents/financial-reports/quarterly-updates/2016-2017/q2-2016-2017-quarterly-report.pdf (Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ?? ** CHILE. 6925-AM. RCW. Diciembre 3. 2025-2050 UT. Música de mambos. SINPO: 55444. Y a las 2130-2146 con SINPO: 54444 con leve QRM de unos radioaficionados [sic] brasileños (Claudio Galaz Toledo, (RX: PHILCO IC-18R; ANT: Telescópica, QTH: Barraza Bajo, IV Región, Chile, condiglista yg via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Gary, you may have better audio on that 1035 frequency than can be heard in Korea if you can get one station in well with just echoes in the background. This is how 1035 sounds locally from Seoul, and by locally, I mean it's a skywave local, the only station(s) on the frequency. The main station is from Dalian (50 kW), 303 miles across the water. The rest are just lower-power CNR-1 repeaters. But as you can hear from the clip, it's basically unlistenable as a local aside from being right in Dalian itself or near one of the repeaters. CNR-1 does a crappy job with synching as compared to Korean and Japanese stations (Japanese ones are especially superb with that). Plus, CNR goes off the air at 1405 UT mid-sentence every night. They could improve. But I could say the same about some of the other networks in Shandong, Liaoning, and Jilin. Some are downright creepy sounding. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/CNR_1_1035_Dalian.MP3 And a good example of a listenable echo signal in a hilarious sort of way (one station is a few *seconds* behind). This is the Sound of the Great Northern Wilderness network on 1476 (Heilongjiang / Harbin-based // 873, a station that broadcasts Chinese half the time and Korean - only half-understandable by South Koreans as it's a North Korean dialect used up there - the remainder of the time). This clip is a radio story in Korean. Echo-y to say the least. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Sound_of_the_Great_Northern_Wilderness_1.MP3 (Chris Kadlec. Seoul AM Listening Guide, Dec 4, IRCA via DXLD) ** CHINA. 5050.0 kHz. Beibu Bay Radio (presumed). Listings say this station signs on at 2300, but I've noted several nights that it's been on a bit earlier. On December 4, I parked just off-frequency and waited for the het [carrier] to appear, which happened at 2247. Transmission started with what I would characterize as traditional Chinese flute music for 3 minutes, followed at 2250 with pop music. China-style time beeps at TOH, but announcements were not readable. 12/4/16 (Art Delibert, N. Bethesda, MD, JRC NRD-545, Horizontal pennant antennas with DX Engineering pre-amp, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. new frequency 5979 for Gannan PBS (ex: 5970). Was first noted by Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) on Dec 3. I observed them today (Dec 6), from 1314 till off sometime between 1346-1349, which corresponds to Hiroyuki's recent observations. Radio Marti (5980) is not much of a problem for me while in LSB. Expected to hear relay of CNR11 (per Aoki 1300-1400), but in fact clearly not // to 7350 (CNR11); by 1340 was able to confirm 7350 // 6010, due to unique Tibetan chanting being heard; 6010 (CNR11) is between the strong jamming on 6003 & 6015, so extremely poor reception there. Unable to confirm Gannan PBS was // 3990 (Gannan PBS), as there was only an open carrier there (unable to get any audio). 6035, PBS Yunnan (Voice Shangri-la), Dec 6 noted running past their normal sign off time 1200* by at least two hours; rare anomaly. Thanks to an alert from Dave Valko on the east coast, I tuned in at 1254 to hear non-stop classical western orchestra music with many one minute breaks (dead air) between selection; this is normal for them when running past 1200; still on the air at 1402+ (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That ``new frequency`` certainly looks like a keypad mispunch, so is it sticking? (gh, DXLD) [I heard 5979 later before 0100 UT --- gh] 5979.0, Gannan PBS (ex: 5970), 1324-1351*, Dec 7. Better reception than yesterday; definitely not relaying CNR11 (per Aoki 1300-1400), as 7350 // 6010 (CNR11) had a lot of unique Tibetan chanting/singing; while Gannan PBS was mostly announcers in Chinese; heard best in LSB. 5900, CNR1 jamming of RTI (*1200-1400*), at 1256, on Dec 7. 9680, Firedragon music jamming of RTI (*1100-1400*), at 1258, Dec 7 (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6100, Dec 2 at 0021, something in Portuguese, poor tho reading S9+10, not noticed before. HFCC shows it`s CRI, 500 kW, 318 degrees from Beijing site to CIRAF 12-14, i.e. a long way to S America, aiming northwestward but not for Portugal. Site Kashgar should be much better for Latin America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 7415, Dec 2 at 1758, JBA carrier 34 minutes before local mean noon. IBB Chinese via TINIAN is here at 1500-2100, and thus so is CNR1 jamming (or possibly Firedragon). After 1800, CRI in Farsi via Xi`an is also supposed to be on 7415. Only other one audible on band is 7445, presumably BBC MADAGASCAR as before; altho 1730-1830 is also scheduled CRI Chinese via Urumqi toward Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. 7210, ALBANIA, CRI Arabic via Cërrik relay to North Africa, S=8 or -79dBm signal, excellent audio transmission, as always from this Chinese managed broadcast center [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6180, Fire Dragon/CNR1, 1450-1505 30 Nov. Fire Dragon banging away v. presumed, but unheard RTI with CNR1 echo jamming adding to the mix after 1500. Don't remember hearing both F/D & CNR1 in a jam-fest before. Quick check at 1420, 1450 on 1 Dec. found only CNR1 echo-jam, so Fire Dragon has gone back into his/her cave (Dan Sheedy, Moonlight Beach, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9455. December 5, 2016. 1921-1926, China National Radio 1 - CNR1. Firedragon (only treble and continuous instrumental music). SINPO 45544 (DXer: Jose Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Tecsun S-2000, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. 5910.036, Alcaraván Radio, Puerta Lleras, Meta, Latin American music, Sp singer at 0542 UT S=7 at -82dBm. Both 6010 kHz mixture, varying 6010.091 up to x.108 kHz, some 10 ... 20 Hz wandered, and weaker signal on 6010.031 kHz, BRASIL / COLOMBIA mixture [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CONGO. 6115, Radio Congo. Brazzaville, 0605-0623, 04-12 French, news and comments about Congo. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Over here we would more likely be hearing by this hour R. Nikkei 2, Japan (gh) ** CUBA. 5025.002, Radio Rebelde in Spanish, Bauta site, fair S=8 signal, El chefe Fidel Castro, Plaza de la Revolución, Sta. Clara report, at 0520 UT on Dec 1. 5040, RHC Bauta, in Spanish 05-06 UT (! not English!), noted at 0525 UT, S=8, Pres Salvador Allende Chile morte. 6000 [not], RHC Quivicán San Felipe 'Titán' NOT on air Dec 1 0549 6060.004, RHC in English at 0555 UT, whistle tone 237 Hertz heterodyne interference. Guitar mx, then Struggle of Comandante Castro, - brother - father - friend ... but \\ 6100 kHz much stronger. 6099.998, RHC Bauta, in English program, S=9+25dB in Detroit MI. 0600 UT, at 0601 UT news Special Program on Castro leader Conmemoracion. \\ 6060, 6165 kHz, - but not 6000 nor 5040 kHz. 7435, USA, VoA IBB BBG Radio Marti, Cuban exile voice from Miami FL, Spanish program, but ONLY Cuban noise scratching jamming heard in Detroit MI at 0619 UT. 9 kHz wide jamming signal visible on Perseus SDR software screen. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CUBA. 9710 & 9535, Dec 1 at 0510, open carrier/dead air from RHC Spanish frequencies, not turned off at 0500, but not switching to English either like sometimes. 11840, Dec 1 at 0513, RHC Spanish still running here somewhat undermodulated but S9+20, plus the parasitic spurs on 11830 & 11850. 11810 & 11820 & 11830 & 11840 & 11850 & 11860 & 11870, Dec 2 at 1345, RHC on multiple frequencies tnx to spurs out of the 11840 fundamental, which is S9+40 this morning. Previously detectable reliably only on 11830 & 11850, and once before on 11860 which I then thought was only receiver overload, but now obviously really transmitted. 11860 doesn`t yet have much QRM from Yemen [non]. The first-order spurs on 11850 and 11830 are S9+10, hefty signals themselves. Searching for others, they get progressively weaker but exist as confirmed by // on another receiver to 11840. Since 11860 is there, how about minus 20 on 11820? Yes, and still remains even with R75 preamp off. Let`s go for another 10 kHz out: Yes! 11870 and 11810 are JBA at 1347. All of them are gone at 1407 check as 11840 has closed (and by now Yemen is up to S8 on 11860). Another accomplishment of RadioCuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also UNID 5030 ** CUBA. 4765, Radio Progreso, La Habana, 0445-0502*, 04-12, Political speech about Fidel Castro life. In parallel with Radio Rebelde, 5025. 24432. 5025, Radio Rebelde, Bauta, 0740-0806, 02-12, Spanish, comments about Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5010, Dec 4 at 0102, JBA carrier, probably leapfrog of 5040 RHC over 5025 Rebelde another 15 kHz lower (but a reverse leap on 5055 is not audible this time). Unlikely Madagascar, as too close to on- frequency, and too middle-of-the-night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NO: later had 5010 carrier when 5040 was off ** CUBA. Reception of Radio Habana Cuba in Esperanto before 0700 UT Sunday, Dec 4: 0700-0730 6100 BAU 100 kW / 310 deg WNAm Esperanto Sun, 0723 dead air http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/radio-habana-cuba-in-esperanto-before.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) So started circa 0654? (gh) ** CUBA. 6100, Dec 5 at 0554, RHC`s strongest and best-modulated English frequency here by far is instead dead air, also a few minutes later. 6000 & 6165 are very undermodulated as usual tho S9+45 and S9+35; that leaves 6060 sufficient at S9+30; and 5040 is in Spanish. Also still on in Spanish are 9535 and 9710 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Full B-16 schedule of R. Habana Cuba 1200-1400 9640 BEJ 050 / 125 SoAm Spanish 1200-1400 9710 BAU 100 / 010 ENAm Spanish 1200-1400 9820 BEJ 100 / 260 CeAm Spanish 1200-1400 9850 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm Spanish 1200-1400 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 1200-1400 11840 BAU 100 / 010 NCAm Spanish 1200-1400 17580 BAU 100 / 160 SoAm Spanish 1200-1400 17730 BAU 100 / 135 SoAm Spanish 1200-1400 17750 QVC 250 / 160 SoAm Spanish 1400-1500 9550 QVC 250 / n-d CeAm Spanish 1400-1500 9640 BEJ 050 / 125 SoAm Spanish 1400-1500 9710 BAU 100 / 010 ENAm Spanish 1400-1500 9820 BEJ 100 / 260 CeAm Spanish 1400-1500 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 1400-1500 15370 BAU 100 / 310 WNAm Spanish 1400-1500 17580 BAU 100 / 160 SoAm Spanish 1400-1500 17730 BAU 100 / 135 SoAm Spanish 1400-1500 17750 QVC 250 / 160 SoAm Spanish 1500-1600 9640 BEJ 050 / 125 SoAm Spanish 1500-1600 9820 BEJ 100 / 260 CeAm Spanish deleted against B15 1500-1600 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 1500-1600 15370 BAU 100 / 310 WNAm Spanish deleted against B15 1500-1600 17730 BAU 100 / 135 SoAm Spanish 1500-1600 17750 QVC 250 / 160 SoAm Spanish deleted against B15 1600-1630 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish Mon-Sat 1600-1630 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Esperanto Sun 1630-1900 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 1900-1930 15140 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm Arabic 1930-2000 15140 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm Creole 1930-2000 15370 BAU 100 / 053 WeEu French 2000-2030 15370 BAU 100 / 053 WeEu Portuguese 2000-2100 15140 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm English 2030-2100 15370 BAU 100 / 053 WeEu Arabic 2100-2130 15140 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm French 2100-2130 11880 BAU 100 / 100 SoAf French 2130-2200 11880 BAU 100 / 100 SoAf Portuguese 2200-2400 5040 BAU 100 / n-d Cuba Spanish 83 and 263 degrees CT2/1/0.8 2200-2300 6075 BEJ 050 / 125 SoAm Spanish 2200-2300 9535 BEJ 100 / 260 CeAm Spanish 2200-2300 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 2200-2400 11840 QVC 250 / 168 SoAm Spanish 2200-2400 11880 BAU 100 / 100 SoAf English 2200-2400 13740 BAU 100 / 160 SoAm Spanish 2200-2400 15370 BAU 100 / 053 WeEu Spanish 2230-2300 17730 BEJ 050 / 135 SoAm French Mon-Sat 2230-2300 17730 BEJ 050 / 135 SoAm Esperanto Sun 2300-2400 6000 QVC 250 / 010 ENAm Spanish 2300-2400 11670 BAU 100 / 135 SoAm Spanish 2300-2400 11950 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm Spanish 2300-2400 15230 QVC 250 / 160 SoAm Spanish 2300-2330 17730 BEJ 050 / 130 SoAm Creole 2330-2400 17730 BEJ 050 / 135 SoAm Portuguese 0000-0100 5040 BAU 100 / n-d Cuba English 0000-0100 6000 QVC 250 / 010 ENAm Spanish Tue-Sat Mesa Redonda 0000-0100 6075 BEJ 050 / 125 SoAm Spanish 0000-0500 6060 BAU 100 / 010 ENAm Spanish 0000-0700 6165 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm English 0000-0600 9535 BEJ 100 / 260 CeAm Spanish 0000-0500 11670 BAU 100 / 135 SoAm Spanish 0000-0300 11760 BAU 100 / n-d NCAm Spanish 0000-0700 11840 QVC 250 / 168 SoAm Spanish 0000-0100 11950 BAU 100 / 340 WNAm Spanish Tue-Fri Mesa Redonda 0000-0500 13740 BAU 100 / 160 SoAm Spanish 0000-0700 15230 QVC 250 / 160 SoAm Spanish 0000-0030 17730 BEJ 050 / 135 SoAm Quechua 0100-0130 5040 BAU 100 / n-d Cuba Creole 0100-0700 6000 QVC 250 / 010 ENAm English 0130-0200 5040 BAU 100 / n-d Cuba French 0200-0600 5040 BAU 100 / n-d Cuba Spanish 0500-0700 6060 QVC 250 / 010 ENAm English 0500-0700 6100 BAU 100 / 310 WNAm English 0700-0730 6100 BAU 100 / 310 WNAm Esperanto Sun Transmitter sites: BAU=Bauta BEJ=Bejucal QVC=Titan-Quivican San Felipe. Shortwave schedule of Radio Rebelde 0000-2400 5025 BAU 050 / non-dir to CE&SoAm Spanish Shortwave schedule of Radio Progreso 0030-0400 4765 BEJ 050 / non-dir to Cuba / Caribbean Spanish (transformed acc former B-15 schedule by wb df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 5 via DXLD) ** CZECHIA [non]. 5850, Sat Dec 3 at 2345 I`m listening on the BST1 caradio to R. Prague relay via WRMI (following the DSWCI special), when the YL mentions that this is their FINAL `Mailbox` show. It`s being discontinued since they aren`t getting enough e-mail response (let alone postal?), as it`s steadily falling since they abandoned SW a few years ago (errr, not quite!). NOW, all they need is immediate feedback from listeners on FB! But you can still e-mail them if you like. BTW, the R. Prague 2330 English broadcast does not appear on the non-9955 WRMI program schedule grids for 5850, but it does appear on the frequency schedule grid above it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK [non]. The first broadcast of the special 'good-bye program' is received well from Sri Lanka, although another station is in the background. 9715 kHz 1930-2030. 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, Sat Dec 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good signal into South Eastern Massachusetts. Approximately. s8/9+. Slight static. Station underneath occasionally causing some audio distortion. If this is actually from Sri Lanka, the signal is definitely unusual for this hour here. Signal underneath is English religious program. Likely Bible Voice Broadcasting via Austria (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, Massachusetts, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Strong co-channel BVBroadcasting in English till 2000 UT via MBR Moosbrunn (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, 1957 UT, ibid.) And on Sat & Sun only, clearly per HFCC. So why in the world would DSWCI have chosen such a time and frequency for their special?? At least the QRM is aimed away from Europe, 100 kW at 115 degrees (gh, DXLD) SRI LANKA, Special DSWCI broadcast vs. Bible Voice Broadcasting on Dec 3. Bad frequency selection: BVB on 9715 & TDA Telediffusion d'Algerie on 9710 1930-2027 9715*TRM 125 kW / 350 deg WeEu English Sat DSWCI broadcast *strong co-ch 9715 MOS 100 kW / 115 deg N/ME English Sat BVB till 2000 *QRM at 2000 9710 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg NWAf Arabic Telediffusion d'Algerie http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/sri-lanka-special-dswci-broadcast-vs.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) SRI LANKA, 9715, DSWCI special transmission via SLBC, Trincomalee, *1930-2030*, 03-12, first half hour transmission, eclipsed by Bible Voice, only heard some comments in the background. Bible Voice too much stronger than SLBC. 31331, at 1959 Bible Voice, close and the DSWCI program heard well, English, DX comments. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LOG: 1930z, DSWCI part 1, Trincomalee 9715 kHz, 43443 QRM: 9715 kHz Bible Voice / Moosbrunn csvUB qrm.txt: Possible interference/QRM within +/-0.4 kHz for * 9715.0 kHz; 1930- 2030; 6 (Sa); english; RMRC Radio; Trincomalee; Eu; 3Dec Org: DEU # 9715.0 kHz; 1900-2000; 67 (Sa-Su); english; Bible Voice; Moosbrunn; ME; Org: GBR (Collision!) The list may contain multiple entries for different languages. Please make a copy of the file, if needed. It will be overwritten next time. 1950z: 9715 kHz Moosbrunn NOW more in skipzone (511 km/320 miles), thereby SINPO DSWCI part 1: 54544 QSL: ".....please send all reception reports by regular POST to: RMRC, Postfach 70 08 49, D-60558 Frankfurt / Main, Germany please send all E-mail-reception-reports to: mail@RMRC.DE 2000 part 2 starting with O=4-5 (No more QRM) (roger, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very good reception with a strong S9 + 30 dB signal noted with the U. Twente receiver. The co-channel QRM up until about 2000 UT was luckily only slight. Similarly, QRM from R. Algerienne on 9710 kHz starting around 2000 was only slight (Richard Langley, NB, 2029 UT, ibid.) 5850, Dec 3 at 2300-2329, Part I of the DSWCI farewell special, comes off without a hitch on WRMI, usual VG signal on this channel; comments by Anker Petersen et al., recorded at their final AGM in October, explaining why club is being disbanded at yearend due to leaders in their 70s ready to retire and no younger blood to take over. Toshi Ohtake, who always flies in from Japan to European DX conventions is interviewed, invite to say a few words in Japanese. Another club, which continues, RMRC, handled this produxion, and host explains two or three times how to QSL: Report NOT to the stations carrying it but to their own addresses. Part II is to air one week later at same time (and four others on WRMI). Part I to repeat immediately at 2330 on 11580, unchecked here but heard in Argentina by Arnaldo Slaen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RMRC Radio 5850 kHz Okeechobee Florida 2315 UT not much strong even in North AM, S=9 in NJ / NY, S=8-9 in MI-US, S=7 in Alberta Canada. After Celle [cello?] music ends, now Andean flute music at 2328 UT. Very tiny surprisingly in all remote European installations. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5850 kHz goes to 315 North America / West. There is not much power in the direction of Europe ==> ~ 45 . The difference in direction is about 90 - good conditions for a zero position. http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2016-11-26.htm#DSWCI (roger, Germany, ibid.) so let`s wait for 11580 kHz at 2330 UT, at 2320 UT RMI Russian heard, S=4 on threshold level on both NJ, MI, and Alberta (Wolfgang Büchel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am listening to the DSWCI special program from Buenos Aires, Argentina now with 34443 in 11580 khz. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, 2342 UT Dec 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Special DSWCI programmes Re 11730 kHz RMRC Aussendung über SLBC Trincomalee bcast center Zumindest die Frequenzwahl heute Morgen ist besser als gestern Abend. Um 10.40 UT habe ich hier eingeschaltet: in Tokyo Japan S=5-6 -96dBm, in Doha Qatar eher S=7 oder -84dBm, Englischer Talk um 10.40 UT über Anker Petersen, 'Spasiba' in Russisch um 10.41 UT, danach der Japaner, ? Ohtake ? 1043 UT. No QRM of adjacent 11740 NHK Kranji. Der nexxte Kanal NHK Singapore Kranji 11740 kHz stört überhaupt nicht. (wb df5sx, dswci #1331 Dec 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [A-DX] DSWCI - Sendung Sonntag 4.12. Änderung *Programmänderung bei WRMI.* Die Sendung am Sonntag , 04. Dez. ist jetzt um 2000 UT und nicht um 2030 UT. Frequenz ist gleich; 11580 KHz. Das gleich gilt auch am Sonntag, 11. Dezember (Harald Gabler, RMRC, 4 Dec, A-DX via roger, dxldyg via DXLD) translation: * Program change at WRMI. * The show on Sunday, 04 Dec is now around 2000 UTC and not around 2030 UTC. Frequency is equal; 11580 KHz. This also applies on Sunday, December 11th. http://www.wrmi.net/index.php/programming/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nEVwCMB9RSKowLzLXamyayVpCzjmPAw_SB1r3YOdzQc/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=0 (WRMI B16.xlsx) Usually Sunday afternoon from 2000-2030z Wavescan and 2030-2100z DIGIDX on 11580 kHz. DSWCI part1 instead of WAVESCAN? One should figure it out (roger, germany, ibid.) It seems to be Wavescan at 2000 UT and not the DSWCI program. Another WRMI screw-up? (Richard Langley, 2012 UT Dec 4, ibid.) The first half hour of the DSWCI special was aired on WRMI, 11580 kHz, this evening starting at about 2300 UTC! (Richard Langley Sun Dec 4, ibid.) instead of scheduled 2330 (gh) 11580.03, 2000-2045 4.12, USA WRMI, Okeechobee, FL, Wavescan and DIGIDX were broadcast instead of DSWCI special broadcast to Europe, poor reception 15121, occasionally 25232 AP-DNK 11730, 1000-1045 4.12, CLN, SLBC, Trincomalee DSWCI special broadcast to Japan - No signal AP-DNK Best 73, (Anker, DSWCI, Petersen, wbradio yg via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9325. December 5, 2016. 2045-2050, Radio Cairo, Abis, in Hausa. Man annnouncer talks; Music. Transmission with many audio interruptions and very distorted (DXer: Jose Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Tecsun S-2000, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 9540, 30.10.16, 1810, R. Cairo, Italian: It's a shame: Only carrier no audio! XXXXX (Roberto Pavanello, Italy, Nov DX Fanzine, Dec 1 via DXLD) 9540, 25.11.16, 1846-1853, R. Cairo, via Abis, Italian: ID, Program on Islam, News + Arab song, 53443, heard for first time after years with a decent modulation (Antonello Napolitano, Taranto, Italia, Nov DX Fanzine, Dec 1 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional Guinea Ecuatorial, Bata, *0510-0523, 04-12, commencing transmission at about 0510 today, vernacular and Spanish songs. Very weak. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [and non]. 7175, Dec 5 at 1435, JBA carrier, no doubt VOBME-2 by longpath, but nothing in the 7146 range from VOBME-1; off or moved? Also have two carriers beating on 7205: Sudan? and could the other be VOBME now? Aoki shows 7205 Urumqi in Uighur, but Sudan not starting until 1430 as of B-15. Still hearing the same at 1513 recheck; and by then, 7120 JBA carrier from Hargeisa, Somaliland longpath is also present. 7146v, 7175/7180/7185, Dec 6 at 0412, no VOBMEs audible, not even carriers, whilst 7205 Sudan and 7120 Somaliland are audible. Sure wish we had a definite schedule for VOBME, but apparently irregular, and wonder if they will vanish again from ``40`` meter hamband? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7146.55, VOBME 1 (presumed), 1411, on Dec 7, with HOA music/singing; not // 7175.0; both almost fair. 7175.0, VOBME 2 (presumed), 1411, on Dec 7, with announcers in vernacular; not // 7146.55; both almost fair (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. No signal of Radio Adal via MBR Issoudun, Dec 3 1500-1530 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Arabic Wed/Sat 1530-1600 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Wed/Sat And check "sister radio broadcast" Radio Al-Mukhtar from Dec 6 1500-1530 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Arabic Tue 1530-1600 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Tue http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/no-signal-of-radio-adal-via-mbr.html No signal from Radio Al-Mukhtar via MBR Issoudun, Dec 6 1500-1530 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Arabic Tue 1530-1600 on 17580 ISS 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Tue http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/no-signal-from-radio-al-mukhtar-via-mbr.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. FRANCE, Reception of R. Sagalee Qeerroo Bilisummaa via TDF Issoudun, Dec 1 1630-1658 on 17840 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Oromo Tue/Thu/Fri, fair to good http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-rsagalee-qeerroo.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. SECRETLAND, Reception of IRRS R. Warra Wangeelaati via SPL Secretbrod, Dec 3 1500-1530 15515 SCB 050 kW / 195 deg EaAf Oromo Sat + weak Denge Kurdistan: 1500-1700 9400 SCB 100 kW / 090 deg WeAs Kurdish Daily SPL Denge Kurdistan http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-irrs-rwarra-wangeelaati.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) Apparently means audio of DK was audible undeneath IRRS frequency (gh) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Frequency changes of Voice of America: 1730-1800 NF 11835 SMG 250 kW / 139 deg EaAf Oromo Mon-Fri, ex 11955 1730-1800 NF 12110 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg EaAf Oromo Mon-Fri, ex 12130 1800-1900 NF 11835 UDO 250 kW / 272 deg EaAf Amharic Daily, ex 11955 1800-1900 NF 12110 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg EaAf Amharic Daily, ex 12130 1900-1930 NF 11835 SAO 100 kW / 100 deg EaAf Tigrigna Mo-Fr, x 11955 1900-1930 NF 12110 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg EaAf Tigrigna Mo-Fr, x 12130 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/frequency-changes-of-ibb-radio-ashna.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Virrat, 11720, 1700-1710, 03- 12, Finnish, comments, pop music. 13321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) First Saturday of each month, but should also have special circa Xmas (gh) ** FRANCE. Countdown to 162 kHz switch off --- France Inter is now advertising a helpline for listeners to call for advice on what to do after 162 longwave closes. I wonder how many of the French people living in the UK (and Germany, Switzerland, etc) are aware that this is imminent. La fin des Grandes Ondes https://www.franceinter.fr/societe/la-fin-des-grandes-ondes (Via Chris Greenway, UK, Dec 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Radio France International Increases Interest in DAB+ Radio Magazine By Doug Irwin, CPBE AMD DRB December 5, 2016 Earlier this year, we reported how RF started using DAB+ to mitigate interference to its FM service in parts of Paris PARIS — The forward momentum of digital radio has apparently swept up Radio France. We reported several years ago that RFI had no interest in DAB; but earlier this year, we reported how RF started using DAB+ to mitigate interference to its FM service in parts of Paris. Now letteraudiovisuel.com is reporting that Radio France is in the process of expanding its DAB+ reach. “RFI is expected to soon extend its distribution in France to Lyon, Lille and Strasbourg as the Ministry of Culture and Communication has asked to reserve a place for international radio in calls for applications for digital terrestrial radio on these three cities. The station, which has only one Parisian frequency, out of 89 FM, had already enjoyed a temporary frequency in Marseille...” http://www.radiomagonline.com/around-the-world/0020/radio-france-international-increasing-interest-in-dab/38421 Posted by: (Mike Terry, Dec 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. HAMBURG 972 KHZ ANTENNA DEMOLISHED TODAY http://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Sendemasten-in-Moorfleet-gefallen,moorfleet124.html 184 metres tall radiator and 77 metres tall screening mast, as required by GE75 for running full 300 kW. The MW back-up antenna, a 120 metres mast moved in from the Osterloog site after it was closed in 1962, had been blown up already in 2011. The whole arrangement as it was until then: http://www.3dhh.de/b/DE-Hamburg-Sendemast-Billwerder/index.htm Here's still the news release about the delivery of a new solid-state transmitter, put in service in early 2010. Money from the licence fee payers, wasted in the same way than at numerous other AM facilities in Germany. http://www.transradio.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53%3Amoorfleet&catid=1%3Aaktuelle-nachrichten&Itemid=79&lang=de (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 2, mwmasts yg via DXLD) Medium Wave Info 3 December 2016 GERMANY Hamburg 972 kHz antenna demolished today http://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Sendemasten-in-Moorfleet-gefallen,moorfleet124.html [a look worth/ed] 184 metre tall radiator and 77 metre tall screening mast, as required by GE75 for running full 300 kW. The MW back-up antenna, a 120 metre mast moved in from the Osterloog site after it was closed in 1962, had been blown up already in 2011. The whole arrangement as it was until then: http://www.3dhh.de/b/DE-Hamburg-Sendemast-Billwerder/index.htm Here's still the news release about the delivery of a new solid-state transmitter, put in service in early 2010. Money from the licence fee payers, wasted in the same way than at numerous other AM facilities in Germany. http://www.transradio.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53%3Amoorfleet&catid=1%3Aaktuelle-nachrichten&Itemid=79?=de Kai Ludwig, mwmasts yg (2/12-2016) https://mediumwave.info/news.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. 6180, DWD, Deutscher Wetterdientst, Pinneber, 0610-0616, 04-12, German, female, weather report. Interference from Rádio Nacional da Amazônia. 43443 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Reception of Hamburger Lokalradio on 6190 kHz on Dec 3 Switzerland In Sound 0700-0730 on 6190 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English Sat CUSB World of Radio #1854 0730-0800 on 6190 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English Sat CUSB http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-hamburger-lokalradio-on.html Additional World of Radio #1854 via Hamburger Lokalradio, Dec 4: 1130-1200 on 9485 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English Sun CUSB, fair to poor http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/additional-world-of-radio1854-via.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** GUAM. Reception of KTWR Trans World Radio Asia, Dec 1: 1032-1113 on 11965 TWR 100 kW / 263 deg to SEAs English Mon-Fri 1217-1245 on 7400 TWR 100 kW / 320 deg to EaAs English Tue-Thu http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-ktwr-trans-world-radio.html Reception of KTWR Trans World Radio Asia, Dec 7: 1032-1113 on 11965 TWR 100 kW / 263 deg to SEAs English Mon-Fri 1217-1245 on 7400 TWR 100 kW / 320 deg to EaAs English Tue-Thu http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-ktwr-trans-world-radio_7.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA [and non]. OKLAHOMA PRIEST NAMED FIRST U.S.-BORN MALE MARTYR BY POPE --- Vatican recognition clears path for Rother's beatification --- Staff and Wire Reports Dec 2, 2016 The martyrdom of the Rev. Stanley Rother is now recognized by Pope Francis, making the former Okarche priest the first U.S.-born male martyr in history, according to the Catholic News Service. Pope Francis put the American priest killed during Guatemala's civil war on the path to possible sainthood by signing the martyrdom decree Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Rother had been in Guatemala translating the New Testament into an Indian dialect. Rother is the first U.S.-born priest to receive such recognition. The official recognition of Rother’s martyrdom was announced Dec. 2 by the Vatican, clearing the path for his beatification, the CNS reported. Pope Francis received His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, and authorized the Congregation to promulgate the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Rother. Rother was assassinated in 1981 while serving as a missionary in Guatemala, where he served as pastor of the parish of Santiago Atitlan. In June 2015, Rother was recognized formally as a martyr by a special Theological Commission at the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in Rome. This recognition is the final stage before canonization as a saint, something the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City's Cause to have Father Rother beatified has been working on for several decades. The positio on the life and martyrdom of Father Rother previously had been discussed and approved by a panel of nine theologians and more recently by a group of 15 cardinals and archbishops who voted affirmatively to recognize his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith). The positio refers to the volume containing the evidence that was collected from witness testimonies in both Oklahoma and Guatemala, and supporting documents during an inquiry conducted by a special tribunal of the Archdiocese created to carry out this investigation. The signing of this decree now opens the way for his beatification, since an approved miracle is not required in a cause of martyrdom. However, in order for Rother to be canonized, an alleged miracle due to his intercession occurring after the promulgation of this decree must be recognized as having no scientific explanation and approved by the Vatican. Francis, history's first Latin American pope, has made clear that he believes priests killed during Latin America's right-wing dictatorships died out of hatred for the faith, including Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero. The beatification ceremony could come as early as next fall. “We’re just thrilled, and grateful to God and to all those who have worked to promote the cause of Father Rother,” said the Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City. “The church needs heroic witnesses to advance the mission of Christ, and Father Rother was truly a heroic witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He gave his life in pastoral service to his people. I am looking forward to the celebration of his beatification.” Once beatified, the next step of Rother’s cause will require a verified miracle before he can be canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. Rother arrived at Santiago Atitlan in 1968 at age 33. Before arriving in Guatemala, he previously had served in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Durant. He served in Guatemala while a 36-year civil war was being fought and, as a result, dozens of people went missing, were murdered and tortured every day. More than 200,000 people were killed during the civil war. Rother was placed on a death list in Guatemala, which prompted him to flee to the United States. He arrived in Oklahoma City Jan. 28, 1981. He returned to Guatemala several months later. Three gunmen, assumed to be a right-wing death squad, assassinated Rother on July 28, 1981, in the parish rectory, but the unknown killers have never been brought to justice. In the months to follow, the indigenous people of Santiago Atitlan, the Tzutujil, protested the return of Rother's body to Oklahoma. In a compromise, the Tzutuil kept the priest’s heart in a half-gallon jar while his body was flown for burial in his native Oklahoma. When his vital organ was relocated to a more prominent location a decade after his martyrdom, the blood had not congealed, according to eyewitnesses of the excavation reported in a 2006 Oklahoma Gazette cover story (Enid Eagle Dec 3 via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Gross. We are following this process, not out of pride but because proto-Saint Rother was involved in ex SW/MW station 2390, La Voz de Atitlán. I once visited picturesque Atitlán myself and saw the building but the station was not active at the time (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another version: OKLAHOMA La Voz de Atitlan Guatemala --- I saw this article in the New York Times today about an American priest who was killed by military death squads in Guatemala in 1981. Long time DXers may remember this event. Among other killed in that period was the manager of La Voz de Atitlan. The first link is to the NYT article. The second recounts my later visits to the town. In 1987 I got stuck there overnight during a month when the death squads were active. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/world/americas/stanley-rother-priest-martyr.html http://www.pateplumaradio.com/central/guatemala/atitlan.html (Don Moore --- Humpty Dumpty was pushed. Radio & Latin American website: http://www.pateplumaradio.com/ Dec 4, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST ** GUATEMALA. 4055, Dec 2 at 0706, open carrier at S6, presumably Radio Truth which would have signed off an hour earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 9650, Radio Guinea, Conakry, 0724-0750, 03-12 [Sat/samedi], French, comments, vernacular songs, at 0731 religious program: "La Voix Evangelique de l`Eglise Protestante". 34433. Also 0738-0805, 04- 12 [Sun/dimanche], French, religious program "Le Jour du Seigneur", at 0800 news. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante and Friol, Tecsun PL-880 and Sangean ATS-909X, Cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. UNIDENTIFIED 7380.513 Islamabad Pakistan ? Kashmir ? program ? S=9+20dB typical region music / singer. 0120 UT on Dec 7. Heard even here in southern Germany. 73 wb [Later:] aaahhh, yes, thanks Ivo item in Bulgaria: New Delhi transmitter is 513 Hertz OFF frequency these days. INDIA Latest B-16 changes of All India Radio External Services 0100-0200 NF 7380 DEL 100 kW 282 deg to SoAS Sindhi, ex-7370 (Ivo Ivanov-BUL, hcdx via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 26) (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Additional wrong frequency of All India Radio in Pashto on Nov 29 1423&1455 add 9620 ALG 250 kW / 282 deg to WeAs Pashto, instead of Sindhi // frequency 11560 PAN 500 kW / 300 deg to WeAs Pashto, as scheduled B-16 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/additional-wrong-frequency-of-all-india.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9525.9, Dec 4 at 1411, no signal from VOI. Atsunori Ishida at http://rri.jpn.org/ reports a carrier until 1300, but no signal from 14 to 21 this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX ISTENING DIGEST) New(?) 9526.03, VOI, on Dec 5, seemingly on new, higher frequency (ex: 9525.9); noted at 1559 in stilted Chinese; 1600 into Arabic and reciting from the Qur'an; mostly fair. Perhaps Wolfy, et al., can check this out for me with an exact readout. Thanks! (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526.049 --- .051, frequency variable at 2010 UT on Dec 05. S=8-9 in southern Germany, French language female presenter. 9526.049 exact kHz VoI, Cimanggis, at 1335 UT on Tuesday Dec 6th. S=9+10dB or -67dBm signal in Delhi India remote SDR unit. English language female presenter, though international kind pop music, no local Indonesia feeling at all. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Voice of Indonesia with "new" very odd frequency Dec 6: 1300-1400 NF 9526.1v#JAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs English, ex 9525.9v # strong QRM CNR-1 Jammer vs. VOA in Mandarin Chinese on nom.9530 kHz: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/voice-of-indonesia-with-new-very-odd.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7420, Dec 4 at 0113, S7 signal in Spanish, from IRIB, 500 kW slewed -25 degrees so it`s due west from Sirjan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. THIS IRAQI RADIO STATION REACHES PEOPLE IN MOSUL WHO RISK THEIR LIVES TO CALL IN --- via PRI’s The World – November 1 In a secret studio in northern Iraq, a radio host takes a call. The caller is inside the city of Mosul. Over a crackling line, the woman urges the Iraqi government to hurry up and send troops, and she promises people in the city will support the fight against ISIS. “The women here will rise up even before the men,” she says. The caller speaks in hushed tones because being caught could mean death. The radio host tells her to be strong. “The women of Mosul are known for their strength,” the host says to the caller. As Iraqi forces approach the city limits of Mosul, fears are rising for the hundreds of thousands of civilians stuck inside, under ISIS control. They’ve been cut off from the outside world for years, but this radio station in northern Iraq is defying the militant group, transmitting into Mosul and helping residents get their voices out. After ISIS took Mosul in June 2014, the militants attempted to isolate the residents. They banned cellphones and the internet — more recently they confiscated satellite dishes and TV transmitters. In March 2015, a few Mosul exiles set up the al-Ghad radio station, broadcasting to people back home. Al-Ghad means "tomorrow" in Arabic. “We know how important it is to keep the people posted and to communicate with them,” says Mohammed, the station manager, who doesn’t want to use his last name to protect his relatives still inside the city. “To be able to talk to [them] and to make sure we can deliver their voices.” Calling from Mosul is difficult and extremely dangerous. ISIS has shut off many cellphone towers so residents have to search for small pockets of coverage or climb to high places to get reception. “In the past, we used to receive very few calls from Mosul. People were scared to call the radio station,” Mohammed says. “But today people are speaking up. They are talking.” He says al-Ghad receives around 60 calls per day, 80 percent from inside Mosul. (This is the station's Facebook page) http://www.facebook.com/FMalghad/ Several of the callers report that ISIS has staged mass arrests of young men in recent days, probably figuring they will rise up to help Iraqi forces as they enter the city. A man named Yasser calls in and says he is part of the resistance. In recent months there have been reports of a small but growing underground movement in the city, spray-painting anti-ISIS graffiti and making plans to resist the militants. “Don’t worry about those who are arrested,” Yasser says to the radio host. “We will free them.” The radio station is not just giving people a voice and providing information from outside, Mohammed says. It’s also helping them communicate with one another. “It’s like the 1940s or '50s before the local [phone] lines,” Mohammed says. If something happens in one part of the city, residents in parts may have no idea about it. “People are isolated in the city itself. They don’t have any way of communicating with each other.” Another woman says she’s calling from the left bank of the city, the eastern side of Mosul. The host asks, “What’s happening there?” “ISIS fighters are gathering on the streets,” she says. “They are all young, under 30.” As the militants prepare for the ground offensive by Iraqi forces, Mohammed says he and his team are having their own battle with ISIS for the airwaves. “A week after we first broadcast, ISIS jammed our radio station,” Mohammed says. We changed the frequency. Probably two days later, ISIS jammed the new frequency.” In response, al-Ghad jammed the frequency of ISIS’s own radio station, and it’s been back and forth ever since. Now al-Ghad has four different frequencies to ensure that it’s always on air, 24 hours a day, and broadcasting into Mosul. The phone rings again. The caller identifies himself as a member of the Iraqi forces, phoning in from the village where he’s stationed, about 5 miles from the city. “Stay in your homes,” he advises. “Get lots of water.” The host follows with more advice for the coming offensive. Stock up on supplies. Put tape on the windows to stop them from shattering with the airstrikes. Stay away from ISIS headquarters. It’s crucial information as Iraqi forces advance closer to Mosul. “God willing,” the soldier calling in, says, “we will liberate the city soon” (via Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Pirate: 12255, Reflections Europe_IRL, 1712-..., 04/12, inglês, prgrs. de propag. relig.; 25432. // 6295. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Aus Tokyo kam heute der neue NHK Radio Japan Calendar 2017 im A3 Format, wie seit einigen Jahrzehnten immer wieder. Wer's nicht kennt, von dem zu Ende gehenden Jahr die faszinierenden Fotos auch auf der Webseite zu blaettern: wb df5sx Nov 26 (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX 2 Dec via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. In regards to the type of jamming on 1566, if it was indeed jamming, I can't really answer that. I suspect that they were using dead air on 810 to jam as the audio was muddy but it was still understandable. The intelligence service is largely half- incompetent as it is with these jammers. I've watched them mess around for the longest time. I don't think they have high-tech jamming that would do what you said, nor do I believe North Korea would either. If you had actual audio of what you're describing, maybe that would change my thinking, but it's a tough call on that one. To follow up on my recent posting about South Korean jamming, here's some examples of what's going on north of the border, including an FM bonus clip. A radio acquaintance is operating a KiwiSDR node about 8 miles to the south of my Seoul location, but those 8 miles are just enough to lose the Pyongyang jammers that were typical within the city, so my recordings may actually be relatively rare and likely some of the only examples of North Korean jammers on many of these frequencies. They may exist here and there in the local Korean DX community (seemingly unlikely as well) but not in the international forum for sure, especially as bringing a radio into the DPRK as a tourist is quite highly discouraged by the government - though it has been allowed - as it aids in the spread of... well, foreign signals they obviously don't want people hearing in the case you (purposely) leave it behind. I'm unaware of the power these jammers are running but a few are very high-powered. It's hard to know as they are naturally jamming local Seoul signals and other Korean skywave signals, so there is a fair bit of CCI sometimes and it's not as easy to null out AM signals that like to ride on top of one another unlike FM. If anyone has picked up these jammers on these frequencies across the Pacific, please let me know. On the other hand, you may be hearing these noises and not knowing the origins. Now you will. All recordings are from the Seoul-Incheon metro area, which lies immediately on the North Korean border (north suburbs lie just a few miles from the border). * * * * * One of the more impressive jammers is the 75kHz-wide jammer on 711. It broadcasts from either the Haeju tower site or Anak tower site. The recording starts on 684 and goes up to 756 where 711 is the center of the jammer and the frequency it jams, 711 KBS 1 Radio Seoul at 500kw. The recording is taken on the coast 11 miles from the local tower site. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_711_75kHz.MP3 The same jammer on 711 sounds different depending on the signal strength. The same is true for every jammer. They get highly distorted when under a signal or when weak, making it very difficult to tell the true pattern of the sound. Here are two examples of the 711 jammer which shows that: When the jammer signal is heard strong enough, you can hear its true sound: http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_711_Strong.MP3 However, when the jammer is weaker and/or the local signal is too strong, it sounds more like a hum, disguising its full sound (which will also be heard with 1566 later): http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_711_Weak.MP3 This is the so-called "video game" jammer (my original observation of what it reminded me of, which Paul Walker also called the same thing in his own post later). This one is the KCBS flagship station, 819 in Pyongyang. I've recorded it instead on local 2850 to silence the annoying local jammer. This is the sign-off of KCBS and the sign-on of the jammer. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_819.MP3 This is Pyongyang's jamming of 891 Busan, another KBS 1 Radio signal. They highly dislike KBS 1 Radio to the point where two signals are even jammed in downtown Kaesong (just outside the Seoul suburbs) on FM as well; hear that at the end of this posting. 891 Busan is from 194 miles away and 250kw, but is not strong at all in Seoul. It's hard to hear clearly to start with and this jammer is actually quite weak and not extremely common to hear as the others. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_891.MP3 Here's the jammer on 900, which is moderately common. The main signal is MBC Seoul under 10 miles away. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_900.MP3 This one is only able to be heard atop the buildings in downtown Seoul, never at ground level (Henan, China can be heard behind it often at ground-level instead). This is local 972 at 1,500kw, 40 miles away and aiming north right at me nonetheless. You can null it out atop the buildings to the point you can hear the Pyongyang jammer behind it. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_972.MP3 Another example of a hard-to-hear jammer, this is the jammer of local 500kw 1134 south of Seoul, 21 miles away. It's almost certainly parallel to the 1467 and 1566 laser jammers and very likely from the Anak tower site. 1134, like many local stations, turns off for a few hours every night, and that's the only time the DPRK jammer can be heard, usually in the null of Tokyo. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1134.MP3 This jammer is on most of the day, as well as the off-air hours of 1143 Radio Free Korea, which only broadcasts for skywave. I've recorded it here during the actual broadcast of RFK instead of during the off-air hours when it blocks Jilin Story Radio, which at 10kw is always behind RFK. RFK's tower is 6 miles from my location and is a relatively poor signal to begin with, always with another station behind it. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1143.MP3 This is one jammer that is so strong that it's impossible to shake. I don't think I've ever been able to listen to 1467 (an unusually strong coastal 50kw Mokpo KBS 1 Radio 192 miles to the south) without this jammer in with it. During talk, it's always heard. Music, it still comes in. Usually the two signals are simultaneous and both equally as strong. This is a laser jammer //1566 and likely 1134 too. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1467_Laser.MP3 The 1566 frequency is a real mess in Seoul. FEBC Jeju comes in well if you aim right at it but this jammer always finds its way in there. Yanbian is equally as strong and destroys whatever is left of a listenable signal. This is an example of what a laser jammer sounds like when there is heavy interference on the signal. It's //1467 but took me about 6 months to make that connection. FEBC is religious. The DPRK outlaws religion and the station, though only 250kw and from a far distance, aims north for many hours, hence a jammer. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1566_Laser.MP3 I call this one the helicopter jammer as it sounds like a helicopter or else an off-balance washing machine on a drying cycle. The first clip is upon sign-off, which comes halfway through the clip. It's manually turned off a while after 1am, never at the same time. What it's jamming is just beyond me. There are two 1kw KBS 1 Radio stations in the far south that barely make it to Seoul. However, 1584 is a frequency of the Korean-language network in Harbin, China, though 1476 (Sound of the Great Northern Wildnerness) is far stronger with more stations. So that's a bit of a mystery, but the jammer can be heard even in the south of Korea and looks pretty interesting on the SDR. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1584_1.MP3 And here's the same jammer. Sometimes the pitch of the tone changes a tad week to week as revealed in my different recordings of it, but this one sounds like a helicopter about to crash. It starts low and goes higher before starting again. I heard this pattern only once though. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_1584_2.MP3 And lastly, here's an example of a typical FM jammer, which exactly mirrors those used in Seoul (though Seoul's on 92.5 was expanded a few years ago to be much wider and more of an annoying pest). This is 90.3 Kaesong, which broadcasts from the big tower at the south end of the main downtown strip, recording from my long-time Kaesong AM/FM site on the river immediately on the border, close enough to watch the North Korean farmers in their field. The jammer blocks HLKA-SFM Yongmunsan, which runs parallel to the Seoul signal of KBS 1 Radio, the one North Korea isn't a fan of. That signal is 50 miles away while the jammer is 15 miles from my location. The second Kaesong FM jammer is 99.5 vs. HLKM-SFM, another mountaintop KBS 1 R signal near the border. Otherwise, all other Seoul stations are free for listening in Kaesong, though until recently, the city hosted many South Korean workers who commute to North Korea daily to work in the factories across the border, so it's nothing K aesong residents are unfamiliar with. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jammer_90_3.MP3 (Chris Kadlec, Seoul AM Listening Guide, IRCA via DXLD) Drunken 801 Kimchaek (+SDR) --- Just a note for those who get TP: The 500 kW Pyongyang Broadcasting / KCBS time-share signal out of Kimchaek, North Korea is a little dizzy or drunken currently and is... wandering off its kilter. At 5:30am local sign-off (2100 UT), the signal was half-steady in the neighbourhood of 804, smack between the 801 and 810 jammers with a clear signal. It has been drifting between 803.85 and 804.25, sometimes just zig-zagging a bit and at other times outright instantaneously hopping from one side of 804 to the other. It's running an open carrier after sign-off as usual. 15 minutes after sign-off, it briefly ran a tone for about 5 seconds shown on 802.9 and 804.9 and continued about its business before recentering itself right on 804.0 a moment later then again started stumbling around. At the 5:58am local time (2128 UTC) KCBS sign-on, it pretty much has continued, rather stable on 804.25. It would later migrate to 803.87 where it was toward 7 am, until it wandered again, down to 803.50 by 10 am local time. I'm not sure if this move is in response to the new jammers or not, but it's an interesting development nonetheless. The transmitters, especially in the east coast cities, aren't known for their greatness, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the signal is clear with nothing blocking it due to this fact. There is a hum on 801 that I cannot identify, but feel it's jammer-related (open jammer perhaps; it happens) and it's heard on 804 too -- the daytime jammer would be heard clearly later on on 801 -- but the Kimchaek signal itself is clearly centered on 804 and heard well on 803 and 805. SDR shows this in an interesting fashion. I'll keep an eye on it. The in-between frequency could give some of you a catch if you haven't heard the Kimchaek signal before. Here are a few SDR views of this oddness. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_1.jpg - Wandering signal http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_2.jpg - 6:15 pre sign-on tone http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_3.jpg - Drunken signal http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_4.jpg - Slipping signal http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_5.jpg - 6:30 sign-on tones (Chris Kadlec, Seoul AM Listening Guide, Dec 5, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 2850, Dec 3 at 1334, KCBS is S8 in Korean talk, better than usual; at least a carrier is usually audible around sunrise; OSOB on 105 meters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST0 ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Re: [IRCA] South Korean MW Jamming Thanks for doing this Chris. The subtleties are endless. Couple of questions. These are all originating in South Korea, is that correct? (except for video games on 819?) ``This one is used at tourist sites along the DMZ. This is recorded less than 10 miles from the tower of 50kw 810 KCBS while standing beside the North Korean customs booth a half mile from the actual border, but a 60dBu silent signal very closeby is muffling it. These are mounted on little sticks on the side of buildings like 10-watt transmitters.`` I've heard something like this earlier this year on 1566. They're taking the audio of the originating station, distorting somehow and rebroadcasting? best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, BC, Dec 1, IRCA via DXLD) Correct, all the jammers (except the video game one, which is 819's short off-air period between daily sign-off and the dead air/tone before sign-on) are South Korea. I'll post the North Korean ones perhaps tomorrow. The 1053 jammers are complicated, as is that whole busy frequency - the busiest, by far, in Seoul. The main two are Seoul and Gimpo. The Seoul one is the one everyone always hears overseas, but it doesn't get out well locally. I'm not sure if it's directional, but I'm going to guess not. The tower site has 19 towers, whereas the Gimpo site is 4 large towers in a line, exactly similar to the site in Jeju-do. The 1053 siren jammer is on 16 1/2 hours a day with very clear on/off times. The Seoul jammer had been 24/7 for the longest time, but lately has been turning off. It turned off tonight at 11:19pm local (1419 UTC) leaving Shenyang and Yanbian to fight it out, but I'm hearing one of the new Hwaseong jammers in the distance, though not from there. A few jamming sites have gone online in the past two weeks across the country. I try to stick to Seoul, which my publication covers, and ignore the other areas or else I'd go insane. The Gimpo jammer, while I have no absolute proof of it (they don't share this information, obviously) is aiming south. Why? The purpose of jammers isn't to defeat the signal they're up against. You don't aim *at* the signal you're jamming. AM radio - even FM - doesn't work like that. So aiming it northwest would be a futile effort against a 1,500kw powerhouse. 1053 Haeju clocks in at 75-80dBu at my DX site in Incheon, 61 miles from its tower. Clear water path does damage. There is no defeating that signal and it's a ridiculous attempt to hope to. So the point of the jammers is to cover the signal by any means necessary to the majority of the population. 50% of the nation's population - 26 of 51 million - live in the Seoul metro area. The aforementioned main Seoul site does a half-decent job at covering the most densely populated area. On the east side of the city, the Taereung experimental site fills in a few areas if necessary. The Hwaseong jammer site (which went full power on 11/21 after a year- plus of testing) is now taking care of the south and far south suburbs. The purpose of the Gimpo siren jammer is to cover Incheon. Incheon is a major city that is connected to and is part of the Seoul metro area and it's a coastal city. 1053 with that open water path really blasts into there and that jammer has a wider and louder signal that really is catered to the coastal areas. Gimpo is along the border, so if you want to cover the Korean population, the only way to aim is south (the other jammer is 16 miles to the east, so no reason to aim in the direction of Seoul, which is already covered). Furthermore, the tower site is just barely in Gimpo a short distance from the sea; basically it's right beside Incheon itself. And if I'm right, once upon a time, the site was *on* the sea. Incheon has been reclaiming land like mad over the years, so the coastline extends further and further out. I'm not sure about 1566 and rebroadcasting audio. It may be another phenomenon, though things change year by year in the area. 1566 is a horrible frequency in Seoul. It's nearly impossible to get a clear signal on FEBC Jeju. There is a ridiculous amount of interference from Yanbian and the Pyongyang jammer (//1467 siren jammer which also decimates that frequency) really makes things muddy. Of course, I'll post that jammer with the rest of the North Korean ones soon. In 2015, I could get a very strong Jeju signal, but something changed by 2016; I think Pyongyang increased its power (Chris Kadlec, Seoul AM Listening Guide, ibid.) Gary, you may have better audio on that 1035 frequency than can be heard in Korea if you can get one station in well with just echoes in the background. This is how 1035 sounds locally from Seoul, and by locally, I mean it's a skywave local, the only station(s) on the frequency. The main station is from Dalian (50 kW), 303 miles across the water. The rest are just lower-power CNR-1 repeaters. But as you can hear from the clip, it's basically unlistenable as a local aside from being right in Dalian itself or near one of the repeaters. CNR-1 does a crappy job with synching as compared to Korean and Japanese stations (Japanese ones are especially superb with that). Plus, CNR goes off the air at 1405 UTC mid-sentence every night. They could improve. But I could say the same about some of the other networks in Shandong, Liaoning, and Jilin. Some are downright creepy sounding. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/CNR_1_1035_Dalian.MP3 And a good example of a listenable echo signal in a hilarious sort of way (one station is a few *seconds* behind). This is the Sound of the Great Northern Wilderness network on 1476 (Heilongjiang / Harbin-based //873, a station that broadcasts Chinese half the time and Korean - only half-understandable by South Koreans as it's a North Korean dialect used up there - the remainder of the time). This clip is a radio story in Korean. Echo-y to say the least. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Sound_of_the_Great_Northern_Wilderness_1.MP3 (Chris Kadlec, Seoul AM Listening Guide, Dec 5, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD ** KURDISTAN [non]. 9400, Dec 4 at 1405, good S9+40 Kurdish music at S9+10, no QRM after FEBC is finished, from Denge Kurdistane, 300 kW, 130 degrees from PRIDNESTROVYE at 12-15 per Aoki, so long path? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINE, 9400. December 5, 2016. 2050-2105, Denge Kurdistan, Maiac [PRIDNESTROVYE site], in Kurdish. Kurdish song; 2052 No audio, sign- off; Returns on-air, but no audio until 2056; 2056 A song by female singer (Music with many notes similar to Interval Signal of The Voice of Turkey). 2100 Man annnouncer talks. Irregular transmission this afternoon (Cabedelo: 05:50-06:05 PM). Now, with a moderate to severe interference by CNR1 jamming on 9410 kHz, in Mandarin (DXer: Jose Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Tecsun S-2000, Antenna: Portable Telescopic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5012.23v, R. Madagasikara (presumed), 1450-1511, Dec 5. Am now hearing this daily around my local sunrise; language sounded like French or Malagasy, but still no positive ID. Some days the drifting is not very noticeable, while on others it drifts around quickly and is very noticeable (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing at 2030 UT. Posted by: ("Wolfgang Bueschel" dxldyg via DXLD) [non] R. Madagasikara obviously NOT ON AIR TODAY. Checked around 16 and 17 UT on Dec 6. Only heard in remote SDR units at Delhi India, Doha Qatar, Greece, Italy and Germany: 5009.997 kHz AIR Thimv. S=9+15dB in Doha, boring like muslim sung, Tamil? 73 (wb dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, I also thought that until 1700, but from 1705 onwards it was there and improving since on around 5013v. Posted by: (Thorsten Hallmann, ibid.) ** MADAGASCAR. 9855, Dec 3 at 2051, pop music at S9+10, soon French announcement about Japon, so must have been J-pop, from NHK as scheduled from 2030 until 2100* cut off before the final timesignal beep (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Good signal of WCB KNLS Madagascar World Voice, Nov 30 1800-1900 on 9570 MWV 100 kW / 355 deg to EaEu Russian tx#1 The New Life Station 1900-2000 on 9495 MWV 100 kW / 355 deg to EaEu Russian tx#2 The New Life Station Wrong announcement: one transmission via Madagascar, instead of two transmissions http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/good-signal-of-wcb-knls-madagascar.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) 17640, Dec 2 at 1801, still no signal from African Pathways on MWV English. 9600, Dec 3 at 0108, MWV`s other English hour = New Life Station as on KNLS Alaska, ending ``music from the 80s, 90s and today`` at S9, into ``American Highway`` about I-70 in Kansas and some historic site there. This segment is by Paul Ladd, but I don`t find a script for it on the KNLS website (monarchists: where the K stands for King`s): http://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/paul-ladd.html [and non]. 17570, Dec 3 at 2015, S9 unknown African language talk, 2020 songs, 2030 stops for open carrier, 2032* off. HFCC shows AWR, 2000-2030, 250 kW, 305 degrees from Talata daily in Mos language, which despite no S in it, per EiBi readme.txt translates to ``MOO Moore/Mòoré: Burkina Faso (5 million) [mos]``. What makes this especially interesting is the presence of two carriers offset to the high side, which is Sudanese-style jamming: approx. 17571.235 and 17572.415, while AWR itself is on 17570.006. The jammers also producing hets with each other, are at least as strong as the target. These are still on past 2033. So why would B.F. bother to jam this, or is it now a more Sudanese language? And still, why jam it? Well, 17570 is used earlier at 1630-1730 for AWR via Germany in Somali and Amharic, the latter a more sensitive language, but Ethiopian jamming is usually DRMish noise rather than carrier/hets/tones, as applied by Sudan against R. Dabanga (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17640, Dec 3 at 2013 check, still zilch from MWV Mahajanga, APR alleged English hour. Propagation is certainly OK; see MAD 17570 AWR log. 17640, Dec 7 at 1856, tune in just in time for a few notes of music before open carrier and off 1856.6*, i.e. MWV English APR from 1800 is active today. Also on with S9+10 choral music at 2043 check, the other English broadcast from 2000. You never know from one day to the next whether these will appear. Dec 8: made it again, S9+20 at 1853 on 17640 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, R. Mali, Kati, 2215-..., 05/12, dialecto local, texto; 54444, QRM adjacente, modulação extremamente débil, ou seja, um desperdício de energia. 9635 idem, 1322-1345, 02/12, dialecto local, texto; 35443, modulação fraca. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 760, re my log eliminating possibilities by format, preferring XEES Chihuahua2, Raymie confirms (gh): XEES/XHES is a talker (Raymie Humbert, AZ, Dec 1, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, Dec 2 at 1756, mid-day JBA carrier search on 49m finds XEPPM, but also an even weaker one on 6070, CFRX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week --- In actual news today: The IFT finally got guidelines out the door to tell cable and satellite providers that they must place broadcast TV stations in accord with their virtual channels. http://www.ift.org.mx/comunicacion-y-medios/comunicados-ift/es/pleno-del-ift-modifica-lineamientos-para-retransmision-de-senales-de-tv-radiodifundida-comunicado For low-rated subchannels (say, the Mexico City Legislative Assembly channel), they can be placed in themed areas. This should be a boon to certain stations, particularly local stations that can now run with a programming strategy. It may also mean someone at XHCOZ will finally realize they are unlikely to get local channel 11 on cable. We also got postings of two Pleno meetings. The only new item is that some ownership in XHWJ-FM was sold. Really exciting! Last edited by Raymie; 12-01-2016 at 10:03 PM. (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, Dec 1, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) The Most Important Radio Transmission Site in Culiacán The Estadio Banorte is home to the Dorados de Sinaloa, currently playing in the second division of Mexican soccer after having been relegated this year. It sits on the banks of the Río Humaya, and southwest of it is a large parcel of land through which no streets pass. This massive land parcel is home to two radio towers. One is a guyed tower, and one is a self-supporting structure so new that Google Street View doesn't show it (instead, Street View shows its predecessor, a guyed stick). Both are important and they house about 7 stations. The north tower on this site is home to Radiorama Culiacán, and before migration it was the tower that housed just XHIN-FM 95.3 and XECSI-AM. But migration brought many of Radiorama's Culiacán FMs to this site, including XHCSI-FM, XHWT-FM and XHWS-FM. The south tower is Grupo ACIR Culiacán, and Street View reveals that prior to migration ACIR was letting this site go. In fact, I had trouble discerning which site was whose at first (turns out both are signed). The ACIR site was not well signed in 2009, with just two pieces of evidence for ACIR's existence there. The first was this "Federal Property" sign, http://jmp.sh/LnFmsdY obscured by shrubs but revealing logos dating to the 80s when ACIR's slogan was Radiocomunicación Humana and all ACIR stations had a standard logo template. You can't read those logos, but the transmitter shack is an exceptional capsule of ACIR history. Painted on it was "XEEX RADIO ACIR - XEWS RADIO CAPITAL". My first reaction: holy moly, that has to be old. First off, ACIR stations haven't been known as Radio Capital since the 80s. And secondly, neither XEEX nor XEWS is currently part of Grupo ACIR. XEWS, as mentioned, is now part of Radiorama as XHWS-FM. XEEX is now XHEX-FM, using another site, and it's a Radio Formula-owned station. I had no idea either was part of Grupo ACIR at one point, but it's true. A search for the XEEX concessionaire in the 1990s (Radio XEEX, S.A. de C.V.) turns up an address that formerly housed Grupo ACIR Culiacán —*Álvaro Obregón 650 (along with two sets of FM bays, both removed when ACIR left the site). As for XHWS, it was only last year that the concession transferred from Radio Integral, S.A. de C.V. (the old ACIR concessionaire) to a Radiorama concern (Raymie, Dec 4, ibid.) It's been nearly a month since we got updated anything, but the VC table http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/01listadodecanalesvirtualesactualizacion05diciembre2016.pdf dropped for December with just one change... We have our 43rd Imagen transmitter authorized. It will be XHCTTH-TDT Tapachula, on RF channel 29. Tapachula, probably not coincidentally, is the last operating SPR city without Imagen TV or covered by another Imagen transmitter (Raymie, Dec 5, ibid.) I was chewing through some IFT meeting notes when I saw a LONG comment by Commissioner María Elena Estavillo Flores. Apparently it was made during debate over a proposal to renew the concession of XEQR-FM Mexico City. Commissioner Estavillo argued that the IFT should not go about extending the concessions of stations that operate on 106-108 MHz without relocating them so that the frequencies can be kept for the Article 90 reserved band. So I decided to take a look at this proposal. How many stations would need to be relocated? The answer: a lot. It's easier to count the number of stations that could stay — social-community and social-indigenous stations, and stations likely to be transferred to that concession type — than those that would have to be moved. It's worth noting that social stations that are "untyped", such as permit wolves, are not eligible for the reserved band, so an XHRRA or an XHPAT would also have to move. We're talking 12 stations on 106.1, 11 stations on 106.3, 11 stations on 106.5, 13 of 14 stations on 106.7 (XHSILL), 15 stations on 106.9, 15 of 16 stations on 107.1 (XHSBE), 8 stations on 107.3 (XHCIF is untyped social so it must moved), 11 of 12 stations on 107.5 (XHPCO is probably going to be community), 8 stations on 107.7 and 21 of the 27 on 107.9 (probably XHFC, XHJP indigenous, XHRCV community, XHTFM indigenous, XHRHI community, XHZV community). We also have to factor in the AM expanded band. The stations operating between 1610 and 1700 kHz are XEUACH (public), XEUT (public), XEARZ (social untyped), XEANAH (social untyped), XEPE (commercial) and the perpetually unbuilt XEFCSM (social untyped). So there's another 6 stations to move. 131 stations is not chump change, given Mexico has roughly 1,750 licensed radio stations. It's around 7 percent of the total. Yeah, I get the point, but this won't be a possibility (Raymie, Dec 5, ibid.) Hey Raymie, do you know if IFT multiplexing lists were updated this month? I'm trying to get information about XHCDC multiplex (with Las Estrellas and Canal 5 in it) but I can't get anything about it. And about XEFCSM, I don't know why they're broadcasting in 680 kHz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC-XI5dv8Lw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC-XI5dv8Lw (Gargadon, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Dec 6, ibid.) I have two answers. 1. No, the last update is dated October 12. I would expect that soon, though. The UMCA lists (multiprogramming and virtual channels) are updated roughly monthly. 2. I believe I know why. You see, FCSM/Radio María in Mérida has Grupo Rivas as its commercial radio backer. It previously broadcast on 760 and 930 before it moved to 680. 680 was used by XEPY-AM (now XHPYM- FM). 760 was XEYW-AM (now, of course, Rivas XHYW-FM). 930 was actually Cadena RASA (XEUL-AM, later XHUL-FM). What's strange is that the XEPY-AM transmitter site was cleared, as I mentioned earlier, to make way for new residential development, with the XHPYM-FM transmitter put on a new tower on land RASA already owned. When "XEFCSM" began broadcasting again on 680, the station head told Por Esto... http://www.poresto.net/ver_nota.php?zona=yucatan&idSeccion=1&idTitulo=368548 (emphasis mine) "Entrevistado aparte, Eduardo Ávalos Borges Borges, coordinador de Radio María en Mérida, dijo que “ya estamos al aire, de inicio de 6 de la mañana a 10 de la noche. Recuerden que Radio María se sostiene a base de donativos. Nosotros no vendemos publicidad, entonces requerimos tener cierto volumen de donativos para poder tener transmisiones de 24 horas. Agregó que “estamos trabajando con la Fundación Cultural para la Sociedad Mexicana. Ellos son los dueños de la frecuencia, y nos están cediendo parte de su tiempo aire. Nosotros estamos transmitiendo con ellos con nuestros recursos propios, aquí con nuestras cabinas, y la torre de transmisión que estamos empleando nos la está donando Grupo Rivas”." Perhaps they were donated all the XEPY-AM transmitter equipment. But that doesn't explain why they've been able to broadcast on 680 without facing legal repercussions, or where the current xmtr site is, or why they haven't bothered to make the move to 1700. Their studios are on Calle 43 between 58 and 60, around the corner from Grupo SIPSE. 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 27. Follow all the new virtual channel assignments http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?10958-Mexican-virtual-channel-assignments-after-VC-Day (Raymie Humbert, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. Mauno Ritola on WRTH - World Radio Tv Handbook Facebook today: "Thank you for the report Hiroyuki Komatsubara: Mongolian Radio has reactivated 4830 kHz after long inactivity with their 2nd prgr; "Golden Radio"." http://www.mnb.mn/live/radio2 [last reported January 2015 re DSWCI Domestic Broadcasting Survey] Posted by: (Alan Pennington, Dec 2, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) MONGOLIA: re 4830 früher MR 2nd px, Japanische NEC Transmitter, bis November 2011 immer berichtet. Hier aus dem dswci DXW ein Bericht von Maarten van Delft aus Holland, der die Mongolei im August 2004 besuchte: During a recent visit to the Mongolian Radio Transmitting Centre at Khonkhor, 30 km east of Ulan Bator, the director, Mr. Gantumur Tumurbataar, told me that the domestic SW tx upgrading project, funded by the Govt of Japan, has been completed. New antennas and NEC txs were installed at Ulan Bator-Khonkhor 7260 (50 kW), Altay 4830 (10 kW) and Murun (or Moron) on 4895 (10 kW). Sainshand (4865) will be switched off for good in September after which the three mentioned SW stations will be the only ones to cover the country. so sieht es dort aus: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13265416 die Masten der Dipol Steilstrahlantenne südöstlich vom Senderhaus und 990 kHz MW Antenne bei https://goo.gl/maps/DWbWQHRqGfx Altay 4830 war hier meist etwas schwächer einfallend, als Murun 4895 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, via A-DX via SW Bulletin Dec 4 via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Reactivated 4830, Mongolian Radio 2. Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) first reported their return on Dec 2; only weak audio heard on Dec 7, at 1311 and 1358-1400 (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985, Myanmar Radio, 1538, Dec 5. In English, with the reading of a Reuters news story - "Thriving on raw eggs, world's oldest person marks 117th birthday in Italy"; fairly readable. My audio at http://goo.gl/62w5vJ Reuters news story read over Myanmar Radio at http://goo.gl/ef6lkm (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 6145, Dec 4 at 0125, Mighty KBC via GERMANY, S9+25: Uncle Eric says he`s going on a special diet, ``no more fat hamburgers``, into Paul Revere & the Raiders. Addresses us as ``shortwave commandos``; 0130+ Kim Elliott Radiogram beeps I gather portraying the Dutch Sint Nikolaas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 11580, Thu Dec 1 at 2029 on WRMI, PCJ Radio International ID and 2030 into `Media Network` [not Plus, minus?]. Initial topix include Astra 1-C launched from Kourou, Guiana French; Tristan da Cunha ceased SW last week. AFAN Antarctica reactivated? No, not likely as no longer needed on SW, but an Italian private station has been on 6012 testing. FEN Japan ceased SW 3910 & 6155 on May 5, 1988; but 11750 & 15260 lasted until May 31. What about NSB? Not expected to continue on SW much longer. Show plays as if current, but this is really very old news. Finally at 2035 a reference implying that the current year is 1993 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Media Network Prequel, show resumes in 2017. Posted December 6: "Hello, this is Jonathan Marks. Welcome to a Media Network prequel. Yes, it’s true while Donald Trump heads for the white house, we’ll be resuming the wireless show about the wireless in 2017, mixing comments about a post-truth media world with regular trips to the vintage radio wireless archives which we saved from the shredders. Our collection has lasted longer than the station it was first broadcast on." 70 minutes of reports of vintage reports on Africa on the prequel. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/mn06122017.html (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. 6159.962, CANADA, CKZU St John`s, Newfoundland, S=6-7 in Detroit MI. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500- 0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) 6159.962, Dec 2 at 0451, still only one poor CBC signal here, so is it still CKZN with no CKZU? Yes, 0500 CBC news is fading in and out, but 0504 into Monocle 24 from London, within the CBC Overnight sked, which would not have started yet in BC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. NICARÁGUA, 8989-BLS, El Pescador Predicador (O Pescador Pregador), 2236-..., 03/12, propag. relig.; 25332. Good DX and 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, SW Coast of Portugal, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BLS = banda lateral superior in Spanish = upper sideband. Should be FLS in Portuguese? Faixa --- (gh) ** NIGERIA. 7254.939, Voice of Nigeria, Hausa language program, nice audio feed today, no distortion nor limitation. Drum music, female Hausa presenter at 0630 UT Dec 1. S=8-9 or -79dBm in Detroit-MI-US. Great exciting West African music. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) V of Nigeria heard 2 December at 1940 UT on 15120 kHz in DRM continuing transmission beyond normal closedown at 1930. Language presumed in Fulfulde (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Free radio logs for week ending December 2, 2016 Old time radio. Thursday, December 1, 2016, 0017, 6770 am. Duffy's Tavern radio show with Archie and Shelly. Anacin aspirin commercial at 0021. 0028, commercial, this month's Life Magazine (December 1951) has a great preview of RCA Victor television sets. Also sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes. The Goon Show started at 0029. Very good signal, s7, with occasional fading. (Will-MD) Partial India Radio. Monday, November 28, 2016, 0138, 6935 usb. Sanjay and Harold Krishna and the unmistakable sounds of Partial India Radio, Lucy and Ricky bit. This is the previously heard Jay Smilkstein memorial show. Good signal, s3/s5 (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, Icom IC-R75 and G5RV dipole (radio@zappahead.net) Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6940, Dec 4 at 0108, tune-in to fragment of one word and immediately into SSTV beeps, which seem to be centred about 6941.50, ending with a single beep at 0110*. It`s Wolverine Radio per several HFU logs including this with the romantic sunset SSTV image: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,31420.msg117577.html#msg117577 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 7330, UT Thu Dec 1 at 0413 tune-in, it`s the YHWH guy, at S8 but deep fades. His imperious no-nonsense voice is easily recognized, and occasional references to Yahweh (Yahway?) confirm the source. It seems that around 0400 UT on the 7 MHz expanded-broadcast band is his most active time; I previously heard on 7410, and by Ron Howard also on 7335. No reports yet of any other times or any other frequencies. Mostly unreadable but I keep tuned and check periodically, finding him still going at 0426, 0450, 0500; 0522 coming in better, saying there is no independent historical record that J. C. even existed, only in the fables of the New Testament. Still at 0550, but off by 0558. So maybe on for about two hours, rather than one. Ron Howard monitored a previous broadcast closely and found that IDs as ``Station YHWH`` had been edited out of his recorded sermons. Possibly attempting to distance himself from the ``station`` already busted by the FCC a couple years ago, but it`s obviously all the same, so I am going to continue to refer to this as [Station YHWH] until and unless he come up with another new name (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I recorded 7250-7450 kHz last night, in the hopes of hearing the YHWH guy, but don’t see anything in the SDR recordings resembling his transmission (Chris Smolinski, MD, Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, I did, he was on 7405 this time at 0447+. 73, (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Thanks, Glenn, I see a carrier on my SDR recordings from 0319 until 0530 UT. No obvious audio, but I will listen some more (Chris Smolinski, Maryland, Black Cat Systems http://www.blackcatsystems.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7405, UT Fri Dec 2 at 0447, deliberate search for [Station YHWH] tuning upward from 7300 finds him here tonight, S8 signal talking about Yahweh. Axually about 5 Hz low on 7404.995, but his frequency accuracy is better than a lot of non-pirates (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7409.995, UT Sat Dec 3 at 0440, here`s [Station YHWH] at S8, hardly readable but recognizable. Still on at 0509 but now there is ACI from 7415 Ascension. Chris Smolinski, Maryland, also tells me, ``Better propagation tonight, I have him on 7410 at 0431z. Weak, but I recognize the voice`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FYI: That’s the exact same carrier frequency I noted here. I did not have any recoverable audio, unfortunately. Conditions on the lower bands have been great tonight, so far I have logged four Europirates on 75 meters, and another on 48 meters: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,12.0.html I rarely hear Europirates on 75 meters (Chris Smolinski, Black Cat Systems, http://www.blackcatsystems.com 2247 UT Dec 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FYI. Religious pirate, formerly known as "Radio Station YHWH" posted to HF Underground (Shortwave Pirate), in response to: I have not logged it yet, but I understand that the "Radio Station YHWH" IDs have not been heard within the programs? I wonder if these are originating from the "real" Joshua, or from someone else, who is relaying recordings? It would seem kind of foolhardy for the actual YHWH guy to start broadcasting again, since the Feds caught him red-handed last time, and know who he is, and where he is. Of course, he may have relocated his transmitter and it wouldn't be the first time that an HF pirate has returned to the air weeks or months after an initial FCC bust and "stern warning". But, can't rule out the possibility that these may be relays of previous YHWH broadcasts by a different person (Mixer, HFU via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Ron wrote: In the past, I often monitored "Joshua," as he IDed himself on air in the past. My recent Nov 25 reception (posted here) consisted mostly of recordings that I had often heard before when he was broadcasting some years ago, BUT there was a segment that I was very confident was NEW, as it seemed to be new material from him. Even his voice sounded slightly different, but certainly was him. My audio of a portion of that new segment is posted at http://goo.gl/fN8Ie3 Regarding IDs: as I have posted here recently - There is no mistake about it, 'Joshua' has deleted all references to 'Radio Station YHWH,' which he used in the past to ID his station. Today [Nov 27] at 0357, the previously recorded program said 'Thank you for tuning into" and the station ID was definitely deleted from the recording; my audio of this is posted at http://goo.gl/xLHp8b I also noted at sign off, he no longer uses the unique signature music that he always started and ended his broadcasts with. In other words, as Glenn Hauser has pointed out at DXLD yg, seems all this is a weak attempt to disguise his station from the FCC. Appreciate hearing feedback from others about my observations. Certainly is a one-of-a-kind unique station! (Ron Howard, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7410-AM, religious pirate (formerly known as "Radio Station YHWH"). The last two times I recently heard "Joshua," his signal was very good, with about 100% readable, but today (Dec 3) the reception was surprisingly very poor; 0338 was less than semi-readable; 0420 was completely unusable (but open carrier) and the same at 0501. Thanks to feedback from Token, at HF Underground, I can now correct two wrong assumptions that I recently made. 1) "Joshua" is no longer in California. 2) What I thought was a new segment, is in fact an old one that Token had heard in the past. Thanks to Token for the clarifications (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7410 AM, "the religious pirate formerly known as 'YHWH'" 0417, 0455 3 Dec. Even with severe, deep fading, "the religious pirate, etc" heard with calm-voiced rant as in the past. Thanks to Ron & Glenn for the info on his return. Apparently the program is now "creepy music"-less (& ID-less, as well). (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Many more logs of UT Dec 4 on 7410: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,31397.0.html https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,31422.0.html including: Token Global Moderator DX Legend ***** Posts: 1356 Re: YHWH 7410am 0324 UTC 12/4/2016 « Reply #3 on: December 04, 2016, 0503 UTC » When he first started regular transmissions in Jan - Feb of 2014 (he was active before that time, but less often, I first heard him in May of 2013) he was doing the same thing, mostly inside BC bands, typically either 41 meters or 49 meters, and several nights a week. By March of 2014 he was being more adventurous, operating outside BC bands and even inside ham bands. There in the end he was doing several transmissions every day, at announced times and on regular frequencies. He did about 8 months of these regular operations, sometimes 4 transmissions a day, before he was busted in Dec of 2014. T! [Re Mixer`s comments above:] That segment is one he had included in the past; I have heard it before. Over the ~1.5 years he was active, his program changed from time to time, as he added segments or removed them. In the end he had two one+ hour CDs that he used as his program. I caught his transmission on Dec 3, the same one you reported in this thread. Every section he played I had heard before. (T! Mojave Desert, California USA hfunderground via DXLD) While band scanning just found him on 4960 kHz at 0430 UT 6 Dec. Very strong here in San Diego with usual distinctive readings by same person as YHWH. He just signed off at 0444 after apparent live announcement saying he would be back tomorrow at 7 PM PST (0300 UT) also on 4960 kHz (Bob LaRose, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So that`s why I wasn`t hearing him on any of the `usual` 7 MHz frequencies after 0400. But what about VOA English via São Tomé, already on 4960 after 0400? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, ibid.) He's back again - Tuesday evening EST. This time on 4875 kHz on the air right now at 0204 UT Wed Dec 7. About same strength as last night. Audio in both cases is scratchy. I wonder if he will be on 4960 at 0300 as promised last night or maybe that was just to throw-off the FCC? (Bob LaRose, San Diego, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4875.0, Dec 7 at 0221, VP signal from [Station YHWH], weaker than het from Brasil 4875.1; tnx tip from Bob LaRose in CA. At least AF MARS is not using 4875-USB at the moment. Joshua`s frequency selexions on 60m are not so good. He`s also tried 4960 and 4920 lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tough copy but obviously there with lots of talk re Yahweh plus I recognize the voice. Haven't heard the creepy music yet. Thx for the heads up (Rich, Near Chicago, Ray, Ten Tec RX 340 and Wellbrook 330s, 0235 UT Dec 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Moved to 4920 when rechecked at 0309 UT. 73 (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) He signed off about 0244 and seems to have tried (open carrier) a few other frequencies before settling on 4920 where he began again a few minutes after 0300. I'm through - that's enough of his drivel for tonight! By the way, I haven't been hearing any of his wonderful music this time around (Bob LaRose, San Diego, 0312 UT Dec 7, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listening to 4920 for last 10 minutes. No, no music. Very good reception from Don Moman's remote Perseus Receiver near Edmonton, AB (and about fair at my own noisy QTH). 73, (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, 0323 UT Dec 7, ibid.) Got him here since 0321z - typical rants (Rich Ray, 0329 UT Dec 7, ibid.) Can't say this is "on the edge of my seat" programming. I long for the good old days of HCJB! 73, (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Hi Glenn, YHWH is on 4920 now, at 0351z: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,31486.0.html (Chris Smolinski, Black Cat Systems, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) viz.: YHWH 4920 AM 0350 UTC 7 Dec 2016 « on: Today at 03:50 » Sounds like the YHWH OM, mention of warmongers. 0407 Off. « Last Edit: Today at 04:08 by ChrisSmolinski » (Chris Smolinski, Westminster, MD, eQSLs appreciated! Send to: csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com JRC-NRD 545 / RF Space netSDR / 670 ft horizontal loop / 500 ft beverage / 43mb sloping folded dipole, hfunderground via DXLD) « Reply #1 on: Today at 04:09 » Long diatribe about religion and warmongers etc. Sign off at 0407 with "Goodbye and I love you." (joewo, ibid.) 4920 stayed on until almost 0408, with the usual "Love You" and carrier off. No music at all, just the same monologue. Makes Brother Stair sound exciting! 73 (Walt Salmaniw, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Re: gh`s question, Where have all the pirates gone, as of Nov 26? I think they are still recovering from Thanksgiving. Expect the busy Christmas period to start soon: http://www.radiohobbyist.org/blog/?p=1725 Speaking of seasonal pirates - WJFK was on again this year (Chris Smolinski, Black Cat Systems, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Wayne points out a typo last issue – KGYN CP app is for U7 50000/10000 (ch 39000). (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 1450, KGFF, Shawnee: was Westwood One Good Time Oldies, now Westwood One Classic Hits, old slogan: “Good Time Oldies 1450”, new: “KGFF 100.9/1450” (Broadcasting Information, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 10 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Applications to extend STAs received: 1520, KOKC, OK, Oklahoma City – Applies to extend STA, U1 10000/10000, temporary tower (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 1530, Dec 3 at 1320 UT, KXTD with non-ID for ``Que Buena, 104.9 y 100.3`` but not 1530. 104.9 is the translator in Tulsa, while 100.3 is KCXR in Taft OK (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. See GUATEMALA [and non]. A largely duplicative item about proto-Saint Rother becomes the lead editorial in the December 8 Enid Eagle, our monopoly local newspaper; why are they getting involved in endorsing purely RCC affairs? (gh) http://www.enidnews.com/opinion/editorial-stanley-rother-should-be-canonized-in-our-lifetime/article_3afeee8f-1956-5d09-9de2-46c7da4f4169.html EDITORIAL: STANLEY ROTHER SHOULD BE CANONIZED IN OUR LIFETIME Enid News & Eagle Editorial Board 17 hrs ago Although the Rev. Stanley Rother was targeted on a death list in Guatemala, he chose to stay with his indigenous parishioners in Santiago Atitlán. Three gunmen, assumed to be a right-wing death squad, assassinated Rother on July 28, 1981, in the parish rectory. The unknown killers have never been brought to justice. Within a year of Rother’s assassination, then-Archbishop Charles Salatka surmised that Stanley had a good chance for canonization in our lifetimes. “When (he) was brutally attacked, beaten and shot dead, the natives of Santiago Atitlán and the Catholic people of Oklahoma were shocked and saddened,” Eusebius Beltran, the former archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, told Oklahoma Gazette in 2010. “But immediately, the Tzutujil people enshrined his heart in the parish church because they believed Father Rother was a holy man. They believed he was a saint with God who would now be their intercessor.” The momentum is building to make Rother Oklahoma’s first Catholic saint. Twenty years ago, Rother was one of 78 names presented for sainthood to John Paul II during a Guatemalan trip. In 2006, canonization efforts commenced after the 25th anniversary of Rother’s assassination. Four years later, thousands of documents arrived at the Vatican for consideration. The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, current archbishop of the OKC Archdiocese, then talked with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to express support for Rother’s cause and “juridic validity” of the case was confirmed. Rother was formally recognized last year as a martyr by a special Theological Commission at the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in Rome. Recently, Pope Francis put the American priest killed during Guatemala’s civil war on the path to possible sainthood by signing a martyrdom decree. The official recognition of Rother’s martyrdom was announced Dec. 2 by the Vatican. This is historically significant. The former Okarche priest is the first U.S.-born martyr in history and will be the first U.S. priest beatified. In the administrative act of beatification, the pope allows a sainthood candidate to be publicly venerated, according to Catholic News Service. Meanwhile, the formal papal decree of canonization means the holy candidate is now in heaven with God. The signing of this decree now opens the way for Rother’s beatification, since an approved miracle is not required in a cause of martyrdom. However, in order for Rother to be canonized, an alleged miracle due to his intercession occurring after the promulgation of this decree must be recognized as having no scientific explanation and approved by the Vatican. The Rev. Marvin Leven, who once served as a priest at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Enid, claims there have been miracles. Leven knows of accounts of people praying for the martyr’s intercession with inexplicable results. When Rother’s heart was relocated on the 10th anniversary of his death, the Rev. Thomas McSherry claims “there was about a half-gallon jar with blood in it, and the metal part of the jar had rusted but the blood had not congealed,” he told the Gazette in 2006. A neighboring priest, the late Rev. Greg Schaffer, said it seemed Rother’s blood should have coagulated after being stored in a container for over 10 years. As the canonization effort builds momentum, we hope Rother is on the fast track to sainthood like Mother Teresa and John Paul II (ENE via gh, DXLD) Gross (gh) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Wewak Video - NBC Site --- This YouTube video shows a few seconds of an aerial flyby of the strongly suspected NBC Wewak MW/SW TX site. Wewak flyover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leak0xSgOLk Quick 'sight-see' of Wewak PNG ...beautiful coastal township of East Sepik Province on the Northern coast of the mainland. The mast imagery is between 3m15s & 3m23s into the video. 1 x MW vertical mast 4 x SW masts - square configuration It's at the site near the Wewak airport -3.581703 143.678855 (Ian, Dec 5, swsites yg via DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. Hidden Internet Gem --- Go here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/ZPA1+Radio+Nacional+del+Paraguay/@-25.4050599,-57.4577762,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s-Fqgw_edE97o%2FUmRUvx95LfI%2FAAAAAAAAAFQ%2F5nVWDTjEPzIiNFUS_8r2X9OpGp-Egoe7Q!2e4!3e12!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-Fqgw_edE97o%2FUmRUvx95LfI%2FAAAAAAAAAFQ%2F5nVWDTjEPzIiNFUS_8r2X9OpGp-Egoe7Q%2Fs114-k-no%2F!7i2048!8i1536!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x69c9a754f395d511!8m2!3d-25.4050599!4d-57.4577759!6m1!1e1 Your reward is a cool picture of the ZP1/920 transmitter setup, in Asunción. If the link makes your computer blow up, then go to mwlist.org. Choose the South America section, then go to 920 kHz. Click on the location link (Asuncion/Capiata'), then on the accompanying Google Maps page, click on the "ZPA1 Radio Nacional de Paraguay" banner. A separate column will pop up (probably to the left); at the top you'll see a small pic of the xmtr. Click on that small pic for a full-screen enlargement (Greg Hardison, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5980, Dec 4 at 0100, JBA carrier from R. Chaski until autocutoff at 0106:01*, which is 26 seconds later than last check four nights ago, Nov 30 until 0105:35*, appropriately averaging 6.5 seconds later per (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5980. R. CHASKI. Diciembre 4. 2341-2353 UTC. Se escucha una portadora con baja modulación e interferida sin identificación. RX: TECSUN PL- 660, ANT: Hilo de 40 metros, QTH: Ovalle, Chile (Claudio Galaz, condiglista yg via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. FEBC Radio, Radio Teos in Russian/Buryatian, Dec 1 1500-1510 on 9940 BOC 100 kW / 323 deg to CeAs, instead of 11650, co- ch CNR-1 Jammer 1510-1600 on 11650 BOC 100 kW / 323 deg to CeAs Russian/Buryatian http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/febc-radio-radio-teos-on-9940-and-11650.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) So what happened apparently was a 10-minute-late frequency change of that transmitter (gh, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. São Gabriel de Pegões - Facebook Site re the SW TX site - -- Some wonderful images of the site. https://www.facebook.com/Sao-Gabriel-emissora-nacional-210033265826888/ https://www.facebook.com/S%C3%A3o-Gabriel-emissora-nacional-210033265826888/ (Ian, Dec 2, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. WINNERS OF THE RRI COMPETITION http://main.rri.ro/en_gb/the_winners_of_the_radiro_competition-2556555 (via Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, one of them, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR 2016 ON RRI Dear friends, RRI continues its traditional polling of listeners on short wave, the Internet and social media, with a new challenge. We would like to ask you which person you think left their imprint on the world in a positive way in 2016. We are preparing to designate, based on your options, “The Personality of the Year 2016 on RRI”. Will this person be a politician, an opinion leader, a businessman, an athlete, an artist, a scientist, or even a regular person with a special story? It’s up to you! We would also want to ask you why you picked that particular person. You can send your answers, as usual, by commenting on our website, at rri.ro, by e-mail at engl@rri.ro, on our Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, by fax at 00.40.21.319.05.62, or by post, at 60-64, General Berthelot street, sector 1, Bucharest, area code 010165 (PO Box 111), Romania. The “Personality of the year 2015 on RRI” was German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The “Personality of the year 2016 on RRI” will be announced on January 1st 2017 (Radio Romania International Newsletter (no. 124) via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Dec 1, DXLD) So is it a matter of who gets the most `votes` with no nominees, or just suggestions from which RRI will pick someone? Note: Time magazine has already chosen you-know-whoo (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. EFFORT TO COMBAT FOREIGN PROPAGANDA ADVANCES IN CONGRESS --- By Craig Timberg https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/effort-to-combat-foreign-propaganda-advances-in-congress/2016/11/30/9147e1ac-e221-47be-ab92-9f2f7e69d452_print.html Congressional negotiators on Wednesday approved an initiative to track and combat foreign propaganda amid growing concerns that Russian efforts to spread "fake news" and disinformation threaten U.S. national security. The measure, part of the National Defense Authorization Act approved by a conference committee, calls on the State Department to lead governmentwide efforts to identify propaganda and counter its effects. The authorization is for $160 million over two years. If approved by the full House and Senate, the measure could reach President Obama in December. It would be the most significant initiative against foreign governments' disinformation campaigns since the 1990s. "This propaganda and disinformation threat is real, it's growing, and right now the U.S. government is asleep at the wheel," Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "The U.S. and our allies face many challenges, but we must better counter and combat the extensive propaganda and disinformation operations directed against us." The initiative grows out of a bill authored in March by Portman and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called the "Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act." It initially sprang from a desire to help independent journalists and nongovernmental organizations in European nations such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, which face a heavy tide of Russian propaganda. But the context shifted in recent months as independent experts warned that Russia was carrying out an intensive propaganda campaign during the U.S. election season. The effort helped push misleading reports on the Internet and into voters' social-media feeds, experts concluded. Russian officials have consistently denied meddling in the U.S. election, but concerns over the issue have run high amid reports this year of Russian hackers' infiltrating the computers of elections officials in several states and stealing sensitive emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman. "In the wake of this election, it's pretty clear that the U.S. does not have the tools to combat this massive disinformation machinery that the Russians are running," Murphy said in an interview. The measure approved Wednesday is aimed at foreign information sources, not ones based in the United States. The effort would expand the State Department's Global Engagement Center, which focuses on combating propaganda and recruitment by the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups, and would draw support from the Defense Department, intelligence agencies, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The measure also would create a grant program to help foster civil society and independent journalism in countries targeted with propaganda campaigns by Russia and other foreign powers, including China. One independent researcher into Russian propaganda efforts, Clint Watts, said he worried that the Global Engagement Center is poorly suited to lead a broad U.S. government response that spans several departments. He complained that the resulting effort may be unfocused and overly bureaucratic. "It's the opposite of what we need," said Watts, a former FBI agent and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. "We need to be moving quickly, nimbly." The Senate Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, has approved language in the fiscal year 2017 intelligence authorization bill calling for new executive branch efforts to combat what it characterized as "active measures" by Russia to manipulate people and governments through front groups, covert broadcasting or "media manipulation." "There is definitely bipartisan concern about the Russian government engaging in covert influence activities of this nature," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. "If you read section 501 of this year's intelligence authorization bill, it directs the President to set up an interagency committee to `counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence over peoples and governments.' So that shows you that senators from both parties are clearly concerned about Russian covert influence efforts." In a separate action this week, six Democrats and an independent on the Senate Intelligence Committee called on Obama to publicly disclose more information about Russian government activity during the election. "We believe that there is additional information concerning the Russian government and the U.S. election that should be declassified and released to the public. We are conveying specifics through classified channels," said a letter from the senators dated Tuesday. (c) The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) See also USA ** RWANDA [non]. FRANCE [to Rwanda], 17870, Radio Itahuka - Nauen {sic, rather TDF Issoudun-France, wb.}, verified through Media Broadcast in 4 days from v/s Michael Puetz, Sales Consultant, Business Unit Radio, who confirmed "The signal is directed to Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania etc." The transmission is Saturday at 1700-1800 UT on 17870 kHz. (D'Angelo-PA) 17870, 1700-1800 UT 48SW,52NE,53 HR 4/2/0.8 140deg ITUant#207 7=Saturday only, ISS 100kW SJK# Radio Itahuka SJK# New customer - please send report to probably Radio Itahuka, in Kinyarwanda to Ce/EaAfrica. Veiled in MBR schedule. (Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer Nov 20 via BCDX via DXLD) R. Itahuka via MBR Issoudun, Dec 3 Surprisingly no signal of Radio Itahuka via MBR Issoudun, Dec 3 1700-1758 on 17870 ISS 100 kW / 144 deg to CeAf Kinyarwanda Sat http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/r-itahuka-sawtu-linjilia-via-mbr.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) R. Itahuka just started in late Nov (gh, ibid.) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 9675, Dec 1 at 2041, YL talking in language? Fair- poor. It`s BSKSA in Turkish at 18-21, 340 degrees from Riyadh, and carrying on to here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIKKIM. 4835, AIR Gangtok (presumed), 1410, Dec 7. Hearing traces of subcontinent music, but very faint, under ABC (with "Night Life" national weather). So on Jan 31, we should be able to finally have a chance daily to catch for this rarely reported station (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9545, SIBC, 0501 to past 0633+, Dec 5. Running well past their normal sign off time; 0501-0530 with brief ABC news and long item about Canadian woman deported from Fiji; IDs 0517 & 0530 "You are listening to Radio Australia"; // RA on 15240, 15415 and 17840; after 0530 no longer //, but with local SIBC programs; pop songs (Cher with "If I Could Turn Back Time," Dr Hook with "Sharing The Night Together," etc.); several commercial announcements in English for "Telekom," one at 0600 incorporating a local time check ("It's five o'clock"); announcer in Pijin; started out poor, but slowly improved. My audio http://goo.gl/1qJTYd (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020, Wantok FM 96.3 relay, noted with their longest extended broadcast yet, on Dec 2; 1253-1550+; usual pop songs and frequent IDs ("This is Wantok FM 96.3. Good times, great music" and "The hottest sounds . . with the hottest DJs, 96.3"). RE: 9545: my Dec 5 extended broadcast (0501 to past 0633+): Thanks to feedback from Rob Wagner in Facebook (WRTH): "It's still on 9545 tonight, noted at 1050 and coming in quite well….until 9540 CRI s/on 1100 with Mandarin to Oc AND 9550 CRI s/on 1100 in Vietnamese to SEAs - both powerhouse signals, squashing SIBC." (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020, Dec 7 at 0645, JBA carrier, presumed SIBC already propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. ICASA LAYS CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST SABC Communications regulator Icasa has laid criminal charges against the SABC for failing to adhere to a ruling it made regarding the withdrawal of its "protest policy", MPs heard on Wednesday. . . http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/co/UqJF/~3/tCyzsr3alfo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email SABC CONDUCT ‘CONTEMPTUOUS’: MTHEMBU ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has said that the walkout staged by an SABC delegation during a parliamentary inquiry into its board was "disgusting" http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/co/UqJF/~3/NS2nwOy7VtI/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email SABC REFUSES TO HAND OVER DOCUMENTS The SABC has refused to hand over 10 of 15 requested documents to parliament's ad hoc committee looking into the fitness of its board, MPs heard on Wednesday. . . http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/co/UqJF/~3/qTys_q57Z3Q/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email (all: TechCentral via Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non non]. 7315, USA, WHRI relay of TOM BS roarer at 0627 UT in Detroit-MI. But in background some different audio program TOO! S=9+45dB POWERHOUSE signal from Cypress Creek, Furman SC [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] Log from Detroit MI-USA remote SDR unit on our Dec 1 morning, at 0500-0700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 1, dxldyg via DXLD) [non]. PALAU, Cancelled transmissions of Brother HySTAIRical via WHRI T8WH Angel 5: 1200-1300 9965 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg NEAs English, cancelled from Dec.1 1300-1430 9965 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg NEAs English Sat/Sun is on the air http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/cancelled-transmissions-of-brother.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** SPAIN. I believe SER stations are always in // except during their local breaks. http://www.hermanboel.eu/en-emwg-mw2.htm Unless catching a local break, you can't be sure which one you have and certainly you could have both. I refer to such logs as synchros. So my logging would read Spain SER synchros (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, Dec 2, IRCA via DXLD) SER has local IDs at all sorts of times and what I`ve found most useful is to find a time [wav file] that has one and then start looking for others - if one`s doing it, they all are. It`s usually just before TOH or TOHH [top of half hour]. RNE has some local/regional IDs at a 0625 UT break. I, for once, took advantage of this knowledge and programmed in some 8 min. Mestor events at 0623 and got several *new* stations! It`s boring just recording the usual TOH RNE stuff and writing *Spain* in the log. Having a specific ID is NEAT! Couple of examples: Great way to learn your Spanish geography! I also found this webpage helpful if you can`t figure out from MWList.org where a given region is on a given frequency: http://www.rtve.es/rne/emisoras/frec-rne2011.htm (Bill Whitacre, DC, IRCA via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Shortwaveservice.com wrote on Facebook 6 December 2016 Shortwaveservice will do a special broadcast for Radio Mi Amigo International on Friday, 09th December from 10 to 11 UT from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka towards Indonesia / Australia (105 ) on 11730 kHz with a power of 125 kW. Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. DSWCI Special: See DENMARK [non] ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. FRANCE, Frequency change of Eye Radio via TDF Issoudun, Dec 2 1600-1700 NF 15250 ISS 250 kW / 130 deg to EaAf Arabic/English*, ex 17730 *including other languages Dinka/Nuer/Shilluk/Bari/Zande/Lutoho http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/frequency-change-of-eye-radio-via-tdf.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** SWEDEN [non]. Special SDXF program --- SDXF specialprogram på kortvåg i december och januari. Nu är det dags för SDXF:s specialprogram på kortvåg igen. Vi sänder över Radio Channel 292 på 6070 kHz [GERMANY]. Vi sänder vid följande tider: Annandag jul 26 december – 0700-0800 UT (0800-0900 Svensk tid) Med repris följande dagar och tider: Nyårsdagen 1 januari – 1700-1800 UT (1800-1900 Svensk tid) Trettondedag jul 6 januari – 1700-1800 UT (1800-1900 Svensk tid) Lyssnarrapporter sänds som vanligt via e-post till qsl@sdxf.se eller via vanlig post till Sveriges DX-Förbund, Box 1097, 405 23 Göteborg. http://www.sdxf.se/WP/ (RusDX Dec 4 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. RTI's 1600-1700 English broadcast currently audible on 6185 kHz (possibly replacing listed 9405?). Fair to good signal here since tune-in at 1603 UT. 73s (Dave, Caversham, Kenny, AOR 7030 / 25m long wire, Dec 3, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [and non]. / USA, Confirmed on Nov 30th at 1400-1455 UT: US RFA in Cantonese language on 13655 (?poor signal) kHz, \\ 9230, 9320, 11100 kHz, and maybe \\ 15800 kHz and on 9230, 9320; 11100 kHz the signal was ahead of 13655 kHz. More two programs in Chinese or dialects were heard at the same time - one on 6230 kHz, \\ 6730, 7730, 7800, 9155 kHz, and another on 6870, 9180, 9280 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 1, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, BC-DX 2 Dec via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. Re 4765 offset: I wonder if their 3x harmonic around 14295 is still audible. For years it was more or less regular here in Finland. My receiver is disconnected atm. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, 0654 UT Dec 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Today a VERY TINY MINI signal like threshold level of TJK domestic Radio at Dushanbe Yangi Yul heard on exact 4765.000 kHz, around 1400- 1430 UT on various remote SDRs in Spain, Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Moscow Russia, Delhi, and Japan. Something is WRONG at Dushanbe, maybe also problems with main power current transformer? Night temperatures predicted in +2 to +5 cC range there. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, 1452 UT Dec 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. I wonder if this is also impacting Voice of Tajik on their 0200 transmission on 7245 - I logged this from Mauno's Perseus site on Nov 30 with signal strength noticeably weaker than I usually hear from this site. Sig level was about 3 on 5-scale; normally would be S4 or better (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, USA, DXplorer Dec 1 via BC-DX 2 Dec via DXLD) ** THAILAND. Good signal of HSK9 Radio Thailand World Service in English on Dec 6: 1400-1430 on 9390 UDO 250 kW / 132 deg to SEAs, but from 1420UT Interval Signal http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/good-signal-of-hsk9-radio-thailand.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) Radio Thailand, 9390 kHz: F/D QSL card and brochure on R. Thailand, 63 days after F/UP sent to both feedback@hsk9.org and manager_thailand@tha.ibb.gov - 17 days after my F/UP I received the following E-mail from Miss Sukanda Tosasuka (abuthai@hotmail.com): "Dear Mr. Napolitano, "Ciao" Thank you for listening to Radio Thailand and sending us your reception report. It's a pity that your previous email message did not reach us. I do appreciate your kindness for the second time contact. Our QSL card will be sent to you soon. With best regards, Sukanda TOSASUKA (Ms) Head of International Cooperation, Radio Thailand, Bangkok, THAILAND 10400". My reception report was forwarded to Miss Tosasuka by Adisak Pattanajakr (APATTANAJAKR@bbg.gov). Previously I received the following E-mail from Adisak Pattanajakr: "Dear Antonio [sic], I forward your reception report to the Radio Thailand and will follow up if the QSL is issued. Please use mailing address rthworldservice@gmail.com instead of feedback@hsk9.org if you may have the future reception report of the Radio Thailand. Regards, Adisak" (Antonello Napolitano, in Taranto, ITALY, Nov DX Fanzine, Dec 1 via DXLD) 5960, Dec 2 at 0023, VOT is overrunning again, still on air to North America in German instead of quitting English circa 2350; S9+15, also with lite het on low side from Urumqi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. Instead of possible satellite feed --- Recent ideas on Foreign Office in Berlin, are playing with an idea of offering strong medium-wave programs from Bulgaria, Moldova or Armenia sites in order to spread a 'democratic' Turkish-language program for Turkey. This in times during an quite possible event internet blocking action to 22 million Kurds in Diyarbakir Eastern Turkey area, by the Erdogan sultan stronghold. During the Greek military dictatorship in the years 1967 to 1974 was the 'Deutsche Welle Cologne' program in Greek language, the language voice of the Greek democratic opposition (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX 2 Dec via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Radio Free Turkey??? (gh) ** UGANDA [non]. 15240, Sat Dec 3 at 1953, fair-good S9+10 signal in presumed Luganda, mentioning ``Ugaaanda`` several times, still going past 2013, so R. Munansi as usual via WWRB, but running later than originally. I was also hearing a very poor signal on 15240 before and after 17 UT, presumed same. Recheck at 2106, African? music or at least carrier must *still* be on after WWRB`s registered finish at 2100, since there is a fast SAH with presumed R. Australia, known to start 15240 at 2100, altho they are absent from HFCC B-16: http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=B16&broadc=ABC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WWRB: 3215 15240, Sunday December 4 at 1659, Dave Frantz sounds live on S7 WWRB ``Middle East, Africa, European service``, asking for reports, soon ``over to Uganda`` for R. Munansi at 1700, but dead air for a while. I suppose this was just signing on rather than a break, and apparently running at least until 2100 on Sat & Sun (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Today, November 30, media reported that the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has been terminated with the Russian government agreement on cooperation in the field of broadcasting and television. In addition, the agreement was terminated in the field of information. It is reported that on November 30 during the meeting of the Ukrainian government made a decision to break cooperation with Russia. The draft decision during the meeting was presented by the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine Yuri Stec. Agreement on cooperation in the field of information between the two countries was signed in 1998. Agreement was supposed to "free and wide exchanges of information, including between the news agencies, printed, audiovisual and other media. In January 2014 in Ukraine was banned dozens of social, political and entertainment channels. Thus, the country banned the First Channel broadcast content channel "NTV-Mir", "RTR-Planeta", "Russia 24", "My Planet", "Fighter" and "Chanson-TV." Based on materials TASS http://www.pravda-tv.ru/2016/11/30/269078/ukraina-rastorgla-soglashenie-s-rossiej-o-televidenii Ukraine has begun construction of a 150-meter TV tower for broadcasting in Crimea. In the village Chongar in the south of the Kherson region of Ukraine has begun construction of the tower teleradiokommunikatsionnoy. It is expected that with the help of facilities will be set up broadcasting in Crimea. About the beginning of construction on Friday, 2 December, on his Facebook page said the Deputy Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine Artem Bidenko. "On Chongar began assembling a 150-meter tower" - the official said. He added that the facility should be ready before the end of the year to conduct broadcasting in the Crimea and in the south of the Kherson region will be able to four radio FM-band. The search for land for the construction of the tower of power of Kherson region were announced in April this year. At the same time Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine in the Crimea Emine Dzheppar explained that the funds for the construction of facilities to provide private person. In November last year, the head of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov demanded drown the peninsula Ukrainian TV channels and radio. "Strip the Ukrainian media as a class! To even I have not heard that someone was watching the telecast unclear. It is better to "Good night, kids" let them look "- he said. https://lenta.ru/news/2016/12/02/tv_vishka/ (via RUS-DX 4 Dec via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) more details here: ** UKRAINE. TURQUÍA FACILITARÁ LA RADIODIFUSIÓN UCRANIANA A CRIMEA 04/12/2016 https://gruporadioescuchaargentino.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/turquia-facilitara-la-radiodifusion-ucraniana-a-crimea/ En ese sentido, las emisiones se ampliarán de la ciudad de Gueníchesk de la región de Jersón a las partes del sur de la región y a la Crimea anexada por Rusia desde la nueva torre de telecomunicaciones al lado del punto de control de entrada y salida Chongar cerca de la frontera administrativa con Crimea. Imagen relacionada Por lo tanto Turquía ha sido y sigue siendo un buen aliado en esta materia para Ucrania. Así lo anunció en una rueda de prensa de la ceremonia de inauguración de la construcción de la torre, que tuvo lugar el viernes por la tarde en el sitio de la torre, el miembro del Consejo Nacional de Radio y Televisión, Sergiy Kostynskiy, informa el corresponsal de Ukrinform. “Quiero decir que entre los países que han acordado estas frecuencias hay actualmente Turquía, que también ha aprobado estas frecuencias, es decir, es nuestro aliado en esta materia”, dijo Kostynskiy http://www.ukrinform.es/ (via GRA blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** U K. 3950-3955-3960, Dec 3 at 0617, DRM noise, forcing North American hams to avoid these 10 kHz to which they are entitled. It`s BBCWS in English, 100 kW, 114 degrees from Woofferton at 0559-0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK< DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Music, instead of BBC via BaBcoCk Grigoriopol / Woofferton, Dec 1 1600-1630 7530 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Music, instead of Farsi 1600-1630 11690 WOF 200 kW / 092 deg to WeAs Music, instead of Farsi 1630-1700 7530 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi, as scheduled B16 1630-1700 11690 WOF 200 kW / 092 deg to WeAs Farsi, as scheduled B16 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/music-instead-of-bbc-via-babcock.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) Test transmission via BaBcoCk Woofferton on Dec 5 0855-0915 on 9485 WOF ??? kW / ??? deg to ???? BaBcoCk Music http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/test-transmission-via-babcock.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 9400 kHz English program sermon till 0130:04 UT. Originate ETC End Times Coming Ministry from Sofia Kostinbrod ? or Grigoriopol Moldova? Station address on page 496, WRTH 2016. http://tunein.com/radio/ETC-Ministry-Radio-s247541/ ETC Ministry c/o Pennywise 15a, St. Andrews Court Bolton BL1 1LD England http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/ Noted with English accent (Oxford English) on Doha Qatar remoted Perseus SDR post at late TUNE IN around 0124 til 0130 UT slot. S=9+10dB in Qatar. TX OFF at 0132:30 UT. I guess was on air 0100 till 0130 UT? Yes, see shortwave time on their website. ETC Radio can be heard seven days a week on 9400 kHz at 1 am UTC (1 am UK time). http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/articles.php?PageURL=etcradio.htm 73 wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc Dec 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7192-LSB, Dec 1 at 0421, calling CM1ZB (Cuban novice?) but no reply; it`s a net also open for check-ins, ``Ham Nation post-show net``, after a Wed 9 pm webcast on Twit(?) featuring Bob Heil (without his organ?), Gordon West, et al. NCS is in FL, KC7FPF, addresses everyone as Sir. ARRL lookup shows: YOUNG, KEVIN A, KC7FPF, Bronson, FL 32621. Ran across this while looking unsuccessfully for Eritreans (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15220, Dec 4 at 2123, VOA One rock music, IADs of a couple seconds at irregular intervals, during the so-called Haitian Creole service at 2100-2130 which however at least on weekends fills with VOA One instead. Also on 11720, and carriers are open well before 2100. This is not // 15580 also VOA Greenville, with African service music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. 7460, Dec 6 at 0411, S9+10 in unrecognized language, but scheduled is VOA in Kinyarwanda via BOTSWANA. I was bandscanning for YHWH but ran across this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. POLYGRAPH.INFO TO SPEAK TRUTH TO DISINFORMATION http://www.polygraph.info/ (December 6, 2016) As disinformation and misinformation extend their global reach and influence, Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) are teaming up to offer a new fact- checking resource. Polygraph.info, a globally aware and nonpartisan website, is a timely response to the deluge of often false or misleading information confounding audiences around the world. "Polygraph.info addresses the public demand for professionally verified information, and will power a range of RFE/RL and VOA news coverage that will report the truth," said RFE/RL President Thomas Kent. "It separates fact from fiction, adds context, and debunks lies, blunting the destructive effects of disinformation and helping audiences make informed choices and decisions," said VOA Director Amanda Bennett. Polygraph.info's team of RFE/RL and VOA journalists researches and analyzes statements from government officials and other high-profile individuals to assess their veracity. The site currently focuses on statements involving relations between Russia and the West, but its analysis will expand to other areas of the world (VOA PR via Hanshoerg Biener and gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** U S A. CONGRESS REVIVES COLD WAR TOOL TO COUNTER RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA By Joel Gehrke 12/2/16 1:36 PM Foreign Affairs Reporter The Washington Examiner The House on Friday passed a defense policy bill that would revive a Cold War tool that the federal government could start using once again to counteract Russian propaganda through U.S.-sponsored broadcasting. House lawmakers tucked language in the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes defense programs for the next fiscal year, aimed at restoring Voice of America and other government media to fight Russian messages. The provision is one of the first legislative acts by Congress to combat the spread of Russian propaganda that has alarmed policymakers in the United States and Europe. "The United States' response to this onslaught of propaganda has been crippled, in part, by bureaucracy," House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in a statement following the NDAA vote. "Our agencies that helped take down the Iron Curtain with accurate and timely broadcasting have lost their edge. They must be revitalized to effectively carry out their mission in this age of viral terrorism and digital propaganda." To that end, Royce authored legislation that will restructure the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a part-time body that oversees VOA and similar entities but has come under considerable criticism in recent years. "[I]t took the BBG six months to produce a single 30-minute program in the Russian language following Putin's invasion of Ukraine," Royce's team pointed out earlier this year. "This $2.5 million program, Current Time, was quickly taken off air in Latvia due to low viewership. Meanwhile the VOA has stopped broadcasting to the Middle East in Arabic entirely." Royce's reform will eliminate the current board and create a chief executive officer endowed with the authority to consolidate the U.S. agencies tasked with broadcasting to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The CEO will be advised by a new panel of five presidential appointees, who will be drawn from a list of names furnished by Congress. "I am pleased to support this bipartisan legislation that funds our troops and keeps the country safe by providing critical tools to tackle new threats, including the weaponization of information by ISIS and Russia," Royce said. (via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1854 monitoring: confirmed Thursday December 1 at 2130 on WRMI 13695, excellent. Not confirmed, UT Fri Dec 2 at 0029-0031+ on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB where there is not even a reduced carrier audible (while 9265 WINB rates S4), so off or just not propagating? Next: Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0730 HLR 6190-CUSB to SW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1854 monitoring: confirmed UT Saturday December 3 at 0056, the 0030 broadcast on WBCQ 9330.1v-CUSB, very poor S4. Next: Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1854 monitoring: confirmed Sat Dec 3 at 2330 on WBCQ 9330.09-CUSB, fair. Also confirmed UT Sun Dec 4 at 0425 on WA0RCR, MO, 1860-AM, about 7 minutes in, so started circa 0418; S9+30 muscling aside most of the CW QRM (Earlier check at 0134 Dec 4 found 1860-AM surrounded and slightly QRMed by CW. Bottom Band is chock full of CW CQs, must be a contest, up to 1875, where an LSB mixes in, and only phone above 1875). Next: Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW GERMANY, Additional World of Radio#1854 via Hamburger Lokalradio Dec 4 1130-1200 on 9485 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English Sun CUSB, fair to poor http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/additional-world-of-radio1854-via.html (Ivo Ivanov, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1854 monitoring: confirmed UT Monday December 5 from 0401 on Area 51 webcast, and also on WBCQ 5130.083, S9+10. Next: Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9955, confirmed hearing #1854, World of Radio at 2300 UT Dec 6 [Tue]. Good listening, (Richard Lemke, AB, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) Richard, Thanks -- that`s a new one on me. Must be a recent change. I see it is now on their schedule grid (Glenn to Richard, via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1854 monitoring: confirmed UT Tuesday December 6 at 0030 on WBCQ, 9330.107v-CUSB, poor; also confirmed on WRMI, 7730, good. Also confirmed Tue Dec 6 at 2130 on WRMI, 15770, good. Richard Lemke in Alberta caught WOR at a new time on WRMI, 9955, Tue Dec 6 at 2300. It`s now been added to their and our schedules. Also confirmed UT Wed Dec 7 after 0030 on WBCQ, 9330.084v-CUSB, JBA. Also confirmed Wed Dec 7 at 1438, the 1415.5 on WRMI 9955, S9 with no jamming, but ACI from stronger S9+20 9960, which is Furusato no Kaze via Palau from 1430. Also confirmed Wed Dec 7 at 2200 on WBCQ, 7490.04. Also confirmed UT Thu Dec 8 at 0030 on WBCQ, 9330.070v-CUSB, poor. WORLD OF RADIO 1855 monitoring: confirmed first SW airing Thursday December 8 at 1230 on WRMI, 9955, S9 atop pulse jamming, but ACI from 9950, which I figured would also be Furusato no Kaze, but that doesn`t start until 1300 via Taiwan. Now at 1215-1315 on 9950 it`s AIR 500 kW, 60 degrees from Bengaluru in Burmese. By 1257, WORMI has improved to S9+20, further atop continuing Cuban pulse jamming; Tnx a lot, Arnie! Next: Thu 2130 WRMI 13695 to NW Fri 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0730 HLR 6190-CUSB to SW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sat 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB to SW [experimental] Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE [NEW] Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Full schedule on all media: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, Sat Dec 3 at 2100, WRMI switches from The Overkiller to --- Xmas music! quite sectarian, rather than eclectic World Music. Maybe something secular intermixed later, but I`m tuning away. More Xmas music momentarily secular (Merry Little Xmas) is on much stronger 9930 WTWW-2; while 15770, WRMI at 2100 is in Dub Politico screed. 5850 // 7730, Tue Dec 6 at 0721, `World Music` on WRMI. Full hour is now scheduled as such on 7730, Tue/Wed/Thu only, but several times we`ve heard `Viva Miami` at 0700-0715 including on a Friday. But now also shows `Media Network Plus` Fri 0700-0800 on 7730, new time. In no case, except Sundays, is 5850 shown as simulcasting 7730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Raoul van Hall reminds us in a message just received: "Jazz from the Left returns to shortwave starting tonight for two weekly broadcasts: 2000-2100 UT Tuesday on 11580 kHz. 0000-0100 UT Wednesday on 7730 kHz. I'm hoping shortwave fans will enjoy having some music to listen to ..." (Richard Langley, 1729 UT Dec 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tonight's program was a treat. I'm looking forward to more from this show (James M. Branum, KG5JST, Oklahoma City, ibid.) His show was originally on the ill-fated Global 24 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 7490, UT Fri Dec 2 at 0010, what`s filling the gap on WBCQ this week? Anti-government discussion of how Aroostook County, Maine (inhabited by WBCQ) is being deliberately depopulated in order to preserve its natural resources. Not sure which program this is. Aroostook, the largest county by land area east of the Rockies, is already so sparse that some maps, such as the Rand McNally Atlas, make northern Maine a small inset to the rest of the state on a larger scale. 5130.07-AM, UT Sat Dec 3 at 0056, WBCQ IS & ID loop, S9+10; nothing on 3250v; 7490.03, from 0100, `Allan Weiner Worldwide`, then joined by 5130 several seconds delayed. AW starts out with ``WBCQ is not a safe place`` with its free-speech political programmers, and he doesn`t like being linked to Trump despite having supported him. Ramsey on the phone is his sounding board (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 7490, Dec 4 at 2329, heavy CCI between WBCQ and BBCWS in English, making medium SAH at about equal levels! This is a continuing frequency management failure, as apparently FCC and BaBcoCk negotiators at HFCC can`t imagine that BBC Thailand would be a problem for `BCQ in central USA. Fortunately it`s for only one hour now at 23- 24, 250 kW, 25 degrees from Nakhon Sawan, which means under grayline conditions it carries right on to North America. Even more fortunately, there is nothing worth listening to on WBCQ during this hour M-F, only Brother Scare; on Sundays `WGOD Presents`, whatever that is; but on Saturdays, the first hour of J. P. Ferraro`s `Shortwave Saturday Night`. Perhaps he should complain about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 3215, UT Sun Dec 4 at 0013, tune-in to another F-RANT-z from Dave on WWRB. Signal is clean and clearly modulated now. He`s killing time until a 0030 program. Among his points: churches are dead, anti- social clubs, eating up $1000 a day in tithe money to be vacant buildings, 6+ days a week, whitèd sepulchers full of dead man`s bones. Will give you spiritual AIDS, but the fastest way to get it is to go to a Catholic church, dog-and-pony shows, where they bugger little kids. NOTE: I am closely paraphrasing what Dave says, altho not in strict quotation marks; NOT what I am saying! Says he is not mad, just frustrated at so little business for his broadcasting; airtime cost no more than a newspaper ad. 0019 takes a Hammond organ break for a few minutes, waiting for 0030 program to call-in. Says don`t confuse WWRB with that other station on 3215, which takes over at 9 pm ET when WWRB moves to 3195: SW stations can`t stay on same frequency all the time. (Yes, they could, like 3195 only for WWRB, 3215 only for WWCR.) A bit more rant, pregnant pause, and 0030 over to anticipated program which is `American Prophecy` from Greentown OH, Sat 7:30-9 pm ET on Shortwave 1, 3215, but probably changing back to 5050, SW 2 in April. Webcast via WWRB site. Their own website has summer and winter frequencies reversed. It`s also on WHKW; they offer free stuff and allegedly don`t ask for money. A few minutes later into sermon(?) as it seems this is another end-times conspiracy ministry and I tune out (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UGANDA [non] ** U S A. Reception of WEWN-1 Global Catholic Radio, Dec 1: till 1300 on 11520 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg to SEAs English from 1300 on 15610 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg to SEAs English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/reception-of-wewn-1-global-catholic.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) Quite a lot of chutzpah to try to broadcast direct from Alabama to SE Asia, nearly transpolar. Any signals listenable by then? (gh, DXLD) [and non]. 11990-12110, Dec 2 at 1409, range of humbuzz splatter out of dirty 12050 WEWN Spanish transmitter which is S9+30 on fundamental and degraded itself. The humbuzz is worse the closer to 12050, severely QRMing Turkey 12035, Australia 12065 and even 12085. 12035, Dec 5 at 1415, Voice of Turkey music in English service suffers from splatter de 12050, dirty transmitter of Mother Angelica`s WEWN, which can also be heard down to 11985, barely missing Reach Beyond, Australia in English on 11980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17775, Dec 5 at 1518, S9+30 KVOH with report about Chilean radio station ratings, on `Frecuencia al Día`, then Dino with Dec birthday wishes to regular listeners. Once again KVOH is playing FAD on Monday at 1500, when `Antena DX` is on their schedule: what has become of that? FAD is scheduled Fridays at 1500, maybe both times now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, Glenn. Antena DX used to be produced by Víctor Gutiérrez in Panamá. However, it went on summer break in July, and never came back in August. The last I heard from Víctor, he said his mixing console was damaged and he had no money to repair or replace it. So, for the last few months, KVOH has been carrying Frecuencia al Día on both Fridays and Mondays. If Antena DX ever returns, we will be happy to carry it again (Ray Robinson, KVOH, Los Angeles, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, `Antena DX` is still on the WRMI schedule several times, so are they replaying last show from June, or really something else? Mon 1130 5950 Mon 1230 9955 Tue 0030 5950 Wed 0430 5985 Wed 1200 9955 Thu 1130 5950 Fri 0030 5950 Axually WRMI has an `Antena DX` audiofile dated Dec 4. Also on the TGAV and WBCQ SW schedules. This page explains the situation, that old shows are being reissued until he can produce new ones again: http://programasdx.com/antenadx.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Came across nice Latin American / Mexican folk music culture, around 1555 UT on Dec 6. Seemingly sermon in Spanish spoken by male around from 1602 UT. 17774.988 kHz KVOH Rancho Simi CA, measured some 12 Hertz lower side band, against WWV and RMI 17790 kHz. Signal noted on remote SDR unit at eastern coast NJ-US. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7505v, WRNO. Thursday (Dec 1) & Saturday (Dec 3) noted program "Praise for Today" in Chinese; mostly fair after 0400, till sign off at 0501* (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7504.985v, UT Sat Dec 3 at 0447, WRNO in Chinese at S9+10 fading to S7. Keeps drifting upward as I try to measure it, here as of 0453 when it`s music. 7505.36v, Dec 4 at 0204, S9 WRNO, someone about to read in English from a book by Dr Mawire, drifts up to 7505.40 and during music abruptly jumps way down to 7504.87 to start another drift upward. And so it goes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5830, Dec 6 at 0722, WTWW-1 SFAW modulation is breaking up; wiggle that patchcord! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Weak signal of WJHR Radio on Dec 6 1400-2200 on 15555 JHR 050 kW / 005 deg to WNAm English USB http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/weak-signal-of-wjhr-radio-on-dec6.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec 6, dxldyg via DXLD) Don`t you believe it is really 50 kW as listed and licensed (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Extensions of STAs granted: 620, WDAE, FL, St. Petersburg – Granted STA extension, U2 11200/11000, Cuban QRM. 940, WINZ, FL, Miami – Granted STA extension, U4 50000/25000, Cuban QRM Applications to extend STAs received: 1080, WHIM, FL, Coral Gables – Applies to extend STA, U4 50000/20000, Cuban QRM (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. 640, Dec 2 at 1337 UT, KWPN Moore OK sportstalk is absent, but I am getting a good E/W signal with talk about a green spot in the Libyan desert, turns out to be gospel huxter. Could it be KFI? Program sked at http://kfiam640.iheart.com/onair/ shows `Coast to Coast AM` starting at 10 pm PT [0600 UT] on Thursday, and nothing else until 6 am Friday [1400 UT]. More like WCRV Collierville (Memphis) TN per REL format, 50 kW daypower starting at 1300 UT in Dec, (night power only 480 watts) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 690, Dec 2 at 1340 UT, KGGF Coffeyville KS in local news, YL mentions ``98.9 Double Q FM``. That would be sibling station KQQF, obviously a qutely kindred call, but is it now duplicative? WTFDA FM Database does not show // 690 and names it ``Star 98.9`` with HOT AC format. And it`s the only FM station in Coffeyville proper, not even a translator of KGGF or anything (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 750, Dec 2 at 1341 UT, Ukrainian talk from NE, 1342 UT sounds like an ID, which would be WNDZ Portage IN (Chicago market and address), 15 kW daytimer, direxional pattern tangent westward, plenty toward here. Ukrainian really stix out on the domestic AM dial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 780-CUSB, Dec 4 at 0143 UT, cowboy music obviously from KCEG, ``The Ranch``, Fountain CO, NO signal on LSB, but on USB mixing with WBBM which is DSB. So I can listen to WBBM QRM-free but not KCEG, even with WBBM nulled as much as possible. 0150 UT, program is `Calling All Cowboys`. Then ad for Royal Gorge Cabaret, Rosenkranz Mysteries, but AC 312 phone and then mention Highland Park. Oops, this part is WBBM, not KCEG, for there is no Royal Gorge Cabaret near Colorado Springs, but there is a Royal GEORGE Theatre in Chicago --- with Rosenkranz! 0159 UT definitely back to KCEG for outro to `Calling All Cowboys`, which says it originates with 88.9 KPOV, High Desert Community Radio in Bend OR, then ID mentioning Colorado Springs. KCEG is 1900/720 watts U4 and not specified as USB only in the NRC AM Log, an essential datum in my opinion, like it also is for KHAC, 880-CUSB, AZ. CUSB meaning carrier plus USB; as far as I can tell it is not reduced, as typically done on SW, WBCQ 9330. KCEG day pattern goes north, smaller night pattern SSE, neither should be much good for here but it`s a significant challenge to WBBM when KSPI is off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Extensions of STAs granted: 920 KARN AR Little Rock – Granted STA extension, U1 5000/1250. (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) Why we are still hearing it well at night here to the WNW, sports (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 1040, KCBR, CO, Monument – 11/12 0355 [EST = 0855 UT] – Hip Hop Rap destroying WHO. "Blazin' 98.5" and mention of a studio in Colorado Springs. Daytime checks through 11/30 have them still silent. Maybe just testing before finally returning to the air? (Wayne Heinen, CO, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1450, KCTI, Gonzales, TX was silent; now National Public Radio news/talk, adds slogan: “Texas Public Radio” (Broadcasting Information, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 10 via DXLD) TPR = KSTX 89.1 & KPAC 88.3 San Antonio, etc. Gonzales is about 100 km east of San Antonio, the only TPR AM station. Should be daytime audible poorly on the outskirts. By spelling it Gonzales instead of González you can avoid that accent (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Applications to extend STAs received: 1530, WCKY, OH, Cincinnati – Applies to extend STA, U1 50000/12500 or parameters at variance (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1580, KHEP, AZ, Tempe – Silent (again) Oct. 20; has CP to move to new transmitter site (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. Strong TIS Signal into Hingham MA Springfield Armory National Park Service with YL loop mentioning Springfield Technical Community College. Not sure of the power but in here pretty well with another station under it (Keith, Hingham MA, Dec 7, WTFDA MWDX gg via DXLD) Three TIS's can be heard nightly on 1710 here in Niagara. Springfield Armory (c/s unknown) is usually the strongest. #2 is WQFG-689 Jersey City (w/NYC NWR). #3 is KID-761 Bedford, PA (9/11 memorial). 1710 used to have annoying IBOC noise from WRCR 1700 NY, but the IBOC has not been heard recently, allowing the TIS's to be heard more clearly (Bill Hepburn/ON, ibid.) There are actually two Flight 93 Memorials TIS's on 1710. I think the other one, if I recall ID's as Somerset PA. IBOC is gone from WRCR since their format change and hopefully forever. 73 KAZ Barrington IL (Neil Kazaross, Dec 8, ibid.) ** U S A. December 2, 2016 | 2:04pm | Updated 2:05pm http://nypost.com/2016/12/02/big-names-out-as-cbs-radio-news-makes-cuts/ Modal Trigger Big names out as CBS Radio News makes cuts Photo: Getty Images CBS Radio News is losing a slew of its most seasoned journalists after distributor Westwood One cut its fees, The Post has learned. Senior correspondents and executives were offered buy-outs in advance of CBS Radio's imminent spin-out of CBS Corporation, sources said. Among those departing are: Executive Producer Charlie Kaye, with CBS for 34 years; Washington correspondent Barry Bagnato, with the network for 30 years; afternoon anchor Harley Carnes, with CBS for 24 years; and, "CBS World News" anchor Bill Whitney, a 32-year veteran of CBS Radio News. "They were offered targeted buy-outs to accomplish cuts," a source told The Post. "They took a big haircut in the new Westwood deal, as expected." Insiders are expecting more exits in the coming weeks. CBS News vice president, radio Harvey Nagler, who heads the operation, announced in November he would be retiring from the company. His last day is expected to be Jan. 6. Late last month, CBS filed paperwork to complete the spinoff of its radio unit, which is likely to happen in early 2017. The ticker symbol will be CBSR. CBS Radio News did not immediately return calls for comment (NY Post via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Christmas format stations --- Here is a very incomplete list of stations reported by NRC listeners (December 2016) that appear to be operating special Christmas music formats: 880 KIXI WA Mercer Island-Seattle - Format to XMAS (ex-NOS). 930 KOGA NE Ogallala - Format to XMAS (ex-NOS). (JW) 980 WITY IL Danville 1090 KSOU IA Sioux Center - Format to XMAS (ex-OLD); adds // K268CZ- 101.5. (FCC) 1130 KILJ IA Mount Pleasant - Format to XMAS (ex-C&W). 1210 KGYN OK Guymon 1240 WOBT WI Rhinelander - Format to XMAS (ex-C&W). 1270 WTLY FL Tallahassee 1270 KVMI CA Tulare - Format to XMAS (ex-AC). 1380 KXFN MO Saint Louis - Format to XMAS (was Silent) (ex-SPT); drops nets. (EB) 1420 WJUB WI Plymouth - Format to XMAS (ex-NOS). 1450 WHRY WI Hurley - Format to XMAS (ex-OLD). 1490 KRIB IA Mason City - Format to XMAS (ex-NOS). 1510 KMSD SD Milbank - Format to XMAS (ex-Rock/OLD) . 1580 CKDO ON Oshawa 1590 KDJS MN Willmar - Format to XMAS/TLK (ex-C&W/TLK). Here is a list extracted from Radio-locator. com KBPS 1450 Portland, OR Benson High School Holiday (Grade School K-12) KCAX 1220 Branson, MO Holiday KIXI 880 Mercer Island/Seattle, WA Holiday (Nostalgia) KLGN 1390 Logan, UT Holiday (Easy Listening) KLXR 1230 Redding, CA Holiday (Nostalgia) KMJM 1360 Cedar Rapids, IA Holiday (Country) KVMI 1270 Tulare, CA Holiday (Adult Contemporary) KVNI 1080 Coeur D'alene, ID Holiday (Adult Contemporary) KZFS 1280 Spokane, WA Holiday (Christian Contemporary) WACT 1420 Tuscaloosa, AL Holiday (Adult Contemporary) WARU 1600 Peru, IN Holiday (Adult Contemporary) WDAS 1480 Philadelphia, PA Holiday (Smooth Jazz) WENN 1320 Birmingham, AL Holiday (Adult Contemporary) WGUY 1230 Veazie, ME Holiday (Adult Contemporary) WJUB 1420 Plymouth, WI Holiday (Nostalgia) WMNI 920 Columbus, OH Holiday (Nostalgia) WTLY 1270 Tallahassee, FL Holiday (Adult Contemporary) No doubt there are many more. Merry Listening - Ho! Ho! Ho! 73 (Steve Whitt, MWN Editor, UK, Dec 5, MWCircle yg via DXLD) ** U S A. It's the Giving Season. Would You Like a Radio Station? Jason Wolff and Jennifer Ferro, president of KCRW, at the station's studios in Santa Monica, Calif. Mr. Wolff donated a radio station to KCRW. Nathaniel Wood for The New York Times [caption] December 2, 2016 Wealth Matters By PAUL SULLIVAN PHILANTHROPICALLY minded people regularly try to donate stuff -- cars, catamarans, collections of all sorts -- to nonprofits. In the best of circumstances, they believe that their donations will help a cause. Other times, they are just looking for an organization to take junk off their hands or validate their taste. Then there is the case of Jason Wolff. At the end of 2007, Mr. Wolff, who considers himself a value investor, bought 16 radio stations in the greater Los Angeles area. He did very well with them, and this year he got an offer to sell them. But after the transaction was completed, he still had one left. "My wife said, `Why don't we just give it to NPR?'" Mr. Wolff said. "My first response was, `Because we can make a lot of money selling it.' But then I thought about it. Intellectually, this felt good. This felt like a value donation -- if there is such a thing." So he called the president of KCRW, the National Public Radio affiliate in Los Angeles, and asked if she wanted his radio station in San Luis Obispo, Calif. . . . http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/your-money/its-the-giving-season-would-you-like-a-radio-station.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Story strays widely from radio topic, never gets around to mentioning which SLO station is involved! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I drive past the KPOF tower on the way to work. They were going to buy a translator a year or two ago, but it was blocked. I know they would like to get on FM, but the FCC has already killed FM around Denver by jamming every frequency they can find with translators, so it will be hard to find room for any more. The translator they tried to buy was licensed to Arvada, and it is on 96.9, but it was not in Arvada and it could not even be heard in Arvada. It is in the Boulder Valley. KPOF wanted to move it to their tower, which sits on a high bluff in Westminster overlooking Denver. That would have given them a great FM signal, but there is a problem. Tune in 96.9 at KPOF or anywhere around it and you get a very clear local signal from KCCY Pueblo/Colorado Springs, which has their transmitter on Cheyenne Mtn. in the Springs. When KCCY found out about KPOF's plans, they got a letter writing campaign going with people in metro Denver complaining to the FCC that they are regular listeners to KCCY. The FCC blocked the move of the translator, so the sale fell through. The 96.9 translator ended up being sold to KKCL Golden, which moved it to one of their towers on high ground south of Boulder, but that proved to be a mistake. They were obviously hoping to cover Denver and Boulder with it, but they did neither. The signal from KCCY was too strong for them to get into Denver, and they lost most of Boulder because it was in the shadow of the translator signal at that location, so they moved it back to where it started out in the Boulder Valley and had the COL changed from Arvada to Boulder. If KPOF thinks they will get a translator this late in the game, I wish them luck because Crawford and other AM owners in the markets have already snapped them up. And the former translator owners have made out like bandits. The best example of that was KOA paying $950,000 for a 250 watt translator on 94.1. That translator had been mated with KKCL when it went dark. KKCL was sold to the current owner for a measly $25,000, which shows how little an AM signal is worth now compared to a translator. The FCC is handing out translator licenses like candy bars and jamming the FM band in the name of saving the AM band, which is just plain stupid. It's hard to figure why they would license a translator on Lookout Mtn. in Golden on the same frequency as a full power FM running 97 KW from a 1996 ft. tower east of Denver, with a 20 KW booster on the east side of town. Read the above paragraph again and you will see that killing the FM band will not save the AM band when the AM station is worth only $25,000, but the translator is worth $950.000. 73, (Kit W5KAT, Dec 5, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. SHOULD AM BOOSTERS BE PERMANENTLY ALLOWED? http://www.radioworld.com/article/should-am-boosters-be-allowed/280148 (via Dennis Gibson, WB6TNB, Sent from my iPad, ABDX via DXLD) ** VATICAN. Members, This sad news comes from Mediumwave Info and in particular Giovanni Ricci. He reports that on 30 November 2016 the diplexed 585 and 1260 kHz services from the tower inside the City State have fallen silent. Another country disappears from the MW map. 73 and 88 (Dan Goldfarb, Dec 4, mwmasts yg via DXLD) Also formerly on shortwave: 3975 {4005} kHz 1840-1900 UT to zone 28 VAT(!) 10kW 340degr revolving log-per antenna Rosario progr Latin CVA Citá Vaticano last report in my archive was 16 Oct 2012, 3975.325usb odd frequency, After that, the two log-periodic shortwave antennas removed / scrapped from inside Vatican Citá Garden, like in early 2014. See also log-per antenna on Rome picture on "Quando a noite chega" VAT Mr. Paolo Lazzarini Planning Engineer Vatican Radio Transmitting Centre V-00120 Vatican City State VATICAN +39 06 69885294 +39 06 69884308 +39 06 69885062 dirtecsmg@vatiradio.va from SW TXsite: Hi Andrea, Thanks very much for the update & pics. I don't think I ever saw that caged dipole before. But found it on historical Google SV & Maps from your photos - just now. For some reason I always thought (obviously incorrectly) that the 4005 kHz (3975/6075/7250) kHz transmission emanated from one of the 2 HF Yagi style LP antennas. I see in SV May 2014 that the caged dipole also missing, but was definitely there in Google June 2013 aerial imagery. - Ian On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 9:14 PM, Andrea Borgnino [shortwavesites] < wrote: Hello, last week i was driving around Vatican City and i have notice that the cage dipole used for the 4005 khz (no longer on the schedule..) transmission is no longer here, it's been taken down. Look this two different photos: http://www.mediasuk.org/appoggio/vatican_dipole.jpg So no more direct trasmission on HF from Vatican City, only from Santa Maria di Galeria. 73 Andrea IW0HK Roma -- Andrea Borgnino IW0HK (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VATICAN. 9660, Dec 1 at 2045, French discussion of SE Nigeria, i.e. Biafra? It`s Vatican Radio from SMG. Routine log, but rumors keep flying that VR may be abolished at least from SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Ignore the religious, focus on the radio parts only. :^) http://www.mondayvatican.com/vatican/pope-francis-the-steps-of-vatican-reform Regards, (Vince Ferme, Ottawa, ON, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) Viz. POPE FRANCIS: THE STEPS OF VATICAN REFORM By Andrea Gagliarducci On 5 dicembre 2016 MondayVatican [original has embedded linx in almost every paragraph] At midnight on November 30 the historical Vatican Radio station located within the Vatican walls shut down its broadcasts on medium wave (AM). This is part of a process of broadcast reform that began back in 2012 when the then Vatican Radio Director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, announced that the Radio was going to cease broadcasting on short and medium waves step by step. In the meantime, the inauguration of the major internet news-portal that will gather Vatican Radio and Vatican TV into one webpage should come shortly: it is part of the ongoing reform of communication. As the shut-down of short- and medium- wave broadcasting had been foreseen, the question is why the final decision hit the world around the Vatican as a surprise? When planning to leave the leadership of Vatican Radio after many years, Fr. Lombardi emphasized that he had always fought to retain shortwave broadcasting. Alberto Gasbarri, the long-time organizer of papal trips, also underscored the importance of keeping shortwave broadcasting. Behind this discussion, and behind the changes the Vatican is experiencing, lies a clue about what is going on in Pope Francis’s pontificate. Transitions scheduled far in advance become difficult, as the Pope seems almost detached from the rest of the Curia, since he thinks independently and on the basis of opinions of people he trusts. Basically, Vatican Radio’s switch to the Internet had been already planned, but without considering a complete shut-down of the shortwave broadcasting. Shortwave radio, Vatican Radio experts explain, can reach out more effectively to the poor of the world, because it can be heard in every place in the world and it is almost impossible for broadcasts to be jammed. In the end, they argued, shortwave should be kept for reasons of evangelization. This was Fr. Lombardi’s idea, and he also wanted to expand the number of broadcast languages at Vatican Radio. Certainly, the idea was not supported by those who favored reform of Vatican media. Television, radio, “Osservatore Romano”: every branch of Vatican media needed to reorganize, to adopt a new editorial mentality, to update procedures and yet to remain anchored to time- tested Vatican information traditions. That same information craft that was made strong by the independence of Vatican media, made possible by Vatican sovereignty and by the extensive information gathering efforts of the international network of papal nuncios made the Vatican a lone voice speaking out on behalf of the weakest people. Between one reform project and another, the sense of the mission of spreading the message of the Gospel apparently got lost, by concentrating on technical details rather than on the search for timely and first-hand information. This latter project will probably consititute the second step of Vatican communications reform, once the technological reform is over. In fact, contents are still far from the core of the discussions. The Vatican is making an effort to spread information as much as it can via the Holy See Press Office which is now also serving as headquarters of SEDOC, the Vatican Radio documentation service that even Msgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, really appreciates. The service has always been a reference point for journalists to find news about events in the Vatican or in the local Churches, and to be updated about the Holy See’s international commitment. However, the current problem in the communications sector – that is, the lack of discussion of content due to a broad discussion over technology – is reflected over all the most important current issues at stake. It reflects, for example, on curial reform, that is going on slowly. Last Tuesday, the undersecretaries of those pontifical councils that have been merged into the new Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development met. They are trying to understand how to stay faithful to the spirit of the statutes of the new dicastery (which do not designate departmental subdivisions) and at the same time to create something with the needed specialization to work on all the issues that should be covered. The new dicastery will come into effect on January 1, but for a while the different “entities” of the dicastery will likely stay as they are, waiting for a definitive decision. In the meantime, the discussion still pivots on pragmatic issues, while ideas about mission and programming are being gathered in order to make a plan for a common development within the new structure. There are other topics that deserve more content-based discussions. One of these issues is that of mission. It is paradoxical that this issue lack discussion during a pontificate that considers itself to be “looking outward” or “outward bound”. Already two years ago, the long-time missionary, Father Pietro Gheddo, noted that the decrease in the Church’s missionary activity was due to a disappearing of focus on the Gospel, replaced by so-called pastoral plans that did not think enough in terms of vocations or conversions, and that did nothing about them. The crisis of content stems from a more profound crisis, that is the crisis of Religious Orders. It was Religious Orders that spread Catholic culture, through the schools they established and people they educated. The decrease of vocations was dizzying, and – at least in Italy – the reason for the decrease has an explanation: it began with the suppression of Religious Orders due to the “Constitutional” administration which took power after the French Revolution and the Enlightenment. The trend dramatically peaked from 2001-2011, when the number of women Religious decreased by 19.6 per cent and the number of men Religious by 14 per cent. The 2016 Church’s Statistical Year Book demonstrates that there is at least a halt in the decrease. From 2005 to 2014, the number of bishops increased: they are about 5,200 (+8 percent), with a considerable increase in Asia (+14 percent) and Africa (+13 percent). Even priests – both diocesan and Religious – increased, but only until 2011: they are about 416,000, with no increases from 2011 to 2014. These numbers show the problem of a Church in decline. There are more chiefs, but no new workers among those who are called to carry pastoral plans to the territories. The Church is lacking, in the end, minds capable of putting into practice the best cultural or doctrinal plans. On the other hand, Church officials have lost a lot of their prophetic emphasis that formerly characterized them. The Catholic Church is certainly experiencing a cultural problem. This cultural problem is probably at the basis of the lack of discussions of content in curial reforms. The typical example is that of the reform of communications. Talking about reform, the focus is on the shut-down of shortwave or medium wave radio, that is, it focuses on the way to reach out to the maximum audience possible. At the same time, the effectiveness of communication as a means of spreading the Gospel is an overshadowed topic. The reform is the measure of all the discussions, while the need for a change of mentality – that should precede structural reform – is put aside. This way of discussing is however a limit inherited from the pre- conclave meetings of the Cardinals in 2013. The Cardinals committed themselves to attacking the functioning of the Curia, thereby also eliminating any possible European or Italian candidate for the papacy, and in looking for a change of narrative surrounding the papacy and the Curia. At the same time, the Cardinals were too self-referential to understand the profound missionary issue. For this reason, the notion of existential peripheries proposed by Pope Francis was seen as a sort of oasis in the desert, grabbed by everyone. Many did not understand what followed. The Cardinals’ concerns stem mostly from a problem that arose in the course of this pontificate: big themes cannot be even discussed. The Four Cardinals’ Letter concerning the five “dubia” on the interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia,” sent to the Pope and to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has not been treated as it deserves. No one speaks about the contents of the “dubia,” but the vast majority is hostile, mocking the four Cardinals for not understanding Pope Francis’s message, or attacking them because they allegedly oppose the Pope. This behavior shows that any request for clarity is interpreted as a declaration of war. The fact is that neither the Pope, nor any of his inner circle, has given a precise response to the “dubia”. It should be enough for them to say that nothing has changed in doctrine, but that we are just seeking for a pastoral practice. But this is never said, and the Pope does not take responsibility for it. Perhaps he has no intention of changing anything in doctrine, but he fears that saying this out loud would generate some discontent among those who invested everything they had in a new narration about his changing doctrinal criteria – the same people, that is, who are the Pope’s closest supporters. The shut-down of Vatican Radio’s medium wave broadcasts is thus the closing of an era. It is not so just because of the choice to shut down the broadcasts. It is so mostly because it happens in a moment when everything is seemingly headed in one precise direction. A moment when the topic of the Gospel is set aside, while the Vatican is trying to grab an audience. A moment when Pope Francis’s extraordinary popularity is apparently used not in order to teach the faith, but in order to create division. How much the Pope wants this change of direction is still to be assessed. On the one hand, he is very firm on certain issues of the faith. On the other hand, his choices are apparently marking a net discontinuity. As it is with the appointments to the Pontifical Academy for Life and to the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. As it is with the creation of new Cardinals, all of them close to Pope Francis’s determination always to put praxis before doctrine. It is yet to be understood whether the Pope is making these choices in order to surprise, to create a new narration and take the pontificate out of the obscurity occasioned by the attacks on the Church – attacks that have always been and will always be. Perhaps – and this is the other option – the Pope really wants to mark a change. What is certain is the big agenda of mercy, perhaps the only theological red line of the pontificate. Will it be enough? (via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) This from the excellent "Ydun's Medium Wave Info" site: Vatican Radio has ceased all its medium wave broadcasts (1260 and 585 kHz) for Rome and Latium on November 30th; thus, Vatican City is another MW-silent country. This piece of news is reported in Italian on http://portale.italradio.org/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=3822 Regards, Giovanni Ricci (4/12-2016) https://mediumwave.info/news.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) ** YEMEN [non]. 11860, Dec 2 at 1500-1505 approx., dead air from Republic of Yemen Radio, preceded and followed by music. Good signal now, but before 1400, 11860 was dominated by the CUBA spur, q.v. By 1408 Y, via SAUDI ARABIA? had faded up to S8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rep. Yemen Radio Sanaa (Saudi Arabia Relay?) 11860, 1510 3 DEC - REP. YEMEN RADIO SANAA (YEMEN). SINPO = 35323. Arabic, male announcer interviews male over the phone who is very excited. QSB=rapid-to-ff rate, fluttery modulation mostly well above the noise floor with frequent very short fades to mixing with it. sf83.5, a4, k0, geomag: inactive. 50kw?, Omni?, bearing 17 ?. Sangean ATS505 w/MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B tuner used to preselect 75’ of 26-gauge wire loosely thrown over the roof above single story building. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13039KM? from transmitter at Riyadh?. Local time: 0710. 11860, 1624 4 DEC - REP.YEMEN RADIO SANAA (YEMEN). SINPO = 35323. Arabic, music with microtonal male vocal and children singing during chorus, male announcer. QSB=rapid-to-ff rate, fluttery modulation mostly just above the noise floor with frequent fades to mixing with it for very short durations. sf84.3, a3, k0, geomag: inactive. 50kw?, Omni?, bearing 17 ?. Sangean ATS505 w/MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B tuner used to preselect 75’ of 26-gauge wire loosely thrown over the roof above single story building. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13039KM? from transmitter at Riyadh?. Local time: 0824. 11860, 1512 5 DEC - REP.YEMEN RADIO SANAA (YEMEN). SINPO = 45423. Arabic, male interviews male over the phone. QSB=rapid-to-ff rate, fluttery modulation mostly well above the noise floor with frequent fades to mixing with it for very short durations. sf82.5, a2, k0, geomag: inactive. 50kw?, Omni?, bearing 17 ?. Sangean ATS505 w/MFJ- 1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B tuner used to preselect 75’ of 26- gauge wire loosely thrown over the roof above single story building. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13039KM? from transmitter at Riyadh?. Local time: 0712. 11860, 1529 7 DEC - REP.YEMEN RADIO SANAA (YEMEN) in ARABIC from RIYADH?. SINPO = 35222. Arabic, male announcer, music w/microtonal vocals. QSB=rapid-to-ff rate, fluttery modulation mostly just above the noise floor with occasional fades to mixing with it for short durations. sf79.3, a7, k2, geomag: quiet. 50kw?, Omni?, bearing 17 ?. Sangean ATS505 w/MFJ-1020C active antenna and MFJ-901B tuner used to preselect 75’ of 26-gauge wire loosely thrown over the roof above single story building. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13039KM? from transmitter at Riyadh?. Local time: 0729 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735.0, 1758-1802 Dec 4. Tuned in to hear a woman in presumed Swahili. At 1759, several mentions of ZedBC, followed by about 45 seconds of drumming, time pips (ending only about 1 second behind actual TOH), and then news in English. Broadcast was close to 100% readable, first time ever to get such a clear signal that early in the day at this QTH. (Only heard their English one other time, and that was from Martha's Vineyard, where signal levels are better.) I'd like to attribute this to having turned my pennant antennas horizontal, which has dropped the background noise considerably, but the super-quiet magnetic field of the last few days may also have contributed (Art Delibert, N. Bethesda, MD, JRC NRD-545, Horizontal pennant antennas with DX Engineering pre-amp, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search December 2, UT, all looping NW, not WSW, except for 1098 from west: 747 at 1314, 1325, *1329 774 at 1314, *1329 828 at 1326 972 at 1319, 1327 1053 at 1320, 1327 1098 at 1320, 1328 [Mauno Ritola hears from V7AB Marshall Islands that they are currently on 13 kW, to be restored to 25] 1197 at 1321 1566 at 1323 All on the DX-398 with internal ferrite antenna only, except *R75 with E-W longwire (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search, Dec 3 UT, all from NW pointing to Japan or Korea, except 1098-W from Marshall Islands: 594 at 1313 693 at 1312 747 at 1311 774 at 1311 828 at 1315 1053 at 1316 1098 at 1316 1566 at 1320 Local sunrise today: 1327 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search Dec 4, UT: 612-WSW at 1302 657-WSW at 1303 702-WSW at 1304, 2 signals beating 693-NW at 1301 738-SW at 1304 747-NW at 1300 774-NW at 1259 828-NW at 1305 1098-W at 1307 NW implies Japan; WSW, Australia/NZ; W, Marshall Islands; SW, Tahiti. Enid sunrise today: 1328 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific JBA MW carrier search, Dec 7, UT: At 1300, 774-NW, 747-NW, 612-WSW At 1302, 702-WSW (2 carriers beating, as often the case: one is likely 2BL ABC Sydney; second most likely is 10 kW Magic in Auckland) At 1303, 792-WSW, 828-NW At 1306, 1098-W At 1308, 1566-NW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I know you don't normally listen local sunrise, but any idea on your maybe night 650 listens who this is, the XE that constantly inserts the I Dream Of Jeannie theme first notes? Anyone else who monitors XE's who can assist? The constant first seven notes of the IDOJ theme -- sometimes extending longer than seven -- continues. Suspected XE based on time/LOB, but not 100% confirmed an XE until today, with truncated NA from 1158, female ID (all I got was XE...) immediately into IDOJ note this morning and fade-out. An absolute mystery that's bugging the shit out of me. Who? (Terry Kreuger, FL, Dec 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No idea; don`t recall hearing that myself, unlikely XETNT. I don`t recall the TV show theme: was it the same as Stephen Foster song? Is that a manikin or the actress Barbara Eden in a see-thru blouse (he attached)? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NO, not S Foster Had it again at 1055 today, with IDOJ (lifted right from the show opener) at 1100. Female canned (or maybe she's in a Jeannie bottle, as opposed to canned) imaging before. Probably an ID there but have yet to copy. The IDOJ really pokes through the not totally nulled WSM and constant wobbling Progreso. Audio ref (once the ad plays through): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwpH_IYg0N8 (Terry L Krueger, FL, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 711.0, Dec 4 at 0147, carrier/het first noticed against KCMO/KYBA, likely the 300 kW Moroccan in El Aiyun, -[spelt by WRTH Laâyoune], occupied WESTERN SAHARA, the closest, strongest and most oft-reported 711 TA from further east. Loops about ENE, and the true bearing of El Aaiún from Enid is exactly 70 degrees. Made sure het was not on low side from sometimes off-frequency Mexican. Nothing on 783 from neighbor Mauritania (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5010.00, Dec 5 at 0706, carrier here, but cannot be blamed on 5040 Cuba leapfrog over 5025 since 5040 is now off. Possibly a utility: we must not forget that 60m is NOT a broadcast band in non- tropical North America, but a fixed band; any broadcasters are there as exceptions. 5010.0, Dec 7 at 0644, S9 open carrier continues to be heard; also Dec 8 at 0521, S9+15 on one receiver, at 0708, S8 on another. Perhaps a ute, such as an idle RTTY transmitter? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5030, Dec 1 at 0515, JBA carrier. If a broadcaster, this is mystifying as nothing is listed anywhen in EiBi or HFCC. I`m certainly not going to assume it`s R. Virgen de la Alta, Huamachuco, Perú as in Aoki, as some list-loggers are prone to believe, Aoki lacking any annotation of inactivity; since it`s really been off the air for many years. Doesn`t even make the deleted list in the 2016 DSWCI Domestic Broadcasting Survey, which does show that Bhutan and Sarawak have not been heard on 5030 since 2011y. That listing does not go back before 2011. Burkina Faso is in the DXLD archives still active on 5030 in 2010y. 5030, Dec 2 at 0641, the JBA carrier again. Sure would like to think it`s Ouagadougou reactivated; others please check also in evenings. But since some Cuban transmitters (see 11840!) put spurs out at 10 kHz intervals, could this be from RHC 5040 which is S9+20, also mixing its splash with Rebelde from 5025? No, 5030 is still there at 0705 after 5040 is off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5579.0-USB, Dec 2 at 0028, only 2-way in Spanish, as I am checking for 5580 R. San José, Bolivia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5810, Dec 4 at 2337, some broadcaster VP signal, not yet WEWN which nominally starts bigsig in Spanish at 0000. Nothing else scheduled now; possibly ChiCom-jammed BBC jumparound frequency from Thailand in English, which Aoki shows started Nov 27 but at 12-14 UT only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5995, Dec 5 until 0552* something in English just going off as I tune in. Nothing scheduled, but Mali (hardly modulated) from 0600, or per EiBi from 0558 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7200-LSB, Dec 1 at 2053, lots of AROs talking over each other, not QSOs, no IDs, and mixed with someone playing music, then siren sound, a free-for all on the favorite 41m frequency of naughty hams. What is ARRL`s position on this? If it were interested in enforcement, the FCC could have a field day with this (pardon the expression) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. WRNO 7505v not heard, but two separate different program Chinese stations at 0105 UT Dec 7, S=7-8 in southern Germany, on 7504.000 kHz and 7464.000 kHz, maybe some early morning SOH TWN services? 73 wb (Wolfgang Buschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRNO does not sign on until 0200 or a few minutes before (gh, DXLD) UNIDentified. With music and Radio Free Asia on 7510 kHz, Nov 29 1200-1400 on 7510 unknown tx / unknown to CeAs Radio Free Asia 1200-1415 on 7510 unknown tx / unknown to EaAs UNID with music No signal on 7510 unknown tx / unknown to CeAs/EaAs on Nov.30! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/12/unidentified-with-music-and-radio-free.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #981 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, December 4, 2016, via DXLD) So it wasn`t Firedragon music? (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 11595-11618, Dec 3 at 1341, OTH radar pulsing/clicking. A victim would be CRI Bengali via Kunming on 11610, but nothing of it heard amid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1855: Thanks to Benn Kobb, for a check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK, 73702 One may also contribute via PayPal, not necessarily in US funds, to woradio at yahoo.com Thanks --- I am a SW listener since mid 70's, came to USA 1979, Been hearing your DX broadcasts off and on on air. I had almost left SW due to lot of reasons and came back with SDRPlay. Wish u long life. Listening to u on 9330 now (Dr Pritam S Saini, 0058 UT Dec 7) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ Updated: DX/SWL/Media Programs http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html Alan Roe`s Hitlist of SW station websites http://www.w4uvh.net/hitlist.htm World of Radio schedule http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK 2017 Published 5 December 2016 - Order your copy today! We are delighted to announce the publication today of the 71st edition of WRTH. For full details of WRTH 2017 and to order a copy please visit our website at www.wrth.com where you can also order the B16 WRTH Bargraph Frequency Guide on CD and Download. WRTH 2017 is also available for pre-order, for readers in the USA, from Amazon or Universal Radio in Ohio. I hope you enjoy using this new edition of WRTH and the new CD. Best regards, Nicholas Hardyman, Publisher. Our mailing address is: WRTH Publications Ltd 8 King Edward Street Oxford, OXON OX1 4HL United Kingdom. Our telephone: +44 (0)1865 339355. Copyright (C) 2016 WRTH Publications Ltd All rights reserved (WRTH via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) WRTH 2017 arrived here too. Thanks very much. I can't immediately see fans of DAB catered for. Am I missing something? Best wishes, (Martin Reynolds, Nantwich, Cheshire, Dec 6, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) [later:] I just had a telephone conversation with WRTH head office in Oxford. I asked about the listing of DAB stations. The gentleman's reply was that there's currently an internal debate about how much space to give to DAB and DRM. He said he was interested to hear my opinion on the topic and asked if I would like programme details and if I was a DAB DXer. So if you like digital radio I think your views would be welcome. Best wishes, (Martin Reynolds, Nantwich, Cheshire, ibid.) WINTER B-16 SCHEDULES now available on our blog. Please visit: 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Dec 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WEBSITES FOR VARIOUS FREQUENCY ALLOTMENTS The Radio Spectrum (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_spectrum Allocation of the Radio Spectrum (John Neuhaus): http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/spectrum.html Canadian Table of Frequency Allocations (Government of Canada): http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf01678.html Spectrum Management and Telecommunications (Government of Canada): http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf01226.html US Amateur Frequency Allocations (ARRL): http://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations Radio Amateurs of Canada 0 - 30 MHz Band Plan (RAC): http://wp.rac.ca/rac-0-30-mhz-band-plan/ (Joe Robinson, Beginner`s Classroom, ODXA Dec Listening In via DXLD) SURFING THE AM DIAL AND STRAINING MY EARS FOR SOMETHING MEANINGFUL http://news.hjnews.com/logan_hj/editor-s-corner-surfing-the-am-dial-and-straining-my/article_fab81d6c-9a2a-5c7e-ab73-fa58c0914ef9.html (Charles McCollum, Managing Editor, The Herald Journal (Logan UT), Nov. 12, 2016, via NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) If you see rectangles, they substitute for hyphens (gh) WORLD OF HOROLOGY See ALASKA +++++++++++++++++ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WINTER SWL FEST, PENNSYLVANIA, MARCH 2-4, 2017 We have received initial information on the biggest event in our world of radio. The details appear in this month’s “CIDX News and Notes” column. It’s the 30th anniversary edition of the Winter SWL Fest, being held again this year in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, close to Philadelphia. To mark the 30th anniversary of the event, an extra day’s activities have been added. The 3-day Fest will take place on March 2, 3 & 4, 2017. A “who’s who” of the radio world will be in attendance. The full schedule of sessions, workshops and other events are still being finalized. CIDX, as usual, will be present at the event with our information booth. We always look forward to meeting up with many of our CIDX members in attendance each year. We have always been very successful at attracting new CIDX members at the event each year. If you’ve never attended, what are you waiting for? You’ve only missed 29 of them! This one will be really special. It’s hard to believe that 30 years have passed. Our sincere thanks go out to “Fest-meisters” John Figliozzi and Richard Cuff who, together with their team of dedicated volunteers, put together an event each year unmatched in our circle of radio friends. Please visit the Winter SWL Fest webpage for information on registration, hotel reservations and more in the days and weeks ahead: http://www.swlfest.com (Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) The 30th Anniversary Edition of the Winter SWL Fest March 2, 3 & 4, 2017 at the Doubletree Guest Suites, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania http://www.swlfest.com The Winter SWL Fest is a conference of radio hobbyists of all stripes, from DC to daylight. Every year scores of hobbyists descend on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburbs for a weekend of camaraderie. The Fest is sponsored by NASWA, the North American Shortwave Association, but it covers much more than just shortwave; mediumwave (AM), scanning, satellite TV, and pirate broadcasting are among the other topics that the Fest covers. Whether you’ve been to every Fest (all 29, starting with the first year at the fabled Pink & Purple Room of the Fiesta Motor Inn) or if this year will be your first, you’re sure to find a welcome from your fellow hobbyists. For 2017, the 30th Annual Winter SWL Fest will have three days of sessions where you can learn about the latest developments in the radio listening hobbies, but there’s so much more going on. There’s a silent auction that takes place, where you’re bound to find something of interest. There’s the Hospitality Suite, where attendees partake of tuning oil and other treats and engage in spirited conversations. There is the closing Banquet, with after-dinner remarks by a luminary from the field, often one of the many broadcasters who attend the Fest, followed by the raffle, where you could win one or more of the dozens of prizes, ranging from pens from stations up to top-notch communications receivers. And of course, the infamous midnight ride of Pancho Villa that closes things out every year. Early registration fees are available through the month of January, as an incentive to register early. We strongly urge you to do so as fees will increase for those registering after January 19th. Hotel registration details will follow soon. Fest Registration & Hotel Reservations: Online PayPal registration, paper registration form, and hotel reservation information is now available at the Fest website indicated above. Your hosts, Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi, work throughout the year to ensure that attendees have a great time over the weekend, and by all accounts, they succeed stunningly. How else could this event have lasted for 30 years (egad) and draw people from around the world to south-eastern Pennsylvania? Won’t you join us? Please keep checking the Winter SWL Fest website for updates on the event. We look forward to meeting up with old friends, and making some new ones as well (Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ THE OLD SWEDISH SHORTWAVE TABLE FROM 1949 If you want a complete pdf file you can find it here: http://www.thomasn.sverige.net/Shortwave_table_Arne_Skoog_March_1949.pdf 73 (Thomas Nilsson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-BOKEN I dag kom "DX-boken" i postkassen! For en fantastisk dokumentasjon, og for et stykke arbeid som Ronny Forslund har gjort for å lage denne boka! Har bare så vidt bladd litt i boka, men kan allerede nå sige at denne boka er noe helt for seg selv i "DX-verden". Jeg sitter her og flirer for meg selv, og tenker; "Ja, akkurat sånn var det", "sånn begynte jeg også". Helt fantastisk! Hadde trudd at boken var "paperback", men neida - et flott bind med "hardcover". Dere i gruppa her som har bestilt, kan bare glede seg! ...og, hvis noen (mot formodning) skulle slite med rare svenske ord eller setninger - jeg stiller gjerne opp med oversetning eller forklaring. Helt gratis! (Hans Östnell via DX Listeners' Club Facebook) Kommentar från Ronny Forslund: SDXF skickar själv ut den till sina medlemmar och det tar kanske litet längre tid. (Instämmer helt med HR, mycket material och väldigt intressant läsning. Ett måste för alla nordiska DX-are. /Thomas) ---------------------- Japp, en otroligt trevlig bok! Den får inte saknas i någon bokhylla bland de som kallar sig DX-are. Boken har dock redan fått fin spridning tack vare Johan Berglunds donation och SDXF-styrelsens framsynthet. Om det blir en del 2 - som vi hoppas på - kan jag i forskningssyfte erbjuda hundratals lokala klubbtidningar m.m. här i SSA:s arkiv i Karlsborg. De första s.k. radioklubbarna (det handlade då mest om att sända lokalradio - men även lyssning av europeiska sändare ingick) bildades i början och mitten av 1920-talet = snart 100 år sedan! Här finns mycket material beträffande dessa klubbar. Själv hoppas jag vara med och skriva SSA:s 100-årsbok som ska ges ut 2025. Vem som helst är välkommen hit att botanisera bland allt källmaterial här - men ring först! 73 (Eric SM6JSM via NORDX, SW Bulletin Dec 4 via DXLD) A WORLD WAR II RADIO CHRISTMAS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehQgAFem9iM All of the sound in this 34+ minute video, both spoken word and music, comes from radio broadcasts which were heard at home and by armed forces overseas via shortwave radio. They were broadcast during the Christmas seasons of 1942 to 1944 (YouTube Video of the Month, Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) CKY MANITOBA CALLING web site about old time radio. Their web site is located at: http://www.americanradiohistory.com/CKY_Manitoba_Calling.htm The site has scanned copies of Manitoba Calling monthly magazine. The site says: ““From 1937 to June of 1948, the Manitoba Telephone System, Radio Branch, published "Manitoba Calling." Edited in Winnipeg, it was a monthly magazine and programming guide for Manitoba radio stations CKY (Winnipeg) and CKX (Brandon). Beyond providing program information, the magazine often contained articles on Manitoba history and culture.” This is a fascinating listing of publications that describe not only radio and its programs but readers’ comments and topics of the day. The June 1945 edition is located at: http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/CKY/CKY-1945-06.pdf This edition gives a great inside story on how they responded to VE Day (Shawn Axelrod, Winnipeg, DX Toolbox, NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) REMEMBERING WHEN SHORTWAVE RADIO WAS A WINDOW ON THE WORLD Sunday December 4, 2016 12:01 AM By Bill Uhrich Thanks to the internet, it's not much of a thing anymore. http://www.readingeagle.com/life/article/bill-uhrich-remembering-when-shortwave-radio-was-a-window-on-the-world#.WEcDJTVQDtk (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Restricted access ANSWER MAN TUNES IN THE STORY BEHIND ARLINGTON'S VANISHED RADIO BUILDING - The Washington Post By John Kelly, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/answer-man-tunes-in-the-story-behind-arlingtons-vanished-radio-building/2016/12/03/9bfe62fa-b7ea-11e6-a677-b608fbb3aaf6_print.html Years ago, I rode the Metrobus through Clarendon on my commute into D.C. A little east of the Courthouse Metro, on the south side of Clarendon Boulevard, was an office building boldly labeled "The Radio Building." It is gone now. I guess for no other reason than my interest in radio, I always wondered about the significance of the name. -- Michael F. McNea, Centreville, Va. It is hard to overstate the wonder that once surrounded the magical medium of radio. Voices delivered to your home by unseen means! We've had many technological innovations since then, but Answer Man can't imagine a developer naming a building after them. The Internet Building? The WiFi Building? Sadly, the Radio Building -- erected in 1947 at what was then known as 2030 N. 16th St. in Arlington -- did not look much like a radio. It was a rather nondescript, unadorned five-story limestone-faced building, with strips of windows across its facade. It cost $300,000 to build and was designed by architect John M. Walton, who had his office inside. When tenants started moving in, it was billed as "Arlington's largest and newest office building." Why Radio Building? That's because of another tenant: WEAM, a station that broadcast from the basement. WEAM -- 1390 AM -- has a warm place in the heart of many Washingtonians and Arlingtonians. In the 1960s, before FM took over, it was one of the area's most-popular Top 40 stations. Its birth was a little rough, however. The station was launched in April 1947 by J. Maynard Magruder, an Arlington businessman and member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Magruder co-owned the Radio Building. His fellow investors in WEAM included a real estate developer, a lawyer, two theater owners and two building contractors. The group spent lavishly, importing talent from other local stations and handing afternoons over to Little Jack Little, a bandleader and pianist who had been big in the 1930s. Little's salary was anything but. WEAM was said to be paying him $700 a week -- roughly $7,000 in today's dollars -- to tickle the ivories, sing, chat and play the occasional record. Little's signature composition was called "Hold Me." WEAM didn't. He lasted six months. In its first year, WEAM reportedly lost close to $63,000. The original WEAM owners sold the station. Prospects improved when it gained a license to broadcast around the clock, not just during the day. WEAM may have been the Radio Building's most visible -- or at least audible -- tenant, but, of course, there were many others. There was a mix of professionals, including developers Wm. W. Johnston and J. Wesley Buchanan, and real estate agents Shannon and Luchs. Carroll Bickle Insurance had an office there. So did the IRS and Bache & Co., a member of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1952, the Eisenhower for President Club was organized in the Radio Building. The Arlington Marine Corps League met there regularly. But back to WEAM: Radio is a scrappy business -- or was -- and in the 1950s, WEAM was a scrapper. In 1951, it was sued by competitor WWDC for horning in on one of that station's promotions. Every day, WWDC would announce a six-digit number. Listeners with a Social Security number or driver's license ending in those six digits could win $100. WEAM started broadcasting the same number shortly after WWDC did, advising listeners to contact WEAM. When they did, listeners were told to go to 1627 K St. NW to collect their 100 bucks. That was WWDC's address. WWDC was furious. WEAM general manager Howard Stanley claimed he was merely striking a blow for quality. "We believe it is not good radio to attract listeners with money when it is our responsibility to serve and entertain with thoughtful programming," he told The Washington Post. Ten years later, WEAM made news with an announcement that it was constructing a second set of transmitting facilities at an underground site near the Arlington-Fairfax County line. Why? In case of nuclear attack. The subterranean fallout shelter would include broadcasting equipment, bunks, a 30-day supply of food, Geiger counters and a connection to well water. In the event of an attack, engineers could raise a buried emergency tower and broadcast at full power. Answer Man wonders who would be around to listen. By the late 1960s, WEAM had moved its studios to its transmitter location in Falls Church. The Radio Building had lost its namesake tenant. In 1985, it lost its address: That stretch of North 16th Street was renamed Clarendon Boulevard. And then, radio silence. The Courthouse Tower office building, erected in 2000, sits on the site of the old Radio Building. (Special thanks to John Stanton at the Center for Local History at Arlington's Central Library.) (c) The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See AUSTRALIA; MADAGASCAR; NIGERIA; UK ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See AUSTRALIA; FRANCE; PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See USA 1710; PROPAGATION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See MEXICO ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ JULY 12, 2016 E-SKIP FULL REVIEW AND RECAP It took 4 months and a few long nights, but I concluded review of 3 different SDRs that I was running baseband recordings from for the July 12, 2016 E-Skip event that has been highly acclaimed by many. This was a great opening - obviously, perspective is much different using SDRs, and there are several past events I'd have love to see in comparison with the same setup (6/10/06 and 7/24/12 come to mind). But, this was a classic with its geographic coverage - starting from down in Florida and Cuba, moving up through the south, all the way up the plains, and well north into Canada. MUF was above 108 throughout, and what made the opening reach the upper echelon for me was when it shortened over the Great Lakes, bringing a host of logs from 600 miles or less from MI in particular (others observed logs even shorter than I had). The two Airspys were running with frequencies centered on 92.80 and 103.20 respectively. I then ran an SDRPlay at 96.790. I had all channels but 107.9 covered - looking back I'm not sure why I didn't just have the second Airspy centered higher! Oh well. All three receivers were connected to my APS-13 antenna. A few statistics from the opening: - 1233 unique FM stations were positively ID'd in the event - 4 different countries logged (Bahamas, Cuba, US, Canada) - 20 different states - The frequencies that did not have an Es log in the event were 93.3, 105.3, 106.1 (locals could not be nulled properly), and 107.9 (SDR placement) - The closest log was 91.9 CBEW-1 Leamington ON (445 miles), while the longest was 95.1 KATC Colorado Springs CO (1608 miles). KATC was logged after confirmation from the station PD after hearing a Nash Next promo and a CO health ad. - 617 stations were ID'd via RDS decode with RDS Spy, exactly 50% of the stations logged in the event. I continue to be amazed of the effectiveness of RDS Spy. - The state with the most logs in the event was FL (147), followed by MO (127), AR (112), WI (95), and IL (82). The best direction for skip here is southwest - as the opening moved north, Philadelphia IBOC becomes much more of a problem here. However, the opening also seemed to pick up intensity as it gained latitude, helping offset this somewhat. I've attached an Excel spreadsheet containing every log from the opening. If there are any questions as to how I determined a particular station to be ID'd, let me know - for time's sake, I did not list criteria for each in the master log. In addition, I created a YouTube video featuring a few highlights from each state/country logged in the event: https://youtu.be/CE_TAJPs474 I believe this link from FMList should also be publicly be available, showing every log on a map: Finally, a handful of RDS screenshots here: https://1drv.ms/a/s!AgvDyC8pLkdhlSLqV1Fy9nnUy-je I would not recommend tackling an endeavor such as this audio review if you plan on having a social life. But, the process itself ended up being less tedious than I anticipated - probably because the opening was so good. – (Nick Langan, Tabernacle, NJ, Dec 3, WTFDA gg via DXLD) Holy $#@#%!!! I thought my almost 200 (with another hour to go) was a major effort. Of course I was covering just ¼ of the band at a time so extrapolating out another hour should get me to 300 and 4x coverage would be 1200 ID’s from here as well. With similar short and not quite as long distances heard between 12-3PM. Just incredible stuff. Nick, did you also extract audio ID’s out of all of that. I’d love to hear that! I do and anyone who would like a copy when it’s done just needs to ask. So, I guess we can safely say that with full SDR coverage of the FM dial you can average 300 ID’s per hour in a decent eskip opening. 300 LOL! (Bill Nollman, Farmington, CT, ibid.) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES --- GEOMAGNETIC SUMMARY NOVEMBER 2016 Via Phil Bytheway – Tabulated from email status daily (K = 0000 UTC). Flux A K Space Weather 1 77 10 3 no storms 2 76 15 4 no storms 3 76 18 4 no storms 4 77 5 1 no storms 5 77 3 0 no storms 6 76 5 1 no storms 7 77 4 0 no storms 8 77 3 1 no storms 9 80 7 2 no storms 10 80 14 3 no storms 11 78 13 3 minor, G1 12 78 19 4 no storms 13 78 21 4 no storms 14 77 11 3 no storms 15 77 7 2 no storms 16 81 4 2 no storms 17 79 4 1 no storms 18 78 3 0 no storms 19 77 3 1 no storms 20 76 4 1 no storms 21 75 6 3 no storms 22 77 12 4 no storms 23 78 13 2 no storms 24 79 24 4 minor, G1 25 81 32 3 moderate, G2 26 81 12 2 no storms 27 83 10 2 no storms 28 85 8 3 no storms 29 86 5 2 minor, R1 30 84 3 0 no storms Sx – Solar Radiation Storm Level / Gx – Geomagnetic Storm Level / Rx – Radio Blackouts Level (via NRC DX News Dec 12 via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2016 Dec 05 0607 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 28 Nov - 04 Dec 2016 Solar activity ranged from very low to moderate levels over the period. Very low levels were observed on 01-03 December, low levels were observed on 28 and 30 November and again on 04 December while moderate levels were observed on 29 November. Region 2615 (S07, L=139, class/area Dai/170 on 04 December) was responsible for the majority of the solar activity over the period since its inception late on 28 November. This region was responsible for 11 C-class flares and two M-class flares; an M1/Sn at 29/1723 UTC and an M1/Sf at 29/2338 UTC. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed during the period. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at high levels throughout the period with a maximum flux of 41,607 pfu observed at 28/1640 UTC. Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels during the period. The period began as solar wind parameters were slowly recovering from a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). Solar wind speeds slowly decreased from approximately 570 km/s early in the period to near 280 km/s by the end. Total field values ranged from 1 nT to 7 nT. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels on 28 November. Quiet levels were observed from 29 November through 04 December. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 - 31 DECEMBER 2016 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels with a chance for C-class flares and a slight chance for M-class (R1-Minor) flares on 05-10 December and again from 24-31 December due to potential solar activity from Region 2615. The rest of the forecast period is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be normal to moderate levels with high levels likely on 05-06, 10-18, and 22-31 December due to recurrent CH HSS influence. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels on 05, 07-11, and 19-25 December with G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels likely on 08-09 and 21-22 December due to recurrent CH HSS activity. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2016 Dec 05 0607 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 2016-12-05 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2016 Dec 05 80 8 3 2016 Dec 06 80 5 2 2016 Dec 07 78 12 4 2016 Dec 08 78 15 5 2016 Dec 09 78 20 5 2016 Dec 10 72 18 4 2016 Dec 11 72 12 3 2016 Dec 12 72 5 2 2016 Dec 13 78 5 2 2016 Dec 14 78 5 2 2016 Dec 15 78 5 2 2016 Dec 16 78 5 2 2016 Dec 17 78 5 2 2016 Dec 18 78 8 3 2016 Dec 19 82 12 4 2016 Dec 20 82 16 4 2016 Dec 21 86 22 5 2016 Dec 22 86 30 5 2016 Dec 23 86 12 4 2016 Dec 24 86 10 3 2016 Dec 25 86 8 3 2016 Dec 26 86 5 2 2016 Dec 27 86 5 2 2016 Dec 28 84 5 2 2016 Dec 29 84 5 2 2016 Dec 30 84 5 2 2016 Dec 31 84 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1855, DXLD) MYSTERY SIGNALS FROM ARABIAN SEA BAFFLE HAM RADIO ENTHUSIASTS IN INDIA Via Mumbai Times Amateur radio operators, also known as ham radio buffs, in Mumbai were baffled by unidentified mystery signal transmissions reportedly originating from the Arabian Sea on the country's west coast, an operator said here on Monday. Though the signals have been picked up by their VHF wireless radios since the past five months or so, they became suspicious after they tracked them down to the deep sea off Maharashtra-Gujarat coasts, said Ham Radio Operators Mumbai spokesperson Ankur Puranik. "We have written to the Wireless Advisor, Ministry of Telecommunications and IT, with copies to the PMO, other ministries, and top defense and police officials to take note and investigate these unknown signals," Puranik told IANS. They sent the memorandum to the Centre after analyzing the signals with their direction-finding equipment and antennae and were alarmed to learn they originated around 100 nautical miles in the high seas off the Maharashtra-Gujarat coast. "They are encroaching on our allotted bandwidth 144-146 MHz for our two-way radio, they don't use the compulsory 'call sign' by which each ham radio operator in the world can be identified and tracked, and they speak in a language we can't understand," Puranik explained. The amateur radio operators did not rule out the wireless signals originating from some anti-social elements or sea pirates or other groups with possible nefarious motives. Around 70 of the 200 amateur radio operators in Mumbai have heard these unknown signals at various times of the day, and mostly at night and they still continue. Puranik claimed that the unidentified operators could be using high- power wireless sets in the range of 25-50 Watts and their signals may be propagated many hundreds of nautical miles to other Indian coastal areas or some neighboring countries. "We believe that they are using open-band wireless sets which can tune in to or transit in any frequency in the VHF band between 136-174MHz. Some of these frequencies may be falling in the bands used by the Indian government and security agencies," he said. In the memo, they have urged the Centre to check out dealers of Marine Radio Equipment in India and the radio licenses of all fishing vessels to ascertain if the mystery operators have acquired their equipment from illegal sources. Besides, they have also drawn the Centre's attention to the unauthorized sale of two-way radio sets on various online sites, shopping sites and other internet marketing outlets which are flouting Indian laws (Dec CIDX Messenger via DXLD) As anyone who has paid attention to our propagation outlooks on Media Network Plus would know, according to William Hepburn`s VHF DX maps, the Arabian Sea is an area of extreme tropospheric ducting during much of the year (not so much in winter). Signals heard on west coast of India could be coming from as far away as the Arabian Peninsula - Oman, maybe even the Horn of Africa - Somalia area (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF DEC 8, 2016 [the last one this year, resuming first week in January, 2017] Keith, From IPS in Australia, the global HF propagation forecast thru December 10, fair at low and middle latitudes; fair to poor at high latitudes. From Spaceweather South Africa, thru December 10, magnetic conditions active to unsettled; shortwave fadeouts unlikely; MUF unstable From Met Office UK, G1/G2 geomagnetic storm intervals are likely on December 9. From Petr Kolman in Prague, Geomagnetic field will be: quiet to active on December 10, 20 quiet to unsettled on December 11, 18 - 19, 23 - 25 mostly quiet on December 12, 17, 26 quiet on December 13 - 16, 27 - 28 active to disturbed on December 21 - 22 From SWPC in Boulder, unsettled to active geomagnetic field levels on December 9-11, and 19-25 with G1 (Minor) storm levels likely with A and K indices peaking at 20 and 5 on December 9; 30 and 5 on December 20. Lowest As and Ks of 5 and 2 on December 12-17, and 26 to 31. Solar flux rising from 72 December 12 to a peak of 86 on December 21- 27. The Geminid meteor shower peaks the morning of December 14. Visual observers lament the full moon, but radio observers have no problem with that. Listen for quick meteor scatter bursts on open FM frequencies. If you`re very lucky you may get an ID, especially with the help of RDS displays. Be on the lookout for winter sporadic E openings on VHF in the northern hemisphere, and major summer openings in the southern. Also transequatorial FM propagation has been reported from Barbados to southern Brasil. William Hepburn`s VHF UHF DX maps show extreme tropospheric ducting off the west coast of Mexico December 12 and 13. Around Cabo Verde off the west coast of Africa From December 6 to 12. Off the coast of Namibia, December 9-11 Between Mozambique and Madagascar December 11-13 Off the west coast of Australia, December 9 and 10 (via DXLD) ###